by Judy Handley | Jun 16, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 167: A Lot of Planning, Very Little Doing
Date: Friday, June 16, 2023
Weather: Sunny, Rain on the Way: High 76, Low 59 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Somehow a day planned to get an enormous amount of work done turned into a day of thinking and planning with very little doing. I did talk to my friend Detta who wants to come down to help with the move and Heather and I talked for more than hour this evening about plans for the next two weeks. Their family life is accelerating, not slowing down. Today was the last day of school for the boys. Monday is a holiday and Tuesday is the actual last half day of school. But they decided as a family to skip that last half day and leave on Monday evening for a three-day family vacation in New York. They will drive to Albany on Monday evening after Sam gets off work. Tuesday will be a visit to Corning Glass with a glass blowing component. Wednesday will be a tour of Niagara Falls, including a Maid of the Mist and Cave of the Wind tour with a tour company. Thursday is the Erie Canal and on to Lenox, Massachusetts for a tour of the glass factory and an evening performance of public radio’s “Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me” at Tanglewood. Friday morning the Goldstones return home and begin the celebration of Jonah’s 14th birthday that afternoon. Then Jed leaves for Denmark on Saturday and I have reserved a U-Haul truck to do the BIG move. Heather and Sam are both available that day and I am going to hire a friend of Sam’s and two other guys recommended at the U-Haul dealer. Hopefully we can get all of the big items moved. I plan to stay here for a few more days and move some of the smaller things little by little. But we shall see how all of these plans play out.
I spent the morning on my computer changing my address with the bank and credit card companies. I will have more places to contact, but I made a start. Then I mowed the grass here for the last time so I could return the lawn mower to Heather and Jed and got the cottage ready for an afternoon showing. After lunch, Shadow and I left for the afternoon. I did not get as far as I had hoped with the drip irrigation system in the new gardens. I had to stop and go to the hardware store for more parts. Then I stopped by 4:30 to head to the U-Haul place before they closed. I rented a truck for next Saturday and arranged for helpers. It wasn’t the day I hoped to have, but still it was a fairly productive day.
Once I got home this evening, Shadow and I headed down to the water to play our evening game of fetch. The Gravina’s, who live in New Hampshire but have a summer home two houses away, were in their backyard and we got a chance to visit. I was so sad to hear that their beloved Black Lab, Remmie, had to be put down last week. But even with the sad news, it was great visiting with them. It left me a bit sad, however, as it reminded me of how much I am going to miss living here. But life goes on. By this time next year, hopefully I will have met new neighbors and love living in town.
by Judy Handley | Jun 15, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 166: Meetings and Appointments
Date: Thursday, June 15, 2023
Weather: Mostly Sunny: High 71, Low 58 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
This was a day of meetings and appointments, one after another. I did get to spend an hour with Shadow at lunchtime, but then didn’t get home until 6 pm. Tomorrow I will check to see if the flooring in the house on Lakeview is completed. If so, I’ll plan to start slowly moving things that way. But tomorrow afternoon I plan to try and get the drip irrigation system set up in the garden there.
I don’t think I ever wrote an update on my computer issues. I bought the new computer and immediately started uploading files to ‘the cloud’. No matter what I tried in doing that, the new computer just didn’t work and the upload was so slow that I was only halfway through in two full weeks. I finally paused the syncing of files and the computer has been fine since. Until last night. All of a sudden, my Outlook stopped working as my email manager. I will work on that this weekend. Always something.
by Judy Handley | Jun 14, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 165: Encore Annual Installation & Luncheon
Date: Wednesday, June 14, 2023
Weather: Sunny: High 74, Low 58 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
This year’s installation of new Encore officers took place during a luncheon at the Poppy Tent today. The Poppy Tent is a lovely seaside setting.
I arrived for the Board meeting preceding the luncheon and then attended the luncheon as one of those being “installed” as an officer for next year. Christina Brodie and I will be taking the reigns from Ellen Albanese and Gerry Ryan as Co-Presidents.
We presented Ellen and Gerry with gifts from the past presidents before them who could not attend today, repeated the pledge of office with all new Board members, and then enjoyed a delightful lunch with nearly a hundred fellow Encore members.
Lynda Onthank, the friend that I will be renting from when I move, attended the luncheon as a new Encore member. She handed me her phone with photos of the work being done today on my future abode. What a gift! She moved out yesterday, and by noon today, she had been sent photos from the contractor showing all of the old flooring removed in most of the house and the wood floor in the living room already sanded and ready to be finished. I could hardly believe it. Then after the luncheon, I met Lynda at the new house to see the progress firsthand. One last coat of varnish has to applied on the living room floor and the flooring in the bedroom needs to be laid. Then it is done! I have not been able to set a moving date as we had no idea how long the flooring would take. Now we know. The entire job should be done tomorrow and then I can start to slowly move things in. Lynda and I also made some decisions about the drip irrigation system in the vegetable garden. I hope to get that done over the weekend and start moving small things during next week. The big move with furniture will happen the following week and then I will be a resident of 225 Lakeview Avenue.
by Judy Handley | Jun 13, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 164: Book Club and VOW Presentation
Date: Tuesday, June 13, 2023
Weather: Partly Sunny: High 72, Low 57 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
This morning I attended a monthly book club meeting and then came home to prepare for a Voyage of Windbird presentation in Chatham at the Atwood Museum. I’ve said it many times, but I’ll say it again. I love to give the Voyage of Windbird presentation because each time I give it, I get to relive the trip of a life time. The Atwood Museum in Chatham has a summer series called Tuesday Talks. The room holds about 40 people and this evening almost every seat was filled.
The attendees were a great audience and I truly enjoyed sharing my story of sailing around the world with them.
by Judy Handley | Jun 12, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 163: Taking Care of Business Day
Date: Monday, June 12, 2023
Weather: Sunny and Warm: High 73, Low 59 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Working on the drip irrigation system in the garden at the new house, figuring out what I can buy for my sister to wear to her granddaughter’s wedding, dealing with Xfinity about my upcoming move, talking with my sister’s afternoon helper about a downturn in my sister’s mental condition, taking Sam to rowing practice. It was quite a variety of things, but I think I will sleep better tonight knowing I dealt with these things. I have decided to a custom-sized dress for my sister and am hoping I can get someone to go do the necessary measurements. I should have done this to begin with. I love hindsight. I have been having nightmares about not getting the drip irrigation system installed in the new raised bed gardens at the new house. I met the monster face to face today and got quite a bit done. I spent a great deal of time on the phone trying to make sure I will have wifi and cable here until July 1 and also have it at the new house starting on June 24. I was talking to someone in Japan about this and we had some language issues. But I think we got the job done. It is doubtful that I the new house will be ready for me to move into until July 1, but I want to have things set up in case it is ready sooner. Tomorrow is when Lynda moves everything out of the house and at 9 am on Wednesday morning, the new flooring project begins. I am hoping it will be done quickly so I can start moving things in a little at a time. And at 3 pm, I drove Sam to Harwich for his rowing practice today instead of tomorrow when I usually do the driving. Tomorrow, I give a Voyage of Windbird presentation in Chatham, just next door to Harwich. The timing is such that I could have taken Sam to practice, but I would not have been able to pick Sam up right after his practice. He has a Boy Scout Court of Honor tomorrow evening and decided to switch his rowing practice to today so he will be on time for the Court of Honor.
That was it for today. Tomorrow I will prepare for the presentation, attend my monthly Book Club, and then head to the Outer Cape.
by Judy Handley | Jun 11, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 162: Visit with Orsi Gorgenyi and Her Family
Date: Sunday, June 11, 2023
Weather: Sunny and Warm: High 72, Low 58 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Today I drove to Concord, New Hampshire, to meet up with Orsi Görgényi and her family who traveled here from Hungary for Orsi’s 30th high school anniversary.
I have written in other logs that we were Orsi’s home stay family when she was at St. Paul’s School.
I last saw Orsi five years ago. But this is the first time her husband, George, and their twins, Lisa and Peter, have been to this country. The twins are 13 years old and are both tall like their mom and dad. We had a delightful visit and then I headed home and they headed to Acadia in Maine. From there, they will return to Boston and on to New York City before flying home. I find it totally unbelievable that it has been thirty years since Heather and Orsi were in high school together. The years pass so quickly.
