by Judy Handley | Feb 22, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 53: Snowboarding and Skiing at Okemo
Date: Wednesday, February 22, 2023
Weather: Sunny Turning Cloudy, Waiting for More Snow; High 34, Low 22 degrees F
Sunrise and Sunset in East Falmouth: 6:27 am – 5:24 pm (+4 minutes)
Location: At Home at Cinnamon Sticks, West Dover, VT
Shadow and I enjoyed a lovely day at home just reading, puzzling, walking, and making one trip out to the grocery store.
Late in the afternoon, I started prepping dinner for the gang that would be arriving home from a full day of snowboarding and skiing at Okemo which is a little more than an hour north of here.
They had a great day as well. Jo has become a snowboard convert and LOVES it.
Ziggy and Coco have also decided they like snowboarding.
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They forced themselves to do one last run and it was the best one yet. But in the end, they were all exhausted. Jed got a great photo of all of them collapsed on the snow at the end of the day.
We spent the evening finishing the puzzle we had been working on all week.
A successful day all around.
by Judy Handley | Feb 21, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 52: Snow Fun
Date: Tuesday, February 21, 2023
Weather: Overcast, Snow Early Evening; High 31, Low 22 degrees F
Sunrise and Sunset in East Falmouth: 6:29 am – 5:24 pm (+3 minutes)
Location: At Home at Cinnamon Sticks, West Dover, VT
Today ended up being a ‘recovery’ day—no snowboarding—but our day did end with some snow fun. Mid-afternoon we took a break from just enjoying the day . . . reading, puzzling, playing games, just lounging. We drove a little south to the town of Wilmington to do the river walk. It is a just a half mile loop through town, across the river, and back to where we started. We stopped in a little shop with all things Vermont, a great little book store, and the grocery store to resupply. It started snowing on our way home and continued snowing throughout the evening. Not a heavy snow, but a few inches that made for a great nighttime snowball fight. There were lots of sneak attacks. Anyone under 75 got bombarded when coming out of the house, but the age limit spared me! Of course, this meant that all of the nice, dry snow gear ready for tomorrow’s trip to Okemo had to dried . . . again. But what fun! The other hilarious event of the evening was playing a memory game called Find My Behind. We had to match an animal’s head to its tail. It started quietly, but when the first person made a match, we were all yelling at the top of our lungs to cheer the person on. Thankfully there are no houses near us, so we could be as loud as we wanted and evidently we wanted to be really loud. By the end of the game, which Heather won, we were all hoarse and almost in tears with laughter. I guess it doesn’t take much to entertain the Handley-Hunt-Goldstone family
by Judy Handley | Feb 20, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 51: Mt. Snow
Date: Monday, February 20, 2023
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High 45, Low 22 degrees F
Sunrise and Sunset in East Falmouth: 6:31 am – 5:23 pm (+2 minutes)
Location: At Home at Cinnamon Sticks, West Dover, VT
By 8 am, the whole gang was out of the house and on their way to Mt. Snow which is a ten minute drive. Watching nine people put on all of that snow gear wore me out before the day was even started!
Shadow and I had a relaxed start to our day and then at noon I drove over to the Main Base Lodge to deliver the lunches I packed for everyone. It gave me a chance to check out Mt. Snow up close. I was parked in a 15 minute free space and couldn’t stay long, but I got feel for the place. I just saw that Jo posted this on Facebook today, “We threw ourselves down a mountain today, strapped to lolly sticks, and it was surprisingly AWESOME!”
Jed and Heather skied, but everyone else was on a snowboard. It was Ziggy and Coco’s first time and at noon they didn’t seem all that enthusiastic. But by the end of the day, they were ready to give it a go on another day. The snow conditions were the best today as it was too warm. Regardless, everyone had a great time.
I loved seeing how happy everyone looked in the photos they took. At this point we think everyone is taking tomorrow off and waiting for better snow conditions on Wednesday morning. But I heard Justin say he might take the kids again tomorrow. On Wednesday, the plan is to drive north to Okemo to check out another Vermont slope.
by Judy Handley | Feb 19, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 50: The Calm Before the Storm
Date: Sunday, February 19, 2023
Weather: Cloudy; High 37, Low 29 degrees F
Sunrise and Sunset in East Falmouth: 6:32 am – 5:22 pm (+2 minutes)
Location: At Home at Cinnamon Sticks, West Dover, VT
Today was a quiet family day, just hangin’ out. Heather working on a puzzle, grandkids playing outside in the snow, playing pool and darts when they came back inside, then watching a movie. I spent a good deal of my time today in the kitchen. We all too a break around noon and went to visit the Dover the Moon General Store and later in the afternoon we went to a ski shop to rent snowboard gear for Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco, and a pair of skis for Jed. Tomorrow morning the gang heads out early hoping to get in at least a half day of snowboarding and skiing before it gets too warm.
by Judy Handley | Feb 18, 2023 | Cape Cod, USA |
2023 Life Logs, Day 49: In Vermont
Date: Saturday, February 18, 2023
Weather: Cloudy, Some Rain; High 53, Low 13 degrees F
Sunrise and Sunset in East Falmouth: 6:33 am – 5:21 pm (+4 minutes)
Location: At Home at Cinnamon Sticks, West Dover, VT
We all made it! Our AirBnB is called Cinnamon Sticks. It is perfect for the ten of us. I left Falmouth with Shadow just afternoon and we arrived in North Hampton three hours later. I met up with Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco who drove up from New Haven, Connecticut. They spent yesterday afternoon in New York City and left there after 5 pm. They only got as far as New Haven when they decided they were too tired to continue and then traveled on north today. Ziggy and Coco came with me, as Justin and Jo were going to a show in Springfield tonight. Heather and Jed didn’t leave Falmouth until mid-afternoon, so Ziggy and Coco and I unloaded my car that was fully loaded top to bottom, front to back with food. There was barely room for the kids to sit, but we made it. There is snow on the ground here, so Ziggy and Coco played outside in the snow while I fixed dinner. Everything was going great until I turned the oven on. I heard a pop and then saw a wisp of smoke. I turned it off immediately and that stopped the smoke and electrical burning smell, but whatever happened in the oven, blew out the breakers for the heating in the house and for the stove top which is separated from the stove. All of this happened just as Heather and Justin arrived, so there was a flurry of activity to try and reset breakers. Heather was communicating with the owner who was in flight to Singapore. He was very apologetic and once he landed, he was able to help Heather and Jed troubleshoot so that we finally got the stove top working and the heat back on. There was a second set of breakers in the garage we didn’t know about. The oven will need an electrician and we might just have to do without one. I had turned in on to heat hard taco shells. While we were troubleshooting the kitchen stove, Sam started a fire in the wood stove in the living room and we used a cast iron skillet I brought with me to fashion a stove top oven. All is well that ends well. The important thing is that we are all together, and other than the electrical glitch, the house seems perfect for us.
by Judy Handley | Feb 17, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 48: Not Ready, Set . . . Yet
Date: Friday, February 17, 2023
Weather: Cloudy, Some Rain; High 53, Low 13 degrees F
Sunrise and Sunset: 6:35 am – 5:19 pm (+2 minutes)
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, NH
I should be packed and ready to go to Vermont in the morning, but I am not quite there. The shopping and packing of food for a week is huge. There are stores within 15 minutes, but I really didn’t want to spend my days there shopping. But transporting this much food in my car while leaving room for Shadow and two kids will be a challenge. Justin wants me to pick up Ziggy and Coco in western Massachusetts on my way and take them on to Vermont with me. He and Jo are going to a show of some sort in Springfield tomorrow night and will not get to Vermont until late. They did make it Newark in the early hours of the morning and spent the afternoon in New York City. The last text was sent from FAO Schwartz at 4:30 pm. They were getting ready to head north soon. Before I go to bed, I do hope to be ‘ready, set’ and that will just leave packing the car in the morning. That’s the hope.
Late in the afternoon, I started prepping dinner for the gang that would be arriving home from a full day of snowboarding and skiing at Okemo which is a little more than an hour north of here.
They had a great day as well. Jo has become a snowboard convert and LOVES it.
Ziggy and Coco have also decided they like snowboarding.
They forced themselves to do one last run and it was the best one yet. But in the end, they were all exhausted. Jed got a great photo of all of them collapsed on the snow at the end of the day.
We spent the evening finishing the puzzle we had been working on all week.
A successful day all around.
