by Judy Handley | Jan 23, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 23: Shopping Day
Date: Monday, January 23, 2023
Weather: Overcast with Rain, Turning to Snowy Mix; High 46, Low 30 degrees F
Sunrise and Sunset: 7:02 am & 4:48 pm
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Last Tuesday we had a beautiful, sunny day and Wednesday was partly sunny. But we have not seen the sun since. Tomorrow looks promising for at least a tiny bit of sunshine. On the brighter side, we might not be getting a lot of sunshine, but we continue to gain hours of daylight. Yesterday we gained two minutes and today three. But whose keeping track? Certainly, not me!
I drove to Plymouth this morning to pick up Sam’s indoor soccer shoes and then traveled on to Costco. I went to buy a few more items of winter clothing for Justin and family for their February trip from Puerto Rico to Vermont,, and of course, I had to buy a few food items. Costco still had beautiful pomegranates, so that was my prized purchase of the day. On the way home, an icy mix started to fall and continued when I got home. A few snowflakes are still falling. However, the temperature is above freezing, so any white stuff falling melts as soon as it hits the ground.
by Judy Handley | Jan 22, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 22: Slow Motion Sunday
Date: Sunday, January 22, 2023
Weather: Overcast; High 43, Low 41 degrees F
Sunrise and Sunset: 7:03 am & 4:46 pm
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
This Sunday felt like it was in slow motion. I had nothing on my calendar, so I stayed home, worked slowly on a new puzzle, took a nap, walked slowly with Shadow, and started watching the Three Pines series on Prime. Three Pines is based on the Inspector Gamache books by Louise Penny. I have read 17 of the 18 books in that series and have thoroughly enjoyed everyone of them. If you are not familiar, the setting is in Quebec, both in Montreal and in the small village of Three Pines. Late this afternoon, I finally had time to start watching Season One. I loved it and watched two episodes. I’m sure I’ll be through the whole season by the end of the week. The new jigsaw puzzle I’m working on I’m not so sure I love. It is challenging. A puzzle within a puzzle. My good friend Karen Baranowski dropped it off on Friday. I gave her the Ravensburger I had just completed—99 Beautiful Places in the World.
I have only been to 20 of the 99. She gave me a Ravensburger Escape Puzzle. Today was her birthday—Happy Birthday, Karen! She and Peter are up in Cohasset visiting with their daughter. But when she gets home, I have plenty of questions for her on how to work this impossible puzzle.
The weather has been overcast and tonight it is supposed to start raining and continue until tomorrow afternoon when it looks like it will turn to snow. I am making a shopping trip off Cape in the morning but will plan to be home before the snow starts. If the forecast is correct, we’ll get sunshine on Tuesday. Woohoo! Can’t wait.
by Judy Handley | Jan 21, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 21: Happy 16th Birthday to Sam
Date: Saturday, January 21, 2023
Weather: Overcast and Chilly; High 35, Low 26 degrees F
Sunrise and Sunset: 7:04 am & 4:45 pm
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
I got up this morning thinking I would be headed to Supercharged Entertainment in Wrentham to celebrate Sam’s 16th birthday this afternoon with Heather, Jed, Ollie, Jonah, and three of Sam’s friends. I still can’t believe my oldest grandchild is now 16. Just yesterday he was one.
But the birthday party plans were abruptly changed when Sam found out that one of his best friends tested positive for Covid. In addition to family, Sam only wanted his three best friends—Sebastian, Ethan, and Robert—to go with him to the entertainment center. When he found out Robert couldn’t go, he asked if the party could be postponed until all could go. So now we will hope to do this in two weeks. But Sebastian and Ethan still joined us for dinner at Shipwrecked on Falmouth Heights Beach and were then spending the night with Sam.
Sam chose Shipwrecked because he could have sushi for an appetizer and then have a big, juicy burger. His idea of food heaven. We went early, but it was already slammed and we were told we would have an hour plus wait. As Heather, Jed, and I stood outside in the dark and the cold discussing other possibilities, the boys went out on the soccer field and played soccer with a ball Jonah had brought. Then they went down on the beach. Finally we all got cold and decided to go inside and wait. Heather talked to the hostess and they said waiting for a table for all of us was really going to take a while. They offered two tables, so Sam, Sebastian, and Ethan had their own table and the rest of us sat separately.
We missed being with Sam, but the three teenage boys were quite happy to have their own space. The wait staff was tipped off by Heather that it was Sam’s birthday and they asked if we wanted them to bring him cake with a candle. We were having cake when we got home, so Heather said no cake, but maybe a candle. They brought a candle in a cup of ice cream—just enough to embarrass him a little, but not too much.
Back at 43 Grasmere, we had the birthday cake. But that comes with a story. When Smitty’s ice cream shop closed for the season, Sam had special ordered a watermelon sherbet ice cream cake for his birthday. I picked it up and did notice that it had Goldstone written on the side, but another name on the top. But Smitty had assured me it was out order. When Heather opened the box last week to check it out, she was surprised to find that there was writing on the cake saying, “Happy Birthday, Laurie.”
It would have been easy to scrape that off and replace it with “Happy Birthday, Sam.” But no. Sam thought it was a riot that the cake had someone else’s name on it. And since we did not know what Laurie had ordered, we had no idea what kind of ice cream cake it was. It became known as the mystery cake. When Sam cut into it tonight, we found that it was the usual vanilla and chocolate. And we all got a kick out of eating Laurie’s birthday cake. Sorry, Laurie. We hope you enjoyed Sam’s cake.
Sam discovered his birthday present a day early and was so excited that he slept with it.
For Christmas he had asked Santa for a Milwaukee drill/driver set. He knew it was expensive and knew he might not get it. He didn’t get it for Christmas, but Heather and Jed, Grammy Marti, and I went together to buy it for him for his birthday to support his love of woodworking. Happy birthday, Sam!
by Judy Handley | Jan 20, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 20: Evening with Wine Group
Date: Friday, January 20, 2023
Weather: Overcast and Rainy; High 41, Low 30 degrees F
Sunrise and Sunset: 7:04 am & 4:44 pm
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
We gained another 3 minutes of daylight today. Hurray!!! I spent my day doing a little house cleaning, getting ready to host my wine group this evening.
We had a great evening and all expanded our knowledge of the wine industry. The theme that I had set was to bring only wines produced in wineries owned by women. A week or so ago, we all discovered just how challenging this was. So, I broadened the WOW theme–Women of Wine–to include wines produced by women winemakers in a winery owned by men. Or if that didn’t work, we could just bring our favorite wine of winter—another WOW theme. The results were fascinating. Rich and Marion did their research and found that wines from the McBride Sisters winery were available at Target stores in Boston. The McBride Sisters brand is not only the largest Black-owned wine company in the US, it is also owned by Black women. The Black Girl Magic Sparkling Brute got rave reviews from our group. Then Don and Susan shared their choice. They had not been able to find a WOW (wine owned winery) wine, so they decided to bring Susan’s favorite wine of winter–an Argentinian Alamos Malbec. Then she and Don found out that this wine is produced by a woman. I went next with an all-time favorite of mine, an Apothic wine. I was actually introduced to this wine by my sister Patsy who used to buy it at Costco. She always bought the red blend, but in my research, I found that Apothic is the product of a woman winemaker, Debbie Juergensen, who works for the mother company, Gallo. Her favorite is the Cabernet Sauvignon, so that was my contribution tonight and it also got rave reviews. The last wine of the evening was a Sarah Jessica Parker Invivo Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand that Billy and Eileen brought. Sarah Jessica Parker is an American actress that co-founded the New Zealand Invivo winery. Most of our wine group are die hard red wine drinkers, but everyone really liked this Sauvignon Blanc.
It was another great evening with the Best Wine Group Ever.
by Judy Handley | Jan 19, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 19: Puzzle Day
Date: Thursday, January 19, 2023
Weather: Overcast, Then Rain; High 40, Low 37 degrees F
Sunrise and Sunset: 7:05 am & 4:42 pm
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
A walk with Olga and Shadow and working on my current jigsaw puzzle were my activities today. Tonight, I am starting to gear up for having my wine group here tomorrow evening. I just realized that I have broken all but one of my red wine glasses, so I suppose a trip somewhere to buy wine glasses will be part of getting ready tomorrow. One other job that I have added to my life is being on the Newcomers Nominating Committee. My job is to communicate with those people who have expressed interest in one of the open positions. So, I have spent part of my evening ‘communicating’ via email. Next contact will be on the phone. What did I get myself into this time?!!
And I have spent the other part of my evening thinking about Justin. He was so sick Sunday night that Jo had to take him to the ER in the middle of the night. The emergency was that he had chest pains, but also a fever, headache, chills, and the list goes on. They sent him home saying the best guess is that he has a virus, but his symptoms have persisted. He says he feels a little better each day, but he has been down and out all week. And that is just not like Justin. So, ‘me worry’.
by Judy Handley | Jan 18, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 18: Confused Dandelions
Date: Wednesday, January 18, 2023
Weather: Partly Sunny; High 51, Low 34 degrees F
Sunrise and Sunset: 7:05 am & 4:42 pm
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
This is the third day in the last six that we have gained one minute of daylight in the morning and two minutes in the late afternoon. But that is not what is confusing the dandelions.
It is simply that it is generally warmer than it should be in winter. It was 51 degrees F today, and with the sunshine, you didn’t even need a coat. When I went into town this morning to run a whole slew of errands, I wore my winter coat and was really hot by the time I got home. So off went the coat when I took Shadow outside to play. That is when I discovered the dandelions in Shirley’s yard and the daffodil and crocus shoots coming up.
They are confused. They think it is spring. But I am sure that soon they will get a reminder that it is actually winter and will have to go away for a bit and come back in March or April.
I spent my afternoon at a Newcomers Nominating Committee meeting for officers for next year. Since I have never held an office and been on the board, I am not sure why I was asked to be on this committee. But I am happy to do it as a bit of payback for all that Newcomers has done for me. After the meeting, I rushed home to fix the veggies I was taking to my Dining-in group dinner at the Baranowski’s tonight. The whole gang was not there tonight, but the six of us who were there had a great time and certainly enjoyed the good food. Thank you, Peter and Karen, for hosting.
