by Judy Handley | Jan 17, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 17: The Edward M Kennedy Institute for the US Senate
Date: Tuesday, January 17, 2023
Weather: Sunshine; High 44, Low 38 degrees F
Sunrise and Sunset: 7:06 am & 4:40 pm
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Today I led a Newcomers field trip to the Edward M Kennedy Institute for the US Senate in Boston.
This Institute is another Massachusetts treasure. The Senate Chamber is an exact replica of the Chamber in our nation’s Capitol
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and the replica of Ted Kennedy’s Senate office was fascinating.
He proudly served as a Massachusetts Senator for 47 years, almost half a century. After having lunch with Ted Kennedy’s artwork in the background,
our group sat in the Chamber tto participate in a mock session on the pending voting rights legislation. A true learning experience.
by Judy Handley | Jan 16, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 16: Observing MLK on a Snowy Day
Date: Monday, January 16, 2023
Weather: More Snow; High 33, Low 30 degrees F
Sunrise and Sunset: 7:06 am & 4:39 pm
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
I hope you agree with me that grandmothers have the right to be proud. Ollie’s fifth grade class was invited to read excerpts from Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech at Falmouth’s National Holiday Breakfast this morning.
He knew the family was going to be in Maine snowboarding, but he asked his parents if there was anyway he could come home a day early to participate. He was willing to give up a day on slopes to do this, so Heather drove separately so she could bring Ollie home last night. Unfortunately, it was a tough drive as it was snowing and the slush on I 495 in Massachusetts had not been plowed. But they made it home safely around 11 pm. The MLK Breakfast was at the Sea Crest on Buzzards Bay and was very well attended. I could not have been prouder of Ollie. Only ten children from the fifth grade showed up, but they did a great job. He wore a white dress shirt with a red sweater and his new dress shoes. He was stylin’.
After the students recited parts of MLK’s famous speech from memory, Rabbi Elias Lieberman from the Falmouth Jewish Congregation played his guitar and led them in singing, “This Little Light of Mine.”
After the student presentation, Ollie joined Heather and I at our table to listen to the main speaker. Most of the other students left, but Ollie had insisted that he wanted to stay for the whole program. Again, proud grandmother. The Diversity and Inclusion Director for the Falmouth Schools was the speaker, and the main theme of his talk was chaos or community . . . which do we choose? And if the choice is true community, are we willing to do the hard work to get there? At the end of the breakfast, we all stood and held hands to sing “We Shall Overcome” together. As we sang, tears were streaming from my eyes. The word ‘someday’ in that song did not make me cry in the 1960’s and 70’s. I was hopeful. Now, holding my grandson’s hand and knowing that 50 years have passed, and I feel like we are no closer to ‘overcoming’, it makes me so very sad. But sadness does nothing. We all need to find what we can do to reach a state of true community with our fellow Americans and people from around the globe. When we started singing the song, I did not readily see anyone on my left to hold hands with. Then Heather moved beside me and reached out to hold the hand of a Black man and his son, a classmate of Ollie’s, who were next to me but at the next table. I never thought to reach across. I think some of my tears were tears of joy watching my daughter reach out. Mothers have a right to be proud as well.
After the breakfast, I went home to play outside in the snow with Shadow.
Yes, it was still snowing this morning. The temperature hovered right around the freezing point overnight and today, but it was not enough to keep the falling snow from melting. It was a very wet snow that did accumulate in some places, but it was splotchy.
I invited Heather and Ollie to lunch at Shipwrecked, so after playing in the snow with Shadow, I drove back to town to take them to lunch.
Ollie loves that he can order clam chowder and sushi in the same restaurant, Shipwrecked on Falmouth Heights Beach, so we (Ollie and I) did just that. Heather had a beautiful and delicious Poke bowl, and we ate watching the snow fall on the beach.
Lovely.
by Judy Handley | Jan 15, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 15: Snow and Wind
Date: Sunday, January 15, 2023
Weather: Wind N 20-30, Snow; High 36, Low 32 degrees F
Sunrise and Sunset: 7:07 am & 4:37 pm
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
It finally looks like winter here. When I first went outside with Shadow this morning, the ground was bare. But around 10 am, tiny balls of ice started falling from the sky. Then an hour later, the little ice balls turned to snowflakes, and it snowed lightly off and on all day. It has stopped for now but is supposed to return in the middle of the night and continue during the day tomorrow before ending. The accumulation won’t be much, but at least it looks like winter for a bit. I love the snow, but the wind causes it to feel much colder. Right now, it is 33 degrees out, but it feels like 21 degrees F according to WeatherUnderground.
I drove to Heather’s this morning to feed the cats and do my laundry. Actually, I washed the clothes yesterday and left them in the washer overnight until I returned this morning. I put the clothes in the dryer and then read the article in today’s New York Times by a man who tried to live 24 hours without plastic. Certainly not easy to do, but I felt good that I do some of the things to limit the amount of plastic I ‘donate’ to the earth. I use shampoo and conditioner bars (like bars of soap) that come wrapped in paper. I take a stainless-steel water bottle with me wherever I go, trying to never buy water in a plastic bottle. I carry reusable grocery bags in my car. I have eliminated plastic storage containers in my kitchen, although my glass containers all have plastic lids. I buy most of my fruits and vegetables with no packaging, but the arugula and berries I buy both come in plastic. As was stated in the article, living totally without plastic is almost impossible, but the important thing is to start to do your part to limit when you can and celebrate your successes.
A little more puzzling today, researching possibilities of purchasing wine produced in a woman owned and operated winery for Friday night’s wine group gathering, finalized communications for Tuesday’s field trip to the Kennedy Institute, and fought the wind to walk with Shadow and play fetch. That was it for me today. And tonight, I AM NOT going to watch a movie. I’m still reeling from watching Bardo last night. This morning I looked up the meaning of the world ‘bardo.” According to Wikipedia: “Used without qualification, ‘bardo’ is the state of existence intermediate between two lives on earth.” According to Tibetan tradition, after death and before one’s next birth, when one’s consciousness is not connected with a physical body, one experiences a variety of phenomena.” Following these Tibetan traditions there are three death bardos: one of dying, dharmata, which means the intrinsic nature of everything, whatever that means, and the bardo of becoming. No wonder I didn’t understand the movie. But even without understanding, I think it is worth watching. Like I said in last night’s log, our minds need a little stretch once in a while.
by Judy Handley | Jan 14, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 14: Gale Warning Tonight
Date: Saturday, January 14, 2023
Weather: Overcast with Strong North Wind; High 43, Low 33 degrees F
Sunrise and Sunset: 7:07 am & 4:37 pm
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
The north wind was blowing strong today and tonight we have gale warning going into effect until Monday. I just came in from taking Shadow out for his last outing of the evening, and it was obvious that the temperature is dropping, The precipitation predicted for tomorrow might come down as snow. And speaking of snow,
I saw photos on Facebook of the Goldstone gang on the slopes in Maine with friends.
Looks like they are having fun.
I slept in this morning and by the time I did my morning ablutions, traveled around town doing plant watering chores for out of town friends fed the cats at 43 Grasmere, and stopped at the PO to send a package to Ziggy and Coco, it was after noon when I got home. Lunch, walk with Shadow, puzzling, playing fetch with Shadow, taking photos of the huge gaggle of geese down by the dock (75 and counting),
more puzzling . . . and suddenly it was dinnertime. I fixed dinner and decided to kick back and watch a movie. Today there was a suggested list in the NYTs This Morning online, so I started with the first one. It was a mind trip. Not the frivolous entertainment I was looking for, but very thought provoking once I worked through the weirdness. I watched “Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths.” A summary I found online described the plot this way: “An acclaimed journalist-turned-documentarian goes on an oneiric introspective journal to reconcile with the past, the present, and his Mexican identity.” Much of the film is in Spanish, but it is captioned, and you really don’t even notice. As one example of weirdness, at one point, the journalist was sitting atop a pyramid of dead people having a conversation with Cortez. In another scene, Silverio, the journalist, is talking with his dead father in a huge public bathroom. Strange scene, but the father does impart words of wisdom: “Age comes without warning. Then it turns into a full-time job. Walking, eating, using the bathroom . . . everything’s a problem. No one ever told me. Nobody ever warns you about it.” Then Pa goes on to talk to his son about success: “Take a swig of success. Swish it around and spit it out. Otherwise, it will poison you.” There were many of these thought-provoking statements throughout the film, but despite that, I almost stopped watching at least three different times. I put the movie on pause each time, but then decided to persist. I’m glad I did. In my opinion, it was ‘very out there’, but one needs a mind stretch once in a while.
by Judy Handley | Jan 13, 2023 | Cape Cod, USA |
2023 Life Logs, Day 13: Friday the 13th
Date: Friday, January 13, 2023
Weather: Overcast, Rain and Wind; High 54, Low 36 degrees F
Sunrise and Sunset: 7:08 am & 4:35 pm
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Being superstitious, I did not stray far from home on this Friday the 13th. It was raining hard this morning, so Shadow and I did our walking and playing in the afternoon. I basically spent my whole day working on a puzzle of 99 Beautiful Places on Earth. I see only one of the 99 squares looks very similar to a photo I took on Railay Beach in Thailand in 2008.
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Mine was not photo shopped to make the sand look so light.
I have been to some of the other places, but don’t have similar photos. I started this puzzle a few years ago when my friend Lynne came to visit. But she loves to work jigsaw puzzles and took over and finished it. So, I decided to keep it and work it again someday. I started it a few days ago and even after working on it for much of today, I am still making slow progress. But I will get there.
I’m looking forward to two more days of little activity other than puzzling and reading, and maybe watching a movie. Heather and family headed to Maine with friends this afternoon for the three-day weekend. All I have to do this weekend is feed their cats once a day and water plants for friends who are living it up in Mexico. Another friend is in Hawaii and sending photos each day to share the beauty with friends. Looking at her photos is making me long for those days of sailing the South Pacific on Windbird. Heather and Ollie return from Maine late on Sunday night so Ollie can participate with his class in reciting parts of the “I Have a Dream” speech at the MLK National Holiday Community Breakfast, hosted by No Place for Hate – Falmouth, on Monday morning. Ollie is so proud that he memorized most of the speech and he really wanted to come home to participate. I will attend the breakfast and then maybe Heather, Ollie, and I will have a fun day together. Workmen are going to be installing a heat pump system in their home on Monday and that involves cutting holes in the walls for new heating ducts. Heather might have to check in to make sure things are moving along, but there is no need for Ollie to be in the house. Tuesday I lead the field trip to the Edward M Kennedy Institute in Boston, my Dining-in group meets on Wednesday, and Friday my wine group meets here. I’ll enjoy my two quiet days before the activity ramps up again.
by Judy Handley | Jan 12, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 12: Ahhh . . . A Quiet Day
Date: Thursday, January 12, 2023
Weather: Overcast, Some Sprinkles; High 48, Low 46 degrees F
Sunrise and Sunset: 7:08 am & 4:35 pm
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
After a few days of crazy activity, today was nice and quiet. I got up and called by sister’s doctor in North Carolina, worked on my jigsaw puzzle, walked with Shadow and played fetch, and made soup. I did have to tackle a little problem with the field trip I am leading to the Edward M (Teddy) Kennedy Institute on Wednesday. Their cafeteria is not open, but I was told we could order boxed lunches from the JFK Library next door. I have called every day this week and have gotten no further than voice mail with no return calls. So, this morning I was told by my contact at the Institute that maybe I should just order lunches to be delivered from Panera. That wasn’t quite as easy as just picking up the phone and making an order. I had to register to be a ‘host’ and then send a link to participants where they can order their own lunches. But I hope I have it figured out and that people will be successful getting online to order. I also talked to my sister this morning and she seems to be holding her own against Covid. Her companion called me this evening and said she put her to bed early and that I should not call Patsy tonight as there is no phone in the bedroom. I smiled but said nothing. I am sure my sister got up as soon as Edie, the companion, left. But I will wait until tomorrow morning to call and hope I will find my sister feeling even better after a good night’s sleep.
This Institute is another Massachusetts treasure. The Senate Chamber is an exact replica of the Chamber in our nation’s Capitol
He proudly served as a Massachusetts Senator for 47 years, almost half a century. After having lunch with Ted Kennedy’s artwork in the background,
our group sat in the Chamber tto participate in a mock session on the pending voting rights legislation. A true learning experience.
