by Judy Handley | Nov 12, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 316: Cooler Weather Arriving Tomorrow
Date: Saturday, November 12, 2022
Weather: Sunny and Warm; High 73, Low 50 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
We have been enjoying a run of warm weather, but it looks like that ends tomorrow. The forecast going forward for the next ten days looks much more like November in New England—highs in the 40’s and 50’s with low’s in the 30’s. It’s time, but I will really miss the warm fall 70’s and 80’s there. I will get one more week of warmth!
I spent my morning packing for that trip and then this afternoon, Shadow and I took Sam and Jonah to Harwich for soccer try-outs for the next season. Since they are already on the team, they are assured a position, but all players were asked to come and play. It was a great afternoon to be on the soccer field.
When I got home, I took a close look at the garden. Monday night the temp is supposed to dip below freezing, so I picked the last of the tomatoes. There were just a few Matt’s Wild Cherry tomatoes, so I will savor those.
Then Shadow and I went down by the water to play fetch and watched the sun go down, turning the white clouds a peachy pink.
Not dramatic, just lovely.
by Judy Handley | Nov 11, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 315: Honoring Veterans
Date: Friday, November 11, 2022
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, Warm; High 68, Low 63 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
The morning was spent honoring our Veterans,
the early afternoon was spent helping Ollie do yard work at the Goldstones, and later in the afternoon, I took Sam to Hyannis to meet up with his friend Robert and took my little Fit to Lou’s Custom Exhaust garage to get an estimate on repairing a rusty flange in my exhaust system.
Each year I attend Falmouth’s parade and ceremony on Veterans Day. I started going because the Goldpebbles march in the parade with their Scout troops. I still go for that reason, but I also appreciate setting aside the time each year to give thanks to those who serve our country.
I think the first time I attended Falmouth’s Veterans Day ceremony was in 2016. And my oh my, how the Goldpebbles have changed. Today, Ollie was in the Webelo Color Guard.
In 2016, he was too young to participate, and I have a photo of him sitting on the library lawn proudly holding up a late season dandelion he discovered.
Today, Jonah was also in the Color Guard for his Boy Scout troop.
In 2016, he was a Cub Scout and marched alongside mom, who was also a troop leader.
Today, Sam was the tallest Boy Scout in the parade.
How did that happen?
It was warm today, but there was no sunshine. Tonight, we are supposed to get rain and wind from Tropical Storm Nicole. The clouds are holding the warmth. It is after 10 pm and it is still 66 degrees outside. It was even warmer earlier today. After the ceremony, I stopped by Heather and Jed’s to pick up big bags of leaves to bring home for my soil building project. I wanted to get them before the wind and rain predicted for tonight. Ollie had three big bags ready for me, but there were empty bags and lots of leaves, so I stayed while he filled more bags. I decided to help by mowing the leaves and Ollie emptied the lawn mower bag into the big paper bags.
He also rode his little tractor while holding the leaf blower in order to blow the leaves where he wanted them.
He is quite creative and a hard worker. We ended up with ten bags of leaves by the time I had to leave to take Sam to Hyannis. But Jed reported tonight that Ollie kept working and has more bags that he put in the garage for me to pick up tomorrow.
I picked Sam up from the fire station at 3:30 to take him Hyannis. He and Jonah were at the fire station attending the first in a series of first aid classes. I think he said there are seven more classes in order to get the First Aid badge. I delivered Sam to Barnes and Nobles to meet up with Robert and then headed to Lou’s Custom Exhaust. They can do the job, but I have to return to Hyannis early on Tuesday morning to have the work done. The good news was that the estimate I got this afternoon was $150 instead of the $2,000 it would cost to replace the whole system. Whew!
by Judy Handley | Nov 10, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 314: Dancing Leaves
Date: Thursday, November 10, 2022
Weather: Mostly Sunny, Windy; High 63, Low 54 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Today’s highlight was watching the piles of oak leaves swirling in the wind. They looked like they were dancing. At one point when Shadow and I headed down Debbie Lane to begin our walk, we were following the dancing leaves. Otherwise, it was just a day . . . early morning dental cleaning, running errands, playing with Shadow down by the water while being watched by our resident great blue heron,
picking up Jonah and his big bass guitar after school, getting a muffler issue checked out, food shopping, and finally home. Tomorrow is Veteran’s Day and tomorrow night we are expecting gale force winds and rain from once Hurricane Nicole as she rolls northward as a storm. But by noon on Saturday, the rain and wind should have moved on leaving us with good weather for the remainder of the weekend.
by Judy Handley | Nov 9, 2022 | Cape Cod, USA |
2022 Life Logs, Day 313: Feeling Proud
Date: Wednesday, November 9, 2022
Weather: Sunny and Cool; High 51, Low 44 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
My day started on a high note. I watched a live stream of Heather moderating a panel at the climate conference in Egypt. I am always in awe of her abilities, but it was a very proud moment for this mom. I watched and kept taking photos of my computer screen to preserve the moment. Tonight, I told the Goldpebbles about their mom leading the panel discussion, explaining that it was just one of probably hundreds of side panel presentations at COP27, but still quite an accomplishment.
Jed mentioned that his mom had watched as well and said she had noted that you could always see Heather, no matter how far back the camera zoomed, as she had on her power red jacket.
Sam got a laugh out of that as he pointed out it is the same jacket Jonah wore on Halloween as The Joker. I love teenagers!
I also felt so relieved over the election results and felt so proud to be an American. For the most part, so far it seems that most candidates are giving acceptance or concession speeches as in a normal US election prior to 2016. That feeling of normalcy feels so good. We don’t know the final outcome, and some of my favorite candidates from around the country did not win, but it felt to me that democracy won the day. This afternoon I watched Biden’s press conference and felt proud again. I thought he set just the right tone for moving forward.
Monday night of this week I drove Jonah to soccer practice, last night I went on a full moon walk to a beach, and tonight I again drove Jonah to soccer practice. I think I get to stay home tomorrow night. Then on Friday morning, I will head downtown for the Veteran’s Day parade and program as the Goldpebbles will be in the parade. Then I am going to focus on getting ready for my visit to Puerto Rico. I will arrive there next Wednesday, and spend eight days with Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco, before returning home in the wee hours of day after Thanksgiving. I am really looking forward to spending time with Ziggy and Coco, and of course, Justin and Jo.
by Judy Handley | Nov 8, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 312: Climate Hell
Date: Tuesday, November 8, 2022
Weather: Sunny, Windy, and Cool; High 57, Low 34 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said at the opening of COP27, the climate talks in Egypt, “We are on a highway to climate hell with our foot on the accelerator.” The words to the AC/DC 1979 song, ‘Highway to Hell’, need to be rewritten.
The full moon was bright last night, so bright that the first time I got up during the night and looked I, I thought it had snowed. The moonlight shining on the pebble driveway definitely looked like snow! But by 4:30 am when I got to see the eclipse underway, the moon was behind the trees and out of my sight. But never fear. My son Justin, along with Ziggy and Coco, got up early this morning and drove down to the ocean to capture the eclipse. Justin got a great photo just before the full eclipse,
but when the eclipse was complete, the sun had come up and the moon entirely disappeared. Despite that, he relayed that it was a nice way to start the day.
And I made a decision to end my day once again focused on the moon. It was full yesterday, but still spectacular tonight. I went on an organized walk from Chapaquoit Beach to Black Beach with the 300 Committee. Olga Mitchell invited me to go along, and I am so glad I did. It was magical, especially viewing the full moon through the phragmites along the way and then viewing her from the beach with the sound of the waves washing ashore.
Nice way to end the day.
Watching the election returns. No comment . . . yet.
by Judy Handley | Nov 7, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 311: Newcomers Field Trip to the MFA
Date: Monday, November 7, 2022
Weather: Partly Sunny, Cooling Down; High 68, Low 41 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Early this morning, I was off to Boston with a few Newcomers on a field trip to the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) in Boston. When we arrived, Jane Woodin wanted to find the ruby and amethyst starfish brooch once owned by actress Claudette Colbert.
It is about four inches across and very red, much like the sea stars I admired so much in Madagascar. Our next stop was a quick run through a favorite for both of us, the Impressionism galleries. I had to see my favorite, Monet’s Water Lilies (1907),
and today I was fascinated with a much earlier painting, Flower Beds at Vétheuil (1881).
As with the sea star brooch, it was the bold red blossoms that caught my eye. I left Jane in the Art of the Americas galleries as she toured Art and Jazz as I had a timed entry to a LIFE Magazine exhibit.
The LIFE Magazine and the Power of Photography special exhibit was a display of the work and thinking of former LIFE contributors, subjects of photo-essays, and contemporary artists that addressed LIFE’s collaborative editorial process. I was especially impressed with the work of Alfredo Jaar, a Chilean-born and New York City based artist, whose work is a deep criticism of the media in questioning the ethics of representation and the politics of images—role of the photographer as witness. I loved the quote on the wall above Jaar in a video presentation. “Never be afraid of the enormity of the possible.” Then there was the display of Alexandra Bell, whose work challenges how the news is reported, giving a critical view in this era of fake news. Alfredo Jaar and Alexandra Bell offer, through their work, a new way of thinking about contemporary media today. Needless to say, the exhibit was thought provoking.
There were two car loads of us visiting the museum, and after lunch, my group met outside the museum and asked someone to take a photo of us before we headed home.
I made a pledge to return to the MFA more often. A quote from a book I read this summer sums up the feelings I had as we left. “Beautiful art opens our eyes to the beauty of the world. It repositions our sight and judgement.”
Then Shadow and I went down by the water to play fetch and watched the sun go down, turning the white clouds a peachy pink.
Not dramatic, just lovely. 
