by Judy Handley | Oct 14, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 287: Mah Jong and Teeny, Tiny Ticks
Date: Friday, October 14, 2022
Weather: Rain and Windy, Clearing Late PM; High 66, Low 63 degrees
Location: At Home in the Cottage, Falmouth, MA
No. Mah Jong and ticks have nothing in common as the title to this log might indicate. I just experienced both today. During the night, I kept waking up when I rolled onto my left side. There were two places just under my rib cage that really hurt when touched. I assumed I had somehow bruised my side. Once I got up, I forgot about it. But when I was getting ready to go play Mah Jong, I put on a different top. In doing so, I once again felt the pain and decided to take a look. What I found were two very red spots with a teeny, tiny tick dug into my skin in the middle of each red spot. I quickly removed the ticks, rubbed the spots with alcohol, and took off for my 1 pm Mah Jong game. I had to set the ticks aside for a couple of hours.
In the fall of 2019, I joined a Newcomers group to learn how to play Mah Jong. I was just getting the hang of it when Covid came along, and I stopped playing for the next two years. This spring I joined another learning group. Again, I was getting the hang of it when summer came along and ended my playing again. Today was my first Mah Jong game since the spring. I am still learning, but the group I played with today was very tolerant. I will continue to play once a week and hope the other players can be patient with me while I continue developing my skills.
I must admit that I was a bit distracted today knowing I needed to talk to my doctor about the tick bites. As soon as we ended our games for this afternoon, I headed to a walk-in clinic to deal with the tick situation. Since I had a whole-body scan at the dermatologist’s office yesterday morning and no ticks were seen, I’m virtually positive that I picked up the little critters during my walk at Bourne Farm yesterday. The doctor agreed and prescribed one megadose of Doxycycline that I was directed to take at bedtime tonight. Then all I can do is watch for symptoms over the next six weeks. Sure hope the Doxy does the trick.
by Judy Handley | Oct 13, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 286: Bourne Farm AM, Sam to Rowing PM
Date: Thursday, October 13, 2022
Weather: Overcast, Windy, Rain Late Afternoon; High 66, Low 63 degrees
Location: At Home in the Cottage, Falmouth, MA
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the American chestnut tree was one of the largest, tallest, and fastest-growing trees in the forests in the eastern United States. Then they were taken from us by blight. This morning I had an 8 am annual dermatology check-up in North Falmouth and afterwards, I arranged to meet friend Kate Eldred at the Bourne Farm in West Falmouth for a long overdue walk. Shadow and I arrived early and parked facing the fields of the farm. Directly in front of me were three trees with people picking up something on the ground under the trees. I watched more carefully and realized these were young chestnut trees that were full of nuts, many of which had fallen to the ground and were being scooped up. Beyond the chestnut trees, people were picking pumpkins. And fields were filled with people walking their dogs. The farm, founded in 1775, was abuzz on this morning. It was overcast, but we still had a nice walk. We had to do a bit of back-tracking as more than once we came to dead ends on the trail, but we still had a nice walk with beautiful fall views.
About halfway through the walk, I looked down and saw red Indian pipe growing. I have always thought there is only white Indian pipe, but I Googled it and sure enough there is a red variety.
That was an exciting find.
By the time I got home, had lunch, and watched a bit of the Congressional Hearing, it was time to go pick up Sam and head to Harwich for rowing practice. We knew it was going to start raining at some point in the late afternoon. Sure enough, as soon as the boats got out on the water, the sky opened, and we had pouring rain for a bit. Then it calmed down and become more of a constant drizzle. Sam said no one minded the rain. They actually thought rowing in the rain was fun.
by Judy Handley | Oct 12, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 285: Lunch by the Dock, Wine Group Evening
Date: Wednesday, October 12, 2022
Weather: Sunny and Warm; High 71, Low 56 degrees
Location: At Home in the Cottage, Falmouth, MA
Today was a beautiful Cape Cod fall day. I invited Karen Baranowski over for lunch and we ate down by the dock. We had Quiche Lorraine, with artichokes added, and a fall salad of Brussels sprouts, bacon, pecans, and dried cranberries. All delicious. After Karen left, I made Leaf Pie (Swiss chard and Manchego cheese) to take to my late afternoon wine group. It was my pairing for my Southern Right sauvignon blanc from South Africa. It was a beautiful day and a great day visiting with good friends.
by Judy Handley | Oct 11, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 284: Book Club, Rowing, Shadow to Groomer
Date: Tuesday, October 11, 2022
Weather: Partly Sunny; High 65, Low 51 degrees
Location: At Home in the Cottage, Falmouth, MA
Sunday night’s full moon is still hanging big in the sky above and the last couple of days have been ‘model’ fall days—mostly sunny, a little cool, just delightful. Today was doggie beauty shop day for Shadow, so we were up early and on the road to Pampered Pets for Shadow’s 9 am appointment. I dropped him off, stopped at the grocery store on the way home, checked email when I got home, and then it was time to head to my month book club. I came home, had a late lunch, and then headed into town to pick Sam up and head to Harwich for rowing practice. We left 10 minutes early so we could pick Shadow up on our way. It was a busy, but delightful day.
by Judy Handley | Oct 10, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 283: Sailing Day
Date: Monday, October 10, 2022
Weather: Partly Sunny; High 64, Low 46 degrees
Location: At Home in the Cottage, Falmouth, MA
Heather and family headed to their sailboat late yesterday to spend the night aboard and go sailing today. I was invited to sailing with them today, so off I went. The drive from here to Marion was a beautiful reminder that autumn is in its pride here on the Cape. We don’t get the the bright colors found further north, but the subtle colors of fall were beautiful.
It was overcast early with very little wind, but just after I arrived at the boat, the sun began to burn through the clouds. It became partly sunny, and the wind picked up and we had a great sail.
There was enough wind that the captain actually had to roll in the head sail and put out the jib to keep us a little more upright. We sailed south through Buzzards Bay, down around Cleveland Light,
and back to Wings Cove. The wind was behind us on the way home and we sailed wing and wing for most of the return trip.
It felt so good be out on the water.
by Judy Handley | Oct 9, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 282: Quiet Sunday
Date: Sunday, October 9, 2022
Weather: Partly Sunny, Cool; High 60, Low 42 degrees
Location: At Home in the Cottage, Falmouth, MA
Honestly, I didn’t do much of anything today. I did go to into town to run some errands and took Ollie to the skate park for an hour. I took Shadow for a walk early and played ball with him in the afternoon. And I watched a movie. That was my Sunday.
