by Judy Handley | Sep 20, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 263: Phone Calls and Rowing
Date: Tuesday, September 20, 2022
Weather: Mostly Cloudy; High 69, Low 57 degrees
Location: At Home in the Cottage, Falmouth, MA
My day was spent receiving and making phone calls concerning my sister’s health care. Now that I am her Medical POA, there is much to do. Many things went by the wayside since my niece, who was in charge of her care until recently, was battling her personal fight against cancer, and still is. I was literally on the phone for almost six hours. Ouch! Then I left to drive Sam to rowing. Looks like tomorrow might be more of the same.
by Judy Handley | Sep 19, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 262: Good News from PR, Not So Good News Here
Date: Monday, September 19, 2022
Weather: Overcast; High 72, Low 64 degrees
Location: At Home in the Cottage, Falmouth, MA
What a wonderful surprise to hear from Justin first thing this morning via text. Things are a bit of mess at Finca Maravilla.
Trees fell, hordes of rain fell and is still falling, but in the end, all is well. Hurricane Fiona left them with no electricity or water, but Justin and Jo have learned to live with that. They now have a solar power back up and they drive about two miles to a roadside spring to get water. They have a Berkey water filter, so life is good. Branches and trees are everywhere, so clean up will take a bit, but they and their home are safe for now. I was so grateful to hear this first thing morning. Thanks and praises.
I drove Sam to rowing this afternoon. Sam and Ollie were in the driveway using the new forge when I arrived.
Sam and I took off and returned home just after 7:30.
So far, so good. Then the not so good news came in, At dinner time this evening, Jonah didn’t feel so good. Jed tested him for Covid, and sure enough, he was positive. Since Sam, Ollie, and I were in the car with Jonah yesterday for a couple of hours, and in the van with him on Saturday for a few hours, we have all been exposed. When Jed called me tonight with the news, he explained that he is doing his best to separate everyone in the house to keep further exposure down. Now we just have to wait and see what happens. In the meantime, I said I would continue to take Sam to rowing every afternoon and do what other things that might be helpful during the days. Heather won’t be home until Friday afternoon, so Jed will have to keep things going until then. I will certainly spend my day tomorrow cooking just in case I get Covid. I made soup today and will freeze some of that. I will make more soup and a few other things tomorrow. If I do get Covid, at least I will have something to ear. I know it is a big ask, but I hope that by some miracle none of the rest of us gets it.
by Judy Handley | Sep 18, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 261–Puerto Rico, Soccer, NYC, Forge in the Driveway
Date: Sunday, September 18, 2022
Weather: Beautiful, Sunny Day; High 76, Low 62 degrees
Location: At Home in the Cottage, Falmouth, MA
I spent my entire morning nailing down flights to Puerto Rico and home in November. The flight to Puerto Rico I wanted was no longer available and all the flight costs have increased since I started looking into this earlier in the week. I basically had to start from scratch and be creative. I booked two one-way flights to get as close to what I wanted as possible. Just as I sent the email to Justin and Jo, the phone rang. It was Justin, but it was not about the email I had just sent. It was his attempt to convince me that I didn’t need to worry about them as Hurricane Fiona was descending upon the island. They lost electricity momentarily while we were talking, and our call abruptly ended. Justin did call back. He wanted me know that they might not be able to contact me for a few days, but that he will call as soon as he can. After we hung up, I found out Fiona had strengthened to a Category 2 hurricane, but it is the rain, not the wind, that looks like it will be the biggest problem. Hope with me that all will be okay. I know Justin said not to worry, but that is just not possible.
After getting off the phone with Justin, it was time to take Shadow out for a little exercise before leaving for the afternoon. We played ball in the driveway, then I drove into town to pick up the Goldpebbles. When I arrived, they had their new forge up and running in the driveway.
It is run on propane and works quite well. But it was time for us to head to drive the hour to the Monomoy High soccer fields for Jonah’s game. Jed promised they could continue when we got home, so off we went. We dropped off Jonah for pregame warm up and Sam, Ollie, and I walked across the street to the Harwich Harvest Festival. Right inside the gate, supporters of the Long Pond Rowing Club were selling shirts and had an erg on display. Sam couldn’t keep himself from getting on the erg and doing a bit of a workout. We walked around to see the arts and crafts on display and all three of us enjoyed the woodworking items the most. Then, it was off the to game which Jonah’s team won 3-1.
We stopped in Hyannis to get hamburgers at Five Guys for dinner and then headed back to 43 Grasmere where the forging continued.
And when I drove into my driveway, I got a text from Heather saying she was at Wicked on Broadway. Lucky one! The Climate Week activities start tomorrow, so she was enjoying a bit of New York City tonight. Thankfully she is still testing negative for Covid.
by Judy Handley | Sep 17, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 260: Newport Boat Show
Date: Saturday, September 17, 2022
Weather: Beautiful, Sunny Day; High 68, Low 61 degrees
Location: At Home in the Cottage, Falmouth, MA
It was a beautiful day for the Newport Boat Show. Heather and family, plus myself, tested for Covid this morning. Thankfully we are all still negative. Jed is feeling so much better, but he is still testing positive. He went to the boat show, but he drove separately and stayed masked the whole time. We all had a good time. Heather and Jed were disappointed that that there were not as many vendors there with things they were interested in, but they learned about a number of new products that can help them with some of their boat issues. The boys enjoyed visiting the various booths and touring some of the many boats on display.
We also really enjoyed our ride into Newport and took the scenic route through Newport on the way home.
The coast is just beautiful. The boys have been to Newport to boat shows in the past, but they were so young that they really didn’t remember much about the town. They enjoyed driving past the beautiful mansions on Ocean Drive. We all decided we would return when we can spend a whole day just exploring Newport.
Heather leaves for New York City tomorrow for Climate Week. She will return on Friday. In the meantime, I will be doing what I can to help Jed keep the Goldpebbles on the move. And I am thinking of Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco as Tropical Storm Fiona nears Puerto Rico. Here’s hoping she stays a tropical storm and not a hurricane.
by Judy Handley | Sep 16, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 259: Busy Day
Date: Friday, September 16, 2022
Weather: Sunny; High 71, Low 49 degrees
Location: At Home in the Cottage, Falmouth, MA
This was a busy, and at times, a very frustrating day. My first stop today was at the UPS Store to send a FAX to my sister’s new physician. They tried and tried to send it, but the line was constantly busy. I called for the second time to make sure I had the right number. I did, but receptionist said it is always busy. Great. The young man helping me said he would keep trying and I could check back at the end of the day. (I did and it did finally send.) So, on we (me and my Shadow) went. I have needed to go to Costco for weeks, so I decided to do that today. I stopped in Buzzards Bay at a laundromat that I knew was on the way, filled two washers, and asked the woman that works there if she could put my laundry in the dryer for me while I ran errands. Sure, for a price. So, I paid and said I would pick up the laundry on my way home. Then on to Costco, back to the laundromat to fold clothes, and then back home. I had invited Karen Baranowski over for happy hour at 4:30, or so I thought. When I got home at 4:10, she was waiting in the driveway. Oops! I checked my text and saw I had invited her over at 4 pm. Despite my tardiness, we had a wonderful two hours sitting down by the dock eating shrimp cocktail, drinking wine, playing ball with Shadow, all while savoring one of the last beautiful days of summer 2022. Then tonight I have spent the entire evening struggling to make flight reservations to visit Justin and family for Thanksgiving. I won’t go into the gory details, but I still am not sure I have a confirmed flight. If not, I’ll have to continue that battle tomorrow night as tomorrow is the Newport Boat Show. Onward!
by Judy Handley | Sep 15, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 258: Lunch with Friends, Rowing, and Flosses
Date: Thursday, September 15, 2022
Weather: Mostly Sunny and Cooler; High 71, Low 49 degrees
Location: At Home in the Cottage, Falmouth, MA
The women in my dining-in group try to meet for lunch to celebrate birthdays. Olivia had her 85th birthday in late July and each attempt to meet for her birthday lunch was cancelled due to changes in plans and illness. Jane’s 75+ birthday (she stopped counting at 75) birthday is in early October, but she will be gone on a cruise and Midge (a member of the group but not with a current birthday) leaves next week for a month in Paris. So, in desperation, we set today as a celebration for Olivia and Jane.
It was now or never, and we had a lovely lunch at the Chart Room in their outside tented area. It was a bit on the cool side today, but the sun was shining brightly, and we thoroughly enjoyed lunch and conversation. A great birthday celebration for Olivia and Jane.
I came home to do a couple of things and then it was time to take Shadow with me to pick up Sam and drive him to Harwich for rowing. While Sam was rowing, Shadow and I walked and enjoyed the beautiful weather. Sam rowed 5K on the erg on land and then went out with his foursome and rowed from one end of the lake to the other. When he got in the car to drive home, he actually looked a little pale. He was totally exhausted, so instead of doing his math homework on his computer, I told him to rest. He rowed 2K on the erg yesterday and that was tiring, but today was over the top. He’ll be fine, but we’ll do homework on the way to rowing in the future.
When we got back to Heather and Jed’s, Heather came outside to greet us with some good news. Jed no longer has a fever and is feeling much better. All of us are still testing negative, so we are hopeful no one else gets Covid this round. If Jed continues to improve, he can go to the boat show with us on Saturday. He will be masked, of course, but since it is mostly outside, it should be fine. And Heather sent me home with enough Tuscan Stew for my dinner and lunch tomorrow. That was much appreciated as I have had no time to cook this week. I have had beet, feta, and arugula salads for the past two nights, so the Tuscan Stew was a welcome change. Thank you, Heather.
Then later in the evening I got a message from Heather that was the highlight of my day. To appreciate this, you need some background information. When Heather was little, she called all flowers ‘flosses’. The whole family loved the word, so all of us started calling flowers ‘flosses’ and have continued that to this day. I can remember this year in June when the purple Irises in my gardens were in full bloom saying to Ollie and Jonah that the purple ‘flosses’ were so beautiful. So, tonight Heather was working the NYT mini-crossword with Jonah and Ollie. The crossword clue was “a flamboyant purple flower” to which Jonah tried to use the word ‘flos’. Heather had to correct Jonah and told him the word was Iris. Then Heather wrote to me, “Apparently, Jonah and Oliver both thought flosses were a real type of flower. I just disillusioned them. They’ve taken it fairly well, but there were some truly appalled looks!” I literally choked on my beer when I read that and replied, “Oh, but I am sure flosses are a real classification of flower, Flosses americanus. I have some in my gardens!” And then I had to break it to Heather that pumkmans (Justin’s name for pumpkins) are real, too.
