by Judy Handley | Jun 16, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 167: Gardening at Olga’s
Date: Thursday, June 16, 2022
Weather: Partly Sunny; High 71, Low 63 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Finally, today I had a little more energy and managed to get some gardening done. This summer I have my gardens, plus my friend Olga let me plant tomatoes in her raised beds that are in full sun. We also jointly planted some cucumber and squash plants. We did this right before I left for Virginia, and we didn’t have the time to get her drip irrigation system going. Upon return from Virginia, I heard from Olga that she had not been able to get it going, so that was my task today. I planted more garlic for Olga and planted the last of my tomato plants and then got the irrigation system going. But I need to make some changes. In an area where she has garlic planted, the irrigation heads need to be replaced with ones that can be regulated. And where the tomatoes are, more water is needed. But at least everything will get watered everyday until I can make the changes.
Tomorrow morning, I drive back to Providence, RI to pick Heather up and then return to have lunch with friend Karen Baranowski. Hopefully I will get to gardening in my raised beds on Saturday. And hopefully this burst of energy is here to stay.
by Judy Handley | Jun 15, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 166: Oh, That Strawberry Full Moon
Date: Wednesday, June 15, 2022
Weather: Sunny with Puffy White Clouds; High 72, Low 55 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Last night after I wrote and sent my log out, I went outside with Shadow for his last pee break of the day. As I walked out the door, I stopped dead in my tracks. That Strawberry Full Moon looked huge hanging in the sky in front of me. Beautiful!
Today was a driving day. Shadow and I left home at 9:50 am to go pick up Heather and take her to the train station in Providence about an hour and 15 minutes from here. Our plan was to leave at 10:20 am, getting us to the train station about 15 minutes prior to Heather’s train to NYC. Before I got to her house, she texted that Sullivan Tire had contacted Jed and said her car was ready. Once I picked her up, we thought there was time for me to take her Sullivan so she could drive herself to Providence. But there was so much traffic in town, we decided against it. We had not built in the time for her to park and get to the gate. I think I am still in shock from getting to the airport too late to check my baggage for my trip to Virginia, so I insisted on driving her.
After dropping Heather at the train station, I headed to a West Marine in Seekonk, a little town just off the highway on the way home. I wanted to see a dinghy they had on display and there is not one at our Falmouth West Marine. I was glad I stopped because it is not a dinghy I would recommend anyone buying. I no sooner got back in the car and headed back toward the highway when I got a call from Jed. He desperately needed dry ice for an experiment he was running and the closest place to Cape Cod to get the dry ice happens to be on the way home from Providence, just north of Fall River. The dry ice was supposed to be delivered to WHOI yesterday, but there was a shipping problem. Stopping to pick it up was a little out of the way for me, but I was glad to do it. By the time I picked up the dry ice, took Shadow for a little walk, and drove back to the Cape and on down to Woods Hole, it was 2 pm. Jed was behind on his experiment schedule since he was waiting for the dry ice, so I offered to hang out in Falmouth and pick Ollie up from school at 3:30 pm. And then I offered to wait until Jed got home from work and take him to Sullivan Tire to pick up the car. By the time I got home it was 5 pm and I was exhausted. I am not sure why I am so tired. Tomorrow I’m just going to sit at my computer all day and search for a dinghy for Heather and Jed. If sitting still all day makes me tired, I’m going to get worried that something is really wrong. Hopefully a quiet day will solve the problem.
by Judy Handley | Jun 14, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 165: Moving a Little Faster
Date: Tuesday, June 14, 2022
Weather: Sunny; High 76, Low 59 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Slowly, slowly, I am coming back to a normal pace of life. Today I was moving a little faster than yesterday and I actually got a lot of gardening done. I went to my monthly book club meeting this morning and after listening to one member talk about her garden, I decided to head home and get to work. I spent way too much time trying to fix a leak in my drip irrigation system. The leak was at the faucet end and what I eventually discovered was that a hose washer was missing from one of the main parts. Once I put in a new washer, things were good, but I had spent almost an hour getting to that point and in the process had to go to the hardware store to get a new pipe wrench to tighten things. I know I once had one, but it was nowhere to be found today. I also spent time online looking for a dinghy for Heather and Jed. Tomorrow I will take Heather to Providence so she can catch the train to New York City for a meeting and I will get a chance to talk with her about dinghies.
When I was in Virginia, I got word that my niece Jennifer who lives in the Charlotte area was having emergency brain surgery. Jennifer is one of my sister Patsy’s two children. Patsy and I are the last of our generation. She is almost 89 and is living near Jennifer in an assisted living facility. She moved there from Nashville last June, but she has never really settled in. Jennifer has been with her almost every day to keep her company, and otherwise she really doesn’t go out of her room. But Jennifer has cancer and last week a brain tumor had to suddenly be removed. Jennifer is doing great, but it will be sometime before she will be able to visit with Patsy again. So I have been spending a lot of time on the phone trying to encourage my sister to at least go to the dining room for lunch and dinner. She has been having food delivered to her room, but that means that she does not get out to meet people. Today was a success. She went to lunch and dinner in the dining room. I am so grateful for small victories.
by Judy Handley | Jun 13, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 164: Slow Re-entry
Date: Monday, June 13, 2022
Weather: Thunderstorms Early, Mostly Sunny Day; High 76, Low 59 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Slowly, every so slowly, I am getting back into my normal day to day life after my wonderful week in Virginia. Today I finished cleaning the refrigerator, took Shadow to the vet for a shot, watched some of the congressional hearing, planned a Newcomers field trip, went to Sullivan Tire to get help taking my old, rusty bike rack off the back of my car, went to the library to get a new book to read, and took Jonah and Sam to music lessons. I didn’t get any gardening done. Maybe that will happen tomorrow after my book club meeting.
by Judy Handley | Jun 12, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 163: Lost Day
Date: Sunday, June 12, 2022
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, Some Rain; High 72, Low 63 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
After returning from my week in Virginia, I was full of energy yesterday. But today I crashed. I felt exhausted and had absolutely no desire to do anything. I pushed myself to do some yard work and plant a few things in the garden, but that was it outside. Inside, I cleaned the bottom half of my refrigerator and hope to complete the job tomorrow. The refrigerator is almost empty, so before filling it up again I decided to start the cleaning process. I also had to deal with a hacked Facebook page. That seems to happen every time I travel. Sure hope I wake up a little more energetic tomorrow!
by Judy Handley | Jun 11, 2022 | Cape Cod, USA |
2022 Life Logs, Day 162: Reunion with My Shadow
Date: Saturday, June 11, 2022
Weather: Sunny; High 76, Low 60 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Shadow might possibly be ill-behaved, but I sure was so happy to be reunited with him today. I really missed him, and I think he missed me.
As soon as I arrived to pick him up, after jumping all over me, he got in the back seat of the car and somehow managed to shut the door behind him. It was obvious he was ready to head home.
I picked up Jonah on the way home so he could cut Shirley’s grass, and while he was doing that, I gathered sailing charts for the northeast. Next weekend Heather and Jed go to Maine for the the survey and sea trials for the sailboat they hope to own soon. If all goes well, the following weekend they will return for the closing and begin sail home. That will happen in stages over a couple of weekends. But sometime in July, there should be a new ‘Goldstone’ sailboat on a mooring in Marion.
