by Judy Handley | May 17, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 137: MelMel, Please Come Home
Date: Tuesday, May 17, 2022
Weather: Sunny and Windy; High 66, Low 51 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
MelMel is the nickname for Melbourne, the Goldstone’s male kitten. Well, I guess he is not really still a kitten. He and his sister, Leo, arrived at 43 Grasmere on May 14 last year when they were eight weeks old. Now, this afternoon, one year and three days later, Mel went missing. Mel and Leo are house cats, and I don’t think either one has ever been outside. But tonight, after an exhaustive search, Mel is nowhere to be found. Hopefully he will show up tomorrow. MelMel, please, please come home!
This morning Shadow and I went for a walk with friend, Olga Mitchell. We had hoped to walk through Spohr Gardens with Shadow, but when we got there, we discovered no dogs are allowed. We did a short walk with Shadow and then left him in the car while we walked through the gardens.
Then we drove to nearby Quissett Harbor and walked with Shadow out to the Knob.
It is one of the most beautiful places in Falmouth, so we soaked in the sunshine and the beauty.
I came home and got another raised bed ready for planting. Now I have only one more to go. Then later in the afternoon, I drove Sam to rowing in Hyannis. Just after we arrived, it started pouring rain, so going out in the boats was delayed. But the rain stopped, the sunshine returned, and they went out.
I was supposed to take Sam to Scouts when we returned to Falmouth, but he was soaking wet and decided to go home and skip Scouts for tonight. When we got home, Ollie decided to take Shadow for a walk using a new leash I had bought for him. When I left home to go get Sam, I put Shadow in the car but not his leash. I stopped at Job Lot to buy a leash, but all they had were those retractable leashes. I figured that would do for one evening, so I bought it. But unfortunately, when Ollie took off with Shadow, Shadow took off and Ollie ended up falling and skidding on the pavement on his knee. Ouch. Ollie was a little shaken and when he went inside for a little R&R on the sofa, Shadow insisted on lying down right beside him.
It was like he knew he had caused Ollie to be sad and he wanted to make up for it.
Just got a text from Heather. MelMel is back. All is well.
by Judy Handley | May 16, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 136: Monday, Monday
Date: Monday, May 16, 2022
Weather: Partly Sunny; High 70, Low 55 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Due to my lingering lack of motivation, my Monday was not a particularly productive day. I did go play Mah Jongg this morning at Claudia Needham’s home and afterwards I asked if I could go out back and see the raised bed gardens. Last week after play Mah Jongg, Claudia’s husband, Peter, gave those of us interested huge heads of red lettuce from the garden and I wanted to see the source. Their backyard has full sun all day, so Peter gives credit to the full sunshine and the fact that they make their own blend of organic garden soil for producing such robust veggies. This should have motivated me to come home and work in my gardens, but that didn’t happen. I think I am still recuperating from (wo)manhandling the 58-pound bags of raised bed garden soil yesterday. There was a time in my life when lifting a 50-pound bag was no problem, but those days are long gone. Maybe I’ll recuperate enough by tomorrow to do more (wo)man-handling and gardening.
In the afternoon, Peter Baranowski came over to try and put my wooden garden bench back together. A few weeks ago, while he and Karen were over playing with Shadow, they sat on the bench and the next thing they knew, they were on their backs on the ground looking up at the sky. The bench totally collapsed. Thankfully they were not hurt. I have been unsure of what I should do about the bench, but Peter insisted that he put it back together. He worked all afternoon and I worked much of that time with him. We did get it back together, but I am not convinced that I want anyone sitting on it again until I have found a way to reinforce it. Time ran out today as I had to stop to go take Jonah to his weekly music lesson and Peter had to go home to have dinner. I’ll check it out tomorrow and decide what to do about it.
When I went to pick up Jonah, I heard the exciting news that Heather and Jed might be the new owners of a Cape Dory 36 sailboat named Eider. They have made an offer and are waiting for either a counter-offer or an acceptance. The boat is seven hours away in Brooklin, Maine, but if the offer is accepted, Heather is thinking of flying up on Saturday morning to see it, returning home Saturday afternoon. Jed leaves for England on Wednesday and flies on to Sweden on Saturday. Jed returns next Thursday, but Heather leaves for the West Coast on Tuesday. I will be a one busy Oma for the next week and a half!
by Judy Handley | May 15, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 135: Sunday Gardening
Date: Sunday, May 15, 2022
Weather: Partly Cloudy Early, Turning Sunny; High 67, Low 54 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
What I could once accomplish in one day takes multiple days as I grow older. Could I really be moving this slowly? Or maybe I never really accomplished so much. Maybe I just thought I did. I think that, then I face the truth, knowing that I simply move slower than I once did. Today, I spent an entire day getting one of three raised beds ready to plant when I had hoped to get all three done. Just the new normal. But at least I did get one raised bed done. ‘Done’ included removing the chicken wire fencing around the bed, digging out the grass that was growing around the edges, topping off the bed with organic manure and raised bed garden soil, digging that in and then planting lettuce and basil plants I grew from seed, planting arugula and zinnia seeds, replacing the chicken wire fencing, and then putting the drip irrigation lines back in the bed.
It is a lot to do in one day, so going forward, I will plan to do only one raised bed a day and be glad that I can do that! One down, two to go.
by Judy Handley | May 14, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 134: Ollie’s Soccer Game, Women’s March, Gardening
Date: Saturday, May 14, 2022
Weather: Misty Overnight, Sunny, Warm Day; High 73, Low 55 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Last night when I took Shadow out before bedtime, I was surprised by the amount of mist in the air. I was wearing a headlamp and there was so much moisture in the air that it looked like it was snowing in the light of the lamp. Then when I took Shadow out this morning, I was greeted by plants with droplets of water left over from the misty night. The baby oak leaves were heavily laden with droplets of water that glistened in the early morning light and the clematis at the corner of the house was bursting with blossoms.
I took a few photos, took Shadow for a walk, and then I was off to Ollie’s 9 am soccer game. He played most of the first half as goalie,
and then switched to forward in the second half and made the only goal for his team.
In fact, I think it was the last goal of the season. Sam’s league has a few more games, but Ollie and Jonah’s next games will be in the fall.
Early afternoon I headed to the Town Greene to attend Falmouth’s Bans Off Our Bodies Women’s March.
And I ended my day delivering some plants to Heather’s and checking in with Ollie after his day at the Cub Scout Pinewood Derby. He was bummed that he did not win a trophy this year, but his car was a red, white, and blue beauty. Then it was home to do a little garden clean up. Hopefully tomorrow, I will actually get to do little planting.
by Judy Handley | May 13, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 133: Incredibly Unmotivated
Date: Friday, May 13, 2022
Weather: Sunshine in the Afternoon; High 67, Low 55 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Today was a repeat of yesterday, weatherwise—a warm, cloudy morning and a sunny afternoon. The north wind is gone for now. And that is all good. But for whatever reason, I am having difficulty getting motivated to do much of anything. Earlier this week, I made a TO DO list with thirty items. Only six of those items were outside chores, but guess where I have spent my time? Yes, outdoors. I am doing a great job of ignoring the inside cleaning jobs. And I have only marked two outdoor chores off the list and am working on a third. Maybe motivation will come my way tomorrow.
Since I was not motivated to actually get anything done, I spent two hours of today driving off-Cape to return an item I had bought (and ended up not needing) for the trip to Puerto Rico. And I went to the nursery and bought bags of organic soil for raised beds to rejuvenate my gardens. That was the extent of my day. But I did receive a video from Heather this evening that made my day. Tonight was a mother-son dance at Ollie’s school. He refused to go because he thought it was silly that just moms and sons were allowed to attend. Why couldn’t dads attend? What about the boys who don’t have mothers? Why couldn’t girls come with their moms? The questions went on, so Heather did not push going. Instead, they had a mom, dad, and son dance at home. Sam and Jonah are on Nantucket camping this weekend, so Ollie had his parents all to himself. And dance, he did. The video Heather sent was a fantastic Ollie solo. He is quite an impressive dancer.
by Judy Handley | May 12, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 132: Laundry Day
Date: Thursday, May 12, 2022
Weather: Sunshine in the Afternoon; High 69, Low 51degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Overnight we went from a forecast of days in the 50’s and nights in the 40’s for the next week to days in the 60’s and nights in the 50’s. Sunshine was not in the forecast, but we got that this afternoon as well. I LOVE IT! When I got up this morning, I knew it was warmer than it has been as I had kicked off the winter comforter. I thought maybe I had a temp from the Covid booster, but that was not it. The temperature in the cottage had gone up overnight, not down as usual. I decided that it was the day to change the bed sheets and switch out the winter comforter for the lighter, spring comforter. So, I decided to give Shadow a bath and then take the sheets and duvet cover to the laundromat. Tonight I have a clean dog and a clean bed. That was about it for my day.
Then we drove to nearby Quissett Harbor and walked with Shadow out to the Knob.
It is one of the most beautiful places in Falmouth, so we soaked in the sunshine and the beauty.
I came home and got another raised bed ready for planting. Now I have only one more to go. Then later in the afternoon, I drove Sam to rowing in Hyannis. Just after we arrived, it started pouring rain, so going out in the boats was delayed. But the rain stopped, the sunshine returned, and they went out.
I was supposed to take Sam to Scouts when we returned to Falmouth, but he was soaking wet and decided to go home and skip Scouts for tonight. When we got home, Ollie decided to take Shadow for a walk using a new leash I had bought for him. When I left home to go get Sam, I put Shadow in the car but not his leash. I stopped at Job Lot to buy a leash, but all they had were those retractable leashes. I figured that would do for one evening, so I bought it. But unfortunately, when Ollie took off with Shadow, Shadow took off and Ollie ended up falling and skidding on the pavement on his knee. Ouch. Ollie was a little shaken and when he went inside for a little R&R on the sofa, Shadow insisted on lying down right beside him.
It was like he knew he had caused Ollie to be sad and he wanted to make up for it. 
