by Judy Handley | Apr 17, 2022 | Cape Cod, USA |
2022 Life Logs, Day 107: We Made It!
Date: Sunday, April 17, 2022
Weather: Sunny & Windy in Boston, Hot in PR; Cold in Boston, Warm in Puerto Rico
Location: At Home in an Airbnb in Rincon, Puerto Rico
Despite Heather’s bout with Covid and a delayed flight, we made it to Puerto Rico on this Easter Sunday. The timing of Heather’s Covid made the lead up to the trip a little nerve wracking, but miraculously she tested negative yesterday. We flew on Frontier Airlines which was also a little nerve wracking this morning. Just as we got on the road, Heather got an email saying the flight was delayed by two hours. We decided to keep going as the Frontier website continued to say the flight was on time. Then she got another email saying the flight was delayed by only an hour and twenty minutes. When we reached the airport, we parked the van in front of the terminal, left the kids in the van, and Heather, Jed, and I went in to check the luggage and check on the actual flight time. When we told the attendant we planned to leave the airport and come back later for the flight, she warned us that the time might change again. It could be earlier. It seemed no one really knew what time we would depart. We left anyway and took a walk on the East Boston side of the Harborwalk along the water. We parked on the street by a park with soccer fields and a playground and an on ramp to the Harborwalk.
The boys wished they had brought a soccer ball but had to be content watching others play. We were literally blown away in East Boston as the wind was so strong and cold.
So we quickly returned to the airport to park in the long term parking garage and take the shuttle bus to Terminal E. There was only one restaurant open, so we ate an early lunch and then boarded the flight that was delayed a little more than two hours. Watching the Goldpebbles listening to music with their variety of ear buds and headphones while waiting was quite the picture.
The weather in Puerto Rico was a bit different from the sunny, but chilly Easter morning in Boston. It was hot and sultry, the kind of weather I love. We picked up our bags and our rental van and headed to Rincon. It is a two-and-a-half-hour drive from San Juan to Rincon which seemed like forever after a four-and-a-half-hour plane ride. But it was all worth it when we got to Finca Maravilla and were greeted by Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco. There is nothing so wonderful than having the whole family together. The Easter bunny had left goodies for us and Justin brought the bunnies inside to give us a big Easter welcome.
Then it was on to the Airbnb for a midnight swim in the pool.
Wonderful beginning to our PR vacation.
by Judy Handley | Apr 16, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 106: Fingers Crossed—Puerto Rico Tomorrow
Date: Saturday, April 16, 2022
Weather: Partly Cloudy and Windy; High 62, Low 42 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
It looks like the Goldstones and I are headed for Puerto Rico tomorrow morning. Everyone has tested negative for Covid, Heather just in the nick of time. None of us will be able to relax, however, until we are on the plane, and it is in the air. Heather is exhausted as she had to spend her entire afternoon totally repacking everything. Once the two big bags were packed, they were seriously overweight. So, she repacked everything in to four bags. It was cheaper to pay for four bags than two that were overweight. I delivered Shadow to Meghan and Sheri’s. Not everything got done, but it will still be here to do when we get home. I’ll head to Heather and Jed’s at 7 am and we will head to Boston from there. We take-off at 10:40, arrive in San Juan just after 3 pm, and then get in a rental van and head the two hours or so to Rincon on the western coast of Puerto Rico. Can’t wait to get there!
Tonight I watched another movie, the 2018 version of A Star is Born with Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga. What a powerful, powerful story of love and loss.
by Judy Handley | Apr 15, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 105: The Tide is Turning
Date: Friday, April 15, 2022
Weather: Mostly Sunny and Windy; High 63, Low 48 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
The tide is turning. Heather’s Covid test this morning showed that she is just barely positive. If things continue moving at the current speed, tomorrow she will test negative. Yay! Yay! Yay! Heather, Jed, and the boys are so anxious to be together as a family again. Heather has been living, sleeping, and eating separately since she knew she was exposed to Covid. I don’t know what they decided about having a seder for Passover tonight. I usually join them, but if they did have the meal together, I thought they should have it together without anyone else involved. I stayed home and watched a movie. I watched CODA (stands for child of deaf adults) and absolutely loved it. What a beautiful story. If you haven’t seen it, you must.
I spent my morning and early afternoon with the Goldpebbles shopping for snorkel gear for our time in Puerto Rico and then came home and packed. We are flying on Frontier which means you have to pay for everything, even carry-ons. When we booked the trip, we decided to pay for only two large bags. Today I packed a carry-on with my things and delivered the bag to the Goldstones late this afternoon. When they are packing tomorrow, if there is room in the two big bags for my things, they can make the transfer. We are not taking a lot of clothes, but there are six of us. And the snorkel gear, especially the dive fins, takes up a huge amount of room. If everything doesn’t fit into the two bags, they will leave my stuff in the carry-on, and I will just pay extra for it.
So, I am packed, but not quite ready for take-off. I need to change the water in the aquarium, transplant some of the seedlings to larger containers, clean up the mess I made while packing today, get Shadow packed and delivered to Meghan and Sheri, and clean house if time permits. Things are falling into place and hopefully this family vacation is really going to happen.
by Judy Handley | Apr 14, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 104: Shadow to Groomer, Shopping, Laundromat, Sam to Rowing
Date: Thursday, April 14, 2022
Weather: Mix of Sun, Clouds, and Fog; High 59, Low 44 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
I managed to spend my entire day in my car driving from one thing to another. It started when I took Shadow for his every six weeks’ grooming appointment. I dropped him off and then drove on to Boston on a scuba scouting trip. I wanted to check a couple of dive shops to see what they had in terms of snorkel masks, snorkels, and fins for the Goldpebbles. The places I checked out had almost nothing, but by the end of the day I did find two possibilities. I drove back to the Cape by way of Costco. I ran in quickly to see if they had gotten in swimwear, which they had not, stopped at a Petco to get food for Shadow as the pet stores here in Falmouth have not had a delivery of his new food for two weeks, stopped at a laundromat near Shadow’s groomer to do laundry and wait for Shadow to be done, and finally picked him up and headed home. I had five minutes to get him in the house and head back out to pick up Sam and take him to rowing.
That is a four-hour commitment as he rows for two hours and it is a 40-minute drive to and from, plus the drive from my house to Heather and Jed’s. Whew! What a day.
At least I now know where to take the Goldpebbles tomorrow to get the scuba gear they need. I’ll do that in the morning and then come home and pack for Puerto Rico. At least that is the plan.
I was so sad to hear from my friend Detta that her son Matthew just tested positive for Covid. He lives and works in New York City and says cases are rising there, as they are here. Like Heather, he was exposed to Covid though a work-related activity. I hope Matthew is as lucky as Heather and has a mild case. I have a real soft spot in my heart for Matthew as he was one of my favorite students ever.
by Judy Handley | Apr 13, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 103: Book Club and Soccer Practice
Date: Wednesday, April 13, 2022
Weather: Mostly Sunny and Warm; High 63, Low 49 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Woohoo! Jed and the three Goldpebbles all tested negative for Covid today. I have not tested, but I have had no symptoms. We still have three days to go before flying to Puerto Rico, but so far, so good. Heather is still slightly congested but has no other symptoms. The scratchy throat is gone, and she says she feels fine. We are living day to day, but hoping we will be on that plane on Sunday morning bound for San Juan.
This morning my book club met once again on Zoom as a measure of Covid caution. Every member is gathering with family this weekend, so we decided to be extra cautious. Thankfully, our group has found meeting on Zoom almost the same as meeting in person. We do miss the face-to-face socialization, but the discussion of the books is just as effective on Zoom as in person. Today we discussed a book I had recommended, Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley, It is a ‘must read’ if you are interested in what it might be like to grow up in modern day America as the member of an indigenous community. The author is an enrolled member of the Sault Ste. Marie Chippewa Indian tribe, an Ojibwe community in the upper peninsula of Michigan. This is the setting for the book. And she is the daughter of a tribal ‘firekeeper’, a person whose responsibility it is to keep the ceremonial fire burning during spiritual activities while providing cultural teachings through stories.
This evening I took Sam to his soccer practice which was at the Cape Cod Academy fields between here and Hyannis. I enjoyed watching his game on Sunday because the team seemed so upbeat and supportive of each other. I’ve watched a lot of grandson soccer games, but I had never seen camaraderie quite like I witnessed on Sunday. Then this evening when Sam got out of the car this evening, team members ran to meet him with big smiles on their faces, even hugs. It is such a treat to see teenage boys so happy. Part of it must be cultural. Most team members and two of the coaches are Brazilian. But they have obviously ‘adopted’ Sam as one of their own. He admits that he has never had so much fun playing soccer, even just practicing, as he does with this team. How lucky he is to be associated with this team.
by Judy Handley | Apr 12, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 102: Daffodils and Osprey
Date: Tuesday, April 12, 2022
Weather: Drizzle Early, Sunny Mid-Afternoon; High 63, Low 42 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
It might not be as warm as I’d like, but the beauty of springtime abounds around me. The daffodils in the woods surrounding the cottage and across the driveway in my neighbor’s gardens are in full bloom and the osprey are back circling and soaring above. When the wind stops blowing and the sun comes out, it is warm and beautiful. That happened around 2:30 this afternoon, so I immediately took Shadow for a walk in the sunshine and then headed to Heather’s to plant peas. I planted my peas on April Fool’s Day, but it has been so cool and windy since that it just didn’t seem like planting time. I had put together two hardware cloth barriers to put around the peas to keep the critters out, but when I got to that stage of the project at Heather’s this afternoon, I discovered my barriers were too small to go around the bean towers that will support the peas. I will have to find more hardware cloth tomorrow to finish the project. But the peas are planted. Now we just need the weather to warm up a tad.
Late morning, I had my every two-month chiropractor appointment to make sure things are aligned properly. When I asked Michael, my chiropractor, why I have to continue to do leg stretching exercises and bridges every morning to keep things aligned between appointments, he simply said, “Age and previous damage to your lower back.” He smiled as he said it and told me to expect to keep doing these exercises, plus walking at least 30 minutes or more, every day for the rest of my life if I want to keep moving. He also thinks when I have my right knee replaced, it will be easier to keep things aligned. At present, one side of my body is constantly compensating for the weaker side. I did have that the surgery scheduled in early March of 2020 but cancelled it when Covid hit. Maybe next winter.
On the Covid front, Heather still has a scratchy throat, but no other symptoms. According to CDC guidelines, tomorrow she will consider relaxing her quarantine just a bit. Everyone in the house has been masked and she has contained herself in one part of the house for the last few days. She will continue eating and sleeping separately and will certainly stay masked through day ten, but she hopes to be able to help-out with morning and evening kids responsibilities after tomorrow. She will test first, and then make her decision. But we are still hopeful that we are on course for heading to Puerto Rico on Sunday. I love these “wait and see” situations! Just in case, after my chiropractor appointment this morning, I did a little hot weather clothes shopping. I have been wearing the same bathing suit for three years now, so I bought a new bathing suit and a warm weather shirt. Hopefully, I get to use them in Puerto Rico next week.
The boys wished they had brought a soccer ball but had to be content watching others play. We were literally blown away in East Boston as the wind was so strong and cold.
So we quickly returned to the airport to park in the long term parking garage and take the shuttle bus to Terminal E. There was only one restaurant open, so we ate an early lunch and then boarded the flight that was delayed a little more than two hours. Watching the Goldpebbles listening to music with their variety of ear buds and headphones while waiting was quite the picture.
Then it was on to the Airbnb for a midnight swim in the pool.
Wonderful beginning to our PR vacation.
