by Judy Handley | Apr 11, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 101: Quiet Day at Home
Date: Monday, April 11, 2022
Weather: Partly Sunny, Windy; High 57, Low 44 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Today was a quiet day at home, but I spent a great deal of the day dealing with backing out of social commitments due to secondary exposure to Covid. I have not had direct contact with Heather since she was exposed to Covid last Tuesday, but I have had contact with the grandkids and I did go into Heather’s house on Saturday. I was masked and she was masked and at a great distance, but still I felt the need to let people know. I was supposed to host my book club here on Wednesday, but after sending an email explaining my situation, a decision was made to meet via Zoom. I was supposed to go to a Mah Jong class tomorrow, but again when I explained my situation, just as with my book club, people whose young grandchildren are coming to visit this holiday weekend, some babies, did not want to take the chance. And I don’t blame them. So, I won’t go to Mah Jong tomorrow.
Heather‘s Covid symptoms are very mild and now she is taking Paxlovid, an antiviral medication developed by Pfizer, and she is very hopeful that she will be okay to fly to Puerto Rico on Sunday. I heard tonight that Nancy Pelosi is now testing negative after only four days after her positive test result. I sure hope Heather can replicate that! In addition, the rest of us just needs to stay healthy. I was also in contact with Justin and Jo today to make plans for our arrival. Arriving on Easter Sunday on an island that basically shuts down on Easter weekend requires that Justin and Jo do some food shopping and preparation to get us through breakfast on Monday. Some things will be closed on Monday, but hopefully there will be some place we can buy food.
I did leave home long enough this evening to pick Ollie up from soccer practice and take him to Cub Scouts, but other than that it was a day at home. Tonight, I watched the last of the two-part Ken Burns’ Benjamin Franklin documentary. I heard about it when I saw Ken Burns on the The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and knew I had to watch it. It was a fabulous documentary that truly captured the brilliance of Benjamin Franklin. The man had faults, as do we all, but watching the documentary you realize that without his constant participation and dedication, we might not have become the United States of America. He was a true diplomat and his ability to help people reach compromise was crucial in the development of our republic. We need a Benjamin Franklin right now.
by Judy Handley | Apr 10, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 100: Soccer Sunday with Sam
Date: Sunday, April 10, 2022
Weather: Partly Sunny; High 56, Low 38 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Can you believe there have already been 100 days in 2022? And unfortunately, they have all been colder than I care for! Hopefully the next 100 days will be warm and wonderful.
This morning I did the prep work for a steak and veggie shish kebab dinner for the Goldstones and at 1:15 pm I delivered the food and headed north to Weymouth (on the way to Boston) with Sam for his soccer game. He tested negative for Covid just before we left, but still we both wore our masks in the car. Heather and Jed are doing everything they can to be try and keep Covid from spreading to other members of the family. Heather was feeling a little better today and hopefully none of the rest of us get it. We are still hopeful that all of us will be flying to Puerto Rico next Sunday morning.
Today I took Shadow for a nice, long walk before leaving for Sam’s game. It was not windy, and the sun was shining. It actually felt a tad warm, just as it did when I took Shadow for his walk yesterday before Jonah’s game. But also, just like yesterday, when I stepped out of the car upon arrival at the Weymouth soccer fields, the sun went behind the clouds and the wind almost knocked me down. And just like yesterday, it stayed that way. So, it was another cool soccer game, but I was glad I was there. Sam’s team won and I truly enjoyed watching them play.
The team members all seem to support each other with positive comments during the game and they appeared to be serious about playing while having fun at the same time. Sam plays defense and I thought he played a good game. He was disappointed with his performance, but he admitted that he did have fun. He enjoys playing with this team although he only knows one other player, his friend Sebastian. The other boys are not from Falmouth as this is an all-Cape league.
by Judy Handley | Apr 9, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 99: COVID
Date: Saturday, April 9, 2022
Weather: Partly Sunny; High 57, Low 40 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Last night I talked to my friend Lynne Kirwin who has been living in New Zealand for the past two and a half years. They had huge upsurge of Covid cases a month ago, but things are settling down a bit now. Lynne is the friend that always reminds me, “Judy, you can make plans, but then life happens.” Indeed. This morning I texted Heather to see how she was feeling, and she wrote back that she tested positive for Covid this morning. She has a low-grade fever and a mild cough and is hopeful that her bout with Covid will be mild and short-lived. But in the meantime, plans for the family vacation in Puerto Rico are on hold. The boys say they don’t want to go without Heather, so we will either all go or only I will go if I manage to stay healthy.
Heather went to work on Tuesday and attended an hour-long staff meeting. They were using social distancing by sitting in every other chair, but were no longer wearing masks. On Wednesday morning she found out that the person sitting next to her tested positive with Covid. So far only Heather and the person sitting on the other side of the infected person have tested positive. The people that were sitting on the other side of the table are fine so far. The good news is that the person with the initial case is already on the mend. Now we just have to hope that Heather can bounce back that quickly and hope that none of the rest of us gets it. It will be a wait-and-see game this week.
I found out this morning that not just Jonah and Sam are away at Scout camp this weekend, but Jed and Ollie are there as well. It was perfect timing for them to be out of the house this weekend. After getting Heather’s news this morning, I headed to Mashpee to buy an organic chicken to roast for her and to use the bones for making a fresh batch of bone broth. While I was in Mashpee, Heather texted to ask me if I could go to the drugstore to get “a boatload of Zarbees immune booster” for her. She had asked her primary care if she could get Paxlovid. It is an antiviral developed by Pfizer, but because she is not immunocompromised her request was denied. So Zarbees will have to do.
I went directly to a CVS and asked for Zarbees immune booster and they tried to put me in the line waiting to get a Covid booster shot. I explained again what I wanted and finally the message got through. I bought all they had—two bottles of elderberry gummies for Heather and one for me. I then headed home to take Shadow for a walk while the chicken roasted. By the time I ate lunch and got to Heather’s, it was time for me to head to the eastern side of the Cape for Jonah’s soccer game. But Heather’s weekly box of Misfits organic fruits, veggies, and meat was sitting on the porch. Since Jed will not be home until noon tomorrow, I decided that I was going to mask up and take the box inside and put things away. There was no way I was going to let Heather do that. Besides I got to see her from a distance and that made me feel better. Then I drove the 45 minutes to Jonah’s game.
It was fairly warm and sunny in Falmouth when I left, but when I got out of the car in Harwich, I thought I was going to be blown away. I still had on my windbreaker from taking Shadow for a walk, but almost left it at home as it had really been too hot. Sure glad I had it on because it was not warm in Harwich. I was very glad I had my gloves in my pocket. Jonah’s team lost the game, but he made the only two goals for his team.
He was disappointed that three other attempts he made did not result in goals, but glad that at least that his team scored. He and Jed then returned to Camp Greenough, and I headed home. It was after 6 pm when I got home, so I quickly deboned the chicken and took that and some kale I cooked yesterday plus a roasted beet to Heather for dinner. Then I rushed back home to make a big batch of chicken mineral broth. It is burbling away as I write.
Tomorrow afternoon the plan is for me to take Sam to his soccer game in Weymouth which is on the way to Boston. Jed is slated to referee a soccer game in Falmouth and can’t take him, so I offered as long as he agrees to wear a mask in the car and sit in the backseat. I will mask-up as well and hope it is warm enough to have the windows open partially. Learning to live a normal life with Covid constantly lurking around every corner is certainly a tricky business.
by Judy Handley | Apr 8, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 98: Editing and Late Afternoon Soccer Game
Date: Friday, April 8, 2022
Weather: Rain Early, Partly Sunny, Still Windy; High 56, Low 42 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Other than just living a good life—reading, cooking good food, walking and playing with Shadow—I spent most of today continuing the editing process on The Voyage of Windbird. At the same time, I am reading a book given to me by my friend Patsy Decker in North Carolina who is one of my beta readers. The book is Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia by Christina Thompson, published in 2019. It is another attempt to dig deep to uncover just who the first people who settled the islands of the Pacific were, “where they came from, how they got there, and how we know.” I have read many accounts and this one is adding to my knowledge. It is, however, another example that proves the more you know, the more you know you don’t know. The reading has me questioning the way I have described how islands and archipelagos are formed in my book. So now I want to go back and find those descriptions and do a little more fact checking. Thankfully, I love researching, so I don’t find this frustrating. Just time consuming. I found a 2012 article today co-authored by a three young PhDs at WHOI on island formation. One of them is now at MIT and one is still at WHOI, so I will email them and hope one of them has time to meet with me and help me better understand the geology of island formation.
I talked to Justin today and learned that I owe my grandson a great big apology. In last night’s log, Justin pointed out that I wished Ziggy Marley Handley a happy birthday. Well, Marley is not Ziggy’s middle name and I certainly know that. His middle name is Milo, but when I think of Ziggy, I always associate his name with Bob Marley’s oldest son, Ziggy Marley. Thus, the big slip up. I’ll blame it on the late hour. I will now belatedly wish Ziggy MILO Handley a very happy 13th birthday!!! Justin also talked about the island-wide power outage. Last week they had no electricity due to a power pole that was knocked down on the road near the entrance to their driveway. Now this week, the whole island is without power due to a different problem. Thank goodness for solar power!
This afternoon I sent Heather a text inquiring about Ollie’s soccer game. She replied that indeed Ollie did have a 5:30 pm soccer game today and she added that she is not feeling healthy. She is testing negative for COVID at this point, but not feeling good is not encouraging. We will just have to wait and see how things play out, but hope with me that she does not have COVID.
I went to Ollie’s soccer game and enjoyed watching him play both forward and goalie.
He is a good player and truly seems to enjoy his time on the field. Jed arrived a little late as he had to drop Sam and Jonah off for a weekend of Scout camping. Jonah has a soccer game tomorrow afternoon, but thankfully it is close to the Scout camp. Then Sam has a game on Sunday in Weymouth, near Boston. He will get home from camping just in time to head to the game. Tomorrow and Sunday will be replays of today for me. Living the good life, editing, and going to soccer games in the afternoons.
by Judy Handley | Apr 7, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 97: Happy 13th Birthday to Ziggy
Date: Thursday, April 7, 2022
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, Windy; High 51, Low 47 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
My second grandson became a teenager today. Despite the fact that there was no electricity on the entire island of Puerto Rico today, Ziggy Milo Handley turned thirteen years old!
It just seems impossible to me that my grandchildren are growing up so fast. In 2009 Mark and I flew home from Malaysia to meet Ziggy.
14 Granddad Handley Talking to Ziggy
09 Judy in the Unexpected Snow
“It’s a good statement about who we are.” I think those are the words I heard Vice President Kamala Harris say today after announcing the Senate’s vote to confirm the first black woman as a Supreme Court justice, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. If VP Harris didn’t say those exact words, then I will. Jackson is a brilliant woman who speaks with such insight and clarity. Watching history happen was another reason for celebration today.
Otherwise, I spent my day trying to keep up with the edits suggested by the readers of The Voyage of Windbird. I am in the process of making edits suggested and doing some rewriting. In addition to that, friend Karen Baranowski dropped by to return some books and to visit. That was about it for my day.
by Judy Handley | Apr 6, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 96: COVID Rears Its Ugly Head
Date: Wednesday, April 6, 2022
Weather: Overcast, Rainy, Windy, Cooler; High 46, Low 41 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
This afternoon I got a text from Heather letting me know her flight to Vancouver this Saturday has been rescheduled until Monday. She found out this morning that she was exposed to COVID at work yesterday—an hour-long meeting with someone who woke up feeling sluggish this morning and then tested positive. Ugh, ugh, ugh. Heather will start sleeping in the bonus room above the garage, eat separately, and wear a KN95 mask when with Jed or the kids. Then we just have to cross our fingers and hope she doesn’t get COVID. Heather was to attend the TED Conference in Vancouver all of next week, returning on Friday in time for Passover Seder on Friday evening, and then spending Saturday packing for our Sunday take off for Puerto Rico. We will just have to see how things go and change plans accordingly.
The weather today was just miserable. I do know better than to hope for warm, spring-like weather in April, but I can always hope. It just wasn’t today. It was cold and rainy during the morning, turning windy in the afternoon. I finally caved in and put on a polar fleece under my winter coat, wearing a hat and gloves, to take Shadow for his walk late afternoon. At least it wasn’t raining. And once I was truly dressed for the weather, it didn’t seem so bad.
I started playing Mah Jongg today for the first time since the onset of COVID in March of 2020. I had finished six weeks of lessons and a few weeks of playing before the abrupt stop. And I now remember very little. So, when friend Christina Brodie said she was organizing a new learning group, I joined. Christina was in my initial Mah Jongg class, but unlike me, when COVID happened, she continued to play online. While she was doing that, I started writing my book. So now I have a book and she is a Mah Jongg teacher. She is also the person who has been my “English teacher’ editor and I picked up the edited copies my last four chapters from her today. I went ahead and sent copies to the Beta readers without these last edits. I’ll send out the revised four chapters once I make the changes.
After seven months, my phone call to Comcast yesterday finally got things moving. My cable line is no longer draped across the forest floor but up in the air where it belongs. I have no idea why Comcast did not respond to past calls, but they certainly reacted quickly to yesterday’s request.
