by Judy Handley | Oct 31, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 304: Happy Halloween
Date: Sunday, October 31, 2021
Weather: Partly Sunny AM, Sunny PM; High Temp 64, Low Temp 51 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Happy Halloween . . . however you do or don’t celebrate Halloween. Evidently Halloween began as the ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain. This was a Pagan holiday observing the Feast of the Dead. Later it became the Western Christian feast of All Hallow’s Day and eventually became known as Halloween. In Mexico, it is celebrated as the eve of the Day of the Dead, or Día de los Muertos. This began as a belief that the souls of the dead return to visit their living family members on that day. Thus, all those scary ghosts. Before I ever had any idea that there was any reason for Halloween other than dressing in a costume and going Trick or Treating, I just enjoyed the frivolity of the holiday. Maybe that is because my maternal grandmother was a red-haired Scot through her mother, Rebecca Jane Campbell. My red-haired grandmother married my grandfather whose mother was another Scot, Sarah Catherine McGhee. I have been able to trace Sarah McGhee all the way back to Iain Dubh MacGregor, born in 1360 in Scotland. I don’t know where in Scotland he was born, but he died in 1415 in Stronmeloahan, Scotland. Tracing the McGhee line was fascinating. As I went back in time, the name changed in spelling to McGeehee, then to Mackghee, MackGehee, MacGahye, and then to MacGregor. Wait. Why MacGregor? There is a story of a feud that caused the name change from MacGregor to MacGahye to ‘protect’ the innocent. Long way around to saying Happy Halloween!
I went over to Heather and Jed’s mid-afternoon to see what Halloween mischief might be going on. 
Jonah and Ollie were deep into cleaning out their pumpkins and Heather was sorting out the pumpkin seeds to roast. The boys then started carving. The end results were quite impressive. I took over a shirt that I thought should be put in with their Halloween costumes to be used another year. But Heather decided immediately that she was going to be a ghost tonight and that shirt was going to be her costume . . . along with a white hair wig that I had back at my house. So, I took off to get the wig. Tonight, Heather was ghost, Jonah was Loki (a Marvel character), Ollie was a gorilla, and Jed was the gorilla’s big yellow banana.
Sam was already at a Halloween party at his friend Robert’s. He went as a Hobbit.
Heather, Jed, Jonah, and Ollie were going to an outside party at of one of Jonah’s friends at 5 o’clock. Ollie really wanted to Trick or Treat in his neighborhood since they did not get to last year because of Covid. He just wanted to see what Halloween in the new neighborhood was like. They decided that they would walk down their street when they came home from the party. I’ll have to check in with them tomorrow to see how that went.
I talked with Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco today. Coco explained that they could not find a pumpkin to buy so they were going to try and turn a honeydew melon into a jack-o-lantern this afternoon. I checked just now on Facebook, and indeed they were successful.
There were also photos on Facebook of them dressed in their costumes. They are certainly a creative crew. Ziggy’s costume for tonight was similar to the one he wore to school on Friday, but Coco went from being dressed all in black to a clown-costume.
She who loves Halloween was the only non-participant tonight. Instead of having me stay at Heather and Jed’s to pass out treats while they were at the party, Heather just put out a bowl of eyeballs and candy next to the street with a note telling Trick or Treaters to take one item on the honor system. 
I came home and enjoyed a quiet evening with Shadow. Only one family with young children Trick or Treating in this neighborhood tonight.
by Judy Handley | Oct 30, 2021 | Cape Cod, USA |
2021 Life Logs, Day 303: Quiet Day at Home
Date: Saturday, October 30, 2021
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, Rain Early and Late; High Temp 62, Low Temp 57 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
There was just enough rain this morning to change plans for the day. Ollie’s early morning soccer game was cancelled, and it was too wet to do yard work. I thought I was going to spend my day playing ‘pick up sticks’ in my yard, but instead, computer issues took priority. It was a quiet day at home being frustrated by my computer. I am dealing with the aftermath of a change in the way all of my photos and other files are stored in a cloud. Until this past week it was done by something called Back Up and Sync, but Google is no longer supporting that and thousands of files need to be move to Google Drive. It sounds easy but is not. Heather spent a lot of time last week trying to figure it out, but neither of us is sure we are doing it right. So ‘just in case’, I went to Staples this afternoon to buy a new 1 terabyte external hard drive to back things up on ‘earth’ in case the ‘cloud’ fails. I have backed things up on hard drives for years, but all of mine were full and photos from the last couple of years needed to be backed up. I will continue with the computer issues tomorrow.
My summer neighbor Andrew contacted me mid-day asking me to go to his house and do a few things. They have decided to rent the house for short-term stays through a vacation rental company, and they had just found out that the first renters were arriving this afternoon. There were just a few personal things he wanted me to do before the vacation rental company came in to do the pre-rental cleaning. While there I realized that their backyard and patio needed a leaf clean-up before the renters arrived and yard work is not done by the vacation rental folks. Sam and Ollie do Andrew’s yard work and were planning to do the storm clean-up over the next couple of weeks, but the unexpected advent of renters changed that. The boys weren’t available, so I used my leaf blower to blow the leaves into the yard from the patio. I then picked up as many of the larger twigs and branches blown off the trees during the storm as I could in a short period of time. It looked presentable.
It is raining out again tonight, but I am truly hoping for sunshine tomorrow. We have seen the sun peek through the clouds a few times yesterday and today, but basically it has been overcast and rainy, punctuated by an extreme storm, since Monday. Enough!
by Judy Handley | Oct 29, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 302: Good News from Friends
Date: Friday, October 29, 2021
Weather: Mostly Cloudy and a Little Windy; High Temp 54, Low Temp 51 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
My lazy morning was spent reading and then walking with Shadow. I was planning to spend my afternoon playing ‘pick up sticks’ to clean up after the storm this week. The yard and driveway are strewn with branches, large and small that need to be removed. I was procrastinating when I got a text and then a call from friend Jane Woodin. Jane had a total knee replacement on Tuesday and was released from the hospital on Wednesday during the storm that left most of Cape Cod without power. Since her house did not have power, she spent Wednesday night on a friend’s couch, and then yesterday moved into Peter and Karen Baranowski’s home with a generator as they left for Boston for Peter’s brain surgery today. The reason for Jane’s call was to ask if I could come over and spend part of the afternoon with her while Bruce went to his PT appointment and then to their house to see if their power had been restored. Since I was procrastinating anyway, it was the perfect excuse. I abandoned ‘pick up sticks’ and went to play nurse for real Nurse Jane. It was great to see her. As everyone who has had a knee replacement, she is trying to stay ahead of the pain. She is certainly not pain free, but she seems to be doing great. We got a text from Karen while I was still there saying Peter was out of the operating room and was alert and talking. That was good news indeed. And just after I got home, I got a group text from Karen with a photo of Peter smiling. I am so thankful that two good friends are doing so well after surgery.
by Judy Handley | Oct 28, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 301: Slowly Getting Back to Normal
Date: Thursday, October 28, 2021
Weather: Overcast and Cooler; High Temp 51, Low Temp 44 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
The rain and strong winds have moved on and things are slowly getting back to normal. There will still be no school tomorrow, but my neighborhood had power restored today at 4:30 pm. Jonah and I had stopped at my house to pick up Shadow to go with us to Jonah’s soccer practice. Just as I closed the front door, I heard the aquarium filter kick in. I reopened the door and turned on the porch light. Voilà! Let there be light . . . and heat. I was very happy. Sleeping in a 58 degree house is just fine, but it is not comfortable during the day. Things in the freezer were starting to thaw and the fish in the aquarium had stopped heating. Tropical fish don’t like 58 degrees F. But tonight, the fish seem happy and things in the freezer are saved. I had moved frozen seafood and a few other things to Heather’s freezer this morning, but I think what I left in the freezer is fine.
I spent the morning with Shadow and headed to Heather and Jed’s before noon. Heather and Jed both had busy work days and I thought I might be helpful in keeping the boys in control. Not sure I was successful at that, but I did get started on cleaning up the mess of leaves and sticks in the yard from the storm. Finally, the boys joined me, and they did a great job. When it dries out, they can mow to pick up the remaining leaves in the yard.
Sam prepared dinner tonight for a Scout cooking merit badge. 
He pan fried ribeye steak that he finished in a butter and herb sauce. He roasted fingerling potatoes and prepared a salad. It really was delicious, and the steak was perfectly done. After dinner, he and Heather made a poppyseed cake in the cake pan I gave Heather and Jed on their anniversary.
I didn’t stay for dessert, but Heather sent a photo. I love the result of a cake baked in the spiral shaped pan.
The wild weather this week complicated the return home of friend Jane Woodin after her total knee-replacement surgery. She was sent home from the hospital yesterday, but because their house had no power, she spent last night at a friend’s home. Then this morning, when Karen and Peter Baranowski headed to Boston for Peter’s brain surgery tomorrow, they invited Bruce and Jane to move into their house. The Baranowski’s had a whole house generator installed this summer, so they have power when the rest of us do not. Jane is doing great, but hopefully she will get to return to her own home soon to rehab from the surgery. There’s no place like home.
by Judy Handley | Oct 27, 2021 | Cape Cod, USA |
2021 Life Logs, Day 300: Clobbered by a Nor’easter
Date: Wednesday, October 27, 2021
Weather: Wind Gusts to 55 mph, Rain; High Temp 55, Low Temp 49 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Forty-seven years ago today Mark and I were married on a beautiful day in Fort Myers Beach, Florida. Today was not a beautiful day on Cape Cod. Starting last night around 10 pm, the winds picked up and the rain continued. Throughout the night I could hear the howling winds and when I got up to go outside with Shadow at about 7:30 am I was greeted by a big, downed tree in my side yard, leaves and branches littering the ground, and wind gusts up to 55 mph according to Weather Underground on my phone. 
Those gusts were so strong that small tree branches were flying through the air. We were out and in quickly to then discover that there was no electricity and there still is not. School was cancelled today, and many small businesses were closed. This is like an extreme winter blizzard without the snow.
My neighbor Andrew almost lost his boat when the boards holding the line cleats ripped up in the wind. 
He saw this happening and was able to run out to catch the lines. A little later in the morning, I helped him move the boat to his neighbor’s dock. But when I was outside that time, I saw that all of my outside furniture was blown hither and yon. 
As a result of the nasty weather, Shadow and I have spent most of our day curled up on the love seat by the front window where I can see to read. I went to the basement and got out my winter comforter for tonight and a heavy afghan to cuddle under. With the afghan over me and Shadow on top of that, I have been nice and toasty.
Heather and gang are among the lucky ones who have electricity, so they had Shadow and I over for dinner tonight. I am still at their house and will use their internet to send this log. But I have to say I was taken aback on the way here. There are no stoplights working in Falmouth, Aubuchon Hardware was close, Walmart was closed, and the two main grocery stores are running on emergency power. The latest update from the power company is that that it could be multiple days before we have power restored. Shadow and I will go home to sleep under that winter comforter tonight and assess just how comfortable we might be for multiple days without electricity. There is no school again tomorrow, so I will head this way in the morning to unload my freezer contents into Heather and Jed’s freezer and see what I can do with the boys as both Heather and Jed have busy work days tomorrow.
by Judy Handley | Oct 26, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 299: Rainy Tuesday
Date: Tuesday, October 26, 2021
Weather: Heavy Rain Overnight, Today Overcast with Periods of Light Rain; High Temp 64, Low Temp 56 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
I went to bed when it was pouring rain and thunder. During the night it sounded like torrential rains coming down, but by 7:30 am it sounded calm outside. So, Shadow and I got up for our first foray outside for the morning. Indeed, the rain had stopped, so we walked the first loop of our morning mile. We came home and I checked the weather. It looked like we might not get rain again until the afternoon, so I had my smoothie, and we took off for the second half of our mile. About that time, I got a text from my summer neighbor Andrew who lives with his family just north of Manhattan the rest of the year. He got a high-water alarm from a sensor in his garage here and asked me to check it out. Shadow and I were headed that way, so we stopped and found that if there had been high water in the garage, it was now all but gone. However, it was evident that some water had come in, so I told Andrew I would line the left side of the garage door, the side that is not well sealed, with sandbags when I got back from my walk with Shadow. Just as we were completing that job, I heard from Andrew that he was going to drive up this afternoon and replace the garage door seal. About an hour ago he came over to borrow some tools as he is still struggling to get that new seal in place. I haven’t heard from him since so I sure hope he was successful.
Good friend Jane Woodin had a total knee replacement today and is doing great. The PT told her that tomorrow might not be quite as pain free, but hopefully she will continue to do well. If all goes as planned, she will be headed home tomorrow. Healing thoughts coming your way, Jane.
I wrangled with my computer for much of the afternoon. For days, I have been getting a daily message from Google saying ‘backup and sync’ is no longer working and that I needed to download ‘Google Drive for your desktop’. I have tried with no success, but today I stayed with it and finally got it downloaded. Then my computer spent the remainder of the afternoon and early evening syncing my files with the files in the cloud.
I went to the grocery store and did some cooking while waiting for my computer to finish syncing with the cloud. And that was about it for my day. It looks like rain overnight and all day tomorrow, so I am planning to work on photo organization. Nothing exciting, but something I have been trying to get to for months.
Jonah and Ollie were deep into cleaning out their pumpkins and Heather was sorting out the pumpkin seeds to roast. The boys then started carving. The end results were quite impressive. I took over a shirt that I thought should be put in with their Halloween costumes to be used another year. But Heather decided immediately that she was going to be a ghost tonight and that shirt was going to be her costume . . . along with a white hair wig that I had back at my house. So, I took off to get the wig. Tonight, Heather was ghost, Jonah was Loki (a Marvel character), Ollie was a gorilla, and Jed was the gorilla’s big yellow banana.
Sam was already at a Halloween party at his friend Robert’s. He went as a Hobbit.
Heather, Jed, Jonah, and Ollie were going to an outside party at of one of Jonah’s friends at 5 o’clock. Ollie really wanted to Trick or Treat in his neighborhood since they did not get to last year because of Covid. He just wanted to see what Halloween in the new neighborhood was like. They decided that they would walk down their street when they came home from the party. I’ll have to check in with them tomorrow to see how that went.
There were also photos on Facebook of them dressed in their costumes. They are certainly a creative crew. Ziggy’s costume for tonight was similar to the one he wore to school on Friday, but Coco went from being dressed all in black to a clown-costume.
I came home and enjoyed a quiet evening with Shadow. Only one family with young children Trick or Treating in this neighborhood tonight.
