by Judy Handley | Aug 20, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 232: Tropical Storm Henri
Date: Friday, August 20, 2021
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High Temp 80, Low Temp 70 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Much of today was spent checking on the progress and direction of tropical storm Henri and preparing for it. Is it going to make landfall as a hurricane? What category? What is the most likely landfall, New York City, Long Island, Cape Cod or somewhere in between? Are high winds going to be the biggest problem or storm surge and flooding afterwards? No one knows the answers yet, but tonight it is looking more and more like the direct hit will be in New York and not here on the Cape. As it follows the Gulf Stream northward tomorrow, we will get a better idea of exactly what it will do. Earlier today, it looked like a Cape Cod landfall. Tonight not so much. But whatever it does, we still have to deal with storm surge and flooding, possible power outages, and on and on. So, the preparation here continues. I made a lot of progress today, but I still have to dot the i’s and cross the t’s tomorrow morning. In talking to Heather tonight, I realized that I have totally forgotten to fill containers with water. That I will do first thing in the morning.
Otherwise, it was a quiet day here until tonight when I managed to talk the evening away on the phone! The first call was with my friend Lynne Kirwin in New Zealand. A few days ago, one case of the Delta variant was discovered and immediately there was a temporary, but mandatory quarantine. I wish we could move that fast in this country. Hopefully the quarantine measure there will stop the spread of the variant and things will get back to normal. I think normal is a word that in this country we might not ever be able to use again. Not much here seems normal these days.
by Judy Handley | Aug 19, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 231: Lunch at the Falmouth Senior Center
Date: Thursday, August 19, 2021
Weather: Overcast and Rainy; High Temp 77, Low Temp 70 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Friend Jane Woodin contacted me this morning and invited me to meet her at the Falmouth Senior Center for lunch. The new Center was built during Covid and just had its delayed-due-to-Covid grand opening this summer. It was my first visit, but since I have decided to avoid inside activities with other people as much as possible due to the Delta variant, I didn’t explore the Center. Jane and I ate outside in the courtyard, but then it started pouring rain. Then we did have to go inside to finish lunch. There were not that many people, so it felt safe enough and Jane and I happily talked away a hunk of the afternoon.
In fact, I think I basically talked this whole day away. I talked to my niece in North Carolina this morning, talked to Jane, came home talked to another niece from Tennessee. We talked for another hour about her mother, my sister. Then tonight I talked to my sister in North Carolina for another hour. When I finally got off the phone, I went outside to play with Shadow and a friend came by to drop off something I had left at her house and we talked. Then neighbor Andrew came over to ask what I do to prepare for a hurricane. What hurricane? I obviously haven’t been watching the weather and didn’t know that Tropical Storm Henri is expected to come close to New England on Sunday into Monday. Another neighbor had come to Andrew to tell him that if there is a storm surge it might come into his yard and he might need sand bags. Since this is Andrew’s first summer here, he was a bit wide-eyed. I explained that in the three years that I have lived here, there has only been one time when the water came a few feet into Shirley’s yard, but not his. But I did point out that the past owner kept sand bags by the gate into the walled inner yard. This storm will coincide with a full moon, so we will just have to watch carefully. While we talked, Andrew got the kayaks off the dock for me, so all I’ll have to deal with is outside tables and chairs. But I’ll wait to see what the forecast is on Saturday before doing that.
Today was not a good day for gardening as I had hoped. Maybe I’ll tape my mouth shut and get to that tomorrow!
by Judy Handley | Aug 18, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 230: Welcome Home, Heather
Date: Wednesday, August 18, 2021
Weather: Partly Sunny, Warming Up Again ; High Temp 77, Low Temp 71 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Welcome home, Heather! Heather returned home from a family vacation at Jed’s mother’s summer home in Maine today. I prepared dinner to take over and we are together on her deck tonight. She had to return home to get back to work and Jed will follow with the boys on Saturday. She reported that they had a wonderful time, but because it was much warmer than in past summers, activities were different. They usually spend a huge chunk of time walking every day, but Heather said they spent much more time in the water this year just to keep cool.
They also worked on building a tree house and finished getting the platform done yesterday. Jed sent a photo tonight showing how they put up rough hewn corner posts today. He hopes to get a railing up before coming home with the boys. Tomorrow I won’t have to go feed the kitties and guinea pig, so I’ll have to figure out how to spend my extra time.
by Judy Handley | Aug 17, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 229: Catching Up with Life
Date: Tuesday, August 17, 2021
Weather: Partly Sunny, Even Cooler; High Temp 76, Low Temp 68 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Camp Oma has been on hold for the past two weeks, but I have managed to keep myself super busy. Watching the Olympics, visiting with local friends, having friends from afar come to visit, spring cleaning in August, going to Heather and Jed’s twice a day for the past ten days to feed Zuzu, Mel, and Leo. These are a few of the things that have filled those two weeks. Soon things will return to normal, so today I tried to take a deep breath and make sure the mundane things in life are happening. I use Bill Pay through my bank to pay bills, but I do still need to go in and add the correct amounts each month. That took some of my day today. Tomorrow will be some of the same and then I will have dinner with Heather tomorrow evening when she gets home from Maine. And maybe I’ll get some gardening done tomorrow. At least that’s the goal.
by Judy Handley | Aug 16, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 228: Farewell to Kevin and Claire
Date: Monday, August 16, 2021
Weather: Partly Sunny, Even Cooler; High Temp 76, Low Temp 63 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Kevin and Claire drove their motor home ‘Tarmy’ out of the driveway this morning. That was a earlier than planned, but friends in Philadelphia contacted them late last night saying they could get together tonight but not for the rest of the week. So, they changed their plans and headed on. I was very sad to see them go but will just have to look forward to our next gathering.
I then headed to Heather and Jed’s to feed the kitties and the guinea pig. Heather will be coming home on Wednesday and Jed will head home on Friday or Saturday with the boys and life here will return to normal, whatever ‘normal’ means during this pandemic. Usually ‘normal’ for this time of year means cr
amming in all those things you wanted to do during the summer but didn’t get around to while getting ready for the beginning of the school year. Because of the Delta variant, what we hoped would be a ‘normal’ school year opening, we now have to just wait and see what is going to happen with that. So many uncertainties.
One thing I know for sure, however, is that the kitties, feisty Leo and aloof Mel, will be so happy to have their family back home. I did a laundry there this morning which gave me time to play with the kitties. We had a fun time.
by Judy Handley | Aug 15, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 227: Falmouth Road Race and More Good Vegan Food
Date: Sunday, August 15, 2021
Weather: Sunny, Cooler; High Temp 80, Low Temp 62 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Today was the 2021 Falmouth Road Race. Due to Covid it was downsized, but there were still 8,000 runners.
Kevin, Claire, and I headed out early to find a place to park and walk about a mile and a half down the bike path to the spot I had chosen for us to watch the race on Surf Drive. We went to cheer on Claire’s friend Megan and her friend Leah. I totally missed a photo of Megan, but got one with a glimpse of Leah behind some runners in yellow shirts. So no real photos to document their run, but we had a great time cheering on all the runners.
After the race, we went to Heather and Jed’s to feed the critters and then we drove to Woods Hole to drive the Road Race course on our way home. Once home, Kevin cooked a fabulous mid-afternoon lunch/dinner. He made a green bean and mushroom creamy casserole using cashews and mushroom broth to make the sauce. I used to make a green bean casserole with mushroom soup, but since I no longer use canned soups in cooking, I had not found a replacement. This casserole is it. I LOVE it.
I made the salad, but Kevin made the dressing, and it was also delicious. I have learned so much about a strictly Vegan diet while they have been here. Thank you, Kevin and Claire!
I was successful in clearing out some old sailing gear from the basement this afternoon to donate to Kevin and Claire’s new sailboat, White Raven. There were tools and charts that needed to find a home and they were successful this afternoon. Then we spent another evening sitting on the dock and watching another day come to an end. Kevin and Claire will be driving back to Princeton, New Jersey, and then on Philadelphia tomorrow evening or Tuesday morning. We have had a wonderful visit and I will be so sad to see them leave . . . but so thankful they took the time to come visit.
