by Judy Handley | Jun 15, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 166: Lost Day
Date: Tuesday, June 15, 2021
Weather: Rainy, Mid-day Deluge; High 75, Low 58 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
In between taking Shadow to day school training and picking him up, I didn’t get a lot accomplished. It was mostly a lost day. I spent most of my morning catching on up bill pay and tracking down the $1700 Honda owes me for drive shaft replacements on my Fit that are part of a recall. I did a little work in the basement, did a laundry at Heather and Jed’s, and while eating lunch, I watched last night’s Stephen Colbert show. I record it every night, but don’t often watch. If I do watch the recordings, I just watch the opening monologue. But last night’s show was special. I read about it in the NYT’s ‘The Morning’ online and decided to watch the whole show. It was the first show with a live audience in fifteen months . . . since the Covid lockdown in March of 2020. The opening of the show was so uplifting, Dana Carvey’s impersonation of President Biden was very funny, and Jon Baptiste’s music was fantastic. But the main guest, Jon Stewart, was a disaster. He ranted on and on about how it is obvious that coronavirus came from the lab in Wuhan. When Colbert asked him if he was working for Senator Ron Johnson from Wisconsin, he just went right on. Colbert handled it nicely, but how much damage was done? I did not find it funny. I’ll stick to watching just the monologue from now on.
by Judy Handley | Jun 14, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 165: Scattered
Date: Monday, June 14, 2021
Weather: Mix of Sun and Clouds, Drops of Rain; High 71, Low 62 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
My day was scattered, a little like my brain these days. Today’s field trip was postponed until Friday. Then members of our Dining-in group that were signed up for the trip decided to go tomorrow. The weather forecast changed, and tomorrow’s trip was out. Then I discovered that the insulation work on the cottage is going to be done on Thursday and Friday, not Wednesday and Thursday. So, I cannot go on the official Friday rain date trip either. We all bought our tickets ahead of time, but they are good until October. So sometime between now and then, I will get to the topiary garden.
Otherwise, I did a little of this and a little of that. Peter Baranowski came over to help me get a wooden twin bed frame, headboard, and footboard out of the attic. It was up there when I moved here, but I had forgotten about it until now. The insulation folks want nothing stored in the attic when they arrive to work. And I did get some gardening done. To the basement tomorrow.
by Judy Handley | Jun 13, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 164: Day Trip to Newburyport
Date: Sunday, June 13, 2021
Weather: Beautiful Day; High 76, Low 57 Degrees F (80’s in Newburyport)
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
My dear friend Detta Porat’s birthday is the first of June. For the past few years I have missed wishing her a happy birthday in a timely manner. This year I was determined not to miss her birthday, but our schedules didn’t allow us to get together until today. There are four of us who, prior to Covid, got together periodically. Cheryl Dolin lives in Concord, NH, Detta lives in Greenland, NH near Portsmouth, Leslie Kole lives in Rye, NH near Portsmouth, and I am down here on Cape Cod. Based on a recommendation from a wine group friend, I suggested that we meet at the Tuscan Grill in Newburyport. It was about an hour’s drive for each of them and two hours for me, but I was fine with that. What a great recommendation. It was a lovely spot to meet up for the first time in over a year.
I returned around 5 pm and found both of the Goldstone’s vehicles in my driveway. I heard voices down by the water and headed that way. Ollie and Jonah were out in the water on the Maui mat, Sam was out in kayak, Jed was out in the kids’ Optimist sailing dinghy, and Heather and Shadow were serving as home base on the dock with another kayak ready to go in case anyone needed assistance. What fun they were all having!
Tomorrow I have to make sure the basement and attic are ready for the team coming on Wednesday and Thursday to install insulation. I was scheduled to go on a Newcomers field trip to a topiary garden in Rhode Island tomorrow, but it was rescheduled due to a rainy forecast. I am now going with a small group on Tuesday and the others are going on Friday. Looks like Friday is going to be gardening day. A full week ahead.
by Judy Handley | Jun 12, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 163: Rainy Saturday
Date: Saturday, June 12, 2021
Weather: Rainy, Clearing Late Day; High 67, Low 56 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
No soccer today as it rained of-and-on all day, so I had more time to work in the basement. Almost done! But then I realized that there is a wooden bed frame in the attic that has to be taken out. It is not mine, but there can be nothing stored in the attic when the work begins on Wednesday. So out it will go. The end is in sight, but I have a feeling I’ll be working right up until Wednesday morning when the insulation work begins.
I spent my early morning with Shadow going for a walk and then went to meet with a neighbor of Heather and Jed’s who happens to have her own publishing company. Laura has been reading my chapters and today was our first chance to meet so that I could get her take on how my writing is going and to learn how to get a book published. She had some great suggestions that will require a little more work on my part, but I felt her ideas were right on target. It is probably overly optimistic, but I am still shooting for finishing up year one of the Voyage of Windbird before the start summer fun with the Goldpebbles. She agreed that I am probably writing a trilogy—the beginning, the middle years, and the final year in the Indian Ocean and heading home around the Cape of Good Hope.
It was mid-afternoon when I got home. By the time I walked and played ball with Shadow, ate a late lunch, and then spent time in the basement, it was 7 pm. I should have started fixing dinner, but I had been thinking about my friends Kevin and Claire all day. I decided I had to call to make sure all was fine. All was fine, but it was definitely time to check in with them. They are no longer in California. Kevin is in Mexico working on their new sailboat, White Raven, and Claire is in Canada spending some quality time with her parents. They will get back together the first of August for a family gathering in New Jersey and then after a month or so of visiting friends and family, they will both head to Mexico to their new ‘home’. The plan is to move aboard White Raven in November and spend a few months getting to know the boat while living aboard and sailing in the Sea of Cortez. I can’t wait until they settle into their new life aboard White Raven so I can go visit them.
by Judy Handley | Jun 11, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 162: The Aunties Return
Date: Friday, June 11, 2021
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High 68, Low 54 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
My next door neighbors, Shirley and Doris, fondly called ‘the aunties’, returned today for the summer months. Shirley is my 95 year-old landlady and Doris is her 102 year-old sister. They live independently with daily helpers who help them get their day started and then come back again in the late afternoon to help them with dinner and get them to bed. Just so happy to have them back next door.
I spent most of my day ‘down under’. I’m still working on getting the basement ready for the insulation team that comes next week. And I spent the other part of my day in communication with my 87 year-old sister, Patsy, who moved into an assisted living facility in North Carolina today. She arrived in North Carolina from Tennessee on Monday and made the move in today. So far, so good. She seems very happy in her new apartment and already feels safe and cared for by the staff. I just hope this upbeat attitude continues. The isolation that came with living alone during Covid was hard on her and I was so delighted tonight to hear her so happy.
Wow! I got a notice from Shutterfly with photos from early June 14 years ago. They were photos from Dravuni Island in the Astrolobe Reef in Fiji. We arrived there with two other boats, Ranger and Safina. Paul and Marie of Ranger were from the West Coast of the US and Jean-Pierre and Colette of Safina were from Montreal, Canada. We had a wonderful time visiting that tiny island—even learned how to scale a coconut tree! The photos were a true blast from the past. I miss my cruising friends. Seeing the photos this afternoon convinced me that I need to do a road trip to Montreal to visit with Jean-Pierre and Colette and then on out to the Pacific Coast to visit with Gerry and Donna of Scot Free II in Vancouver, Paul and Marie of Ranger in Oregon, and a number of other cruising friends we met from Washington and California. This is my new goal for the fall of 2021or 2022. Probably 2022, since I think I need a new car to make the trip.
by Judy Handley | Jun 10, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 161: Loss of a Good Friend
Date: Thursday, June 10, 20
Weather: Sunny and Cooler; High 73, Low 53 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
In these logs, I write a lot about the people in my Newcomers Dining-in Group. There are four couples plus myself and we have all become good friends—Bruce and Jane Woodin, Terry and Olivia White, Peter and Karen Baranowski, and Bill and Midge Frieswyk. But last night I learned that Bill Frieswyk passed away late yesterday afternoon. Bill has been fighting one health issue after another for quite a while now, but when our group met a little over two weeks ago, we made plans to meet again in July and assumed Bill would be with us. We will all miss Bill’s kind and gentle presence. He fought long and hard but that dreaded ‘c’ word disease won the battle. I saw Midge this evening and she seems to be doing as well as can be expected. She is surrounding herself with friends and family which would be my recommendation for the surest path to a new normal for her.
The Newcomers installation of new officers event took place late this afternoon in the Poppy Tent at the oceanfront Popponesset Inn. This is in the adjoining town of Mashpee. I have only been there once before when we were searching for a location for Heather and Jed’s wedding. It is a gorgeous location and I can’t remember why we didn’t choose it for the wedding. But today when I went to bar to get a glass of wine and it cost $12 it made me think that maybe the reason for that decision was that it was just too pricy for the wedding. But for an hour and a half Newcomers gathering, the first in-person major gathering since February of 2020, it was the perfect choice.
The only other activity of the day was getting more things out of the basement to prepare for the insulation team that arrives next Wednesday. Peter and Karen Baranowski came over this morning and took some things that they put on their street corner. They were gone before Peter could get back to his house to get the “Free” sign. I will continue the work tomorrow and hope I finish up. If not, I still have next Tuesday. Tomorrow my next door neighbor, landlord, and friend comes home for the first time since last August. It will be wonderful to Shirley and her sister Doris next door for the summer. Saturday I meet with the woman who has been reading my book chapters to get pointers on how to get the book published. Sunday I travel to the New Hampshire border to have lunch with my good friends Detta, Leslie, and Cheryl to celebrate Detta’s birthday. And on Monday I go to Newport on a Newcomers field trip. So getting the basement ready either happens tomorrow or Tuesday.
