by Judy Handley | Mar 23, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 82: Beautiful Weather
Date: Tuesday, March 23, 2021
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High 60, Low, 37 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Finally. We are having a stretch of beautiful weather. Little wind, warm temperatures, sunshine. Delightful. I love it. Normally I would be outside getting the gardens ready, but I find I cannot pry myself away from my computer. I desperately wanted to complete another book chapter today. I did not make my goal, but almost. I will finish it tomorrow and head on to the Society Islands in French Polynesia—Tahiti, Moorea, Raiatea, Bora Bora. This will be chapter 13 and it was in Moorea that I broke my leg. Fitting chapter number for that little catastrophe. BTY–I am so superstitious that I thought about not having a chapter 13!
Last night I wrote a bit about our hike to a waterfall on the island of Nuka Hiva in the Marquesas. I mentioned that I was not sure I was going to finish that hike without being injured due to the rough terrain. This morning I got an email from my friend Lynne Kirwin who is currently living in New Zealand. The first time she walked to that waterfall she broke a bone in her foot. Testament to the fact that it really was a treacherous walk.
I recently finished reading a book that I highly recommend. Heather gave me the book for my birthday because she had really enjoyed reading it. The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd is a novel, totally fiction, but the author meticulously researched the history of the time period. That research was reflected in the book. It is the story of a young woman named Ana who marries Jesus. She is from a privileged family and is quite the liberated young woman for those times. There is no historical proof that Jesus ever married, but Sue Monk Kidd helps you imagine what it could have been like if he had. It was a book I had a hard time putting down.
by Judy Handley | Mar 22, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 81: Writing, Writing
Date: Monday, March 22, 2021
Weather: Another Beautiful Day; High 56, Low, 31 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
It was another beautiful day in the neighborhood that I spent inside writing. I can’t help myself. I have this aching desire to just keep writing. Of course, I did walk my daily mile with Shadow plus I played ball with him in the afternoon and took another shorter walk. I also picked Ollie up from school and took him home. Otherwise, I either worked on a presentation that I make on Friday for the Snow Library in Orleans on the Outer Cape via Zoom, of course, or I was sitting at my dining table ‘office’ writing.
As I wrote this afternoon, I was wondering if the person I was writing about could really be me.
When Windbird sailed into Taioa Bay, also known as Daniel’s Bay, on the island of Nuka Hiva in the Marquesas Islands, we could see a waterfall falling from the top of a high peak. We knew it dropped 350 meters or 1,148 feet and we wanted to walk inland to the base of the falls. The next day we set out to do just that. Guides books were vague but said it should be about a three-hour walk round trip. Well, it was a five-hour trip over rough terrain. We got lost and crossed the same rushing stream multiple times. “There were few times that day when I seriously was not sure I was going to survive the walk to the waterfall without serious injury.” But Mark and I made it and it was spectacular. Maybe crazy, but spectacular none the less. And we understood why Survivor had done their fourth season in that valley. I have never watched a Survivor episode, but someday I should take a look at the Marquesas season. So, the sailing adventure of Windbird continues. I am truly hopeful that I will get out of the Marquesas Islands tomorrow and on to Chapter 13 about our time in the Society Islands. Tahiti, Moorea, and Bora Bora are all in the Societies, so I have a lot to write about. BTW–Both the Marquesas and the Society Islands are in French Polynesia. By the end of the week my hope is that we will be sailing out of French Polynesia and headed for Rarotonga in the Cooks Islands.
by Judy Handley | Mar 21, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 80: Happy Birthday to Ollie
Date: Sunday, March 21, 2021
Weather: Beautiful Day; High 56, Low, 31 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Today was Ollie’s 9th birthday and what a beautiful day for an outside birthday party. Last year for his birthday, we all went for a walk in a nearby conservation area. It was the first time I had seen Heather and family for over a week as we were all in lockdown due to the pandemic. But he had a great Zoom call with friends on his way home, driving by the homes of each of his friends so they could give him a birthday wave.
This year was a little better as he had four friends over, all masked, and playing yard games. They played Kubb, which is a Swedish game, and then croquet. They had cupcakes on the deck and played giant Jenga and giant dominoes. Then it was hide ‘n seek, a walk around the boardwalk nature trail in the neighborhood, and finally bocce ball. During the afternoon outside with the boys, Heather and Jed were able to get a little yard work done and I made a quick trip home to get a couple of bean towers so that Heather could plant snap peas in their front yard garden. All of the landscaping on their property is ornamental plants, not vegetables. But little by little I think Heather will find a way to change that.
After Ollie’s friends left, he opened presents from me and from Jed. He had opened presents from Grammy Goldstone and his big present from Heather and Jed in the morning. The big present was a huge, long bean bag seat. It is very versatile. You can lay it out flat and use it like a lounge chair or double it up into a seat with a back. And it is soooo comfortable. I melted right into. Then the problem was getting out of it!
I made another quick trip home to take Shadow for a walk and then went back for dinner. Ollie ‘ordered’ Korean ribs. Jed had never fixed them before, but he gave it a try and they were delicious. Heather stir-fried veggies and made rice to go with the ribs. All yummy. And then we had Boston Creme Cake. It was Heather’s first attempt at making this. She thought she had used too much vanilla and cooked the cake part too long. I disagreed.
I thought it was just perfect and so did Ollie. Before we ate dinner, we went around the table to share one story about Ollie. Heather shared the story of when Granddad and I brought Sam and Jonah to the hospital to first meet Ollie when he was only an hour old. What a beautiful memory that was. We were all totally fascinated by that little creature and still are. Happy Birthday, Ollie!
by Judy Handley | Mar 20, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 79: Welcome Spring
Date: Saturday, March 20, 2021
Weather: Partly Cloudy; High 45, Low, 31 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Welcome, spring. But where are you? It is still too cold for me to feel like wanting to go out and do any outside work. I am sincerely hoping that since March came in like a lion that sometime soon it is going to be warm and sunny so I can say it went out like a lamb. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny with the high temp in the low 50’s. That just might qualify as warm enough.
Since tomorrow is Ollie’s 9th birthday, I am hoping that the weather forecast is correct. He is having a few friends over to play outside, so I am hoping for the sunshine for him. Tonight, the busy Goldstones stopped by for a late pre-birthday artichoke dinner. Jonah had an evening soccer game in Cohasset which is most of the way to Boston. Sam had a scouting day at Camp Greenough in Yarmouth Port which is a 45-minute drive. So, Heather took Jonah to his game and Jed to pick up Sam. Jed dropped Ollie off with me and we watched some episodes of Wild Kratts while waiting for everyone else to arrive for dinner. It was well after 8 pm when everyone arrived for the artichoke dinner. And it was well past bedtime when they left, but we had a nice evening together talking about soccer, scouts, and the upcoming birthday party. Ollie is having a few friends over tomorrow afternoon to play lawn games. When the friends leave, we will have the actual birthday dinner. And today was Grammy Goldstone’s birthday. Happy birthday, Marti.
Today was spent editing instead of writing. Since my ‘first reader’ is ready for more chapters, I wanted to make sure they were ready for her. I wrote them, but then did not even go back and proofread. Sure enough, there were loads of things that needed tidied up. I only got through two chapters, but I sent those along. Monday I will proof one more chapter and complete writing another. The writing project is going along nicely.
by Judy Handley | Mar 19, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 78: Feedback
Date: Friday, March 19, 2021
Weather: Mostly Sunny and Windy; High 40, Low, 26 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
If you regularly read this log, you know that I am working on writing a book about Windbird’s travels around the world. I am currently finishing up Chapter 12, but still have miles to go. I have a friend that was in the memoir writing class I took last spring that spurred me write this book. That friend has offered to the ‘first reader’ and give me feedback. I got her feedback on the first eight chapters today and I was delighted with the detail of her editing and her encouraging comments. Now I want to write even faster! But I do not think that is possible, so I just need to keep plodding along. I read a quote today that shook me a bit. It said, “Get out of your story and into your life.” That reminded me of something my high school principal said. It was something along the lines of, “If you are talking today about what you did yesterday, then you aren’t doing enough today.” I really want to write this book, but I promise to keep living today. That is not easy because I get so engrossed in the writing. But reminders like these will keep me straight.
Tomorrow is the first day of spring. Yippee! Now the weather just needs to feel like spring.
by Judy Handley | Mar 18, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 77: Rainy Day
Date: Thursday, March 18, 2021
Weather: Overcast with Rain All Day; High 46, Low, 29 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
The rain started this morning, and it has not stopped. Shadow and I made it through a half mile morning walk without getting too wet, but late this afternoon when we did the other half of our daily mile, we both came home soaked to the bone despite our rain coats.
I kept my promise to myself today and did not start writing this morning until I did three things on my ‘to do’ list. One of those things was starting seedlings indoors to get ready for summer gardening. I started San Marzano tomato plants to day and will do more indoor planting on Saturday, the first day of spring. But I chose not to sweep the cottage floors. I will do that tomorrow morning while Shadow is at the groomers. He hates the vacuum, so I decided to give him a break. My writing today was about exploring the islands in the Marquesas in search of ancient maraes (me’aes) and tikis (ti’is) and being introduced to Polynesian music and dance. The maraes are stone platforms that were once used as a meeting place and where human sacrifices were made. The tikis were stone figures of all sizes. The largest we saw was Takaii at 8 feet. I would love to finish the chapter on the Marquesas tomorrow, but I have only written about three of the five islands we visited. So Saturday is probably more realistic for going on to the next chapter about the Society Islands in French Polynesia—Tahiti, Moorea, Raiatea, and Bora Bora.
This evening I got a Message on Facebook that Coco was inviting me to talk on Messenger Kids. We talked via video on our phones and she taught me how to ‘effects’ to make very funny faces. Coco loves jokes and riddles and is quite the little character.
