by Judy Handley | Jan 4, 2021 | 2020 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 4: Christmas, Not Over Yet
Date: Monday, January 4, 2021
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, A Little Rain; High 40, Low 33 Degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Sick of Christmas? Well, it is not quite over for many people. Wednesday, January 6th, is not just the day that President-elect Biden’s election gets the final validation when a joint session of Congress meets to formally count the votes of the Electoral College. This year that process is going to have a bit more drama than usual. That day is also the twelfth day of Christmas, also known as the Epiphany or Three Kings’ Day or All Kings’ Day. Depending on your religion or where you live, the name varies. And many Americans have no idea what the twelfth day of Christmas is other than a song. I was one of those people who didn’t know what it was until 1979 when John Denver and the Muppets made an album called A Christmas Together. Yes, we had a record player and played that album for Heather and Justin. One of the songs on the album was The Twelve Days of Christmas and it became part of our holiday celebrations. Eventually I wondered what the song was really about. In researching that, I learned about Epiphany or the twelfth day of Christmas. The 12 days of Christmas in the Christian religion represent the time between the birth of Jesus and the coming of the three wise men twelve days later. For that reason, some people call that twelfth day Three Kings’ or All Kings’ Day. In Puerto Rico people often give larger presents than they do on Christmas Day. I know Justin and Jo give Ziggy and Coco presents on All Kings’ Day and I’m not sure if that is a custom of Jo’s from England or if it is something they started doing in Puerto Rico. So, on this Wednesday, we’ll have twelve drummers drumming and some people will give gifts. I, on the other hand, will be taking down my Christmas tree. It has become a custom for me to take down all Christmas decorations on the twelfth day. This year I will be removing those Christmas ornaments while watching the circus happening in the Congress. Or maybe I’ll get an early start and take some decorations down tomorrow night while watching the results of the Georgia Senate election roll in. In any case, I’ll be singing.
On the first day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
a partridge in a pear tree.
The song then adds a gift for each day, building on the verse before it, until you’re reciting all 12 gifts together:
Day 2: two turtle doves
Day 3: three French hens
Day 4: four calling birds
Day 5: five gold rings
Day 6: six geese a-laying
Day 7: seven swans a-swimming
Day 8: eight maids a-milking
Day 9: nine ladies dancing
Day 10: 10 lords a-leaping
Day 11: 11 pipers piping
Day 12: 12 drummers drumming
by Judy Handley | Jan 3, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 3: Walk to Trotting Park with the Goldpebbles
Date: Sunday, January 3, 2021
Weather: Overcast; High 40, Low 36 Degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
The highlight of my day was a walk following the powerlines from near Heather and Jed’s to Trotting Park with Shadow and the Goldpebbles. Trotting Park is the location of the Little League baseball field, the Skatepark, and the town soccer fields. We walked part of he way there yesterday but had to turn around and head home as the sun was setting. Today we left earlier and took flashlights, just in case. The walk starts out by a pond and then heads into the woods. As we entered the woods, we noticed a red-tailed hawk high in the trees watching our progress. Once you emerge from the woods, you are walking along a mowed area under the powerlines and this path takes you to Trotting Park. Sam has made this walk with Jed, but Ollie and Jonah had never done it. The powerline trail ends overlooking the town Little League baseball field. Once there we headed across a mossy meadow leading to the parking lot for the Skatepark and the soccer fields. The boys wanted to check out a stand of bamboo near the soccer fields and then we headed home. The boys made one rest top to play with Shadow. He loves these walks with the boys, so I hope we will be able to do often this winter on the weekends, and after school in the spring when the sundown is later.
Tonight I wanted to watch 60 Minutes. I turned on the TV and went to the CBS channel a little before 7:30 pm, the time Google told me the program begins. There was a football game on, so I checked to see much longer they had to play. Less than five minutes. Then I saw that the Tennessee Titans were playing. This team’s home base is Nashville and I know my niece Janet loves the Titans. So, I decided to watch. What an exciting 5 minutes of play. The Titans ended up winning over Houston with a last second field goal. The ball actually hit the goal post, causing everyone’s heart to stop, and then it bounced in for the score.
by Judy Handley | Jan 2, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 2: Walking, Then More Walking
Date: Saturday, January 2, 2021
Weather: Partly Sunny, Windy; High 48, Low 31 Degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
I basically walked this day away. I took a couple of walks with Shadow this morning and then came inside and worked on my jigsaw puzzle for a bit. I didn’t get very far when I got a text from Heather asking if I would like to bring my computer over so she could help me figure out how to get Google to get rid of deleted emails rather than archiving them, filling up my allotted storage space. I went over and Heather quickly figured out how to fix this and I headed home. But once I got here, I realized I had left my mouse on her dining room table. Mid-afternoon, I headed back over to get it and I took Shadow with me.
The Goldpebbles were in the backyard playing, so Shadow and I went to see them. The boys and I decided to take Shadow for a walk around the two ponds that are across the street from their house. The neighbor across from them welcomes them to walk through her side yard to get to the walkway around the first pond. We stopped on the bridge to admire the swans and for Sam and Jonah to smother Shadow with love. Then the boys decided to be adventuresome and we did quite an explore. There is a trail through the woods that takes you to the second pond and then on to a powerline trail. Yesterday the boys hid a geocache on the powerline trail and they wanted me to see where that is located. Shadow helped me find it and then on we went. We were deciding to go even further when I checked my phone and saw it was 4 o’clock. We didn’t have a flashlight with us, so we decided we should head home to make sure we got there before sundown. On the way home, we saw Heather and Jed in the distance. They had come to meet up with us and get in their daily walk in before dark. Then we walked all around their neighborhood when we got back off the trail. Lots of walking. Sam and Shadow were having a great time and Sam asked if Shadow and I could stay for dinner to have Korean meatballs and stir-fried Bok Choy. Sounded good to me, so he went home with me to feed Shadow and then we came back for dinner. This was Shadow’s first time in months being inside their house. He immediately found a pair of socks. When he decides to play keep away, it is almost impossible to get whatever he has in his mouth away from him. But we persisted and retrieved the socks. After that he was fairly well behaved for a bit, then he decided to try and eat an ornament from their Christmas tree. It was not a perfect visit, but we all survived a couple of hours. Hopefully, if we do this more often, we can teach him to be a gracious guest. I really enjoyed the dinner, but I left right afterwards so Shadow couldn’t get into more trouble. He has been fast asleep since we got home. I think we finally wore him out. But just as I am writing this, I see he is stirring. Time for trip outside before bed.
by Judy Handley | Jan 1, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 1: Happy New Year
Date: Friday, January 1, 2021
Weather: Cloudy; High 41, Low 38 Degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Last year on New Year’s Day I wrote, “I think we all know that 2020 is going to be tumultuous year with all the political chaos.” Little did I know just what chaos we would all have to face. But we have made it this far, so we just need to keep on doing what we have been doing to keep ourselves and others safe from Covid. I am not sure what we can do about the political situation other than wait patiently for January 20th to come and go peacefully. Even with a new administration, things are going to be bumpy, but I have never been so anxious for a Presidential inauguration. I just keep hanging onto Biden’s words of hope.
My father mandated that we live on New Year’s Day as we want to live throughout the coming year. I think I am finally old enough to ignore his mandate and I did as I pleased today. Shadow and I got up at 7:00 am for our morning constitutional and then we went back to bed for a couple of hours. My father would not have been happy with that. When I did get up, I was a good girl and did my morning exercises. Then I had pumpkin pie with whipped cream for first breakfast. I hope this will not become a habit! Next there was a longer walk with Shadow, a couple of hours fighting with my computer trying to clear up email space, a healthy second breakfast of my green smoothie, followed by 35 minutes on the exercise bike, and finally another long walk with Shadow. And I did spend a fair amount of time being distracted by the jigsaw puzzle on the dining table. This should be an easy puzzle, but I am finding myself challenged . . . but I shall persist. Shadow and I played fetch for a bit and walked down to the dock to watch the swans feed, and before I knew it, the sun was setting and it was time to think about dinner. About that time, I got a text from Heather asking if I was planning to come over for dinner. I readily took that as an invitation and accepted. This meant I had to comb my hair, brush my teeth, and get out of my exercise clothes into something more appropriate for dinner. Yep, I didn’t brush my teeth or comb my hair until 5 pm. I am positive that my dad would not be happy about that, but I had a perfectly wonderful day unbrushed and uncombed! I did make a traditional sauerkraut and sausage dish to take to Heather’s. When I got there I asked Jonah and Ollie to find a dime, shine it up, and put it in the sauerkraut. When they asked why, I simply said it is tradition. And the person who gets the shiny dime with their serving of sauerkraut and sausage will have a prosperous year. They looked at me like I was crazy, but they were quite excited when they saw that Heather got the dime. As far as I know, this is an old Southern tradition. It used to be salted and quartered onions, smoked hog howl, heads of cabbage, and pots of black-eyed peas. But a jar of Bubbies sauerkraut and a couple of links of uncured, all natural sausage (Is there really any such thing?) with some sauteed onions and potatoes is my modern day version. For me, having this on New Year’s Day is just as important as staying up until midnight on New Year’s Eve to watch the ball drop. And after dinner, we had great fun trying to answer the questions to the New York Times great 2020 news quiz. It came with my December 30th quick version of the New York Times online. I gave it a go this afternoon and knew only about half the answers. I was surprised that Jonah and Ollie were so interested in this, but we only got through 12 questions tonight. They want to continue with the other 18 questions the next time I am over. I was quite impressed with their current affairs knowledge base.
Sleep in, eat some things that are bad for you and some things that are good for you, exercise, exercise, exercise, play with your pet, walk down to the water to watch the swans feed, fight with your computer, challenge yourself mentally, hold tight to traditions, and remember to comb your hair and brush your teeth. So goes life here in The Cottage in 2021. Life is good. Happy New Year to all.
by Judy Handley | Dec 31, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 366: New Year’s Eve
Date: Thursday, December 31, 2020
Weather: Rainy Morning, Then Overcast; High 50, Low 29 Degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
There are probably few people in the world that are not glad to see 2020 come to an end, but I fear that for most of 2021 we all just have to keep on doing what we have been doing to fight Covid. Our world is not going to return to normal until this virus is under control and right now it is rampaging like a house on fire. There is hope . . . a new President once the Republicans stop playing dangerous games with our democracy and the vaccines. But there are tough days ahead. So, I hope that each of us includes patience in our New Year’s resolutions. And if each and every American pledged to wear a mask and observe physical distancing starting tomorrow, we could save many lives. We can hope.
I talked to Heather mid-day and I suggested that we order sushi for dinner. She readily agreed. I asked her to make the order and I would pick it up on my way to their house. We had a nice dinner and I got to hear the boys talk about their great snowboarding trip to Maine. Even though there was only man-made snow and the first day on the slopes was short-lived due to high winds, the Goldpebbles had a great time. Heather and Jed both had tumbles that were a little scary, but both were fine. Heather is questioning whether she really enjoys downhill skiing. She was a cross country skier in high school, but like me, downhill isn’t her favorite thing. But they all felt it was great to get away for just a few days. And they felt totally safe doing it the way they did. Renting a condo on the slopes worked out great. Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco called tonight while I was still at the Goldstones, so I got to see them via Skype. I haven’t seen them in person since the summer of 2019. It would be wonderful if things get to a point where we could safely get together in 2021. We’ll just have to wait and see, but that is certainly one of my wishes for this year.
I am now at home with Shadow and we just watched the ball drop. And I have to go get a pumpkin pie out of the oven. Everyone needs to start their new year on a healthy note with pumpkin pie and whipped cream for breakfast. Right? Now it’s time to for all of us to double down and stay safe so we can have a healthy 2021. Happy New Year!
by Judy Handley | Dec 30, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 364: Loving My Christmas Present
Date: Wednesday, December 30, 2020
Weather: Mostly Cloudy and Windy; High 48, Low 45 Degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA
I am loving the Christmas present from my kids and grandkids. It is a recumbent exercise bike that I have placed in the living room where I can exercise while watching television if I choose. Eventually I will be able to read while riding, but right now I am just getting used to riding again. I am doing 15-minute segments as I haven’t ridden for so very long. My legs are a little sore, but not bad. I did 30 minutes total today, but my goal is to do four 15-minute rides each day. The bike is a Marcy. It is a low-tech bike which keeps the cost down, but it has 8 resistance levels and gives me a constant read-out of my speed, distance, time, calories burned, and overall odometer reading. It is simple, but fantastic. But between morning stretching exercises, my walks with Shadow, bike riding, and playing fetch with Shadow every afternoon, it feels like a lot of my day is dedicated to exercise. As the days lengthen, that feeling will change as there will be more daylight time for outside activities. This week I have been making two trips to Heather and Jed’s each day to feed to guinea pigs and today I did laundry while I was there. Then I went to the grocery store for the last time for a while. I came home with four big bags of groceries. For the month of January, I will order groceries and either pick them up curbside or have them delivered. I am anticipating that Covid cases will rise in January after the holidays. I hope not, but I am going to err on the safe side and do as Dr. Anthony Fauci says we should all do for the next couple of months, “Double-down on all public health measures.” I have also finally started working on the puzzle I got out a few days ago. Trying to work it on the low coffee table was not working as Shadow was eating the pieces, so I cleared off the dining table and using that as my desk and puzzle space for now. If the kids come over for dinner, I’ll have to put the puzzle away (I am working it on a piece of cardboard). It was Heather’s suggestion that I do this and it is much easier as I can see all of the pieces in one space. The problem is that when I am in the kitchen, I keep getting distracted by the puzzle. Not a bad thing, but cooking dinner sure takes longer than it should!
Heather and Jed got home tonight. Jed sent a text yesterday evening saying he and Ollie were the last ones off the slopes and got to watch the sun set and the full moon rise from near the mountain top. Jed said Ollie is “awesomely persistent” . . . as long as he is not hungry. I am anxious to hear from everyone about how their four days at Sugarloaf went. They had planned to head home this morning, but they spent 5 hours on the slopes and then headed home. Thus, the last evening arrival back on the Cape.
