by Judy Handley | Nov 29, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 333: A Little Outdoor Time
Date: Sunday, November 29, 2020
Weather: Sunny; High 52, Low 44 Degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA
It was another beautiful day, but somehow I managed to not take full advantage. I enjoyed my day, but didn’t get the yard work done that needs to happen before we start getting winter weather And when I look at the weather for the next nine days, I see that rain is forecast for more than half of those days. So, I will have to plan the outdoor work carefully and take full advantage of dry days. I had hoped that the Goldpebbles were coming over this afternoon to do yard work, but that didn’t happen. Heather did come over with another van load of leaves. I am trying to fill in an area between the back yard and the woods and the leaves are doing that job for me. I washed my car, hung out a laundry, and cleaned out the shed where I store my bicycle. I’m a slow starter in the mornings and that is a real detriment right now as it gets dark so early in the afternoon. You have only four hours between noon and sundown. I use my mornings to walk Shadow and today I headed into town before noon to attend a weekly Black Lives Matter vigil. I stopped by Heather and Jed’s to pop a laundry load in, but I knew I would have to bring the wet clothes home and hang them out as Jed has disconnected the dryer to rerun the exhaust hose. They were getting a lot of moisture in the laundry area while drying clothes and when Jed investigated, he found that the exhaust hose to the dryer was not connected and all the lint had built up in the opening and was blocking any exhaust. By the time I picked up my laundry after the Black Lives Matter vigil, got home to hang up the laundry and eat lunch, there were only a couple of hours of daylight left. I did enjoy the time I had outside and have promised myself to be more focused on future sunny, dry days.
I got the most interesting photos from Justin this afternoon. The first one was of what I call a big banana spider, but it is also called a golden-orb weaver because of their beautiful webs. Justin had placed his hand behind the web to show that the spider with outstretched legs was as big as his hand. In the second photo, he had placed Coco at a distance behind the spider and its web that gave the illusion that the spider with outstretched legs was as big as her face. She added an appropriate look of fear to make for a very entertaining photo . . . unless you are an arachnophobe!
by Judy Handley | Nov 29, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 332: Beautiful Day
Date: Saturday, November 28, 2020
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High 54, Low 37 Degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA
It was a beautiful day, weather wise, and just in general. Andrew, the young man that bought the house next Shirley, texted that he and his daughter were visiting from New York City just for the morning. He said his 14 year-old daughter Lily that was coming with him would like to meet Shadow. So, I took Shadow down to the dock which is adjacent to Andrew’s back yard. We kept our distance, but still had a nice visit. Then he and Lily were off to explore Falmouth and then back to New York City before dark. I did some outside chores and then Heather texted that they were headed this way to work on the dock. Sometime in September, it developed a serious lean and Jed thought he could put in some cross beams that might help. It took a couple of hours. We couldn’t do everything needed as we didn’t have the enough long bolts. But it definitely looks better. There was a nice sunset as we wound up the work, they set off for Menauhant Beach to try and catch the full sunset. When they left, I came inside and decided to watch a film Heather and family had watched last night and highly recommended, “David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet.” All of us have watched David Attenborough’s films through the years, but Heather said this one was truly special. Attenborough recalls his incredibly life of visiting what were still the wild places on earth before wildlife diminished. He shares his realization that at some point he realized that things were going terribly wrong, but he ends by offering a vision for the future. It has been called the most important film of 2020 and I whole heartedly agree. He ends with this statement:
“We’ve come this far because we are the smartest creatures who have ever lived. But to continue we require more than intelligence. We require wisdom.”
Here are some of the statistics he presents to substantiate his story. I copy them here for you to contemplate.
World Population 1937: 2.3 Billion
World Population 1954: 2.7 Billion
World Population 1960: 3.0 Billion
World Population 1978: 4.3 Billion
World Population 1997: 5.9 Billion
World Population 2020: 7.8 Billion
Carbon in Atmosphere 1937: 280 parts per million
Carbon in Atmosphere 1954: 310 parts per million
Carbon in Atmosphere 1960: 315 parts per million
Carbon in Atmosphere 1978: 335 parts per million
Carbon in Atmosphere 1997: 360 parts per million
Carbon in Atmosphere 2020: 415 parts per million
Remaining Wilderness 1937: 66%
Remaining Wilderness 1954: 64%
Remaining Wilderness 1960: 62%
Remaining Wilderness 1978: 55%
Remaining Wilderness 1997: 46%
Remaining Wilderness 2020: 35%
by Judy Handley | Nov 28, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 331: Thanksgiving Hangover
Date: Friday, November 27, 2020
Weather: Overcast; High 56, Low 41 Degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA
Can too much food give you a hangover? I think so. We feasted yesterday and gave thanks for so many things, but today I just couldn’t get going. I sat and thought about the many things that needed to be done, but none of them happened today. It was overcast outside, but warm enough to allow me to do many of the outdoor jobs on my list. They didn’t get done. Maybe tomorrow. I did get some planning for the upcoming holiday season. That includes Hanukkah, Christmas, and the celebration of the winter solstice. Tonight, I am watching the first two episodes of an MSNBC special on Obama. That will make this another late night, but I have to watch to give me the strength to continue believing that this too shall pass. The current attack on democracy, the current attack on people of color, the current attack on civility, the current attack on who we are as good people—these things must stop. Easier said than done. But I will watch tonight to give me the strength to move forward and then set the alarm for tomorrow morning and get up and get to work.
by Judy Handley | Nov 26, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 330: Thanksgiving Day
Date: Thursday, November 26, 2020
Weather: Rainy; High 59, Low 45 Degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA
01 Kevin Carving His Turkey
What a wonderful Thanksgiving Day we had at Heather and Jed’s today. Our ‘pandemic pod’ family gathered for the occasion. This includes Heather, Jed, and the boys, me, and the Simpkins family—Mike, Grace, and their two boys, Robert and Joey. At the beginning of the school year this pod was formed so that Sam and Robert can do their remote learning school days together. So far, all of us have managed to stay healthy and we were all so grateful to be able to spend Thanksgiving Day together. We all contributed food and had a true feast. I’ll start with the appetizers. When we arrived, Heather and Jed had the homemade pomegranate juice and orange juice punch on the table, along with a clever ‘vegetable train’—carrots and celery in green peppers making the train cars with cucumber wheels. There was cheese and crackers, I added deviled eggs, and the Simpkins brought asparagus wrapped in cheese and prosciutto. We snacked while some watched a football game and some escaped to build a marble run. We feared that we wouldn’t be able to eat dinner after such yummy appetizers, but the five boys, three of them teenagers, assured us that nothing would stop us from stuffing ourselves with turkey. And they were right. Heather and Jed provided the turkey. Jed was in charge of cooking the turkey which was moist and delicious. Thanksgiving turkeys are usually dry and just not my favorite meat. But twice in my life, today and Thanksgiving at my sister’s in 2014 when she lived in North Carolina, stand out as memorable. My very good friends, Kevin and Claire, came to North Carolina for that Thanksgiving and they volunteered to be in charge of cooking the turkey using Kevin’s special process. They roasted the turkey early, which involved using a lot of butter and basting, and when it was done, they left the turkey in the roasting pan, wrapped the pan in layers of thick towels, and let it sit for three hours. Jed’s method today was the more traditional method of roasting, carving, and serving immediately. Evidently both methods can produce a delicious turkey! I made Mark’s traditional cranberry salad and my traditional stuffing. Heather made the gravy and roasted Brussels sprouts with a balsamic dressing. Grace and Mike brought mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans and corn, and their traditional stuffing with sausage. And then there were desserts—pumpkins pies, chocolate pudding pie, Jed’s apple cranberry pie, Mike’s pumpkin squares (totally decadent and delicious), and lots of whipped cream. Whew! Lots of food, wonderful conversation, and an after-dessert ‘in plain sight’ scavenger hunt. This is a Goldstone tradition and you cannot believe how it is to find things that are strategically place in plain sight. Jed placed the items and Heather was the first to find all the objects, following by Sam. It took the rest of us quite a bit longer, but eventually we were all successful.
When I first arrived this afternoon, we had a family Skype video call with Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco. Near the beginning of the call, one of their goats wondered into the house and plopped herself right on Justin’s lap. We met Ziggy and Coco’s pet hamsters, and Jed and Justin counted up that they have twelve different kinds of animals at Finca Maravilla, with multiples of most. Heather, Ollie, Jonah, and Coco had a riddle battle, typing their riddle questions in the Chat box. “Why did Pilgrims have trouble keeping their pants from falling down? Because they wore their belt buckles on their hats.” Very silly, but a lots of fun. And then I had my traditional Thanksgiving call from Kevin and Claire. They are currently living in their motor home in Long Beach, California, and loving it. Long Beach is an industrial area and there are sometimes air quality problems, but the motor home park is ocean side and they often see dolphins on their morning walk. The weather is perfect, and they are close to Kevin’s mother, his sister’s family, and Claire’s sister’s family. I was so happy to hear that their new California life is good.
From our Thanksgiving table to yours . . . here’s hoping each of you had a special Thanksgiving Day.
by Judy Handley | Nov 26, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 329: Getting Ready for Thanksgiving
Date: Wednesday, November 25, 2020
Weather: Overcast, Warmer, Misty Evening; High 55, Low 49 Degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA
Not a lot to report today. Just like you, I was scurrying around getting ready for Thanksgiving Day. I will spend the afternoon at Heather and Jed’s.
by Judy Handley | Nov 24, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 328: Thankful for My Circle of Friends
Date: Tuesday, November 24, 2020
Weather: Sunny, Windy, and Cool; High 45, Low 30 Degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA
My Dining-in, now Lunch-in group was supposed to meet at noon today in the Baranowski’s Taj Garage. But before I got my negative Covid test results yesterday, two more members of the group found out they had been exposed to the virus and now to self-quarantine until they get the results of their Covid tests. Wisely, a decision was made to postpone the luncheon. But this morning the idea of a noon time Zoom meeting was floated and everyone jumped on that idea. So that is what we did. The group is four couples plus myself. There is a lot of diversity within the group, but we have enough in common to make us a wonderfully cohesive group. I am so thankful for this circle of friends. And today I knew I could depend on Terry White to help me find the quote that I mentioned in last night’s log. After our meeting, Terry sent me an email telling me how to Google the definition of ‘state’ by Saint Augustine. Here it is:
St. Augustine: A nation is a multitude of rational beings united by the common objects of their love.
Jon Meacham: So what we have to ask ourselves at every critical point is, what do we love in common?
As a nation, what do we love in common? This is my food for thought this Thanksgiving weekend.
