by Judy Handley | Jul 2, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 183: Halfway Through 2020
Date: Thursday, July 2, 2020
Weather: Sunny, Warm, and Windy; High 79, Low 67 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
This year is turning out to be more than any of us bargained for, so being halfway through it is a good thing. On New Year’s Day when I was loving the magic of the lights on my Christmas tree I wrote, “I think we all know that 2020 is going to be tumultuous year with all the political chaos. I will look forward to December when I can once again have the peace and calm those Christmas lights bring to me. If things get too chaotic, I might just have to put up my Christmas tree in July. But for now, I’ll just hope for a happy, peaceful, and prosperous 2020 for all.”
Political Chaos we have. But on New Year’s Day, I had no idea we were going to be living through the additional chaos of a pandemic and an economic crisis in 2020. Since mid-March, we have all been doing the best we can to survive in the days of coronavirus. It is not going to go away magically at the end of 2020, but I was happy to realize that at midnight tonight we will be half-way through this year. 2020 is a leap year, so it has 366 days. Today is Day 183 and at midnight we go over the hump. I think this is one year that all of us will be happy to see come to an end, so going over the hump is a good thing.
Halfway Day was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, and it was warm. Definitely a beach day. I delivered Shadow to his 9 am appointment with the dog groomer and headed across the bridge to go to Lowe’s to buy some things needed for various projects. Going off Cape just before the July 4th weekend means you are going to have to wait in a line of traffic to get back across the bridge and onto the Cape. I finished my shopping as quickly as possible and did have a little traffic getting back home, but it wasn’t too bad. I got home, quickly packed a lunch for myself and the Goldpebbles, and headed to pick them up and get to the beach. We went to Menauhant Beach on the Nantucket Sound side of Falmouth. Shortly after we arrived, we discovered the Keefe’s, the Goldstone’s nextdoor neighbors from Vidal Avenue, were there.
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Molly and Joey are like family and all the boys were so excited to see them. Joey, Jonah, and Ollie played together for the entire afternoon. The water is warming, but it is still on the chilly side. Sam did not wear his wet suit and with the wind, he quickly got cold and had to get out of the water. But Jonah and Ollie did wear their wet suits and they were in and out for five hours without one complaint of being cold. I had planned to leave the beach at 3:30 with the boys and go pick up Shadow. But there was no way I was going to pry Jonah away from Joey. So, Joey’s mom, Melissa, offered to watch Ollie and Jonah while Sam and I went to pick up Shadow. Sam was so cold that he was sitting in the car anyway, so a drive to pick up the puppy was fine with him. The groomer did a great job and sent Shadow home with a festive red, white, and blue bandanna around his neck.
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Sam and I dropped Shadow at my house and headed back to the beach where Sam braved the water one more time. It was after 5:30 when we headed home. By the time I dropped the boys off and ran a few errands in town, it was almost 7 o’clock when I got home. I don’t know about the Goldpebbles, but I know I am going sleep soundly tonight. Just sitting in that wind for five hours exhausted me.
Windbird sailed into Cuttyhunk on a broad reach today and will arrive in Falmouth very early in the morning, arriving before the wind switches to the north. The tentative plan is to meet Sam and Dawn on the beach in Quissett Harbor to visit. There is just not enough room on a sailboat for all of us to visit with appropriate physical distancing. So, we’ll just have to look at Windbird as we visit on land.
by Judy Handley | Jul 1, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 182: Record Breaking First Day of July
Date: Wednesday, July 1, 2020
Weather: Overcast with Rain in the Afternoon; High 73, Low 63 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
The US broke a new record on this first day of July, but it is not record-breaking event to be proud of. Today there were 50,000 new cases of coronavirus in our country. There are approximately 331 million people in the US. The European Union is larger, having 445 million people, and today they had only 3, 500+ new cases. They had only 28,000 new cases per day at the height of the coronavirus there in May. What is it that they are doing and we are not? I don’t think I need to answer that question. It is obvious. But despite our lack of national leadership, we have got to do more to turn this around. It is particularly hard with this holiday weekend ahead of us. The 4th of July is always a time of getting together to celebrate the independence of our nation. I hope each and everyone of us finds a way to celebrate without being together. It is so hard. Sam and Dawn Weigel, the young couple that are the now owners of Windbird, are going to be sailing Windbird into Falmouth in the next day or two. They have invited me and all of the Goldstones to go for a sail. There is nothing I would rather do, but there is no way that is the responsible thing to do. Hopefully we will be able to get together on land with appropriate physical distancing. But so sad that we can’t sail together.
This morning Ollie and Jed traveled to Hyannis where Ollie had a dentist appointment. He had to get a crown on one tooth and came home not feeling so great. So, Sam, Jonah, and I headed out, promising to return in an hour or so to see if Ollie would be ready to join us. We drove downtown to deliver our shellfish license applications to the drop box at City Hall. While downtown, I went into Blast from the Past to see if they had any rockets the boys might like to build for a 4th of July weekend celebration. They did not, but I did pick up a few balsa wood airplane kits as a possible afternoon activity. Then we went to the Skate Park. The weather was fickle—cloudy one minute, sunny the next—but good weather for skate boarding and scootering. It was iffy weather for the beach, but still we thought about going to the beach later in the afternoon. When we returned to pick up Ollie, we headed to my house for a mid-afternoon snack and lunch for Ollie. A decision was made to skip the beach today and spend the rest of the afternoon building and flying the planes. But first, we headed to Smitty’s for a mid-afternoon ice cream treat.
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When we got back to my house, Sam immediately flew his first plane up high and it landed on the roof. It is still there, but we have a plan for getting it down tomorrow. 
Then I gave all three boys identical kits that they immediately adapted to their own design and they did trial runs to see whose design was most successful. I loved it when Ollie said, “This is the most fun I have had for weeks.” I’m sure he has had much more fun in the past few weeks, but I was glad that he enjoyed the airplane activity. On the way home, we stopped once more at the Skate Park. Ollie and Jonah were on their scooter and Sam was on the skate board. He attempted a jump, had a tumble, and ended up with skinned up knee and what he said felt like a sprained wrist. I used, for the first time, the First Aid kit that I have had with me every summer day for the past three years. We patched up his knee and wrapped his wrist. By the time this was done, it was time to head home. I went to tell Jonah and Ollie it was time to go and got my chair and the skate board. I also had my keys and my phone in my hand and when I went to unlock the trunk of the car, I dropped my phone. It fell, facedown, and one little pebble shattered my screen. Ouch. That will be an expensive fix, but for now, the phone is still usable.
Tomorrow morning I take Shadow to the dog groomer. This is the long-awaited appointment I made in May. Then the plan for the afternoon is to go to beach with the Goldpebbles.
by Judy Handley | Jun 30, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 181: Another Rainy Afternoon
Date: Tuesday, June 30, 2020
Weather: Overcast with Rain in the Afternoon; High 73, Low 63 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Camp Oma Afternoons are getting off to a slow start this summer as Day 1 and Day 2 have been rainy. Yesterday we watched a movie and this afternoon Sam decided to do the same. But Jonah and Ollie were interested in doing something creative. I had Jonah Google “what to do on a rainy afternoon with kids” and he came up with an idea to play with bubble wrap. Well, I have lots of bubble wrap in the basement, so we headed down to explore. We got distracted however, with the pile of insulation pads that line my boxes of vegetables that come from Misfits each week. Some of the pads are sealed in paper and others in plastic. Some are 2 feet by 3 feet and others are 1 foot by 3 feet. And all are about an inch thick. Both Ollie and Jonah immediately turned those pads into multiple layers of body armor so they could spar with pads also made out of the insulation pads. A little Duct tape, clear packing tape, and a pair of scissors helped us make the transformation and both boys were ecstatic with the results. You would have thought we had just won the lottery. Jonah then turned an old life jacket into a punching bag. It is amazing what you can do with two energetic boys and some recycled materials.
by Judy Handley | Jun 29, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 180: First Day of Camp Oma Afternoons
Date: Monday, June 29, 2020
Weather: Mixed Sun and Clouds AM, Thunderstorm PM; High 76, Low 63 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Today was the first official day of Camp Oma with a new twist. Since the summer of 2013, Camp Oma has been an all-day summer camp affair five days a week. This summer the plan is for it to be only in the afternoons. The boys are older now and can entertain themselves in the morning. And there are no swim lessons every morning in this coronavirus era, so this gives the boys a chance to ease into their day and it gives me the chance to do my morning routine with Shadow. This could change as we move forward, but that is the plan for now.
Rain was forecast for this afternoon, so we didn’t plan on a beach afternoon. The only plan we had when I picked the boys up at noon was to go to my house for lunch and to then go to the Skate Park, weather permitting. We had a favorite summer lunch where I put out all the toppings for pizza and the boys build their individual little pizzas on half an English muffin. We pop them in the toaster oven and 4 minutes later the little pizzas are ready. After lunch the boys resumed reading for a bit, and just as we were thinking about heading to the Skate Park, the rain started. We changed gears and made an instantaneous decision to watch a movie. Everyone wanted to see Star Wars, Episode V—The Empire Strikes Back (1980). We all enjoyed the movie and popcorn and ignored the thunderstorm outside. It was a delightful first afternoon of Camp Oma.
by Judy Handley | Jun 28, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 179: Just Sunday
Date: Sunday, June 28, 2020
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High 79, Low 67 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
It was just a Sunday, but in these days of coronavirus life, you never know what the day might bring. It seems like one day just rolls into another and making plans no longer works. So, you just go with the flow. In addition to walking with Shadow, I worked in the yard this morning, talked with Helaine Kanegsberg on the phone and learned of the totally unexpected death of a daughter-in-law, took an orchid next door to Shirley for her 95th birthday and sat and visited with her on her deck, came home and had a late lunch, and then got a call from Jonah wondering if I could come take the Goldpebbles to the Skate Park for an hour or so of scooter practice. Heather and Jed were both deep into house projects today and I was glad to come take the boys to the Skate Park. When I got home, I got a message from fellow Newcomer, Art Gilbert, who gives free computer advice to members. I contacted him earlier in the week as I have not been able to access my email on my computer. We spent two full hours on the phone and finally we were able to give him remote access to my computer so he could track down the problem. Then it was time for a late dinner and my Sunday night Masterpiece Theater programs. It was a lovely, sunny day and I enjoyed every aspect of it. I was so saddened to learn of the death of Alan and Helaine’s daughter-in-law. It brought to mind the quote that is attached to a friend Lynda Kaufman’s email signature: “Live like every day is your last.”
by Judy Handley | Jun 27, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 178: More Birthday Fun
Date: Saturday, June 27, 2020
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, Then Rain; High 80, Low 66 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Just after noon, I headed downtown to pick up cupcakes from Cupcake Charlie’s for Jonah’s birthday party with his friends. Then I headed to Heather and Jed’s for the party. Jonah was allowed to invite three good friends—Luke, Kaiden, and Noah–whose parents were onboard for a coronavirus-age birthday party—bring your own water bottle, wear a mask, keep proper physical distancing, and cupcakes served by a server with mask and gloves. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to assure that this is all real. It is like living in a science fiction movie, but despite the restrictions, the Goldstones pulled off a safe and fun birthday party. The boys played lawn games—kubb (a Swedish lawn game where you knock over wooden blocks by throwing wooden batons), corn hole, bocce ball, and supervised soccer on the field at the nearby school. Jonah has had one play date with Luke, but otherwise the boys had not seen each other since mid-March. So, it was a very special time. And Jonah’s special times continued after all of us went home. Jonah was taken to the Crooked Coast shop where his new bass guitar was signed by members of the local band. The whole family loves Crooked Coast and Jonah must have been over the moon with the signing.
It started sprinkling near the end of the party and by the time I got home, it was raining. The rain has finally stopped, but we had more than six hours of pretty steady rain which was much needed. But because of the rain, I didn’t feel motivated to go on a long walk with Shadow once I got home. Instead, I did a little cooking and Shadow and I watched a couple of episodes of Our Planet. This is a series that the Goldstones have been watching and the boys really wanted me to watch as well. I had to sign up for a free month of Netflix to do this, so I need to make sure I do all the Netflix watching I want in the next couple of weeks before my free month runs out.
