by Judy Handley | Jun 6, 2025 | 2025 Sailing Logs |
2025 Life Logs, Day 156: Museum Visit, Blink, A Last Minute Shopping Frenzy
Date: Friday, June 6, 2025
Weather: Another Warm, Partly Cloudy Day; High Temp 75, Low 62 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
Part of my day was spent at the Cape Cod Cape Verdean Museum in East Falmouth. I met with two other Encore members to introduce them to the curator of the museum. She is the person we have asked to speak at one of our Encore program meeting next spring. When I set this meeting date, I had no idea how busy I would be with Sam’s graduation activities, Lynne’s visit, and all the normal craziness in my life. But the museum visit was helpful. I didn’t get back home until almost 2:30 and Lynne and I had planned to attend a movie, Blink, at the public library. She had lunch ready when I got home, so we wolfed it down and headed to the library. Blink is a National Geographic documentary about a family with four children with an incurable eye disease that would cause all four of them to go blind. So the parents decided to take them on an adventure around the world to see as much as possible so that when they do go blind, they will have visual memories. It was heart warming and heart breaking all at the same time. We thought about skipping it, but we are both glad we went. I then went on a wild shopping trip trying to find something that Heather and Jed wanted for Sam. The trip was unsuccessful, but the world will not end. When I got home around 6 pm, hooked up a new hose I bought today to water plants out by the driveway. And after taking a little break, I warmed up lasagna for dinner. Tomorrow is graduation and I have to be at Heather and Jed’s before 9 am. Everyone attending has to park in a Steamship Authority parking lot nearby and take a shuttle bus to and from the graduation ceremony. So off to bed I go.
by Judy Handley | Jun 4, 2025 | 2025 Sailing Logs |
2025 Life Logs, Day 154: Provincetown, Lynne Arrived, Ollie’s Spring Concert
Date: Wednesday, June 4, 2025
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High Temp 68, Low 59 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
Early this morning, I was off with 19 other Newcomers and Encore members on a field trip to Provincetown. Once there, we hopped aboard the Mayflower Trolley for a narrated trip through the town, out through the national park, and back to the Provincetown Town Hall. We then did a walk around town and had lunch at Bubala’s.
The car I was in returned home right after lunch, and when I got home I was greeted by my friend Lynne walking down the street with Shadow. Lynne now lives in New Zealand, but she is back in this country for the summer with her family in Michigan. I get her for the next 10 days. I have done my best to clear my calendar so we can have a few relaxed days together. But first, we need to get through the rest of this week culminating in Sam’s high school graduation. After that, things calm down considerably.
Jed and his mother, Marti, arrived from Washington, DC, just in time for Ollie’s spring concert at Lawrence Middle School this evening. Ollie played his saxophone with the jazz band and with the 120-student strong concert band.
Lynne and I then came home for a vegetarian lasagna dinner. Tomorrow morning, I am off to a meeting while Lynne will take a walk down to the beach with Shadow. Then we will drive to Costco to buy burgers and buns for Sam and Robert’s graduation party on Saturday. And tomorrow night, I will go with Heather and Jed to Awards Night at the high school. So goes the life here in Falmouth, Massachusetts on this warm and wonderful June day.
by Judy Handley | Jun 3, 2025 | 2025 Sailing Logs |
2025 Life Logs, Day 153: Sam’s Senior Walk of Honor
Date: Tuesday, June 3, 2025
Weather: Sunny; High Temp 74, Low 55 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
Sam and all of the seniors that attended East Falmouth Elementary returned there today for the Senior Walk of Honor. They were in cap and gown and a few tears were shed by the parents, and this grandmother, attending. The parents were back where their now grown up seniors began their education career. Soon these seniors will be on to new adventures. The realization is tough, but it is also exciting. I was just so thrilled that Heather invited me to go along. Sam hates having photos taken, but I have been Oma Paparazzi for 18 years. So, I’m not going to stop now!
This evening, Ollie had his last soccer game of the spring season. And he played better than I have ever seen him play. Jonah was one of the referees for the game. It was fun seeing them both on the field together in their different roles.
by Judy Handley | Jun 2, 2025 | 2025 Sailing Logs |
2025 Life Logs, Day 152: Sam’s Week
Date: Monday, June 2, 2025
Weather: Sunny; High Temp 62, Low 53 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
In my mind, this week is all about Senior Sam. There is shopping to do and food prep for the graduation party on Saturday. And of course, the graduation itself on Saturday. Tonight was the Senior Banquet. As I noted yesterday, Jed is in DC until Wednesday evening and Heather had meetings tonight, and again tomorrow night. So, I was the lucky grandmother that got to see Sam and Robert off as they left for the banquet tonight. So handsome and grown-up.
Tomorrow is the Senior Walk of Honor where the seniors go back to walk the halls of their elementary school. I wish I could be a fly on the wall for that. I remember taking the photo of an exuberant Sam walking to East Falmouth Elementary for his first day of kindergarten wearing those brand new red suede shoes. I get emotional just thinking about it.
04 Sam Waves to Oma’razzi’
Sam works at the bike shop on W-Th-F, but Thursday night is Falmouth High Awards Night. The whole family will be attending that. Jed’s mother and my friend Lynne arrive on Wednesday. I lead an all-day field trip to Provincetown on Wednesday and return just in time to go to Ollie’s middle school Spring Concert. Whew! A lot to pack into the next five days.
by Judy Handley | May 31, 2025 | 2025 Sailing Logs |
2025 Life Logs, Day 151: Outside, Inside
Date: Saturday, May 31, 2025
Weather: Rain Early, Sun, Clouds, WIND; High Temp 64, Low 52 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
I started my day outside. There was a little rain overnight, but by 8:30 am the rain disappeared. There was a mix of overcast skies, then sun, then clouds, then more sun, then more clouds. But it was nice enough to lure you outside. Shadow and I took a long walk and then I came home thinking I would spend my day on the computer getting caught up on all the little jobs on my ‘to do’ list—emails that needed to be returned, Encore documents that needed to be updated, communications with possible program speakers for next year that needed to be written. But I looked at my calendar and saw that Ollie had an away soccer game in Yarmouth, and I decided to chuck the work and go. I sent a text to Heather and got an invite to go with her. So off to Yarmouth we went to watch number 23 play soccer!.
On the way home, the wind picked up and it continued to build. When we got home, I went outside to do some planting, but it was actually too dangerous to be outside. I big branch fell out of a tree right next to where I was working, so that was it for gardening. I drove to the hardware store to get something I needed. On the way, another branch came flying out of a tree and hit my windshield hard enough to leave a very long crack on the passenger side.
hat was it. I went home and stayed inside for the rest of the day and evening. It is 10:30 pm and I have been sitting at this computer since 5 pm. I am proud to report that I got a huge number of the computer jobs on my list done. Hurray!
by Judy Handley | May 30, 2025 | 2025 Sailing Logs |
2025 Life Logs, Day 150: Last Class, Boat Work, Dinner with Friends
Date: Friday, May 30, 2025
Weather: Mostly Cloudy with Sun Breaking Through; High Temp 64, Low 57 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
This day can be divided into three parts.
Part 1 took all morning. I attended my last ‘Beyond the Whitehouse’ class. Thomas Jefferson built a university. John Quincy Adams became a member of the House of Representatives … for 18 years. Grover Cleveland lost his re-election, and then came back to win another four years, the only President to do this until our present king. William Howard Taft had always wanted to be on the Supreme Court but ended up as President. Beyond the Whitehouse, he finally got appointed as Chief Justice. After a failed Presidency, Jimmy Carter became an international negotiator, an election watchdog, and best-selling author while building house s for Habitat for Humanity. And I can’t leave out Geroge W who left politics total behind and became an artist. What would you do in your post-presidency?
I didn’t get home from class and running errands afterwards until 2 pm. Part 2 took the rest of the afternoon. I went to the boat to apply teak oil to the teak surrounding the cockpit.
And finally, Part 3 was spent having dinner at Terry and Olivia White’s, with Olivia’s friend Renu who lives most of the year in Switzerland.
Tomorrow. Who knows? I am to tired to even look at the calendar.
