by Judy Handley | Nov 16, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 320: A Little Gardening and Puppy Preparations
Date: Saturday, November 16, 2019
Weather: Mostly Sunny, Windy, and Cold; High 38, Low 26 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
It is forecast to be warmer over the next few days than it was today, but I woke up this morning realizing that I had never harvested the potatoes that I had planted in fiber bags at Heather’s in the late spring. So, I decided, cold or not, today was the day to find out if the experiment of planting the potatoes in the fiber bags worked. When I arrived at Heather’s to do this, that spurred her come out in the cold to pull up the tomato cages and put them to rest for the winter. And we decided to plant garlic. It must be a genetic thing that we would choose the coldest and windiest day in the forecast to do this . . . but do it we did. The potato yield was hardly worth the effort, but at least we will have our own potatoes for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. The bags were in a shady area and obviously the potatoes needed more sun. We’ll have to adjust the location next year and see if we get a better yield.
A little later in the afternoon, Ollie, Jonah, Sam, and I headed to the local pet center to buy chewys and toys for my puppy that arrives tomorrow. We then traveled on to Main Street to Ryan Amusements where Sam was going for a 4 pm bowling party and Ollie, Jonah, and I were going to spend some time in the arcade. We did that and then Jonah, Ollie, and I went to the grocery store on the way home. Sam stayed behind as the birthday party was moving from the bowling alley to the friend’s home for an overnight. At the grocery story, we bought artichokes for dinner and meat to cook for treats for the puppy. Heather and Jed went out on a ‘date’ with friends this afternoon and evening, so I invited Ollie and Jonah for an overnight so we could do the last preparations for the puppy.
The little male Australian Labradoodle that I have decided on is totally black. We started out calling him Obi as in Obi-wan Kanobi from Star Wars. Then at Ollie’s suggestion, we switched to Midnight. Tonight at bedtime, Jonah said that he thought Shadow would be a good name and Ollie and I agreed. I think that might be the just right name. It will be Me and My Shadow, a song made popular by Peggy Lee when I was in elementary school. In the morning, I take the boys home early and head north to meet Tom and Detta Porat in Foxborough. They have a lot of puppy equipment to loan me and since they are traveling to Connecticut tomorrow, we picked a meeting place convenient to all. I will then drive home with the equipment, drop it off, and go pick up the puppy. Jonah has requested that this be a family affair, so I will have to check with Heather and Jed tomorrow morning to see if that will work out for them. In any case, later in the afternoon, the Goldstones will come over for dinner and a proper puppy introduction. It should be an exciting day.
by Judy Handley | Nov 15, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 319: Happy Friday
Date: Friday, November 15, 2019
Weather: Partly Sunny; High 54, Low 28 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
It’s always a good day when you get to talk to one of your children for an extended period of time. Justin called around noon and we must have been on the phone for almost an hour catching up on what is happening in our lives. Things are good for Justin and Jo and kids right now. Business is stable, the kids are happy in school, their Silver Mouse music life is going well, the house has a new ceiling and a roof that is sealed so moisture can’t seep through, and they are working on reviving the garden. Justin and Jo have an album I have never heard, but I forgot to ask how I can listen to it. When I find out, I’ll share that information with you. Recently their newest album, Earthadelik, 
was given a great review by Stickman! Justin and Jo’s response was, “How humbling – truly – to be seen, and to have our work so deeply acknowledged and supported.” For those you who might be interested in reading more about their music life, I have copied at the end of this log a description of their music history together that I found on the Silvermouse Facebook page. It definitely made my day to hear all of the good reports from Puerto Rico.
Before and after the phone call, I spent time cleaning house and listening to the Impeachment Hearings. I decided today that when I come back for my next life, I want to be Marie Yovanovitch. I read more of the material from my online puppy training course, went to the gym, went shopping for some puppy items and ordered others online, watched as the lawn guys cleared tons of leaves from my yard, Shirley’s yard next door, and the house next door to her. Unfortunately, the deal Shirley made with them years ago allows them to dump all of those leaves over the bank toward the water beside The Cottage. Right now it looks like I have a mountain of leaves, but it won’t take long for it to “melt”down and become part of the forest floor. I also heard from Alan Kanegsberg. He had his second knee replacement yesterday and came home today. Wow! Congratulations, Alan.
Our Story
SILVERMOUSE·SATURDAY, JUNE 9, 2018·
Joanne Hunt grew up in the rave scene in England in the 90s and early 2000s,and spent most of her twenties traveling. Justin Handley is a lifelong musician who has been playing violin since he was three, and guitar since his early teens (as well as other instruments). They met while training at an experimental theatre in Western Massachusetts.
A year later in an old train depot in a ghost town in New Mexico (The Circus House), after a road trip to Los Angeles where they got married, Jo learned to produce her own beats, Justin picked up an instrument, and Silvermouse was born.
Starting with small shows in the Santa Fe art gallery scene, and playing independent festivals in the desert, Silvermouse grew quickly after getting booked at The Glade Festival in 2009. They bought a bus (Stella) and toured the West Coast of the US, put in an appearance at Burning Man, and spent their summers playing festivals in England for a few years.
In the middle of a move from New Mexico to Puerto Rico, their tour van in England caught fire and most of their worldly possessions went up in smoke.
Since moving to Puerto Rico, Silvermouse has been working on their latest album “Earthadelik” while establishing a small, working farm in the west of the island, raising their two children, and setting up a non-profit to help provide a farm-school experience for kids in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.
Silvermouse is putting the finishing touches on Earthadelik and is looking to hit the road in Puerto Rico (September to December 2018) and beyond (in 2019). They just released a live recording of their most recent show at La Primavera Surf Festival in Rincon, PR which is a glimpse of some of the new material they have been working on.
by Judy Handley | Nov 14, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 318: Achieving Optimal Memory
Date: Thursday, November 14, 2019
Weather: Mostly Cloudy; High 51, Low 37 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Kudos to my friends who head up the programming for the Falmouth Newcomers general meetings. Karen Baranowski and Midge Frieswyk are the Vice Presidents of Programming this year and so far their choice of speakers has been fantastic. Last month we heard from Greg Skomal on the white shark population in the waters of Cape Cod and today we heard from Aaron Nelson, author of the Harvard Medical School Guide to Achieving Optimal Memory. Dr. Nelson reinforced what I have learned over the past couple of years of study on this subject. Eat healthy, exercise, get quality sleep, manage stress, practice mindfulness, stay socially connected, and be a life-long learner. Play games, learn a new language, work puzzles, be a savvy user of technology, do anything to exercise your brain. My participation in Newcomers groups definitely helps me do these things. In January I get the chance to give back a bit by being the featured speaker. Two years ago, I spoke to the group about the Voyage of Windbird. This January I will continue that voyage, stopping in new places around the world.
My day went like this. I attended the morning Newcomers General Meeting, ran errands, came home to continue my self-paced course in Puppy Training, attended a monthly technology course, and then came home to continue the Puppy Training course and catch up on political news. Hopefully I will get through the rest of the Puppy Training course tomorrow and do a little shopping to get ready for my new house mate. The little guy arrives on Sunday and I want to be ready.
by Judy Handley | Nov 13, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 317: Lunch with Barbara Semple
Date: Wednesday, November 13, 2019
Weather: Sunny and Cold; High 35, Low 21 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
The high temperature yesterday was 62 degrees F. Today it was 35. And it is going to be another cold night with temps in the low 20’s. Then, thank goodness, it starts to warm up a bit. Last night I said that it didn’t snow here at The Cottage, but when I woke up this morning, I could see remnants of a dusting of snow in the back yard. When I looked out front, however, I saw no evidence of snow. How strange. So last night when I was only looking out front and saw nothing, it must have been an illusion. I will go on record as saying we had our first snow of the 2019-2020 winter on November 12. Way too early.
A week and half ago I went to Harwich to hear Barbara Semple’s talk on Women at Sea, the story of her aunt who sailed aboard her husband’s ship in the days of the China trade. Barbara attended my presentation to the Chatham Harwich Newcomers Club in April and came up to introduce herself to me afterwards. At that time, she invited me to her presentation. When I went to that presentation last week, we had to get to know one another a bit better and found that our lives have crossed paths. So today when she was making her presentation in Falmouth, I offered to take her out to lunch. I got up and watched the opening of Day One of the Impeachment Hearings and then headed downtown to meet Barbara. We had planned to walk Main Street, but it was a bit chilly for that today. Instead, I drove her along the water to Woods Hole and did a car tour of the village. I then drove her to Highfield Hall to see the Stix Works installation and then on to Main Street. She wanted to go to the French bakery to buy some things to take home and then we went to lunch at La Cucina Sur Mare. During lunch we learned of new connections in our lives. We both had our first child while living in the greater Washington, DC area. The world just gets smaller and smaller. Barbara and I will definitely continue getting together as we have so much in common and truly enjoy each other’s company.
I came home after having lunch with Barbara and caught a bit more of the first day of the Impeachment Hearings, but it was very little as I got a call from the heating and air conditioning guy I called on Monday to come check out the problem of gas leakage from the flue of my water heater. The company is called Cool It and Mark is the ‘cool’ guy. He took apart the flue system and used my shop vac to clean out more gunk than he anticipated. He thinks that might have been the problem, so I will call the National Grid technical team and have them come back and test. If this is not the solution, Mark says the next step is to spend $500 to make changes in the flue system that might solve the problem or spend about $3,000 for an updated water heater that vents horizontally out of the basement. That decision will be up to Shirley, my landlord, but at least we are getting closer to an answer to the problem. After Mark left, I watched a bit more of the Impeachment Hearings and was then off to pick Ollie up after school and deliver him to violin lessons.
By the time I got home, the Impeachment Hearings were over for today, but I watched a bit of recap. I have to say that I was so very impressed with the testimony I did hear from US Ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor and George Kent, State Department Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs. I would think that no matter what your political leanings, you couldn’t help but be impressed with these two men. Ambassador Taylor has served our country for over 50 years and Kent for 30 years. I agree with MSNBC news program host and political commentator Rachel Maddow that George Kent got today’s best quote: “You can’t promote principled anti-corruption action without pissing off corrupt people.” Not sure where these proceedings will lead, but I hope I get to ‘meet’ more high-minded people like Taylor and Kent.
by Judy Handley | Nov 12, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 316: First Book Club Meeting and First Snow
Date: Tuesday, November 12, 2019
Weather: Overcast, Wintry Mix in the Afternoon; High 62, Low 19 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Interesting weather day. This morning was a balmy 62 degrees, by noon the temperature started to drop, and not long after the rain began. It currently just below freezing outside and during the night the temperature will drop below 20 degrees F. And in parts of Falmouth, we had snow this evening. There was none here by the water, but just a mile away at Heather and Jed’s, there was snow.
I spent my late morning at my very first book club meeting ever. I was reluctant to join a book club as I wasn’t interested in having someone dictate what I read, but what I thought, today was a great experience. It is a great group of women with diverse interests and I think we can learn a lot from each other. We all made suggestions for future books and decisions were made that pleased all. Being the first organizational meeting, it went a little longer than expected. I got home just after 1 pm and it was pouring rain. I had planned to come home and get the last of the summer items put in the basement before the deep freeze tonight, but I saw that my neighbor and landlord Shirley was home, so I went over for a visit. She is currently living closer to Boston with her 101-year-old sister Doris but was in Falmouth today for doctor appointments. We had a great visit and by the time I headed back across the driveway, the rain had let up and I got those last summer items into the basement. I then spent a couple of hours doing paperwork. I can be an organization freak at times, and evidently, I was just that this summer. I was so organized that I filed unopened mail that I discovered today. Thankfully there was nothing that was time sensitive.
I spent time this evening talking to friends. Alan Kanegsberg is having his second knee replacement on Thursday, so I called to wish him luck. Actually I talked to Helaine and she relayed my good wishes to Alan. Later I talked to Lynne Kirwin in Michigan. They got 10 inches of snow yesterday and the temps there are in the single digits. Tomorrow is going to be a a freezy day here, but then it warms up a bit again. These wild weather swings can make one dizzy.
by Judy Handley | Nov 12, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 315: Veteran’s Day, Lots of Activity
Date: Monday, November 11, 2019
Weather: Mix of Sun and Clouds; High 65, Low 53 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
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The weather this morning was beautiful and warm for the annual Falmouth Veteran’s Day observance. It begins with a parade where the the Boy Scouts participate, so I always go to see my three handsome grandsons.
Tonight when I looked through the pictures I took, unfortunately I caught Sam with his eyes closed, but he is still handsome! I had to leave the observance early to go back to Touchstone to make a decision on which puppy I want. What a dilemma. I absolutely love the little chocolate and white puppy, but he is hopelessly shy. I also love the bouncing little black and white female that we named Partigirl. But after watching them play together, I chose the black male. He is all black except for a little white on his chin.
He is not bouncy like Partigirl, but he is also not shy like Snickerdoodles. I guess I could change my mind, but I have told Sam, Jonah, and Ollie and we are working on a name. Yesterday I suggested that we call him Jetta or Jetti and that led to Jedi and that led to Obi-wan. Obi would be a good name. But this evening, Ollie added Midnight to the list. We have until the weekend to decide, so I’ll keep you posted on that.
I got home from Veteran’s Day observance and puppy visit just in time to greet the technicians from RISE Engineering. I made the appointment to follow up on the energy assessment National Grid did last year. Unfortunately, today’s assessment matched last year’s. The hot water tank powered by natural gas leaks fumes when the furnace is not running to keep the exhaust system warm enough to draw properly. And National Grid will not do the insulation work on the Cottage until this problem is fixed. After they left, I called a heating and air conditioning company that will come next week to see what can be done.
After the technicians left, I made a run to the Hands in Hands Thrift Shop to drop off a carload of things from Heather and Jed’s basement. Later I made another run into town to do some grocery shopping, dropped some old electronics off at Heather’s so she can take it to work with her tomorrow. WCAI is having an electronics collection day and will get rid of the stuff for me. I talked with the boys about the puppy dilemma and told them my decision, went home to have dinner, and then was off to my Mah Jongg lesson. This is happening every Monday night for a few weeks. I’m not sure I really understand the game yet, but the teacher is doing such a good job that I won the game last week and won both games we played tonight. Honestly, it’s not my skill that is winning. It is luck and good coaching.
