by Judy Handley | Aug 6, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 218: Wine Explorers
Date: Tuesday, August 6, 2019
Weather: Overcast with Periods of Rain; High 80, Low 66 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
It was an overcast day here with periods of rain. Heather brought Ollie over early this morning as I needed to be here. During a storm last week, old Verizon wires that once brought home phone service into the cottage were blown down and were hanging midair in my side yard. This morning Verizon was coming to remove the wires, but I needed to be home when they arrived. Verizon and Ollie arrived early. The wires were removed and Ollie and I had a relaxed morning. We decided not to go to swim lessons due to the threatening weather. And rightly so, as just about the time for Ollie’s lessons, the heavens let loose and we had the heaviest rain of the day. A little later, Ollie and I headed to Walmart to buy some Lego kits for a Lego challenge during his afternoon playdate with friends Raylan and Grayson. Once his friends arrived, I had an easy afternoon as the boys played without the need of any adult intervention. Heather and Jed picked Jonah up from soccer camp at 3 pm and once they got home, I headed home to get ready for the my evening out.
Last September I signed up for a Newcomers Wine Explorer group. I couldn’t attend the first event last October and then there was an email problem and I didn’t receive notices for a couple of months. So, first one thing and then another kept me from attending a gathering until tonight. My reason for joining this group was to learn more about wine and my education began tonight. The other members of the group are pretty serious about their wine choices, so I look forward to learning from them.
by Judy Handley | Aug 5, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 217: Busy Goldpebbles
Date: Monday, August 5, 2019
Weather: Still Sunny, but Cooler; High 78, Low 65 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
There is only one Goldpebble in Camp Oma this week. Sam is away at Scout camp. Jonah is attending an all-day soccer camp at Falmouth Academy each day this week. And that leaves me with Ollie. We went to swim lessons this morning and spent the rest of the day at the beach. I left around 2 pm to run some errands and pick Jonah up after soccer camp and Heather came to the beach to be with Ollie. It takes a village. 
Ollie loves playing with Joey at the beach after lessons and today he got to play with Jude, the grandson of my next door neighbors. Jude and his little brother are here for the week and are in swim lessons. Thunderstorms are in the forecast for tomorrow, so we shall see if there are swim lessons. But rain or not, in the afternoon, Ollie has invited his good friends Raylan and Grayson over for a playdate. Then tomorrow night I have a wine group date. Last September I signed up to be a member of a wine group, but this will be the very first time I that I have not had a conflict and can attend. Not sure a wine tasting group is my cup of tea, but I’m willing to give it a go.
by Judy Handley | Aug 4, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 216: Sunday Brunch
Date: Sunday, August 4, 2019
Weather: Another Sunny Day; High 82, Low 66 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
I couldn’t write and post this log last night. When I turned on my computer, there was a message saying I needed to click a button to do security updates for Windows 10. I assumed this would take no more than an hour, but three hours later it was still going and I went to bed.
The big event of yesterday was a trip to the Boston area to meet my sister-in-law and her husband who are visiting from Florida. My brother died at the age of 33 when I was in my senior year of high school, but my family continued to be close to my sister-in-law and their three children. Sue was from Woburn, Massachusetts, and returned to Massachusetts with he children after my brother’s death. She remarried Brad Cook and he became full-fledged member of our family. Brad and Sue now live in Florida but come north to visit a few times each year as three of their children, two grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren live here. We met at the Brickhouse Café in Dedham. It got good online reviews and is close to a Costco and a Whole Foods so I could do shopping after brunch. The Café lived up to the reviews and we had a delightful time catching up on happenings in our lives. My niece Lynn joined us, but the other niece, Candi, had a prior commitment. Her husband Char was biking in the Pan-Mass Challenge, something he does every year, and Candi was working as a volunteer for the event. If you are not familiar with the Pan-Mass Challenge, it is an annual bike-a-thon that raises money for life-saving cancer research and treatment at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. So proud of Char for doing this every year. Hopefully I’ll get to see them soon.
by Judy Handley | Aug 3, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 215: The Last American Colony
Date: Saturday, August 3, 2019
Weather: Another Sunny Day; High 86, Low 70 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
I got a late start this morning on my continued process of installing the drip irrigation system in my garden. Instead of getting up early, I opted to sleep-in and move slowly once I did get up. And unfortunately, even when I did get going, I didn’t get too far on the project. I just didn’t have the strength in my hands to put the tiny parts together and I’m not sure why. On other days, I haven’t had this issue. So, I’ll try again on another day. When I came in for a late lunch break, I saw a text from friend Olivia White saying she and Terry were going to a 4:30 pm Woods Hole Film Festival viewing of a documentary about Puerto Rico called The Last American Colony. That sounded a lot more interesting than continuing to be frustrated with the irrigation system, so I responded that I would love to go with them. We met at a bike path parking lot and took the trolley to Woods Hole to avoid the lack of parking there. We got there early enough to stop and get an ice cream. Terry insisted on paying my bus fare and paying for my ice cream. Thank you, thank you! Reinforced with our ice cream treat, we got in line for the film. I had not read anything about it, so I was not sure what to expect. The film started with a shot from above of the vortex of Hurricane Maria. This immediately brought back painful memories and caught my attention. Then Juan Segarra was introduced and the rest of the film was his personal narrative. Juan was born and raised in Puerto Rico but attended high school at Phillips Andover here in New England and then went on to Harvard at the height of the Vietnam war. While at Harvard he decided that he will willing to die for his beliefs that Puerto Rico should gain independence from the United States. He joined Puerto Rico’s Los Macheteros to fight for freedom. I was introduced, for the first time, to the century long history of Puerto Ricans struggling to maintain their cultural identity while fighting to regain control of their country that had become a territory of the United States at the turn of the century. Los Macheteros waged a violent struggle and Juan Segarra was often at the center of this. He eventually ended up in prison and was eventually freed by President Clinton. 
His narrative was both informative and very moving. He no longer promotes violence but still believes that Puerto Rico needs to gain independence from the United States. He was in attendance at this afternoon’s viewing and after the film, he and two of the film makers engaged in a Q & A with audience members. I am still reeling from how much I learned about Puerto Rico through the 90-minute film and from the fact that I knew so little to begin with. And so glad Olivia sent me a text letting me know about this event.
Tonight my thoughts are with the people of El Paso and their sister city across the border, Juárez . . . and especially with the families of the 20 people murdered and the 26 people who were injured in a mass shooting in El Paso today. El Paso has been so proud of their status as a safe city. But today someone came into their community from outside and shattered that status. I do not believe that assault weapons should ever, for any reason, be in the hands of anyone not on active duty in the military. How do we ever reach a consensus on this and impose sane gun laws making assault weapons illegal for the general public?
by Judy Handley | Aug 2, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 214: Friday ‘Free and Easy’
Date: Friday, August 2, 2019
Weather: More Sun and Heat; High 87, Low 65 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
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This was Friday ‘free and easy’ style. When Mark and I sailed with a rally through Indonesia, the coordinators planned all sorts of wonderful activities for each of the islands we visited. But some days were designated as ‘free and easy’, and that was my day today with the Goldpebbles. Ollie and Jonah managed to do almost nothing and really enjoyed that for most of the day. Jonah did spend a couple of hours searching for the best soccer goalie gloves on my phone and finally found the pair he wanted to order—exactly the same pair he has now in a different color and larger size. But he really enjoyed the search. Sam completed a project he has been working on for me. Earlier he scraped and sanded the parts of the bike rack on the back of my car and today he spray-painted the parts with a couple of primer coats and then two coats of industrial-grade paint. This was a paid project and allowed him to make the final bit of money he needed to make. He was a very happy kiddo when the project was completed making him the new owner of Google phone. Ollie started to get bored with doing nothing in the afternoon, but our mid-afternoon trip to the beach solved that. We arrived at Menauhant at 3:30 and at 4:30 Heather showed up to celebrate the end of the week with Sam, Jonah, and Ollie. I left before Jed arrived, but in the meantime, the boys were enjoying having beach time with momma. On to the weekend.
by Judy Handley | Aug 1, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 213: It’s August Already
Date: Thursday, August 1, 2019
Weather: Mostly Sunny and Hot; High 91, Low 64 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
The calendar tells me it is August 1, but I’m having trouble believing that. Summer always goes too fast, but this summer seems to be moving in fast forward mode. Today was the last swim lesson for Sam and Jonah as they are both in camps next week. Sam goes away to a week-long Scout camp on Sunday and Jonah starts a 9 to 3 soccer day camp on Monday. Ollie and I will attend the last week of swim lessons and go to the grand finale swim meet next Friday. Ollie doesn’t think he wants to participate, but he does want to go to cheer on his friends. The following week we are back together with no commitments and then the Goldstones head to Maine for 10 days or so, and the plan is for Sam to head north a few days before the whole family. By the time they get home, there will just be a couple of days plus Labor Day weekend left before the first day of school. So, the focus each day going forward is to fully enjoy every minute of every summer school vacation day left.
Today was a delightful beach day. Ollie moved from his Beginner class status to Intermediate and held his own in a class with Jonah and Joey. Sam’s last Junior Life Saving class today was an interesting one. They jumped into the channel that connects the ocean to Bourne’s Pond and fought the fast-moving current while practicing lifesaving maneuvers. Everyone on the beach made their way to the channel to watch the ‘show’. Sam’s class ended at noon and then the boys played together on the beach and in the water until 1 pm when we headed home for lunch. At his request, I returned to the beach with Ollie after lunch. He just wasn’t ready to come home, but Sam and Jonah chose to stay home to read and listen to music. On Fridays there are no swim lessons, so tomorrow we will spend the morning at home and go to the beach in the afternoon to meet Heather and Jed at the end of their work week. We met on a few afternoons at the end of last summer and everyone really enjoyed those late afternoon beach trips.
