by Judy Handley | Mar 21, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 80: PT, Post-Surgery Dr Visit, Open House at Sam’s School
Date: Thursday, March 21, 2019
Weather: Mostly Sunny Early Turning Overcast; High 48, Low 40 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
It was a busy day. I started with an early morning physical therapy appointment. The therapist gave my knee a good workout and declared that I am doing great. I left there and drove to Hyannis for my post-surgery doctor appointment. X-rays were taken to document the state of things and the doctor said the x-rays look great and that he is very pleased with my progress. If things continue to go smoothly, I won’t need to see him until this time next year. While in Hyannis, I did a run to Trader Joe’s and to Whole Foods before heading home. When I did get home, I had time to eat a late lunch and put my knee up for a bit before heading out to pick Ollie and Jonah up from school. Today was Ollie actual birthday and he wanted to play on the playground after school, so we did. Once Heather got home, I headed home to fix a quick dinner and then I returned to go with Heather and boys to an Open House at Sam’s School.
Student art lined the hall walls and ceramic and paper mache art pieces were displayed on tables. Sam took me on a tour to see his pieces—a ceramic elephant,
a pattern painting, and a 3-D chart art piece. We went to the Book Fair that was part of the Open House and then the boys had an ice cream sundae while reading their new books.
Thankfully tomorrow should be a little quieter, but it was good to be out and about.
by Judy Handley | Mar 20, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 79: Happy Spring and Happy Birthday to Ollie
Date: Wednesday, March 20, 2019
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High 48, Low 32 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Today was all about ‘happy, happy’. Happy birthday to Jed’s mom, Grammy Marti. Happy spring to everyone. And happy birthday to Ollie. 
Actually, Ollie’s 7th birthday is tomorrow, but we celebrated this evening as Jed had to leave at 7 pm for a two-day trip back to Baltimore. Ollie’s present from Heather and Jed was a new bicycle with hand brakes and gears. They gave him this before dinner so he could give it a try. He loved it and was a very happy birthday boy.He opened presents from me before dinner, a new tablet and a beginner’s tennis set.
And presents from Grammy Marti after dinner, a wonderful book of backyard bird songs, violin CD’s, and a lightsaber.
Of course, the lightsaber was a big hit. Dinner was ribs, asparagus, and salad, per special order by the birthday boy, and the birthday cake was individual molten lava cakes with whipped cream. Amazingly delicious!
Mollie and Joey from next door joined us for birthday cake and then the kids were back outside playing tennis under the rising full supermoon.
Sam mentioned that the moon might look even better from the beach, so we all packed up and headed down to Menauhant Beach.
It was a beautiful birthday celebration on this first day of spring 2019.
by Judy Handley | Mar 19, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 78: Shopping Day
Date: Tuesday, March 19, 2019
Weather: Partly Sunny; High 44, Low 26 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
This morning I headed off-Cape to do some shopping. It takes a little more than hour to drive north toward Boston to reach Costco, and that was my destination. I also made a stop at Home Depot, but both stops were a bit disappointing. I was not able to find what I went after at either Home Depot or Costco which furthered my belief that I should do all my shopping online. But I did enjoy the outing. I made it back in time to pick Ollie up after school and then Ollie, Sam, and I made a trip into Falmouth to West Marine. I was looking for some for items for a building kit I am putting together for Ziggy for his upcoming birthday in early April. Ziggy is constantly building robots from bits and pieces and is interested in building an underwater vehicle. Sam has some experience with this, so he came along to make sure I was getting the right parts. Again, I didn’t find what I needed, but when Jed got home he told me the parts are available on Amazon. Online again! Coming up tomorrow . . . first day of spring beginning at 5:58 pm with a super full moon, Grammy Marti’s birthday, and Ollie’s birthday dinner. Ollie’s 7th birthday is on Thursday, but Jed leaves town tomorrow after dinner. So, we will have the birthday dinner before daddy has to leave.
by Judy Handley | Mar 18, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 77: Physical Therapy Assessment
Date: Monday, March 18, 2019
Weather: Sunny; High 42, Low 26 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Today marks three weeks since my knee replacement surgery. I feel like my recovery has been going great with the help of the in-home physical therapy visits. But today I had my first out-patient visit to a physical therapist and she confirmed my feelings. She put me through all sorts of timed tests and did strength tests with some sort of meter.
She declared that I still have a way to go, but for three weeks out, I’m doing great. And the best part to me is that I am able to do all of the therapy without the use of any pain relievers. The therapist gave me a few pointers on getting the most out of the exercises I have been doing and suggested that I spend more time walking, trying to walk at least a mile each day. So, more time moving now, and less time sitting with that leg up. The best part of the therapy session came at the end when I got to experience the ‘freezy squeezy’. The therapist attached a velcro contraption around my leg from thigh to ankle. Ice cold water runs through tubes and the whole thing slowly tightens and loosens around your leg giving it a great massage. I’ll look forward to that at the end of each session.
by Judy Handley | Mar 17, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 76: Happy St. Patrick’s Day
Date: Sunday, March 17, 2019
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High 41, Low 24 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! It was a very quiet St. Patrick’s Day around here. More of the same—exercising, rest, reading. The only green I saw today was in my window garden. I have two generations of arugula growing,
one planted three weeks ago and one planted one week ago. I’m experimenting to see how long it takes to get arugula to the ‘eating’ point when growing in the window garden. The other cool weather plants are almost ready to plant outdoors.
Tomorrow I go to outpatient physical therapy for the first time. It will be interesting to see how that goes.
by Judy Handley | Mar 16, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 75: Spoke Too Soon
Date: Saturday, March 16, 2019
Weather: Sunny, Windy, Continued Warmth; High 52, Low 40 degrees
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Last night when I wrote my log, I spoke too soon. I wrote that I heard “thunder in the distance, but no significant amount of rain thus far”. Well, that changed quickly. As soon as I shut down my computer, the thunder and lightning show got serious and close-by. And a while after that, there was driving rain. I honestly don’t remember when I have experienced a storm this fierce. I went to bed and tried to read my mystery novel, but unfortunately I was at a spot in the book where a person was murdered during a séance. Too scary for me, so I just went to sleep. The storm during the night, the storm worked itself out and this morning dawned with bright sunshine. There was still some wind, but it was a beautiful day. Yesterday was my first trip to grocery store and today was my first outdoor walk. Heather called to invite me to go for a nature walk with them in the afternoon. When the time came, however, Jonah and Ollie were so completely into playing backyard baseball that there was no way to get them into the van to drive somewhere to take a walk. So, we ended up just walking in the neighborhood and it felt great to be out walking again. I made it for the half-mile with an uphill bit just fine. And I now feel confident that I can go out walking on my own without fear of falling. Every day my knee gets a little better and the signs of spring are popping up everywhere. The crocus in Heather’s front flowerbed showed their first blooms today
and the daffodils are ready to bloom. The crocus blooms appeared on March 2 last year, so even though it has been a mild winter, the cold spell that started the end of February delayed those little purple blossoms by a couple of weeks. So exciting to see them this afternoon.
