by Judy Handley | Dec 19, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 353: Another Wonderful Winter Concert
Date: Thursday, December 19, 2024
Weather: Mostly Sunny with Temperature Plunging; High Temp 40, Low 22 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA
Tonight was Falmouth High School’s Winter Concert that included the chamber ensemble, the concert band, the jazz band,
the concert choir, the repertory singers, and Soulfege, FHS’s acapella group. Wow! It was a long concert, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I especially enjoyed the jazz band, probably because Jonah plays trombone in it,
but also because they are good. They had the whole auditorium rockin’. And when the concert choir sang “The First Noel” to the piano accompaniment of “Pachelbel’s Canon”, it was so beautiful it almost brought me to tears of joy.
I was at the Goldstones wrapping up the last of the cookie making at the time Jonah needed ride to the high school. He was dressed in the mandatory black from head to toe, and as he walked through the kitchen on our way out the door, I had to do a double take. My mind was not allowing me to admit that the tall, lanky, good looking young man walking out the door was my grandson Jonah.
All of My grandchildren are growing up in front of my eyes and it is both exciting and a little sad, all at the same time. But I am enjoying this new pre-teen and teenage stage. It just takes a little getting used to!
by Judy Handley | Dec 18, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 352: From Ordinary to Extraordinary
Date: Wednesday, December 18, 2024
Weather: Sunny and Warm, Rain Late; High Temp 48, Low 38 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA
The day started with getting an oil change and the tires rotated on my car, doing some shopping, and coming home to do some house cleaning–the ordinary. Things went up hill from there. Mid-afternoon the Exploring Public Policy group I co-lead with Jon Kaufman hosted Brian Stokes, Falmouth Public Library Director, at our December meeting. He talked about the role of public policy and the library, both how public policy affects the library and how the library supports public policy.
Then came the extraordinary. Ollie’s Lawrence Middle School Band Winter Concert was tonight. and it was great. The band is 125 musicians strong, and tonight they got to show off their talent. The jazz band played first, followed by the full band.
There are 20 saxophone players in all, but only eight saxophone players in the jazz band. Ollie is one of the three on tenor sax and he and one other tenor sax player had solo roles in one of the pieces.
Well done, Ollie, and Ollie’s proud parents!
by Judy Handley | Dec 17, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 351: Santa’s Secrets
Date: Tuesday, December 17, 2024
Weather: Cloudy AM, Partly Cloudy PM; High Temp 54, Low 37 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA
Today was all about working on some Christmas projects that must be kept as Santa’s secrets. So, I really can’t write about what I did today other than getting the once every 10 years tetanus vaccine this morning and making more Christmas cookie dough in the afternoon. I then picked Ollie up from school and we did a little Christmas project shopping together. Tonight, I finally got the ornaments on my tree.
Tomorrow I have an afternoon meeting and Ollie’s winter concert is tomorrow night. I am hoping to wrap up the last of my Christmas shopping tomorrow morning and then start wrapping the gifts I have bought.
by Judy Handley | Dec 16, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 350: Back Home for Some Christmas Cookie Fun
Date: Monday, December 16, 2024
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, Misty, Much Warmer; High Temp 48, Low 47 degrees F
Location: Back Home at 225 Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA
Once again, I shopped my way home from New Hampshire. After a fabulous breakfast of an asparagus frittata and fruit salad, I headed home making three stops along the way. I got home in time to pick Ollie up after school and we went directly to his house to start our evening of cookie decorating. When I left yesterday, I dropped off the dough for making Christmas cutout sugar cookies and Ollie and Heather made them yesterday afternoon and evening. So, all we had to do this evening was decorate them and make a batch of Hershey’s Kisses thumb print cookies. We always make Christmas cookies, but for years, I have had to help with the decorating. Now all I have to do is make sure the boys have the supplies they need, and away they go. Even teenagers like to decorate cookies, so Sam and Jonah both wanted to do their part, as well as Ollie.
A few dozen of the cookies go to the Jewish Synagogue tomorrow to be included with the meals they put together for needy families. Between Sam, Jonah, and Ollie, I think they ate another dozen, and we will save the rest for the Goldstone’s solstice party on Friday night. Jonah wants to make some chocolate crinkles and Sam requested more sugar cookie dough for more cutouts, more for him to eat than to decorate, but that’s okay too. We don’t have a lot of time this week as Wednesday night is Ollie’s Christmas concert at Lawrence School and Thursday night is Jonah’s concert at Falmouth High School. Then the party is on Friday night. To tomorrow after school, we will make the Double Chocolate Crinkle Cookies and maybe more cutouts.
by Judy Handley | Dec 15, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 349: A Happy Birthday Gathering in New Hampshire
Date: Sunday, December 15, 2024
Weather: Partly Cloudy and Cold; High Temp 35, Low 15 degrees F
Location: At Home with Tom and Detta Porat in Greenland, NH
I drove to the Portsmouth, New Hampshire area today to attend the 75th birthday party of a very good friend from my teaching days, Leslie Kole. I shopped my way to Greenland, NH, to Detta Porat’s home, dropped my overnight bag, and then Detta and I drove to Rye, NH, to Leslie’s home. When we were teaching together at Beaver Meadow School in Concord, we thought of ourselves as the three amigos.
Leslie, Detta, and I have stayed in touch, and in recent years, we have added Cheryl Dolin to our now quartet of amigos. Since the three of them all live closer together, they now have gatherings I can’t attend. And between my two surgeries last year, there was not a lot of opportunity for me to travel. Because of that, it has been a while since I have seen Cheryl and Leslie. So, this was a long overdue gathering with promises to get together more often.
After the party, I went home with Detta to spend the night. Tom got home from a business trip to Tennessee shortly after we got home, but I didn’t get to visit with him. We has one whopper of a cold or the flu, so he headed straight to bed, leaving Detta and I to talk until almost 1 am. But regardless of the late night, I have to get up and get started on the trip home fairly early as I have more Christmas shopping to do on the way home.
by Judy Handley | Dec 14, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 348: It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas
Date: Saturday, December 14, 2024
Weather: Sunny and Cold; High Temp 33, Low 23 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA
I got the last of the Christmas things off to Puerto Rico this morning and then Jed and Ollie arrived to put the lights on the fence railing out by the street and on a lamppost close to the house. Jed also put the last of the summer outside lawn furniture in the basement. Heather and Jed are getting ready for their Solstice party on Friday night, so I really appreciated that Jed took the time to come help me as well. Thank you, Jed and Ollie.
I had wrapped the garland on the fence yesterday evening and was so proud that I did it all by myself. That is until Ollie, very politely, pointed out that I had switched the direction of garland wrapping half way through the process. He had to unwrap half of what I had done, but he got the job done with a little help from Jed and they got the lights wrapped around the garland. The fence runs the width of the property out on the street, and it now looks great. Inside and outside, it is now looking a lot like Christmas here at 225 Lakeview.
Ollie stayed for lunch while Jed went home. I then took Ollie home, delivered a poinsettia to my friends Olivia and Terry White, and stopped in at Grumpy’s (a great little dive bar) where there was a local arts and crafts fair. Jed was there as well, and I bought two Christmas gifts. Then I drove to one of my favorite little shops in Woods Hole, Under the Sun, where I bought two more Christmas gifts. One more stop at Windfall Market for Syltbar prosecco ended my shopping spree for today.
I then went home to play outside in the twilight of the beautiful full moon with my Shadow and to eat dinner before heading to an annual Christmas party at the home of a member of my wine group, Kim Caverly. Chrsitina Brodie picked me up and we went together. There were over a hundred people gathered in her small home, but she had the drinks on the back deck and some of us stayed outside rather than fight the crowds indoors. She rented an outdoor heater for the deck, so it was great for the few of us who chose to stay outside,
Tomorrow, I head to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to celebrate the 75th birthday of my friend Leslie Kole. I will spend the night with Detta Porat and catch up on life before returning home on Monday morning. By that time there will only be nine days until Christmas. This Santa’s elf still has a bit of work to do to get ready.
the concert choir, the repertory singers, and Soulfege, FHS’s acapella group. Wow! It was a long concert, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I especially enjoyed the jazz band, probably because Jonah plays trombone in it,
but also because they are good. They had the whole auditorium rockin’. And when the concert choir sang “The First Noel” to the piano accompaniment of “Pachelbel’s Canon”, it was so beautiful it almost brought me to tears of joy.
All of My grandchildren are growing up in front of my eyes and it is both exciting and a little sad, all at the same time. But I am enjoying this new pre-teen and teenage stage. It just takes a little getting used to!
