by Judy Handley | Mar 17, 2017 | Cape Cod, USA |
2017 Life Logs, Day 76: Happy St. Patrick’s Day
Date: Friday, March 17, 2017
Weather: Continued Cold; High 44, Low 25 degrees F
Location: At Home in the The Studio, Falmouth, MA
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! It was just a tad warmer here today which was definitely welcomed. I spent most of the day exploring housing possibilities but found no perfect place. That search will continue. I also picked Ollie up early from school to bring him home with me to play for a bit. At the end of the afternoon we ended up back at his house where I had dinner with the boys while Heather headed to the elementary school to set up for a Friday night dance sponsored by the PTO. After dinner, I delivered the boys there and hopefully they had a fun evening. Tomorrow Jed returns from his week in Baltimore and the whole family heads to Wellfleet on the Outer Cape where Heather gives a presentation and the family spends the night. I will stay here to start the process of getting myself back into some sort of normal pattern after being away for so many weeks.
by Judy Handley | Feb 12, 2017 | Cape Cod, USA |
2017 Life Logs, Day 43: Free and Easy Sunday
Date: Sunday, February 12, 2017
Weather: Partly Cloudy with Afternoon Showers; Daytime 80’s, Nighttime 70’s F
Location: At Home with JJZ&C, Finca Maravilla, Aguada, PR
Today was a free and easy Sunday. We had a Skype video call with the Goldstones and looked out their front window at all the snow. It was pretty, but it made me think that I definitely picked the right time to be here in Puerto Rico. After the Skype call, we headed down the mountain to Rincon to the Sunday Farmer’s Market
and then returned home for a quiet afternoon. I had planned to take Ziggy and Coco to the beach but it started raining. The rain didn’t last long, but the rain seemed to dampen the spirit for wanting to go to the beach. Ziggy and Coco just wanted down time at home. So I relaxed into that and enjoyed the afternoon. I took photos of the kids with some of their pets
and we ended the evening with an after-dinner marshmallow roast
over a fire pit. We needed to get rid of a lot of cardboard boxes, and the fire pit was the perfect solution.
Justin is still hanging in there—not feeling great, but slowly improving. And that is a good thing!
by Judy Handley | Feb 8, 2017 | Cape Cod, USA |
2017 Life Logs, Day 39: Having Fun
Date: Wednesday, February 8, 2017
Weather: Mix of Clouds and Sunshine; Temp in the 80’s F
Location: At Home with JJZ&C, Finca Maravilla, Aguada, PR
I did it again. It’s late and I’m too exhausted to write a proper log. But that’s because I’m having so much fun with Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco. And the fun is just doing the everyday, normal things. It is the little things that are so special. Last night I walked by the light of the moon with Justin and kids to go put the duck in his cage on the lower part of the property. This morning I went shopping at Home Depot to buy a few things needed to work on the TO DO list on the refrigerator. I took Justin to work at the ‘orange house’ and picked him to bring him home for lunch, back to work again, and picked him up this evening. The ‘orange house’ is the rental they were living in until they could move into their new home, referred to as the ‘white house.’ You can figure out the exterior colors of the houses. They have the rental until April, so Justin is still working in his office there. And taking him back and forth gave me an opportunity to help move some things from there to here. They still have a lot of things there, so I’ll be working on this the whole time I am here. And this evening when the kids came home from school, I walked around the property with them as they were trying to find the perfect place for ‘personal’ gardens. Ziggy wants to plant vegetables and no one can convince them that they could just have one garden together.
And Coco entertained us with her modeling skills. Her first outfit was priceless. She put on a t-shirt that belonged to Justin when he was four that says, “Wild, Wonderful West Virginia.” The t-shirt mostly covered her frilly pink skirt. But it was the accessories that were so interesting. She was wearing the dress-up heels I brought to her with a torn-off leg of a pair of tights on one leg only. Quite an outfit.
And when we came back to the house after our walk, she changed clothes again.
Her grandparents from England, Phil and Margaret, just left last week after a two-week visit. Phil sent me some photos of the kids and one of Coco was labeled, “Always the model.” That is certainly true. But in addition to her princess tendencies, she does take ample time to romp and play with Ziggy.
She’s a great mix of princess and tomboy. And Ziggy is an incredibly patient and loving older brother.
Justin’s umbilical hernia repair surgery is tomorrow. Jo will take him to the hospital at 7 am and I will do the morning routine with the kids. Coco and I will deliver Ziggy to school and then we are headed to the beach for the morning as she doesn’t have pre-school on Tuesdays or Thursdays. We will spend the day together, pick Ziggy up at 4 pm, and go to a park in Rincon to play before we come home to fix dinner. Justin’s surgery is supposed to be in and out, but it is difficult to know what time they will get home. My earliest estimate is 3 pm if everything goes perfectly and on-time. But we all know that things going perfectly is usually just a pipe dream. Jo says nothing in Puerto Rico is ever on-time. But we will all be elated if the only hitch is timing. I’m so glad I can be here to help with the kids and to see first-hand that Justin is fine. This should be a simple surgery, but because moms to worry, send your most positive thoughts this way for a smooth operation and quick recovery. That positive energy will be greatly appreciated.
by Judy Handley | Feb 7, 2017 | Cape Cod, USA |
2017 Life Logs, Day 38: Arrival in Puerto Rico
Date: Tuesday, February 7, 2017
Weather: Partly Cloudy with Afternoon Rain Showers; Temp in the 80’s F
Location: At Home with JJZ&C, Finca Maravilla, Aguada, PR
I have had a wonderful day but am so tired due to the lack of sleep last night that I’m not sure how much I can share with you before falling asleep. It is wonderful to be here with JJZ&C and we had a great day together. I arrived here at Finca Maravilla at 5 am with Justin out on the road to show me the way down the steep driveway. Miraculously, the barking dogs didn’t wake Ziggy and Coco and we all managed to get three hours of sleep. I slept for an hour on the plane, so that gives me a grand total of four hours of sleep in the last 24. Ziggy had school, but Justin, Jo, and Ziggy were here this morning and I was given the grand tour of the property.
After lunch, Justin headed to their prior house to get some work done. He still keeps his office there and will do so until the contract is up in April. When we picked Ziggy up from school at 4 pm, we all headed to the beach to jump the waves and play in the sand.
And then we came home to enjoy a great dinner cooked by Jo—roast beef, broccoli, fried plantain, and salad. Great dinner to top off a great day.
by Judy Handley | Sep 19, 2016 | Cape Cod, USA |
Life After Windbird, Day 39: Stormy Weather
Date: Monday, September 19, 2016
Weather: Rain, Rain, Rain; High 76 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio #8, Falmouth, MA
We finally got some much needed rain today, but it came down so quickly and in torrents that much of it washed away. But that is better than no rain at all, which is what we have had this summer. Justin had to work today, I had an early morning chiropractor appointment, and Jo started walking with the kids to catch the bus to Woods Hole. When I returned from the chiropractor, it was beginning to rain really hard and I saw Jo, Ziggy, and Coco walking down the sidewalk. I stopped to pick them up and drove them to Woods Hole where they hung out for the rest of the morning. I came home for a short time to get ready for my meeting with friend Olivia who will leading Mark’s memorial on Thursday. I called to secure the Islander, the boat we will be going out on, tried to reach a caterer with no success, and then headed to the hospital for an annual mammogram. When that was done, I called Jo and found that she was still in Woods Hole. I had showed her the wrong place to catch the bus back to town, so they were waiting for the next one. I had time, so I drove down to pick them up and bring them home before meeting with Olivia. I wasn’t really prepared, so we’ll continue working on this over the next two days. But Olivia was so very helpful in getting me focused on what needs to happen. Tonight Justin, Jo, and kids went to see Pete’s Dragon. Ziggy came home and was soon ready for bed, but Miss Coco Belle is still running around in her very special impish little way. What a little character that one is!
What I didn’t get done today was pinning down a caterer for the ‘after’ party at Heather’s on Thursday late afternoon. I tried to reach them with no luck. If that continues tomorrow, I’ll just have to order things from the deli at the market across the harbor. It won’t be super fancy, but it will do. Tomorrow I also drive to Boston to pick up Mary Ellen, Lee, and Steve—Mark’s sister, brother-in-law, and brother. It will be wonderful to have Mark’s family here to complete the plans for Thursday.
by Judy Handley | Jul 2, 2014 | Cape Cod USA, Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 254, Year 9: Staying Cool on a Hot Day
Date: Wednesday, July 2, 2014
Weather: Sunny and Windy, High in the Upper 80’s
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, Massachusetts
The weather report tells us it was 87 degrees F here today. But we spent a great deal of today in the water and in the shade, so I guess we just didn’t notice. Mark has a couple of annual doctor appointments today (ophthalmologist and cardiologist) which complicated things a bit, but with Jed’s help, we worked things out. Mark’s first appointment was at 9 am in Sandwich which is about 35 minutes north of here. Heather had to go to Boston today, so Jed kept the boys until Mark and I returned from Sandwich. We met Jed at the Woods Hole Library where the boys were attending a folk music/puppet show. After the show, Jed went to work and we headed to the beach in Quissett to enjoy lunch in the shade along with a little water play. Mark’s next appointment was at the Falmouth Hospital at 1 pm, so the boys and I drove him there and then went to a nearby playground to wait for him. The drive to the playground gave Ollie a chance to go to sleep, so he slept while the big boys played on the equipment. Then it was back to the hospital to pick up Granddad. We decided to go to the freshwater pond in town rather than to the beach to play for the rest of the afternoon. We did a little extra driving around to give Ollie a chance to sleep and then we all enjoyed the pond at Goodwill Park. We staked out a shady place at the water’s edge and Sam and Jonah started excavating a huge hole and building walls of sand around it. Once they had a little pond within their walls of sand, Ollie put one of the body boards in it and practiced jumping off it into the water. We had a great time digging in the sand and floating about the pond until late afternoon and never even noticed that it was hot. So it was the perfect way to spend a steamy afternoon.
We are now on weather watch. With Tropical Storm Arthur (soon to be Hurricane Arthur) headed our way, all sorts of 4th of July activities are being changed. Boston has moved its fireworks and Boston Pops concert to tomorrow night (July 3rd) instead of having them on the 4th. And Falmouth has postponed their fireworks until Sunday night. Whenever, we will enjoy them.
