2022 Life Logs, Day 98: Editing and Late Afternoon Soccer Game
Date: Friday, April 8, 2022
Weather: Rain Early, Partly Sunny, Still Windy; High 56, Low 42 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Other than just living a good life—reading, cooking good food, walking and playing with Shadow—I spent most of today continuing the editing process on The Voyage of Windbird. At the same time, I am reading a book given to me by my friend Patsy Decker in North Carolina who is one of my beta readers. The book is Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia by Christina Thompson, published in 2019. It is another attempt to dig deep to uncover just who the first people who settled the islands of the Pacific were, “where they came from, how they got there, and how we know.” I have read many accounts and this one is adding to my knowledge. It is, however, another example that proves the more you know, the more you know you don’t know. The reading has me questioning the way I have described how islands and archipelagos are formed in my book. So now I want to go back and find those descriptions and do a little more fact checking. Thankfully, I love researching, so I don’t find this frustrating. Just time consuming. I found a 2012 article today co-authored by a three young PhDs at WHOI on island formation. One of them is now at MIT and one is still at WHOI, so I will email them and hope one of them has time to meet with me and help me better understand the geology of island formation.

I talked to Justin today and learned that I owe my grandson a great big apology. In last night’s log, Justin pointed out that I wished Ziggy Marley Handley a happy birthday. Well, Marley is not Ziggy’s middle name and I certainly know that. His middle name is Milo, but when I think of Ziggy, I always associate his name with Bob Marley’s oldest son, Ziggy Marley. Thus, the big slip up. I’ll blame it on the late hour. I will now belatedly wish Ziggy MILO Handley a very happy 13th birthday!!! Justin also talked about the island-wide power outage. Last week they had no electricity due to a power pole that was knocked down on the road near the entrance to their driveway. Now this week, the whole island is without power due to a different problem. Thank goodness for solar power!

This afternoon I sent Heather a text inquiring about Ollie’s soccer game. She replied that indeed Ollie did have a 5:30 pm soccer game today and she added that she is not feeling healthy. She is testing negative for COVID at this point, but not feeling good is not encouraging. We will just have to wait and see how things play out, but hope with me that she does not have COVID.

I went to Ollie’s soccer game and enjoyed watching him play both forward and goalie. He is a good player and truly seems to enjoy his time on the field. Jed arrived a little late as he had to drop Sam and Jonah off for a weekend of Scout camping. Jonah has a soccer game tomorrow afternoon, but thankfully it is close to the Scout camp. Then Sam has a game on Sunday in Weymouth, near Boston. He will get home from camping just in time to head to the game. Tomorrow and Sunday will be replays of today for me. Living the good life, editing, and going to soccer games in the afternoons.

2022 Life Logs, Day 97: Happy 13th Birthday to Ziggy
Date: Thursday, April 7, 2022
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, Windy; High 51, Low 47 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

My second grandson became a teenager today. Despite the fact that there was no electricity on the entire island of Puerto Rico today, Ziggy Milo Handley turned thirteen years old! It just seems impossible to me that my grandchildren are growing up so fast. In 2009 Mark and I flew home from Malaysia to meet Ziggy.

14 Granddad Handley Talking to Ziggy

09 Judy in the Unexpected Snow

“It’s a good statement about who we are.” I think those are the words I heard Vice President Kamala Harris say today after announcing the Senate’s vote to confirm the first black woman as a Supreme Court justice, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. If VP Harris didn’t say those exact words, then I will. Jackson is a brilliant woman who speaks with such insight and clarity. Watching history happen was another reason for celebration today.

Otherwise, I spent my day trying to keep up with the edits suggested by the readers of The Voyage of Windbird. I am in the process of making edits suggested and doing some rewriting. In addition to that, friend Karen Baranowski dropped by to return some books and to visit. That was about it for my day.

2022 Life Logs, Day 96: COVID Rears Its Ugly Head
Date: Wednesday, April 6, 2022
Weather: Overcast, Rainy, Windy, Cooler; High 46, Low 41 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

This afternoon I got a text from Heather letting me know her flight to Vancouver this Saturday has been rescheduled until Monday. She found out this morning that she was exposed to COVID at work yesterday—an hour-long meeting with someone who woke up feeling sluggish this morning and then tested positive. Ugh, ugh, ugh. Heather will start sleeping in the bonus room above the garage, eat separately, and wear a KN95 mask when with Jed or the kids. Then we just have to cross our fingers and hope she doesn’t get COVID. Heather was to attend the TED Conference in Vancouver all of next week, returning on Friday in time for Passover Seder on Friday evening, and then spending Saturday packing for our Sunday take off for Puerto Rico. We will just have to see how things go and change plans accordingly.

The weather today was just miserable. I do know better than to hope for warm, spring-like weather in April, but I can always hope. It just wasn’t today. It was cold and rainy during the morning, turning windy in the afternoon. I finally caved in and put on a polar fleece under my winter coat, wearing a hat and gloves, to take Shadow for his walk late afternoon. At least it wasn’t raining. And once I was truly dressed for the weather, it didn’t seem so bad.

I started playing Mah Jongg today for the first time since the onset of COVID in March of 2020. I had finished six weeks of lessons and a few weeks of playing before the abrupt stop. And I now remember very little. So, when friend Christina Brodie said she was organizing a new learning group, I joined. Christina was in my initial Mah Jongg class, but unlike me, when COVID happened, she continued to play online. While she was doing that, I started writing my book. So now I have a book and she is a Mah Jongg teacher. She is also the person who has been my “English teacher’ editor and I picked up the edited copies my last four chapters from her today. I went ahead and sent copies to the Beta readers without these last edits. I’ll send out the revised four chapters once I make the changes.

After seven months, my phone call to Comcast yesterday finally got things moving. My cable line is no longer draped across the forest floor but up in the air where it belongs. I have no idea why Comcast did not respond to past calls, but they certainly reacted quickly to yesterday’s request.

2022 Life Logs, Day 95: Taking Care of Business
Date: Tuesday, April 5, 2022
Weather: Partly Sunny; High 53, Low 42 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Filed my taxes, contacted Comcast for the third time about the downed line coming to the cottage from the street, contacted the insurance company about the possibility of converting my term life insurance policy to a permanent policy, made reservations for a snorkeling trip to the bioluminescent bay during our family Puerto Rico vacation week, researched other possible activities for the PR vacation week, and ended my day by taking Jonah to Scouts and having dinner with friends Jane and Bruce Woodin. They just returned from three weeks in Florida, and it was great to see them. I borrowed a couple of their BIG suitcases for me and the Goldstones to use for the PR trip and then headed back to pick up of Jonah and Sam from Scouts and take them home. It was just a taking care of business kind of day!

2022 Life Logs, Day 94: Happy 15th Anniversary to Justin and Jo
Date: Monday, April 4, 2022
Weather: Partly Sunny; High 54, Low 37 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

On April 1, 2007, Mark and I had just said farewell to our friends Alan and Helaine Kanegsberg who spent four wonderful weeks with us touring the North and South Islands of New Zealand. They left on March 25. Mark and I had spent the week after their departure reorienting ourselves to living aboard Windbird on a dock in New Zealand. That’s when we got an email from our son Justin telling us he was engaged. We immediately emailed back with congratulations and telling him to let us know when he and Jo planned to be married so we could plan a trip home for the big event. The next email from him arrived only four days later, on April 5, telling us he and Jo were married! We were a bit shocked . . . but oh, so happy for them. At the time, Justin and Jo were living in Venice Beach, a neighborhood in Los Angeles known for its Bohemian spirit. This is what Justin wrote to us in his email: “We went to the top of Eagle Rock (we were at the very peak) and had a beautiful ceremony where we did a Celtic hand fasting (using Freckle’s leash and a piece of lace from the theatre for this) and exchanged vows and rings, and now… I’m Married!” We offered them a trip to meet us in Fiji as a wedding present. I can’t remember why that didn’t happen, but they did join us for three weeks in Indonesia in September and October of 2008. Two of my favorite photos of all times are of Justin and Jo while they were with us–one at the Kura Kura Resort on a tiny little Indonesian island north of Bali

00 Justin and Jo on Pulau Menyawakan Beach at Sunset

48 Special Moment with a Special Orangutan

I spent my day in the Galapagos, trying to rewrite part of the chapter about our wonderful time there. I also did a little more gardening and spent most of my evening helping out with transporting grandkids from one place to another. Tomorrow looks to be more of the same. Life is good.

2022 Life Logs, Day 93: Solitaire Sunday
Date: Sunday, April 3, 2022
Weather: Mostly Cloudy; High 49, Low 36 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

By the time I remembered that I was going to go to Sam’s soccer game this morning, it was too late to get there. Bummer. I didn’t put the game in my calendar, so I didn’t get a reminder this morning. Evidently, I need my phone to ‘ding’ to remind me of appointments. So I then resigned myself to spend the rest of the day at home doing not much of anything. Evidently, I needed a day to myself. I did start rewriting the chapter of my book about the Galapagos and I did get peas planted. I walked with Shadow and talked to friends on the phone. That was it for me today. Hopefully tomorrow will be more productive.

2022 Life Logs, Day 92: Detta’s Visit and Soccer Saturday
Date: Saturday, April 2, 2022
Weather: Sunny and Windy; High 53, Low 36 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Detta’s visit continued this morning and she went with me to Ollie’s first soccer game of the spring season in Sandwich. Jed was the ref for Ollie’s game and Ollie was goalie in the first quarter and played offense after that. As we watched the game, we kept hearing people cheering Ollie on, once when Ollie was on the sidelines. It was then that we discovered that there was an Ollie on the opposing team, also a blondie, and with the same jersey number as our Ollie, #18. What a coincidence.

After the game, Detta and I went to the Daniel Webster Atrium for a light lunch and then to the Sandwich Glass Museum gift shop where Detta found a beautiful sun catcher to buy. She headed home and I drove back to Falmouth for Jonah’s first soccer game of the spring season. Jonah plays offense and even though his team lost 3 to 2, he played a good game. It was a pass from him to teammate that accounted for one of the goals.

In the late afternoon, I did a little outdoor gardening and then came inside to continue reading the Jodi Picoult book that has captured my full attention. I hope to finish it tonight so I can back to life as usual tomorrow!

2022 Life Logs, Day 91: Dinner with Detta
Date: Friday, April 1, 2022
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, Sprinkles; High 54, Low 34 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

No April Fool’s, I had a fantastic first day of April. My very good friend, Detta Porat, drove down from New Hampshire, for a belated birthday 75th birthday celebration in my honor. She arrived mid-afternoon and we spent the next couple of hours catching up. Then we went to Bleu, a restaurant in Mashpee Commons, for dinner. Honestly, it was the best restaurant meal I remember having in years. We both ordered East Coast halibut topped with a lemon, garlic, almond, and parsley gremolata (like a roughly ground pesto), all over a mixture of spring mushrooms, marinated artichokes, asparagus, and cherry tomatoes. It was absolutely delicious. And then we shared a key lime cheesecake with blueberry jam for dessert. I even got to blow out a belated birthday candle while wearing my Cape Cod bracelet which was my gift from Detta. I gave her one for her birthday last year, so now we have a shared ‘link’.

After dinner we went to Heather and Jed’s to say hello. Detta was amazed at how much the Goldpebbles have grown since she last saw them and was intrigued by their varied interests. She was especially fascinated with their interest in blacksmithing and admired the results of their blacksmithing lesson that was Santa’s gift this year. After dinner and visiting, we came home and Detta and Shadow cuddled up for the rest of the evening. It was a lovely evening.

2022 Life Logs, Day 90: Reading, Readying
Date: Thursday, March 31, 2022
Weather: Cloudy, Windy, A Little Rain Early; High 59, Low 50 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Sometimes you get sucked into a book and you just can’t put it down. On my way home from North Carolina, I started reading a book recommended by Patsy Decker when I met her for breakfast on Sunday. She recommended it because it is partly about the Galapagos, and she knows how much I loved my time there. This is a Jodi Picoult book entitled Wish You Were Here. I say it is partly about the Galapagos because it is also about Covid and about relationships. It was just so much fun to relive Isabela Island in the Galapagos through someone else’s experiences. Last night I got to a point in the book where I really didn’t want to stop reading, but I forced myself to put the book down and go to bed. Then today I made a trip to the laundromat which gave me an excuse to start reading again. When I got home from the laundromat, I put the cleaning aside and just kept read. I finally got to a point where the book took an unexpected turn, and I was able to put it down. But it was too late in the day to do all the cleaning I had planned. You make plans and then life happens. Detta will just have to overlook the dirt. But at least she’ll have clean sheets!

2022 Life Logs, Day 89: Walking, Editing
Date: Wednesday, March 30, 2022
Weather: Mostly Sunny, Cold Early; High 46, Low 38 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

2022 Life Logs, Day 89: Walking, Editing
Date: Tuesday, March 30, 2022
Weather: Mostly Sunny, Cold Early; High 46, Low 38 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Today was mostly sunny, but the wind continued to come from the northern quadrant until mid-afternoon making it feel colder than the thermometer read. The good news is that the wind is now coming from the south and tomorrow should be a little warmer. I’m confident that I am not the only person who is clearly tired of the cold weather. I would like it to feel just a little more like spring.

This morning my friend Olga Mitchel and I took Shadow for a walk in Beebee Woods. We walked to a pond named Punch Bowl. It is a beautiful spot, and we had a lovely walk. When I returned home, I started reading through The Voyage of Windbird manuscript that another friend, Patsy Decker, read to make editing suggestions. I embraced her suggestions and couldn’t wait to start making the changes in a copy of the Beta Reader ‘edition’ of the manuscript. Each time I have edited, I keep a copy of the old. I am on the fourth ‘edition’ and have no idea how many more ‘editions’ I will go through until it is time to say enough and start looking for a publisher. Today I only got through the first seven chapters as Chapter 8 requires some major rewriting. I have to change gears tomorrow, so it will probably be Monday before I get back at it. But I want to say a big THANK YOU to Patsy. She is a fantastic editor.

Tomorrow is ‘get ready for company’ day. Good friend Detta Porat from New Hampshire is arriving on Friday afternoon and I’m using that excuse to get long overdue house cleaning done.