2026 Life Logs, Day 295: Birthday Call to a Friend, Election Protection, Ratatouille
Date: Thursday, October 22, 2026
Weather: Still Windy, 25 mph at Noon; High Temp 58, Low 45 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

Even when I think I have a day without too much going on, it somehow ends up to be jam-packed. I started with an annual dermatology appointment. All good. I then came home and called friend Lynne Kirwin to wish her a happy birthday and farewell as she is leaving Michigan tomorrow to return to New Zealand. Then I was off the Peg Noonan Park on Main Street for my noon time stand out promoting early voting. As I have found each day, it seems there are more people walking on Main Street from other places than there are people from Falmouth. Today there were two couples from England, one couple from Australia, and more people from Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and California. It is definitely still tourist season here. Then it was home to grab some lunch and take Shadow out before heading to an Indivisible Falmouth Steering Committee Meeting. Every night this week, there have been national Zoom calls to prepare for election protection actions. We don’t think there will be any issue in Falmouth, but we still need to be ready to rapidly respond if there are problems elsewhere.

I spent the evening making ratatouille with zuchinni, eggplant, tomatoes, and purple peppers that friends gave me from their garden. I added basil from the front porch and it was delicious.

Then I settled in for another Zoom call, this one with the ACLU on Final Preparations for Election Protection. A busy, but not a stressful day.

2026 Life Logs, Day 294: Windy Weather
Date: Wednesday, October 21, 2026
Weather: Sunny and Windy, Gale Warning; High Temp 56, Low 51 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

Normally I ignore windy weather, but since I pledged to stand out at Peg Noonan Park each day to promote early voting, the windy weather has a direct impact on me. Yesterday and today were beautiful, but keeping the table from blowing in the wind is a chore, especially with the early voting banner attached to the front of it.

Set up on Monday was easy, but yesterday and today were challenging.  At least I had help today, but even with the wooden box of signs on top of the table, someone has to keep a hand on it when the greater than 30 miles per hour gusts blow through. And today, it was too windy for the sandwich board I wear. I had to fashion a belt of duct tape to keep it from flying wildly in front and in back of me. In addition, there are fewer people walking downtown because of the wind. Tomorrow will be as windy as today (gale force), Friday a little less, and by Saturday, it will be calm. At least it is not cold.

I had an Encore meeting this morning, did the noon time stand out, came home to eat lunch, and then went to visit with my sister. In between activities, I have been trying to catch up on email correspondence and this evening, I canned the chicken mineral broth I made on Monday.

The wind is exhausting, but otherwise things are a bit calmer this week.

2026 Life Logs, Day 293: 2nd Day at Peg Noonan, Public Policy, Soccer, Election Protection
Date: Tuesday, October 20, 2026
Weather: Clear to Partly Cloudy, Windy; High Temp 58, Low 45 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

It was windy today, but tomorrow will be windier. I headed to Peg Noonan Park on Main Street to set up for my noontime event to spread the vote early message and found it incredibly difficult to set up due to the wind. I have a 4-foot banner that I taped to a small folding table yesterday with no problem, although id did blow a bit in the wind. Last night I glued a board across the bottom to keep it from blowing in the wind, but today’s wind was just too much for it. So, I found a way to use duct tape by attaching it to the bottom of the banner and running it under the table and back to the top. I did this in three places and just as I was feeling so proud of my work, the banner became a sail and flew forward , dragging the table along with it. I caught it just as it ran into the photographer from the local paper, the Falmouth Enterprise. He helped me get the table back in place, instead of in the middle of the sidewalk, and he said to me, “You must be Judy.” I asked him how he knew my name and he just said jokingly that the Enterprise knows everything. He had come to photograph my vote early effort. He took many photos before an ally arrived to be with me. So, I asked him to take more pictures including her. Then a woman walked by and I asked her if she was a Falmouth voter. She said she was and I gave her my ‘song and dance’ about the importance of voting early. The photographer was taking photos this whole time and then the woman said she thought she would go vote right then. I looked at the clock that looms above the park and saw it was already noon. I told her that I was walking to Town Hall as I plan to do every day of early voting. I invited her to walk with me. She accepted, and the photographer followed us, taking more photos right until we entered Town Hall to vote. I had not yet voted, so the two of us did it together. I don’t know if any of those photos will be in Friday’s paper, but I will share if they are. Anything to get out the Vote Early message! I just hope I can control my flying banner in the 30 mph winds tomorrow.

Later in the afternoon the Exploring Public Policy group I co-lead with Jon Kaufman met. We had a 15-minute presentation from the Chair of Falmouth’s Board of Trustees about Question 10 on the ballot—a ballot question to support the East Falmouth Library building project. Then Michael Palmer, our just retired Town Clerk of 23 years, along with Troy Clarkson who was an early member of the Town Select Board, gave a presentation.. They are working to get a charter commission on the ballot next May to study our current form of town government to see if it is the best form going forward. It was a very informative meeting, and they were able to convince a number of people to help them in their endeavor.

My next stop was Falmouth High School to watch the last quarter of Jonah’s soccer game. He played a good game, and we won 4-0. As the team members excited the field afterwards, they got a first look at the banners displaying photos of each of the seniors on the team. They had just been put up, and it was fun watching their reactions. There are four more games in the regular season and then playoffs.

Tonight I was on a Zoom a leadership call with the No Kings alliance discussing what needs to happen now in terms of election protection. There is another call tomorrow night on this same topic with Indivisible, and another on Thursday night. As soon as the Vote Early effort is completed, we move on to election protection and that could, and probably will, be quite intense taking all of us out of comfort zone. But careful plans are being made. Hopefully, they will not have to be implemented.

2026 Life Logs, Day 291: Sam Leaves for Vermont, Campaign Afternoon
Date: Sunday, October 18, 2026
Weather: Sunny, but Cool; High Temp 54, Low 38 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

Sam left this morning to drive to Stowe, Vermont to start two weeks of training for a winter job at Stowe Mountain Resort. Shadow and I went over to give him a farewell hug. Heather sent me a text tonight saying he had a beautiful drive north and arrived safely. He is staying in a cabin by himself about 45 minutes away from the mountain until he can move into a house with 8 rental rooms, each with their own bathroom. Thankfully, it is close to the mountain. Training starts each morning at 7 am, so here’s hoping Sam can adjust quickly to the early morning commute. Good luck, Sam!!! Oma will be sending you all of the positive energy she can muster.

And speaking of energy, today I knocked on doors campaigning for local, state, and national Democratic candidates. I wore a sweater and vest, but that was not quite enough. I was a bit chilly despite the sunshine. When I got home, I sat down on the couch and the next thing I knew, it was two hours later. The past seven days have been insanely busy, and my body was telling me it needed a break. I feel much better now and ready for a new week

2026 Life Logs, Day 290: NO KINGS Vote Early Rally
Date: Saturday, October 17, 2026
Weather: Rain Overnight Ending 10 am, Overcast/Windy Day; High Temp 64, Low 37 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

The weather today cooperated in that the rain stopped just in time for us to set up things on the Green for today’s rally, but it was overcast, windy, and felt really cold. It was winter coat weather. But 500-700 people braved the weather to attend today’s rally. Vote Early events were happening all across the country today with the soul purpose of getting people excited about voting. Midterm elections do not get the same turnout as presidential elections, and even then in Falmouth we only get about 70 percent of eligible voters. In September for the primary, I think Falmouth got only 20 percent of eligible voters that showed up. I need to do some research to find out what the actual numbers have been in Falmouth over the past 10 years so we can gauge our success with this early voting campaign this year.

Today my job was to be a cheerleader for early voting. There are seven Indivisible Falmouth Steering Committee members, but not everyone is responsible for overall rally planning and execution. One of our committee members is the leader of a group called the Resister Sisters, so she puts her full attention to that group who does stand outs prior to major rallies and then they march down Main Street to the Green to begin the rallies. Another committee member just deals with transporting signs and other gear to and from rallies. Both of those people were out sick today and were sorely missed, but we carried on. Another member deals with getting speakers, writing press releases, and coming up with fun ideas. One of her ideas for today was for some of us to wear ‘bird’ attire to stress the early bird theme. I volunteered to wear a yellow suit on loan from a local theater group, along with feathered bird mask, and wearing a sandwich board advertising early voting. I am sure I looked ridiculous, but as I walked through the crowd handing out the Vote Early bright yellow signs, it seemed to brighten people’s mood. So I suppose I was one of two ‘clowns’ as one other committee member wore a beautiful American Eagle costume. He was our main ‘early bird’.

Jim, our leader who doesn’t call himself a leader, did all of the set up and was the master of ceremonies, introducing each of the six speakers. And after the program, many of us walked to Town Hall carrying our signs advertising early voting which began in Falmouth today. I want to give a shout out to my good friend Karen Baranowski who coordinates the medical team for us. We have safety marshals and medical marshals, and Karen and a group of her friends who are nurses, plus one doctor, come to the No Kings rallies to make sure everyone is safe. Plus, for today we hired one police detail as we did not anticipate as many people as our previous No Kings. They make sure people crossing the street getting to the Green do so safely. It takes a village to put on a big rally and we are so grateful to our Falmouth community for being so supportive.

I arrived at the Green at 10:45 am to help Jim with set-up and got home at 2:30 just in time to take Shadow out and then head to the high school for Jonah’s Homecoming weekend soccer game. By the time I got home from the game, I had been outside in the cold and wind for six straight hours. Then I had to take Shadow out and play ball for a bit. When I finally got inside, it felt so wonderful. Tomorrow, I spend the afternoon door knocking, but thankfully, it is going to sunny and a tad warmer than today.

2026 Life Logs, Day 289: Class, Kitchen, and Office
Date: Friday, October 16, 2026
Weather: Mostly Cloudy; High Temp 67, Low 55 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

My day was spent in a class all morning and in the kitchen and in my dining-room ‘office’ for the rest of the day and evening. The morning class was interesting as usual, but I almost fell asleep three times. I have been working late and getting up early everyday this week. I have looked ahead for the next week, and there is not one day that I have less than two commitments. But at least most of the events are things I just need to go to. I don’t need to do any work to get ready. Whew!

My afternoon and evening in the kitchen was spent making granola and granola clusters for Sam to take with him when he leaves on Sunday for Stowe, Vermont. He has a job for the winter at the Stowe Mountain Resort doing snow machine daily maintenance. He works 4 days a week, 12 hours a day. And as I understand it, he and a partner are taken to the top of one of the trails and dropped off. The two of them then work their way down the mountain on foot, one on one side of the trail and one on the other, stopping to check each of the snow machines to make sure they are working properly. They have to carry a shovel so that if the snow machine is covered with snow, they can dig it out. When they reach the bottom, they are delivered to the top of another trail and do the same thing. For 12 hours! Sounds hard to me, but he is a hard worker and is actually looking forward to this. Of course, one of the perks is that on your three days off, skiing/snowboarding is free. The first two weeks are training, and then the snowmaking begins. I figured some granola trail mix and granola clusters might come in handy as a snack. So that was my kitchen job.

My office job was getting ready for tomorrow’s NO KINGS Vote Early rally. I finished up making 200 Vote Early signs to pass out to people at the rally and printing handouts. I would put a batch of granola clusters in the oven, head into the dining-room where my computer and printer are located to either print or glue tongue depressors on the card stock signs, and then head back to the kitchen to rotate the granola and set the timer for another 10 minutes. I also had to make a sandwich board to wear tomorrow as I will be dressed as a yellow ‘early bird’ advertising that everyone “Be an Early Bird. Vote Early!”

2026 Life Logs, Day 288: Indivisible Falmouth Meeting
Date: Tuesday, October 15, 2026
Weather: Sunny, Cooler Than Yesterday; High Temp 61, Low 46 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

I spent my entire day getting ready for the No Kings rally on Saturday and the Indivisible Falmouth meeting tonight. But I could have skipped getting ready for the meeting as almost no one came. Either we are doing something terribly wrong or people are just too busy with election related activity to come to one more meeting. But we will have to figure that out after Saturday’s big rally. Still much to do to get ready for that to fret about low meeting attendance.

2026 Life Logs, Day 284: This and That Kind of Day
Date: Sunday, October 11, 2026
Weather: Mostly Overcast After Sun Early, Rain Late; High Temp 61, Low 52 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

This was one of those days when I did a little of this and a little of that. I did some laundry, delivered the wheelchair I got yesterday to Patsy, picked up Shadow’s dogfood from Heather’s freezer, answered emails, and then I had to stop procrastinating and get the big job done. I did the quarterly financial report for the Board of Library Trustees which always takes me more time than it should. I’ll double check the figures tomorrow, but I hope I am done.

Delivering the wheelchair was not as easy I thought it would be. The bag that holds Patsy’s phone that has to be close to her at all times so I can get her blood sugar readings somehow got permanently attached to the wheelchair she has been using that belongs to Bridges. It should just be attached by Velcro straps. But someone must have taken the chair apart and put the straps between metal and plastic strips and I could not get it off. I had already transferred patsy from the old chair to the new one, but I had to transfer her back. I am just going to order another bag and will make the transfer when it arrives. I also started packing away some of Patsy’s summer clothes and replace them with some of the new things I bought at Walmart on Friday.

Today was Cape Cod Marathon Day. Jonah worked the early shift, then Ollie and Heather handed out cups of water to participants after they crossed the finish line.

They got home around 2:30, just before I arrived to pick up the dog food from the freezer. It was goo timing as I got to visit for a bit. Jed and Sam are in Stowe, Vermont today and tomorrow trying to find housing for Sam for the winter. They found a house that rents out 8 rooms. Each bedroom has its own bathroom, but everything else is shared. It is 30 minutes from the ski mountain where Sam will be working, but he loved the concept and the owner. There is not a room available until November, so he needs to still figure out what he will do for the last two weeks of October. But progress is being made!

2026 Life Logs, Day 283: Knocking on Doors and Doors and Doors
Date: Saturday, October 10, 2026
Weather: Beautiful Day; High Temp 63, Low 48 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

Along with my canvassing partner, Julie Lipkin, we walked and knocked on doors for four straight hours today in a neighborhood in Mashpee. We were told it was a compact neighborhood, but the streets went in circles, and we had 70 homes assigned to us. Compact maybe, but my phone says we walked 8 miles. There was sewer work being done in parts of the neighborhood which complicated things, but after 3 hours we were mighty happy to use one of the porta potties in place for the construction workers!

I made the trip to Providence this morning and made it to the Masonic Lodge in Centerville by 10:10 am to see if they had a wheelchair for Patsy. People were going in to donate equipment and others were coming out with their free treasures. But this all happens on Saturdays between 10 and 12. No other time. After a month of Saturdays when I couldn’t get there, I was so hoping the trip was going to be worth it. But when I walked in, I saw no wheelchairs. A young man had me write my name on a paper and he said if anyone came in with one, he would call me. I was so disappointed that I just went out to my car and sat there. I had to send an email to someone, so I wrote that before driving away. And just as I finished the email, I saw a man walking in front of my car pushing a wheelchair. I jumped out and followed him and, indeed, he was taking it in to donate. I looked at the young man I had spoken to earlier, and he said it was all mine. That is two successes in two days in my search for things for my sister.–yesterday’s Walmart clothing bonanza and a free wheelchair today. A big thank you to the Masonic Lodge for this service they provide.

2026 Life Logs, Day 282: Felt Like Winning the Lottery
Date: Friday, October 9, 2026
Weather: Sunny and Warm; High Temp 68, Low 48 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

It was another beautiful fall day. I headed to Bridges early to replace Patsy’s Dexcom sensor. This has to be done every 15 days and when it is not done on time, her phone goes ballistic. I had until tomorrow early afternoon, but there is no way I be assured of being there by then, so I did it today. From there I went to the ‘These Truths’ class with Jane Scarborough. Class is always interesting and certainly worth the time.

It was 12:30 when I got back to Falmouth and I ran a number of errands. These days, anytime I am near a clothing store, I duck into see if they have any of the things Patsy needs to build a winter wardrobe. I went into TJ Max and came out holding my head. For a person who doesn’t like shopping, that store always overwhelms me. Plus, they never seem to have anything I need for Patsy. I have been to Walmart three or four times in the past month and have looked for things there to no avail. But I was close by, so I went in again. I couldn’t believe it. They had long sleeved shirts, sweaters, winter compression stockings, almost everything on the list except for night gowns. I bought one of every color of the long-sleeved cotton shirts and the everyday sweaters. These will only last one winter, but the price was right and I felt like I had just won the lottery. With just a bit more online shopping, I think I will have most everything she needs for now.

My job this evening was working on the quarterly financial report for the Board of Library Trustees. I have way more to do, but at least I got that started. Now it is time to get to bed as tomorrow morning is an early one.