Welcome to The Voyage of Windbird . . . and Beyond.  My name is Judy Handley and I live on Cape Cod in Massachusetts.  For six years of my life, my husband Mark and I sailed around the world.  I documented that story, one day at a time, in this blog that was then just called The Voyage of Windbird.  Those daily logs from 2005 to 2011 tell the story of our circumnavigation.  While sailing, my daily logs were sent via Ham radio to the internet to appear on this blog spot each morning.  My son Justin made that happen, and to this day, I don’t understand the process.  But it was like magic.  I would sit in the cockpit each afternoon around 4 pm and summarize the day’s activities.  During the evening when the conditions were just right for sending radio emails, my husband would send the log.  The next morning my son, my daughter, other members of my family and good friends would read the news and know exactly where in the world we were and what fun we were having.

After almost 6 years of traveling, we sailed into Woods Hole on Cape Cod.  We continued living aboard for the next five years and I wrote about that, adding ‘and Beyond’ to the title of the blog.  Then shortly before Mark’s death in 2016, we sold our beloved Windbird and my travel logs became land logs.  At this point, I had written a daily account for each and every day for 11 years.  I fully intended to end the blog at that point, but when I wrote that news in a log, I got many responses saying that I really needed to keep posting.  At the same time, I realized that I couldn’t stop writing.  Summarizing each day had become a permanent part of my life and I will probably continue writing until I can no longer.  These postings reflect the ordinary, and sometimes the extraordinary, days in my life and I would like to invite you to join me on my journey.

NOTE: Due to Google upgrading Picasa to Google Photos, many of our old photos are now broken.  We are actively working on fixing this – thanks for your patience!

2026 Life Logs, Day 230: Engaged With My Life

2026 Life Logs, Day 230: Engaged With My Life
Date: Tuesday, August 18, 2026
Weather: Partly Cloudy, Back to Hot and Humid; High Temp 80, Low 68 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

A man named Peter Coyote was an actor, but for the past 34 years he has been a practicing Buddhist priest. He is engaged in political and social causes as well as being a passionate advocate for wildlife and wild nature. But this afternoon, I saw him in the documentary, “Lightworkers”, and he said something that really struck me. “I’m not an activist. I’m engaged with my life.” For those people who are working hard to save our democracy, but have trouble labeling themselves as an activist, I think this is the perfect description. I was watching “Lightkeepers” to see if I want to recommend that the Indivisible Falmouth Steering Committee sponsor a screening of this documentary locally. And after watching it, I definitely do. Another quote from the film that I loved was, “You can’t do it all, but you can do one thing—a lot of one thing.” So many people are so very frustrated by the current political place we find ourselves in, but they say they don’t have time to get involved. If they chose just one thing to do, and did a lot of it, it would be great for the cause and it I think they would no longer be quite so frustrated.

When I got up this morning, I looked at the calendar I share with the Goldstones, and I saw that Heather had to take her aging Honda Civic to Hyannis Honda for a 9 am appointment and leave it for the day. I texted to see if she needed a ride back home from Hyannis because I knew she wasn’t going to stay there all day and wait for the work to be done. I had to go Mashpee anyway to try and solve the ‘disconnection’ issue between my sister’s phone and mine. It takes 20 minutes to get to Mashpee from here, and only another 15 minutes to Hyannis, so after some convincing, Heather agreed to let me come get her instead of her riding the bus home. On our way home, we stopped at Bridges in Mashpee and solved the disconnection problem and then headed home. She was going to work, and I was going home to clean house to get ready for Kevin’s arrival. Sorry, Kevin. Instead of house cleaning, I chose to watch “Lightworkers” so that I could make my recommendation at tomorrow morning’s Indivisible Falmouth Steering Committee meeting. And I am so glad that I did. It is the perfect film to help those who already working hard to save our democracy to feel really good about what they are doing, while at the same time nudging those not yet involved closer to doing so.

I did go food shopping for the first time in ages this evening. My refrigerator was so empty that on Sunday it prompted me to take the shelves out to clean them. But now they are filled. I might not have a perfectly clean house when Kevin arrives, but I will have food! Plus, I still have part of the day tomorrow to tidy up the house a bit before his arrival on Thursday.

The last activity of the day was a Board of Library Trustee Resource Committee meeting. And just before heading to that, I got a text from my sister’s granddaughter announcing the arrival of Patsy’s first great grandchild. We will arrange a Face Time ‘meeting’ with Patsy and Jack Ryan Miller (9 lbs 1 oz) later this week. Congratulations to the parents, Jessica and Josh, Grandpa Bill, and welcome to Jack!

2026 Life Logs, Day 229: Disconnected

2026 Life Logs, Day 229: Disconnected
Date: Monday, August 17, 2026
Weather: Rainy Off and On; High Temp 71, Low 67 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

At 7:45 am this morning, my phone let me know that I was no longer following by sister’s glucose sensor readings on my phone. We were somehow disconnected. This has happened a few times in the past 7 weeks since we set up the system. But all of the other times, all I had to do was reboot my phone and things were fine. One time they had forgotten to charge her phone overnight and once her phone was low on power, we lost connection. I had a 9 am meeting and another one at 11 am, so I was not able to go to Bridges until early afternoon to check things out. I called company that supports the sensor she wears and he app, and they told me the first thing to do was reboot my phone. Been there, done that. But suddenly while I was on the phone with customer support, we got reconnected. I hung up and Patsy went to an afternoon concert, and as soon as she left the room, I lost connection again. Long story short, I called customer support again and they think we have an interest issue at Bridges. I gave up and came home and will return tomorrow morning to continue working on this. If I reboot her phone, disconnect and recommend with the app, and we will have the problem, I will need help in figuring this out. I love technology when it works, but I find it baffling when it doesn’t. The good thing is that although Patsy’s sugar levels have been a little high, they have been consistent for days now. So, I am not going to panic if we are disconnected for a day or two. But beyond that, I have to get the problem solved.

I ate breakfast/lunch in the early afternoon, ran a few errands, and then decided to go to Lobster on the Lawn at Saint Barnabas’s Episcopal Church with friends. On Mondays during the summer, they serve a lobster roll dinner on the lawn and today they had live music. I don’t believe I have ever done this in the 15 summers that I have lived here. The lobster roll was really delicious and there was a great band playing. It was fun and I will certainly plan to do this couple of times next summer.

I ended my day doing what I love most … being on Oma duty. I mentioned in yesterday’s log that Jed and Ollie are in Maine and that Heather had Select Board tonight. She thought both Sam and Jonah were going to be home tonight, so I was off duty as the two of them could easily fix dinner. But Sam ended up working this evening and Jonah wasn’t going to get home from soccer until 8 pm. So, I went over and fixed a simple spaghetti and meatball dinner for Jonah and his friend Kaiden. When I left, they were sitting at a table full of food and contentedly eating away.

And speaking of food, I also mentioned in yesterday’s log that Kevin is arriving on Thursday. So, tomorrow’s job is to figure out what we will eat while he is here. My refrigerator is bare. Kevin and Claire strictly adhere to a diet that avoids all animal products and any processed foods. So not meat, fish, eggs, cheese, dairy of any sort. They eat whole grains, but no flour. And no oil. For those of us not used to cooking like that, it can be challenging. Kevin always does the cooking when he is here, but I do need to have something ready for dinner when he arrives late on Thursday afternoon. Claire has written a cookbook, so tomorrow I will check that for ideas.

2026 Life Logs, Day 228: Sunday on My Terms

2026 Life Logs, Day 228: Sunday on My Terms
Date: Sunday, August 16, 2026
Weather: Mostly Sunny, Warmer; High Temp 80, Low 67 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

It was a little warmer today than yesterday, making it a good thing that the Falmouth Road Race was started an hour earlier than usual. As our summers heat up, adjustments like this are going to have to be made to a lot of activities to protect people from the heat. For the second year in a row, I decided to stay home and not fight the crowds watch the race. I had a lot of things that needed to be done here at home, so I stayed put and proceeded through the day on my terms. Instead of getting uptight because of having so many things that needed to be done, I just took my time and did what I could. I decided to live this Sunday on my terms. I did get a slower start than usual, however, because as soon as I got home from my walk with Shadow, I got a phone call from my friend Linda Stuart from my days in Concord, NH, who now lives just outside Denver, Colorado. Linda’s birthday was on Thursday, and I sent a message to her via Face Book. I hadn’t talked to her for ages and decided it was time to say happy birthday and to ask her to call when she had a chance. And that was this morning. She was out for a morning walk. She sent a photo of the area where she was walking right after the call, and I admit I felt a pang of jealousy. My morning walks are lovely, but her terrain is gorgeous.

We talked for over an hour and it was wonderful to catch us. Her two grandchildren are now 5 and 4. Again, I asked myself, “How did that happen?” After the call, I did some necessary housework, took a break to go outside and sit in the sun with Shadow (he chose to stay in the sun today instead of hiding in the shade), and then I was off to see my sister. On my way home from Bridges, I stopped to visit with Peter and Karen Baranowski. And then tonight I was invited to have dinner at the Goldstones. Ollie and Jed leave tomorrow morning to go to Rockland, Maine, to get aboard Ryan Mann’s sailboat and serve as crew for the trip home to the Cape. Fun, fun.

It was nice to have a day of mixed work and play, with lots of visiting with family and friends.

2026 Life Logs, Day 227: Busy Saturday

2026 Life Logs, Day 227: Busy Saturday
Date: Saturday, August 15, 2026
Weather: Beautiful Weather; High Temp 77, Low 68 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

Today was a busy one. I attended the Rally for Democracy on the Falmouth Green and then canvassed door to door for the next three hours for Senator Ed Markey. We were only canvass registered Democrats, but there is a primary challenger, US Representative Seth Moulton. Moulton is considerably younger than Markey, which is a plus for many people. But Markey has been a staunch defender of the environment, of immigrants, of commonsense regulation of AI, and so much more. And he has written and sponsored the legislation in these areas. In my opinion, Moulton’s only positive is his age, and that alone, is not enough to get my vote. Certainly not while Markey still has the energy and dedication to continue to be a tried and true fighter for the people. Of those I canvassed today, only the men who answered the door said they were voting for Seth Moulton solely because of his age. Some of the women had thought seriously about voting for Moulton because of the age factor, but in the end, they had decided to stick with Markey. The result of this primary will be very interesting.

With only enough time to run home and take Shadow out for a quick walk and then feed him dinner, I was then off to my old neighborhood in East Falmouth. While living there, I became good friends with the Dearman’s who have a summer home close to the cottage I rented. Their children are the same age as Sam, Jonah, and Ollie, and through the kids playing together, the two families became good friends. Tonight, all of the Goldstone’s, myself, and all of the Dearman’s except for the oldest, Lily, had a great evening together. Lily will be a junior at Tufts this fall but is currently in California working on a marine biology ‘adventure’.

2026 Life Logs, Day 226: The Human Experience

2026 Life Logs, Day 226: The Human Experience
Date: Friday, August 14, 2026
Weather: Beautiful Weather; High Temp 82, Low 61 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

I got brave this morning and turned off the window AC that can’t possible keep this whole house cool. It is in the living room and that room is cool, but the temperature in the kitchen was 80 degrees this morning. When I opened the windows, the breeze blew through and suddenly it was 74 in the kitchen. The high humidity of the past couple of weeks has moved on for now, and we have a lovely breeze making it enjoyable to be outside again. The temperature is still in the 80’s, but it feels entirely different.

I finished the financial spreadsheet I was working on yesterday, and it felt like the weight of the world was lifted off my shoulders. Then a decision was made to cancel next week’s Indivisible meeting, also removing a responsibility that was weighing heavily since I bear the responsibility of planning the meeting activities. Everyone is so busy working for their candidates of choice in our September 1 primary that we decided to give people a gift of time and regroup again in September. My good friend and ‘adopted’ son, Kevin Russell, arrives on Thursday evening, the time of the meeting, so now I can be sure to home when he arrives.

This afternoon, I was going to visit my sister. I saw on our shared calendar that Ollie was going to play golf with his friend Simon at 2:45 pm. Since I pass right by the Falmouth Country Club on my way to and from Bridges in Mashpee, I texted Heather to see if I could give Ollie a ride. She replied with a yes, and I was delighted to have an excuse to be with Ollie. For now, Ollie has made the decision to not play high school soccer. He is going to try out for the golf team, but there is a lot of competition so he is practicing as much as he can.

After dropping Ollie off, I headed to Bridges to visit with Patsy. It was so nice outside that I decided we would spend our time together outside. She had an unopened card from her sister-in-law, Judy Alyestock, so I took that outside with us and we sat in the sun, and she read the card to me. She knew who the card was from, but when Judy wrote that Jennifer and Scott are now living in the farmhouse in Ripley, West Virginia, Patsy put the card down and looked very puzzled. I reminded her that Jennifer is Judy’s daughter, Patsy’s niece. She let that sink in and then asked, “They live in the farmhouse?” I was trying to figure out how to best help her understand, so I said that she probably remembers that Jennifer and Scott have always lived in Africa as medical missionaries, but they are now retired and back in this country. Again, there was a long silence while she tried to process the information. She finally just said she was surprised they were living in the farmhouse, but I have no idea if she had any idea where in the world the farmhouse was located. When I mentioned Ripley, West Virginia (the town her husband was from), she just looked at me with a blank stare. I tried to give her some context for where she is in Massachusetts and reminded her that she lived in West Virgina growing up. That got into a conversation about what country we live in. I asked her if she knew who the president of the United States is right now and again I got the blank stare. I told her the current President is Donald Trump and she immediately said, “Well, that can’t be good.” I got a chuckle out of that. Then it was time to go pick up Ollie, so I told her I was going to pick up my grandson Ollie. She looked and me and said, “Who gave him a name like that?” I launched into an explanation by asking her if she remembers the name of our mother. Nothing—blank stare. I reminded her that our mother’s name was Ollie and the my daughter Heather named him Oliver, Ollie for short, in honor of her grandmother. Patsy recognizes photos of my our mother Ollie, but she can’t recall names. My visits with her are a true emersion into the human experience. The human mind amazes me and memory loss is just so hard to understand. Today I wished I had a recorder to document what Patsy’s responses were to my questions. I certainly don’t need another project, but it fascinates me that she can make some connections and then she goes off into an alternate world and connects to something there. For instance, when we were talking about the farmhouse this afternoon, she looked at the tall white fence surrounding the garden and said that ‘this farmhouse’ has to have to wooden fence. It is not allowed to have stone fence. Where did that come from? Fascinating.

Tonight, I am having a different human experience. My 23-year-old neighbor, Billy, is having a party tonight. I told him he could use my grill and picnic table and at 6:30 pm about 15-20 twenty somethings arrived. They all looked like teenagers to me, but I saw the table was filled with big bottles of Tanqueray gin and other hard liquors. This is obviously not the beer and wine crowd. And the cars in the drive way are all at least 10 years newer than my car. The first to arrive was a good friend from college, Amherst in western Massachusetts. They are the only ones I really met as I was going out to pick up Jonah at the high school. By the time I got back, the others arrived, all friends Billy has met in his job as a lab assistant at the Marine Biological Lab in Woods Hole. When I got back, I had to walk through the crowd to get inside and since then I have been hiding out in my living room. At about 8:30 they moved from the table by my front door to the fire pit. It is now 10:30 and that Tanqueray gin is definitely talking. I just hope the neighbors don’t complain because they are very loud. But it warms my heart to hear young people talking and laughing and obviously having such a good time together. Another human experience, not perplexing or hard to understand like my sister’s memory. This experience is just a wonderful reminder of how our interactions with other people ‘mature’ over the years. But how wonderful to be young, and seemingly carefree, on a Friday summer night.

2026 Life Logs, Day 225: Little Successes

2026 Life Logs, Day 225: Little Successes
Date: Thursday, August 13, 2026
Weather: Mix of a Little Rain, Clouds, Sunshine; High Temp 80, Low 64 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

I don’t keep track of the humidity, but it has been hot and humid recently. This morning was a bit of a reprieve. It rained a little before I got up, a nice breeze blew in, and Shadow and I had a lovely walk in the coolness of the morning. Then I got to work.

My first job this morning was going to Bridges to replace Patsy’s Dexcom sensor which is ‘applied’ to her upper arm. This has to be replaced every 15 days and today was the 4th sensor application since she arrived here. It is through that sensor which sends a signal to her phone that has to be near to her 24 hours a day that I receive her constant blood sugar numbers on my phone. Plus, she has a back-up monitor that stays in her room and only reads her numbers only when she is close to it. I’ve mentioned before that the one thing I never, ever wanted to be in life was a nurse. So, taking over this duty of replacing the sensor from the diabetic nurse we hired when she arrived was my first real ‘nursing’ duty. I got the job done with the help of YouTube video and then I had to wait for it to ‘warm up’ to her body temperature which takes about an hour. I had paired the two phones with the new sensor information, and they both kept saying “warming up”, but the little monitor said the sensor had failed. I called Dexcom, the company that manufactures the sensor, and they were able to lead me through the process to get the monitor paired. Success. The whole process worked and I now know that I can do this. Also, her new diabetic shoes that I ordered from Amazon arrived and I was able to try those on her and come up with the right size. She is definitely a size 7, not a 6 ½. Another job done successfully.

My afternoon at home was a mix of Board of Library Trustee treasurer work and Patsy ‘treasurer’ work. For Patsy ‘treasurer’ work, I had to compile all of the receipts for Patsy ‘things’ I have paid for this month—everything from new lipstick to paying for her supplemental healthcare insurance. I had just thrown all of the receipts/invoices in a pile and needed to go through them to figure out which ones I paid for with her credit card and which ones I paid for with my credit cards. This took me until 8 pm tonight and I still don’t have it put into a spreadsheet to send to her Power of Attorney who controls the money. Since Patsy did not have a credit card until a week or so ago, and since I can’t write checks for her, I had charged things to my credit cards, and then to hers once it arrived, while other things came straight out of her bank account. It was a mess because I have bought so many things, switched her medical insurance to Massachusetts, etc., etc. But at least I am now ready to enter everything into a spreadsheet and figure out how much money her Power of Attorney owes me. Last month it was almost $7,000. I think this month will be half of that. And going forward, I think it will be very little as long as I don’t have to write big weekly checks for diabetic nursing care. Right now I am able to deal with that. Going forward, all I will need to do is compile all of the receipts for tax purposes. I am going to count the progress made on this today as another success even though it took way too many hours.

2026 Life Logs, Day 224: The Little Things in Life

2026 Life Logs, Day 224: The Little Things in Life
Date: Wednesday, August 12, 2026
Weather: Mostly Sunny and Hot; High Temp 84, Low 65 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

I literally cannot believe it is almost mid-August. For me, this is just the summer that wasn’t. But it is not over yet, so maybe I can still have some ‘normal’ summer days. Today was a baby step back toward normal, but I still had to spend a huge chunk of time dealing with issues for my sister. I did call my friend Karen Baranowski whom I haven’t talked to for a couple of weeks. So that was one little normal thing. Then mid-afternoon, I took time to go outside and play with Shadow and decided to take him with me to the hardware store. I just had to run in and get a garden hose, so I knew he would be fine in the car for that little bit of time, especially since I would leave the windows partially down. I used to take him with me when I was running errands, but this summer that just hasn’t happened. As soon as he realized what was happening, he was like a little kid in a candy shop. He hopped up and down with joy as we walked to the car. But when I opened the back door, he sat down and looked to me to give him the okay to get in, even though I didn’t prompt him to do it. That was a first! When we got to the hardware store, he moved from the back seat to the front like he always does, but on the way home, he didn’t go to the back seat. He just inched closer to me and looked at me all the way home as if to say, “Mommy, why don’t we do this more often.” The whole trip was such a little thing, but it felt so normal. Not much that I have done for weeks has seemed normal, so our little trip made me very happy.

When we got home, I spent the next little while using the new hose to wash down the picnic table and chairs and spayed down the entry way. Then I got the cushions for the outside chairs out of the basement. My neighbor Billy is have a few friends from work over Friday evening for a barbeque and I told him he could use the picnic table. I’ve only used it once this whole summer. Next week, my good friend Kevin Russell is coming to visit and I know we will sit at the outside table as well. So back to normal, one little step at a time.

2026 Life Logs, Day 223: Puerto Rico Lo Hace Mejor

2026 Life Logs, Day 223: Puerto Rico Lo Hace Mejor
Date: Tuesday, August 11, 2026
Weather: Mostly Sunny and Hot, Nice Breeze; High Temp 87, Low 66 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

“Puerto Rico lo hace mejor” translates as “Puerto Rico does it better.” And that is what my daughter-in-law, Jo, thought this morning on the first day of Ziggy’s senior year. When she took Ziggy and Coco to school this morning, there was a huge celebration. Evidently in Puerto Rico they celebrate the beginning of the senior year with as much enthusiasm as they do at the end for graduation. There was music, dancing, cheering, a parade. What a wonderful way to start off the school year!

After doing a little work on my computer this morning, I actually went out and weeded in the garden. When I was done, there was almost nothing left. A few straggly tomatoes, some unhealthy-looking kale, and a couple of pepper plants. The weeds had so totally taken over that nothing I planted in May could grow. And since I haven’t stepped foot in the garden since late May, I was surprised to see that anything had survived. I will simply have to try again next year.

It was well after 1 pm when I got back inside, and just as I was starting to make lunch, the phone rang. It was a visiting nurse that was on her way to see my sister. Late last Monday when I was told by a CNA at Bridges that my sister had what looked like diabetic ulcers on her feet, I immediately went home and sent an email to the Wellness Director at Bridges asking her to FAX a request to Patsy’s primary care to refer her for skilled nursing. Sthe director had already left Bridges for the day, thus the email. I got an email back the next morning saying the referral had been sent. But I followed up with a text to the primary care stating the urgency. I was leaving town for Maine on Wednesday, but I felt sure a nurse would come by Thursday or Friday. On Saturday when I visited Patsy, I asked the nursing staff if anyone had come to see Patsy and they said they saw nothing about this in her records. So Monday morning, I called the primary care asking when a nurse would be coming. I had to leave a message and got a text back saying the nurse would be coming on Tuesday. But I found out from the nurse today that no referral was sent last week. Yesterday, a different visiting nurse was at Bridges and one of the nurses asked if she was there to see Patsy. She said she was not, but she got the message back to the home office that ‘a family member’ was very concerned. Evidently, after my call in the morning, the primary care did send in the order yesterday afternoon—one full week after the initial request. But this is just totally unacceptable. The same thing happened with the referral for physical therapy for Patsy. I will spend tomorrow morning dealing with this, but back to today, the visiting nurse asked me if I would like to meet her at Bridges for Patsy’s examination. She said she would be there in 20 minutes. The answer was yes, so no lunch for me today. I got out of my gardening clothes and into something presentable and headed straight to Bridges. The complete examination took over two hours as it was more than just looking at Patsy’s feet and documenting and bandaging them. The ulcer on one foot has not broken through the skin, but on the other foot, it has. The nurse ordered visits twice a week for three weeks for now and once a week after that, plus she met with staff to explain that the bandages cannot get wet. It will be sponge baths for now until I can order plastic sleeves to keep her legs and feet dry during showers. And I need to get a real wheelchair for Patsy, a special pillow to put on the footrests to cushion her feet for now, and we ordered new diabetic shoes right on the spot. The nurse was very thorough and very helpful. It was a productive afternoon, but just not how I planned to spend it. The story of my life these days. I hurried home to eat lunch/dinner and got to the library just in time for the Trustees meeting. Thankfully I had printed the financial reports this morning, so all I had to do was get there on time.

2026 Life Logs, Day 222: Back to Work

2026 Life Logs, Day 222: Back to Work
Date: Monday, August 10, 2026
Weather: Still Sunny, Not Quite as Humid; High Temp 84, Low 71 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

I stayed home all day today slowly chipping away at a long list of things I need to do regarding my sister. With her August change of insurance from Medicare Advantage to Medicare, all of a sudden, I am getting notices of things not covered by the old insurance from back in June and July and I am being sent forms to fill out to appeal the denials. And I still need to find a new glaucoma doctor for her and a new dentist, and on and on. Also, this morning I had to track down why a visiting nurse has not been to see her about the ulcers on her feet. The short of it is that they say they are coming tomorrow. We shall see.

It was another beautiful day that I spent inside on the phone, on my computer, and sitting at the dining room table reading through insurance forms. Tomorrow, after I visit my sister in the morning, I have promised myself at least an hour or two either going to the beach or working in the yard. I cannot spend this entire summer inside!

2026 Life Logs, Day 221: The Having of Good Friends

2026 Life Logs, Day 221: The Having of Good Friends
Date: Sunday, August 9, 2026
Weather: Still Sunny, Still Hot; High Temp 85, Low 65 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

Instead of going to see The Odyssey this morning, I decided to just have a relaxed morning with Shadow walking in the sunshine. And so I did. Then when we got home from our walk, he cuddled beside me on the sofa while I ate breakfast. Not having to be anywhere by a particular time was just so delightful. And Shadow enjoyed our quiet time together.

I then got on my computer and did the work to prepare the annual financial report to the town for the Board of Library Trustees, and I completed the spreadsheet for the proposed budget for next year. I sent those out to the other two members of the Resource Committee and will hope there are no changes as they both have to be presented Tuesday evening.

Mid-afternoon I went to visit with my sister. When I left on Wednesday, I was hopeful that the skilled nursing request that was sent to her primary care on Monday of last week was going to result in a visit as soon as possible. But yesterday when I visited, I saw no evidence that anyone had done anything. Jane Woodin texted me to ask what the visiting nurse had to say and I had to tell her that the nurse had not yet come. So, she insisted on coming to check on things. She arrived with her little medical kit and went right to work. After she had covered the ulcer on each foot with a bandage, she stayed and she and Patsy and I had a delightful conversation about Patsy’s life when she was in high school up until she got married. Patsy couldn’t remember specific details, but she seemed to understand what we were talking about and joined in. The “having of good friends” is a wonderful thing. Adding nurse Jane and friend Jane to our conversation made our time together so much more fun. Thank you, Jane!

From Bridges I headed to the Cape Cod Winery for an event for Senator Markey. He has been our Senator since 2012 but involved in Massachusetts politics for 50 years. He is running for re-election and his opponent in the primary is US Representative Seth Moulton. Moulton is running on one issue—age. Markey just turned 80, but he has been and still is a very productive member of Congress. I am all for getting younger people into politics, but when you can list multiple pieces of legislation that Markey has written or sponsored in the past couple of years with the only accomplishment you can list for Moulton is that he has youth on his side, in my opinion, it becomes clear who we need to support for re-election.

Once I got home, Shadow and both had dinner and watched another episode of Grantchester on PBS. Shadow is loving this cuddle time on the sofa! I didn’t even get on my exercise bike tonight. I just sat with Shadow on my lap.