Okay, so the title is a bit pompous. It’s after 10 PM and I shouldn’t be starting this now but I am and I will likely not finish before tomorrow. 

We ended 2021 with a bang and I hope not a super spreader event. We gathered about 150 of our masked and vaccinated members in Friendship Hall for an incredible dinner and great dancing until midnight – New York time that is. So many of us volunteered in the serving that it would be best to say the community did the work. Our team of volunteer retired professional chefs and their helpers prepared a meal of salmon, beef, potatoes and asparagus that was pleasing to the eye and the palate and the veggie offering was also excellent. 

The band started as the main meal service ended and Carol and I were on the dance floor for most of the numbers.

Things did get a bit silly when Georgia requested the Bunny Hop and many of us dug into childhood memories and joined in. 

We slept in and then after weekly chores tried to decide what to do with this unplanned day with gorgeous sun and a heat wave, temps were headed into the mid 50s. Are we really in southern California? We decided to take a ride. Do we turn left or right, North or South? There are some roads off of CA 79 that we have not explored, so we decided to see what we could see. An abandoned Buddhist Retreat Center for one, camels in a farm yard for another. We didn’t take pictures of either since the grounds of the retreat center were fenced off and the camels were behind a high chain link fence. 

Eventually we found our way to Borrego Springs where there was a musical event in the Christmas Circle – that’s a place not an event.  We couldn’t stay long because the singer was so off pitch it was painful. We swung by a couple of our favorite boondock places just to see  if they were occupied and I turned the wheel over to Carol for the return. 

This evening I finished reading “Israel a Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth” by Noa Tishby. She spoke at a Jewish Federation event in Rochester and they kindly sent me the book. I would like to have everyone I know read it! Other than her own story I did not learn anything I haven’t known for many years. I take that back. I did not know how the BDS movement was funded. Instead of  many small contributions it is funded from a large Arab organization in the US . It derives its ideas from the Arab Boycott of Israel that predates the creation of the state by the UN in 1947. 

Back to the super spreader New Years Eve party. It is happening. After 2 years of very few cases in the park, we are aware of several cases among our staff and a growing number among our members. All large gatherings have gone back to Zoom for the time being. Neither Carol nor I are showing any symptoms and to the best of our knowledge our table was not among the source of the infections.