All posts by Paul Goldberg

Isolation, Paul Goldberg Blog

A Strange and Painful Week

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A week ago I moderated my first Zoom meeting. Today I am beginning to  feel like a pro – actually I paid for a Pro account to accommodate longer meetings. We like to talk when we get together and 40 minutes isn’t very long either  for family or JCATs. 

Early in the week we learned that our sister-in-law Natalie Rudin had a very serious stroke, at 85 this is not to be taken lightly. By Thursday she was in hospice in NJ and no way for anyone except her son to even see her. We gathered the family from coast to coast and NJ to FL on Zoom and spent time getting reacquainted and starting to share memories of Natalie. Friday afternoon we received word she had died. Shabbat precluded immediate sharing, we have received word the funeral will be Sunday and will be live streamed in some manner. Shiva, the 7 days of mourning in Jewish ritual,  will be on Zoom. It enables us all to be “present” and saves a lot of air travel. Would rather get on the plane, but . . .

Also during this week we learned that Carol’s dearest friend from before Kindergarten – even before me – is in hospice after a long time of in and out of hospital care and weeks of no news. 

Pile this all on top of quarantine and necessary supply trips and it has been an exhausting week. A week like we have never seen, a week of watching stock market gyrations that are making me sea sick and I don’t get sea sick on the ocean. Sometimes, unintentionally I hear the orange head proclaim something clearly contrary to fact and wonder how our nation will pull through both medically and economically. Many governors seem to be actually responding to facts and scientific reason rather than emotion and bias. That may well be the source of our recovery leadership. 

Carol and I feel safe and secure. We are still under quarantine from our return from Panama, only yesterday was our scheduled return. We made a trip into town on Thursday to get hearing aids for Carol and pick up some last minute necessities – Yellow Dot Irish Whiskey is clearly a necessity isn’t it. We also bought supplies for a neighbor. We have daily offers to run errands and help us with things we cannot do in quarantine. As soon as we hear of someone having a need it seems a member will supply the need, even to an internet router replacement.  

I attended two events in Rochester. On Monday I attended a meeting of the Rochester Jewish Community Board of Directors by Zoom like all the other members. Yesterday afternoon we attended Shabbat services at Temple B’rith Kodesh in Rochester, it was a bit early, but we needed the break and the sanity and even more it brought us back to the community where we have spent most of our lives. We do miss it, but not quite enough to give up our current lifestyle and venture back into winter.

Isolation, Paul Goldberg Blog

Living the Remote Life

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I have time on my hands and very little really happening. I have the computer on my lap and feel the urge to communicate. We are travelers, no surprise to most of you. We live for the next trip/adventure. There has been something planned for the not to distant future since we got our first motorhome and foreign travel has been an annual, at least, experience since I retired/sold my practice in 2012. 

There is a flight booked to Charlottesville for April 6, somehow I don’t have great expectations that we will be going. I just checked and Delta is expecting us . We had planned to drive to Alaska leaving Jojoba Hills on April 26 , that also seems unlikely since the border with Canada is closed to all traffic other than necessary commercial traffic. We talked about booking a trip to Sicily in the Fall, unlikely. I am feeling a bit stranded. Even a trip into town for medical or supplies requires intense thought and planning to get the most out of the time with the least contact with other people.  No surprise, supplies for staying safe are not readily available. Forget toilet paper and hand cleaner. Facial tissue is almost unavailable as well – I saw a box of 75 sheets for over $10 on Amazon, price gouging much? This was an outside seller delivering through Amazon. 

My expectation is we will be here through the summer. As we adjust to the new way of living, it will get easier for us. I am grateful we are retired and not dependent on work to keep food on the table and rent paid. Too many people are without work and without income. We are concerned about our staff, most of whom are laid off as “non essential”. We are paying our monthly maintenance fee based on paying their salaries, shouldn’t we just keep paying them? That may be an existential question to put to the board. Glad I am not on the board now.  

Tech is king now. We Zoom to get together and to have working meetings.  Even our Happy Hours include gathering around the computer screen with Zoom with drink in hand. We have apps for the stores where we will shop so we can preorder and have the order waiting at the pickup location for us. We email, text, message and write blogs to stay in touch. We even make phone calls! I know there are many other social apps people are using, but it’s enough to keep track of the ones I mentioned.

What am I doing? Washing my hands, watching PBS News Hour, watching movies and series, reading books and writing here and on a variety of forums and FB groups that I participate in. If you want to talk, send a zoom link, send a text or just call me at 585-721-2355. Do remember I am in California so 10 AM on the East Coast is 7 AM by me and I might be a bit out of sorts 🙂

 

 

opinion, Paul Goldberg Blog

In Quarantine!

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We are living in our 300 square feet of motorhome. Somehow it feels bigger than the hotel rooms we were in. The outdoors is visible no matter where we face and we can walk out if we choose, so long as we keep our distance from others. Our 2 week quarantine is not much different from those around us who are living under the Stay Safer limits everyone in California faces. 

We went shopping on Wednesday morning before settling in. We found most of what we were looking for, even some paper goods. Then yesterday I got online and ordered almost everything else we needed. Even bought two 30 gallon propane tanks so we can return to using propane to heat. It’s a price thing! 

This morning I attended my first Zoom JCATS meeting. I expect we will gather at the usual time 3 times a week to discuss technical matters in the park and how to keep people’s television, internet and phones functioning without being able to go into their rigs at all. It could get interesting. 

I spoke to my Uncle Josh, in his 90’s in a new home. He seems to be getting on well. Followed up with a Zoom call later. Getting very tech these days. 

I just received the propane tanks, labeled them and took them up to the refill station. For my next venture out of doors I plan to take a walk avoiding getting within 6 feet of anybody. Then later today we may have a Zoom Happy Hour. I’m waiting for Carol to try  working with Zoom.  

Reality check, we are very social people and miss the company of others. Even when we are no longer quarantined we will still need to practice social distancing. It is really hard to converse with a group who are all so separated. I guess we will have to learn a new way of living. 

Pessimist here! I think that many of the changes we are making are long term if not permanent. I cannot imagine  a time when we will be able to get to Rochester or Charlottesville. Vaccine is a long way off and even treatment is strictly supportive care to relieve symptoms so far. This virus will not magically disappear. It is doing just fine in Panama where daytime temperatures are in the 90’s and it cools off to high 70’s, so the arrival of warm weather here will not stop it. Not to contradict the president of course.  Once it has run its course, many people will have acquired immunity, maybe, but the surviving elderly who successfully avoided it will not benefit from that supposed immunity.  We will remain vulnerable to grandkids and passing strangers. 

I need my mask and gloves, long term.

Panama - Columbia

Plans They Are A’Changin

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As for the rest of the world our little bubble has also been burst. We cannot board a passenger ship as foreign travelers in Panama therefore we cannot transit the canal, strike two for that bucket list item . Avianca has grounded its fleet so our trip to Colombia is cancelled. Instead of returning home on the 27th, we will be returning home??? 

Our day was a full wonderful day with a rescheduled trip to visit the Embra People at a different site out of the National Park. Access was by a long wooden boat holding up to 8 passengers sitting side by side. The 30 minute trip was made more exciting by low water, it is the dry season, which required much poling and occasional trips into the water by the boatmen to push us through the shallows (less than 9  inches). While there Juan  Carlos learned that the Miraflores Visitor center, overlooking the Miraflores Locks was closing at 5 with no planned reopening. Change of plans, rather than a couple of hours free time, we headed to the Visitor Center where we saw a wonderful 3D IMAX movie about the canal, history and current operation before heading up onto the 4th floor observation deck to watch several boats transit the Miraflores Locks less than 100 Yards from us. 

We have plans for a group dinner in 30 minutes and for a rain forest walk tomorrow. After that it is all ??? As I said to our children, if we get stranded for a while I cannot think of a more compatible group we have traveled with, family excluded.

Panama - Columbia

Another Post from Cubita Hotel Lobby

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What can I say, there is wifi of a sort here.

Back to yesterday

This is the ring where Roberto Duran trained on his way up to the top of the boxing ring and below is a picture I took from within the ring. When I was in grade school my father thought I needed to learn boxing. I learned from Ozzie Sussman in his small gym behind the Monroe Theater Projection room. As a result I became an avid follower of the sport until Mohammed Ali left the scene. 

As we were guided through the El Chorrillo neighborhood we stopped to play dominoes where the old men come after lunch to spend their time remembering the invasion  by the US in 1989.

Today, Friday the 13th we started with making drum making and then moved on to masks for Dirty Devil Dancing.

That is Carol under that “frightening” mask made of papier mache on a clay mold. From there we moved on to “A Day in the Life” at the home of a couple that make very special dresses for festivals.  Here is the husband, William, working on making the edge that goes around the dress’s seven layers. MVI_0016 You will notice he keeps talking while he works at the very intricate braid. 

We are keeping up with the news. We are hand washing repeatedly and greeted with sanitizer where ever we turn. Already some of our itinerary has been changed as a result. So far we continue to live in a protected bubble in a country that has a few cases only in Panama City. We will be in the outskirts for the next three nights. Then on to our very small cruise through the Canal. We are only 14 of the original planned 21. As far as anyone can tell we are still going on to Colombia. There is one more OAT group in country running 3 days behind us. They may be the last for the near future. The impact on the people of the tourism industry is frightening.  For our Tour Leader and driver this is their only job.

Enough, back to our bubble while we can!

 

Panama - Columbia

Panama City – Another Day

I an sitting in the lobby of the Cubita Hotel in Chitre Panama. After a longish bus day. Yesterday was touring in Panama City with history from the destruction of the original city  by the Pirate Henry Morgan to the reconstruction . the colonial city in its current location. We had a teaser of Jazz in the evening and 10 of us reserved. Carolthand I headed out looking for dinner and ended at the American Trader Hotel where the Jazz Club is located. 

WE were not sure it was even open because at 6:30 PM it was totally empty. We were told to take any table so we did. As soon as we ordered another couple appeared and we asked them to join us. The Rosenthals (as it turned out) did join us we had a delightful dinner. They called us kids since Vince claimed to be 92 and I was in place to call him out on it. They had been married 40 years, and he told me his first marriage had been 30er. years. He sure has staying power.

Dinner ended and it was time to get on to the Jazz. The trio, Trumpet, Guitar and Percussion played many standards with a salsa twist. There were black and white videos from the 40′ and 50’s on a screen over there heads. Eventually a professional dance couple came onto the floor and started to entertain. They were joined by some of the audience. At some point the lady of the group started around the floor looking to take someone out to join her. I couldn’t refuse. You will need to get Carol to send you the videos. Later CArol and I got out on the floor. We really need salsa lessons if we ever want to do that again.

Panama - Columbia

Panama – Day One

After an uneventful overnight flight and transfer to Central Hotel in Panama City. We set out to walk around places we remember from a year ago. This are of Colonial Panama City is very contained consisting of three East-West avenues named A Central and B connected by many cross streets. 

Our introductory information had several suggestions for free time including a Mola Museum which seemed new to us. As we strolled we came across it and decided to take a look. Although the material had suggested there was an entry fee, it was free admittance. We wondered why we had not seen it last year and on asking we learned it had opened three months ago. Here is a link to a picture of a Mola.

We wandered back to the hotel and encountered a photo shoot in the lobby https://photos.app.goo.gl/WCDANnEYRKrxDxJd8 

We met with some of our group, down to 15 from the original 21, and had a short walk around the area and 6 of us went to a roof top bar CasaCasca to watch the sunset over a round of adult beverages.

After dinner and a good nights sleep we are ready for the first day of the trip. 

Panama - Columbia

The Trip Begins

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We completed the first and maybe most difficult part of the trip, driving to LAX late afternoon. We picked up the car in the morning and after parking it on our site we took the Jeep and went to Missy’ 15th Hole at Rancho California RV Park across the highway from us. I cannot remember how many has owners/chefs this place has had in the 5 years we have been coming here. Carol and I hope Missy will be around for a while, not that there is anything wonderful being offered, just that it is tasty and pleasant to . eat there. A vast improvement on her predecessors. 

We finally closed the suitcases and loaded them into the rental Mazda allowing ourselves a generous four hour  to fill the gas tank and return the car and get to LAX Terminal 3. We got it done in 3 hours.

We are in the Lounge and it is time to head on down to the gate. More to follow.

Panama - Columbia, Paul Goldberg Blog

Life in Jojoba Hills

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Our winter home base, Jojoba Hills SKP Resort, is a place of transitions. Members leave for travel, return from travel, change their location in the park and leave the park either to be closer to family, or because the they are no longer willing or able to live the RV lifestyle. Last year 8 members died in the park. Visitors come and go and as fast a space opens up due to a departure a new member arrives and enters the community bringing different talents interests and abilities. It has been said that if the park has a need of a talent or skill not found here, a new member will arrive to fill the need. 

Sometimes it’s a matter of a current member finding an ability that has laid dormant for a lifetime waiting for the call. I have found my niche in the tech side of things. I wonder how it is that I am chairing a committee to research a new phone system for the park. I will not be doing this alone, the entire JCATS crew are in on the task. For those who have not seen that acronym before Jojoba Communication and Technology. Not sure where the S came from.  We service and maintain the TV, Phone and Internet service to each pedestal in the park. From college days I learned to wire phones in my dorm room because the phone company never provided a long enough cord and there were no jacks. TV I have had to learn since the system encompasses 283 sites spread over acres. Internet is the easiest, usually, because the signal propagates over the phone lines and either it works or it doesn’t, mostly. Running these wires through an RV is another matter and often we suggest bypassing the internal wiring and bringing a cable in the window.

No surprise to myself I also serve on the Finance Committee and the Marketing Committee. In between meetings and travel I play bridge. 

We are preparing to go on another trip in a week. We leave for Panama on the 9th to complete the trip we had to leave last year. Watch this space for details as we travel. In addition to Panama we will go to Bogota and  Medellin before returning to LA  on the 27th. Our return from Ethiopia landed us at LAX on Friday at 1 PM after 48 hours in transit and we spent a miserable 5 1/2 hours driving a normal 2 to 2 1/2 hour drive to Jojoba. This trip lands us in LAX at 1 PM on Friday. We have taken a hotel room near our son for Friday night and will drive home Saturday morning after a good nights sleep. 

Paul Goldberg Blog

Two Days with Friends from College

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Each year the Londons come out to Palm Desert for February. We look forward to spending time with them when they are here. This year they had a large house with spare bedrooms and bathrooms and we were delighted to drive over the mountain and have two days and an evening with without having to drive back over the mountain in between.

We started with the Palm Beach Air Museum located adjacent to the airport.

We are in front of one of the few remaining B-17 Flying Fortresses from a fleet of over 12,000 built during WW II housed at the Palm Springs Air Museum.

Carol and David in the radio room of the plane

Our next event was a jazz concert by Houston Person at Pete Carlson’s Golf & Tennis. Yes that’s right the venue is a Golf and Tennis shop by day and often after dark a jazz venue.

The Jazz was wonderful as was the venue. We were surrounded by a seemingly endless array of golf accessories not to mention clubs and ball. 

Before that we stopped at Palm Springs Art Museum in Palm Desert. There we fell in love with an exhibit of photography themed around History, Memory and Social Justice. We recognized many of the photographers and enjoyed experiencing work that we had not seen (or didn’t remember seeing).  

The next day, Thursday, brought more interesting  stops. First we went to Sunnyland, built by Walter Annenberg where 8 of the last 9 presidents visited and made use of the house for important conferences and just to relax. We toured the gardens and the visitor center which did not require advance purchase of tour tickets.

After swinging by the house to freshen up and meet David we set out for the Palm Springs Art Museum, where we arrived just in time for a docent tour with Ann Loeb, the same docent we toured with a year ago. wonderful energy and excitement about the art she chooses to feature.

The picture is mostly to provide an overview of the space from the mezzanine looking up to the 2nd floor. We decided to take in a special exhibit where we found this sign:

Carol and I were quite excited as we drive through Anza just about 12 miles from our home park often and are less aware of the Cahuilla Indians than we might be. 

After a light meal in the gallery courtyard cafe, Carol and I said good by to the Londons and headed over the mountain to Jojoba Hills SKP Resort. 

A small story of coincidence: Last May we attended my class of ’64 Reunion and I served as Class Marshall. A photographer  took pictures of all of us in the regalia of top hat and cutaway. I have sort of been waiting to receive the promised print. When we arrived at Toby and David’s in Palm Desert, David handed me an envelope addressed to him, mailed just before they left Providence with my picture and a letter of thanks to David! I sent an email thanking the university alumni association for the unique delivery method, only wondering how they knew we would be together, on the west coast in February.