Another way of saying that is “Man Plans, G-d Laughs” or “On to Plan C?” Originally we planned to leave on October 10. Then the car was creased in a parking lot while we were enjoying a meal. That pushed us back to the 11th, still doable. Then Carol’s doctor wanted one more test, now scheduled for the 13th, so we planned on departing on the 14th or 15th. Just spoke to the collision shop and the new bumper has not come in. Once they get it they need two days, the earliest would be Friday the 14th, the earliest we can leave would be the 15th which would get us to C’ville just in time for my 80th birthday on the 17th. I’m not betting on it. I’m pretty sure we will be there for Carol’s on Nov 2. I really want to get out of Rochester before any hard freezes so I don’t have to winterize the coach.

We have plenty to do here so boredom won’t be an issue. We have been moving stuff into the coach the past couple of days. I just hope we don’t need any of it in the coming week. 

Rohma and Josh have spent time with us each weekend and it has been a delight. This past Saturday they prepared dinner in advance of going to the RPO for a wonderful concert together. See Carol’s FaceBook post for more details. https://www.facebook.com/anncarol.goldberg

I’m keeping up with my responsibilities at Jojoba Hills by email and zoom and the occasional phone call.. Its fun being 3 hours ahead of everyone until they start replying late into the evening their time. I never get to see those messages until the morning. I must admit I am really impatient to see the redone Friendship Hall Annex and our site, not to mention  our friends, but it will all have to wait until we can leave here.

I may have a rant or two coming in this or future posts, but if I don’t start writing I may have a hard time getting started again until we are on the road with road stories to tell. We do plan to be heading out in GeeWhiz on or about October 11. Why so specific? Well a couple of weeks ago a clod in a white Jeep Gladiator pulled out of the parking space next to our Jeep and didn’t quite make it out without clipping the left front corner. I’m quite sure he meant well, but he never left any information like his name or license number, just some white paint and a bent bumper. I am told that the car will be ready on October 10. In the meantime we are driving around with various bits displaced from there normal locations until October 3. No rant here, just normal incivility in today’s society.

Fringe Festival is on in Rochester this week and next. For those who immerse in it, it is longer and more varied than Jazz Fest. Carol tells me we are attending a smattering of Fringe events. I expect that will give me more to write about after we have attended.

We actually went to a movie, in a theater! We saw Top Gun: Maverick in a nearly empty theater with the cushiest theater seating I can remember experiencing at a Tinseltown. In short, we enjoyed the experience and the movie and especially the ice cream at Hedonist on the way home. Good treats of all kinds. I didn’t get popcorn for the movie, the line was too long and slow 🙁 

We are planning a day trip to Canada with a stop at the border to update our Nexus Cards on September 28.  We will visit family, especially Aunt Dorothy who turned 99 this summer. Great genes! 

In the midst of all this the High Holydays are approaching more quickly than expected as usual. I have a couple of assignments that I need to prepare for. More on that after the fact. 

A Rant: I probably spend more time than is healthy on social media. RVillage.com is devoted to RVers. A member asked what the problem is with the South entrance to an Elks Lodge. A variety of respondents said “Use the North Entrance” The questioner said, “but what’s the problem with the South entrance”. The responses replied just use the North entrance it is easier. One even posted a Google Earth image of the lot showing the two entrances. The questioner was not satisfied. I wanted to respond. “The South entrance has alligators and deep ditches” but refrained from such snark. I didn’t even post “You have been told that the correct entrance is the North, if you must try the South go ahead and expect to pay for damage to your coach and the grounds”. When we are going someplace in the motorhome and have directions from another RVer we don’t go looking for alternatives just because we want to know. 

As promised a picture of the new mural on 114 Saint Paul St – opposite our lining room window at 80 Saint Paul St This was taken from the parking lot to avoid shooting through 19th century glass and 20th century plexiglass. 

The artist Conor Harrington is Irish, currently living in London. He strongly opposes authoritarian government. You will note that the faces are “defaced” It was interesting because in his “cartoon” they were clearly delineated so he could actively deface them. 

This is an interesting and colorful image to have out our window and we have moved our seating so instead of having our backs to the mural while eating breakfast we will look out on the wall. 

In other news, there isn’t much. Josh and Rohma called to come over for a nightcap on Wednesday and  we had a lovely chat while enjoying Josh’s concoction of  Margaritas. I did sleep well. Carol finally got to go to Eastman Sings and join in the chorale performance of Mozart’s Requiem, these  sings have been a regular event for many years, before covid, and she always enjoys the chance to sing out. I have been solving Wordle most mornings just to wake up the brain. There has been one Bridge  and may be another this week before we leave for Iceland.

I should be able to blog from Iceland as we are promised WiFi in every hotel. We fly out of Rochester on Saturday morning and hope to arrive in Iceland early Sunday morning. We’ve been reading books about Iceland and watched at least one movie about surfing there, it had my teeth chattering. 

While we were in Griffis Sculpture Park as I mentioned Josh made a couple of flights with his drone. That blurry red device is the drone having just passed through the opening in the sculpture. Nice flying, Josh

When we moved into the apartment, 10 years ago, we bought a Lounge chair for Carol, I kept my Eames Chair, that is modern and rather sleek. However the recliner portion is manual and requires a locking knob to stay in place. It became uncomfortable for Carol as significant effort was required and I became the adjuster and “locker”.  She has been hounding me all summer about getting something more suitable. We went to Ruby Gordon’s a store where we had bought many items in the past and had assumed that like so many other stores that it had been swallowed up by some corporate monolith. The sign says Family Owned since 1937. And on asking the current owner is the son of our former friend, Ray, and grandson of my parents friends, the Ruby’s. We found the chair that suited Carol and it is now setup next to me. As a powered recliner it is not the sleek small modern chair that fits with our décor, but it isn’t ugly and it is comfortable. 

We were concerned about what to do with old chair and asked Josh if he and Rohma had any interest in it. Yesterday we picked them up and drove to Griffis Sculpture Park about an hour south of Buffalo. We had been talking about this trip all summer. We have not been to the park in at least a decade. It hasn’t changed. Well some idiots with spray cans have left their mark in several places. I cannot imagine what motivates this kind of behavior. We did find a couple of locations without too many people where Josh could fly his drone and record the park from the air. When he edits and posts the videos I will post them here. 

We had agreed to dinner out with them and decided to return to Rochester since there was time. Rather than return by the Thruway we chose an alternate route. Those who know me will not be surprised. We ran expressways through Buffalo to Pembroke where we left the toll road for NY 5 for a slower roll through towns like Pembroke, Batavia, Caledonia and Avon just to see some different scenery. While we were rolling, Carol called the Cub Room to book a table for dinner. We dropped off Rohma and Josh and returned to the apartment to clean up from the day’s hiking. We met back at the restaurant where we had lovely meals. Then Josh treated us to ice cream at Hedonist, a short walk from the restaurant. To cap off the day we returned to the apartment and loaded the chair into the Jeep for the short trip to Rohma and Josh’s place where, as Josh started toward the front door, we exchanged farewells and drove home to get some sleep.

Meanwhile, out our north facing window big changes are happening. A small crew spent several days prepping the wall for the new mural to come.

 While we were traveling the artist put up the cartoon of the mural and began filling in the black space.

I will post the finished mural in a few days. I do hope it has some color as promised.

After 8 days, or a life time, we both were clear of Covid – whatever variant and ready for some fun. We started with dinner at Bar Bantam before proceeding to GEVA for Sister Act. Dinner was with Victor and Joyce Poleshuck and Neil and Sandy Frankel. We had not been to the restaurant in at least 4 years and expectations were limited. Seating was fine. The menu is limited but we all found items to please us. I had Tuna over Black Rice which was done to perfection and and Carol found  lovely lettuce wraps to satisfy her. 

We headed out the door for the short walk to GEVA with Joyce and Victor. We could not remember going to a play there in several years. Sister Act is a fun musical and I would recommend the GEVA performance to anyone. Production was really good, Acting and staging were also very good. This is not intended as a review!

We have been taking some time in the apartment to continue our recovery of strength. Sunday was a magnificent day with temperatures in the mid to high 80’s and The Corn Hill Festival was on. Corn Hill is a section Southwest of downtown (barely) that once was the 3rd Ward better known as the Blue Stocking District. It was once entirely lovely Victorian home and later became more inner city and in the last couple of decades has become a vibrant mixed community less than a mile from our apartment. All the streets of the district are given over to vendors of all sorts for the two day event. There are 4 music stages and in the past there have been many street buskers. 

We walked back along the banks of the Genesee River which borders the area and were please to see the fine work restoring the river wall and even including a special launch location for wheelchair bound individuals to board a canoe or kayak.

If anyone really wants to read the instructions, let me know and I will send the closeup along.

It is indeed Festival Season and the Rochester Jewish Film Festival is on, 21 films in 7 days. We went to ONE today, not sure how many more we will get to. We saw The Automat which is a documentary about the famed Horn & Hardart Automats. Mel Brooks provides introduction and some narration along the way. It is both fascinating and hilarious. Ruth Bader Ginsberg also has an important role as do many other familiar characters.

It has finally starting to rain as promised. We will stay in for the evening and get on with other plans tomorrow.