Category Archives: In Virginia

In Virginia, Paul Goldberg Blog

A Birthday Weekend

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The second day of travel was again uneventful and we arrived at Malena and Dan’s late afternoon to set up for the next ten days. Well nothing can be totally uneventful, and you would hardly expect us to have everything work perfectly. So the 50 amp power box Dan had installed a year ago, which worked fine then, would not provide 50 amp power for the coach. After some monkeying around, diagnostics and attempts to fix really, we gave up and I plugged into the 20 amp receptacle which works just fine. Go figure. Today I picked up a replacement 50 amp circuit breaker and we will find out if that solves the problem.

I have been out wandering with the horses when Malena and Dan are working with them. We have walked the perimeter of the property and we have sat and talked and eaten and talked. Today is a work day so we have been pretty much on our own. I have caught up on some chores, replacing a broken valve handle and relaxing. 

Yesterday was Birthday Day. Corey was borne on the 16th, but he was working serving donuts and coffee at a wedding so his celebration was yesterday along with mine. He is 19  and I am not yet 80. We had some excellent gin and oysters and magnificent  steaks. I had best not forget the roasted potatoes with garlic. We sat around and talked until we couldn’t keep our eyes open and called it a night. 

There is little planned for the balance of the week. We will have lunch with Bill Freedman, a classmate from 23 school and Monroe High tomorrow. Some of us will take a walk on the Blue Ridge. At some point I expect to get up on Galopin for a walk around the paddock. I haven’t been on a horse since our trip to the Pantanal in October 2001 – that was an interesting time to be traveling out of the US. Here is the blog post from that trip.   I couldn’t sit down for two days after that long ride. 

More soon.

In Virginia, Paul Goldberg Blog, Update on Carol

Together

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On Friday, as planned I went to the rehab facility and worked with the therapists and nurses to get trained on what I need to do to help Carol continue to heal while we stay on the farm and then as we head for Rochester. 

I am no longer lonely, I am busy and I am loving it. My biggest job is helping her in and out of the “turtle shell” AKA Star Wars  Storm Trooper shell. AKA torture device designed to keep her back and neck rigidly aligned while they heal. I also am doing meal prep, she helps more and more each meal. We have been taking walks around the farm, further each outing.  Today she is complaining about being tired, we have taken several walks and she stood around watching while Dan and I spotted the hen house, she helped with meal prep too No wonder she is tired. 

Malena and Dan are super busy preparing to complete the move. The horses are in their new home and the chickens just arrived. There is enough in the house so they can eat and sleep, the rest will arrive as we make our planned departure on Wednesday. 

There are more pictures and a couple of video’s that I will make available when I am not falling asleep. This picture is looking North from the middle of one of the pastures. The motorhome can be seen just past the house.

 

In Virginia, Isolation, Paul Goldberg Blog, Update on Carol

Feeling or Events

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I’ll start with events. I drove the coach from Hungrytown Hollow Road to Simmons Gap Rd. An almost uneventful 40 miles until I cut the turn into the driveway short and dropped the right rear wheels into the ditch. The saving grace of it was a neighbor farmer who stopped by took a look and ran off to get blocks and such. An hour later we had lifted the wheels onto cinder blocks and I was able to drive the coach out of the ditch! I called the wrecker that charges $750/hour and suggested he head back home. A mighty thanks to Steve. It was beyond a random act of kindness and I have no idea how I will ever be able to pay it forward.

Carol is unhappy primarily because a woman who had been a sister to her before Alzheimer took her away, died. The loss is final. Also she learned today that she has to wear her turtle shell for two more weeks. I am still picking her up on Friday. I still plan to head to Rochester on the 7th. we will cope.

I have been feeling a bit lost these days. Although our sons have never let me feel alone, I miss having Carol by my side. I have so many online activities, from JCATs to our weekly zoom with classmates David and David and their spouses Toby and Terry. There is no way I should have time to feel lonely. TBK services for the holidays on YouTube were marvelous, but at the end of the services the screen went black. Where are all our friends we raised our families with sitting in the same seats year after year. Where is the opportunity to come down from the service with a bit of chit chat and catching up with people we haven’t seen in a year. During the service where was the rustle of pages and clothing and people sitting near me to remind me that I am not alone. Here I was actively davening (praying) standing alone in my motorhome or for one service with the delight of having my son Dan join me for the service, but IN MY MOTORHOME. I know all those attending experienced this in some way. It was far better than not attending, but for all the wonderful work the Rabbis and staff put into the preparation and delivery, and it was wonderful, it could not make up for the aloneness. 

Carol will be with me on Friday, with her brace, and we will neither of us be alone, or if we are it will be in the life we have chosen for ourselves together. A few days here in Virginia for Carol to get to see the new farm and then to the cozy comfort of our Rochester apartment for a while visiting at a distance with great friends and getting GeeWhiz restored to its roadworthy self. Then back across the country to our other community for the winter, and maybe a trip to Sicily, if such a thing can ever happen again.

In Virginia, Paul Goldberg Blog, Update on Carol

Progress Report 9 Very Brief

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Carol is in Rehab and the PT and OT are working her hard. She is happy with the work and seems to be enjoying the progress. That is all about Carol.

Malena and Dan closed on their new farm “CHEVAL NOIR Farm” (Malena corrected the spelling, I got it wrong). They own two black French Canadian horses. Now they are in the throws of packing and discarding and I am mostly staying out of the way. Moving day is sometime next week. 

More when there is more and pictures to follow, when I take them.

In Virginia, Paul Goldberg Blog, Update on Carol

Progress Report 8 – Waiting

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Since the last post not much has  happened other than healing, which is good. We have been told within the past hour that Carol will be moving to Rehab tomorrow, Thursday 24 September. 

Carol has been walking up and down the corridor several times a day with aids escorting her and sitting up for meals and to converse. The cervical collar and the brace continue to be uncomfortable , necessary annoyances. Some day . . . darn I had a wonderful cliche in mind, but I’ve lost it. 

In the midst of this, Malena and Dan are preparing to close on their new farm and to move in just after Yom Kippur. At some point I will be moving the coach to the new place in Dyke Virginia, about as far north of Charlottesville as Covesville is South. We scoped out the utilities and it should be easy to get set up, Dan is arranging for an electrician to install a 50 amp outlet near the coach. 

More when I have more to report.

In Virginia, Paul Goldberg Blog, Update on Carol

Progress Report 4

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Great news! After 2 weeks less 4 hours, Carol is no longer a patient of UVA Medical acute care hospital. At 4 PM as promised this morning a transport crew arrived to move her to UVA Encompass Health Rehabilitation Hospital. I rode down the elevator with her on the transport gurney and kissed her goodbye as we parted at the first floor. I followed her over to the rehab and found as expected I was not able to see her or even get into the facility. This is hard on us, but the level of safety is reassuring. They even required that Carol have a covid test before they would accept her – negative of course. Now begins my wait for recovery with occasional visits as permitted by the facility. Carol has the hard work to do.

The only other news is not really mine to discuss in any detail. Malena and Dan are in the thralls of inspecting their new house, I get reports as appropriate. I hear about the horses. I am getting reports from Yechiel and Miriam on the West Coast as they update the bathrooms in their condo. 

My activity for the past two weeks has been mostly driving to and from the hospital and sitting with Carol. I haven’t the slightest idea what I will do with myself for the next couple of weeks. I do know the coach needs to be vacuumed and the floors washed and other maintenance that Carol keeps up with plus all my usual maintenance chores.

I am sure I will find ways to keep busy, even helping Dan and Malena prepare for the move and putting the house on the market. Or maybe I’ll join in a computer challenge that Dan has given our grandsons. 

 

In Virginia

Life Goes On and On

Maybe it is denial, maybe it is wishful thinking, maybe I just had a minute more than was reasonable to look at an email from OAT. I opened it! I read it! I reread it and saw that if I booked and things looked bleak when departure was approaching I could change the departure with no penalty. I looked at my account and saw I had  credits to cover the cost which I would lose if I didn’t travel before the end of 2022. We  both miss travel overseas. 

I think that is enough declarative sentences to get the idea. We have booked a trip with Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT) to Sicily for April 2021. The last trip we booked was Panama way back in 2019, the booking, the trip was March of 2020. We are scheduled to leave April 5 and return April 30. If it doesn’t happen we will go when we can. It will have been more than a year since we crossed the borders other than to Canada maybe.

We have not been sitting still. Over the weekend Leigh and Pat were here to visit us and Dan and Malena. I have told the story of our friendship several times in these pages. We went to Monticello with no crowds thanks to the pandemic and also took a tour of the UVA Grounds guided by our grandson Alexander, a fourth year student there. On Sunday we hiked a piece of the AT where it crosses the Blue Ridge Parkway. People were suitable masked in all of those environs. We dined at home although we did have a Bourbon tasting at Ragged Mountain Distillery. They have a beautiful patio with a marvelous overlook and we were separated from other parties by way more than 2 meters. 

After a moment of quiet from Sunday afternoon to Monday afternoon Patrick Watkin appeared as expected. Pat is Dan’s step son from an earlier marriage. He calls us Bubbe and Zayde as he has since he was an infant. Today he is a very large man, taller than Josh and Corey. Shortly after his arrival Josh manifested in the driveway and another gala of stories and food began. Alexander will be joining the merriment tonight and Dan will have his four boys together for the first time in decades. We are so grateful to be able to share the joy. 

Although all have been keeping themselves in relative seclusion for months we do recognize that there is inherent risk in this gathering. So be it! We are not hugging and we are staying further apart than we might wish with masks ready, but we are together and not subject to the loneliness that leads to depression. As noted at the beginning of this post we are planning out into the future and look forward to more 2 meter gatherings with friends when we return to Rochester.

Oh meters! We have traveled enough that metric and Celsius seem normal to us. Tell me it 40 out and I will shuck down to tee shirt not reach for my windbreaker. Carol got a piece of equipment that  listed a maximum distance of 6 feet 6 inches. It seemed strange until I realized that the original measurement was 2 meters. 

But I wander. . .

In Virginia, Paul Goldberg Blog

The Jello Has Set

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For the longest time we have talked about plans set in Jello that is still warm, which is to say thoughts about plans that we might actually act on some day, maybe (phrase that was guaranteed to annoy our kids when they were kids).  We have been enjoying our sojourn on the farm for the past 2  months. We have lived our separate lives and being able to get together to chat when they are not totally wrapped up in the farm, the horses and work. But travel calls and we haven’t seen our Rochester apartment in 9 months. 

I opened RVTripWizard just to see what it showed for the route to Rochester, as if I didn’t know the route by heart. I noted that a stop in Milton PA at Shangri la on the Creek was the perfect midpoint and even looked up our preferred site. I looked at the calendar and found that we both have appointments with a doctor in late August. It seemed propitious to plan to move. I had already booked storage for the coach in Victor, just in case! So the plan, now firmly set in well chilled Jello is for us to arrive back in Rochester on August 24 and continue  virtual meeting from that new location for a couple of months. 

The less firmly set plan is to depart Rochester before it gets cold, the end of October, and begin a drift back across the country to Jojoba Hills SKP Resort with no planned arrival date there. We hope at some point to be able to resume international travel. I think we are in the longest period without such travel plans since 2012. Until the USA gets it’s act together it appears that any international travel is out of the question. We have become a pariah nation. I have an appointment in Fort Erie Ontario mid October for an interview to renew my Nexus pass, but I may not be able to cross the border to get to the interview and the Niagara Falls NY office is not open. I have until October 2021 to have that interview so there is no great rush.

We are looking forward to a visit here with Lee and Pat who we have gotten together with almost every year since 2002 as we passed through Austin or later Charlotte. Their friendship helps keep us feeling young. They are about Dan and Malena’s age. We have gone dancing in bars in Austin and walked through glorious gardens and galleries both in Austin and Charlotte. We will be visiting Monticello with them as they have never been.

My committee to seek a replacement phone system for the current antique is moving along. Tomorrow, Wednesday, I will present our work to the community for their information. sooner rather than later I expect to present it to the board for approval. 

More to come soon, stay healthy!

 

In Virginia, none, opinion, Paul Goldberg Blog

Where Was I?

Some random questions:

If men in unmarked vehicles with no marking on their clothes are snatching people off the street, that is called kidnapping. Why aren’t the Portland Police arresting them and charging them?

If my wearing a mask protects YOU then my NOT wearing a mask would be an assault. Why aren’t we arresting people for assault when they are in places where distancing is not happening and they are not masked ?

Why is science and data ignored for the sake of political or financial gain? 

Why are campgrounds closed to me? I can keep my distance and isolate while traveling in my self contained RV. I do not need any services. I can pay electronically and I will go out of my RV to connect up the fittings while wearing my mask. I do not want any contact with staff or other RVers.

I feel like a three year old repeatedly asking WHY. But unlike a three year old I get no answers, not even “because.”

Enough questions. I have been chairing a committee at Jojoba Hills SKP Resort to decide what to do with our aging phone system. Since March we have been seeking resources to repair/rebuild the old system or to replace it with new system.   Without going into detail, this past week we settled on a new system and have negotiated a price we think is sustainable. In true Jojoba character, we needed a really tough negotiator and a new member of the park joined our team and announced that he was negotiating contracts almost daily and he would be glad to take on this negotiation. 

In other news we took the car to Wilmington NC to visit cousin Mimi who lives in the house she grew up in and has rehabbed to her taste after her father and brother both lived out their lives there. We had a wonderful two nights and renewed acquaintance with dog Diesel who is now 17 years old and a bit slow. In the past we visited Mimi on her farm about 30 miles out of town staying in our motorhome near the house. We are good at staying on farms. 

As I write the temperature can only be described as HOT. The AC ‘s are running continuously and holding the indoor temperature to 82! I have ventured out for some minor maintenance and to check in with Dan. It is better than freezing and snow, but only just barely. We did have our family zoom at noon today and had a chance to chat with Toronto, Los Angeles California and Madison Wisconsin as well as Vermont. It is always interesting to see who will show up. Mixing Carol’s cousins and my cousin’s creates new relationships. 

My coming week will be spent presenting our telephone proposal to the Finance Committee so they can prepare for the changes to the budget. Then to the entire park before taking it to the Board. Funny, that actually sounds like someone’s work week. For me it is still a volunteer gig that I am enjoying doing.

Stay Safe! Stay Healthy!

 

In Virginia, Paul Goldberg Blog

What’s Doing?

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Aside from the new header picture, taken in Morocco, all kinds of changes are in the wind. Malena and Dan may be moving the horses up here to their own land. I’m working with a committee to buy a new phone system for Jojoba Hills SKP Resort. Spent two zooms and 3 hours  to understand the proposal and to see how it meets our needs. Still have some work to do. The weather is not playing nice with us. In the middle of a zoom meeting the sun went behind a cloud and it started to rain forcing us ultimately move into the coach. And our Liquid Propane detector has been sounding off for no discernible reason. It’s a year and a half old. 

. . . 

A week or more has passed since I started this post. The weather has been more kind, if you like hot and humid. The rains have abated enough that watering of gardens may start soon. Since the water source is a creek and it is all downhill to the garden a pipe with an opening near the high point yields good water for the gardens.

Carol and I took a great hike with Dan that started off a dirt road and ended up at the Humpback Rocks trail head parking lot.

The trail was mostly empty until we got near the parking lot. The lot was jammed so we didn’t stay longer than needed to use the porta potty. The main trail was part of the AT (Appalachian Trail) and a couple of side branches marked with blue instead of the primary trail with white blazes. All in all we hiked about 4 miles. I was good to keep going but Carol was at her limit as we got in the car. The weather was ideal and being out in the woods hasn’t felt so good in a long time.

Our current plans are to drive to Wilmington NC on Monday to visit a cousin of Carol’s who lives there, another Mimi. We plan to stay a couple of nights. In addition to wading through Covid 19 land I will be staying connected to Jojoba Hills as we continue the negotiations for the new phone system. I have been resharpening some skills I haven’t used in years chairing a committee and building a negotiating team. It is tiring, but I am really enjoying the time. 

Oh, the LP detector has gone back to sleep. If we had a dog, I would blame it.