We continued our rather active lifestyle for another week. After a lovely cocktail hour with Berch and Roselyn on Monday we set out Tuesday to drive to the Berkshires to meet Toby and David, classmates from Brown, for a couple of nights in a VRBO in Washington MA. It’s a good thing we are used to backwoods/backroads isolation. This place was was back in the Berkshire Hills, the last 1/4 mile was a dirt road. The house was built by the owner who maintains a wood working shop over the garage – accessible from the second floor of the house. It is clear he is still working on improvements. All the wood was sourced from his lot. 

Although we had come to enjoy the solitude and quiet of the woods, we also were committed to sampling the cultural offerings available within a 30 minute drive. We started with a lovely dinner in Lenox , Zinc Bistro, followed by a classical guitar performance by Milos.

A selfie to give a sense of the distance to the stage, we were halfway back on the lawnWe had lawn seats at Ozawa Hall and were able to see him (just as well as the blurry picture shows) as well as hear quite clearly. Wednesday morning it appeared that rain was likely so we set out for Williamstown MA to the Clark Museum which Carol and I had not visited in many years. Oh my! What a change. We started with Ida O’Keefe, Georgia’s sister, and learned a lot about sibling rivalry. We took the trail up from there to another venue to explore the  history of the Venice Biennial. It would have meant much more had we been been following it for the years. 

As we left that venue it started to pour, but as luck would have it a shuttle bus appeared at the door to return us to the other buildings where we ate in the Cafe and viewed the Permanent collection before moving on to the Renoir Exhibit. At some point we entered a gallery featuring  a sound installation with 40 speakers ranked around the room, each cluster of 5 representing part of a choir. The 40 Part Motet was quite an experience with the ability to move from voice to voice and experience the sound from within the choir rather than as an external audience. 

Back to the house where we refreshed before heading off to Jacobs Pillow Dance where we attended the free performance which on this particular day was Ice Dance, yes you read that right Ice Dance in July at Jacobs Pillow. It was a rain day so they moved it indoors! The ice rink was a special plastic and the performers did indeed dance on the rink

We went from there to Dream Away Lodge closer to the house for dinner. This old roadhouse has a rather limited menu, but we all found good food to eat and adjourned to a side room where a casual group of guitarists were playing as much to amuse themselves as the audience which was mostly us. Carol and I did get up and dance to one of the numbers.

We retired to the house and slept soundly until morning when we started to pack and reminisce over breakfast. We had one more stop planned, Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge MA. Somehow the house kept calling us back and each of us had to return to pick up something forgotten. We arrived in time to attend a talk on the history of the Saturday Evening Post covers for which he was most famous. The museum is celebrating its 50th anniversary with an exhibit “Woodstock to the Moon 50 Years of Illustration” to do it justice view the website in the link. 

We parted at the museum Toby and David eventually headed East, back to Rhode Island, and we headed West to unpack, clean up and go out to dinner with Freddy and Marvin. We planned on a relaxing Friday to recover for our next round of activity starting Saturday morning with breakfast at the Public Market with Rohma and Josh and cocktails and dinner with more friends. I think Carol said we have another day of rest on Monday. Oh right, breakfast with Rudin counsins.

With the sounds of flute jazz ringing in our ears and the noise of the final jam session overpowering us. We set out to rebuild our social life without the Festival. Sunday was to be a down day, but Carol set off to do two sessions for Reachout Radio, part of WXXI that narrow casts to sight impaired people with special radios. Carol reads from the local newspapers for a 30 minute segment.

We really did not do much of anything else. That was to be the last dinner home for the week until Friday night. We got together with our grandson and several friends for various dinners. Ending at Mortons on the 4th of July, just a few steps from our apartment and just as close to the  Main Street Bridge for the fireworks. The Gracis came to our apartment before dinner and we didn’t part until the end of the fireworks. 

Carol was busy with the entertainment calendar and we went to the Little on Saturday to see “Echo in the Canyon” a documentary about the California music scene in the late ’60s centered on Laurel Canyon. The reviews range from 10 to 1. I would give it a solid 8. Yes they didn’t cover everyone, even Bob Dylan was absent even though his son was the Executive Producer and lead performer from the current era. Others were missing, but there were so many present that it was really overwhelming. It was great just to hear the music from that time as we were starting our family.

Sunday we look a long ride to Bristol Valley Playhouse in Naples NY. Well for RVers an hour is barely getting started, but some would call it long. We saw “Becoming Dr Ruth” a one woman show covering much of the life of Dr Ruth as she is packing up her apartment following her husband Fred’s death. There was much laughter and many tears. Good theater in a nice venue.

I have been mostly noodling on the computer, trying to remember to do my exercises for my lower back, and doing whatever Carol wants me to do. That is not a negative. It seems we both are so in tune that if she wants to something, so do I and the other way around. We were rummaging in our storage locker and pulled out a small box of pictures. In it was a small collection of photos from my father’s service in England in World War II. He never made it past Birmingham where he was a medic in a hospital laboratory. There also was a brochure that the  United Jewish Welfare Fund (as it was known then) had published to kick off the campaign.  Dad, was the Chairman (or was it President) of the campaign and his picture, with pipe, is featured.

In all of the pictures in the collection, save one, the pipe is present. All of the leaders featured in the brochure are long gone, but hardly forgotten. I would be glad to scan and post a link to the other 11 pages if there is any interest. 

Just had a call from the Muellers from Jojoba Hills that they are are on Lake Road west of here and should be in town within the hour. 

We are back in Rochester for some extended time now. Reunions are behind us and Jazz Fest is just around the corner (did I really say that?) 

Brown Reunion, my 55th, was a great weekend. The class had two dinners and a lovely luncheon. Given our advancing age the parties seemed to peter out by 9:30. I don’t think anyone went to the Campus Dance on Friday night. It is 9 PM to 1 AM and it is outdoors on the College Green – chilly. There were many forums on Saturday. We went to a presentation on 50 Years of Dance at Brown. That started 5 years after I graduated. It was wonderful hearing how a dance program started in the English Department! I took time out to get fitted in my cutaway for my role as a Class Marshal for the Commencement the next day. Later Carol and I went to the Jabberwoks 70th Reunion presentation. this has been the longest standing acapella  group. They had performances by members from each decade since the 50’s. 

Commencement is a walk through the Van Wickle gate which opens in at the beginning of the academic year and opens out for the graduates to leave at the close of the year. After the Corporate and Academic procession, before the graduating class, the Alumni march through the gate, the eldest first. This year the eldest was back for her 80th reunion. she was alone at 102 years old.

Here I am ready to join the other three Class Marshals for 1964 in the Commencement Parade. Each class peels off to the curb eldest to youngest down College Hill. The last class through was the 2019 graduates.  Once they were past us we inverted the parade and passed through all the younger classes to great roaring and high fives as we passed each group.  It is always exciting to participate. It is also tiring as we were standing in the heat for over 2 hours and the cutaway outfit certainly was not designed in a hot weather area. 

We had a lovely dinner with the Londons that evening and prepared to drive to Boston for the day on Monday. We visited the MFA for a few hours – barely time to scratch the surface – and then went on the nephew Ross, Kristin and kids for another kind of reunion before returning to Providence for one more night in the lovely VRBO apartment we had rented. We rose in the morning and began the drive to Rochester with a planned stop to visit my Uncle Josh in Syracuse just a couple of days before his 94th birthday. We had a lovely lunch he made from food he ordered from Wegmans and then proceeded back to Rochester, finally abandoning the Interstate and taking US 20 from Skaneatles to Canandaigua before resuming the Thuway and Interstates for the last few miles. 

We got back in time for Carol to attend the 50th anniversary of Visual Studies Workshop where she got her MFA in 1991. It was another walk into the past and the photographers there and represented there were among the greatest names in photography. The late Nathan Lyons, founder of the Workshop, was feted and honored and the weekend concluded, for us, with a visit to the George Eastman Museum which has a massive retrospective of Nathan’s work including his last works where he started working in digital color!

Since then we have been catching up with reorganizing the apartment and letting Carol have rest time to aid her healing. 

Carol moved from the hospital to Highlands Rehabilitation Hospital about ten days ago. Her planned discharge date is Wednesday the 8th. In brief she is doing everything she can to restore her ability to walk and climb steps. The facility is providing her with all the therapy she can tolerate and reasonable food and comfort. In appearance it is more like a nice hotel with large private rooms and sunny spaces. The courtyard of the Highlands Rehabilitation Hospital

I have been dividing my time between keeping the coach clean and ready to move, a little bit of sight seeing and one grand concert and spending hours with Carol when the therapists are giving her a rest.

Since our arrival in El Paso Roadrunner RV Park I have had two repairs completed and one that remains to be dealt with. The awning over the door has been restored with a new motor and reinstalled. I discovered a leak in our water pump and had a new improved pump installed, the old one was original equipment installed in 2011. The tech took apart the controller for the main awning and determined that the wait for the part was at least 10 days so I have put that off for the time being. At least he was able to diagnose exactly what had failed. Once I get the part I can handle the installation, plug and pray . . . er . . . play.

Dan is flying out on Tuesday to co drive with me so Carol does not need to take the wheel unless she is really determined. Someplace along the way we will decide whether to continue directly to Rochester or take a side trip to Charlottesville VA to be present for Alexander’s graduation from Piedmont Valley Community College. That will save Dan a flight from Rochester to C’ville and reduce the time stress on our cross country run. 

During this time in El Paso I lost one of my long time jobs, member of the WMT Publications’s (former owner of City Newspaper) Board of Directors. Happily, City Newspaper is now the property of WXXI and good friends Mary Anna and Bill no longer have the burden of keeping the paper afloat, while they continue to work as consultants for the time being. 

March and April have been rough. Carol has mostly recovered from her fall and subsequent medical problems. Her doctors gave her the go ahead to get back on the road, so we did. 

I wanted to get going as soon as practical, Carol said she had a package arriving on the 16th so I figured we could roll out early afternoon on the 16th – Wednesday in my head. On Sunday, as we were discussing departure timing Carol reminded me that the 16th was Tuesday not Wednesday. Then her package arrived on Monday. She was still convinced we couldn’t be ready to leave on Tuesday. Somehow by mid afternoon on Monday it became clear we were ready to leave Tuesday morning.

Tuesday afternoon after about 5 hours of driving we pulled into Hi Jolly Short Term Visitor Area in Quartzite. A stop in town filled our fuel tank (mini mortgage – it was ONLY $3.26/gal ) and our propane tank was also full.  I set up the grill for a steak I had and while it warmed it started to rain and hail. It stopped in time for me to grill and I no sooner had the grill shut down , cooled and stored than the rain, wind and hail resumed for about 30 minutes. We eased out of there mid morning and spent 6 hours on I 10 through Phoenix and Tucson, no significant traffic! to Wilcox AZ. This is a reasonably large middle of no place. Our reason for stopping here is it was 6 hours from Quartzite and 4 hours from Las Cruces NM where we have plans for Seder Friday night. Since we had driven for two days to get here, we stopped for two nights. Today we explored Chiricahua National Monument.

I just can’t resist these birds that were posing for us, well actually they were cadging meals from some picnickers

Spotted Towhee

Mexican Jay – Illegal Alien! Jumped the border.

The drive is wonderful. We did this many years ago actually March 2004 when there was snow on the rocks.

We returned to the RV Park and Saloon and joined in the line dancing program – every Thursday night year round. Her Physical Therapist would be proud of her.  

The campground is small, 14 sites, but the saloon is a blast. they have a very long shuffle board and Wednesday night is shuffle board tournament  which we watched for while. the people are friendly and come from all around the area. As we got to talk to several both Wednesday and Thursday night we found that they are from all over the country, several from as far away as Maine. We will stop there again as we pass by on our cross country jaunts.

It took some time, it took some doing, but after less than 2 weeks that seemed at times like months, Carol is back on the coach with me. She is not fully recovered but she is well on the road. 

While Carol worked to heal and to get the best care she could from Murrietta Health and Rehab I was deeply  involved in my committee work here at Jojoba Hills. We encourage members to volunteer in areas  that are of interest to them. For some this means working in landscaping and for others it may mean rehanging shed doors that have warped and sagged (Shed Angels). The opportunities are as varied as any jobs you could imagine to be needed to keep a small city operating. I have never been a gardener nor does cooking for groups of 150 appeal to me. I serve on committees, Finance, Marketing, Infrastructure (don’t ask how a retired Financial Planner gets to chair a committee that oversees water, electric, sewer etc). I always enjoyed working on committees so this is my contribution to the welfare of the locals community. 

The “Committee Season” starts right after the Annual Meeting” in early February and extends until the masses depart for cooler parts. Finance picks up in early September to get the budget ready and the others resume as chair people and other key players return to wrap up their work by the end of December.

The big excitement in SoCal has been the “Super Bloom” Every flower in the desert has had enough water and cool to burst into flower. Some stretches of freeway have become impassable on weekends as the banks flame in yellow, orange and purple. Borrego Springs is swarmed by locals and people who have flown in from everyplace to see the fields in bloom. With Carol tied down in recovery and the traffic impossible I have stayed closer to home.  Here is a link to some pictures taken within a 5 minute walk of the coach: https://photos.app.goo.gl/QEiVn45GgreT2hXN8 

We have been busy getting things in order and I have not been awake enough to even write about our activities and my thoughts until now.

The trip home was a bit of a trial. With great help from airport personnel and airline personnel we were able to get Carol situated  in seat 1 B, as close to the door as possible. In the process I learned some things about air crews, if you give them a chance they are helpful, friendly and will go to the limit of there protocol and maybe a bit beyond to make travel under difficult conditions better then just possible,  this is a shout out to the crew of the Copa flight from Panama City to LAX  on the 8th of March. 

After a night on the coach it was clear Carol needed more care then I could provide and there were plenty of medical questions that would not wait until Monday. Saturday morning, with some help from neighbors, I transferred Carol to the Jeep and headed in to Temecula Valley Hospital. They took over when we got there. In summary, Carol was xrayed and CT scanned until she glowed. We waited for everything to settle out and then transferred her to Murietta Health and Rehab where she is getting excellent care and therapy and mediocre food. It is too early say how long her stay will be, but when she can climb 5 steps into the motorhome she will be coming back to complete her recovery in the comfort of home surrounded by the most marvelous RV community in the country.

I am not detailing her injuries here, there is no need, they will all heal and she will be good to go for Jazz Fest in Rochester come June!

I am practicing living alone, sort of. I spend several hours a day with Carol – probably less now during the week as she will be busy with OT and PT. Today as I settled in for some work time I had friends see my open door and drop in, occupying me from 4 until 6. This ended with a phone call from friends from Rochester on vacation in Hawaii.

We are blessed.

I am the first to admit it isn’t easy getting a camera lens on a bird under most circumstances unless, like the owl they stay still in one place. Walking through the woods presents another challenge altogether. We left the hotel at 6:30 AM again as planned for a birding walk n the woods into a national park. As we set out it was cool and the birds were not yet very active since the sun had not reached the area and it was cool and dewy. We saw many smaller birds and Raul, our wonderful guide, called out the identifications. I  chose not to carry a pad and write down every bird spotted. The new birding routine involves the use of a laser pointer spotted near but not on the bird. This makes it really easy to find the identified bird. 

Our goal was to see a Resplendent Quetzal. This is a gorgeous bird which we last saw in Costa Rica more than a dozen years ago. It is found at higher altitudes where a particular small avocado grows. We hiked into the area and Raul pointed out a nest

This was very nice, but no bird. Further up the trail, about another kilometer, we came to a place where he found a male near another nest. As we moved into position to spot the bird it flew overhead and lit right over head. This view is not ideal, but it is also fairly rare:

After we scrambled back some to get a better view it moved again and I got this back lit  shot of it

We were able to glimpse he female in the nest hole, no photo and later watch the male work at enlarging the nest site, again no photo. We used Raul’s scope on a tripod to see this activity. We were delighted to begin our return trek to the van to get back to the hotel to get on our flight back to Panama City.

A word about Air Panama, DON’T. The plane, a twin engine turboprop, was a flying sauna. There was no cool air coming from the vents for the duration of the. flight, about 45 minutes. When they opened the door in Panama City we were refreshed by the cool 95 degree air blowing through. This was the 2nd flight in 3 days that was almost intolerable. The plane should not be allowed to be in  service. The Captain was wringing wet when he exited the flight deck.  On the other hand we did arrive safely with our luggage.

We landed in Panama and got to our hotel at 8:30 pm to find the plans for the first day had changed. Our flight to David (to get to Bouquete) had been delayed four hours. We agreed with our Tour Leader Alejandra to meet the others at 9 to go to the Biomuseum, a new Frank Geary building:

If you visit Panama City do not miss this museum. It is a wonderful story about the biological development of the isthmus. The building is worth the trip too.

We returned to the hotel to pick up our luggage and fly to David where we began our delayed drive to Boquete

Along the way we made a stop for coffee – the must do in Panama – and we were greeted by these Coatimundi in the parking lot 

During the drive to the hotel we all agreed that we were far more interested in birds than the planned visit to a farm that raises race horses. So we opted to rise to be on the van at 6:30 to see the birds at Birding Paradise run by Mishael Rivera (if that reads like a plug it is. I have contact information).

We were at the birding venue by 8. I have fine binoculars but I did not bring the appropriate lens and the birds were back lit to boot.   

This MotMot chose to hold a pose for me. Most of the birds were not as cooperative, but we did see many and I extended my personal life list a bit with scaly belly humming bird and a few others. 

We visited a farm where learned about the added difficulties of making a living as a farmer in Panama where the biggest competition is fresh goods coming off the many ships passing through the Canal. 

Following a wonderful lunch we slept through the ride back to the hotel. We have agreed to extend our birding to another 6:30 departure in the morning before flying back to Panama City to join the base trip.

We are off in a bit for a Panama land trip with OAT which includes a trip through the Canal both ways. Before that we will see much more of Panama than the Canal Zone. I will detail our travels as we go. 

We travel though the Canal on a 24 passenger catamaran taking almost three days including an overnight in lake Gatun before passing through the Gatun Locks into the Caribbean end of the Canal. Then we travel overnight back through to the Pacific end to end that part of the trip. We will fly on to Bogota, fortunately our VP will have left long before we arrive . 

Since our flight tomorrow is at 10:20 AM, we are taking a shuttle to a hotel near LAX today. We will have dinner with Miriam, Yechiel and family.

Watch for more from the trip as internet permits.