On Wednesday with the weather fine and the promise of rain on Thursday we headed into DC for a major walk though the Tidal Basin and down (up?) the Mall. We took the Metro to Smithsonian by the Castle and walked around the Tidal Basin to the Jefferson, FDR and MLK Memorials. We continued on to the WWII Memorial which was mobbed, it was Veteran’s Day! We continued down the Mall to the National Museum of the American Indian where we had lunch with choices of “Indian” food from both American continents. We spent more time than we expected touring the museum. We returned through rush hour to the coach with sore feet and full minds. We had walked over 7 miles and really enjoyed it. Thursday was chill and rainy and we stayed around the coach and caught up with cleaning, laundry and sundry indoor activities.

Friday we drove too far, 405 miles, but we had to in order to get to Leigh and Pat’s place in Charlotte NC before dark. Well it was 7 something and certainly dark by the time we disconnected the car on the street in front of their place. We then backed the coach into the cul de sac they live on and leveled up and planned mostly to sleep  and have breakfast on board. That was how it worked out. We had an easy dinner with them in their lovely home and got to see the garden and play with Molly. Hazel did not make an appearance at all. Saturday we went into Charlotte to visit a couple of galleries and have lunch and eventually dinner. The McColl Center provides residencies for artists for up to a year and also a lovely exhibit space. Part of their obligation is to open their studios from time to time and this was one of those days. From there went to the Harvey Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture. On exhibit was a photo essay from the Selma March, the work of Charlotte Catlett and a large exhibit of work by the AfriCOBRA Now group. We closed the place and went back to the house to put our feet up before going to dinner at Bistro la Bon. I had Beef Samosas with Chili Sauce and a Salmon dish that I really enjoyed. I would be glad to go back to that place.

Sunday we woke up early, said oour farewells, hitched the car to the coach and were on the road by 9. We promised ourselves a short day, but with no reason to stop earlier we made it to St Augustine, 432 miles, St Johns RV Park – Passport America 50% discount. I cannot rate it as they gave us an overflow spot with water and electric and we pulled in as the sun set. It seems nice enough, especially for our purposes. This was the second 400+ mile day we have had and we are not supposed to do this sort of thing. But tomorrow is 80 miles! and we get into La Mesa RV early to get the heat pump looked at. I’m not betting we get it fixed tomorrow, just hoping for this week!

After that is dealt with we are on to St Petersburgh to spend some time with Carol’s brother and s-i-l, We also have some friends to visit with before we begin our westward trek.

After 4 weeks in Dan and Malena’s yard it was strange to get back into the campground, touring life style. We settled in to Cherry Hill Park and dashed off to see Bunny and Alan. Alan has had the very bad fortune to have a cancerous tumor on his pancreas. It was a very quiet and subdued visit although Bunny managed to entice me into enjoying some wonderful Maryland Crab Cakes brought by another friend. We smiled and made the best of the visit.

Sunday was a wonderful, family filled day. We visited my cousin Judy and her SO Ralph in DC. We were treated to a royal Sunday Brunch with lox and bagels and homemade kugel. We had not been in touch for several years and it was great to spend a couple of hours catching up and reminiscing. Ralph’s daughter is a professor of archaeology at Brown and. I am pretty sure, was involved with the Coursera course I took a few years ago “Archaeology’s Dirty Little Secrets”. It certainly is a small world that keeps getting smaller. We left there and drove to Alexandria to see Daisy and Steven’s new home there. Dinner was lovely, but even more lovely was the reception they gave us in their marvelous new home. We will be back to meet the baby next year!

Monday we were not quite done with family. We met cousin Bob (that’s Bob Levey, well known to most readers of the Washington Post until about 10 years ago). Lunch was a Metro ride from the campground to Bethesda and then a very short walk to a Nepalese Restaurant that Bob favors. Road traffic was horrible and the Metro spared us from the worst of it and parking was a cinch at the Metro station in College Park. We even got to use our Senior Smartrips which we picked up the last time we visited in DC. Once again the conversation flowed and we spent the time catching up with each other. It is so important to keep family together even though we are scattered across geography and life experiences.

So we were in DC, well Bethesda, a short step form the Metro and all of DC spread before us with a few hours before things started to close. We decided to take up one of Judy’s suggestions and stop by the Library of Congress to see the Reading Room, especially the ceiling. -you may infer a very long pause here- We LOVE libraries! We got there about 2:45 and were there until closing. The only books we saw were in the shelves around the Main Reading Room and the Jefferson Collection special library. I could repeat some of what the docent told us on the hour long tour, but you need to do that for yourselves. To further whet your appetite go to www.loc.gov. The building was built at the end of the 19th century and is a glorious temple to knowledge and learning. Indeed it is in the form of a temple. Every surface is decorated with wit and intelligence and beauty. I could spend many hours there, but we have tickets for the Newseum tomorrow and that is where we shall go.

Actually ten days have passed since the Bar Mitzvah. We have run some errands and helped take the boys into and out of Charlottesville, it really is time for Alex to get his driver’s license but that is a subject for another time. Mostly we have been sharing family time enjoying being able to spend time with the boys and their parents when they are between tasks. Incredibly the weather has been super fine. It is November 5 and I have the coach door and a window open to enjoy the warm Fall weather. It is 67 and at noon and rising.

Last Sunday Dan, Alex and I set out for a hike on the Virginia/West Virginia border about 30 miles west of Harrisonburg VA. The day was cool and damp, the rain had passed over the area where we were going to hike and had moved across Covesville too. We took a trail to a Fire Tower. I am used to spindly metal towers with a cab on top that were scattered all over the Adirondacks when I was a camper. This turned out to quite a substantial tower built out of local rock, finished by the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) in the 1930’s. The hike in was 1.5 miles mostly vertical. I was grateful to have my hiking sticks along.

 It is wonderful to go on a three generation hike. Alex continually stopped to watch the birds and to check out the plants as we went. He is quite the naturalist. I hope his interest does not wane.

Whew after all the planning and all the preparation the year has sped by and we are reliving the wonderful day in our rear view mirror – well not quite, we haven’t left yet, nor do we plan to for another week. Carol covered the “day” in her recent blog at Eyeshine.

Once again the tent was set up in the orchard, this time with walls and heaters. The family gathered Friday night at the house and the celebration began with Sabbath rituals and plenty of good food.

By 10 in the morning the tent was filling, the parkers were about done, and the service got off, just a bit late. I will admit that I had tears in my eyes for most of the service. After we finished the Torah service and Josh had lifted the Torah and we had put it away, Dan grabbed Corey and started to dance, before you could say,”this isn’t on the schedule” I was up to join them and then all my boys were circling with Corey. Then the Queen of the family, Carol, joined in and we concluded with Corey in the middle being squashed by all. Oh, was I in tears then!

After Kiddush (lunch) under the tent, the crowd began to thin. Eventually leaving just the family to reassemble for a cook out in the early evening. One tradition that has continued through all kinds of family events was that whatever Scotch Whiskey I had brought was consumed, thank you Joel for the anCnoc, it went down very well when the Lagavulin was gone 🙂 Everyone reappeared for Sunday Morning Brunch at Brookville Restaurant and then the exodus began. The last family, other than Carol and I, were gone by Tuesday morning. We are sticking around at least through Carol’s birthday.

Once again I was delighted not to be the senior family member as Uncle Josh, my dad’s brother, and Aunt Gloria attended and participated in handing down the Torah and later helping us dispatch the Scotch. It is so special to have four generations present at a celebration such as this.

My grandson Corey and I have birthdays one day apart. His is on the 16th and mine is the 17th of October. The family joke is that I told Malena to hold up on his birth for a day. You can imagine her answer, actually if you don’t know her maybe you can’t 🙂

This year we were together for birthday for the first time in a long time. Corey really, really wanted to go to Busch Gardens because, in keeping with the Halloween season, they have terror night each weekend night through October. So Friday the 16th, bright and early – 7:30 AM – Corey, Dan, Alex and I were in the car headed for Busch Gardens. about 2 and a half hours from the house. During the day we rode all six roller coasters, a couple more than once. I figure we stood in lines for 4 or 5 hours for a grand total of maybe 15 minutes of time on the rides. Three times they stopped the coasters while we were in line for “maintenance.” The first time we walked away and got in another line. The next two times we just stayed in place and watched the line in front of us melt away. One of Corey’s friends was expected to be in Busch Gardens as well and we managed to connect and Jessa stayed with us for a while. By about 7:30 we agreed we had had enough, even the boys didn’t complain about leaving even though the festivities were in high gear and spooks and goblins and nasty men with chain saws were patrolling the darkened grounds looking to scare us.

There are no pictures because I kept forgetting to get the camera out.

When we arrived back in Hungrytown Hollow the chickens were roosting in an apple tree rather than in there coop. I pulled the car to light the area so Dan and Alex could get them out of the tree. Dan vanished up into the tree and the next thing I knew it was raining chickens. He scared and shook them out of the tree and Alex ran around on the ground and picked them up and tossed them in the coop.

The next day was my turn and after a relaxing day we all went to dinner at Tavola where we had a pleasant wait in the lounge until our table cleared. I will admit to enjoying a very well made Martini which resulted in me being very relaxed for the meal and wine which was a very nice Chianti.

Birthday time is almost past. Carol’s is just two weeks off. First we need to reach a new high with Corey’s Bar Mitzvah which I have been counting down here and in other posts. 5 days to go and the first arrival will be Josh late tomorrow.

Well we are about 4 hours south of Rochester in Milton PA. We made it out of town within 30 minutes of the time I declared as my preferred departure time. Everything was nominal once I corrected my first (and I hope last) basic error of this journey. As we set up in the storage yard I very carefully went through the procedure to tow Ruby. Eventually I got in the drivers seat of the coach and engaged drive and released the brake to find no motion at all! Now what? The only thing I could think of was somehow I had not gotten the Jeep set up correctly. I grabbed the key, leaving Carol in the coach and ran back to the car. Sure enough I had put the transfer case in 4 wheel drive and the transmission in park. It wasn’t going anyplace. I pulled the transfer shifter one more notch into neutral and we began to move! NOT GOOD. I had left the coach in drive with the brake off. Fortunately Carol, in the nav seat realized this was not a good thing and she set the brake and put the coach in neutral preventing who knows what kind of disaster. Lesson for those spouses who don’t regularly drive the coach. Carol didn’t have to think how to stop it. She does half the driving so she is as familiar with the controls as I am.

The rest of the drive was without incident. The leaves along I390 in NY and I 99/US 15 in PA were mostly at or near peak color and the sun was a golden glow lighting everything beautifully. We got to Yogi at Shangri La on the Creek by 3 and had time to finish setting things up and for me to wash the bugs off the nose and windshield. Darn, there have been multiple sink bug sightings. Hate those bugs. I guess by the time we turn west we will be distributing a new crop as we go.

Tomorrow, 10/12, we plan to complete the trip to Covesville and the Dan, Malena, Alexander and Corey.

Thursday night, October 1, we went to a concert in the JCC Center Stage Theater. I’m not sure when we were in it last, certainly not in the past year. We went to hear a performance by John Sebastian and David Gristman. If you don’t know the names its okay, you just weren’t paying attention over the last 50 years. Gristman recorded with Jerry Garcia and Sebastian was all over the place as backup or rhythm guitar and harmonica and composer. They are not kids and Gristman only sang solo on one number, Shady Grove. they covered the spectrum from Rock to Folk with plenty of stops along the way.  It was a wonderful 90 minutes of unbroken music and stage chat.

Where was I? I wrote the above 7 days ago and we got really busy with doctors and social calls as we prepare to get back on the road after three months of not so sedentary time. Sunday morning the 11th we plan to hook up the car to Gee Whiz and roll to Yogi at Shangri La in Milton PA. This lets us not push too hard getting under way and leaves us a reasonable 6 hours to get to Covesville – Dan Goldberg family. We need to arrive in daylight, first because we would prefer to never drive the coach after dark; coach headlights are notoriously poor and second it takes some serious close quarter maneuvering to position the coach upon arrival.

 I have given up trying to plan our route and travel beyond Covesville. Eventually we will leave before we freeze and work our way south. We would like to visit people in Ivanhoe NC and Charlotte NC and maybe St Petersburg FL before we make our way to California. Stops along the way would include Las Cruces NM and ?? We think we will spend New Years Eve in Jojoba Hills, but will not force the issue if something distracts us along the way.

We have been entertained in our apartment by a major painting job that has been underway since June! This view from our window is common:

Skylift capable of reaching at least 7 stories Since our window blinds do not cover the top two feet of the windows we need to be alert in the morning as we prepare for the day and move to the interior bathroom when they are working outside our apartment. Maybe by the time we get back to the apartment in 10 months or so they will be done. We have more privacy in the coach. Other changes we have been watching in Rochester include the filling in of the Inner Loop, this was a four lane roadway that was set below grade sometime in the 60’s. It has functioned as a moat and has been lightly used as a traffic route. It will be interesting to see what use is made of the reclaimed land. Up north, by Charlotte beach the city has been excavating a former parking lot and abandoned land next to the Genesee River near the lake to create a sizable marina. They plan to be letting water in this week or next. There is much more going on that we will follow from afar and look forward to seeing when we work our way east next summer. We are looking forward to staying put, sort of, in Jojoba Hills. I expect we will spend more time based there than in Rochester for the future. Of course we will take our time passing through our “home state” of Texas as well. The big family things we are looking forward to are the last two grandson Bar Mitzvahs. Corey, in Covesville, in a couple of weeks and Avi in LA July 2. Add two months in New Zealand/Australia and a stop in Hawaii starting late March and we have a very full year. Next post should be from Covesville VA.

I am recovering from too much “recovery eating” following the long fast. I am recovering from many hours of sitting and participating in services awaiting the chance to blow Tekiah Gedolah on the shofar at the end of the day (the shofar is a hollow horn from a kosher animal usually a rams horn tekiah is a simple note that rises at the end, the gedolah from Hebrew word for big or large indicates the final blast which is generally held as long as the blower can sustain, it must be longer then 9 seconds and we generally play for 18 seconds to avoid the appearance of competition). I am thinking about the many questions that were raised during the day by the Rabbis and by the texts. None of this is new to me, I have done it for many years. The questions are also not new, but the answers seem to squirm around and change with each passing year. Is that because I have lived another year and added to my “wisdom” or is it merely because I have witnessed more life along the way, most likely it is a bit of both, if there is a difference, and changes in our society that have caused me to focus on different answers. There is no answer to these questions, just more questions.

I started to focus on “evil speech”  lashon horah (not sure of the transliteration) which is one of the grave sins for which there is no forgiveness according to some rabbinic sources. This becomes important to me as I listen to the ravings of politicians attacking each other and everyone who is not a supporter using the most ‘evil speech” I can imagine. Do these people not understand that these words cannot be unsaid? They have released them into the world and the internet makes sure they will continue to come around for years to come. I just saw such an attack from 2012 come back around as if it were new. I have listened to shifting positions and to attacks on immigrants as if the speakers were not descendants of immigrants themselves, to attacks on people of different religions, as if their religion was the only one that has “the word.” They are quick to attack Muslims in particular as if they are the only religion that is home to fanatics and terrorists forgetting that the first horrific attack on US territory was at the Murrah Office Building in Oklahoma City by an American of supposedly Christian background. I will not except any group of hosting sick, angry people.

Writing the next day. . .

The use of hate speech inflames any discussion and limits the possibility of constructive dialogue. Once I express a point of view in definitive language with no conditions, I leave myself no graceful way to come to a compromise. The people who oppose Planned Parenthood have left themselves no room to accept the role they play in helping women lead a healthier life. Appropriate planning would prevent most abortions. Yet, having stated their positions without conditions they feel obligated to take more and more outrageous stands, even threatening to shut down the federal government for the sake of their position. I could go on to state other areas where groups in government have painted themselves into a corner, but I think I have made my point.

I will try even harder this year to refrain from any kind of evil speech, gossip or even just plain uncontrolled venting. I know I will fail at some point, probably on an internet forum someplace, but I will try.

The sun is setting on the first day of Rosh Hashanah. Rabbi Stein’s sermon is rattling around in my brain. Thoughts of Sarajevo seem to keep coming to the fore even though it was just one of many cities we visited in the land of the former Yugoslavia. Mix that with memories of my parents and I am wondering where this is going.

Start with the March from Selma AL to Washington DC that Rabbi Stein participated in and talked about today. It is a walk that passed though sections of the country that house large patches of hatred for Blacks, for liberals, for anything that is not them. Rabbi talked about being met by groups with rebel flags and yelling invective against the marchers who must have felt threatened, but unlike 50 years ago when the police joined in with the mobs at Edmund Pettis Bridge this time they served to provide good security for the marchers.

In our wanderings Carol and I have driven many of those roads. We have been to Selma and crossed the bridge. We have been to Montgomery and seen the plaques to Jefferson Davis and to the Marchers who met Bloody Sunday on the bridge. We even found Rev King’s church in Montgomery just two or three blocks down the main road from the Alabama capitol building. These are parts where it can sometimes feel lonely as a Yankee, as a Jewish Yankee. There are reminders of the hate.

Sarajevo may epitomize to me the general nature of hate. For over 40 years Marshal Tito kept a tight lid on the Yugoslavia he was instrumental in creating out of the pieces of the Balkans and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The people were Muslim, Orthodox, Roman Catholic and apparently they didn’t care much for each other,  but they lived together in relative peace because Tito and his forces, mostly Serbian, didn’t offer them any choice. They intermarried and they lived next door to each other in mixed neighborhoods, or sometimes in separate communities separated by a river and united by bridges. When Tito died and his successors were not as wily or as tough as him, the country began to disintegrate and they tried to separate. As each sought his own land they resorted to violence and ultimately the hatred of the other won out. In Sarajevo there is to this day a broad diversity of people, from Muslim to Roman Catholic to Orthodox, fewer than a thousand Jews remain. The Serbs gathered their forces on the mountains surrounding the city and sought to subdue it and make it Serbian by force. It is strange to walk through “sniper alley” today and see the mountains that come down to within a couple of blocks of the main street and know that on both sides Serbian snipers were in fortified locations waiting for anyone to pass through their sights. How must a person hate to pick off an unarmed stranger just because that person is a stranger.

Bosnia-Herzegovina, the country, is a patched together republic that has an assigned flag and an assigned national anthem, wordless, and three leaders who alternate in running the country. A major piece, Republika  Srbska, is looking to breakaway in a referendum. The definition of this region is intolerance and hatred.

We find this same intolerance in the US. The violence is there, it is mostly hidden and it is physically expressed only by the outliers. But listen to the words of Kim Davis, ignore the subject, it is the language of hate for the other. Listen to the words of so many politicians taking sides with no thought that the only way to govern is to compromise, how can compromise be reached if the sides have promised no compromise, have taken stands that leave no room for backing down. I don’t need to name names, just pick up any newspaper (if you can find one) or turn on any news channel, both the flagrantly biased and the less biased. The language of hate permeates.

I have decided that I will abjure the language, even for those I find in my heart to be despicable. I do not need to restate what they say, they say it for themselves. I cannot listen anymore to the rhetoric, I will read about actual positions where they exist and make my own decisions based on that. It is hard to not hate when surrounded by the language.

Why my parents? They felt strongly about the political health of the country. My mother was as liberal as they come and Dad too was a strong supporter of minorities and the underdog. All I have to do is look at the charities they supported and the legacy they left me of concern and support for those not as fortunate as us.

We landed back here on Monday after three totally uneventful flights. Since then we have been unpacking and preparing to repack the coach for departure in October. We have been recovering from jet lag. We have been trying to sort though the far to many pictures both of us have taken. We witnessed Josh, our eldest grandson, get his driver’s license – whatever happened to the rush to DMV  on the birthday and taking the drivers test 30 days later – We were so overjoyed that he can be mobile that I went with him the next day to buy his first car, a 2011 Silver Toyota Corolla. He will pick it up on Monday.

Endless rounds of wonderful entertainment have already begun and seem to be set to continue until we leave for our “other life” as nomads.

Our last day in Ljubljana (type that 3 times fast!) we wandered along the river at 9:30 AM as the art market and antiques market were set up. As we wandered we watched a troop of acrobats set up their mats on the street and start to perform.

Later their place was taken by a typical Slovenian (could be Austrian or. . ) brass band with accordions. Actually by the time they started playing we had rejoined most of our group to ascend to the Ljubljana Castle by funicular and we were able to hear them clearly way up there.

Taken from the Castle Tower

We left the group and toured the Interactive Puppet Museum in the Castle before heading down the steep switchback dirt path back to the river. There we found lunch at Sokol which is featured as a game meat restaurant, but they had nice veggie options and I really enjoyed a venison goulash in a bread bowl. It was nice to find a goulash without pork so I could order it.