tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2173302260062585662024-03-05T20:33:41.058-08:00Amber Jones' Adventures (aka, The Reluctant Sailor)Tales of High Seas, Low Tides, and Escapades AshoreAmber Jones Adventureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06141081567700435407noreply@blogger.comBlogger278125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-217330226006258566.post-45229218714202855312023-03-09T13:26:00.001-08:002023-03-10T23:50:57.315-08:00 Pretty Pictures, Part 2: The Struggle Behind the Smiles<div dir="ltr" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">Those of you who followed my blog, The Reluctant Sailor, during our cruising years may appreciate the backstory of last week's sunny adventure in Belize. </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px;"><img id="id_c24b_f38b_69dd_7d5f" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/4NEn_4PETe6O2u03Hv3eVl2V9vcpGNsZjxjQo3kEjwy9iMH2W5wxaZj0E4AGmEEj8is" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">Amid the swimming, snorkeling, island-hopping, and dining, I was struggling. </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px;"><div class="BodyFragment" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><font size="2"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><div class="PlainText"><br></div><div class="PlainText">I briefly mentioned the reason in one of my otherwise-sunny Facebook posts.<br><br>I was on a 6-day cruise with Pope, three friends, and a hired boat captain. By Day 3, I was in agony from a shoulder injury. I don't know how I got hurt. Maybe hauling luggage, carrying heavy bags of boat provisions, or peering beyond my snorkel mask to avoid swimming into a prickly coral. </div><div class="PlainText"><br></div><div class="PlainText">The pain was debilitating. I was miserable, unable to get comfortable, rest, or sleep.<br><br>We were snorkeling at Glover's Reef, a coral-laced atoll 50 miles east of the mainland. By Day 5, my stoicism had collapsed. I asked our captain to help me arrange a medical evacuation by speedboat, to someplace where I could get a plane or bus to the hospital in Belize City. </div><div class="PlainText"><br></div><div class="PlainText">We were discussing it calmly and coolly (just kidding; actually, I was moaning and sobbing) when the whole group agreed to interrupt the cruise and take me to a doctor in our own boat--a huge, inefficient catamaran with diesel engine, four bunks, and four heads (bathrooms).<br><img id="id_501c_e055_df29_abce" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/C5Ezo_TetJ8cxVM9aWEtZNmiAyw4646cTnC_Au5pPyvovjTkRjO9WFNTsfHjw82Cg4g" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br>The nearest doctor (perhaps the only one outside of Belize City...) was in Placencia, where we had boarded the boat. This was a 6-hour round trip at the top speed of our boat (about 6 knots). This cost us less than $100 in extra diesel fuel -- much cheaper than using a medical evacuation company. But it eliminated a full day of swimming and snorkeling for everyone else. </div><div class="PlainText"><br></div><div class="PlainText">The other passengers said they wouldn't enjoy themselves knowing I was suffering. <span style="font-size: 11pt;">Actually, I think they were grateful it wasn't them. Another passenger had serious health concerns; it just as easily could have been him that needed emergency medical attention. In fact, he later went straight to the hospital on the way home from the airport, and is still there.</span></div><div class="PlainText"><br>Our captain raced us to Placencia in our big boat, anchored, and sped me to shore in the dinghy. The doctor's office was outside of town in a primitive-looking, rustic shack with a tin roof that appeared abandoned, in the middle of a bleak field of dirt and weeds. No other buildings, homes, or even cars around. I wish I had a photo. <br><br>To be honest, I was filled with dread, thinking: this can't be a real doctor. Surely I'm in the wrong place! A shot of cortisone in a place like this could be deadly!<br><br>However, inside, the office was clean and decent. The doctor is a Cuban who serves the expat community. Lots of Americans, Canadians, and Brits apparently live there or have winter homes. He did some manipulations, diagnosed a pinched nerve. His fee was $45, cash only. <span style="font-size: 11pt;">He called a taxi and sent me down the road to the pharmacist.</span></div></span></font><font size="2"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><div class="PlainText"><br>While I taxied to the pharmacy, the captain returned to the boat and motored to Placencia's city harbor.</div><div class="PlainText"><img id="id_4e67_9987_f37c_7a0c" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_lvgfKxGjuCIXJpk9SCMRanW5Slp21dc8cTjlZx5s1u8mYB-WTQmjNsYzW1rLldc0Hw" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><span style="font-size: 11pt;">I returned to the boat there, with $135 worth of painkillers and other medical products, and a case of beer for the captain and passengers. No poisons, though, despite the pharmacist's offerings.</span></div><div class="PlainText"><img id="id_3a54_3bb1_36b1_b8d6" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/cVX_nF7OdZKdfPd0PG-IV4q0CzZUgoKrAasufRAoeqoUAn5e79wh6eSqCaBPEHzbOqs" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br>This was all accomplished without any cell phone service! People along the way were happy to help me figure things out.<br><br>We spent the night on the boat in Placencia harbor, then motored back to the reef and another tiny isle.</div><div class="PlainText"><img id="id_680a_c31_88c2_d467" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/N_qd3uZr3-VoMBVzErLVCAWx2ZKmg03vE7vMi3eV-TOmRmmEwmvtn40wVDswxa7SBz8" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><span style="font-size: 11pt;">I spent the remaining days laying around, moaning gently. The pills took the edge off but the discomfort continued.</span></div><div class="PlainText"><img id="id_ed29_f94a_99a_176f" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/ren1mYjt06xYgWNd-f87wzvkpG8IpcNb_QHTfftCwniOZ42FY8XYVc77i6GWFA6Lfro" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><span style="font-size: 11pt;">After three flights, we got home by midnight Tuesday. I visited my chiropractor Wednesday and again Thursday, and on Friday got an ultrasound and more accurate diagnosis: torn tendon inside the rotator cuff. </span></div><div class="PlainText"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br></span></div><div class="PlainText"><div class="PlainText">My trips seem to include a lot of adventures--sometimes unpleasant ones. In fact, that's what my blog was all about when we cruised up and down the coast in our own boat from <span style="font-size: 11pt;">2013 to 2020.</span></div><div class="PlainText"><br>I look at the photos of other people's "normal" trips -- a souk in Morocco, the Eiffel Tower, a tour guide with a striped umbrella -- with envy. My trips are rarely "normal." They're soaked in adrenaline! </div><div class="PlainText"><br></div>The shoulder incident is shaping up to be an extended struggle. However, it came with a big dose of sun and fun and magical isles. So, in between spasms, I'm smiling.<br><br></div></span></font></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"></div><div class="BodyFragment" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><font size="2"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"></span></font></div></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"> Amber Jones Adventureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06141081567700435407noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-217330226006258566.post-316225797805894152023-03-09T13:13:00.001-08:002023-03-09T13:14:21.912-08:00Pretty Pictures, Part 1: The Real Story<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; font-size: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">My </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">younger </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">friends keep asking me, </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">“</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">What’s it like to be retired</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">?”</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">“</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">Isn’t it wonderful?</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">”</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">“</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">I can’t wait.</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">”</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; font-size: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"><br></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; font-size: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">I know what they’re thinking</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">: t</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">he same thing I </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">used to think</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">. Whenever I picked </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">up a magazine</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> or travel catalog</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">, I’d see pictures</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> of retire</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">es</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> enjoying the good life. </span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; font-size: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"><img id="id_eb08_c37e_b3fb_13cd" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/r0WDbWDivZj_jVDK1gaY0Bx5IDrcuI8FCv0R8X6QhH0T2B0pB1n84cBoEXouyMoDwcc" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">Beautiful people. </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">A woman in a straw hat</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">,</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> lounging around a pool</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">. Couples with gray hair and white shorts</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">,</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">watching dolphins swim alongside their boat. Cocktails and banquets on a cruise ship.</span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; font-size: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"><img id="id_e0ea_2f60_df9c_d00b" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/qo2bP4TQNkLnBhdFf6L_V-9jpaOqew9IA-GwVwgP90Bs8wDywB56IqxISbDSeyhHXzc" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br>When I used to see those pictures, I was full of zeal! I couldn’t wait!</span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; font-size: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"><br></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; font-size: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">I w</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">ish I could tell you retirement is like that. </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">But no. </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">Those pictures</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> are</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> a hoax! </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">For the first couple of years after I stopped working, I travel</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">ed</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> a bit. I </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">even </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">lived</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> on a sailboat for a while. I </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">set out to live </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">the </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">fantasy</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> of sipping </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">cocktails</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">on the deck</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">, gazing at</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> the sunset.</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; font-size: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"><br></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; font-size: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">But it wasn’t like that. It was hard work to maintain a boat. The leaks. The mold. The breakdowns. I certainly never wore white shorts! </span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; font-size: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"><img id="id_d041_1fb1_2bca_a188" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/sv8Gv51uyoqkICd39--fbs0jhJK1-9PTMasmJO-YgfA9tds-VDoaU55qOJs6plo3JLI" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">In fact, it turns out that a lot o</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">f retirement has been hard work. In particular, I've struggled with three </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">obstacles to </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">enjoying those glamorous activities in the photos.</span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; font-size: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"><br></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; font-size: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">1) </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">First, the</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">longer I’m retired, the </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">longer </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">the </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">list </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">gets</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">of people I have to go </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">visit</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> regularly. An opportunity to socialize</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> and have fun</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">? No. Here’s </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">the</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> list</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> of people</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> I visit</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">:</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; font-size: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"><br></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; font-size: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">-physical therapist</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; font-size: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">-ophthalmologist</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; font-size: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">-dermatologist</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; font-size: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">-cardiologist</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; font-size: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">-epidemiologist</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; font-size: 18px;">-bill collector</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; font-size: 18px;"><img id="id_3da1_1e1f_1687_30e2" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/iPOwBH9gZhqZNGiUInAHIhFk_gbg6-OE1ttQaTvQKeFIt7OyymeuRy825ekWv7Mo42M" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">Does that sound like fun? No. </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">But t</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">hat’s what aging is like</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">!</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; font-size: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"><br></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; font-size: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">Most people who are retired will confirm that in the golden years, body building </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">gives way to </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">body </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">deteriorating</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">. </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">Yeah, I know</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> what</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> you</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">’re</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">thinking</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">:</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> what about Jane</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> Fonda</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">? She looks great</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> at age 84</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">. </span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; font-size: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"><img id="id_1165_93a6_7841_581c" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/QaNsE8l_Kc7zaHPOvobI66qVMlt6sua6mRLVwYPZp_RRUW4o-tMoAg2xPmeDWqd1lAM" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">Well, </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">I</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> think those photos are </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">a hoax</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">, </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">too. O</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">r she had a lot of plastic surgery</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">. I</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">sure don’t </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">look like Jane Fonda. I don’t </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">feel like Jane Fonda. </span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; font-size: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"><br></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; font-size: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">I feel like </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">more </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">Methuselah</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">. Ready for a long, long nap.</span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; font-size: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"><img id="id_40e0_3e41_1ccd_f524" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/93Qb1tHWnj3Kwz-yRABNk2zHz6Sba--u_8-tBO4_muUf9ATO93qk8vX2V8U1gUusg1A" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">2) </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">Second, the older I get, the older my house gets. Just like me, the </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">plumbing</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> has developed leaks. The floor is </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">sticky</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">. The refrigerator is overdue for replacement. It’s a constant battle</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> to keep up with</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">cleaning and </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">repairs.</span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; font-size: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"><br></span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; font-size: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">This winter</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">, we had contractors rep</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">lac</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">e</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> the mortar on a</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> brick wall. </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">They hammered and drilled for days. </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">Charged us $12,000. </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">And the plumber came by to fixing a leaky pipe. For six hours of work, he charged $1</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">,</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">200! </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; font-size: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"><br></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; font-size: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">That’s wh</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">ere the money goes. Not to Hilton or Marriott or Club Med.</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; font-size: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"><br></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; font-size: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">3) </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">Third,</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">now that I’m staying home more, I've been noticing the </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">critters that share the house</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">.</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> Every evening while I’m sitting in the living room, a little mouse</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">,</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> sometimes accompanied by his </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">brother</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> or </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">sister, </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">wanders in, </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">looking</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> for a handout.</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; font-size: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"><br></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; font-size: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">Maybe they f</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">ind </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">my house attractive because I don’t keep it as clean as I used to. </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">I admit </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">I’m too tired to kneel down and mop the</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> floor</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">. A</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">nd too stiff to get back up.</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; font-size: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"><br></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; font-size: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">I spend</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> hours</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> filling holes in the </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">corners</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">, </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">scrubbing kitchen counters, </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">and </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">repackaging</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> food in</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">to </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">glass </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">jars.</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> And</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> now,</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">there’s </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">ANOTHER</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> person I see regularly: </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">the exterminator.</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; font-size: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"><img id="id_89be_5b33_bcf0_d985" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/C-17zA4LdhpU34vMRBZawxGNMzIUJZZZ_GZOLixw6zWDNIW0epxATXEj6ZEOnpOKy7E" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">Th</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">is is </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">wh</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">ere the time goes in</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> retirement.</span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; font-size: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"><br></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; font-size: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">I’m still looking for that </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">gl</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">amorous</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> retirement </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">that I expected</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">--</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">the on</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">es</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">my younger friends </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">fantasize about</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">.</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; font-size: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"><br></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; font-size: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">I scan the </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">catalogs</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> with the pictures of beautiful people, laughing and smiling, </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">and I wonder, where did I go wrong? Why I am still only fantasizing about lounging around the pool</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> in a straw hat</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">? </span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; font-size: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"><img id="id_9f05_df9c_3985_5133" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/y-82hjfaeNEe9uBHdiC0fEc17Y-JDOWSkqp1sZX6OSH3eWm1OiMBR7wUrbH8dHuzVAg" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">Then I re</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">member</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> – </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">those pictures are</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> a hoax.</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> Ve</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">ry few people </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">actually </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">get to </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">visit castles on the Rhine on a $10,000 Viking</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">R</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">iver </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">Cruise.</span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; font-size: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"><br></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; font-size: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">Most of us are at home, cleaning</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> and</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> repairing, or waiting in line at the doctor’s office.</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; font-size: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"><br></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; font-size: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">So </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">when my friends </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">ask me, </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">“W</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">hat’s it like to be retired?</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">” I’m honest. I tell them, it’s not like th</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">ose beautiful pictures! </span><a name="_GoBack"></a><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">Believe me, y</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">ou can wait</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">!</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; font-size: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></p>Amber Jones Adventureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06141081567700435407noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-217330226006258566.post-86596920702230284632023-02-11T20:51:00.001-08:002023-02-11T21:53:52.398-08:00Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda: My Book ProjectsWhen I retired, I could have stopped working. I probably should have stopped working.<div><br></div><div>But you know me! Despite my complaints about being overwhelmed, I rarely slow down. Finish one thing, start another. </div><div><br></div><div><img id="id_54ed_1c9_6957_5138" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/4E-jevPxss7uwcfqGSyIKra3icLj2VKzovxwApl2N1S5lX-Fhl84z6-cbvwuzdmlT7Q" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br></div><div><br></div><div>I just finished editing a fifth book. Yes, five jobs since retiring 10 years ago, from four decades in a writing career. The first three books were for pay; low pay because the authors were friends. The last two, also for friends, were the hardest -- years of consulting throughout the writing process, then months of substantive editing (and grueling negotiation), copyediting, proofreading. </div><div><br></div><div>They were voluntary.</div><div><br></div><div>The first editing job was for my dear friend Dan Smith, who died at age 90 just as his book went to the printer. At least he knew it was actually going to be published. What a relief that must have been!</div><div><br></div><div>My regular blog readers have already heard about <a href="http://amberjonesadventures.blogspot.com/2021/12/son-of-slave-black-mans-journey-in.html?m=1" id="id_7b8c_1cc3_f089_3f68">this book project.</a> Dan hand-wrote hundreds of pages in longhand, on yellow legal pads, later typed by his wife and a hired typist. Dan and I spent hours on the patio of Busboys & Poets in Takoma Park, hashing out content, shaping the format, selecting and discarding stories and photos. He told me dozens of stories that didn't make it into the manuscript.</div><div><br></div><div>Then the editing began. Then the exhaustive negotiations with Dan and his "executive" editor--his wife. My own hand-written notes ran to a dozen pages.</div><div><br></div><div><img id="id_88a8_15d6_28c9_f2aa" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/PeNtGVbl9bDkrp3goDKRo7TvluPPv7DgUpjOqNIZq_mGlt6JlMprLh7m4G8bLjpTDPA" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br></div><div>Dan was likely the last living child of someone born into slavery during the American Civil War. His 387-page memoir, <a href="https://www.politics-prose.com/book/9781624294273" id="id_4138_5714_b183_33ac">"Son of a Slave,"</a> recounts his hardships and encounters with racism, and is a heartfelt tribute to those he cared about and those who supported him during his trials and tribulations.</div><div><br></div><div>The second editing job was for my partner, Pope. Yes, Pope wrote a book! His second, actually. This was a memoir: entertaining stories of a life lived hard and with great risks and hair-raising adventures. His theme? How much fun one man can have without killing himself.</div><div><br></div><div>His title? <a href="https://www.archwaypublishing.com/en/bookstore/bookdetails/847536-i-should-have-been-more-careful" id="id_cba_8474_2c96_41b3">"I Should Have Been More Careful."</a> (I should have stopped working...)</div><div><br></div><div>This time, the collaboration began with Pope telling me the stories, over the past 20+ years. His friends have been hearing them for much, much longer. Finally, the stories got onto paper (actually, a computer) and after months of re-hashing and hand-wringing, and checking and re-checking, into 202 printed pages.</div><div><br></div><div><img id="id_c901_ff2b_cb46_1ccb" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/uyDnKH6WpTHRkhq2abG0Yix_gxINRl85ytvbsss7hrzQ0Bhbqfmu0zb_1MhVvXN4HE0" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br></div><div>And me? Two more friends immediately asked me to edit their books. Although the topics are intriguing -- rock stars and Shakespeare -- alas, I must say no and take a well-deserved break. READ a book. Ride a bike. Resume blogging. Go to Italy for some pasta, prosecco, and parmigiano-reggiano.</div><div><br></div><div>Book-length manuscripts are considerably more demanding than the intelligence reports, newsletters, scientific papers, speeches, and other materials I wrote, edited, and produced on a moderate government salary. For a book, I think asking for $$$$ -- a few thousand dollars, perhaps? -- would not be out of line! </div><div><br></div><div>Also, I admit, I've gotten a bit rusty on grammar and style. I frequently had to consult a dictionary, grammar books, and a style manual checked out of the library. This took lots of time.</div><div><br></div><div>It was hard work that left me exhausted.</div><div><br></div><div>When I retired, I could have stopped working. I probably should have stopped working. When will I ever learn? When will I slow down?</div><div><br></div><div><br></div>Amber Jones Adventureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06141081567700435407noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-217330226006258566.post-6117831096525130742022-06-04T10:01:00.001-07:002022-06-04T10:01:38.060-07:00Sailboat Cruising: A Tale of Days Gone ByDo I miss sailboat cruising? Yes. A little.<div><img id="id_94a0_e1a_94a4_67d9" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/BofeVe0y9S7vDJRYwl_QWLH9QtMKFEH9a3rycyssCraq1zUsaOhw4SdV8YVziXAod7M" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>This is the photo on our bedroom wall: cruising the Adriatic Sea. The photo was taken in the dinghy off the coast of Trogir, Croatia, or thereabouts.<br><div><br></div><div>But the temperature is warming here in Washington, DC, and neither Pope nor I has much energy these days, let alone when the thermometer ticks up to 95. Operating--cleaning--fixing--a boat in the heat and humidity of the Caribbean islands, fending off mold, salt, and biting flies, is the farthest thing from my mind.</div><div><img id="id_9f0_29c3_7652_47ef" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/6oTJcHPjgASlB0FWAZ_ReDJpaGZzmINEEn1IkhN2crHxuhOMtHGtxay3YFNWvu6bMyc" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br>We are nine years older than we were in this photo on Echo II, our cruiser from 2013-2020. My, how smooth and healthy our skin and hair looked then! </div><div><br></div><div>In fact, Pope fell down playing pickleball this morning; he is feeling the ravages of time and disease. I am taking it easy, one household or garden chore at a time, with rests in between. I am not as old, but suffer some discomforts associated with age and arthritis. This week, I was diagnosed with osteoporosis.</div><div><br></div><div>Yesterday, I began editing Pope's memoirs, over which he diligently labored for nearly a year. He tells tales of hell-raising escapades, close calls, good luck and bad. I find it humorous. His memoir-writing group finds it appalling: Could one person really have done so many reckless, death-defying things?</div><div><br></div><div>Naturally, sailing mis-adventures feature prominently. Shipwrecking off the Florida coast, plugging a hole in a boat hull with a potato in the middle of the Atlantic, upending a boat by smashing into a railroad bridge.</div><div><br></div><div>One day when I was at the helm of Echo II, our cruiser for six years, I steered too close to a riverbank and bent the top of the mast on a tree. I was quickly forgiven; my transgressions paled in comparison to his. Such as, buying a barely functioning boat; blowing out the water pump by neglecting to maintain the impeller; climbing mountains of waves all night crossing the <a href="https://coastwatch.noaa.gov/cw/stories/emilys-post/the-tongue-of-the-ocean.html" id="id_79d2_3bfa_c14d_4f82" target="_blank">"Tongue of the Ocean"</a> instead of anchoring safely on the Bahama Bank (as all the other boats did; see the 8:15 pm entry in <a href="http://amberjonesadventures.blogspot.com/2013/12/jumpin-and-buckin-like-hobby-horse.html?m=0" id="id_2f1b_d07_915d_807e">my blog</a>).</div><div><img id="id_c765_389c_7236_c410" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/qEojOL5DWLJLzhtEZRcH0VXzR_z9Hwicw1FigTze8J8u1yp7sYuSzCfTacNDkqzG4k4" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>Yes, I miss sailboat cruising. A little. But I am just as content to reminisce over photos, recount the tales--and head out to water my garden.</div><div><br></div></div>Amber Jones Adventureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06141081567700435407noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-217330226006258566.post-32235074906830754232021-12-10T16:31:00.003-08:002021-12-10T22:32:45.864-08:00Son of a Slave: a Black Man's Journey in White America<p>For me, it was another volunteer project: helping someone write and edit a book. Something I've done a few times since retirement, mostly for friends, to keep my skills sharp. For Dan, it was imperative: to get his remarkable story into the hands of readers before he dies.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj4iRbrJX5AcMnPUo7uEg6ZiSoAMajZTDkdL3Xnt-WSEBZk8iQRVSRyQxyY5NGnpL0EttTawGk2rP2EvptPn0BK-gTiZyYldlHZs4eDsY76DEIxZXUveGvL3p3jefu-u3F60hwThr32zJOLoMxLQjs6Us17_tLf24C4qJYO3EGZ1Bvjoa-pXrVIqRowXw=s540" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="540" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj4iRbrJX5AcMnPUo7uEg6ZiSoAMajZTDkdL3Xnt-WSEBZk8iQRVSRyQxyY5NGnpL0EttTawGk2rP2EvptPn0BK-gTiZyYldlHZs4eDsY76DEIxZXUveGvL3p3jefu-u3F60hwThr32zJOLoMxLQjs6Us17_tLf24C4qJYO3EGZ1Bvjoa-pXrVIqRowXw=s320" width="320" /></a><i style="text-align: left;">Dan Smith at 88 in 2020; photo taken by The Washington Post</i></div><p>The significance of Dan's story is in the working title of his book: "Son of a Slave: A Black Man's Journey in White America." Yes, you read that correctly! The Civil War ended 156 years ago. Yet Dan is the son of Abram Smith, who was born into bondage on a Virginia plantation in 1863. Dan may very well be the last surviving offspring of an American slave, following the death of his 96-year-old brother in 2021. A number of other children of slaves have died in recent years at ages in the 90s and 100s, as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/slaves-daughter-who-helped-open-the-african-american-museum-dies-at-100/2017/08/30/2e4bc0ac-8d9d-11e7-91d5-ab4e4bb76a3a_story.html" target="_blank">written up in the news</a>. </p><p>Dan is 89. His health is tenuous. His life as a Black man (he insists on the capital B) is illustrative of the many indignities that a Black person can endure in this country. Even a well-educated, professional Black man like Dan, who served in the armed forces, met U.S. presidents, and headed a national health program. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg3dnKPsPadoYVEJGTMfT-ML_bluJNV8z1DvLoW9bN9ZKKsUV9iQcphhHw-AJBjj8_dPDPF2zgmr-MCaRjVWRKIkMEo17VaK-gmAYd_rCqRYI546hFh_7ijJIUBsq2SK5lBHtoUiyKqbO3qt1MmMkZ823BhTXiF03KCjszJjABJSPj62gfIFmMRp40-Gw=s2048" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1489" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg3dnKPsPadoYVEJGTMfT-ML_bluJNV8z1DvLoW9bN9ZKKsUV9iQcphhHw-AJBjj8_dPDPF2zgmr-MCaRjVWRKIkMEo17VaK-gmAYd_rCqRYI546hFh_7ijJIUBsq2SK5lBHtoUiyKqbO3qt1MmMkZ823BhTXiF03KCjszJjABJSPj62gfIFmMRp40-Gw=s320" width="233" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Dan Smith as a young soldier headed for Korea. Photo from Dan Smith.</i></div><p>Dan Smith was both witness to and participant in nearly a century of struggle--as victim of Jim Crow laws, civil rights activist, and government leader battered by discrimination. His autobiography is a first-hand account of events, tactics, and people that prevent the United States from realizing the promise that "all men are created equal."</p><p>Dan is determined to share his experiences with the world, to demonstrate that the white supremacy that accompanied our nation's founding is still with us two and a half centuries later. The lifetimes of Dan and his father span more than half of our most deplorable history, from slavery and the Civil War to the suppression of civil rights to George Floyd and Black Lives Matter.</p><p>It took Dan 10 years to complete the research, writing, and assembly of materials for his book. He had to dig out of the recesses of his memory the words of his mother when white police officers knocked on the door, the terror of marching with Martin Luther King, Jr., the snarl of a white boss at the National Institutes of Health. From boxes in the corners of his attic he retrieved the photo with John Lewis, the letter from John F. Kennedy, the printed testimony from a federal grievance hearing--records carefully stored for just such an eventuality as writing a book.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhqf17k3p7zCJ6oN6bc4lEcW7UqRYr5aeZMJGXgc3yKh4jn_QmQaldQbhoiczGeJKMFk3Q2WtTWT10tNzimxsqpCpYeCnVekapY0V58tKBBdkI1nLrEzuzKZZrqyyfgoxb86gAqvPkLuKY8Xxa0zFg44PjxjMb4OJ1FHvVdODibX9pI2z6JSNWxiTcdbQ=s1024" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="739" data-original-width="1024" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhqf17k3p7zCJ6oN6bc4lEcW7UqRYr5aeZMJGXgc3yKh4jn_QmQaldQbhoiczGeJKMFk3Q2WtTWT10tNzimxsqpCpYeCnVekapY0V58tKBBdkI1nLrEzuzKZZrqyyfgoxb86gAqvPkLuKY8Xxa0zFg44PjxjMb4OJ1FHvVdODibX9pI2z6JSNWxiTcdbQ=s320" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Dan met and collaborated with such prominent dignitaries as John Lewis and Desmond Tutu. Photo from Dan Smith.</i></div><p>While Dan labored over his memories, we met, discussed, debated, pondered, reviewed, revised. The master copy grew, gradually morphing from pages and pages--and pages--of handwriting to typed, stapled manuscript to thick white notebook, complete with scanned photos.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgp6cTdWGnGW9v4N1lujRfuSTNN2mSkJLvdDl77X7hS1gLvdB9F_UUIFqhCJkeze2n9GU2F1P1IjnFdkEaP6Erj6e616sEgIhk_lVpmisDWpakdrGJEkHJo_0q7QTPkEgVEihIZ_6UQ1nXV6txWug5h9PrgqJZpEckfzORntiHX6ur9yvFqja18dDHpZg=s2048" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgp6cTdWGnGW9v4N1lujRfuSTNN2mSkJLvdDl77X7hS1gLvdB9F_UUIFqhCJkeze2n9GU2F1P1IjnFdkEaP6Erj6e616sEgIhk_lVpmisDWpakdrGJEkHJo_0q7QTPkEgVEihIZ_6UQ1nXV6txWug5h9PrgqJZpEckfzORntiHX6ur9yvFqja18dDHpZg=s320" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgYovYsVRiBmMv2tZI42PWpFg0QVpHSCP2qu4UeuyHLbKnOf1TvD3oiQXL-WNAD3rgpX4fy6BETRtJT4yRTBo5r1emObxT9mZgjnbML4iRK-VW-jXJtZJxD5suLXmhlm4F1qE5uCi8dFoklsBwn7Z9aqHA0ce2ZeWimg9LFlLcPoDnvPfWH5ZiDA6hObw=s2048" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgYovYsVRiBmMv2tZI42PWpFg0QVpHSCP2qu4UeuyHLbKnOf1TvD3oiQXL-WNAD3rgpX4fy6BETRtJT4yRTBo5r1emObxT9mZgjnbML4iRK-VW-jXJtZJxD5suLXmhlm4F1qE5uCi8dFoklsBwn7Z9aqHA0ce2ZeWimg9LFlLcPoDnvPfWH5ZiDA6hObw=s320" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>A sampling of my notes while I read the unfinished manuscript. Photo by Amber Jones.</i></div><p>After the coronavirus invaded Washington, Dan and I met on the outdoor patio of Busboys & Poets, papers blowing in the wind and thick manila envelopes spread before us. We debated by telephone. Dan doesn't use computers; he wrote his entire 300-page book in longhand and hired a typist. He does use email to some extent--thank goodness. In a pandemic, face-to-face contact is difficult.</p><p>Toward the end of his toil, I wore him down with a hundred tough questions I thought a publisher would ask, and prodded him for decisions on voice, tone, style, spellings, consistency, photographs, format. Dan's wife of 30 years, Loretta--busy with her own, uniquely Washington activities, including politics and historic preservation--carved out time to help edit, revise, and interpret stories. (Dan and Loretta married in the National Cathedral in Washington, DC, where he served as a volunteer usher, mingling with presidents--just another of his inspiring tales.) After the final copyedit, I rested, leaving Dan and Loretta to search frantically for an agent and publisher. Time is short, probably.</p><p>Meanwhile, Dan's history, including personal anecdotes about discrimination and the Ku Klux Klan, were discovered by the press. In 2020 and 2021 he has been interviewed by <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/07/27/slave-son-racism-george-floyd/" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a>, <a href="https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99549319" target="_blank">NPR</a>, and the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p08mzrv5" target="_blank">BBC</a>. There is interest in a movie. Most recently, <a href="https://www.economist.com/united-states/2021/12/04/a-racial-history-lesson-from-the-son-of-a-slave" target="_blank">The Economist </a>came calling. I have copied that column below. But just wait until you read all his other chapters!</p><p>I am awed by Dan's persistence and proud of his progress. I hope you will read the column below, buy the book when it's published, be awed, learn something. And, most important, consider joining Dan in his higher calling: fighting for equality--not just in law, but in practice--for Blacks and all other citizens of our nation.</p><p>My volunteer writing and editing projects always leave me tired, yet proud--that I can contribute to a cause larger than my own narrow interests. In this case, I agree that it's imperative to get the story out.</p><p> ~ ~ ~ ~ ~</p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "Calisto MT", serif; text-size-adjust: auto;">Column in the Economist, December 3, 2021</span></p><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><h1 style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 24pt; margin: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="gmail-articleheadline"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "Calisto MT", serif; font-size: 18pt; padding: 0in;">A racial-history lesson from the son of a slave</span></span><span style="color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "Calisto MT", serif; font-size: 18pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></h1><h2 style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variant: inherit; margin: 2.1875rem 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "Calisto MT", serif; font-size: 16pt; font-weight: normal;">Daniel Smith may be the last direct link to slavery<o:p></o:p></span></h2></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;"><img align="left" height="198" hspace="12" src="https://www.economist.com/img/b/1280/720/90/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20211204_USD001_0.jpg" style="height: 163.695px; width: 291px;" v:shapes="Picture_x0020_1" width="352" /><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "Calisto MT", serif; font-size: 12pt; padding: 0in; text-transform: uppercase;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "Calisto MT", serif; font-size: 12pt; padding: 0in; text-transform: uppercase;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "Calisto MT", serif; font-size: 12pt; padding: 0in; text-transform: uppercase;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "Calisto MT", serif; font-size: 12pt; padding: 0in; text-transform: uppercase;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "Calisto MT", serif; font-size: 12pt; padding: 0in; text-transform: uppercase;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "Calisto MT", serif; font-size: 12pt; padding: 0in; text-transform: uppercase;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "Calisto MT", serif; font-size: 12pt; padding: 0in; text-transform: uppercase;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "Calisto MT", serif; font-size: 12pt; padding: 0in; text-transform: uppercase;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "Calisto MT", serif; font-size: 12pt; padding: 0in; text-transform: uppercase;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "Calisto MT", serif; font-size: 12pt; padding: 0in; text-transform: uppercase;">M</span><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "Calisto MT", serif; font-size: 12pt; padding: 0in;">ost Americans</span><span style="color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "Calisto MT", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> don’t know much about slavery. In a recent survey, only half could name it as the main cause of the civil war. Yet for Daniel Smith, the “whipping and crying post”, the hanging tree and other horrors of the antebellum South are not ill-taught, dusty history, but vivid family stories.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="gmail-articlebody-text" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variant: inherit; margin: 0.875rem; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "Calisto MT", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The 89-year-old retired bureaucrat heard them from his father Abram, who was born a slave in Virginia in 1863, two years before the war ended. “On Saturday evenings after dinner he and my elder siblings would gather and he would tell them what his parents had told him about slavery,” recalls Mr Smith, an only slightly stooped octogenarian, at his house in Washington, <span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">dc</span>. “I used to sneak out of bed and sit listening on the floor. I remember hearing about two slaves who were chained together at the wrist and tried to run away. They were found by some vicious dogs hiding under a tree, and hanged from it. I also remember a story about an enslaved man who was accused of lying to his owner. He was made to step out into the snow with his family and put his tongue on an icy wagon wheel until it stuck. When he tried to remove it, half his tongue came off. My father cried as he told us these things.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="gmail-articlebody-text" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variant: inherit; margin: 0.875rem; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "Calisto MT", serif; font-size: 12pt;">It is chilling to hear him—a direct link to the history America is in many ways still struggling to escape. Sana Butler, who wrote a book on the children of slaves, identified only around 40 still alive in 1999, all of whom have since died. She did not track down Mr Smith, who was known in Washington as a well-connected civil-rights activist but rarely mentioned his family history. “It was something under the surface that we were not proud of,” he says. As his father’s only surviving child, after the death of his brother Abe earlier this year, he may well be the last living offspring of an American slave.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="gmail-articlebody-text" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variant: inherit; margin: 0.875rem; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "Calisto MT", serif; font-size: 12pt;">His memories underline how recent many of the rawest and most formative events of the American story are, especially for those on the receiving end of them. Slavery and the last Native American land-grabs are only two lifetimes away; no wonder the politics surrounding them, on all sides, are so intense. And the effect is particularly powerful in Mr Smith’s case because of how many momentous events in black history he has witnessed. Lexington got in touch to discuss his father, only to learn that Mr Smith had marched with Martin Luther King in Washington and Selma, feuded with the Black Panthers, been chased by Ku Klux Klan-inspired night riders through rural Alabama, been asked by the <span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">cia</span> to spy on the <span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">anc</span> in South Africa—and was in the crowd, tears pouring down his cheeks, to witness the inauguration of a black president. “A friend of mine calls me the black Forrest Gump,” he deadpans.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="gmail-articlebody-text" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variant: inherit; margin: 0.875rem; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "Calisto MT", serif; font-size: 12pt;">In fact his brushes with history chiefly reflect his talents and drive, which are characteristic of his black American generation. His father, a janitor aged 70 at the time of Mr Smith’s birth, was killed by a hit-and-run driver when Daniel was six. Abram’s death left his wife and six children almost destitute. Yet he had bred in them a fierce determination to rise. “We always said in our family, if you want to beat white people you’ve got to outwork them, you’ve got to outsmart them, you’ve got to stay up longer at night.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="gmail-articlebody-text" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variant: inherit; margin: 0.875rem; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "Calisto MT", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Mr Smith graduated from high school in the mainly white town of Winsted, Connecticut, while working long mornings and evenings in a veterinary surgery to earn money. After a stint with the army in Korea, he went to college under the <span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">gi</span> Bill, became a social worker, then enrolled in veterinary school in Alabama. Three of his five siblings also went to college. “The success of the generation raised by former slaves changed my whole perspective on this country’s history,” says Ms Butler. “Considering what they faced, and what they achieved, they are America’s greatest generation.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="gmail-articlebody-text" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variant: inherit; margin: 0.875rem; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "Calisto MT", serif; font-size: 12pt;">In New England Mr Smith’s race was an everyday hurdle, but ultimately not a deal-breaker. He knew he could never make the first move on a white girl: “I don’t want to have to cut you down from that tree,” his mother would tell him. Yet he could rise: “America has always given me the right to work.” Alabama, where he arrived at the tail end of Jim Crow, was a different story. Southern blacks marvelled at his car and confidence among whites, including white women. It irritates him still; “Women are women, black, white, Indian or Chinese,” he says.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="gmail-articlebody-text" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variant: inherit; margin: 0.875rem; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "Calisto MT", serif; font-size: 12pt;">He was drawn into the civil-rights struggle, then roiling the state, and run-ins with Stokely Carmichael, a charismatic Panther who wanted to put money Mr Smith collected for anti-poverty programmes to more radical use. He preferred King’s moderation. But he has more time for Malcolm X’s radicalism now: “We needed both, King and the Panthers, the pull and the push,” he says.<o:p></o:p></span></p><h2 style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variant: inherit; margin: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "Calisto MT", serif; font-size: 16pt;">Where slavery was, liberty can be<o:p></o:p></span></h2><p class="gmail-articlebody-text" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variant: inherit; margin: 0.875rem; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "Calisto MT", serif; font-size: 12pt;">That reconsideration seems to reflect his downbeat view of race relations since the 1960s. Socially, he acknowledges, there has been huge progress. Many of his nieces and nephews are married to whites; his second wife is white (though it was a while before he would dare hold her hand in public, she notes). But institutionally he looks back on a history of failed promises.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="gmail-articlebody-text" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variant: inherit; margin: 0.875rem; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "Calisto MT", serif; font-size: 12pt;">He believes racist policing puts black children in greater peril today than he ever faced. He also notes that the “shining light” of Barack Obama’s election provoked a militant white reaction, in the form of Donald Trump, which is not weakening. The insurrection that the former president provoked and his party has refused to investigate, during which a Confederate flag was paraded through the Capitol, “was so revolting for our constitution”, he says. “There’s a big question about where we go from now.” And then Mr Smith, though visibly troubled, pulls himself up.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="gmail-articlebody-text" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variant: inherit; margin: 0.875rem; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "Calisto MT", serif; font-size: 12pt;">“Incidentally, we could never talk negatively about America in front of my father,” he says, speaking of a poor man, born a slave, who wore a well-brushed suit and fob watch to church on Sunday and drove his children to succeed. “He did not have much but he really, really loved America. Isn’t that funny?” </span><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; color: #0d0d0d; font-size: 1pt; padding: 0in;">■</span></p></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">James Astill<o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Washington bureau chief & Lexington columnist</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Economist</span></p></div>Amber Jones Adventureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06141081567700435407noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-217330226006258566.post-85181800995639662322020-08-14T22:42:00.002-07:002020-08-14T22:42:32.799-07:00Gloom, despair, and disappearing mailboxes<p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Spoiler alert: I am going to reveal some of my
vulnerabilities and shortcomings below, thereby potentially burnishing my
golden reputation for strength and stability. So if you don’t want to be
disabused of your glowing perception of my perfectionism, cease and desist!</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Gloom, despair, and agony on me. Deep, dark depression,
excessive misery.” It’s an old song, recognizable to my generation. It cycles
through my mind.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It’s easy to get depressed during a pandemic. I try to keep
up with friends who live alone, to make sure they know they are cherished by at
least one person despite the distance. I understand how lonely and discouraging
it can get.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I am not invulnerable, despite having a dinner companion and
someone to watch my back. For example, today I got bad news: a possible plumbing leak
at my rental condo (in the converted church). I know that Pope will try to support
me through the ordeal, and stay nearby if tears flow. But the responsibility is mine.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Tears have been flowing easily. Not from loneliness per se,
though it feels like I am alone in my troubles. Sound familiar?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Mostly, it’s despair at the shanghaied election process, the vile behavior of anti-maskers, the endless stream of problems that
cannot be solved easily because of pandemic closures, reduced services, and reluctance
to allow service personnel into my safe space. Equally depressing: we do not
receive mail for long blocks of time, then a stack arrives all at once. The
longest period was 7 days. We are getting other people's mail. The <a href="https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local/dc/two-weeks-no-mail-in-southeast-dc-neighborhood/65-31535798-3c83-45f8-b0e4-775ce6d6e8f8" target="_blank">dismantling of postal service </a>is real -- even 8 blocks from the
US Capitol.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I know that not all readers of my blog share my political
views. I forgive you, and hope that we can remain civil and respectful. I have handwritten, addressed, and stamped 800 election
reminders to voters, hoping they will choose my favored candidates. Now, I have no confidence they will reach their intended recipients, because of corruption and malicious intent by the opposition. You may disagree with my politics, but my feelings are real. Tears of
anger.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_boF5CuCdcUm_w9a8THBNmw52z8voZTFvo-LwBR7FiHwb3eAG9fWRzSLc5VAlY_5FzbYsL7KJH1tVH5WFdTdTGmIKDie8RPFc7roJcThFx7YMUCU0HbpL-lAxC-qTdqNPZexojegE9X2i/s640/me.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_boF5CuCdcUm_w9a8THBNmw52z8voZTFvo-LwBR7FiHwb3eAG9fWRzSLc5VAlY_5FzbYsL7KJH1tVH5WFdTdTGmIKDie8RPFc7roJcThFx7YMUCU0HbpL-lAxC-qTdqNPZexojegE9X2i/s0/me.jpeg" width="292" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfov0l-Dbyj57f5pEAbXxgpjT7Zso_yg_pe6IbBgoHsUH1ohc4S9q6xpqr2mzFPqaOsn__eSliK510w6uhL8AQh93WcIRfu9Em79NE51m6mWkHpAPpBVUmT0zPpmEnmuhvpFtQs5UeMRh1/s640/postcard.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="405" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfov0l-Dbyj57f5pEAbXxgpjT7Zso_yg_pe6IbBgoHsUH1ohc4S9q6xpqr2mzFPqaOsn__eSliK510w6uhL8AQh93WcIRfu9Em79NE51m6mWkHpAPpBVUmT0zPpmEnmuhvpFtQs5UeMRh1/s0/postcard.jpeg" width="304" /></a> </div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I have a friend who moved to Virginia last week and wants to
vote. But DMV appointments to change an address and get a Real ID are not
available until late October, and the deadline for voter registration changes is mid-October. I tried to help solve this problem. Tears of
frustration. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Returning to the previous address to vote is not feasible. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/usps-states-delayed-mail-in-ballots/2020/08/14/64bf3c3c-dcc7-11ea-8051-d5f887d73381_story.html" target="_blank">Voting by mail</a> is ridiculous: the slim chance of a ballot application using the old
address arriving at a short-staffed office, a ballot being forwarded from the
old address to the new address by an unreliable USPS, and a completed ballot getting
returned to election officials in time, by the same handcuffed USPS -- all around the same
time frame that the DMV official address change is taking effect -- well, let’s
just leave it at “ridiculous.”</p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlSgWQCsp350FUzDuWWJZWEnR5C9rj1UhNQkmkk0z8yOPpC2RQuA8OSAkE7scg6AJaFMs66xRey9Egt_oS86JccmJ7wvJSZ5reAUOjATSLGOudGTEA5CTYK0-7mnkLN0_IF-l-3w3Jtcmf/s295/vote+by+mail+xed+out.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="236" data-original-width="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlSgWQCsp350FUzDuWWJZWEnR5C9rj1UhNQkmkk0z8yOPpC2RQuA8OSAkE7scg6AJaFMs66xRey9Egt_oS86JccmJ7wvJSZ5reAUOjATSLGOudGTEA5CTYK0-7mnkLN0_IF-l-3w3Jtcmf/s0/vote+by+mail+xed+out.png" /></a></div>There probably are workarounds. But why should someone have to work so hard to vote? Because <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/08/13/trump-confesses-voter-supression/" target="_blank">some people</a> want to prevent other people from voting. The first set of people are more powerful than the second set of people. It’s a recipe for
anxiety, anger, despair. Tears on behalf of the friend, myself, and all citizens
affected by comparable dilemmas due to the sorry mess our country is in.
<p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Finally, a source of tears and fears that I bet is not at
all unusual: I wake up coughing every few days. I get hot flashes, chills, nausea,
and lightheadedness. My head aches. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">These might be attributable to allergies, hormone
imbalances, hot weather, fluctuations in blood pressure, dehydration, stress.
Who knows. In a time of pandemic, however, my mind flashes like lightning to
the perfect storm: coronavirus.</p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOX3gcnijvFQHXdjhQCc4JrpeqQZ6sf2NCdGgFhoE66u9H68U58Y-bwvABZMsmFDc7Q_qDpmKzm3rpDpaGxw6mQuYj0gKYLB7K0pvgPhJhmC7_adc8fkXMdm0L9VP-tqWdMWfBzuo45CVd/s2048/coronavirus.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="165" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOX3gcnijvFQHXdjhQCc4JrpeqQZ6sf2NCdGgFhoE66u9H68U58Y-bwvABZMsmFDc7Q_qDpmKzm3rpDpaGxw6mQuYj0gKYLB7K0pvgPhJhmC7_adc8fkXMdm0L9VP-tqWdMWfBzuo45CVd/s640/coronavirus.png" width="294" /></a></div> Gloom, despair, and at least a little depression. Can anyone
relate?
<p></p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p> </p>Amber Jones Adventureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06141081567700435407noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-217330226006258566.post-24123281100191920332020-08-07T08:53:00.001-07:002020-08-12T06:21:19.283-07:00It’s A(nother) Lost Cause<div>Are you familiar with the Lost Cause? If not, you may be ignorant of, or possibly denying, a large part of US history. This shameful period is rarely described in history books, because it isn’t over.</div><div><br></div><div>Lost Cause began with glorification of the southern cause in the Civil War and a call for restoring white supremacy, including denying Blacks their gains after the war in getting paid jobs, public office, and the right to vote. It continued with Jim Crow laws and continued denial of the civil rights enshrined in Constitutional amendments. It has taken a century and the deaths of many public leaders to repeal these laws and reduce these sinful practices. Agonizingly slowly. Like pulling teeth. </div><div><br></div><div>In fact, lynchings and hangings were never outlawed because Senator Rand Paul prevented passage of an anti-lynching bill in Congress this spring and summer. 155 years after the Civil War.</div><div><br></div><div>That’s right, folks. In August 2020, lynching is still not a federal crime because of entrenched anti-Black sentiment in the United States. </div><div><br></div><div>So why is anyone confused about the frustration that led to Black Lives Matter? How can anyone deny this nation’s deplorable, dishonorable, and decidedly un-Christian present, let alone its heinous past?</div><div><br></div><div>Are you part of the solution, or entrenched in a sordid and shameful history? </div><div><br></div><div>Could the current era of corruption, racism, and denial of civil and civic rights become another Lost Cause, despite the protests and calls for change — by only half of our nation? If so, which side will you be on?</div> Amber Jones Adventureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06141081567700435407noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-217330226006258566.post-24635951631242606912020-08-06T05:31:00.001-07:002020-08-08T06:37:11.130-07:00 The Importance of Education. Are You Sure?<div>What’s the big deal with getting everybody back to textbooks and exams? What’s the harm in allowing a little delay in learning?</div><div><br></div><div>It hasn’t been many generations since going to school was not a sure thing in the US. For instance, my mother only went to school until 4th grade and my father started in a one-room schoolhouse with six students — both in white, rural Michigan.</div><div><br></div><div>Impoverished minority communities lacked proper schools and supplies, and some had none, until very recently. The gaps continue and are <a href="https://cepa.stanford.edu/educational-opportunity-monitoring-project/achievement-gaps/race/" id="id_2745_3e76_a90a_b94">well documented.</a></div><div><br></div><div>Outside the US, there are many countries and regions where school is not a given, especially for girls, minorities, lower classes, and lower castes. Children are put to work at a young age instead of going to school. </div><div><br></div><div>What are these dire consequences that would occur if education worldwide gets postponed for a while? It seems that the bigger problem, at least in the US, is parents needing relief from child care. If that’s the real reason, why not address the problem differently? Such as staggered work schedules for parents, partnering with neighbors for child care (i.e., expanding quarantine units for this purpose). Some private schools are already reconfiguring — very small numbers, staggered schedules (by weeks, not hours), plexiglass barriers, distance, ventilation.</div><div><br></div><div>U.N. Secretary General António Guterres said in early August that the world is facing a “generational catastrophe” due to school closures. See <font size="4">the</font> UN statement, <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/08/1069442" id="id_b999_86a6_762b_b6c6">linked here.</a></div><div><br></div><div>In interviews, he also called the coronavirus pandemic “the largest disruption of education ever.” I challenge that statement. What about wars, the plague, the 1918 pandemic? What about the centuries before pre-industrialization, before mass migration to cities, when most of the population lived on farms, and work vs. learning was subject to need, demand, ability, seasons, and weather? </div><div><br></div><div>Maybe what he really meant was “in industrialized countries in recent decades.”</div><div><br></div><div>Guterres urged all countries to suppress the virus enough to allow schools to open. Well, duh. Of course that’s the ideal. But in reality, isn’t it likely (leaving aside political will for the moment) that some countries will be far more capable than others of accomplishing this, by throwing economic and digital resources at the problem, and thereby widening, rather than narrowing, educational disparities worldwide?</div><div><br></div><div>The US is technically capable but lacks the political will. So, is Guterres’ education “catastrophe” worse than the one that’s emerging in the US this week: massive superspreading events triggered by students crowding school classrooms and hallways?</div><div><br></div><div>How about this idea: throw economic and digital resources at the child care problem, and urge capable nations to let the school vacation continue until all nations are in a more solid position to resume education on a global scale. Let some nations catch up by slowing others down. Why not?</div> Amber Jones Adventureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06141081567700435407noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-217330226006258566.post-15072977093267531022020-08-05T14:46:00.002-07:002020-08-06T05:32:04.465-07:00Voter Suppression Makes Me Very, Very Mad<div style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">My latest rant is not about old boats or the pandemic. If you only want to read about tragic sailing escapades and tropical lanes decked with bougainvillea, or even life in quarantine, please stop reading and come back another time. Today, my bugaboo is politics.</span><br>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I rarely cared about politics until the last five or six years. That's one of the reasons my first husband gave up on me: I yawned through his tirades and was bored with All Things Considered, the NPR radio show he listened to every afternoon. He campaigned for Eugene McCarthy. My M.O. was to turn on some rock 'n' roll, go dancing, have fun. Politics? Nah. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">A few years ago, however, </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">my current life partner, Pope, educated me about the <a href="https://www.salon.com/2016/04/03/this_is_the_kochs_right_wing_coup_deny_voting_rights_flood_politics_with_dark_money_capture_the_courts/" target="_blank">Koch brothers</a> and their systematic efforts--backed by millions of dollars--to suppress votes, legislate in favor of billionaires, pack the courts, and otherwise dismantle democracy. Then I read a </span><span style="font-size: 16px;"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/13/magazine/the-man-behind-trumps-voter-fraud-obsession.html" target="_blank">New York Times Magazine profile</a> of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/08/opinion/editorials/kris-kobach-kansas-gop-primary.html" target="_blank">Kris Kobach</a>, an extreme anti-voting-rights, anti-immigration politician. I felt chills. I was incensed!</span></div><div style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16px;"><br></span></div><div style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Since then, one of the Koch brothers died. Otherwise, the roster of right-wing radicals working hard to take away our rights to equality and "liberty and justice for all" has only grown.</span></div><div style="font-family: helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br></div><div style="font-family: helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">For several years I had been observing other things I don't like: </span></div><div style="font-family: helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">-Vicious Facebook comments, especially from acquaintances in Michigan, about "liberal" policies I liked (now expanded to mask policies).</span></div><div style="font-family: helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">-Confirmation that the violence during "protests" is often fueled by white supremacists. This started long before BLM, with the first inauguration protests-- remember?</span></div><div style="font-family: helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">-Public officials advocating violence instead of negotiation, reaching across the aisle, and the Golden Rule. </span></div><div style="font-family: helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br></span></div><div style="font-family: helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">At the 2016 and 2018 elections, I overcame my shyness enough to do phone banking and door-to-door canvassing for Democratic candidates, hoping for a firm stomp on the growing lawlessness. I wrote postcards to voters.</span><br>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Since #45 got elected, my fears increased to the point of overload. </span><span style="font-size: 16px;">I worry about the entire future of democracy.</span><span style="font-size: 16px;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I started going to weekly protests in downtown DC--then stopped because I was afraid of a mass shooting. (My fears have been realized with the "crackdowns" in Washington, DC, Portland and Seattle--not crazies with machine guns, but equivalent.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">One of the things that upset me the most was learning about the widespread efforts to deny people the vote. This feels to me like a vicious attack on American principles -- not to mention Christian values -- and a return to 19th-century-levels of discrimination. (Susan B. Anthony, we need you now.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Long after the controversial 2018 election was over, with thousands of absentee ballots uncounted, the battle to restore ethics and democracy in elections continued, thanks partly to the efforts of defeated Secretary of State candidate Stacey Abrams of Georgia. In fact, this battle had already been raging for many years. It's just that many of us first became aware of it after 2018. Techniques to influence outcomes have become a fine art. First came gerrymandering, then voter IDs, requiring fixed addresses, and closing polling places.</span><br>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Now, the situation is more dire than ever: we regularly see headlines about voter suppression. We know that safely voting in person is not feasible, and right-wing radicals may succeed in essentially shutting down mail service. Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, the Texas and Missouri governors, and, yes, Kris Kobach have publicly opposed mail-in voting for months, despite the pandemic. Their opposition is shrouded in the false guise of avoiding "voter fraud." The president is uncharacteristically forthright, acknowledging that the real reason is that it could hurt Republicans' chances to get elected. McConnell is playing his usual "Follow the Leader" game, mimicking the president.</span></div><div style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br></span></div><div style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">If</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">, like me, you are concerned about voter suppression, regardless of the specific measures that might be employed, I invite you to join me in supporting the various movements to make</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> America democratic again. That's democratic with a small "d," not the name of the political party. Every citizen should care about democracy. At a minimum, they should stay informed, research the candidates, and be allowed to vote without undue obstacles or harassment.</span><br>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Here are a few suggestions for getting up to speed quickly on the subject of voter suppression.</span><br>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Start with these articles that came out of Georgia just after the 2018 midterm election: <a href="https://www.gregpalast.com/what-we-must-do-now/" target="_blank">What We Must Do Now</a> and <a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/11/20/669280353/stacey-abrams-says-she-was-almost-blocked-from-voting-in-georgia-election" target="_blank">Stacey Abrams Says She Was Almost Blocked From Voting</a>.</span><br>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">If you can spare 5 more minutes, search Google for other articles by <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=greg+palast+voter+suppression&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS737US737&oq=greg+palast+voter+suppression&aqs=chrome..69i57.6823j1j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8" target="_blank">Greg Palast</a>, an investigative journalist </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">who has been documenting voter suppression for several years. No need to read all the articles--just browse the terrible headlines!</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Third, if you haven't lost your job and can spare a few bucks, donate to one of the groups fighting back against the continuing, aggressive anti-voter measures by prominent politicians. Those groups didn't give up when the midterm recounts ended despite thousands of uncounted mail-in votes. Their lawsuits against public officials and institutions will drag on for years. In the time of a pandemic, their battles are exponentially more difficult.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">T</span><span style="font-size: 16px;">he </span><a href="https://www.aclu.org/issues/voting-rights/fighting-voter-suppression" style="font-size: 16px;" target="_blank">ACLU</a><span style="font-size: 16px;"> and <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/our-issues/voting-rights" target="_blank">Southern Poverty Law Center</a> seem to be the most prominent advocates for voting rights. </span><a href="https://www.commoncause.org/our-work/voting-and-elections/voting-rights/" style="font-size: 12pt;" target="_blank">Common Cause</a><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> continues to litigate the election process in Georgia, North Carolina, and Florida, as </span><span style="font-size: 16px;">does the <a href="https://www.lwv.org/voting-rights/fighting-voter-suppression" target="_blank">League of Women Voters</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I have donated to </span><a href="http://www.fourdirectionsvote.com/" style="font-size: 12pt;" target="_blank">Four Directions</a><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> in North Dakota, which battled to provide new voter IDs to Native Americans when the law was changed to require street addresses instead of post office boxes--just before the 2018 midterms. It's also possible to </span>donate to <a href="http://dev.gregpalast.com/about-greg/" target="_blank">Greg Palast's operating fund</a> as he continues to investigate underhanded tactics by the likes of <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2018/11/06/brian-kemp-voter-suppression-georgia/tcycVrH5m0pJ9SQC7XwiWP/story.html" target="_blank">Brian Kemp</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/13/magazine/the-man-behind-trumps-voter-fraud-obsession.html" target="_blank">Kris Kobach</a>, and the surviving <a href="http://kochcash.org/koch-facts/voting-rights/" target="_blank">Koch Brother</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Keep an eye on <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/stacey-abrams-voter-suppression-758361/" target="_blank">Stacey Abrams</a>, who may provide clues about the steps needed in the coming months to counteract voter oppression, despite where she ends up politically.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I would rather spend my time on music, yoga, fitness, genealogy, maybe watching travel documentaries--anything at all except politics. Ugh. Unfortunately, though, my blinders have been removed, and my motivations have changed: now I think engaging in the election process is the most important activity in which every US citizen can engage. I see clearly that voter suppression is just one prong of a pitchfork being leveled at democracy. Any of us could get stabbed.</span><br>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">So I reluctantly admit that my worldview has changed and my focus must change with it. Having fun and enjoying life, even surviving a deadly virus, needs to move out of the way and make room for educating myself and engaging in politics.</span></div>
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Amber Jones Adventureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06141081567700435407noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-217330226006258566.post-41652194207295151862020-04-17T20:16:00.000-07:002020-04-23T05:54:00.178-07:00Life in the Hot Zone<div class="MsoNormal">Life changed quickly, a little over a month ago. Maybe for
a while, maybe for good.</div>
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I know that all of you are practicing some version of
isolation. In our household, we may be taking more extreme measures than others,
because of Pope’s compromised immune system and, predictably, my perfectionism.
I admit I am a little OCD about preventing contamination.</div>
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I walk every other day for exercise. The flowering trees have been delightful.</div><div class="MsoNormal">Pope visits his
community garden plot. We have made two trips to a grocery store, two weeks
apart. In between, I pick up milk and produce at a small, uncrowded organic market
close to our house.</div>
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Each of those excursions invokes extreme measures. Before
leaving, we don our armor. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><img id="id_7b1c_f97e_d758_f463" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pKWSaCCickclTwYQoA_I8LEplnRI6aOg_3fk06O9SBVctSUIiWqLUb_F8FSHUA0" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br>On the return – if a store was involved – we unpeel the
protective gear, shower, throw clothes in the washer, disinfect shoe soles.
Every item that enters the house—mail, packages, food, household supplies, face
masks, latex gloves—gets cleaned with soap, disinfected with bleach, or set
aside to allow any stray virus fragments to disintegrate. I can recite by heart
the estimated time for the virus to break down on various materials.</div>
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Consequence: our house is a mess. Food and packages are stacked
up just inside the door, grocery bags in a corner of the kitchen. Mail is left lying
on the floor, under the mail slot.</div>
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<img id="id_dbe8_80ce_15e4_e3a2" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/4LadV3yb7889K0oIHsP270mcHiNfdg27tSq0hajvW7bY3Z9Xz_JZIQmEvAfamZk" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);"><br></span><img id="id_7dd1_56be_268_2720" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/U6IqnIlENvdfXLz_I6z9HsnnSyuBtj0nS_JMA1E44SXUYV9VQv9SfW7I6Gjc1fc" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br>The table by the door holds the few disinfecting supplies we
were able to dig up in early March; now, it would be hopeless to try to find
anything.</div>
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<img id="id_9c63_6d0f_b85_d6ac" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/LbDrH948hEcPoMDgWDnqdAPCKE-g2NhnEjiRfufERWachFv140TekkKBC-9e5Y8" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br>Gloves and masks are labeled by the date used and laid out to
“dry”; i.e., self-decontaminate. Since we only have a few, we have to reuse
them, just like the doctors and nurses in ICUs.</div>
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<img id="id_2e1a_9592_e533_dc2d" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/LNhlx_SnpGt30IZWBq-asgGsSBo4sJbZG9WwygypFstRgaSJxl5vZXjIIvUY17U" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br><img id="id_1b70_39da_7e42_b037" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/mmw5mvx9WijGUNxnP5Z7lI-6ieVqOk0XY3vdWDpoa0T4Gzz1QHI6-Eh6MRV1bf8" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br>The bedroom floor has turned into my personal
gym, with yoga mat, foam roller, weights, and a setup for viewing yoga
and fitness classes on a laptop.</div>
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The living room has become Pope’s Netflix domain. Aside from
an occasional excursion to the garden, he has become a couch potato. Soon, I predict,
he’ll be online, ordering a bigger waist size.</div>
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Though Pope is a little bored, I am in high spirits. I have
my guitar, books, and an endless supply of online classes – yoga, exercise,
dance, cooking, blues guitar. Every day, dozens of musicians are live-streaming
concerts from their homes, asking only for tips via PayPal or Venmo. Theaters are
posting plays, operas, and concerts. Since I am not spending money going out, I
donate.</div><div class="MsoNormal">___________________________________________</div><div class="MsoNormal"><img id="id_8f60_78ac_b696_4e76" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/rmZOyolCIQ4BtnizHnz-AsTtdO-XKNGH2WHwoqpDCfsepk3glg3Kh2k9YriuoXM" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br></div>
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<img id="id_e6f4_a33d_8100_7876" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/Rcf2Ky7gQEZJYHxOIUlaQGnQLCTNIyVQqiBTHcw64Ef_oiJuD81NMPYhxC7cXYU" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br></div><div class="MsoNormal">__________________________________________</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br></div>
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Our windowsills are covered with seedlings. Soon it will be
time to move plants outdoors and start the daily weeding and watering of our garden
plot. Fortunately, the city of DC declared gardening an allowed activity. Community
gardens stayed open. Garden centers offer online ordering and delivery, just
like restaurants.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><img id="id_bfe7_41d_e60a_6aa5" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/F34CXLee2rRlbX85zuirRPmMWA9enjTWJEWzApde-VmlhnXGo9yvLPfuXNLl-5o" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br>I feel extremely fortunate to be retired and able to enjoy a
lot of these activities. I have also tackled long-term projects: updating my
will, writing election postcards, and cleaning closets.</div>
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I am grateful for having a live-in companion who is
intelligent, cooperative, and a good cook.</div>
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I hope that all of you are taking precautions, even if they
aren’t as extreme as mine. If you are working from home, I hope you remember to look out at the trees and sky, and find time
and resources for amusement. Sunshine on your shoulders, a glass of
wine on your porch, an exercise class or concert can help ease loneliness,
battle boredom, lift spirits.</div>
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Life changed quickly and will continue to evolve. For the foreseeable future,
isolation will remain a dark cloud on our horizon. I have found the silver lining.</div>
Amber Jones Adventureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06141081567700435407noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-217330226006258566.post-71954120588140566622020-04-17T12:52:00.001-07:002020-04-17T21:41:55.632-07:00WHO? What? When?<div>
<span style="font-size: small;">The news from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue this week has undoubtedly led many to wonder: what exactly is the role of the World Health Organization (WHO)? In my view, the answer is...muddled.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Earlier this week, headlines screamed the US statements from on high (quoted below) accusing the WHO of negligence. In light of the dates offered in those statements, I reviewed my earlier research on the timeline of what was known early on about the novel coronavirus, <a href="http://amberjonesadventures.blogspot.com/2020/03/coulda-woulda-shoulda-its-human-nature.html?m=1" id="id_2857_e11c_4fa6_afe9" target="_self">published in this blog on March 22.</a> It gives some perspective on the accuracy of the accusations against WHO. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">POTUS statement on April 14: “The WHO failed to investigate credible reports from sources in Wuhan that conflicted directly with the Chinese government’s official accounts. There was credible information to suspect human-to-human transmission in December 2019, which should have spurred the WHO to investigate, and investigate immediately. Through the middle of January, it parroted and publicly endorsed the idea that there was not human-to-human transmission happening despite reports and clear evidence to the contrary. … The WHO pushed China’s misinformation about the virus, saying it was not communicable.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">My March 22 analysis of the timeline reveals that POTUS’ claim about “credible information... in December” is questionable. “Whistleblowers” within the medical community in Wuhan tried to warn their peers the last week in December and were shut up by local officials. WHO received the first report of a problem on December 31, from member-country China. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">It is true that, as late as January 12, WHO was falling in line with China’s claim </span><span style="font-size: small;">that "there is no clear evidence that the virus passes easily from person to person." WHO did not add the words “not communicable.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">By January 19, after reports of travelers from China to Korea and Japan having contracted the virus, WHO had revised its wording: “it is possible that there is limited human-to-human transmission.” The very next day, WHO tweeted that such transmission was “very clear.” Interestingly, WHO's tweets during those crucial weeks were more dire than the "<a href="https://www.who.int/csr/don/archive/year/2020/en/" target="_blank">Disease outbreak news</a>" items on its website.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">This changing language is outlined in an April 17 Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/04/17/trumps-false-claim-that-who-said-coronavirus-was-not-communicable/" target="_blank">analysis of the POTUS statement</a>. The Post offers its own <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/04/17/trumps-false-claim-that-who-said-coronavirus-was-not-communicable/?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most" id="id_315c_a47b_5bc9_d108">timeline of events</a>, and introduces a new player, Taiwan, which allegedly forwarded an email about the concerns of one of the Wuhan “whistleblowers” to WHO. POTUS appears to be seizing on that new information and putting his own spin on it, claiming that this email from Taiwan (a non-member country), sent to WHO on December 31—the same day WHO received an official, and less inflammatory, report from member-country China—should have prompted WHO to take a much closer look than it did.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The question indeed seems to be whether WHO “should have” gone into Wuhan and uncovered some tightly held facts about the expanding reach of the disease, either “in December”— even before the Wuhan whistleblowers got their message out?—or at least during the first two weeks of January. Is that a WHO role?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">A look at the lengthy list of WHO <a href="https://www.who.int/csr/don/archive/year/2019/en/" target="_blank">disease outbreak news</a> around the world is eye opening.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">There’s a lot of disease in the world, and a lot of it is communicable. Clearly, WHO serves as an information clearinghouse, forwarding "reports" from member countries on a routine basis. Beyond that, it would be an extremely busy busybody if it actively investigated the details of each of the reports described in these dispatches. Does it do so routinely, and does it deploy medical detectives like those we are used to seeing on TV and in movies, who cleverly discover the facts despite official obfuscation and denial? That is not clear.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The WHO <a href="https://www.who.int/about/who-we-are/constitution/" id="id_5ea2_88c0_288e_5560">constitution</a> states that member countries agree to both “cooperate” and take individual measures to ensure the health of their populations. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Enforcing public health legislation falls under the latter. In public health emergencies, however, WHO is authorized to respond with: </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: small;">- Leadership</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: small;">- Partner coordination</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: small;">- Information and planning</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: small;">- Health operations and technical expertise</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: small;">- Operations support and logistics</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: small;">- Finance and administration</span></div>
</div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: small;">Specific actions can include mobilizing in-country WHO staff, “establishing contact” with government officials, and deploying “surge support” if needed. The criteria for initiating such actions, and additional actions, are spelled out in <span id="goog_1255858250"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/" id="id_27c3_8a85_8c2f_c2ac">this lengthy document<span id="goog_1255858251"></span></a>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: small;">Rather than try to analyze this complicated document, I would like to simply ask the experts. Surely the US liaison to the WHO could answer questions about its role and authority without a second’s thought. Would that be someone in the CDC? If so, it’s unlikely that individual will freely step forward to confirm, deny, or even offer explanatory background on the statements about WHO issued from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: small;">Thus, my timeline could be updated with some of the newer tidbits of information, but my perspective on what “should have” happened must remain, for now, muddled.</span></div>
Amber Jones Adventureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06141081567700435407noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-217330226006258566.post-36822717653140946042020-04-07T06:03:00.001-07:002020-04-07T09:39:24.167-07:00 Coronavirus Cruising. Not.<p class="p1" style="margin: 0px 0px 3px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 25px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 19px;">Many lives will be modified, even ruined, by the pandemic scouring the planet. Lost jobs, lost loved ones, interrupted education, collapse of civility.</span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 19px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 22.7px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2"></span><br></p><p class="p3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 19px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2">In comparison with these tragic losses, my grief is minor. Nonetheless, I have a stone in my stomach and an aching heart.</span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 19px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 22.7px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2"></span><br></p><p class="p3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 19px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2">On March 31, the cruising season came to a halt when recreational boating was banned in Maryland, Virginia, and DC. </span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 19px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 22.7px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2"></span><br></p><p class="p3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 19px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2">On April 6, we sold our 30-foot sailboat, Echo II, to someone who needs a cheap place to live in isolation due to the coronavirus.</span></p><p class="p3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 19px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2"><img id="id_6703_d774_f321_10c" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/m3iislbw2-9xVic3dLVCsLlGXcxavd2i_4sCE4mMATtxygJASWfyXR1Jga3w1Tk" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br>My initial reaction was relief. Those of you who have followed my boating adventures via this blog know I had </span><a href="http://amberjonesadventures.blogspot.com/2013/06/?m=0" id="id_17e1_747d_98d7_35f" target="_blank">mixed feelings about Echo II.</a> She was 30 years old, moldy, broken down, and required loads of repairs and loving care to get her into cruising shape and keep her operating.</p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 19px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 22.7px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><br>By 2019, she was shipshape for cruising — rebuilt engine purring, new sails and rigging, leaks sealed, upgraded plumbing and electricity systems, comfortable Sunbrella upholstery and bimini. Pope poured buckets of blood, sweat, and tears into those efforts.</p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 19px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 22.7px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2"></span><img id="id_79fa_9635_f948_674" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/1jHOdUk1VYoK_sD3PweuoRH4zuEP2e69_Qr7MUJJXw4gh_xekMeUVVmRn8W0GBE" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br>Every cruising season she required days and days — and more days — of cleaning and fixing. Plus systems maintenance, loading and unloading, winterizing and de-winterizing, and haulouts for bottom cleaning every few months.</p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 19px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 22.7px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2"></span><img id="id_b57b_8fb3_ef09_1e5" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/Unv7bH5EN6ALAjoRNUZSRp2_v6Ee0w1LqqV5lciZZ2rJ3Oql2TX8z7mC8BgiU2g" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br></p><p class="p3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 19px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2">The work was interspersed with play. We cruised to the Bahamas, Charleston, Martha’s Vineyard, Long Island. And spent many weekends poking around the estuaries of Chesapeake Bay.</span></p><img id="id_8a87_7650_b705_b944" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/ZCoHdUUm1SKTpdk1Y8FNiYK9KquZQyo5TpGOwNNESJDDYEqwuaCSgirq-ZYX0vY" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><img id="id_db40_86af_331d_f034" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/sfBEi0pzsXEdQ7L8TH6HdCqRZWmuRw5GredT86Ee_ikMHMv0mc5P_cbhznN_JBI" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><span style="color: rgb(69, 69, 69); font-size: 19px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">As Pope aged and his health deteriorated, our cruises got shorter. In 2019, we prepared Echo II for a second cruise to New England. Medical concerns, a bad starter, and a leak in the exhaust elbow disrupted that plan. Instead we enjoyed a few nights aboard, cruised to Gibson Island and St. Michaels, and didn’t leave Chesapeake Bay.</span><div><img id="id_475b_fcc1_73c7_4500" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/HcajZhkfENUH8cUHIYTwNODOx98M3nQqcZSI0DvSqL3JXV6VdVXqXj96mIZjUj8" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><span style="color: rgb(69, 69, 69); font-size: 19px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">In 2020, we had just drained the antifreeze when the coronavirus struck and we got stuck at the dock.</span></div><div><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 19px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 22.7px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2"></span><br></p><p class="p3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 19px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2">We had hauled the sails out of winter storage, along with the spare boat parts and the custom-cut linens for the sleeping berth in the bow. Echo II was in good shape.</span></p><p class="p3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 19px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2"><br></span></p><p class="p3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 19px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2">Then the pandemic arrived, and our plans for the boat changed. Pope made one last repair: a rusty electrical connection. </span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 19px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 22.7px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2"></span><br></p><p class="p3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 19px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2">Back on the dock, with everyone in a face mask, and with a few tears falling onto mine, we traded the boat title for a wad of cash. Counted the money with gloves on.</span></p><p class="p3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 19px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2"><img id="id_b107_cc45_246b_d123" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/qL8Oj5Fa2iVOl2WVO3PzZ-5Sj6FwgoSodByOqZOpjEsNmQvIYA0u0V-3k-UoGcg" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br>We moved Echo II to a different marina, a short distance upriver. The new owner waited on the dock until Pope and I disembarked for the last time.</span></p><p class="p3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 19px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2"><img id="id_1a33_6458_1c93_2f1" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/ogE_jAOcOKUrQDoSluTAUzhNcPISoXq9h7mSguis2kFCYk1rzQN_AdsuGRNdjRE" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br></span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 19px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 22.7px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2"></span><img id="id_e5d9_2eaa_7546_b2cb" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Ow9JRkAr0ABqjuA2qXGAuTBMIhAWvvqk2CxtbvRPB0J2r22scqbA7qgf18DbMk8" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 19px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 22.7px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">We bid farewell to our cursed and beloved boat. She is somebody else’s cruiser now.</p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 19px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 22.7px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2"></span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 19px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 22.7px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2"></span></p> </div>Amber Jones Adventureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06141081567700435407noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-217330226006258566.post-4393673283433194472020-03-22T13:26:00.001-07:002020-03-22T13:53:30.500-07:00The Unbearable Disappearance of Masks and Gowns<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Closing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Message Header"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Salutation"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Date"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Block Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="FollowedHyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Document Map"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Plain Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Bottom of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Definition"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Sample"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Variable"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Table"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation subject"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="No List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Contemporary"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Professional"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Balloon Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Theme"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 2"/>
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<br />
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<i>(Written on March
20; some facts have changed since then)</i></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
I should have been
a reporter. I wish I were one right now; I would be an activist, in-your-face
inquisitor of our government officials. I've been following one of the sadder,
more tragic stories coming out of US hospitals, and it breaks my heart. I have
been researching the facts regarding the shortage of personal protective
equipment (masks and gowns) for health-care workers, and it is one of the worst travesties I
have heard about our government’s inaction, and delayed action, on the
coronavirus. Not to mention on preparing for pandemics in general.</div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
You have undoubtedly heard there is a massive shortage in the US of N95
respirator face masks that filter particles as small as 0.3 microns, and thus provide
effective protection against viruses for doctors and nurses.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiVo1nTNVy5SmoP94Tgo1tpjUtFBMazpfI3a8BLvKq3f3RTcWlwqUGfhzc-jgUnKW1je1-ciNPLo9XrdJLo0esNzXq7Gvzt35rpyW6bwHY71s3Q_m8_oGxd9piL0ePnt4A5N6_-TnGbRo1/s1600/N95+mask.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="1000" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiVo1nTNVy5SmoP94Tgo1tpjUtFBMazpfI3a8BLvKq3f3RTcWlwqUGfhzc-jgUnKW1je1-ciNPLo9XrdJLo0esNzXq7Gvzt35rpyW6bwHY71s3Q_m8_oGxd9piL0ePnt4A5N6_-TnGbRo1/s320/N95+mask.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo: Reuters</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
The latest news is that <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tjmccue/2020/03/20/calling-all-people-who-sew-and-make-you-can-help-solve-2020-n95-type-mask-shortage/#7d73f4e94e41" target="_blank">US citizens are sewing </a>thousands of cheap fabric
substitutes to give to hospitals. Some of my friends are sewing these, for what
it’s worth. Bravo for them. I expect my sister, an accomplished seamstress,
will do it as well if this story reaches her ears in Detroit (where news tends
to be biased in the opposite direction of news in DC).</div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
Why are people doing this, even though the homemade masks are nowhere near effective
enough to filter out a tiny virus? Because last week <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cdc-recommends-health-workers-use-bandanas-face-masks-crisis-2020-3" target="_blank">CDC “loosened” its official guidelines for the personal protective equipment worn by health-care workers</a>, to encourage them to re-use their N95s AND to wear homemade fabric
masks when they run out of proper N95s. CDC used the language “last resort.” The US should never have reached the point of "last resort."</div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
</div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
Normally, N95s are
used only once. It’s for our protection as patients, as well as for the
protection of medical staff. <a href="https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/health-and-medicine/article241103626.html" target="_blank">Doctors and nurses are incensed</a> at this change in
CDC guidance; you can see their protests all over the internet.</div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
</div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
One of the most tragic news stories I saw is about a hospital already setting
aside its used N95s aside for 5 days hoping the virus will die, then re-using
them. But we know, don’t we, that science has found the virus can live on
plastic up to 9 days? Another hospital is washing and re-using both masks and gowns.
Several hospitals have pleaded for supplies to be released from the US national
emergency supplies in the Strategic National Stockpile. <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/heres-why-florida-got-all-the-emergency-medical-supplies-it-requested-while-other-states-did-not" target="_blank">A few hospitals, especially in Florida,</a> succeeded. Why Florida? The government says it is
based on population. Just curious: is Florida more densely populated than New
York and California, which are the hardest hit so far?</div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
Previously, all of our N95s for health care came from China, and —duh—
they are having a bit of a struggle right now. Nonetheless, they are <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/03/16/814929294/covid-19-has-caused-a-shortage-of-face-masks-but-theyre-surprisingly-hard-to-mak" target="_blank">ramping up their manufacturing capability</a> of N95s, and their surplus supply is primarily going
to South Korea and Italy. Note, furthermore, that several <a href="https://www.voanews.com/science-health/coronavirus-outbreak/world-depends-china-face-masks-can-country-deliver" target="_blank">NEW Chinese companies have starting making them</a>, and doing so quickly. The US is trying to get in on
buying them from China. As per our usual — start a trade war, then arm-wrestle.
(But don’t get me started on that rant.)</div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
The US produces N95s only for industrial/construction use. This week, the
US also “loosened” a law that will now allow the industrial-style masks to be used in hospitals,
without liability to the companies if they fail. <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-manufacturers-jump-into-mask-making-as-coronavirus-spreads-11584792003" target="_blank">Thus, those companies (primarily 3M) are voluntarily ramping up production</a>. These masks are not quite as tight-fitting,
and there will still be a massive shortage.</div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
We have a Defense Production law that could be used to ram through more
US manufacturing capability quickly, as we would during a war. President Trump
pledged to do this -- repeatedly, according to news reports -- then repeatedly
backed out. Naturally, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/22/politics/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-coronavirus-cnntv/index.html" target="_blank">Democrats have pushed back</a> on this (in)decision.</div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
Naturally, companies are reluctant to voluntarily take on the <a href="https://qz.com/1820705/the-challenges-of-non-medical-companies-making-coronavirus-supplies/" target="_blank">massive and expensive retooling</a> that would be required to make N95 masks, claiming it would take months to ramp up
manufacturing capability, the demand is
short-term, and there is little money in it. (Yet - remember my note above about Chinese
companies?) If we were at war, I bet the necessary retooling would be
accomplished in a few short weeks—because the government would make sure it was
profitable.
</div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
Companies who could make more hospital gowns also are resisting ramping up
production, citing the short-term, unprofitable nature of the demand. So
hospitals are washing and reusing them. In Spain, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/zaras-owner-to-manufacture-hospital-gowns-masks-amid-coronavirus-2020-3" target="_blank">dress designer companies</a> are
making gowns for hospitals. Now. In the US, there is merely <a href="https://www.vogue.com/article/coronavirus-new-york-nurse-how-designers-can-help-make-masks-supplies" target="_blank">debate, in Vogue magazine,</a>
whether designers could/should do the same here. Later, baby. Maybe.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTddpcgCOs6KICLvGe5ZBUNsDAk5F8K2hHDQ7LkVHLV_44WaByl9kG1oBtmPkZOjO_iGh9FOfsNDbWYf7OS2utbXpoVVkiCnhrdsfo3q9BiLZfPWmOqFYPzm8jg4ufJH109gFN9sBR2fL6/s1600/BLOG+vogue.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="515" data-original-width="813" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTddpcgCOs6KICLvGe5ZBUNsDAk5F8K2hHDQ7LkVHLV_44WaByl9kG1oBtmPkZOjO_iGh9FOfsNDbWYf7OS2utbXpoVVkiCnhrdsfo3q9BiLZfPWmOqFYPzm8jg4ufJH109gFN9sBR2fL6/s320/BLOG+vogue.png" width="320" /></a></div>
Folks, given the
US government and US industry’s inaction on saving the planet and its populations
from climate change, why would we expect them to ramp up to save the population
from disease? Short answer: we are not at all surprised. The only thing ramped
up recently was favoritism to Big Oil and Gas, and insider trading in stocks by
government officials after they were briefed on the virus, but before they told
the public.</div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7U5oxWbp9tALQgxHSFiM4MVjWoIN27o9iuOA0veMZCxr9AHlLDdvtKF1lHGywK-doGRdutl7Cf_4tHkMa6vw9gaXjqyMI1meAFa759dGliTQ4_7VtzE-wKY8dZC8gvobp_GqxbQDCXOO3/s1600/BLog+_+headline.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="195" data-original-width="554" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7U5oxWbp9tALQgxHSFiM4MVjWoIN27o9iuOA0veMZCxr9AHlLDdvtKF1lHGywK-doGRdutl7Cf_4tHkMa6vw9gaXjqyMI1meAFa759dGliTQ4_7VtzE-wKY8dZC8gvobp_GqxbQDCXOO3/s320/BLog+_+headline.png" width="320" /></a></div>
</div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
I am not a reporter. And actually reporters are already ramping up to
cover this story from all the angles I’ve mentioned above; t<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/19/us/hospitals-coronavirus-ppe-shortage.html" target="_blank">he stories aresifting out</a>, one by one. One thing I haven’t heard all day, surprisingly, is that this
shortage of masks and gowns is “fake news.” Could it be that the government is actually listening? ... Nah
.... Too much to ask.</div>
Amber Jones Adventureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06141081567700435407noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-217330226006258566.post-61710360939755101642020-03-22T11:34:00.002-07:002020-04-17T12:52:20.792-07:00Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda - It's Human Nature<br>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
</div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
China “could’ve” told
us sooner! Yes, but let’s look at the bigger picture.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
In light of the
glaring headlines yesterday, of our president insisting that China <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-coronavirus-response-china-early-outbreak-pandemic-covid-19-a9416406.html" target="_blank">“could’ve told us earlier”</a> about the virus, I got angry. I got angry at the president –
which often happens these days. Others undoubtedly got angry with China, from
the same headlines. Then I calmed down and did some research on what actually happened, and when.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
As we all know,
humans are conditioned to react unthinkingly to lurid headlines and sometimes-vicious
accusations thrown out in the press—hence the popularity of “yellow journalism.”
That’s our animal instinct. We regret, we question, we blame. For those of us who try to exercise our brain’s
capacity to become more aware, thinking humans, however, it’s a good idea to check the
facts. Here are a few I uncovered.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
On December 16, a
patient associated with the seafood market in Wuhan was hospitalized with
infected lungs. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2020/02/01/early-missteps-state-secrecy-china-likely-allowed-coronavirus-spread-farther-faster/" target="_blank">Within a few days, reportedly,</a> a lab realized the patient had a
virus similar to SARS.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
On December 27, a
doctor in Wuhan reported the virus to public health officials, who began investigating
its extent. On December 31, China reported the virus to the World Health Organization,
who published </div><a href="https://www.who.int/csr/don/05-january-2020-pneumonia-of-unkown-cause-china/en/" id="id_5aa0_9b96_33c6_6a5e">a report on January 5</a> <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> about an unknown virus associated with a seafood market. </span><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><br></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
Separately, on December 30, a different Wuhan doctor warned his <span class="textexposedshow">colleagues to wear protective gear because he was
observing multiple patients with an unknown virus. Even though the virus was reported to
the World Health Organization the next day, in early January this doctor was reprimanded
and silenced by local police. He shut up, went back to work, caught the virus,
and died -- but not before his warning got out to the world. This past Friday,
the Chinese government formally apologized to the family of that second doctor.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
The second
doctor—the whistleblower—is the one we hear about, because he suspected
human-to-human transmission long before China acknowledged it. Maybe even
before China figured it out, definitively. <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-51364382" target="_blank">This article</a> is a good summary of
that incident.</div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
There was a <a href="https://www.axios.com/timeline-the-early-days-of-chinas-coronavirus-outbreak-and-cover-up-ee65211a-afb6-4641-97b8-353718a5faab.html" target="_blank">second “whistleblower” </a>attempting to spread the news on December 30 about a SARS-like virus. We’ve barely heard about her. She, too, was reprimanded in early
January.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
But note the
timeline: on December 31, the report of a new virus was publicly available to
the world. Even in the absence of details, such as the nature of the virus or number
of infected humans, the CDC in the US started preparing immediately, including
developing a test. By January 15 the US had banned foreigners who had been in
China, and by January 17 the CDC was screening and isolating US residents returning
from China. By January 21, the CDC announced availability of its test.
Unfortunately, it was a little too late: the first infected person had arrived
from Wuhan, unscreened, on January 15.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
I’m not excusing
China for its secrecy and delays. In early January, China was actively suppressing
the “rumors” leaking out that the virus was like SARS. China didn’t formally acknowledge
human-to-human transmission until January 21, and Wuhan was not locked down
until January 23 -- allowing millions of people to leave the city. <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/%E2%80%A6/china-trolling-world-%E2%80%A6/608332/" target="_blank">This article</a>
is a good summary of that timeline.</div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
On the other hand,
China did give a heads up to the World Health Organization on December 31. And
on January 10, China publicized the genome of the virus, allowing scientists worldwide
to begin multiple lines of research – leading to tests being made available in both
Germany and the US within a few days. Today, China is assisting South Korea and Italy with medical expertise and supplies.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
Yes, we “could’ve
been” informed earlier of the number of cases and specific details. We could
have responded differently in numerous ways in our own country. There is plenty
of blame and responsibility to spread around.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
What I want to
emphasize, however, is that some public officials -- who take their responsibilities seriously -- did so in this case. Our CDC didn’t wait. The CDC acted quickly following
the initial announcements, despite numerous obstacles, including a dearth of
specific information and, possibly, resistance from our own government. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Let's remember to think, reflect, and seek the bigger picture, beyond the flagrant headlines. </div>
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And, in this case, let's acknowledge the usefulness of public health officials, and applaud the actions they took. I would even venture to say: but for them, it could’ve
been worse.</div>
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<br>Amber Jones Adventureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06141081567700435407noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-217330226006258566.post-19510585683630750692020-03-22T09:32:00.000-07:002020-03-22T12:31:10.466-07:00Anxiety? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Anxiety!Anxiety is abundant these days. One of my solutions is to write.<br />
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I've had plenty of time to read. Reading got me thinking. And thinking, for me, leads to analysis, which leads to research, which leads to needing to write. Many writers complain of writer's block. That's something I got over long ago, working as a speechwriter with turnaround times as little as a day, a few hours, or even an hour.<br />
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Instead, my "problem" is that, when I get something in my head that I want to say, I can't resist whipping out pencil and paper, or iPhone "Notes," and writing it down. Surely others need to know! I think. And once I get started, I can't stop. </div>
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When I started isolating at home, I had plenty of time to read, think, and analyze hundreds of reports from dozens of media outlets throughout the country. I had flashes of anger--at my partner, for not washing his hands often enough; at not-my president, for putting political and special interests ahead of public health; and, more recently, at China, for its missteps and cover-ups.</div>
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My anxiety level has been high from the beginning. Every tickle in my throat or ache in my belly, a cough from Pope or a moan in his sleep, sends my blood pressure up as I imagine the worst. I have to keep reminding myself: I barely recovered from a long sinus infection in January, Pope had a serious bout of bronchitis for weeks, I have a history of digestive and breathing problems, and allergy season has begun. It's probably just one of those, my left brain keeps reassuring my right brain.</div>
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I read. I walk. I clean house. I play my guitar and sing, practicing songs from classes at <a href="https://augustaheritagecenter.org/" target="_blank">Augusta music camp</a> and at <a href="https://www.acousticblues.com/" target="_blank">Archie Edwards</a>, a local blues venue. They all help.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTo35x9coB2omP_hznUeDk6kPWPcBKQ3L_7z_qQsUpaFOT_NATfa0qpijJv3lE4obbPcJm_x4fjPkrqrZQe94VxJfvBVuUpQ-If_fo3B4cMLn5t-CiatnNH_RdYU9CafjyvRTx3dwzcTaj/s1600/Amber_Music_bigger.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="195" data-original-width="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTo35x9coB2omP_hznUeDk6kPWPcBKQ3L_7z_qQsUpaFOT_NATfa0qpijJv3lE4obbPcJm_x4fjPkrqrZQe94VxJfvBVuUpQ-If_fo3B4cMLn5t-CiatnNH_RdYU9CafjyvRTx3dwzcTaj/s1600/Amber_Music_bigger.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Playing outside in the park</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
When the anxiety ramps up and threatens to overwhelm me, I turn to yoga techniques, including <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGDne-Y_6cU&list=PLF0AB27064ECC0BD8&index=12&t=0s" target="_blank">meditation </a>and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0SIrOWFr1o" target="_blank">pranayama</a> (breathing techniques).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA10QFD313aSmXqhtrZ4ljgDS2XE9ct4JMEpR8mg9n-8jkZh3zjm_i_ye-fI1-Si-FfJvGapoQmRsGzPGnNq6Y-yT7-xyUPUVfUk6u83B45fKamqF_NY529XFBmg6gHJOYmAc1PgFZp4ic/s1600/IMG_3177.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="311" data-original-width="600" height="165" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA10QFD313aSmXqhtrZ4ljgDS2XE9ct4JMEpR8mg9n-8jkZh3zjm_i_ye-fI1-Si-FfJvGapoQmRsGzPGnNq6Y-yT7-xyUPUVfUk6u83B45fKamqF_NY529XFBmg6gHJOYmAc1PgFZp4ic/s320/IMG_3177.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo from Yoga in Daily Life center in Alexandria, 2016</td></tr>
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Then, a couple of days ago, I was reading about the shortage of face masks and got angry. I began to pursue the subject with great diligence, writing things down--and remembered that, my whole life, I've been writing out my anger and anxieties. From an early family life involving violence and fear, to abusive marriages, sexual harassment at work, and bouts of illness, I've kept journals, written essays, even submitted a few articles for publication.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRtDrackfPm6VDi3MfT1JxlsRGUKl3KIRFkvDzDWWWGGsV3fZbXcH6EXcX0TQ07te_yfkMLyHVopAY_3cFMBzOXI30wh7dqeonYKGb07bAm_CHRArg10V1saYC2B4yyd4ESL37rtlLvVqO/s1600/Miami6_EarthGardenAmber+-+Copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="633" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRtDrackfPm6VDi3MfT1JxlsRGUKl3KIRFkvDzDWWWGGsV3fZbXcH6EXcX0TQ07te_yfkMLyHVopAY_3cFMBzOXI30wh7dqeonYKGb07bAm_CHRArg10V1saYC2B4yyd4ESL37rtlLvVqO/s320/Miami6_EarthGardenAmber+-+Copy.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Writing my blog during a sailing cruise</td></tr>
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For me, writing distracts me from emotion and helps me re-center.</div>
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So in the coming days I will publish in this blog some of what I've been writing on my iPhone and on Facebook about the virus. If you are interested in a few brief summaries compiled from hundreds of news reports, stand by.</div>
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It might not be a relief from anxiety, but it may help shed some clarity on some of the mysterious and frightening matters hinted at in the most dire and glaring headlines.</div>
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Amber Jones Adventureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06141081567700435407noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-217330226006258566.post-32879353115305131872019-10-20T19:58:00.000-07:002020-01-11T04:04:23.340-08:00Help! It’s Hazardous!<div class="p1">
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Neither Pope nor I have led a particularly safe, secure, boring life. We stuck our necks out, traveled, ventured into the unknown.</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">That doesn’t mean I am courageous or fearless (though I can’t speak for Pope). Many times I’ve been scared, anxious, indecisive, lonely, homesick—or just plain sick. Often I felt like I couldn’t cope.</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Do I actively seek excitement and adventure, or does it just happen? I don’t know. What I have noticed, though, is that I seem to encounter more than my share of risky situations.</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"></span><img alt="" id="id_661_8244_808e_a99d" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/qb8tjA9TBFPLq6-hOcXVo4oRI7_YkWgCQZpJYpxtYYucS02Q9UEEBe9t7HM" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /></div>
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<span class="s1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In Hawaii, that island paradise where most people go to relax, others enjoyed leis and luaus while I came face to face with dangerously hot lava and steam vents. Rip tides. High surf. Giant turtles staring me down while peacefully snorkeling, minding my own business.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr9hxqsHTihW7I5anlLFPSvDMek_YweGSj33lbRUDZ0EirNCKCqnP_PokZD_Ri4dqplF7f5Brzsnv6DXyUeRlizYZ_SihneVmiIRPM8tCBjNyIBrORB8SjFZKO2g2eDfjnzN51j0ULhJHb/s1600/20170603_174147.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" id="id_ad49_3ef6_ff63_445a" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr9hxqsHTihW7I5anlLFPSvDMek_YweGSj33lbRUDZ0EirNCKCqnP_PokZD_Ri4dqplF7f5Brzsnv6DXyUeRlizYZ_SihneVmiIRPM8tCBjNyIBrORB8SjFZKO2g2eDfjnzN51j0ULhJHb/s320/20170603_174147.jpg" style="height: auto; width: 320px;" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzMm2bySfc-L7nV9zcfvEgZmfHT0x6E0RvlWYeCnhH0uf84CSysrGoQzisQhEqRIl8DsGFVu5B3chusAAF7Tgeifh3BeDX3C6lM4WKMDSE_TSfzr9QD_bygNSHHgoqVpIH5H6EI8RxQmJb/s1600/IMG_3575.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" id="id_50d_4d49_1fea_b55d" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzMm2bySfc-L7nV9zcfvEgZmfHT0x6E0RvlWYeCnhH0uf84CSysrGoQzisQhEqRIl8DsGFVu5B3chusAAF7Tgeifh3BeDX3C6lM4WKMDSE_TSfzr9QD_bygNSHHgoqVpIH5H6EI8RxQmJb/s320/IMG_3575.JPG" style="height: auto; width: 240px;" width="240" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Even mangoes that fall on your head and cause concussion. Where were the flowers and sandy beaches? All I wanted was a leisurely drive to some waterfalls in a white convertible. Instead I found myself cringing, ducking, and watching where I put my feet.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnskr_q7Nt74nAGDJotoU8xDYlufV8gWqxr1GETQ-whTCGtO60g-KyKeZsW-GrZPw7zywc4i6NkfyEPLsIgnDrcIZHF_D9tvpw8X_tbwKPrGNLlwZN2GQNJTrtUQ1skMuhb3AmITbc8hV3/s1600/mangoespix.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnskr_q7Nt74nAGDJotoU8xDYlufV8gWqxr1GETQ-whTCGtO60g-KyKeZsW-GrZPw7zywc4i6NkfyEPLsIgnDrcIZHF_D9tvpw8X_tbwKPrGNLlwZN2GQNJTrtUQ1skMuhb3AmITbc8hV3/s320/mangoespix.jpg" width="180" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Unlike gentle Hawaii, New Zealand has a REPUTATION for being wild. Pope and I tried to play it safe. </span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">We eschewed bungee jumping, admitting we were too old to trust our life—and our hearts—to being bounced at the end of a rubber band (see photo). Even a couple of the younger folks backed out before jumping off the bridge. (They didn’t get their money back.)</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkWg-rUkNXc3i7qKxsKHje2Z0uCC0eEOsUxi0gw4eJzdmxs24Oi0A4RtoaSjGw1olc1lALdJof9LCKLnQsoSuuuR6RFFiTwoZklf2oAkC-uFJVhAkbFSmk6wfk9371kVL0C56s5dI5ybdA/s1600/IMG_0974.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" id="id_f6bb_dc66_d425_aed9" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkWg-rUkNXc3i7qKxsKHje2Z0uCC0eEOsUxi0gw4eJzdmxs24Oi0A4RtoaSjGw1olc1lALdJof9LCKLnQsoSuuuR6RFFiTwoZklf2oAkC-uFJVhAkbFSmk6wfk9371kVL0C56s5dI5ybdA/s320/IMG_0974.JPG" style="height: auto; width: 240px;" width="240" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But before I could even say “Whew,” we found ourselves being pushed off a cliff with only a flimsy film of nylon and some string preventing us from crashing to the rocks below.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">After that, there seemed to be endless dangers to entrap and harm us—boiling mud, fatal amoeba waiting to crawl up our noses, fast drivers on one-lane bridges. Wild boars. Horrendous bee stings that threatened to put me in the hospital. Topping all that was a near-collision with a Mack truck because I forgot to look right (driving on the “wrong” side of the road). </span>My goodness. Do all tourists in New Zealand feel as threatened as I did?</div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In Europe, on the other hand, people have been relatively safe and sound since the end of the Crusades and demise of the Inquisition. Yet even there, where I am currently minding my own business being an average tourist, those red and yellow warning signs seem to be popping up in my path. And I’m having a tiny problem with those darn southern France no-see-ums. Again. Just like in 2015! A mere 24 bites this time.</span></div>
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<img alt="" id="id_195a_2c39_f150_ebe" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/4m9YN6U3XLs3EDjszyg1KCJBeS7XntVSoIctGEEtO-bqOzgpXV3CicT9Qiw" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Back home in the US, also, it is wildlife that sets me on edge. Sharp-teethed alligators in Georgia and Florida. The occasional grizzly in Montana and Alaska. Sharks on the Cape Cod beaches. And in Utah and West Virginia, it’s human wildlife—gun-toting wahoos in pickups threatening my campsites and my life. </span><br />
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I won’t even bother to describe the nautical hazards Pope and I have endured on sailboats. If you’ve been reading my blog, you already know. It can be exhausting.</span><br />
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<img alt="" id="id_a52b_7ff5_7c33_dd7b" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/FnoTQcJPc4sdLCcZOx0U_AtNssSz_IhLJWoI6yS4W1s2b6ZqdD5nuZ2OeY4" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /></div>
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<img alt="" id="id_864e_f2e_a710_d007" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/MRYKXxdQPFVis_w6H2CK3PotQlGoY2wazdabDxUIsE49oyfbbe22bHSB7HY" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /></div>
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<img alt="" id="id_a6ef_fbac_35d5_9237" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/bNS6o1NIX2tDZk_usa9LOqQ0psNu7XoNUxLiCWRZ4OU900iydFiJhJ1IO1A" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /></div>
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<img alt="" id="id_bd5_f9b4_5a32_dc14" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/Gpj-Ta9wRCxu6902Ub7z2kTCAAv81epGCzNMmkwM2-I-ulH9KZPuoaIbipM" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /></div>
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Maybe it’s just my nature—or my karma—to encounter danger, whether at home or abroad. Maybe I should just *sigh*, accept, and endure.</span><br />
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">When I get old and check into a nursing home, being pushed around in a wheelchair, I hope that I will finally--finally!--feel safe and secure. </span><br />
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But with my luck, there will probably be bedbugs, head-pecking pigeons, and potholes on the path to the dining hall.</span></div>
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Amber Jones Adventureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06141081567700435407noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-217330226006258566.post-5743678189714397242019-09-29T07:43:00.001-07:002019-10-04T04:14:57.628-07:00In Search of a Cheese Danish<p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;">I’m not a fan of junk food, donuts, or yeasty cinnamon rolls. But I’ve been known to indulge in a butter croissant or a cheese Danish.</span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;"></span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;"></span><br></p><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;">During my weeks in France, I indulged frequently in light, flaky, fresh croissants. Yum. </span></p><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;"><img id="id_bdd_bd3e_4139_b43e" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/UYwZ_Y7lkplo2j3S8uLtnJhhSyPcbqREfeCZYI2NvS3s4trNUlsFLBh-Kao" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><span style="font-size: 17pt;">When I got to Denmark, however, finding my special pastry proved elusive.</span></span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;"></span><br></p><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;">There were plenty of Danes—tall, stout, often blonde. The towering blonde women inspired Pope with wonder.</span></p><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;"><img id="id_a9cf_1a7b_3377_4041" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/QeF3RErXScFR5MBz--NwqPo-nabybNH49HjC94iTBIhDXh4zy56rlBs5lGg" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"></span></p><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;"><img id="id_6fd7_7e_eaa9_37d2" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/Oxydz888oO97A8jglRjlQreDbaj41bW6qGFD7M9iDOPGD52qFRG2DUak48Q" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><span style="font-size: 17pt;">I spied a few handsome males. This hunk</span><span style="font-size: 17pt;">’s at least 6’5”. Buff.</span></span></p><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText";"><font size="4"><img id="id_1b66_b73_2968_c739" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/1pl8nCoXJNoOkV2Fr73jAs87ztuCQC2kQZwzEO5yquwBfheeUBP7tiI3sM8" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"></font><br><span style="font-size: 17pt;">This young man is probably 6’3’. Lanky.</span></span></p><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;"><img id="id_7af6_6c00_8132_f958" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/cDAIJ5bIYaFaJH52Leldq4X-PLa1F70FpCDov9M6hif1FYD9Z0RZhywXvaw" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br>For a tall Dane, it’s easy to reach those overhead racks on trains and planes.<br><img id="id_52a1_d5c3_ea73_3ebf" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/k6kZ7n6ZaaA2gNHZ9VA7KyvzzlpNh8ml0COem2p3JoOvTkZh7zFdLQh_r_k" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><span style="font-size: 17pt;">At other times it can be a liability.</span></span></p><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;"><img id="id_8f59_3ae8_29e3_10b6" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/p7QA7SFFzPRe3Ar3B9xTr1OplXY73ERvfxJHnx_zylvtdPaNa002Y-e8uWw" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><span style="font-size: 17pt;">But my quest was for delicate pastries with creamy, cheesy centers. A Danish, not a Dane.</span></span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;"></span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;"></span><br></p><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;">The shops sell healthy brown bread with nuts and seeds—delicious with butter and jam, in my opinion. (Too healthy for Pope.)</span></p><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;"><img id="id_8c22_9cb5_70dc_a59a" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/anB2i1Bvcg7rx_cC43Rix2Ax05VNbFBWL-0nu60_IX9RK7gMJHG0kCSXCBs" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><span style="font-size: 17pt;">The sweets include brownies and an assortment of items involving hazelnuts, which are not my favorite. </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;"></span><br></p><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;">After a brief visit to Copenhagen, we fled the big city for rural environs—a windy island, Samsœ, blanketed with potato farms. We cooked up eggs, local potatoes and buttery brown bread toast in our apartment’s kitchen. I found potatoes and a cucumber in a roadside stand.</span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;"></span><img id="id_6f82_d0d4_149c_2c00" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/PtDppp-h6JmbsBvZNaqJf-WryeOLdbV2A__zD6hplVTJUO-L4MKaYFUxDGM" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><span style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;">At the small grocery store in Ballen, the small town where we stayed, I scored an avocado in heavy packaging—probably shipped from Spain or Portugal all the way to the outskirts of the Arctic Circle. </span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;"></span><br></p><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;">Ballen is primarily a fishing village but also offers scuba diving, boat tours, and three small restaurants. On the weekend, lots of Danish (people) came over on the ferry. No Danish (pastry).</span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;"></span><img id="id_1e04_a28f_d44d_843e" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/VSF_bENCMfoUs2yYvly12-3ZmFWE4hxRehUm35Eb8Mlq-Wl2Z5TgU6iat2k" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><span style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;">The restaurants served lots of fish, but the only dessert was hazelnut cake. No thanks. </span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;"></span><br></p><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;">We rented bikes in pursuit of coffee shops in other towns. Alas, there was only one such establishment, in the tiny village of Besser, in the middle of the island. It was closed.</span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;"></span><img id="id_e0cf_9cbe_b63f_3c42" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/ya8o2rQZFELCoVZJwV2qMhLpCzL6uXBv6rZ8AhKdpIpS7aZbzZq2DssoZ98" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><img id="id_f9e8_5d12_8e48_44db" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/OHyH3ICicJmnYNyOBiTFMo9aYvRbSRmhTxMECu5dseTmDCTQjx5DKbEzEg4" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><span style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;">The bike ride was cool and windy. At Besser, Pope plunked himself down in a chair and refused to continue. He turned back toward Ballen, vowing to stay inside our apartment with its double glazed windows and radiators.</span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;"></span><br></p><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;">I persisted for another dozen or so kilometers, all the way to the top of the island. Here, there was nothing but rocks. And wind. And a few Danes strolling out onto a narrow spit of land at low tide. In pursuit of...what? Fresh air? Plenty of that.</span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;"></span><img id="id_7bc2_7c55_c734_157e" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/YyeEZUpDFqiT6WCKNABZFkdprdl4TA1y9UKQDTLdnfkU1KBzdWM1VoewtIU" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><img id="id_1be6_b103_537f_265" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/qhjOqHGcIkR2QtDRzYMadoC-EU58iQlj75nScADwc9S-y8A_v7dNgqGtDcE" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);"><br></span><span style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;">The next day, I cycled the other way down the coast, to another rocky beach. </span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><img id="id_4f0f_54ec_6914_d802" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/2S0Mg1NOOg53I7NT259QnwZpZiPaIGe_HQCCSZMY0lhxAAcUZTyMaleWVwo" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><span style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;"><br></span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><img id="id_cd15_5718_d469_9cc0" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/EzeT361qITmzkeGPFX8kc_CNDWJ8_vTSGfY3S0Oii4mUuAfeSIKuys9dvp0" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><span style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;">No other stores. No coffee shops. Not even a beach-side tiki bar. Lots of wind. In fact, wind turbines are abundant, towering above the potato farms.</span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;"></span><img id="id_d34f_8e22_e2f6_9630" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/KGjD7a6IWxeeZcfzRHi1IEumCyaBV7x7avWK8ObGVd6l3yn8VyPMpWxNmDY" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><img id="id_629c_1aec_d520_430c" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/XrmMLvZqvVuXU-nv9de2enxOGUXbXAkRVJg8casvdj3LI71ZhyK47_Lnm5k" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><span style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;"><br></span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;">I tried biking inland to two more towns. Nothing but potato farms and crooked houses. </span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;"></span><font face=".SF UI Text"><span style="font-size: 17px; width: 353px; height: auto;"><img id="id_ad02_7d50_3f05_afd5" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/5Zgx9tHjFfax_4JqfPz8WtWJbA3xCLnVIZeyaLgmnY_FNdpIO6MiFEhbofk" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"></span></font><br><font face=".SF UI Text"><span style="font-size: 17px; width: 353px; height: auto;"><img id="id_7f25_92a7_6015_e24a" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/0yBDmu9KbDpnnd8ddze7U99LBuIIlESiZ9Jz4HDRPX_p52Xh8kLOyZhgMT4" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"></span></font></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 22.66666603088379px;">You’d be crooked, too, after hundreds of years on a windy island.</span><span style="font-size: 17px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);"><br></span><img id="id_ef02_800_966_6bfc" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/IBEr-9-RPL9qol-PW3NDm0b0B6-ln_O7dkzMfoSAAX2d8T3u-KxE5t7qO7g" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><img id="id_3224_fcd6_113c_fdbb" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/HtSibUz3kgaMcGKQ8vhMlNltR1wpkNkI9doEosiYeaWVQw_2yXY5qoecujc" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-large;">The weather turned cold and wet.The gloomy clouds dramatically reflected my predicament. I reluctantly relinquished the rental bike and resigned myself to settling for brown bread for breakfast.</span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><img id="id_b638_3272_3309_8f4c" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/TE3p4gMuJ6MvJHqGPB7eRWFcT3J3aRUuTultGelpsVDAujAbas5d14Dv360" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><img id="id_c3ca_6474_acc_1f44" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/p1enng2DoQB0dKa5sXi3PU3iZ5BCgHRsrd_qp2jYhj80yK_tinlxqFyHGjQ" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><img id="id_23b8_de0b_d527_1a29" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/w5bI-VwpDyVx0RZo4vEub3WvJ-HTrTfmU9z0-hpnZDb9cql3qks9lGGA5VI" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-large;">After three days, I persuaded Pope to reboard the ferry to return to the big city, Copenhagen. </span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><img id="id_e5db_9daa_b049_5f96" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-cllUkTajNU_tp7rFufdcdUM2gyRiTfnfFAiPBX6nyrKdk_kaXOcI5WdAQI" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-large;">At the ferry’s snack bar, Pope bought me a custard-y almond Danish, a perfectly adequate substitute, though not quite the real thing.</span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><img id="id_7d13_b28d_ffb9_6b46" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/pheCYmVYdg6q3ouFl7fHlxhmS5fjmsh9o8RVegMs2RrwnrERfgRJoBu_Oww" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><span style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;">In the big city, I’ll try again. There are plenty of coffee shops and restaurants. If I can’t find a real cheese Danish, maybe I can at least find a cheese quiche served with a flaky dinner roll.</span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;"><br></span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;">My mouth waters in anticipation.</span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;"></span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;"></span><br></p> Amber Jones Adventureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06141081567700435407noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-217330226006258566.post-64268317392134893672019-09-26T10:39:00.000-07:002019-09-26T10:49:12.060-07:00Why Do I Travel? And Other Incidental Questions <div><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;">Have you been reading my blog and Facebook posts? I am in the final week of my five-week European experience, which has been delightful. </span></p><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText";"><span style="font-size: 17pt; width: 353px;"><img id="id_f853_3a2f_2a79_9567" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/2h2RYvT0ZtKhAwyrNFMTVNgbZfLwg08opobSFXYucQ8R1XtREd0Lf_ehsbQ" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"></span><br><i><font size="2">Cividale, Italy</font><font size="4">—spectacular scenery</font></i></span></p><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt;"><br></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt;">For no particular reason, </span></span><span style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 22.66666603088379px;">I took time this morning to grapple with some travel-related questions.</span></p><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt;"><br></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;"><span style="font-size: 17pt;">How well am I coping with an extended absence? I love it. I do not feel tired, worn out or homesick. It is relaxing to be free of cooking, laundry, repairs, mail, phone, meetings, volunteer obligations, neighborhood problems, and news of the US government.</span></span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><img id="id_4394_cef8_6dd0_7091" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Sd-IuajA6RXskrBABIc37RAtARcavyp9DPBU09CPLIQaeCfEYOBV8pwOjrg" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);"><font size="2"><i>Rovinj, Croatia—do I look relaxed</i>?</font></span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);"><br></span><span style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;">Internet access is intermittent, and I have no phone service. If there are messages on my cell phone, I don’t know about them and can’t listen to them. After a few days of fretting about this, I gave up worrying about missed invitations, unfulfilled obligations, and people asking for help.</span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><br><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;"></span></p><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;">How am I enduring weeks on the road, living out of a suitcase? Performers do it all the time. For me, the keys seem to be:</span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;"></span><br></p><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;">1) Getting lots of sleep.</span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;"></span><br></p><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;">2) Moving slowly and taking lots of time to get somewhere. You can do this when you have five weeks. For example, Pope and I got off a canal boat in France Monday morning and arrived at our next destination—an island in Denmark—Wednesday night. In between, we spent a night in Bordeaux and a night in Copenhagen, in hotels near their train stations, and ignored sightseeing in favor of rest.</span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;"></span><span style="font-size: 17px; width: 353px; height: auto;"><img id="id_f7f3_4e82_7a62_b42a" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/j0RN0D6PC8tcvZLzzNRrthAOPz6MrsNI4-27Tic6m4fQGUomVqb7ecwwKkI" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"></span><br><font size="2"><i>Collioure, France—one of many, many train stations</i></font></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><br><span style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;">3) Staying extended periods in one place. I spent one week at a yoga retreat in the Czech Republic, and one week on a canal boat in France. </span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 17px; width: 353px; height: auto;"><img id="id_b139_edcc_49ab_6147" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/7MXTvcO0oHwZM2Brh26ViQEwaAtjc9Rnp0hoGx1_J6-7ZXfqnrZG4c4RfzE" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"></span><br><font size="2"><i>Mas d’Angelais, France—leisurely touring of the French countryside</i></font><br><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-family: ".SFUIText";"><br></span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;">We are spending four days in a quiet village on this Danish island.</span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;"></span><img id="id_8de3_22f1_a6fb_6358" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/kaUAA1c1wTSuRD06dKXPMYudJLUYlZen2XPr-X-rxtfO_8YDPpbOymfqeTA" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: ".SFUIText";"><font size="2"><i>Ballen, Samsœ Island, Denmark—not much happening here</i></font></span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;"><br></span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;">4) Taking breaks when walking around, whether sightseeing or shopping for groceries—and especially when carrying luggage. Benches and cafes are ubiquitous.</span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;"></span><span style="font-size: 17px; width: 353px; height: auto;"><img id="id_be56_bbdf_87be_39e1" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/v4BgERe8Y-P83nHFmQlRinxG9vTpSDA71xNg2HpCwuyLQvFrUtITrQ29mUg" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"></span><br><span style="font-family: ".SFUIText";"><font size="2"><i>Vicenza, Italy—thick, hot sipping chocolate</i></font></span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;"><br></span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;">5) Packing cubes from eBags have helped me enormously in staying organized, and I don’t buy souvenirs that could weigh me down. </span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;"></span><br></p><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;">I would have added proper diet, but that would be disingenuous. I feel great, despite subsisting on bread and cheese and rarely finding vegetables except in an occasional salad. No sign of a whole grain except fried oats in sugary granola. Fruit is plentiful, the bread is fresh, and the cheese is phenomenal.</span></p><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText";"><span style="font-size: 17pt; width: 353px;"><img id="id_b66d_3017_f712_b25" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/11R7QuBOHUbxm1miijb7MMjIzA_dOpjwQduJ1KY4oE4SrJwjMf1E4LwDENg" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"></span><br><font size="2"><i>Udine, Italy—typical outdoor market</i></font><br></span><br></p><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText";"><span style="font-size: 17pt; width: 353px;"><img id="id_6b76_88f6_cc0e_c2a" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/5VKwD6wymQk2FJo777rniXvFDMDaYI-9g0YVTMyRN-nwRnHeAP7maT0SJtc" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"></span><br><i><font size="2">Mas </font><span style="font-size: small;">d’Angelais, France—member </span><span style="font-size: small;">of boat crew picking figs along the canal</span></i><br></span><br></p><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;">I frequently indulge in local pastries, but instead of causing fatigue and hyperglycemia, this habit results in a smile on my face and joy in my step. Gelato in Padua, croissants in Crolles, canelé in Bordeaux.</span></p><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1"><font face=".SFUIText"><span style="font-size: 17pt; width: 353px;"><img id="id_1b99_5173_df52_3bcb" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/0GGCxAAhcWfAa0eSqyUdORqmnbfrkDB60PiJqAaOUNisfFcjU-1SBx3q4J0" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"></span></font><br><font face=".SF UI Text"><span style="font-size: 17px;">Villeton, France—</span></font></span><font size="4">chouquettes</font><span style="font-size: 17px;"> (</span><font size="4">chantilly</font><span style="font-size: 17px;"> cream puffs)</span></p><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1"><font face=".SF UI Text"><span style="font-size: 17px;"><br></span></font></span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;">What are the most serious drawbacks? I miss my workouts and socializing with other retired ladies at my Capitol Hill gym. However, I walk miles every day because it’s easier than figuring out buses, and carrying luggage up and down stairs substitutes for weightlifting. There are few elevators or escalators in Europe.</span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;"></span><span style="font-size: 17px; width: 353px; height: auto;"><img id="id_a7d8_1015_e01a_2d87" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/l3AHda9ax3rQg5tNmDQHpB2206EEVL3aczJ0bFHp5UNIjfkAnupZ--N6TIE" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"></span><br><span style="font-family: ".SFUIText";"><font size="2">Collioure, France—our room was on the third floor</font></span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;"><br></span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;">I long for insect screens on windows. I have two dozen itchy bites despite hanging my portable mosquito net in front of hotel and boat windows.</span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;"></span><br></p><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;">The back wheels of my suitcase shredded from rolling it on cobblestone and brick.</span></p><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;"><img id="id_f9d6_3550_e814_6751" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/TJrsRtbKiArbedGz-wRMlBD_ozJwmqzy-WjCZttOUKJ9AR1oGuOl2PWWWoQ" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br></span></p><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;"></span><span style="font-size: 17px; width: 353px; height: auto;"><img id="id_b506_9cc5_723f_6036" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_cZqnO2xrOnV64SIP8L_Okgett4EBdWBEWZy2gTyFRk3LfY21YFFeHmWEco" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"></span><br><font size="2">Kalundbourg, Denmark—similar to lanes all over Europe</font><br><br></p><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText";"><span style="font-size: 22.66666603088379px;">I am now carrying my suitcase, </span></span><span style="font-size: 22.66666603088379px; font-family: ".SFUIText";">which is awkward. It feels heavy, even though it weighs less than my bicycle at home, which I carry up and down the front stairs. </span></p><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText";"><span style="font-size: 17pt; width: 353px;"><img id="id_4024_31a2_28f9_6413" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/LvWkpbaoiymTxueAnHqCDIt1CbS3ZquqMP9xsyTMpC_evEckhL-JTIIuf4A" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"></span><br><font size="2">Kalundborg, Denmark—the wheels survived four weeks of cobblestones</font><br></span></p><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"></p><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"></p><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><br></p><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;">But it’s my final week, and only need to carry it a few more times: to a ferry, a train, an airport, and home. I bought it because of its light weight without realizing it also has lightweight wheels.</span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;"></span><br></p><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;">Why do I indulge in extended travel? That is not clear. Not just for sightseeing (although in 2015 I visited 15 or 20 of the 1,001 castles in Dordogne). I often skip it, having seen hundreds of churches, temples, castles, forts, statues, paintings, historic buildings, medieval cities, coasts. </span></p><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><img id="id_6b65_77c8_5c07_b061" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/fup-_At3VUg3CnbpMwoCIIwBH43h7A0VmDRwq0QyNR0k1-fKd7vATws6ISs" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br>Nerac, France—I continue to be attracted to medieval fortified villages<br><span style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;"><br></span></p><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 22.66666603088379px;">Not for culture; I skip museums and sometimes spend days alone, interacting with people only in restaurants. </span></p><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 22.66666603088379px;"><br></span></p><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;">Sometimes for food, although being mostly vegetarian is a burden in Europe.</span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;"></span><img id="id_fdfb_8ae3_df1e_8d8e" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/ZXFGvkHBGefT5e9xHHDAAMZ13XKQNXQxU7ifuqIvyDutEi-kLpSVY9GMy1A" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br>Villeton, France—I eat a lot of salads, fruit, and cheeses<br><br></p><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;">Europe has tugged at me since my first hike in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in 1982. Hiking and biking are core activities. </span></p><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText";"><span style="font-size: 17pt; width: 353px;"><img id="id_a7f5_4ca2_1d2e_fd78" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/WA39ZxquuEHEmhzc5bFUUvPdZL-o2PLLhdPvU2Vk0mo735hFouxogGsE8ns" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"></span><br><font size="2">Grenoble, France—hike in Chartreuse Mountains on a hot day</font><br></span><br></p></div><div><img id="id_9791_7196_cfc_201e" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/uhoE8TmHm4gAtNKxNEAOcokA4JMXy8lT_dIPoFhQVBWIfG-AReGRi8SSFvw" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"></div><div><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);">Canal de Garonne, France—biking alongside the boat<br></span><br><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;">Walking the streets and sitting in cafes are favorite pastimes—whether in big cities with imperial architecture or tiny villages with medieval walls or fishing boats in the harbor.</span></p></div><div><img id="id_f5a1_71bd_96ac_ee00" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_4RSsmRuZihvexamQTuJle2WmUtcNuooe5OHCG_oM8po9HxSEMYdLs7QHp8" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><i>Bordeaux, France—city gate </i></div><div><img id="id_9ef6_28fb_1f41_5bff" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/7voyy_ZkNxb1ncpO4_ZKjIZyl5dD5gh5tVUlBwdvldA8KU2Jjsrli20qDvU" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><i><br></i></div><div><i>Bordeaux, France—puzzling over the map</i></div><div><br></div><div><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;">Spending time with friends is another source of contentment. On this trip, I caught up with old friends in the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Croatia, and France. </span></p><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText";"><span style="font-size: 17pt; width: 353px;"><img id="id_4f64_28e7_7d06_7d9e" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/HQDlMJjhM1E8Mx9KRWStpt_fEtPnPzrH3MEiNnPxevEubq1aQRk1g2_mzJg" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"></span><br><font size="2">Strilky, Czech Republic—European friends at the yoga retreat</font><br></span><br></p><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText";"><span style="font-size: 17pt; width: 353px;"><img id="id_5bcd_36f9_87c7_72bc" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/3KgGikZI7OZmwdB_ZNcv6uXByOyK5Tw0UfMItqk09M_uES2A5xP6F-zWcyA" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"></span><br><font size="2">Padua, Italy—long-time friend, formerly of Alexandria</font><br></span><br></p><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;">It also gives me pleasure to share my cities and villages with Pope and others from the US who join me for a few days or a week.</span></p></div><div><img id="id_f105_ee9f_d408_b321" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/q61a0EnLCbuuXjhaNoz6G1EPWUQxAF9nz5WM1UUwiomf-SAqReZwDShBXzQ" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><img id="id_46dc_8684_bc01_2793" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/t8Jd-kxikEdOf3RKnHt1AZenCa0mlxRxtSboYL0axT9QxeDw_fG-Fh5_jNM" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br>Villeton, France—boat crew at canal-side restaurants<br><br></div><div><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;">This morning, I am lounging in a beautifully furnished apartment with a view of the sea, not missing any of the comforts of home, with no yearning to run around seeing local “sights.” Pope is watching Danish TV.</span></p></div><div><img id="id_b31e_9a76_afdc_942a" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/SLSImbomjHfSxTJ7-ohYFkNoF1659HsjtH9qLCkSSyCKH2nOYUH1JIzq3ug" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br>Ballen, Samsœ Island, Denmark—view from our balcony<br><span style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">In a little while I’ll stroll down to the harbor to buy some granola and milk and look for a rental bike. I anticipate another relaxing travel day.</span></div><div><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17pt;"></span></p></div>Amber Jones Adventureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06141081567700435407noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-217330226006258566.post-65643231300715197772019-09-24T14:40:00.001-07:002019-09-25T09:14:58.395-07:00The Two Faces of Travel, Part 3<div class="p1" style="color: rgb(69 , 69 , 69); font-family: ".sf ui text"; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;">You knew it was coming. My<a href="http://amberjonesadventures.blogspot.com/2019/09/help-its-hazardous.html?m=1" target="_blank"> previous blog post</a> (hazards, warnings, danger, risk) was just a prelude to the bigger story: what I endured during my recent month in Europe.</span></div><div class="p2" style="color: rgb(69 , 69 , 69); font-family: ".sf ui text"; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.3px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;"></span></div><div class="p1" style="color: rgb(69 , 69 , 69); font-family: ".sf ui text"; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;">If you’ve been following Facebook (which is more up to date than this blog), you know that I had a nice yoga retreat in the Czech Republic, a nice visit to small towns in Istria and Italy, a nice visit with friends in the French Alps, and a nice canal boat cruise on the Canal de Garonne. I am smiling with memories.</span></div><div class="p1" style="color: rgb(69 , 69 , 69); font-family: ".sf ui text"; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;"><img alt="" id="id_711b_6f12_d902_3591" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/tvlxfdnwnn0hwm7raBI6B4VYf-6fsM51eUYo18n9JnrbwCJheQtobl37rI8" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip=""><br><img alt="" id="id_f588_2820_8067_7068" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/5ZHK8_RopIExR7e7VWKOrZA_t4pk1-lyF8yzbPVIh0BOqGkxXfdKyWI4rho" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip=""><br></span></div><div class="p1" style="color: rgb(69 , 69 , 69); font-family: ".sf ui text"; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;"><img alt="" id="id_abdc_2da3_244a_e3f4" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/F5SLbVa-iieBDIfl4IFugBHedkoMaPYYT0hN0JyaljKDQQO2twlyWfVVNUQ" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip=""></span></div><div class="p2" style="color: rgb(69 , 69 , 69); font-family: ".sf ui text"; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.3px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;"></span><img alt="" id="id_a9b4_f1bd_8585_ca37" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/y9FTdXflbjAm3zSRNDhobLODn2jD2DFWWwMEFpYfl_E-QREVjiTF-aORL9c" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip=""></div><div class="p2" style="color: rgb(69 , 69 , 69); font-family: ".sf ui text"; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.3px;"><span style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;">But I learned as a journalist that news sells best if it is juicy, suspenseful, scary, exaggerated, or just plain lies. (</span><span style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 22.66666603088379px;">As a fellow journalist says, “If it bleeds, it leads.”)</span><span style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;"> If you want to know more about “nice” towns, see my photos on Facebook or consult TripAdvisor. As thinking machines, we revel in what happened to others, and rejoice that it didn’t happen to us.</span></div><div class="p2" style="color: rgb(69 , 69 , 69); font-family: ".sf ui text"; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.3px;"><span style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;"><br></span></div><div class="p2" style="color: rgb(69 , 69 , 69); font-family: ".sf ui text"; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.3px;"><span style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;">So rejoice, readers. I’m happy to serve up some grip and grim.</span></div><div class="p2" style="color: rgb(69 , 69 , 69); font-family: ".sf ui text"; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.3px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;"></span></div><div class="p1" style="color: rgb(69 , 69 , 69); font-family: ".sf ui text"; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;">For starters, a mosquito bit me the moment I stepped onto the tarmac at Copenhagen airport—the first since I left Washington, DC, in August. (The 24 other still-itchy bites on my arms and legs are from no-see-ums in southern France.)</span></div><div class="p1" style="color: rgb(69 , 69 , 69); font-family: ".sf ui text"; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;"><br></span></div><div class="p1" style="color: rgb(69 , 69 , 69); font-family: ".sf ui text"; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;">Before that minor inconvenience, working backwards from this evening, here are the tales I have to tell:</span></div><div class="p2" style="color: rgb(69 , 69 , 69); font-family: ".sf ui text"; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.3px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;"></span><img alt="" id="id_59a2_f80d_9da5_a52f" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/9Kr2Q3zHq2TZBikqsgruDXEsg4rgcaJKAEyZZvmJfZWyDT2koVV3efdnRds" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip=""><br><span style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;">1-I offer my rating of the low-budget European airline RyanAir: two stars below EasyJet. Paying extra for “priority” boarding was a waste of 70 euros. There was no announcement, no separate line, no pre-boarding, no special treatment of “priority” passengers like Pope and me from the hordes jamming the gate this afternoon.</span></div><div class="p2" style="color: rgb(69 , 69 , 69); font-family: ".sf ui text"; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.3px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;"></span><br></div><div class="p1" style="color: rgb(69 , 69 , 69); font-family: ".sf ui text"; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;">I could have spent the extra money on a nicer hotel and my beloved French specialty, almond croissants.</span></div><div class="p2" style="color: rgb(69 , 69 , 69); font-family: ".sf ui text"; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.3px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;"></span><br></div><div class="p1" style="color: rgb(69 , 69 , 69); font-family: ".sf ui text"; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;">2-Somewhere between boat and Bordeaux yesterday, my tablet computer disappeared. Lost or stolen at a French dock, train station or hotel.</span></div><div class="p2" style="color: rgb(69 , 69 , 69); font-family: ".sf ui text"; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.3px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;"></span><br><span style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;">3-For two days we’ve emailed a hotel booked on hotels.com about late check-in in Copenhagen tonight, and another booked on booking.com about ferries to their island tomorrow. No answer, no answer, no answer. Finally purchased international cellular time to call. Got late-check-in instructions. Got nothing but promises to find a ferry that is running tomorrow.</span></div><div class="p2" style="color: rgb(69 , 69 , 69); font-family: ".sf ui text"; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.3px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;"></span><br></div><div><span class="s1"><font face=".sfuitext"><span style="font-size: 17pt;">4-The ferry problem is due to Pope’s having booked a room on a remote island in the North Sea, in the off-season, prepaid and non-refundable. Heavy rain and wind predicted. See</span></font><a href="http://amberjonesadventures.blogspot.com/2019/09/help-its-hazardous.html?m=1" id="id_5a02_b51a_d420_8951" style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;"> former blog post</a>: </span><font face="Arial" size="5">danger and risk follow me around.</font></div><div class="p1" style="color: rgb(69 , 69 , 69); font-family: ".sf ui text"; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;"><img alt="" id="id_7ce0_1117_98aa_b4e6" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/ZDoEN0cBUufJ8cjMUTcjQATMzCBKT89sNMQvOpqcejKkdtZAzGCG_Ff6k8k" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip=""><br></span></div><div class="p1" style="color: rgb(69 , 69 , 69); font-family: ".sf ui text"; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;">Mostly, Pope has been a fine traveling companion for the second half of my trip; tonight, however, I am eying his portion of the travel arrangements with skepticism. </span></div><div class="p2" style="color: rgb(69 , 69 , 69); font-family: ".sf ui text"; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.3px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;"></span><br></div><div class="p1" style="color: rgb(69 , 69 , 69); font-family: ".sf ui text"; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;">5-After two days, my skull stopped bleeding where I hit it on a low ceiling. It’s still sore.</span></div><div class="p2" style="color: rgb(69 , 69 , 69); font-family: ".sf ui text"; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.3px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;"></span><br></div><div class="p1" style="color: rgb(69 , 69 , 69); font-family: ".sf ui text"; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;">6-In Europe, elevators and escalators are scarce at train stations, bus stations, airports, hotels. Lots of concrete stairs to carry luggage up and down. </span></div><div class="p1" style="color: rgb(69 , 69 , 69); font-family: ".sf ui text"; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;"><img alt="" id="id_3a02_b642_9714_d9f3" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/6NcFoHiqgiqpSF3-4IqyAT70zwtjPNvBv34zZVG17ElV9mWZCXf2WxURZL8" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip=""><br><img alt="" id="id_6086_489d_ee39_1798" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/J_Uey7I_hiJHpYzJhwEhLKwwcZRudqI-VLapv0GJvRx7nwiHGXrd3yDCqzw" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip=""><br><span style="font-size: 17pt;">My carry-on is 25 pounds; by Week 2, a wheel got bent on ancient cobblestones. My day pack is pushing 10 or 12 pounds. By Week 3, I had accumulated enough purchases to add an 8-pound tote bag. Can you feel the weight on my shoulders?</span></span></div><div class="p1" style="color: rgb(69 , 69 , 69); font-family: ".sf ui text"; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;"><img alt="" id="id_d80b_b69c_9422_33d" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/yWoNO4xpK6o6XpAGWRhQ8LO7dWY_DGP170kj2FF62m8iNA-coZfGG66qWn0" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip=""><br><span style="font-size: 17pt;">Thank goodness for the twice-weekly “boot camp” classes at my local Sport & Health. Lots of weight-lifting helped me prepare for luggage duty.</span></span></div><div class="p2" style="color: rgb(69 , 69 , 69); font-family: ".sf ui text"; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.3px;"><br><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;"></span></div><div class="p1" style="color: rgb(69 , 69 , 69); font-family: ".sf ui text"; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;">7-Continuing to work backwards: by the time my friend and I decided to visit Verona or Vicenza, all reasonably priced hotel rooms were gone. We made do with a tiny, dingy room at Hotel Mignon in Padua. Padua is a dingy city compared with stately, elegant Vicenza. (We never got to Verona.) However, Padua served up many intriguing twists; see <a href="http://amberjonesadventures.blogspot.com/2019/09/empires-and-architecture-revisiting.html?m=1" id="id_5f31_a217_674e_5dda">previous blog post</a></span>.</div><div class="p2" style="color: rgb(69 , 69 , 69); font-family: ".sf ui text"; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.3px;"><img alt="" id="id_62b4_66bf_705f_6cc2" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/L2wXDb6jIxFVcqPLR5wr-ILmO17rue5LAkdbrEkZHqoqKKTe70FaXTFXFJM" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip=""></div><div class="p2" style="color: rgb(69 , 69 , 69); font-family: ".sf ui text"; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.3px;"><img alt="" id="id_18c3_e9a4_6092_a65" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/3Ow99_E40pPzagrnzFYiz_88zWivsoRt8ejykAYNrp_fOTGcCRMafmuOpyc" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip=""><br><span style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;">8-I lost 200 euros on the streets of Vienna, from a buttoned pocket, after visiting an ATM.</span></div><div class="p2" style="color: rgb(69 , 69 , 69); font-family: ".sf ui text"; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.3px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;"></span><br></div><div class="p1" style="color: rgb(69 , 69 , 69); font-family: ".sf ui text"; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;">9-I arrived during the European heat wave. You probably read about it in your Detroit Free Press or Washington Post. I have been washing sweaty clothes in the sink every night. The no-see-ums thrive. And bite.</span></div><div class="p2" style="color: rgb(69 , 69 , 69); font-family: ".sf ui text"; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.3px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;"></span><img alt="" id="id_2146_18b6_290e_fb6c" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/wk-fbH8iDWNLYmKo6QiSA2TosepovzwwjcusjmQR9zAdw3dpS3njSp2ZyoI" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip=""><br><img alt="" id="id_8e63_d720_4fb2_cb17" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/ImVFOA4KUHpijnpLnZox1t_EPoDIV_RwJkqYQ3cqNhsDsN1j3i2NF5aVgeA" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip=""><br><span style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;">Shall I go on, or are you bored? Unfortunately for attracting readers, none of these incidents constitute serious, life-threatening dilemmas. For someone who visits many nations with complicated logistics, languages, and security risks, these fall into the category of minor or, at worst, medium-level travel complaints.</span></div><div class="p2" style="color: rgb(69 , 69 , 69); font-family: ".sf ui text"; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.3px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;"></span><br></div><div class="p1" style="color: rgb(69 , 69 , 69); font-family: ".sf ui text"; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;">I didn’t fall off the walls of a cliff-top fortress.</span></div><div class="p1" style="color: rgb(69 , 69 , 69); font-family: ".sf ui text"; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;"><img alt="" id="id_6efd_fc58_2f41_3f1a" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/Ikey73KAklOHJb8JM2O0u0r3RNs1mPY7hkIfwrjrS6k4su3S6u9c8HMxTks" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip=""><br><img alt="" id="id_88d4_26dc_b33b_b82c" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/Au2uN7W3tEqnLqvqG_FvIEjzbiH825ww5gWERODy_2aRlVd85dzYLafdy5o" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip=""><br><span style="font-size: 17pt;">I didn’t get smashed by a truck or even a mini Renault while walking in narrow lanes.</span></span></div><div class="p1" style="color: rgb(69 , 69 , 69); font-family: ".sf ui text"; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;"><img alt="" id="id_e367_444b_293a_e657" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/agGCyGplYf1P_5NnDKbMQ8VIR3blYdGjl_pmIZIN04lUwLr8QIdFCcwVjhU" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip=""><br><span style="font-size: 17pt;">No one fell off the canal boat or got mugged in a dark corner. </span></span></div><div class="p1" style="color: rgb(69, 69, 69); font-family: ".sf ui text"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 17px; height: auto; width: 353px;"><img alt="" id="id_7604_d126_37a1_3a89" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/p8m10z1n3nam4dPRePxjmx-nokDG4XKIc1keAyNzBVxSo2AJrAXCErlaw_8" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip=""></span><br><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-family: ".sfuitext";">Even better, no nights were spent sleeping on the floor of a train station. (And only one night </span><font size="5"><a href="http://amberjonesadventures.blogspot.com/2019/08/eat-drink-why-not-first-indulgences-in.html?m=1" id="id_58aa_babe_5f68_eef5" target="_self">on the floor in Dublin airport.</a>)</font></div><div class="p2" style="color: rgb(69, 69, 69); font-family: ".sf ui text"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.3px;"><br><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;"></span></div><div class="p1" style="color: rgb(69 , 69 , 69); font-family: ".sf ui text"; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;">No, nothing absolutely terrifying or even remotely dangerous has happened to me in Europe so far. Nonetheless, don’t you agree that even petty theft, slight concussion, and substandard airlines make a more enticing story than nice castles, nice paintings, and tasty mushroom tagliatelle?</span></div><div class="p2" style="color: rgb(69 , 69 , 69); font-family: ".sf ui text"; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.3px;"><br></div><div class="p2" style="color: rgb(69 , 69 , 69); font-family: ".sf ui text"; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.3px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;"></span></div><div class="p2" style="color: rgb(69 , 69 , 69); font-family: ".sf ui text"; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.3px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;"></span></div><div class="p2" style="color: rgb(69 , 69 , 69); font-family: ".sf ui text"; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.3px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;"></span></div><div class="p2" style="color: rgb(69 , 69 , 69); font-family: ".sf ui text"; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.3px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;"></span></div>Amber Jones Adventureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06141081567700435407noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-217330226006258566.post-70332814261619731272019-09-12T03:03:00.001-07:002019-09-14T04:29:03.016-07:00Lost in Translation...? (Or Lost in the Mountains?)<div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">My communication in France is hit or miss. Sometimes I get it right, but more likely I’ll end up on the wrong train (not yet), get two apple tarts instead of one (yesterday), end up in the emergency room (in 2015), or get into unexpected situations. Wanting to cool down on a hot day by getting up into the mountains, I attempted the following conversation prior to starting up the trail to Mount Rachais, in the Chartreuse Mountains near Grenoble, France.</span></div><div><div id="AppleMailSignature" dir="ltr"></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Me: “Will it be steep?”</span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“Non.”</span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Me: “But it looks like it goes straight up! No switchbacks!”</span></div><div><img id="id_b080_6ec1_c33a_20e9" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/mKLOoSd7CddKj4Ef8VBxXeqXi1X1zeZA96V119av7jx7atZU7NoBbRdQIbg" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"></div><div><img id="id_4ab0_b875_1d92_12cc" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/dcRAJp9iKzf1VjYwflKVxDI0bFbojpiURKAOheQ3Y0nRtS2t_-atfzERZ6I" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br></div><div><br></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Me: “Will it be rocky?”</span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“Non.”</span></div><div><img id="id_a711_d497_8e8e_28a7" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/k6IZOM1KApZOQYYJHoXzFcx-ztYKFPWEyEbk3dtTuD_qIyaunYUwb7ZQIt8" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"></div><div><img id="id_73a1_3c77_1bfa_deac" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/2fTNOOyu64Ith90ZtrdRa_c0Nwt7ASbUHyqAw7NM6vZZ3id6Idx2TJLFTFY" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Me: “Will it be easy to find the way?”</span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“Mais oui (of course).”</span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Me: “But I don’t see Mont Rachais on these signs!”</span></div><div><img id="id_6d04_470c_effa_3b13" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/1hK1sks3lHMF8hMUheSXoEgvqKJM8nOB_rdJvz70od42bQcoANtJ2ItnLwY" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Me: “Will it be a hot day?”</span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“Non.”</span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Me: (panting, sweating)</span></div><div><img id="id_a391_b258_ab5_5016" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/sIEPMDkC7BQUruPINPWzjq5XwXUesiHS2ikKsixD-188pHQg_IXwLCytbnA" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Me: “Will there be interesting scenery along the way?”</span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“Mais oui (of course).”</span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Me: “Um...”</span></div><div><img id="id_dc85_1931_aa8f_ad96" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/lD6vX4oCUbOAtBoJJfR7Zmo0xQvo9B3QHag5OoxBPocsZgoPLkqKGAmhT1w" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Me: “Will there be a view at the top?”</span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“Non; seulement des arbres, malheureusement (only trees, unfortunately).”</span></div></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Me: “Um...”</span></div><div><img id="id_90c_cf84_93eb_e1e7" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/QYn_EnOe8WemCYf4lTTynsne4DJVwv9q0cje6Mi3WnU_FKKcGb5g3BVZYl8" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><img id="id_a4bc_7673_202_e70e" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/hobfeSjkDjIpDCMFqBO91HvGaA0WyiSGxkFwZSdSbPb42TgKBNiNxsB74F8" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br></div><div><br></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Me: “How will we get to the trailhead?”</span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“Les bulles.”</span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Me: “Bubbles...?????”</span></div><div><img id="id_b995_3aae_bad9_c952" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/Wk5eH239HAhqriK-onAHKy7optQ0tM1ziLKI8-t335GT96zf3bwNGYLCs0I" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><img id="id_b4e5_c5c8_1436_6a5d" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/PC1g5-u4dNwUGC-vTpOoA89_m91UcOettizZ6Lu-ywhsA4d4qlHfstqdwWY" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Me: “Can we take it slow and rest a lot?”</span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“Non. Vite! (We must hurry!)”</span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Me: “Ha ha, you didn’t mean that!”</span></div><div><img id="id_75d9_8691_2f99_4540" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/SNBuDUhA5EUvHjcA4iOA3jbd4L7dalue2lF-IGAEvLlXWNJ1IFpjwvN3Vl8" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Me: “How will we know when it’s time to turn around?”</span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“Ha ha. Silly woman, you have to get all the way to the top.”</span></div><div><img id="id_b714_c506_f844_881b" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/s6nmkMR0qoNO432CbuSbKVnYtfWcKFG_NbCpt4TsjoYR_julVlv0gFmebic" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"></div><div><img id="id_fb53_9f88_777b_e56b" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/B3r27QqxPD9imBr3DHvjYfkGiYfAbOimDgf-dc4UhqVymt96HTqmRAkd540" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);"><br></span><br><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><br><br><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px;"><br></div></div> Amber Jones Adventureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06141081567700435407noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-217330226006258566.post-41686255441024415702019-09-10T02:35:00.001-07:002019-09-10T03:25:54.350-07:00Empires and Architecture: Revisiting History<p style="margin: 0px;"><font data-blogger-escaped-style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Romeo, Romeo, where art thou?</font></p><div dir="ltr" id="AppleMailSignature"></div><div><p style="margin: 0px;"><font data-blogger-escaped-style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></font></p></div><div><p style="margin: 0px;"><font data-blogger-escaped-style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Nobody knows for sure. There are castles in Montecchio Maggiore rumored to be “Romeo’s and Juliet’s.” But there is no hard evidence that the Montagues and Capulets existed, let alone lived in the area. Ditto for the fortress-like “Montague” villa and <a href="https://theculturetrip.com/europe/italy/articles/the-story-behind-juliets-balcony-in-verona/" target="_blank">romance-tinged “Juliet’s” balcony in Verona</a>, visited by millions. </font></p><p style="margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></p></div><div><p style="margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><font data-blogger-escaped-style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">So my friend Deanne and I skipped that “fake news” scene and stuck with the facts. </font>In Padua and Vincenza, the architecture and history are well documented. </span></p><p style="margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></p><p style="margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The first thing you see on entering Padua is the remains of a Roman amphitheater, begun around 30 B.C. </span></p><p style="margin: 0px;"><img id="id_b6a0_cee_c9f2_fe6f" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/6GjZFEZBwtDDLziAYyGfFLunR96FkrNU7x8cWTbFRqSy9DCEvJzcVIrRX8s" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Piazzas dei Signori and delle Erbe, next door to each other, feature an astrological clock with signs of the zodiac—Libra is missing—and the magnificent Palazzo della Ragione, built in the 1200s and used as a law court five centuries later.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px;"><img id="id_6e7a_8fd3_2b19_5bea" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/sQShX7wkSPrC_AwCS6JZApAV6aShBMFO1GOfhpXkdmQK95zsB1IdN37Z71A" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><img id="id_89da_df5e_3478_8eca" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/NjCKC2TY_Bt5RkPjpCTmwWtbjTBgVIotsSL-vUskb_SKYV37NYrEbPzfaoc" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></p><p style="margin: 0px;"><img id="id_5ca1_c4d8_36ef_b551" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/aXmwQy6f2scnEUzwnPPDObjGvUcGvpJDjafCQVeIKuGsSvFO_oIPHuVsh_I" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In my opinion, the Basilica honoring St. Anthony of Padua tops most of the churches and cathedrals I’ve seen in Europe. The initial structure dates from the 1200s, with additions ranging from a Renaissance chapel of the 1500s to elaborate 1700s Baroque sculptures, designed to show off power and wealth. Some of it could be called gaudy. But I was impressed. </span></p><p style="margin: 0px;"><img id="id_1fd_aafa_f3a9_5dd0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/pgMWVKRrztdfLQDnq5z9Bol8RN87hvV1Y2mg3uCGJ6ZJ042pgd6nyixXc-0" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">A bonus in Padua was the city’s hidden gems. Rounding a corner to find marble columns, classical statues, or Venetian-style windows. Green parks. Street markets with racks and racks of cheap Italian-designed clothes.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px;"><img id="id_35fb_1625_5752_1995" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/SiC0qTMp-O6MCHduaFUyv1S9BkgeBLV2IlBPHRTva8kPuqXxw0Euncu775w" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><img id="id_f277_469e_5b19_a27a" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/MAuOvw8Nc5w0BvpwnbUM5fpUwp0vs6LGEsVcWRJ3OrEj9mfAyzF2kc-utVg" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><img id="id_757b_ee4e_d8c1_f097" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/ucDFAlBoAw66Gjw3WVoLq55H1AWRAGorb-pk28wlEAA4V0mgg-Fwi52NOk4" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"></p><p style="margin: 0px;"><img id="id_26fd_ab96_e7fe_d07a" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/Zeo8dmph264zHtw7i2jPRyaxdTFpTH6TYlT8w_1iKVtJlAF_LIiFv8aPByc" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Not to mention the lively street scenes during happy hour—which takes place outdoors, in all parts of the city, and lasts roughly from 2 pm to 8 pm, when restaurants finally get around to serving real food.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px;"><img id="id_a406_4e29_43bb_6734" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/pjygCFOWjdlhkVMPRmjhE3vYtLR85xasV0P_r1Q4woKIPc8nqk8luA-KD2I" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Down the road is another gem, relatively unknown or at least uncrowded by hordes of tourists. Vicenza is passed over by the thousands streaming into Verona to swoon under “Juliet’s” balcony. Yet the architect Palladio of Vicenza left an indelible mark on the world, not just on the 16th-century buildings in his home town, but influencing architecture as far and as late as Thomas Jefferson’s home at Monticello and the University of Virginia’s Rotunda.</span></p><div><p style="margin: 0px;"><font data-blogger-escaped-style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img id="id_bbb7_fe49_819f_98fc" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/69T9x-o7Ezmtfm9wdt-x5qotCF7ROr6H8vwH18xWl2-gVgu9eicUnPiJXgw" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><img id="id_16d3_15e0_2502_edb2" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/oZWpEMjDDVnsJGu-8HhxjN4KumVCngSurp3zpuncOnJXGsQ-nuniC98CYUY" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Palladio’s Teatro Olimpico wowed audiences with the first-known scenery painted in perspective; i.e., the scenes appear to stretch to the far horizon. The first performance was “Oedipus.” The original sets are still used. </span></font></p></div><div><p style="margin: 0px;"><font data-blogger-escaped-style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img id="id_d6c1_1bff_4de6_ce09" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/otTr_8Uc8HxCsElFIV5ebnqEDzDy_t6qQIh-3jgo0XuNAbYkv7SQgIjwwng" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><img id="id_e40_3da_62f3_fadb" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/VN4T-f9P3nhZYLJt2kli2FAlyP2jXKK0yhRyl-s6nDyQ2tZJ2ljqm6M5Fmw" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><img id="id_13f0_c45d_de48_70eb" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/u5VhVYMTEJrXTDvK3IuLbRkEETevR8-swidIjZVwz00-cGGdxeIITgbvC60" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br>Vicenza is another adventure in hidden gems—from porticos to parks to thick, hot sipping chocolate. (Think melted chocolate bar.)</font></p><p style="margin: 0px;"><font data-blogger-escaped-style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img id="id_aaee_cb7f_d44e_7cee" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/hioiE4M3nhRxszFhjNd-CN-mYMVpa3EDpbqcRcx6krayeAquaYJ9ZM2yCMg" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><img id="id_2cde_897a_f9e3_7bfc" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/5KHenNdpafJdltsNjcDSJsrYWKH2dZEjliNDSo6wdF6pv0jtvYcaF1Dq8GI" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><img id="id_f85a_3ef5_6f26_23c1" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/LJoLba-im7kMT8hxxrNBZCtOlmFfyn8RUY3Zr_mxi_ZvwnGWgfIFiR7z99w" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">We may have missed gazing on turrets possibly graced by a legendary Romeo. But we found architectural spectacles and evidence of real stories from the past.</span></font></p></div><p style="margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></p><p style="margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></p></div> Amber Jones Adventureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06141081567700435407noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-217330226006258566.post-82784295332003760202019-09-04T08:03:00.001-07:002019-09-04T08:04:58.209-07:00Croatia to Italy...Somewhere, Sometime<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Just to keep things interesting, Deanne and I boarded a ferry today, a nice change from long bus and car journeys. After three days in the touristy and meat-friendly Istrian coast of Croatia, we are heading for the land of pasta, tomato, and eggplant (Italy). And more tourists.<br></span><img id="id_711c_b17f_df78_4470" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/aOvIuqskA14JB2jJzImjj9xa_-xLiQyRX4Js2p845mBcGzb7NoqKyhf05IY" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><div><img id="id_57f9_9525_e841_20a5" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/w2Ln79Y_thsY0yFonG0c9VffuQkBgwcK2g2zKsbN9HM7YLSrEFeX5xN2-EU" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Waiting for the ferry in Rovinj; old town in background<br></span><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">To make things even more interesting, we neglected making hotel reservations and decided to just “show up” somewhere, sometime. This strategy worked in the days of Lonely Planet and tourist information counters. This time it is the result of profound indecision, and a shortage of rooms in a lovely traditional B&B with a garden, balcony, view, or at least a hearty breakfast, in the right place at the right time. At least according to Booking.com and Expedia.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div>The indecision was exacerbated by <span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">minor illness on my part—cold, sinus, and stomach upset. Too weak to swim, shop, or visit the historic churches in Rovinj, let alone research our next destination. Our room in an ancient building of stone walls and lintels in the heart of Old Town was a pleasant place to lie down and lent a touch of history to our stay.</span></div><div><img id="id_ba8c_c3d5_db77_3041" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/wVoYm4x1i7oziTRpR35AeCwpUUxWgBkh0842KKUCzU6St3ToUnKse6Jd_kc" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 377px; height: auto;"><br><img id="id_3572_8725_49af_123c" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/YvUF2pzbl99oErVxepAWlFrMKQiwTNWAgfKtwodW99iora8XBDDFf8drOZg" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span><img id="id_451a_ff7f_993d_64fa" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/COXEWHg2sEkTxIbAxB_Ac4NbsZC5X9PvhoDxdD4AQJuEY6xvncSMlbnhLmM" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 347px; height: auto;"></div><div><img id="id_b144_a997_e25e_a99d" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/LtrSeUlK3UZYRWePJVhc19RT4843dkh1LoeEHDDUn3CDeLWxyvcahJIKQvo" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"></div><div>Our room in ancient stone building, old town Rovinj<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br>The Rovinj seafront is crowded with dozens—hundreds?—of outdoor restaurants and an equal number of shops. A tourist Mecca. </span></div><div><img id="id_366b_c258_b89_5d95" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/Vx5JkHFKS1o1Hj_z61JJxHWyxN3XUWjlPR-wOJEXd569M6-EwiIhbxD0eCE" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><img id="id_a5b1_5c38_f1b7_26c0" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/svvvsb-bHK1jCi-q8k8nokBHDo3aZAlNB38D09mhcdSd3a5IYX4Iqs7mxMQ" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"></div><div><img id="id_2bc1_1acf_9538_a287" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/tcml-i_tymGjp9T6Q0BpqANMfrJu758mxW2FMHU9QxnyE3rYs8UsQ9gKiLU" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Deanne swam off the rocks in the warm, clear Adriatic Sea—with the giant jellyfish—while I slept. </span></div><div><img id="id_2765_a9e6_3c01_860c" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/JXRVVNownD3KgUB7GctfRegblEAOtJcKRr5SLezqDnPMlIzFSn_hG0B4dPY" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><img id="id_1c8a_fc19_3149_9f7b" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/cGM_qS1XvlzauU-I9oeXUO1GIW7LZXjUWFRw1tsTV9Lt_4kDiSRaWb2VY4s" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><img id="id_349b_ec30_ab47_ef61" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/JhrbleSEQd54COMrVezHjvd1cP1P5C-mR3_s_Ugaf8hPXF156zq2ODYMc8E" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);">Stairs down to the water; jellyfish are easy to spot</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Together we searched markets and menus for fruit, salad, or a side dish of potatoes and greens. The local tomatoes are ripe and the ricotta is fresh and sublime.</span></div><div><img id="id_1b06_163f_1666_6045" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/nYY5SvXq7UMUz1ixqXLWGrOsYJUrCDudsMHGs9hQVRXL7qL7fwCswWhT60Y" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"></div><div><img id="id_5f9a_d153_e7d_ad2e" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/eyjvdF_3eozyPxZqeWhLGLt5G1o1xQ7W4qOCHK3yBr4xyYcXESkM0NirnE4" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);">Farmers market on Tuesdays</span></div><div><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);">We </span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">boarded another bus briefly for a trip down the coast to the Roman amphitheater at Pula, near the bottom of the Istrian peninsula. Sixth largest in the world, now a concert venue.</span></div><div><img id="id_b19e_740c_b8e2_1ae1" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/N-OdsF1jnvQJHGmzxC16A6WF2pha4Zp0MFlmEQtHdk1SYnY3rMXIvJQcQuc" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"></div><div><img id="id_6493_1adb_a4f8_4bb1" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/RWaP9PKVnLw_aAnyKmt54X5Bl86EJOzIDAvTOJC9a8mAB4JfdT5m-DuSxNA" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);"><br></span><img id="id_3b18_634c_54b5_49f9" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/BaBA2OM9iehUlNl32DtDL8pUvoA-LqHFli8gfNpC3vbTQAf2UCLBbHrwCao" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span><img id="id_42d6_8fe3_d95a_9e70" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/iGk_sIxoS2Pu42b3ZLVRJ5vjg_4AgRUNbAEYp20kGZad8wlEUo1HaQTnWNI" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br>Roman coliseum-turned-concert hall<br><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br>Soon the ferry will dock at Trieste, a maritime port of the Romans, Hapsburgs, Italians. We will have lunch in the piazza then meander to the train station to contemplate our next move.</span> </div></div>Amber Jones Adventureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06141081567700435407noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-217330226006258566.post-16942950349656258112019-09-02T06:48:00.001-07:002019-10-08T19:58:12.308-07:00Three Countries in Three Hours<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Three countries in three hours—how is this possible? One way would be to fly in a fast plane. But if you recall from my post a few days ago, I’m plodding along on land for a while before switching to water. Travel by air I s a distant third.<br></span><img id="id_e67f_ebe4_e19e_37d5" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/XHhL-aslzCSZTQ-YNJ9aEpHc7F5rlEj50QKjqSoAZGnDIXKMvbVzg7KuS6U" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Ljubljana, Slovenia</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Countries in the eastern portion of Europe are the size of US states. And just as varied in geography, ethnicity, economy. You can travel quickly by road and, because of the EU, at times you can enter and exit without pausing to gather your wits, let alone pass a border patrol. Just like travel along the US Atlantic coast.</span><div><img id="id_5d6d_ce11_440a_4d2f" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/Ad3MahpSkOAAj0C3h_X8h2DZRc726uw-WSQ6e6YfD_wGXkCckDIYCIo6oho" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I have a $20 bus ticket to traverse Slovenia, Italy, and Croatia this afternoon. Three countries in three hours. If I consider my travels last week, I can add Austria, Czech Republic, and Slovakia. Six countries in six days.</span><br><div><div><div><img id="id_46d7_5c73_4636_a332" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/KjdLZrdjCwYXb8xEc-tB9vsB7aSneknrax_NxCmutBJTRq0kHUHf68AVw_A" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><div style="text-align: center;">Trieste, Italy</div></div><div><br></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">My frequent border crossings are nothing compared with the frequent turnover of rulers in these snatches of Europe. From imperial dominance to communism to ethnic battles to independence, you could say history has moved quickly and tumultuously. It is still under way; even without empires and world wars, ethnic and border conflicts continued into the 1990s and 2000s.</span></div><div><img id="id_af12_1b06_bcd0_f9bc" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/VcG-JsU4PywwvOv9FTXFUQu8Saf1MwD8RF0OT6uyNo47XlEa7pz-yZkfcjQ" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">On a border, where our passports got stamped</span></div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br>Confused? When I studied European history (in the 1970s, at Wayne State University), there were fewer national boundaries—and fewer freedoms. But there were many ethnic, religious, and other conflicts, some of which intensified with the collapse of the Soviet and Yugoslav Republics and resurgence of nationalism. Think Kosovo and Bosnia. <br></span><img id="id_dbb4_a964_5835_418d" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/GkFpaNxAaQTNZZ24PQQ8eqiPXbsD1UxsvBi0S5yAN6ueAIcVKrnFp2tZ2YM" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);">Novigrad bus station, Croatia</span></div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br>People here are quick to correct me if I refer to this region as Eastern Europe. They prefer Central Europe. But a quick stab at researching that label reveals that it’s impossible to clearly delineate Central Europe, Eastern Europe, the Balkans. Do you consider politics, international geographic standards, UN statistics, economic cooperation or lack thereof? What about national sentiment? Size?<br><br>How can the publishers of history books keep up?</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; width: 353px; height: auto;"><img id="id_a6b8_bcfa_ec53_b42c" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/Fg1YbwhaG1gXFpvtntkmlG0bSR1IhIZWHnlFdi4aKIgd9ndcjjROiXd6ZzM" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"></span><br><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">Porec, Croatia</span></div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">For the time being, peace and order seems to prevail, and road conditions are stable from one country to the next. Passports are stamped routinely or not at all. If I really wanted to, with a fast car, I bet I could traverse nine or 10 countries in a day.</span></span> </div></div></div></div>Amber Jones Adventureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06141081567700435407noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-217330226006258566.post-54764048060362590142019-08-27T08:44:00.000-07:002019-08-31T14:04:09.058-07:00 Yoga and Spirituality Across the Pond<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">Though this blog is primarily about adventures on the water—and that is scheduled later in this trip also—for now I’ll be plodding along on land. In trains, buses, cars, on foot, and in meditation posture. </span><br>
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This week, you might say I’m reliving my pre-sailing past, when many of my vacations were spent at large, inspiring <a href="https://www.yogaindailylife.org/" target="_blank">Yoga in Daily Life </a>retreats in Eastern Europe. In that region, now known as Central Europe, Yoga in Daily Life continues to be pervasive and popular, with classes taught in schools, at health centers and hospitals, in hundreds of ashrams and yoga centers, and—yes—at large, inspiring retreats. This photo was taken by my yoga colleague Dinah Wiley a week ago, in the retreat center in the Czech Republic where I am now.</div>
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The key to Yoga in Daily Life’s success worldwide is its founder and author, a <a href="https://www.yogaindailylife.org/about-us/author" target="_blank">yoga master</a> who began teaching the ancient spiritual traditions of India in Western and Eastern Europe, and eventually North America, a half century ago. In addition to his teachings, he operates humanitarian projects and advocates for world peace, sometimes in conjunction with the United Nations (pictured below).</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYrDVOQECe7-JCrVnAriEkJ3SQ2GpNVuNfTFhQn02TJlTX3aKOUVgMRUd_Jfab2XV_1Yg8ke6v-6gq5SxUdonqFxf6jgqGLoaWyXJ9Gp2649sHT08_7WrPI9gfkuEjiAGBosQE0o0b0ZkR/s1600/IMG_2868.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1297" height="320" id="id_8312_21c9_b4e3_961e" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYrDVOQECe7-JCrVnAriEkJ3SQ2GpNVuNfTFhQn02TJlTX3aKOUVgMRUd_Jfab2XV_1Yg8ke6v-6gq5SxUdonqFxf6jgqGLoaWyXJ9Gp2649sHT08_7WrPI9gfkuEjiAGBosQE0o0b0ZkR/s320/IMG_2868.JPG" style="height: auto; width: 259px;" width="259"></a></div>
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The Yoga in Daily Life practice includes lessons from the master, asanas (yoga exercises and postures), meditation, breath purification, prayer,
healthy and fresh vegetarian dining, service to others, periods of
silence, and more. A pure lifestyle. The rewards include serenity; joy; physical, mental and emotional
relaxation; and ultimately, if one practices long and hard, bliss.
Liberation from human attachments and burdens. Enlightenment.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyzpb6y6NFvRLtUDEY8PFWONmXJpW9McqHG7CbvCLk8pQAGnTSsk736OS6lUN9YXpNb5GBCtSbQJWpF2bRMjIkz1KcxQ2HT5-trNJ7fGaB6i763qEb7IN2sgWOEOMl3Nq40oXmgWarwcYa/s1600/IMG_8734.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="847" height="320" id="id_c2b7_5ad6_4a_f1bc" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyzpb6y6NFvRLtUDEY8PFWONmXJpW9McqHG7CbvCLk8pQAGnTSsk736OS6lUN9YXpNb5GBCtSbQJWpF2bRMjIkz1KcxQ2HT5-trNJ7fGaB6i763qEb7IN2sgWOEOMl3Nq40oXmgWarwcYa/s320/IMG_8734.JPG" style="height: auto; width: 292px;" width="282"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Anyone
can benefit from even the simplest beginning practices—stretches to
build flexibility, exercises to increase strength, breath and mind
control to calm the mind and nervous system and awaken energy channels.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6pVskuk0eRtDQ2GUGXfJj29H51ddpnKjZAlLAYQINke37dYv7AqFCQSRfkCTrUVmev3GHhuS4GFWZMdtyhphyAzXD48xEIbvQhhW8d5VGEU4HBMo-8KM959DlqeXct4rXfhVj10xDketv/s1600/IMG_8735.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="559" data-original-width="720" height="248" id="id_9232_7a7c_bac1_c7b4" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6pVskuk0eRtDQ2GUGXfJj29H51ddpnKjZAlLAYQINke37dYv7AqFCQSRfkCTrUVmev3GHhuS4GFWZMdtyhphyAzXD48xEIbvQhhW8d5VGEU4HBMo-8KM959DlqeXct4rXfhVj10xDketv/s320/IMG_8735.JPG" style="height: auto; width: 320px;" width="320"></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">We are honored by the master’s presence in our ashram in Alexandria, Virginia, every year or two. There, he attracts dozens who are seeking spiritual fulfillment, or just a peaceful meditation with a master—or something in between.</span></div>
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<img alt="" id="id_c9cf_547e_264b_71ae" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/e-GCRy8w_B7uz2DCx5Wy_Z4VjebNv4tMxVEnNyhVttn2xvjQD_q-ULiiqWA" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip=""><br>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2__zs6CcC_xX5cvDvasGiB2UOHYv39Gkwo-dkAHwUwHGdXeJM4BobvxVU_hukDDBDp-wboPI01XqdB-FB8KbsW3BeFIajaYSzO4FQ2MzfwTHlTOl68WeYYKyDBwG-_e6AqKxBj0mPiKFM/s1600/FullSizeRender.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1058" data-original-width="1000" height="320" id="id_8e82_314d_75a5_e717" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2__zs6CcC_xX5cvDvasGiB2UOHYv39Gkwo-dkAHwUwHGdXeJM4BobvxVU_hukDDBDp-wboPI01XqdB-FB8KbsW3BeFIajaYSzO4FQ2MzfwTHlTOl68WeYYKyDBwG-_e6AqKxBj0mPiKFM/s320/FullSizeRender.jpg" style="height: auto; width: 302px;" width="302"></a></div>
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Here in Europe, the numbers are in the hundreds, which is always humbling to me—to be in the presence of so many spiritual seekers, all striving to follow the principles and practices of the Yoga in Daily Life lifestyle.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><img id="id_c42f_2137_c49f_3a92" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/YcldGWoZ8bqLhAZwfyqMq2oF6xucJZKj0zcGSWoD_pBmuIb4pNQWlHcuB5I" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><img id="id_1d0d_668d_78fa_a04" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/dI58E3422vzBY3HnuWjQPJAErdNC_eT6ScWVnNfKYsEgEhmxpNnLA-Y6KTg" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><img id="id_a768_afa4_63e1_9394" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/eQZJ_0v1rgYUfwUblbdwtCQPrcQNBOGfiNN6MNwS-7oZIiSyvNY78AxjmeQ" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br>We practice together, under the master’s guidance, in the large, rambling buildings and grounds of a former castle in the Czech Republic. This beautifully renovated ashram can accommodate as many as a thousand overnight guests.</div>
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<img alt="" id="id_8a15_1fa3_f86c_d236" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/X6K4n4uyY9WLrzksOjfwB2NzpcQIA16376OAC6GYm9i7v9wHh8pDRz2eQNE" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip=""></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: center;">I am grateful to be in the master’s presence this week, in a historic castle, now a spiritual retreat center, along with hundreds of devoted practitioners of these ancient arts.</span></div>
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Amber Jones Adventureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06141081567700435407noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-217330226006258566.post-82492907267851866592019-08-26T14:46:00.001-07:002019-08-26T14:46:12.700-07:00Kindle?? Aromatherapy Oils? No, Just the Essentials, Please<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">There's no limit to the number of things you can buy to make your flight more comfortable, improve your travel experience, flatten your wallet. You’ve seen them in airline magazines, airport shops, and Duty Free.<br /><br />Books. Magazines. Bottled water. Smart Water. Ear pods, anyone? Hydrate with Egyptian Magic. Cut out sensory input with noise-deafening headphones. Relax your neck into a beanbag pillow. Indulge in a Premium Trail Mix. Pack a mini bottle of Seagrams. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5MVIuN2cst1_u6qehWVyZEDVI9_Epz-NJrDlK85i9CIbDr0Ui_yWGoNEuRP1n-IxraD78XZ6cPReumQwTmrScGwxEUPTTy0jd7Xk_7DjVgWrW7VKFSGMiEJBUzvzwaGFcqA_h4lfv62up/s1600/IMG_0135.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1549" data-original-width="1600" height="309" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5MVIuN2cst1_u6qehWVyZEDVI9_Epz-NJrDlK85i9CIbDr0Ui_yWGoNEuRP1n-IxraD78XZ6cPReumQwTmrScGwxEUPTTy0jd7Xk_7DjVgWrW7VKFSGMiEJBUzvzwaGFcqA_h4lfv62up/s320/IMG_0135.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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I agr<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">ee. All those things would reduce the stress and strain and help me arrive feeling fresh(er) and (more) relaxed.<br /><br />The trade off is having room left in your luggage for a t-shirt and toothpaste. Especially if you only use a rollaboard.<br /><br />If I had loads of money and someone to schlep my oversized bags, I’d be flying First Class, drinking Dom Perignon, and changing shoes every day. As it is, I carefully weigh the pros and </span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">cons of taking extra shoes vs. tools for better sleep, checking a bag with favorite lotions vs. making do with only a carry-on with 3-ounce limits. </span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Here’s my essentials and indulgences for a trans-oceanic flight like the present one, and the trade-offs.</span><br />
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br />1-Carry-on only; no checked bag. Favorite lotions and medicines reduced to a few micrograms each, in screw-on contact lens cases. Don’t forget to label.</span></div>
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<img alt="" id="id_d094_4eff_1ae6_2678" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/lnEjp7vHR0vaJQJu8bM8vYkHLJowVtXhjTqRzLnU_jbKEzf9MeLTnGLvSG8" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">2-Earplugs and face mask. The plain drugstore silicone earplugs in a 1-inch case.</span><img alt="" id="id_270c_e1fe_c42e_b54a" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/MlaaPWQjFTY3mt6bqVn0Y6JgtNjK0XfE6Wyire3EGYV6QConh_BoP_k2CMo" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">3-My newest toy: a sling to elevate my feet. It hangs from the seat-back tray table. This is my first trial flight. Takes up a lot of room in my carry-on, but improved my comfort and made it easier to stop fidgeting and fall asleep. Trade-off: left home extra socks and underwear; can wash those out by hand every night. </span></div>
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<img alt="" id="id_fb6f_5316_6345_9bd6" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/szNl8h9m9BLt_hrfSmPvkt9Rqq4rbtZFagQGSvPlXRgg-un42h4k8dcb17U" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<img alt="" id="id_2efc_e4a2_7beb_bbd0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/zIFOvnC3_75WrJPTU7bogdvEolBqEtlQoVCtzEG5gUEvBnHMVdGSvTJICbE" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span><br />
N<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">ote re second picture, from the internet: you will never have this much room on a plane. See first picture.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> 4-For this trip only, an ultra thin Thermarest self-inflating air mattress. Doubles as a yoga mat for the yoga retreat I’m attending in the Czech Republic and extra padding on those awful princess-and-the-pea hostel bunks. And it was a lifesaver during a 7-hour layover following only two hours sleep on my first, overnight flight. I blew it up and crawled into a corner at Dublin airport for an additional nap. The Thermarest pairs well with...</span></div>
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<img alt="" id="id_d278_60d9_75bc_3580" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/yAs62yWELCwnvZqqoVIrcjqBRW7sPPO1Gc5EtZv_O5duHp5rV5YntQs4B-8" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">5-...My Pillow, travel size. It’s a particular brand. I LOVE it. I’ll never go back to those dreadful inflatable horseshoes that never properly cradled my head. The Thermarest and My Pillow are bulky even when compressed. To make room, I left home my fleece vest and knit hat. If it’s cold in Denmark in late September, I can double up t-shirts and wrap my scarf around my head.</span></div>
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<img alt="" id="id_5c2d_8be0_4706_c10b" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/7Kbv0aY8ukpmr0hmUWDgIAuGWd5tC8UxlB1GJDldtCIZlqV8I1ZB6XgfxLc" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Next trip, I am tempted to add something I saw today in the Duty-Free catalog: fancy Nano-Pods earphones—wireless, self-contained music devices, supposedly delivering higher-fidelity music than what’s possible on cell phones.</span></div>
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<img alt="" id="id_2885_2931_d363_857b" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/NicBPaAy3LAS7JhD2jZEMaMVB88EQ6nmZ-n3BjBrI0r5qSG_uQePxmrL5cg" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<img alt="" id="id_8ff5_840c_97ee_1f9d" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/fN8QFeu3gz6Jl-B0o6kvSEEVy4HzKHvfHyz6i7qKElepheGHUGjndxjotuo" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Trade-off: I could leave home my toothpaste and buy a new tube across the Pond.</span> </div>
Amber Jones Adventureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06141081567700435407noreply@blogger.com0