Barbie goes to Seattle (and back)

Barbie joined Ella, David and me on a cross-country road trip, leaving home September 5th and returning September 29th. In that time we drove almost 8,200 miles, visited (or at least drove through) New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Ontario (Canada), Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Utah, Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Massachusetts.  

At Cranberry Lake, New York

At the Corn Palace, Mitchell, SD

It poured in the Badlands; wind ripped our tent; Barbie (and we) survived.

Back on the road, to the Black Hills and Big Horn National Forest

Big Horn National Forest, beautiful lake, Barbie catching some rays

 Now we're cooking! (Stove is still so clean!)

On the road to Yellowstone

Barbie says beware of bears!  Proof your camp site!

Ella says, "When it's cold, sleep on the picnic table until they let you in the tent...."

Once in the tent, steal a sleeping bag... 

Motel 6, Seattle, well-earned rest (and showers for us, not for Ella or Barbie)

Most beautiful place visited: Cape Disappointment on Long Beach Peninsula, Washington

Back on the road, on the way to ... Colorado?

Barbie at Solace in Fort Collins, a brief but interesting visit

Motel 6, Kearney, Nebraska, another shower and good coffee. Now heading home...

Okay, now that you've acknowledged Barbie's 8K travels, I'll try to get back and post some photos in which Barbie doesn't star.

Peace, peace, far and near.

Barbie goes camping at Lamoine State Park

Today

It's the Fourth Day of July.  It's the birthday of the United States of America, born at a time when "inalienable rights" applied only to white males, and usually only to propertied white males, a minority, a fraction of the persons living in the new "democratic" republic being birthed.  Let's remember that the "democracy" established on July 4th was a "democracy" where some human beings "owned" other human beings as if they were cattle.  Let's remember that the fact of chattel slavery continued as the "law" of this "democratic" republic for almost another 100 years and then, "de facto," as racist Jim Crow laws and "de jure" federally sponsored and supported housing segregation for yet another 100 years, and still today, continues as mass incarceration resulting from "anti-drug" campaigns, cash bail programs and racist policing procedures.  

Let's remember this country's beginning when, in 2019, the government of that country holds hundreds of children in what are essentially cages, without their parents or other adult relatives, and without toothbrushes, soap, change of clothes or, in some cases, beds, where one child holds and comforts another smaller child, a stranger, because there is no one else to do it; a country whose lawyers go to court to argue that "toothbrushes" and "soap" are not included in the requirements of the country's own laws that children held in border detention camps be held in "safe and sanitary" conditions.  

My next door neighbor - who is Canadian - hangs out an American flag this week.  I remember burning American flags in Washington, D.C. to protest the war in Vietnam.  Something like 35 years ago, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that flag burning was "protected speech."  Would that be SCOTUS' ruling today?  I'm not so sure.  Having upheld extreme partisan gerrymandering in the past week, who knows?

I didn't even get around to mentioning yet Trump's $2.5 million (at least) plan to turn the July 4th fireworks event in this nation's capitol in 2019 into a rally to re-elect his racist, likely rapist, fascist cheeseburger inhaling self. 

When I began this post, I just intended to include one local calendar event (but please do note the name of the town where it is being held):

OLD COOTS GIVING ADVICE AT LIBERTY LIBRARY, 59 Main Street, 10 a.m. to noon Saturdays all summer.  Get a donut and some free advice.

I might pass on the donut, but I do need the advice.  Where do we go from here?  I really need some advice.  Can you help?

Peace, peace, far and near.  

Barbie's Roadtrip To From Away

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We're on the road.  Barbie waits in the car while we shop for dinner at the Giant supermarket somewhere in Pennsylvania.

Back in the car, the miles are melting away and Barbie thrills to the wind in her hair:

Catching the rays and some rest at Hayne and Georgie's place on St. Simons Island, Georgia

 Gotta earn our keep; Barbie helps by doing some gardening for Hayne and Georgie:

On our way to Florida crossing the sunshine state, we're starving so we stop at Sonny's BBQ.  Barbie approves!

At last, the roadtrip feels like a real vacation.  We are enjoying the lovely pool at Kate and Phil's - of course, we couldn't actually take a swim because Kate and Phil were busy pouring in doses of acid to correct the ph level and always scraping, scraping, scraping something or other off the bottom.  But I don't think Barbie minded:

From Florida, we're on our way to Atlanta to visit family.  We make Motel 6 in Tucker our home away from home and Barbie is (and all of us are) soon off to dreamland.

Time to chill with Sam and the boys - the kids playing video games, Sam listening to jazz, and Barbie taking it all in.

Next stop, Etowah, NC, suburb of Asheville, and a lovely visit with the Waycaster clan.  Ella had to stay behind with her BFF, Rex (she didn't seem to mind that either)...

but Barbie joined us for a lovely morning at the North Carolina Arboretum:

On the way home, another Motel 6.  Barbie asks when this damn roadtrip will finally end (don't let that smile fool you; this girl's ready for her own damn bed):

Home sweet home!

Spring

This year I bought seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds to start indoors, and then didn't get around to getting the soil and planting the seeds until this past week.  I bought 2 kinds of tomatoes - both big beefsteak types, one so dark it is almost black, and eggplant and collard green seeds. After about 3-4 days in the seed tray in my kitchen south-facing window, the collard green seeds sprouted.

In other news, I've been busy (too busy, I think) "volunteering."  Here's what I'm doing these days:  (1) entering data for our local food panty (I go by the pantry 1-2 times a week, pick up sheets that list the people who came by for food, and enter the data in an on-line database), (2) acting as interim treasurer for our synagogue until June 30 because the prior treasurer suddenly resigned; this is a pain because he resigned right before starting to prepare next year's budget, so I'm doing that without having any history over the past year; oh well; (3) working with a couple of other people to negotiate a contract for someone our shul is hiring; (4) volunteering once a week at the local animal shelter where I pick up poop, scrub and wipe out dog kennels; (5) acting as mentor for a young person undergoing delayed disposition by the court by agreeing to work with Restorative Justice, and (6) working with Waste Watchers, a local group trying to work towards better approaches to solid waste disposal in our city.  And I just finished working with a group of people from our synagogue to put on an Easter Community Dinner on Easter--we served about 100 people.  And I'm playing music about once a week with a group of friends.

Here's what I do for fun:  performance art - Barbie Visits Maine:

Barbie volunteers at the Apprenticeshop, local boat school. So very Maine!

Barbie learns to sail

Wow - look at Barbie handle than line (line! not rope!)

Up in Maine, our lobstahs get REAL big! Watch out, Barbie!

Wave to the folks, Barbie!

That's what's going on up he'ah.  How are you doing away they'ah?

Peace, peace, far and near.

Trying new things

This past November I took a community education course in beginning knitting.  I made a very imperfect but still lovely pair of fingerless gloves for my daughter, sent them to her and they were lost in the mail.  I am knitting another pair now and I do find I like knitting. I decided to take the class and try to learn to knit because I thought it might help the stiffness in my hands from arthritis.  I think it does. Up to a point.  Then it may do the opposite.

In December some time, David and I went to the local (hoity toity e.g., prohibitively expensive) sporting goods store so he could look at winter gloves.  While there I came across their display of flies (for fishing).  They were so beautiful!  Who knew?  Certainly not me. Here are a couple of photos I took.  They don't do them justice.  The flies were all shapes, colors, sizes, of all kinds of materials, including Elk hair.  Elk hair!!!  And look at the Hexagenia Dun!  What a wonderful name!

David told me that he took a fly tying class as part of Boy Scouts.  I thought what a wonderful thing to learn how to do.  Lo and behold, the catalogue of community education classes came today and in March, they are offering Beginning Fly Tying, 4 weeks, $35.  I'm signing up.  What, you ask, will I do with the flies I learn how to tie - assuming I am capable of learning to tie them?  I have no idea.  Maybe next summer I'll take a Beginning Fly Fishing class.

Here in Maine we are trying out a new approach to state government.  We elected a Democrat and a woman, Janet Mills - the first woman governor of Maine and the first governor to win more than 50% of the vote in quite some time.  (Our last governor, Paul LePage -- who was Trump in our state politics before Trump was Trump in national politics -- was elected with 39% of the vote because of a third party candidate who split the vote.)  Governor Mills has already signed into law Medicaid expansion - which passed 2 people's referenda here in Maine, backed up by several law suits, and still LePage refused to implement the expansion.  Meanwhile, the Democrats also control the State House and Senate.  So there's a possibility that the state government will actually get some things done - for the first time in a long time.  Of course, some of what they do may be metaphorically "lost in the mail" or they may fail at some things they try to do.

I guess that's the risk of trying new things.

Peace.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

It is a weirdly warm day in mid coast Maine - 44 degrees - after an inch or so of snow, followed by sleet and sort of misty rain, melted to slush and now to big puddles of water and mud (likely to freeze into slick ice sheets over night tonight).  I have acquaintances complaining about the lack of snow this fall-winter.  I don't mind snow, but can't say I'm pining for it.  What I don't like is wild swings between icy cold temps and spring-like weather with rain/sleet.  Which always leads to ice, which is the downfall (pun intended) of we the "elderly."

Anyway, this is just a brief post to say Welcome to 2019, when my (only relevant) new year's resolution is to try to post more often.

I'll start with this photo from this morning, continuing my on-going New Year's tradition of taking a photo of Ella and me every January 1.

May the year ahead be better than the year behind - a low bar indeed.  Now I'm off to cook black-eyed pea stew, collard greens, rice and corn bread.  Yum.

Peace.

Sometimes it's about the clothes...

So what I’ve been thinking about lately is how sometimes it takes too damn long to learn the lesson that where you live is trying to teach you about what you should wear.   

Specifically I want to know why I didn’t use the brains that my 23 chromosomes gave me  to know enough to buy a pair of rubber rain boots until I was 60 years old! How many times did I have to go out in the rain and get my feet and my shoes wet to learn that lesson?  How many pairs of decent shoes did I ruin in the meantime?  I bought raincoats, good raincoats.  I owned umbrellas.  So I didn’t want my body or the clothes on it, or my head, to get wet.  But my feet and my poor shoes?   Too bad for them.

I say all this to convey what a revelation my first pair of rain boots were for me.  LLBean, bought just before we moved to Maine, and worn a few times when away. Then worn out once we lived here in mid coast Maine.   Say what you will, what really defines Maine – at least the mid coast – is rain and mud, oh, and wind.  Let’s make that: Wind.  Rain.  Mud. In that order.

I wore out my first pair of Bean rain boots, wore them to holes in the tops, which leaked.  I kept them and use them for gardening, and ordered a new pair.  But, like all good capitalist enterprises, LLBean decided to “improve” their rain boots and ruined them.  They came. Fit differently. Were sent back.  I started looking locally and eventually found a pair at Colburn’s in Belfast, Maine, which happens to be the oldest shoe store in New England.  

Here they are, my chicken-themed rain boots (yes, that's red duct tape on the top of one, where the edge rubs my leg; so they're not perfect--they keep my feet dry!)  

I love them.  And now, when I go out, I wear rain boots and a rain coat AND if it’s early spring or fall and chilly, I add rain pants. Yep.  The brains in my head are old, and slow, but steady. When I learn something, I learn it.  Staying dry is good. Let the rain stay mainly in Maine.  Bring it on!

It really isn't all about me

I’ve been feeling guilty about posting such a long post about my experience with pain yesterday, so I decided to post about some things of note going on here in Rockland:

A company called Yachting Solutions is again applying for state and federal environmental permits for its $3 million plan to expand its marina at the south end of Rockland’s harbor while city officials are proposing a separate plan to redevelop the inner harbor.   Rockland citizens have expressed concerns about how the development would impact boat traffic, the scenery, and the character of the harbor.  Apparently a related plan was approved in 2008, but the company didn’t secure grants and other financing.  So they’re back now.  One resident has formed a new group to oppose the project called Sensible Harbor Infrastructure Plan (S.H.I.P).  Right now I tend to lean against this plan.  It seems to intend to refocus the infrastructure of the Rockland harbor in favor of private industry, private yachts that visit, and cruise ships. Our city is known for hosting a number of festivals that draw thousands of visitors and support various charities - the Blues Festival, the Lobster Festival and Homes, Ships and Harbors Festival - and I understand the end result of this development could cut back significantly on the size of the city's property on which these festivals take place.  

Lobster Festival Parade on our block!

Generally, I also have my suspicions about corporations claiming that they're doing us citizens a favor.  But I'm keeping an open mind (well, sort of).  I love Rockland's harbor:

Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse

Another “hot” local issue is short-term rental (like Airbnb).  I missed the City Council meeting that included public comment on this, but I understand it was heated.  The end result seems to be proposal of a bill permitting short-term rentals but limiting them to a specific number (something like 47 or 48) and requiring annual licenses.  I think the proposal would also limit the number of short-term rentals by non-residents (meaning you buy the property but don't live in it, just rent it for periodic short-term rentals).

That issue also relates to the related “fill in” issue, which would permit Rockland property owners to build small additions to existing properties, such as in-law apartments or the like, which is currently limited by zoning regulations.  Those in favor of this argue that this would help bring income to homeowners facing ever-increasing property taxes (which are ever increasing in part because our GOP governor just refuses to implement various laws and regulations, including the requirement to pass back a certain percentage of state income to municipalities to fund schools; he just decided unilaterally to pass back less, meaning cities and towns like Rockland have had to make up the difference); they also think this would create more “affordable housing," a critical need in Rockland where a 2-bedroom apartment costs $1,000 or more while 90% of our elementary kids qualify for free or subsidized lunches.  Those against loosening "fill in" zoning regulations say they want to retain the “character” of our neighborhoods.  They don’t want their houses jammed up other houses that weren't permitted when they bought their property (of course, on many streets, including mine, we already live like that, probably because this was always a working class street).  

Our house - and our wonderful neighbor on the north side

I don’t buy the pro "in-fill" arguments.  I think the driving force behind the “in-fill” proponents is more likely wanting the ability to offer Airbnb type rentals and I certainly don’t think the additional small apartments will provide any significant “affordable” housing.  On the other hand, I don’t really give a rat’s ass about preserving the so-called “character” of Rockland which, as I see it, is always a moving target.   A decade ago or so, they used to say “Camden By The Sea, Rockland By The Smell.”  (Camden is a wealthier, more summer-intensive community 11 miles north of us.)  But Rockland has evolved and is still evolving. Today, Rockland seems to be an up-and-coming location; we're actually becoming "trendy," dealing with both the Up and Down sides of that evolution.

One strength we have over towns like Camden is our diversity.  We are still home to working class people, lobstermen and factory workers, service industry workers, as well as year-round retirees. Although if we become much "trendier," people like this won't be able to afford housing here (or taxes on houses they already own).  Here's the yard of the Rockland house seen in the background; you can tell because it's a Maine house because the yard includes lobster traps, several boats and what we call a "pile," which is stuff you know you want for something but not in your house.  

But Rockland also has a strong arts community, museums, galleries.  Rockland is home to a significant number of wealthy residents, including some - but still very much a minority - summer-only residents.  A couple of current homes for sale in Rockland"

$940,000

"Only" $497,850

We are becoming a vacation “destination” both for other Mainers and for cruise ships (and that’s another controversy - should we encourage MORE cruise ship visits, especially by the gigantic 2,500 passenger carriers, or not?  Do cruise ship visits help or hurt our local economy?).  Here are some recent cruise line visitors:

Megaship at Rockland Breakwater

Cruise liner coming into the harbor

Personally I think all of these issues point to an underlying issue our community faces of what it means to undergo “sustainable development.”  It’s one of the reasons I volunteer with a local non-profit group founded by three younger Rockland residents, called Renew Rockland.  Sustainable development is what Renew Rockland is about; they advocate for renewable energy, waste reduction, recycling and composting, bicycle and pedestrian friendly streets, community gardens and farms.  

Personally, I want Rockland to stay and grow stronger as a community where traditional wooden boat building like this 

continues to take place right along side (sustainable) industrial development that supports decent paying jobs so all classes of people can afford to live here, pay taxes, fund good schools and enjoy Rockland.  

I guess the bottom line is ... I want it all for Rockland.

Okay, that’s what’s happening.  See ya later, deah.

And so it goes...

I know this is supposed to be a blog about life in the mid coast of Maine, but what I've been thinking about and dealing with in my life here over the last weeks, even months, is pain, my own pain (and I'm not even going to mention the much more significant pain of the families and students in Parkland, Florida, or of Dreamers let down by Democrats or ... need I go on?)

I can't remember when I posted here about my hip, the right one (or, actually, the wrong one), but it has been a real pain in the ass (literally!) for more than a year.  I've had a "bad" hip for many years, decades even, so if I walked too far (or back when I jogged, jogged more than 3 miles), it would hurt.  Then I'd rest it, take it easy for a few days, and be okay.  Over the years my osteoarthritis worsened, including in that hip, but apart from morning stiffness, which I could walk/exercise out, it was basically okay.  In other words, the "pain" I had fell into levels 2 and 3 with an occasional foray into level 4 on the "Pain Scale":

2 = Discomforting. Minor pain, like lightly pinching the fold of skin between the thumb and first finger with the other hand, using the fingernails. Note that people react differently to this self test.

3 = Tolerable. Very noticeable pain, like an accidental cut, a blow to the nose causing a bloody nose, or a doctor giving you an injection. The pain is not so strong that you cannot get used to it. Eventually, most of the time you don't notice the pain. You have adapted to it.

4 = Distressing. Strong, deep pain, like an average toothache, the initial pain from a bee sting, or minor trauma to part of the body, such as stubbing your toe real hard. So strong you notice the pain all the time and cannot completely adapt. This pain level can be simulated by pinching the fold of skin between the thumb and first finger with the other hand, using the fingernails, and squeezing real hard. Note how the simulated pain is initially piercing but becomes dull after that.

Until Christmas 2016.  As we had for several years, we volunteered at the Soup Kitchen's Christmas Community Dinner and I was on my feet for 8 hours or more.  (Standing has always been the hardest on my hip, much harder than walking.)  That's when the real trouble began.   I tried for 6 or 7 weeks to deal with it, but the hip wouldn't "go back" to the way it had been.  Now the pain reaches level 4 much if not most of the time and even up to level 5 on the "Pain Scale":

5 = Very Distressing. Strong, deep, piercing pain, such as a sprained ankle when you stand on it wrong or mild back pain. Not only do you notice the pain all the time, you are now so preoccupied with managing it that you normal lifestyle is curtailed. Temporary personality disorders are frequent.

(Well, I'm not so sure about the "temporary personality disorders!)

So I went to my doctor, who sent me to the orthopedic practice, who took x-rays and said I had bone on bone.  She sent me home with a super-ibuprofen type prescription.  I took it and it helped, but it came with dire warnings about stomach bleeding and after a few weeks I began having stomach pain.  So I asked for something else. She told me there was nothing else to do other than a cortisone injection.  I put that off for weeks and then months.  Finally in August, I had it done.  It helped (wasn't magic, but did help) ... for about 4 weeks, maybe 5 weeks.  When the positive effects wore off, I put up with it again ... for weeks.  Then finally I made an appointment with the Joint Replacement Center down in Falmouth (about 80 miles south of here).

I saw them in January.  More x-rays.  Confirmation of the bone-on-bone and even some further disintegration of the socket or something.  (Good news:  my left hip is fine!)  Next step.  Total hip replacement.  Earliest appointment they had for the surgery is April 19th.  Now I wait.

Meanwhile, the hip worsens.  The pain increases, both in intensity and duration, meaning I'm in pain most of the time and much worse pain some of the time.  It's hitting level 6 now:

6 = Intense. Strong, deep, piercing pain so strong it seems to partially dominate your senses, causing you to think somewhat unclearly. At this point you begin to have trouble holding a job or maintaining normal social relationships. Comparable to a bad non-migraine headache combined with several bee stings, or a bad back pain.

Ironically I have looked at this "Pain Scale" many times over the past months, but not in the recent weeks.  And posting it here, now, I realize that the description in level 6 about having trouble "maintaining normal social relationships" is probably true.  The pain has caused me to curtail almost all my out-of-the-house activities.  I haven't been going to shul.  I have cut back on volunteer activities.  I even think twice, three times, before going next door to my neighbor's house.  In the morning, I still get up, and either with David or by myself, take Ella for her morning walk, but much shorter, and it is hard.  (On the other hand, if I DON'T walk, I stiffen up and that's worse!)  I ride in the car with David driving (easier to get in the passenger side since I put my butt in and then can bring in the bad leg than in the driver's side where the bad leg has to lead) and sometimes drive myself.  I take Ella for her nighttime walk - much shorter.  I do a handful of other errands outside of the house, go to the library, an occasional meeting, but I am home much much more of the time.  That's okay; I'm reading a lot; playing music (and even occasionally vacuuming and cleaning other stuff, like the bathroom.)

At the January appointment they watched me walk and asked if I had a cane (I do, but I hadn't brought it with me).  They told me to use it.  So I do now, any time I leave the house, I have it.  And recently, I keep it near me in the house.  Because when I sit for a while (basically more than 10-15 minutes), I am almost unable to walk for the first few moments after I stand up.  So the cane helps then.

The good news is, I haven't hit level 7 ... yet (7 = Very Intense. Same as 6 except the pain completely dominates your senses, causing you to think unclearly about half the time. At this point you are effectively disabled and frequently cannot live alone. Comparable to an average migraine headache.) 

I sincerely want to miss out on 7, 8, 9 and 10 with this hip (10 = Unimaginable and Unspeakable. Pain so intense you will go unconscious shortly. Most people have never experienced this level of pain. Those who have suffered a severe accident, such as a crushed hand, and lost consciousness as a result of the pain and not blood loss, have experienced level 10.  I have known level 10 - that's what I felt when I shattered my wrist and dislocated my elbow slipping on black ice, and doctors at the ER had to pull on my shattered wrist in order to put my elbow back in the socket; I passed out.)

I know this has been a downer post - but it IS what I've thinking about when not getting outraged over the political situation or dealing with other family problems.  (David's sister was in the hospital in Lewiston, and forced to move out of her newly occupied subsidized apartment, but is now recovered and moved to North Carolina; David's brother had kidney failure, went to the hospital, suffered cardiac arrest, was revived, put on a respirator and unclear whether he would survive; stayed in ICU on dialysis for 8 or 9 days, but he also "recovered" to breathe on his own again, no longer requires dialysis and is now in a nursing home trying to regain enough strength to stand and walk with a walker.  I am reminded to be grateful for everything that is good!  For instance, my children and grandchildren are well, even thriving.)

In that vein, I will close with a couple of photos from a recent walk through downtown Rockland where there is a wonderful new mural painted by a local artist last fall.  Seeing it there always makes me smile.  Posting the photos here does, too.