Taking a picturesque trip down memory lane

Yes, it has been over three months since we moved to Bryan, Texas, but thanks to major snafus getting new carpet in the house we are just now unpacking boxes and figuring out where to put things.

Last Thursday I unloaded a couple boxes of photo albums. The task itself only takes a few minutes, but the process is much longer than that. Stopping to flip through the albums and steal glances back through time takes forever.

I want to go back … in time … just for a bit. I found a picture of my mother and middle brother at my brother’s high school graduation in 1985. They’re both gone now. I want just one more moment with each of them; one more chance to say I love you.

We have dozens of photo albums. Some are Sandy’s but most are mine. I’ve always been a shutterbug and my mother kept meticulous albums of family pictures. I did too, right up until around the early part of the 2000s when I got too busy to maintain albums and things started going digital. In addition to all the albums, I have several boxes of loose photos and numerous CDs jammed with pictures.

Each picture is a moment in time that can never be recaptured. But they can be remembered, which is what I love about photography. Photographs bring clarity to fuzzy memories. They say so much more than a thousand words can describe. As I look through the pictures, I realize that I should have included enough words to at least note who is in the picture and when and where it was taken. There are some people and events you think you’ll never forget – until you do.

The last time I put any serious effort into researching my family tree I found a couple pictures of my great-grandfather and great-great grandfather. I know my paternal grandparents had photo albums, but they appear to be long gone now. Oh, how I wish I could find them. I could add them to the big pile of other albums, CDs and photo boxes to sort and organize someday.

The main thing is I have all those memories of my lifetime visually documented, not only for my enjoyment but also for the generations to come. Today we can look at pictures from the 1800s and wonder what some of the gadgets are that they’re using and muse about how rustic their way of life was. Sometime decades or even centuries from now my descendants are going to look at pictures of me and wonder, “what the heck was he thinking and why is someone holding his beer?”

Seriously though, as I look back at pictures of my kids when they are little, I wish that I could go back and play with those kiddos again. There are a lot of things I wish I could do differently. As much as I might wish this, however, I’m not going to let my life be run by regrets. Flipping through the albums I see a lot of things we did that were spectacular and fun. There are lots of Scouting activities, birthdays, holidays, graduations, weddings, vacations, sporting events and so on.

Stuck on discs and digital storage devices are more recent pictures of us in costumes at the Texas Renaissance Festival, in costume at Texas Revolution reenactments, pictures of my son and I in uniform volunteering at Brazos Bend State Park, and tons of photos from football, baseball, and rugby games. Both albums and discs are flooded with pictures from comic cons, Space Center Houston, and the beach. There are also wedding and baby pictures intermixed with countless, random, goofy pictures of my family throughout the years.

Stowing the last of the albums in the cabinet is like closing a book after reading a couple chapters. They are there to pick up again and re-read, but the real adventures lie ahead. Now is the time to make new memories, have new experiences, and make new friends. Life is here and now. The pictures are great and always worth reliving, but not at the expense of today.

The rest of the house needs to be unpacked and set up. There is work to be done in the yard to get ready for our foray into farming. We are working hard, having fun, and yes, taking lots of pictures along the way.

While my heart is warmed by this photographic trip down memory lane, I have to wonder how long it will take me to unpack, as I know some of the boxes contain old toys and other keepsakes that will take me just as long to reminisce about. Come to think of it, maybe that is the real reason it’s taking so long to get settled into our new home.

You can count on my dislike of numbers

I have a love-hate relationship with numbers.

In general, we absolutely, positively do not get along. Numbers are devious little buggers whose sole purpose in life is to mess me up. There is a reason I’ve always been bad at math and I place the blame entirely on numbers.

My inability to play nice with numbers resulted in me going through school with a stigma of stupidity. It wasn’t until just a few years ago that I self-diagnosed myself as having a condition known as dyscalculia. It’s basically like having dyslexia with numbers. Once I discovered that my problem was a real thing and not just me being slow or stupid, I was able to let some of my anxiety about numbers go. That doesn’t, however, stop me from freezing up when I have to do math under pressure.

So, if I have such a dislike for numbers, where does the love come in? Some numbers bring with them very positive memories and emotions. For example, the number 161 is important to me. It was the number of my Cub Scout Pack, Boy Scout Troop, and Explorer Post. Whenever I see 161, I’m flooded with fond memories and I swell with pride.

The same goes for the number 50. That was my number when I played football at Niwot High School. I kept it for four years of intramural flag football in college. And when it comes to football, I have a lot of pride in the number 7, which was worn by my favorite NFL player, John Elway.

Other numbers spur good feelings, especially those associated with birthdays and anniversaries. But that’s where it ends. The rest of the numbers can go take a long walk off a short pier. And math can follow. Better yet, let’s make it a foot race. When you start doing math that involves shapes that are neither numbers nor letters, you just as well be speaking a foreign language underwater with a mouthful of peanut butter.

My wife and youngest son are just the opposite. They speak fluent math and the concepts come easy to them. One of my regular routines on election nights is to get my wife on the phone and have her help me figure out percentages. I’ve always hated election night coverage because it involves an awful lot of nasty little numbers. There is the need to type them correctly (sorry, autocorrect won’t help), figure out percents, while also trying to contact candidates, write a story, post results online and on social media, all under deadline pressure.

A few weeks ago I was taking an assessment and I was asked to count backwards from 100 by sevens. I had enough fingers to figure out the first one was 93. After that, I was screwed. I tried to do it in my head. I knew the number would be somewhere in the mid-80s. And I liked the ’80s. I went through high school and college in the ’80s. The music was way cooler than it is today (ironically one of my favorite songs is “8675-309”) and the movies were great. Oh, and the big hair – that was awesome!

So while my mind was going there, the number 86 might as well been gargling peanut butter underwater somewhere on a distant planet. And the only reason I can tell you that the number is 86 is because I used my fingers – twice – just to be sure.

If you’re wondering why I couldn’t recall that information from multiplication tables (or times tables as we called it), it’s because I never learned them. I did fine with the ones, most of the twos, and all of the fives and 10s. Beyond that, I just could not memorize them no matter how hard I tried.

I know I’m making light of my relationship with numbers, but it is a serious problem. I was a disaster at paying bills, figuring out taxes, and balancing my checkbook. That’s why my math-minded wife handles those things. I easily transpose numbers, forget to carry the one to the next column, misplace commas, and things like that. Those are all symptoms of dyscalculia. I know that now.

One of the times I had fun with numbers was in the late ’70s/early ’80s when the movie “10” came out starring Dudley Moore and Bo Derek. That started the fad of rating women on a scale of one to 10, which was a riot for me and my fellow teenage buddies. I don’t think the girls liked it so much, but they played along with it – at least the ones eight and up.

Now that I’m well into my 50s I’ve discovered a new set of problems with numbers. If I’m not wearing my glasses, a lot of them look alike, especially 3, 6, and 8. Another number that scares me is the one my bathroom scale spits out at me each morning. I’ve been fortunate in that it is generally getting smaller, but it will climb rapidly if I’m not careful. Come to think of it, my age has been climbing, too. I tell you, those numbers have it out for me.

Of course, all of this talk about numbers is tiring me out. You can bet I won’t go to bed counting sheep. But I will be dreaming about the 10 lying next to me!

Actors prohibited from talking about shows at convention

Richard Dreyfuss flipped me off.

Really. I almost got a picture of it. I was taking his photo Saturday at GalaxyCon Austin – a major comic convention – when I started to lower my camera. Boom, up came his middle finger. By the time I got my camera back up all I got was a picture of him smirking. It got a good laugh from the handful of people who were hanging around his booth waiting to buy his autograph.

Dreyfuss, star of such movies as “Jaws,” “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” and “Mr. Holland’s Opus,” was one of numerous stars to appear last weekend at the convention in Austin. It was also GalaxyCon’s first convention in the region. The three-day show was very Trek heavy with stars from across the older “Star Trek” universe.

William Shatner and Walter Koenig were there, representing the original series. The majority of the “Star Trek: The Next Generation” cast was there, including Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, Levar Burton, Gates McFadden, and Wil Wheaton. “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” actors Armin Simerman and Terry Farrell were there, along with a smattering of others. Other notables include Andy Serkis, Charlie Cox, Giancarlo Esposito, and Ming-Na Wen.

The convention was very different than most that I’ve been to because the stars were prohibited from talking about the movies and televisions shows that made them famous. Seriously!

The SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) strike meant that they could not talk about movies and television shows past, present, or future in order for them to show solidarity with their union brethren. The absurd rule was put in place by the union so conventions could still go on but the actors would not be profiting from their work in violation of the strike. Or at least that’s the way I understood it. Trust me, at $40 to $120 a pop for autographs, they still made a profit off their work.

Each actor I saw who spoke about the strike rules gave different explanations of why they were important and all of them made fun of it as they tried to talk around the names of shows and characters. The experience was both ridiculous and insightful. William Shatner whispered “Star Trek” and “Captain Kirk” but kept almost all of his talk about other experiences. Andy Serkis, a noted motion-capture actor, referenced projects by their year of release or whether or not it was part of a trilogy of films. He mostly talked about his experiences of doing motion-capture from its start and its evolution to now.

Several of the actors talked bout their personal lives, hobbies, social activism, and what it was like for them get their big break in Hollywood. You got to learn more about them personally than you would under the normal line of questioning which usually focuses on their shows.

Unsurprising to me was the revelation of their liberal sides. I was disappointed to see what a socialist Wil Wheaton is and what a hateful person he can be. I lost a lot of respect for him the longer he spoke. He was also one of the few celebrities who wore a mask over his nose and mouth.

Several of the “Star Trek” actors I have seen before. I saw Shatner earlier this year in Sugar Land and twice before that in Denver and Houston. Spiner surprised me. Two or three years ago at a convention I asked him if I could take his picture, and he said it could only be of his face and could not include the banner he was standing in front of. It was impossible to comply. When he saw the picture I took and the portions of the banner behind him that I could not crop out, he got angry.

This time he allowed me to take several photos and said he didn’t want to be in the newspaper and suggested I use the photos for my own personal use. He was very friendly and we joked around a little bit. McFadden allowed me to take one picture and insisted I turn my flash on. That was the only unusual stipulation any of the actors made.

Come to think of it, none of the celebrities I asked to photograph said no. That is an extreme rarity at conventions these days, as photos are not allowed in autograph rooms and each celebrity has the say as to whether they are photographed or not. Since they get paid to pose for pictures with people, press photographers frequently get turned down.

The accessibility of the celebrity guests, the abundance of guests, the large vendors room, and the numerous panel discussions to participate in made GalaxyCon Austin very fan friendly and a pleasant experience. Visitors were friendly and courteous and several wore remarkable costumes.

It was well worth the time and expense to make the trip to Austin. I got to see several actors I had never seen before as well as get reacquainted with some I’ve seen several times. And if nothing else, I can now boast about the time Richard Dreyfuss gave me a close encounter of the bird kind.

Andy Serkis

Jonathan Frakes

Richard Dreyfuss

William Shatner

Barbie has nothing on manly action figures

If this were Facebook, I would be marked safe from having seen the Barbie movie.

Heck, I’m safe from having even considered going to see the Barbie movie. Apparently, it will go down as the biggest blockbuster hit of 2023. I don’t care. Barbie just ain’t my kind of gal and this certainly ain’t my kind of movie.

I had two brothers and no sister growing up. My poor mother was outnumbered 4-1 by males in the household. In general, our house was a pretty manly place to grow up, except that my dad might argue that my many action figures weren’t very manly. I liked playing with my 8-inch Mego superheroes and Star Trek characters, along with my Lone Ranger, Johnny West, and G.I. Joe figures.

Between all my action figures and their accessories, I was probably a male counterpart to the girls and their Barbie dolls and accessories. I didn’t see it that way at the time, but in hindsight I must confess that it’s true. I had a Batcave, not a beach house. My action figures had fights and grand adventures, not tea parties and sleepovers. My biggest conundrum was what to do with my Lt. Uhura figure from Star Trek. She was the only female action figure I owned, and I didn’t feel right having female figures in my manly collection. I gave her away to a girl in our neighborhood, but she gave her back because she didn’t like Star Trek and had no use for it.

Being a typical pre-teen boy, the only thing I found amusing about her was taking off her tunic and giggling at her perky girly parts. Come to think about it, that’s about all I ever did whenever I encountered a Barbie doll. Either that or bend her at the waist and point her like a pistol. If you bent her backwards, you could line up your target through her “sights.”

My manly action figures, however, were perfect for letting my storytelling imagination run wild. Most all of the figures were based off of comic books or television shows, so you could try to mimic those as well. Every other week my Spider-Man and Captain America comics would give me new adventures to emulate.

When Star Wars came out in 1977, I naturally assumed that Mego would make the action figures. Then Kenner came out with these chintzy 3 ¾-inch plastic playthings. I held out a long time waiting for my 8-inch Luke Skywalker that never came. Mego had turned down the Star Wars license and soon went out of business. Eventually I turned to the dark side and bought up the Kenner collection. I was so enamored with Star Wars that I couldn’t get enough of anything to do with the movie.

At that point, I was so obsessed with Star Wars that owning a Princess Leia figure didn’t bother me. Nor did I mistreat her like some dumb blonde Barbie doll. Princess Leia was super cool and I had a big crush on her.

My collection of Mego action figures vanished with my best friend when his family moved away to Oklahoma. I never saw him or my figures again. My collection of original Kenner Star Wars figures, including the mail order Boba Fett, were sold for 50 cents each at a garage sale in my late teens when I felt I was too old and mature to play with kiddie toys anymore. Man, what I wouldn’t give to have those action figures back today.

I still have my Lone Ranger and Tonto figures and their horses, but they’re old and in poor condition. Even so, I will never willingly part with them. I want my old Mego collection back for the sentimental value, although the dollar value of those toys today is astronomical, especially if they are mint in the box. Those action figures that we got for $2 at Kmart are now worth hundreds of dollars depending on their condition.

I am pleased that Mego is back in business and has started making action figures again. I desperately want to get Batman, Robin, and Superman, but I hesitate to spend over $20 each for them. My new conundrum would be to either open them and display them or keep them mint in the box in hopes of increasing their value. Who am I kidding, I’m an opener kind of guy. I like looking at my collection of action figures and getting lost in heroic adventures in my mind.

I think it would be amazingly cool if Mego made a movie based on their action figures just like LEGO does with theirs. There are plenty of blockbuster movies based on toys and now Barbie has gotten into the game. But no, I still have no interest in watching a Barbie movie, unless perhaps they show us her perky girly parts, but then it’s not that kind of movie.

When you wish upon a farm

Be careful what you wish for because you just might get it.

Sandy and I wished for years to have our own hobby farm. This year, after much consternation, we finally bought a small acreage just outside of Bryan/College Station. On the surface, it’s paradise. It’s heavily wooded with several clearings and a small pond. When we first moved in we were pleased to see such a variety of wildlife living here – deer, raccoons, armadillos, frogs, and birds of every feather. It brought to mind the Hundred Acre Wood from Winnie the Pooh, so we named it Southern Acre Wood.

We have grand plans of growing a huge garden, planting fruit and nut trees, and raising small animals such as rabbits, chickens, ducks, and perhaps goats or alpacas. It’s easy to look at the property and visualizing our dream unfolding in place. The place is perfect for what we want, with the exception of a few things we hadn’t planned on.

The property was wet and very swampy when we bought it. The drought hit about the time we moved in and it is now a desert, but then so is much of Texas. About a third of our little pond has evaporated, leaving behind muck, mud and huge piles of rotting leaves and limbs. We couldn’t see that under the thick covering of algae and duck weed that blankets the surface. Clearing that out is just another project in paradise.

The soil has a lot of clay, so right now it’s harder than concrete. Tilling and planting a garden is going to have to wait a while. We don’t want to start raising animals in this heat, so that’s also on hold for cooler, moister weather. In the meantime, this is an ideal time to stay indoors setting up our home. At least it would be if we could get the big box store which shall not be named (the name is two words and the signature color is orange) to do anything timely or correct.

We spent six weeks waiting for vinyl flooring to arrive and be installed. When the installers finally came, they took measurements, ripped up a section of carpet, and announced they can’t install vinyl in our house. We returned it to the big box store which shall not be named and ordered carpet instead. It took them another week and two visits from us to get that done. And now it will be about two to three more weeks before it arrives and is installed. In the meantime, most of our furniture and other belongings sit in storage.

We knew we wanted gas appliances in the house, so we ordered a propane tank from a local company and had it installed. We purchased gas appliances from the big box store which shall not be named, but they did not come with propane conversion kits like they told us they would. It took about seven weeks from the time we ordered the propane tank until we finally had working appliances in the house, but at least that part is done.

I’m very anxious to get outside and start cleaning up the property and preparing it for farming. The searing heat we’ve had lately has made that impractical. So I watch as the greenery droops and the pond dries up, wishing I could get out and do something. Since I can’t work outside, I’d like to at least be setting up the house inside, but again, we’re waiting on the carpet. We are trying to minimize what we have in the house until the carpet is installed. Without furniture in place, we can’t tell where we want to hang pictures and things. So, we wait.

Every once and a while I stroll our little acreage, my heart full of hopes and dreams of what could be but my head heavy, listing all the work it’s going to take to make our dream come true. There is a lot of underbrush to clear out, dead trees to cut down, trash to clean up and other things to take care of. That’s on top of cleaning out and expanding the pond, putting up fencing, building a deck out back, and many other projects that just keep piling up. Oh, and then there is the part where we actually build the farm and do things like preparing the soil for a garden and installing a chicken coop and rabbit hutches.

What we thought would take months will ultimately take years to complete. That’s fine, I guess. This is, after all, what we wished for; what we prayed to God and asked for. Rather than taking strides to transform this property we are now taking it in stride as we suffer setbacks and struggles. We are not deterred. We are determined. Every step has a lesson to learn. When it comes to starting a farm, each growing experience is just that – a growing experience.

We got what we wished for and now we must carefully fashion this dream and make it come true. With God’s timing and grace, we believe it will come to fruition. Be sure to stay tuned for future updates from the Southern Acre Wood.

(This column was not published by the Wharton Journal-Spectator.)

Will power is the secret to permanent weight loss

The secret to losing weight and keeping it off is will power.

Do you have the will power to:

• Stop eating wheat;

• Stop eating sugar;

• Stop eating starchy foods;

• Stop eating high fructose corn syrup;

• Stop eating vegetable oil;

• Stop eating fried foods;

• Stop eating potato chips and crackers;

• Stop eating foods with additives and preservatives;

• Stop eating cakes, pies, and other pastries;

• Stop eating cookies and candy;

• Stop eating processed foods;

• Stop eating fast food;

• Stop eating peanuts;

• Stop eating beans (legumes);

• Stop drinking sodas and sports and energy drinks;

• Stop snacking, especially after dinner;

• Eat more leafy greens;

• Eat more vegetables;

• Eat more berries;

• Eat more nuts;

• Eat more seafood and fish;

• Eat pre- and probiotics foods (see below);

• Eat more organ meats (liver, heart, etc.)

• Eat more white meats;

• Eat smaller portions;

• Eat less often;

• Eat only organic food;

• Get more sleep; and

• Get more exercise.

If you’re not willing to do all or most of those things, then you probably lack the will power to permanently change your health and you can stop reading now. This is for those of us who are tired of being fat, sluggish, and/or are fighting disease such as diabetes, heart disease, and other preventable ailments.

When most people think about “going on a diet,” they think in terms of a program or short-term eating regimen that will help them lose weight quickly. That is not what a true diet is. Your diet is what you eat normally. It’s what you eat and when you eat it that counts. Counting calories and “eating less and exercising more” are stop-gap measures that produce temporary results. Once most people reach a goal, they go back to doing what made them fat in the first place.

What we need is a change of mindset regarding weight. Weight loss is the byproduct or side effect of healthy eating. When it comes to diet, your goal should be good health, not losing weight. You can lose weight and still eat foods that are very bad for you. The end result is poor health and a return to your old, heavy weight.

Four years ago, I went on the keto diet with the intent of losing 10 more pounds than my target weight so I would have room to rebound once I went off the diet. I have since learned the hard way that the body, having been deprived of sugars and other nutrients, works hard to restore that fat once you start feeding yourself the bad stuff again.

Although the keto diet works, it is not sustainable. Two-thirds of a healthy diet should consist of vegetables, leafy greens, and a limited amount of fruit, especially berries. The other third should be proteins, with an emphasis on white meats, fish and seafood, eggs, and small amounts of red meat. Wash it down with water, black coffee, unsweet tea, or red wine.

Whenever possible, eat organic, especially locally-sourced foods. Most of the food you get in the store these days is poisoned by pesticides, herbicides, preservatives, and artificial coloring and flavoring. Meats are tainted with growth hormones, antibiotics, and other things that are not safe to eat, no matter what the U.S. Food and Drug Administration says.

Since the 1940s and ’50s, scientists have been working to increase yields and overall food production. The emphasis has been on increasing production, lowering costs, and making a bigger profit. There has been very little done to study what these frankenfoods do to the human body.

An excellent example is the cross-breeding of wheat with other grasses and genetic modification of the crops. The wheat we have today is vastly different than what we had prior to World War II. It’s highly addictive and it destroys needed bacteria in your gut that is crucial to digestion. The same goes for just about every mass-produced crop in this country. That’s why organics are so important.

If you want to eat wheat, look for natural, organic varieties of einkorn or emmer wheat. Yes, it is very expensive, but so treating diabetes. Those varieties are the unadulterated, pure versions of wheat.

To help restore your gut’s microbiome (healthy bacteria), you need to cut out the sugars and artificial sweeteners and eat more fiber (vegetables), naturally fermented foods, prebiotics, and probiotics. Prebiotics include things like chicory root, dandelion greens, Jerusalem artichoke, garlic, onion, and asparagus. Probiotics include sauerkraut (refrigerated, not canned), Greek yogurt (not sugary, flavored yogurts), olives (especially extra virgin olive oil), apple cider vinegar, kimchi, pickles, and fermented cheeses (Gouda, cheddar, and Swiss), to name a few.

You should also have a regular fast. The best way to do that is east dinner early and then stop eating until breakfast. If you can go 10-12 hours without eating overnight, you’re doing great. Other keys include sleeping eight or more hours a night and getting daily exercise (even walking works).

There have been volumes written about eating this way and I have both read many books and written several columns about it. Eventually this will become common knowledge and practice, but not until it wells up from the grassroots level.

I will leave you for now with two true clichés: You are what you eat. Where there is a will there is a way.

(This column was not published by the Wharton Journal-Spectator.)

COVID, cruising and the rural life

After all this time I thought COVID-19 was a thing of the past.

The worst of it was behind us two years ago. Yet here I am, battling it for the second time. This time is much worse than the first. As of this writing I am on my fourth day since being diagnosed. I’m feeling better but am still drained of energy. My wife and I came down with it last week after returning from an Alaskan cruise. Fortunately, the rest of the family hasn’t caught it.

Apparently it’s not unusual to come down with something after spending a week on a ship with 4,500 of your newest, closest friends. We sailed on the Norwegian Encore from July 16-23 as guests of Sandy’s parents. In honor of a milestone birthday, my mother-in-law wanted to have a family cruise, including the children, spouses, and grandchildren – 13 of us in all. More about that in a minute.

First, I’d like to catch up my readers on what’s happened since I left the Wharton Journal-Spectator and the East Bernard Express a month ago. We moved to a very rural home on 2.76 acres in Bryan, roughly 10 miles from downtown College Station. It’s paradise here at this place we call Southern Acre Wood (think Pooh’s Hundred Acre Wood) – except for the gravel mine we didn’t know about down the road and around the corner from us and the constant, barrage of trucks that rumble down our dirt road six days a week from 7:30 a.m. to about 4 p.m. (sometimes as late as 9:30 p.m.), caking us in dust.

Most of our stuff is still stored on the front porch and in storage sheds since our plan was to replace the ratty carpet with new vinyl flooring. We did not anticipate that the big box store we purchased it from would take a month to deliver the flooring and that it will take yet another week before the installers get here.

In the meantime, Sandy and I were amazed to browse on Facebook and see so many of our friends posting pictures from Alaska. I guess Alaska is the place to go for vacation. We didn’t know that a year ago when our trip was planned, but it’s true. Even the nurse who administered my COVID test had done an identical Alaskan cruise on a different cruise line just the week before us. We even did the same excursion!

For our adventure we set sail from Seattle and made stops in Juneau, Glacier Bay, Skagway, Ketchikan, and Victoria, British Columbia, before returning to Seattle. Each stop in Alaska was more amazing than the day before. The high temperature was usually in the upper 50s, but it felt comfortable, even for someone like me who hates the cold. I also couldn’t help but notice how much Alaskans enjoy poking fun at Texans about how big things really are.

Photographs can’t begin to show the shear beauty and magnificence of the mountains and seascapes there. During our trip we saw lots of bald eagles, sea otters, seals, sealions, whales, and even a brown bear. We were standing on a raised boardwalk when the bear meandered down the stream and crossed under our feet to the meadow on the other side. It was an incredible encounter!

We saw lots of totem poles and one being made. Some of our family experienced a lumberjack show, some went to salmon bakes, others did different excursion experiences.

Returning from the trip was a disappointment beyond the normal letdown at the end of an exciting adventure. We were to have taken a train to Portland from Seattle, but a derailment the night before turned it into a bus ride. Portland was filthy, covered in graffiti, and overrun with homeless people. We flew home from Portland to a number of problems, including a damaged kitchen floor where the newly installed waterline to the fridge had been leaking.

Through it all, the COVID has been the worst part of it. According to my nurse friend, it is something that will not go away and will become another disease to cope with like a cold or flu. (Please, no political comments, that’s not what this is about.) Ordinarily, I would have ignored that information as something irrelevant to me. Now it has my utmost attention. It’s not a thing of the past but a reality we have to live with for now.