My Christmas Tree

Every year I have a Christmas tree and it makes my spirit soar. The reason why is not that

Our first tree in our shared home with my Mom

complicated. I was brought to the US when I was 4 years old to a place and a language completely unfamiliar to me. So my parents did what so many immigrant parents did – adopt acceptable American Christian rituals. We weren’t going to attend church or have an Easter egg hunt, but we did have a Christmas tree. It was never as elaborate or well lit as the neighbors, but it was a real tree and it brightened up a dreary time of year. We would go to the mall and buy presents for each other, mostly small things but it was so much fun. And yes, it did make me feel more like everyone else. That feeling has become less necessary to me over time, but as a child it was so critical.

Over the years, I have had artificial trees and real trees, colored lights or white lights and tinsel or no tinsel. After I divorced, the kids and I had our yearly ritual of tree decoration while listening to holiday music. Then when Art moved in, I would start a fire, Art would mull apple cider as we watched our favorite Christmas movies together. I have developed a deep respect for the value of tradition from all those past Christmas experiences.

Last year, we bought a house with my Mom who, since she was living alone, had abandoned setting up a tree. This was a new adventure for all of us so my Mom and I went to our local nursery and picked out a massive tree and decorated it in our massive living room. It is adorned with ornaments we have collected from Israel, India, Spain, Venice as well as gifts from our friends and relatives.

To all my friends and family, come visit and sit with us, have a glass of wine and pay obeisance to the tree.

Sugar the Wonder Dog

We got a bit of a shock the other day when we dropped off Sugar at the kennel and she weighed in at 8 and a half pounds. Only a few months ago at the vet she had weighed 10 and at her prime she weighed 17 pounds. Just over a week later it was clear it was time to let her go. I was on a business trip and there was no time to make it home. With Jennifer and Art by her side and me present by video she was stroked and comforted and left us very peacefully.

Sugar joined our family over 17 years ago just as it was disintegrating. I referred to her fondly as the divorce dog. My ex-husband had always claimed a dog allergy and his departure allowed for my daughter, my son and myself to fill his absence with the dog we all had always wanted.   None of us knew much about dog acquisition or ownership so as we so often do in our family; we bought a book. Simon & Shuster’s Guide to Dog Breeds has pictures of about 300 different breeds with descriptions and symbols to describe temperament and needs and we were mesmerized. We decided on a terrier as a theoretically hypoallergenic category of canines and it did not take Jennifer long to narrow in on the Jack Russell. Something about that packed little body, floppy ears and stubby tail was endearing. Once the decision was made, we found a breeder that sold them out of a weird little unfurnished apartment in Brooklyn which we all decided did not seem exactly kosher. Of the five or six little puppies in a cardboard box, one was just sleeping off to the side and several were crazily active, so we chose the one with what appeared to be the most temperate disposition.

We took her home then and there without papers or even a birthdate (we randomly chose January 1 based on her reported age.) Jennifer named her Sugar, the color of her fur, and thus began our adventure in dog companionship and love. We would hold her and she would shower us with sloppy licks. She would sit in her crate looking out at us forlornly and it was not long after that she was trained and we abandoned that crate altogether. In a very short time none of could remember our lives without Sugar. She loved to run and jump, boy could she jump, and play. She was smart and unfailingly loyal. A constant presence, until the very end I would find her underfoot.

All my favorite stories about Sugar revolve around food. Sugar loved, loved to eat and she was a cunning, strong opportunistic dog. One Christmas dinner our friends, Dan and Calvin, came to our home and cooked us a lovely goose. Geese are relatively small foul so we devoured it to the bone and threw the carcass whole into the trash. Our trash can was on a runner that was pushed into a cabinet and after disposing of the carcass we went off to talk and drink and became unaware of the dogs activities. Sugar surreptitiously and quite patiently, I might add, worked at the trash cabinet door until she nudged it open with her snout and then using the combined Jack talents of jumping and steely jaw strength pulled the entire carcass out of the trash. Luckily, Eric, Jen’s boyfriend noticed her and we all jumped and pulled it away without damage to dog or humans.

She did the same thing again on a visit to our good friends Dorian and Ramona in Reston, Va. Ramona is about as much of a dog person as exists and she welcomed our furry companions as guests. We all so enjoyed our visits to DC, dogs in tow. Their dog, Lottie, was much better behaved than Sugar and so they failed to recognize the danger of leaving food unattended on the living room table, resulting in the demise of a fine block of Parmesan cheese. While we were engaged in socializing in the kitchen, Sugar managed to wrap her mouth around the entire block of cheese and refused to allow it to be pulled from her jaws. Art had to hold her facing head down and as she went to adjust her grip, it fell to the ground.

Sugar was an only dog until she was 8 years old when we decided we wanted to expand our canine family. I had fallen in love with Shiba Inus and so Art and Alex and I took the 2-hour ride out to the breeder and came home with Chiro. At first Sugar was intrigued and tried to engage him in play. She would bring him a rope toy and try to get him to take the other end. He never really did get the hang of that. Then, when she realized he was staying and sharing the attention, she demonstrated her displeasure by purposing peeing on the couch, making sure we were witness.

But as she always did, she adjusted. Jen went off to college and five years later, so did Alex. We sold the house and moved to an apartment for about 8 months before making the big move from New Jersey to Seattle. It is impossible to know how dogs look at those kinds of changes. When we were leaving the apartment and I was going from room to room for a last check, Sugar followed me as if to make sure there was no way she would be left, as if I ever could.

We drove the 3000 miles cross-country with the dogs in the car. It was a great road trip and the dogs were exemplary companions. Every evening we would unload into the hotel and then take the dogs for a leisurely walk. They too experienced the roar and the spray of Niagara Falls, the colorful hills of the Badlands of South Dakota and the grandeur of Mt. Rushmore.

Maybe I didn’t want to see it, but Sugar never seemed to age. She retained her energy and her youthfulness until several months before the end. Sure she had the limitations that age wrought – her vision deteriorated and her hearing, then lastly her sense of smell – but she loved to eat until almost the end and she still pulled herself up out of her bed to greet us every day when we came home from work. I have never known such love in my life and I can only hope she felt the same. Goodbye, Sugar the Wonder Dog.

Snow in Seattle

Not that I am in Seattle, exactly. I am in Newcastle about 10 miles from Seattle by car and much closer as the crow flies (assuming the crow flies in a straight line and I have my doubts whether they do.)  I have returned from a lengthy period of travel – first to national parks and most recently to Asia. I live a life people dream of.

So, now here we are in the Pacific Northwest surrounded by deep blue water and snow covered mountains. I am proud to call this my new home and not only for its’ natural beauty.

I like to think I will fit in here better than the places I have lived in for the past 30 years.  Not because I look like people here, although there are many Asian Indians (thank you Bill Gates), but because as I recently said to someone, it is not all about money.  I’m not adverse to having or spending, especially spending, money, but I don’t want my life to be just about money.  There is a sense of community and volunteerism, without the religiousity, that I find hopeful here.

When I lived in the northeast, I dreaded a forecast of snow. Not because I hate snow, I actually find it quite beautiful, but I did not like the prospect of driving in it. You see, there was never a consideration for the danger of it. There was never a chance to enjoy it. Not true in Seattle and environs where it is such a rarity (in significant quantity) that the prospect of a storm stops the city cold.

And that brings us to tomorrow.  The predictions are for up to a foot of the white stuff and I am looking forward to it.  I’m not working yet so I would not need to drive in it anyway. It just makes me feel good that no one else will either.  We can all just revel in it and take pictures of it and build snowmen with it….together.

Angkor Wat

It is hot here…and humid like only southeast Asia can be.  Art and I are taking a break from the heat in our gloriously air conditioned, opulent hotel room.  We have a patio (the size of many New York apartments) with an outdoor tub and shower and currently the rain is pouring down.  Hopefully it is a cooling rain, the raindrops are so large they pound on the wooden floor creating a cacaphony of sound.  It lasted about 5 minutes and now I am waiting for the cloud to clear.

In about 30 minutes we leave for our second viewing of Angkor Wat.

In 1982, when I moved in with my ex-husband, he hung pictures he had bought when he was a volunteer in a refugee camp in Thailand.  The subject was a massive temple with three ornate towers in the center surrounded by a massive moat.  A long, walled pathway  led up to the entire structure. The artist wrote  Cambodia in large block letters at the bottom.  I was intrigued immediately and Steve informed me the place was called Angkor Wat.  He had not been able to visit since the area was still engaged in strife.  From that time on, this was a place that I needed to see with my own eyes.

And now I have.

Still beautiful in spite of scaffolding

The Killing Fields

Killing Fields Memorial

I first learned of the killing fields in Cambodia when I watched the American movie by the same name. There are times my education of the world was significantly more enlarged by movies than by formal education like college. This was one of those. It was horrifying to watch as a movie and, as if often the case, much more so in fact.

Yesterday, in Cambodia, in a way I not had not expected to experience in my life, Art and I went both to the Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh and the Killing Fields museum just outside the city. I have never, in person, seen evidence of how cruel human beings can be to one another.

The museum is one of many prisons where individuals were brought to be tortured in order to reveal locations of family and friends and then sent to the fields to be killed. After the Khmer Rouge defeated Lon Nol they had emptied the cities and individuals were duped into believing they were being brought back to assist the new government.

The torture was extreme. I will not detail methods, other than to say waterboarding was one of the milder techniques. It must have been a very lonely feeling for Cambodians.

The Khmer Rouge then systematically killed people in the countryside leaving their bodies in shallow graves. They used shovels and sharp bamboo and axes to accomplish their deeds, bullets were expensive. And they killed the children – no one to invoke revenge. All in all estimates are 1.3 million people were killed directly and several hundred thousand more from starvation and disease.

When the Vietnamese finally ended the Pol Pot reign of terror, the UN with the approval of President Carter, purely for political reasons, recognized the government of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge as the legitimate government of Cambodia.

Both Kissinger and Carter went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

This has not been the most fun time we have had during our trip, but it has been informative in a way only tourism can be.

Vietnam

So here I sit in the Danang airport waiting for our flight to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) and the airport is dilapidated with plastic seats, buses take you to your plane for boarding, but there is free internet access.

So far, I have really enjoyed Vietnam.  Although a far smaller, poorer country than China, it is cleaner and the people are warmer.  The food, Vietnamese, is clean and delicious. Our guides have been friendly and very open to discussion.  I have probably learned more from talking to them than from any books or movies I have read or seen.  Most interesting in the division that has existed between north and south Vietnam long before the Vietnam War.  Apparently, in the 15th century, the north invaded the south and the conflict between the two regions has never subsided. Even after the Vietnam war, the south finds itself aligned with the US.

No one in Saigon calls it HCMC.  The name Saigon is apparently 1000 years old and the people who live here have petitioned the government to have it officially changed back.  I want to post more pictures of China, but in the interim I will post pictures of Ha Long bay, Vietnam – one of the many beautiful places in the world I have been privileged to see.

Ha Long bay – karst formations

Floating village – Ha Long bay

We sailed on a boat similar to this one

China – an intro

Vietnam not being as restrictive as China, I have access to my blog. Thank goodness the internet is global. It has allowed me to keep in touch with family and friends and the news. But, I have missed the social networking and the places we have visited and seen are simply lovely and amazing. The experiences have been broad and many and the pictures plentiful. We started in the Beijing airport and have not stopped since. Art and I each have our vision of what we want to capture, so there is a wide variety to sift through. Similarly, he views each place and the people along the way differently than I do, but since this is my blog, you won’t be getting that viewpoint.

Beijing is truly the best city to start a first visit to China.  Below is the first view of Beijing as we went through immigration.

Welcome to Beijing

Some pictures of Beijing airport below.  The airport has some beautiful works of Chinese art, although we were so excited to be in Beijing and in such a hurry to get to our hotel,  we did not spend enough time looking around.

Many feet long scroll

The hotel in Beijing was absolutely beautiful, hutong (traditional Chinese courtyard home) style but designed for a feudal lord.  It came complete with a window settee and massive bed all surrounded by heavy wood furniture adorned with yellow and red silk cloth.

Courtyard 7 Room

The courtyard at night

Well, this is a beginning but it is requiring more time than expected. Hope to post many more images soon.

Republican Debate

So here I am live blogging the Republican debate – the first with Rick Perry. Michele Bachman is apparently obsessed with “Obamacare.” She must have mentioned it about 20 times and Newt Gingrich claims all republicans agree with it. Newt also claims the media is trying to get the Republicans fighting each other.

Herman Cain apparently feels free market will give more people access to health care. Now Newt and Santorum are taking credit for Clinton initiatives. Santorum is against the culture of dependency. Oh no – twitter questions. Romney wants us to mine and drill the hell out of the US – developing our own energy resources. I was starting to respect Huntsman and now that he attacked the “teleprompter” I have changed my mind. Ron Paul against minimum wage – greeeat. He also wants to get rid of Medicare. Perry has not talked much yet. BREAK.

What is California for population stabilization -an anti immigration commercial. Apparently they had difficulty getting ads – they seem to all be for internet schools, MSNBC and Comcast. Did everyone other than me know there was an airplane in the Reagan presidential library. Now there is a tribute to Reagan – what the hell. And now his wife who is apparently still alive and present at the debate. Never liked her but she looks damn good.

Perry is back on. They are asking him questions about his book, currently regarding his statements regarding social security. He is describing it as a Ponzi scheme. Karl Rove, of all people, called the speech “toxic” and Cheney said it was not a Ponzi scheme. Perry sticks to his view. Romney admits it has been raided for years. He wants to save social security, not abolish it – at least that is a politically feasible position.

Apparently only the republicans want to get America working again. Cain wants to privatize social security using Chilean model which he really does not explain. Ron Paul is against the HPV vaccine for girls. I’m not sure, but it sounds like Perry made it mandatory. As far as I am aware, no state requires childhood vaccinations. I think this is a terrible area for these people to enter.

Poor Perry feels like a “pinata”. That turned into an opportunity for Perry to sound presidential. Santorum is now bragging about his fertility. Really irritating when they try to understand each other. Turns out Obama is a nice guy who does not know how to get the country working again. News flash – we have enemies who want to kill us and will do so given the opportunity (as happened under Bush.)

Ron Paul thinks airlines should treat passengers like the money they haul around. Question about FEMA now. Get rid of airconditioning in Iraq and Afghanistan would save 20 billion dollars. I agree with Ron Paul about ending the wars and bringing our troops home.

Cain says the government is not good at micromanaging, but in fact Medicare is the best run, most efficient health care payment system in the country.

No one has actually said how they plan to create jobs (other than drilling, of course.)

Hard to take Rick Perry seriously when he talks about education in Texas. I believe they are 47th or 48th in education in the country. Now Newt is talking up charter schools which are not proven to have better graduation rates, the one system in the country which allows for any child to succeed.

Uh oh – now they are talking immigration. Perry wants a bunch of troops and predator drones! I want a fence, predator drones, lights and sharp shooters. OMG – Newt is quoting from Reagan’s diary. Realyl, Newt, really? Newt insists everyone here learns English which I agree with, but not to make it the official language. They seem to have slightly softened their opinions on illegal immigration.

Bachman just used the term “narcoterrorism.” Every statement she makes uses the word very – very serious, very important. Apparently only native Americans can be a burden on taxpayers and I don’t mean American Indians.

Jon Huntsman has a great tan and a Chinese and Indian adopted daughters. And he says Vancouver is the fastest growing real estate market. Hmmm – could it be Americans from the south are moving there? I mide Ron Paul hugely amusing.

BREAK!

I totally want my own plane for display purposes only. Question about Tea Party – Romney agrees with a lot of what they say. Perry against any increases in taxes even 10% – insists on balanced budget amendment. Yeah, that will happen. The ghost of Reagan is invoked over and over again. Ironic, since he was gaga for so long. Huntsman takes no pledges except to his wife and country – probably why he is so far behind.

“Our innocence has been shattered….our core is broken” Huntsman.

Well, folks, I am spent. I can only hope the debate will make Obama look sane, because if any one of these guys wins we are in trouble. No one has asked about global warming, evolution, stem cell research (including asking Perry about his own personal infusion.) This is an anti-science party and I can not under any circumstances support anti-science.

Road Trip!

Hello to everyone out there in the modern world.  We have been traveling for 3 weeks tomorrow and this is my first post.  “Pathetic” you say, “thanks for nothing” you say.  So sorry and thank you for continuing to look for a new post.

I would love to post an album of photos, but that will need to wait until Albuquerque when we have a respite from travels while we visit my cousins and have use of their excellent internet connectivity.

Suffice it to say all the beauty I have witnessed in the past few weeks is just not going to be able to be captured by photos.  In life, one has expectations all the time, and so of course what I expected from seeing  Crater Lake  were among my highest. I had seen pictures from my dad’s trip before the age of cognition for me and never thought it could be as beautiful as the photos, but I was not disappointed.  I was elated and it was a perfect beginning to a magnificent trip.

My favorite anecdote so far has come from Sequoia National Park where we were able to walk in the glory of 2000 year old trees that dwarfed all in their midst.  As we were walking on paved national park path around a very exposed meadow next to a busy road, I saw what I thought was a bird up on the adjacent hill next to a tree.  As I stealthily approached said bird so as not to startle it, I saw two ears, a head and a brown body leaning against a tree.  It was a bear!  As we quickly moved away, Art, disbelieving, needed to see for himself and quickly confirmed what I had seen.

Over time the bear moved to the meadow where its two cubs were feasting and playing.  For about 20 minutes we watched the amazing show.  The next morning on another outing we ran into the three of them again.

I am torn.  I love traveling, I love seeing the unusual, but I also love the mundane.  I like to see facebook status, I like to know what is new with my friends and family.  I want a world where I can watch the bears, walk among the wooden giants, feel the heat of the Mojave in the shade of Joshua Trees and share it immediately with those I love.

I will try to post more often and share more experiences.

For a more poetic view of out trip read Art’s blog.

The Journey Continues

We have arrived in Seattle!! Today is day one and it does not feel like home yet, but I know it soon will.  This will be much more easily accomplished once our stuff gets here (a week from yesterday.)

I had a few thoughts regarding the middle of the country, Minnesota, South Dakota, Montana where we passed through and stayed over several days during our cross country trek.  We traversed the entire southern aspect of the state of Minnesota- notably monotonous and flat.  South Dakota was not much different, although scarily had several antiabortion billboards – “choose life”, an “embryo is alive”, “abortion is killing” and “JESUS IS LORD” written horizontally on a radio tower.  I don’t have photographic documentation so you are going to have to take my word on this one.

We decamped in Sioux Falls, SD in a lovely dog friendly hotel which gave us greenies for each dog.  Those of you with dogs know what these are, the rest of you can google them.  Turns out Sioux Falls is actually named for falls in the middle of the city which you can see from the pics are quite lovely.

As we walked around the falls on a glorious, sunny spring evening with dogs in tow I was even willing to forgive the signs.  A group of women amicably started to talk to us and ask us about the dogs and then, the moment came.  “You’re not from around here, are you?”  The matriarch, winded from lung disease incurred from years of smoking went on to say “I have a brother who lives in New York, that city needs a lot of prayer.”

A Much Needed Break

So Frank Lyod Wright!

More Frank Lloyd Wright

Like soldiers in perfect formation

Can’t ..keep…eyes..open

After the greenies

The Mighty Mississippi

The evening sun

First sight

All stripes and colors

Up close

Remnants of an ancient forest

Badlands in All Their Glory

Mountain Goat in Reverie

Wild Animals!

The Mighty Rushmore

Past miles and miles of flat farmland with myriads of cattle and their progeny we drove on to Rapid City.  En route we drove and stopped, drove and stopped in Badlands National Park.  The National Park Service truly one of the least valued, most valuable government agencies.  They seem to function so very well on a shoestring.

On the same day, Art and I visited Mt. Rushmore, a strange, yet oddly alluring memorial to four presidents.  Rushmore is sculpture on a grand scale, a tribute to both art and engineering.  It is literally tucked away, almost obscurely hidden in the Black Hills.  It would seem so anyway, except for the gaudy, somewhat tacky town nearby and the overdeveloped granite walkway leading up to the sculpture.

I have been to Mt. Rushmore once before. When I was 8 years old, I traveled with my family from Oakland, California to the suburbs of Philadelphia.  My father took several tourist detours and one of these was to Rapid City.  We walked an unadorned path through towering pines trees which opened on this grand, inspiring sight.  The simplicity of the surroundings only emphasized its beauty.

It’s funny how my previous experience colored my impressions this time around.  I was disappointed in a way that Art, seeing it for the first time, was not.

Next post: Montana

PS to see the pictures larger just click on them and for a different viewpoint, don’t forget to read Art’s post.