Merry Christmas 2016 - catching up on 3 years worth

Russell and Lowe letter 2014 - 2016 (yes, three years worth)

We figured after two moves, one to a different state, that it is time for an update to our friends who are not on Facebook.  Over the past 16 months we have downsized twice, and followed the methodology of “The Art of DeCluttering”.  We have a NO JOY box still as we continue to dispense of those material items which no longer bring us Joy.

Our final move to Vermont was a quick decision but one we are both delighted with.  We had moved in Sept 2015 to a condo in Somerville MA and we loved the inside space but neither of us felt comfortable in the neighborhood.  We joined the UU church in Arlington MA and jumped in with both feet, however, we both realized that our ultimate destination would be Burlington VT and the UU church there.   Why would we attach/detach and then attach to another church?  With 4 brothers and their families and son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter in VT we realized that being close to all that family for both of us is very important. If we could find a small condo in Burlington walkable to the UU church that would be ideal.  We quickly found the perfect place, a small condo, at 161 St Paul Street #301 Burlington VT 05401.  From our living room we have a view of a slice of Lake Champlain and the Adirondacks. Sally regularly posts pictures she takes of the sunset taken from the shared roof deck which has an even better view one floor above our unit.  We are three blocks from Lake Champlain, 5 minute walk to the Church St Marketplace and 10 minutes to the First UU Society of Burlington.  We think we may get down to one car very soon.  We will always keep Coniston in South Hero which is a 30 minute drive from downtown Burlington.  

As we write the pictures are half mounted on the walls and the books still sit in boxes awaiting bookshelves to be built. The move also triggered another serious round of downsizing. Goodbye to Rodney’s old exercise books and and university notes some of them going back to 1968. It was funny to read some of those old English essays and surprisingly interesting to read some of those old geography notes about places I have now actually visited or at least flown over.

Weddings have occupied many weekends in the last three years, the most precious being Bethany and Bryan’s in August 2015.  We also traveled to London, Minnesota and twice to Colorado for weddings of friends and family.  Two Star Island friends got married as well in Maryland and New Jersey.  Our most unique wedding was of the woman that Sally has mentored in the past and is now a friend, Mildred.  She is Hispanic and we were 2 of 5 caucasians at the wedding which was all in Spanish with very interesting and wonderful traditions.  

We have traveled, a lot, The big trips were:  Cuba (Nov 2016) Turkey (Oct 2015) and Morocco (Oct 2014).  We have discovered Grand Circle/Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT) and we have not yet been disappointed by the guide or the tour, in fact all three trips have transformed us. Shorter trips were to Portland Oregon and a road trip to Columbus Ohio, both to attend the General Assembly of our Unitarian Universalist denomination.  The result is that we are more active in the Black Lives Matter movement.  As an aside, our speaker at Star Island this year was Chuck Collins who wrote “Born on Third Base”.  His talks and his book have caused us to get involved in income inequality.  

Extended family has been more present in the last few years as well.  The CO/MN weddings connected us closer to our first cousins who we grew up with in Colorado.  As well in August 2016 we had a deGanahl reunion of all Mom’s first cousins’ families.  It was held in Vermont and along with getting to know them, some for the first time, we had some wonderful events at Shelburne Farms, at our houses and an evening cruise on Lake Champlain.  The next one is scheduled for Colorado in 2 years.  In between, we are continuing to connect to that extended family.

Sally joined the Mystic Chorale in September 2015 and sang with them for 4 seasons.  Rod joined and sang for the Gospel season and Spring 2016.  Finding a group to sing with in addition to the Choir at church, will be important to keep this part of our lives fed.

We continue to be mesmerized grandparents as we watch Zuzu evolve into the most amazing little person.  90% of our camera roll is pictures of her.  Since we moved to VT we have had 3 sleepovers with her.  There is nothing like that three year old body yelling her name for you as she leaps into your arms.  Pretend play is very important right now and I just love the stories she comes up with.  One game was just putting beanie babies into a large orange pail, and taking them out, for at least an hour.

2016 was a year in which Rodney matured as an artist, moving from charcoals and graphite to oils. He now feels comfortable calling himself an artist and a realist. Highlights have included getting his own studio, getting recognized for “best drawing” in a local art show, he even ventured into a 4 day class for drawing and sculpting children. Trying to draw and sculpt an 18 month old, 3, 5 and 8 year live models just went to put the difficulties of drawing live adult models in perspective.

Sally continue to volunteer, knit and quilt.  When we moved to our Somerville condo, I put my quilting supplies into a rolling “kitchen” cart.  I can put it away in a closet and roll it out during a project.  As we write this I am knitting Grandma Katie’s Christmas stocking for extended family members who don’t have them yet.  Finding someone in the next generation will be important so that this pattern and tradition continue.  

As baseball fans we have started to visit all the ballparks in North America. We already have 5 under the belt from previous years, this year we added Indians, Orioles and Nationals (we are not going to humor the corporate sponsors by using those names). I can’t say that we are bringing luck to the home team whenever we go.

This has been a tough year politically and the resulting divisiveness of recent events.  We are active protecting our beliefs and values.  It was surreal to be in Cuba the night of the election and to try to find a Cuban newspaper the next day. We finally did buy one, but there are not newspapers lying around as we are used to.

Whenever we count our blessings, family and friends as always remain at the top of the list.  Our house in South Hero sleeps 10 so we are always welcome to visits either with us or you can stay there yourself without us.  May the uncertainty of our divisive politics dissipate and may LOVE prevail in our tattered and torn world.  It is worth imagining this today and tomorrow.

Cuba and the election and newspapers

It was a surreal experience to be in Cuba for the recent election.  A friend said as we left for Cuba "Make sure you get a newspaper the day after the election!".  I said that to our tour group the day before the election and someone said "Have you seen any newspapers lying around?".  In fact, there are none.  We saw one newspaper our entire trip, "Granma", published by the government.  It is named after the boat used by the revolutionaries in the 50s.


The morning after the election Rod went to look for one outside the hotel with no luck.  Fortunately all of our tour colleagues were like minded and the guide knew that there would be different group energy that day.  We were distracted by the results, still going through the stages of anger, denial, and bargaining.  None of us got to acceptance that first day.  In fact some of us, started with a mojito at noon and finished with a margarita at 10:30 PM.

We toured Old Havana that morning and at about 10:30 we saw someone with a paper and asked him where he had gotten it.   Judy ran into hotels asking but none were to be found.  A man pointed down a street and about 20 minutes later we spotted someone selling them so we all bought one.  We stopped mid tour and our guide Yuni and our SIL Judy read the paper to us, translating from Spanish.  The article was below the fold and pretty generic.  Since Cubans don't have cable TV and this is the only newspaper we saw you can only imagine what Cubans, and the rest of the world for that matter,  think of us.

Yuni reading Granma

Judy reading Granma

After the fact, we realized that we were standing right in front of a Mosque while we were reading the news.  Many Cubans came up to us that day expressing their condolences.  One professor said at the end of his lecture "We should be able to vote in your election because you have some much influence over our Country".  He has a point.

Plaque of the Mosque

Cuba - such an adventure - Social Property - Ration Cards

Our guide in Cuba, Yuni, kept answering many of our questions with the phrase "Social Property".  I do not pretend to understand the depth of it and probably will never understand it, but here is what I understand from our experience there when we traveled with Grand Circle Foundation from Oct 29-Nov 10.

We asked about homelessness.  There is no homelessness according to Yuni.  If you need housing the government provides you with it.  If you need food you are provided for.  It seems not only the government but others provide as well.  If you have extra you give it to others who have a need.  Sounds pretty idealistic at first blush.

Our most interesting visit was to a ration store.  We tromped into the small storefront, all 21 of us and patrons started to arrive to buy their grocery items.  We parted the way so they could approach the counter and our guide engaged them in conversation.  EVERYONE in Cuba has a ration card with which they can buy staples like rice and beans.  There is a chalkboard with all of the current prices listed and from what I understand it is very reduced.  It seems more like food stamps than like rationing to me.  Down the street was a ration store for meat.  We also went around the corner to a store which looked like it was mostly bottles of rum.  If you did not know where these stores are, you would walk right past them.  No advertising, and they are pretty small.  The clue is a clerk behind the counter.

We did ask why there were cigarettes in the ration store, and it seems like there are items not on the ration list that you can buy in the ration store.

As an aside at one point Yuni mentioned that the Cubans have developed a vaccine for lung cancer. My questioning husband still needs to research that.

On our return we have been using the term social property.  I am not sure if we are using it correctly but an example is:  In an organization some people volunteer to help it run because they have the energy and resources.  Others do not volunteer, but those that can do to provide the non volunteers with an organization.  Those that pick up trash on the street do so to provide others with a cleaner street.

It appears that the US culture and economy is much more used to greed and profit as opposed to social property.  Again, I am not sure if I am using this correctly or not.  These are my current thoughts.

On our trip one woman suggested that she would not be able to go on an OAT/Grand Circle trip again soon, because she would have to unpack this one.  That is exactly what I think I am doing right now with this social property concept.

Don't fly American Airlines

Worst customer service experience ever!
 
I will NEVER fly American Airlines again after our experience this morning.  When I booked the flight from Bradley International I did not have the choice to fly JetBlue straight to Miami, the only airline with that option was American Airlines.

We got to the airport at 4:45 am and it was already chaos.  It was not clear which line to get into AND we had already checked in online.  After getting in one line which seemed like the right one we were guided to the kiosk line to pay the $25 per checked bag and then got into the LONG line we had just left for dropping our bags.  The belt was broken so after waiting 45 minutes to drop our bags we carried them to the x-ray machine ourselves.

People dropping their bags were going down the middle of the kisosks WITH their bags, bumping into the people WITH bags paying the $25/bag.

Two AA employees "helpers" told us two different lines to get into. The employees were not even clear on the process.  If their process was not soooo broken these employees could have helped out in other areas.

When we complained to the two TSA agents they both said "I blame American"!

 I asked the AA employees at the gate who to talk to in the airport and there was no one, go to AA.com, which I did and got an automatic email.  Empty gesture!

I also tweeted about my horrible experience and got an automatic email back from @AmericanAir.  Empty gesture!

Just now on the flight they interrupted us to try to sell their frequent flyer package to which I burst out laughing. Free bag check, Group 1 boarding, blah blah blah.  JetBlue has free first bag for EVERYONE, individual TV with many options, free wifi, blue chips, friendly flight attendants, and from now on my business!

I have made a point of only flying JetBlue and I will be going back to that practice after today.  Poor service should not be rewarded with repeat business. I cannot that this company is the largest airline.  A Fortune article I just read said they are #11 for the WORST airline experience.  Way to go American Airlunes! Sad that you abuse and treat so many people inadequately.  There are other options people.......

Nice furnishings for sale - want anything?

As we plan our move to Vermont, we have some things for sale and before we go to Craigslist, we figured we would ask our friends first if they want anything.  If you would like anything pictured below email Sally_russell@yahoo.com or call me on my mobile or FB message me to indicate your interest.  We can discuss prices then.

Moving date is October 19th so everything needs to be picked up by the 18th.

Happy Shopping!

2 red leather IKEA couches, probably about 10 years old.  We are going to be buying a sleeper couch otherwise we would be moving these with us











Coffee table we bought at a service auction at First Parish Lexington previously owned by Chris Hess and Jennifer Aliper

















Antique trunk bought at Mayfair (First Parish Lexington's annual yard sale) previously owned by Jonathan Rawle












3 San Carlos bookshelves bought 20 years ago and now acting as room dividers in our Somerville condo.  Below the picture is the link to their website so you can see the original value



http://www.sancarlosimports.com/sanmirubo.html





1 San Carlos Armoire also bought 20 years ago and has given us years of great storage.  Second picture is Rod's storage of his art supplies

1 Brand new last year San Carlos TV cabinet bought last year to match our bookshelves.  Too big for our smaller condo in Burlington


















2 drawer wooden file cabinet, was part of our computer desk and used for 20 years to store our precious documents












Happy Shopping!!!!

On the Move again

It is September and clearly this is the time of year when we re-examine our life and make BIG decisions. When we bought Coniston 8+ years ago we thought about moving to VT permanently and at the time we were both working, so job hunting did not make sense.  We also realized in these 8 years that Coniston is wonderful and we will always own it but we want to live in a more urban environment.

With the move a year ago to Somerville we accomplished the urban thing, and we lost what we had in Lexington which was to be able to walk to church. Since our Unitarian Universalist faith is such a part of our lives this is important.  We talked a lot about which UU church to attend and settled on one and we are starting to plug in there......

AND then

We talked about where we will end up ultimately and we both decided it is Burlington VT.  They have a vibrant church so why don't we look for a small condo in down town Burlington and still have Coniston 30 minutes away?  Additionally we have a granddaughter and her family near and 4 of my brothers and their spouses/partners.  Recently those relationships have become very important to both of us.  It was actually Rod's idea to look in Burlington since he views my family as his family at this point.

It seems perfect timing, since we have done the downsizing thing and we can rent Somerville and actually make some money until we decided to sell it.

We have a purchase and sale signed with a September 30th closing date, a small condo with a sunset view over Lake Champlain.  As I write this I count my blessings that my family and siblings (4 out of 6) will be closer and that we will wake up every morning in the state that I call home having lived here from age 11-22.  We are so lucky to have options, and to have this magnet pulling us north. Oh, and September 30th is Zuzu's third birthday and the anniversary of Rod's retirement so big things happen that day!

Come visit, and since it is a one bedroom, you can stay at Coniston or the Hilton Garden Inn next door!

We have also committed to returning to Boston once a month for me to attend my book group, continue visiting someone at MCI Framingham, and catching up with friends.  We are leaving close friends AND we hope they will make the trek north to visit as many of them already have in their annual pilgrimages to Coniston!

Here is a link to the condo:

https://www.coldwellbankerhomes.com/new-england/161-st-paul-street/pid_14114410/
Sally and Rodney

Patience and Acceptance - quilt update

Anyone who knows me well, knows that patience is not a strong suit of mine, but rather impatience is my strength.  When I embarked on this challenge in January 2015 I knew that I would be pushed to a level of quilting that I had never dared travel.  Each month I would receive in the mail, the latest packet of fabric for the next block of this quilt.

As background, I am not a detailed quilter.  I choose patterns, that are easy and elegant and I buy beautiful fabric that covers up the mistakes I make because of my lack of attention to detail. Until this project that is...............

Over the years I have learned techniques to ameliorate my lack of attention to detail.  In the third block of this quilt I learned about a scant 1/4 inch seam and used it for the rest of the quilt.  I also have used a technique to line up seams for about 10 years that definitely helps in my accuracy.  But truth be told, I cannot be bothered to get more detailed than these two methods.  I LOVE the quilts that I have created with all of their beauty and blemishes.

Some changes happened during the last few days with "Breakthrough" (name of my quilt).  I became more patient with myself and did not judge my skills.  I accepted that I will never be one of those detailed quilters who win awards for their sewing.  I actually stopped sewing when I felt frustration coming on and got up the next morning to find the solution right before my eyes.  I asked for visual and artistic help from my artist husband, accepted the input, and then told him when his job of advising me was done.  I also do not have to quickly move to finish this quilt.  I won't abandon it as I did in the last 8 months.  The next major part is to put the borders on, which requires a certain amount of accuracy and learning from my mistake with the last big quilt I made, I need to pay attention.

I left the quilt out on the floor, and walked by it 30 times during the day and realized that I am pretty happy with the result, with my patience with myself and with the quilt.

I also did some seam ripping on this quilt that I would have glossed over in the past.  There were two areas that obviously had to be fixed or I would not be happy.  The solution in both cases made it so my eye did not go straight there.  These represent my interpersonal work.  I am not perfect, never will be in fact.  Just as everybody else, I am doing the best I can with the hand I was dealt and the tools I have.

I am on a roll with "Breakthrough" and will be pausing any work on it for the next week.

Nancy, my first and longest friend flies in today from Nebraska and we are traveling to our family reunion in Vermont.  When we get together we revert to 5 years olds again, and we also act as the wise 62 year olds that we have grown into, if only for a brief fleeting moment.  In Vermont we will be joined by many other family members, those close to us, those we last saw as teenagers, and those we have never met.  It is great to have done this work on patience and acceptance as we travel north to be a part of this larger family gathering.

Breakthrough - the name of my latest quilt

I tend to quilt for a variety of reasons.  However, in January of 2015, 19 months ago, I decided to do a block of the month quilt.  The company sends you the pattern on the first month and then monthly for 10 months you received a packet in the mail with the next month's fabric and more detailed instructions.  I was really good the first few months, or so I thought.  I finished the big part of the block, but there is piecing around each of those big blocks and I decided to wait until finishing future blocks to finish the small piecing.  This was going to be a huge challenge since I would have to be more precise than I normally am, and I would be learning a lot of new patterns, and the color arrangements would be a challenge.

In retrospect this was a big mistake but not really.  In the middle of the 10 months, life got ahead of us as we sold a house, downsized by 2/3 of our material goods, bought a condo, had a wedding, went to another wedding, had 5 English visitors, blah, blah, blah.  Life got ahead of us.

Of the 10 blocks, last December 4-9 were finished, but there were those pesky first 3 blocks unfinished.  I literally did not roll out my sewing machine from December until last week.  I was incredibly stuck on this project to the point where I could not even fathom working on another easier project.  It wasn't that I don't have a stash of fabric, or ideas of what I want to work on next.  Every time I opened the closet where my rolling sewing cart is, and thought about figuring out how to proceed I was flummoxed.  I probably tried 3-4 times to actually figure out how to proceed by laying out those pesky 3 first blocks.  Nada

Last week in a flash of "Oh heck how hard can this be just start somewhere and proceed, and BTW, it does not have to be perfect.  No one knows how the quilt is supposed to look in the end and when has that every bothered you anyway?"

At the same time I am working through some past trauma which is painful and predictable.  As I worked through some of the pesky issues of the quilt blocks, new insights about my past popped open.  One quilt block at a time I started placing them on the floor and sewing them together, and squinting and observing how I liked the layout.  A few times as I said "Close enough!" it felt good to move on.  A few times I looked and said "No way" and out came the seam ripper.

A few days of this with the quilt laid out on the floor, I am very close to the end of those pesky 3 blocks.  There is one section that remains in disarray.  I may have to settle on good enough for that section or I may put the quilt away again to approach at a later time. There is no deadline for this quilt, just like there is not a deadline for when I have to finish this examination of past traumas.

I can say that on both accounts, the unfinished quilt and dealing with the trauma, I feel so much better than one week ago.  As my brother George says "You have to go through it rather than walk around it!"  Literally I have to walk through the middle of the quilt laid out occupying one big area of our condo.

General Assembly - 2016 - Columbus - a chance encounter

The Orlando UU Congregation at the front of the hall

I always come back from our General Assembly with an incredible mixture of emotions and it takes me a few days to untangle those emotions.  Still working on the untangling so in the meantime I figured I would write about one of our chance encounters.

At the beginning of General Assembly there is a banner parade when congregations walk into the big conference center carrying their banners.  This year, before the banner parade started the congregation from Orlando stood at the front of the big hall holding their banner, in their purple shirts that had been made in Orlando after the terrible shooting in the Pulse nightclub just two weeks earlier.

The shirts were striking and colorful.  As we returned to the hotel later that night I spotted 3 women in their Orlando shirts and stopped to tell them how sorry I was.  We talked to them for about 20 minutes as they told us of some of the events that had happened after the shooting.  They gave us each a ORLANDOUNITED bracelet and sought us out the next day to give us a sticker.  We took a picture with them and they took our picture.

We connected with them for the rest of General Assembly as they took action, authored an Action of Immediate Witness (AIW) on gun control, and marshaled this through our somewhat messy democratic process.  The near 1000 delegates voted to approve their Action of Immediate Witness on our last day.  I can only imagine what they would have felt like if we had not voted to approve it.  Voting on these AIWs is how we as a denomination make statements on issues that are pressing and cannot wait the 3-4 years of study and discussion that our Congregational Study Action Issues (CSAI) take.

Orlando congregant speaking to the Action of Immediate Witness

This is why I travel most years to our General Assembly.  To educate myself about social justice issues, to see what is going on in our denomination and to have the opportunity to have these chance encounters which change my life forever.  That quick chance encounter on our first evening set the tone for the rest of the General Assembly conference.  Regina, Kimberly and Denise from our Orlando congregation became fast friends because we all opened our hearts to each other, and were willing to have a conversation at 10:30 after a long day.  We all shed a lot of tears and shared some stories and laughter too.  Those connections between people are what form my theology and renew my faith in this troubled and troubling world.

First Parish UU in Arlington MA's banner on the screen

Oh, Man! as our grand daughter Zuzu would say

OK, I don't as regularly as I used to post.  Sitting on the floor of our elevator today I said to myself "This is blog post worthy for sure."

I have a lot going on today for a retired person.  I did not have to get up at the crack of dawn but my first phone call was at 8:30 and I had another one at 10:00 so at 9:45 I decided to take the microwave that we are giving away on Freecycle down to our lobby.  We live on the third floor and carrying a microwave down three flights is probably not a good idea with my wonky knees.  I also remember saying to myself, I don't need my phone, and it needs all the charge it can get for my 5 phone meetings today.  I even said to Rod as I left "If I get locked out, I can call your phone which is........" and we both looked at the bedroom where he charges it every night.

A bit of back story, the elevator acted up twice on us, in December and in November.  We called the property management company, and they called the elevator people to come fix it.  Oh, the joy of condo living, and I am serious about that, not being sarcastic this time.  More back story, the running joke in our family is that Rod rarely receives a phone call, and often has the ringer turned off.

SO the elevator goes down the three stories, and when I get to the lobby, the door does not open.  I put the microwave down, and start pushing buttons.  One sounds like a door bell, one is a picture of a fireman's hat, none of them do anything and by now, all of the floor buttons are lit up AND neither door will open.  I do find a small door with a phone button in it and dial the elevator emergency service.  Finally a live person.  I ask them to call Rod's phone so he can tell my 10:00 meeting that I might be late.  They call him, it goes to voice mail, because it is still beside his bed with the ringer turned off.  I don't panic yet.  I do wonder if I will run out of air to breathe but that and my 10:00 meeting are the only things I worry about.  I don't expect to be there long.  The emergency service cannot give me an ETA for the tech, but I don't really worry about that.

In fact, this is the point at which I say to myself, probably out loud "I could do some yoga!"  Every time I hear anything I ring the bell to let people know I am locked in the elevator.  The person on the phone told me to do that so the techs could locate me.  Our lobby is tiny, there is only one elevator, clearly they deal with larger accounts than our 17 unit condo.  I call them back, and they let me know Rod's phone went to voice mail, I ask them what time it is.  My only time device is my phone which is still charging up stairs.  It is 10:02 so I am officially late for my 10:00.

At this point, I have been gone for 20 minutes Rod starts to wonder where I am and comes down to the lobby after the elevator does not come up.  We have been through this twice so he is not surprised.  He hobbles down the 3 flights of stairs (he is in a boot nursing a calf sprain), looks for me, does not see me at the bottom, hobbles back up, thinking I have gone for a walk and he picks up his phone message and just hears " blah blah blah Wife is stuck in the elevator blah blah blah."  He hobbles back down the three flights at each landing saying "Sally you in there, which floor are you at?"

This is the point at which I am OK.  Finally someone knows where I am, in fact someone that loves me knows where I am.  To an extravert being alone is not comfortable, and in this case it was pretty terrifying, but the yoga did help.  What was I supposed to do? If I had known I would be shut in the elevator I would have brought my book with me to read, or my knitting, or I would have my phone with me to check email, or Facebook.

The tech arrives, two condo board members and Rod are waiting for me at the door, the tech shows us how to open the door from the inside and I dash upstairs 30 minutes late for my 10:00 meeting.  This is a story we will be telling for ages, so it must be blog worthy.