Aloha Music Camp, February, 2012

For a variety of reasons, I signed up for a week of Hawaiian cultural immersion called Aloha Music Camp.  The members of the famous Beamer family were the main teachers, accompanied by other famous musicians and teachers (Kumu).   I was a student (Haumana).

I had no idea who or how many would be at this camp.  It could have been kids.  It could have been all Hawaiian natives.  I expected the students to be really good musicians of all ages who wanted to mingle with the best and mostly lived in Hawaii somewhere.  The tuition was $1,400.00 for the week, which included lunch and dinner and all classes and evening concerts.  Because of the caliber of teaching talent, I thought this was a bargain.  I suggested it to some island friends, however, and they thought the price was high and they couldn’t attend for the whole week.  I was there from 9:00am to 10:00pm daily Monday through Friday.

To my surprise, Sunday afternoon, after the SuperBowl, I was one of about 60 haoli adults, average age about 60, from Canada, the US, many from California.  I met around six people from this island and maybe a couple more from other islands.  

The first night the Kumu talked about their classes and what they hoped to achieve.  We were asked to go to the same class at the same time each day.  There were four class times, about 1 ¼ hour each.

Kaliko with wife Joy

Hawaiian language was my first session.  It was taught by Kaliko Beamer-Trapp.  Kaliko is related to the famous Trapp family.  He won a scholarship to Hawaii and became beloved by the Beamer family and they adopted him.  He speaks fluent Hawaiian.  He is so proficient; he is on the official committee that creates Hawaiian words for new American words.  He has an online website where you can learn Hawaiian language.  We learned the alphabet and how to pronounce it.  Then we learned how to pronounce words in general.  Later we learned “ka” and “ke” which mean “the”.  We also learned how to describe something, which you do by adding descriptive words after the “thing” you are describing.  Then each day we learned some songs in Hawaiian where we had to pronounce correctly and learn the meanings from the songs.  He passed out flash cards as well for some common things.  It was an introduction, the purpose being for us to be inspired to learn more on our own, which I hope to do.

My second session was also taught by Kaliko which was beginning ukulele.  We learned chords in the key of C and later in the key of G.  We practiced the chords by singing the songs we had in the language class.  I played ukulele 50 years ago when I was a lifeguard one year.  One lady had never picked up a ukulele in her life and took the class.  It seemed like just two of us were true beginners.  The rest of the class just wanted another ukulele class.  This was nice because we could hear how it should really sound from the experienced players.

I did not have a ukulele to use for the class.  They offered the use of a very inexpensive one for the week.  There were two others left by “Jim” to use.  Carol, a lady I hung out with later, picked out a beautiful koa ukulele from Jim.  I was immediately dazzled by the beautiful wood tones and the extra shiny surface that brought out the wood grain even more. She said it sounded lovely.  I couldn’t wait to hold that ukulele.  But Carol had it.  At the end of the session, she put it back in the case and gave it back to Jim saying she enjoyed playing it, but she preferred her Kohala brand uke.  A local ukulele player I met named Cheryl had a uke made by a well know luthier, Dennis Lake.  Dennis was also the teacher for the ukulele making class. 

Later, I found Jim and asked him about the koa ukulele.  He said he is a dealer for this manufacturer, Kanileʻa  and was just in Oahu visiting the factory and picked out three to sell at the camp.  Naturally I bought the koa uke from him.  I call it Hinuhinu which means shiny.

Konabob

At lunch I found some ladies who looked interesting and sat with them.  It turns out they have been coming to this camp for years.  They remembered it when it was held on Molokai.  They talked about the former manager, Mark, whom they didn’t like, and how they like Konabob, the new manager.  They said they came because Herb Ohta Jr. was the ukulele instructor.  Herb does not sing, so he uses more interesting strumming and finds melodies to play, not just chords.  He has several instrumental recordings and is in high demand for performances.  I sat with him at dinner once.

After lunch the session I took was beginning hula with Maunalani Beamer, Keola’s wife.  She is the spirit of Aloha in a woman’s body.  I love her smile and her hula style and her personality.  Everyone was still sort of mourning the death of Auntie Nona Beamer, the Mother of Keola, who taught hula and Hawaiian culture and wrote songs and stories.  She was the life blood of the camp.  To me, Maunalani was what I imagined Nona was like.  She explained that the Beamer style of hula was 1,2,3,4 – step, step, step, step.  Whereas many other hula teachers teach step, step, step, touch.  The main movement is called the leva.  By lifting your foot, then the other, and moving your hip as you lift, you create the swaying hips of the hula.  It seems simple, but was actually quite difficult.  My one hip went one way, but the other did something else when it was its turn.  We learned how to change direction and the names of the directions, and some other simple steps, like pointing your toe one after another.  Your hands are a whole other dimension.  She kept it simple by saying you cupped your hands like holding water, and if you moved your fingers in that beautiful graceful way, it is as if you were gently touching sand.  I was exhausted after the first day of this, so I did not take the next hula class taught by Uluwehi Guerroro, a very famous hula teacher, dancer, singer and accompanist.  He also has recorded a couple CD’s.

You could also take Beginning or Advanced slack key guitar from Keola Beamer.  Ozzie Kotani taught Intermediate Slack Key.

Dr. Sam blessing the ti leaves

The last class of the day became ti leaf sandal making.  Monday we drove to a coffee farm in Holualoa and picked ti leaves after Dr. Sam Gon, our instructor, blessed the leaves with a chant.  Dr. Sam was also the Oli teacher.  Oli means chant.  Chants are performed ceremonially often in Hawaii.  It is almost like a song.

My sandals

Dr. Sam weaving

 

Auntie Elaine

The last class was over about 4:30pm and dinner didn’t start until 6:00.  Since David and I only have one car, I hung out in the hotel lobby the rest of the day.  Luckily, musicians can’t sit around doing nothing.  Usually they got together in the lobby in a circle and played Hawaiian songs.  Alan Akaka, the steel guitar teacher, usually led the gathering, called a Kanikapila.  Auntie Elaine was there playing her uke with long beautifully manicured nails.  A Hawaiian song would be suggested, then the musical key would be decided, then everyone would begin to play and sing.  Since it was a big group, at least someone could remember the words to the song.  Most everyone seemed to know the tune.  If you are experienced, and you know the key in which the song is played, you can play most anything even if you have never heard it.  At this point, since I barely knew three chords, I was content and honored to watch and listen.  I think this part of the day was the most fun for me. Alan would usually “talk story” between each song.  “Talk story” is telling a personal story about how you learned the song or where it came.  Alan, Kaliko and Keola were particularly good at this.

Lobby Kanikapila with Alan Akaka

During dinner I tried to sit with interesting looking people and find out who might actually live on island that I could get to know.  Besides these folks I will talk about later, I met several others who had never attended camp like me.  One was a luthier.  One had been playing banjo professionally for 30 years and took steel guitar for the first time.  One had been playing slack key guitar for years and years all by himself.  There were several couples.  The man usually took an instrumental class and the wives took hula or lei making.  I really admired the people who took an interest in a new instrument for them.  There must be nothing like learning slack key guitar from Keola Beamer, who has two songs on the Descendants’ soundtrack.  A couple of the teachers have grammy awards.  I forget which ones.  I particularly enjoyed meeting Madeleine Brandli, a recorded ukulele musician in her own right, who was a student at the camp.

Keola Beamer

Monday night after dinner the teachers gave a concert.  Tuesday evening was open mike.  I skipped this to go home and practice my new ukulele.  I was exhausted as well.  Wednesday night they played the movie being made about the life of Nona Beamer.  Thursday was the Beamer family concert night. 

Friday night was the night everyone had to perform what they learned in their classes.  I had two performances.  Then I discovered that my ti leaf sandals were given an oli chant blessing so I had to stand on stage again.  Our hula class performed the song Pupu Hinuhinu which was written by Nona Beamer.  It means shiny shell and is a lullaby.  I just loved the music and the hula that went with it.  I can play it and sing it on my ukulele now.   The Hawaiian language class and the beginning ukulele class were combined into one performance song:  Wahine ʻIlikea.  The language class sang and the uke class played.  I was in the back row playing chords, hopefully the right ones.  It was fortunate that so many experienced players were in our beginning class.  Someone looked at me funny once, maybe because I have a hard time strumming.  I don’t want to strum too loudly because my chord fingers don’t always hit the strings correctly in time for the strum.  Not pretty.

Saturday morning was the closing ceremony.  We had lots of speeches, chants, lei presenting, and even a communion of sorts when we all shared a plate of Hawaiian sweet potato and taro.  Of course we all sang Hawaiʻi Aloha, the state song.  This song will have to be the first one I learn because it is always sung at the end of just about any occasion.  Everyone holds hands in a circle during the song and raise them together at the end.

We all said our goodbye’s and got addresses and phone numbers and took pictures.  The next camp is scheduled for July 1 to 5 here in Keauhou.  I get a $500 discount on tuition if I recommend someone new and they attend, so now is your opportunity!  David bought steel guitar picks and bar from Alan Akaka before he left, so I may get a discount for him.  My dilemma will be whether or not I am ready to take anything but beginning ukulele again.   

Follow through so far consists of the Tuesday ukulele class held in the lobby of the Keauhou Beach Resort, the Wednesday night Kanikapila there, Thursday morning smaller Kanikapila with Alan, and practice on my own.  I just learned of a new class on Fridays.  I have to keep those calluses on the tips of my left hand.  The chords I know I can find and play, so far.  However, the list of chords is endless.  I bought a book today that has three different choices for F, so that if I can’t reach the strings one way, hopefully I can find another way to play the chord.  I’ve already figured out that I can play the chords I know and skip the ones I don’t.

Kona Kanikapila

Wednesday night from 6 to 8 there was a Kona Kanikapila.  Over 90 musicians gathered in a large circle and played Hawaiian songs, mostly from the book "He Mele Aloha".  It was quite inspiring.  I am looking forward to participating Wednesday evenings, even though I haven’t even heard most of the songs, let alone know how to play or sing them.  There is a lot of joy in that room.

Hinuhinu

The Fall of David Case

David and I have attended the Metopera Live performances at the Hollywood Makalapua Stadium Theater here in Kona.  We put ourselves on an email list and got an invitation to a concert of a young opera tenor, Cody Austin. 

"An exquisite night of music in a private Hualalai venue, as tenor, Cody Austin sings directly to you with a tribute to Mario Lanza. No other venue will give you the up close and personal experience as the Hoku Concert Series, entering its 11th season, benefiting community organizations in West Hawaii. The Aloha Performing Arts Company is honored to be the recipient again this year. Seating is limited to 75 guests."
American tenor Cody Austin is quickly becoming one of the most promising singing actors of his age, and it has been noted that he possesses a voice with "a warm, rich quality... produced with an evenness that's rare."

Tenor Cody Austin

For $75.00 we could see this winner of the Mario Lanza scholarship contest at a Hoku concert benefiting the Aloha Performing Arts Co.  Its draw for us was that it was also held at the Hualalai Resort.  This is the premier resort in Kona, also known as the Four Seasons, and the concert was being held in the owner’s clubhouse.  The resort complex is surrounded by single family homes in the $3 to $5 million dollar range and this was their private party area. 

David and I arrived early and met the founder of the Hoku series, Frank Meyer and his wife Anita.  The other guests arrived and gathered at the bar.   We were thrilled that we had this opportunity to hear Cody as well as meet other opera lovers on the Big Island.  Hawaii Opera Theater is one of the better regional opera companies and we are frustrated that we are so close, but not on the same island, to see this opera season.  Now David had a chance to talk opera with Frank and Anita and connect with a similar group of people we knew in Anchorage when David was on the Anchorage Opera Board.

Cody beautifully sang his repertoire that we later learned was on the CD we purchased.  It is mostly tenor favorites and some Mario Lanza songs.  His voice is clear, strong, and delightful.  So is his blonde Texas face.  He told us they made him lose his Texas accent at vocal school. 

Siegfried

(Not so for Jay Hunter Morris who was Siegfried in Saturday’s Metopera Live.  This amazing star has a distinct Paris, Texas twang in his interview with Renee Fleming).

At  the Hoku intermission, we met Barbara, an intriguing woman whom, I am sure, we  were able to just scratch the surface of her fascinating life.  She introduced us to her evil stepdaughter, “Evil” whom she was with the next day at "Siegfried".  Then the Cody Austin intermission was over and I went back to my seat.  The gentleman seated next to David was talking to the handsome man and his smitten girlfriend sitting in front of us about how amusing it was that he just saw this man fall right into the water outside the door.  And coincidentally that man had just been sitting next to him! 

I caught the tail end of this conversation and had to process the first part quickly once I realized that the man he was talking about was my husband!  I asked him a quick question to confirm what he had just said, and was out the door to find David.  I was petrified that he had fallen and hurt his newly replaced knee or worse, a hip.  As I stepped out the door, Frank was there to say that David was fine and in the bathroom.  Cody was right there ready to come back on stage.  Let the play go on!

On without David and I.  I called into the men’s room.  No answer.  For some reason Barbara was trailing after me.  We quickly went to the parking lot to see if David had already gone to the car.  I told Barbara she didn’t have to stay with me, I’d figure it out, but she said she was always up for an adventure.  We waited by the car and finally saw a dripping figure approach.  She mercifully left us alone.  David was thankfully walking fine - no apparent damage.  He explained that he had had to go to the bathroom, so he went out the door quickly at the end of our conversation with Barbara.  I didn’t notice because he is almost always behind me anyway, and when he didn’t come to the seat, I am used to him getting waylaid by someone or just adjusting his shoes.

Cody was already poised to go onstage and was standing at the junction of the path to the bathroom.  Frank was next to him and directed David to go to the right.  There were people blocking the way on the concrete path, and David was in a hurry, so he turned right – right into the water feature reflecting pond next to the walkway. 

He said “As I stepped into it, oh my God, it was water, then I thought it would be shallow, but it wasn’t.  It was up about to my knee.  I fell half way in and caught myself and got wet up to my thighs on my right side and then climbed out  where I fell in.  Mainly I was embarrassed; and everyone was concerned that I was hurt.  They wanted me to go to the bar and get a towel and then go to the athletic club area to dry off.   I finally got to do my business in the bathroom, dripping wet.  I wanted to quickly get dried off and not miss the rest of the concert.”

At the car, it was apparent that he didn’t have any other pants.  We had our suitcases since we had stayed overnight in Volcano the night before, so he had another shirt and underwear.   I pulled out the pants I wore that day which fit him perfectly.  He dressed right there by moonlight in the parking lot beside the car.  David said “I can finally get into your pants.”

We were able to reenter the concert after the third song and no one pointed or made a fuss.  We were in time to hear Nessun dorma!

My Speech at David's Retirement Party

I feel like you all have honored us with your presence, and given us a gift of yourselves in taking the time to come here tonight, especially the partners from Portland and others from out of town. It is really special. I wanted to give you all a gift in return, from Alaska, but David didn’t think a prime garage sale item was appropriate.
It is bitter sweet, retirement. David has had a successful career as a counselor, and now I take him off to a NUT farm. I have been looking forward to having David in my life more than a couple hours a day, and now it is coming true. My girlfriends in similar situations, however, have warned me that this may not be what I really want. Bonnie Bennett says she married for life, but not for lunch.
I have great memories, like negotiating with Tom Landye, the transfer of our, what I considered, substantial investment in office equipment, computers, fax, and copier to LBB. Tom displayed his renowned negotiating skills that have made him the great lawyer that he is today.
I will miss the yearly holiday shopping in Portland that has become a tradition in our family. I have my favorite shops and restaurants to visit. The spectacular partner dinner with everyone dressed to the nines and offering the finest of food and wines, will be a memory we will always have.
I think David is the first partner to officially “retire” without another paying job. So we are setting precedent here. Hopefully retired partners will still be invited to social functions, and any future retirement parties. Any pending invitations? Has anyone started to think about retirement, now that one of you is doing it? Or are you going to watch David and see if it “takes” or not? They say old lawyers never die, they just negotiate.
Of course, you are all welcome to visit us in Kona and view the workings of an actual coffee and macadamia nut farm. There are special picking bags available for guests.
When we tell people that David is retiring and we are moving to Hawaii to take care of a coffee farm, they nod and give a chuckle. But yes, we are really going to do it. Just like the adventure we began when David joined LBB. We are ready for the next adventure.
I look forward to staying in touch with you all and taking bets who will be the next partner to try retirement.
And to David, who we are honoring here tonight, I want to say that I am looking forward to the rest of our lives together and lunch; but maybe not together at the bridge table.

Moving On

Future caretakers of a Kona coffee farm

My husband and I are moving out of the house we have lived in since 1988 and a community we have been apart of since 1974. When we moved into our house in Anchorage, Alaska in 1988, it was new.
 
We filled our Belmont Drive home up with combined treasures from my husband David’s family such as his Dad’s dresser, his Mother’s 100 year old, 100 pound Wheary trunk, the 30” X 26” framed photo of his Grandmother, and the collage of memories passed down to him from his Great Grandfather David Stanway which includes his civil war diary. My contribution included the table and chairs from my first apartment, the bookcase my father made, and the fold down desk that was my Mother’s. I also inherited the family Chinese intricately carved chest and other dressers, lamps and chairs.

In my younger days, as most of my women high school friends, I received a Waterford Colleen crystal glass and/or a place setting of Gorham Melrose sterling silver flatware for gifts at birthdays or holidays. Neither of our children is interested in someday owning these precious things. I packed up the best and decided we will use these as our everyday settings in whatever home we finally move. No one wants the 30 year old fur coats, which once were a financial investment as well as useful outerwear in Alaska.

Then there are the many hand embroidered, cross-stitched or needlepoint pictures, pillows and hangings lovingly completed by Mother or me to keep or not. Ribbons won for handmade items at the Alaska State Fair, my plaque with a picture of the Babycase commemorating my patent and trademark decisions to make. The walls hold watercolors from trips to various parts of the world and the United States, triggering memories of these adventures. David’s office art and awards are now in boxes in our crawl space. How much can you put on a small office wall shared by two?

The family photos are the most daunting and treasured. It is difficult to decide how and where to store them the rest of our lives. They chronicle our lives before children to today. Most are electronically saved in the last few years, but 30 years or more of photos and slides remain in books and boxes. We both remember David’s Mother in her last year or two of life looking through her worn photos from a shoe box by the side of her chair. Will we want to look back, savoring a rich life, choosing a shoebox of photos to trigger the memories? Which ones to choose, which ones to give to our two boys, which ones will last as our legacy?

We each have a large box of documents, letters, photos and genealogy documents from parents and Grandparents and even Great grand parents to sort through at some point to arrange the genealogy project started many years ago by my Mother. Fortunately that is mostly now on the computer. Most of the photos have been scanned and identified. Two Case family reunions have been held to document family memories and share photos. Of course this also increased the volume of the boxes.

David has the Case family Bible, the civil war diaries, and photos and newspaper articles from the early 1900’s. We each had relatives in that era who were notable enough to be in history books. I have my Mother’s baby book, wedding album, Grandmother’s DAR documentation and all the letters filling three shoe boxes that I wrote to my parents when I lived for two years in Bern, Switzerland in 1969 – 1970.

Most of the furniture I can emotionally leave behind. All the kitchen items, all the papers in the file drawers I have scanned and thrown away – even my Babycase documents and the information for when our home was on the Anchorage Garden Club garden tour. Medical records - Tax returns – newspaper articles written about David, Dorothy, and Aaron and his band – all scanned and disposed of. Our whole CD collection copied to ITunes. Recipe books are sold or given away. Fortunately I was able to record all my Grandmother’s recipes and Mother’s recipes and made them into books. Today any recipe you want can be found online.

I still don’t know what to do with the copy of “The Feminine Mystique” autographed by Betty Friedan when she came to Anchorage in 1976. The two books “Shoulder to Shoulder “and “The Spirit of Houston” which chronicle the historic National Women’s Conference held in Houston, Texas in 1977 are meaningful but dated. I was fortunate enough to be an observer at this conference. I was awed at the number of notable women such as Margaret Mead, Lady Bird Johnson, Betty Ford, First Lady Roslynn Carter , Barbara Jordan, Patsy Mink, Esther Wunnicke, Billie Jean King, Bella Abzug, a young Maya Angelou, Gloria Steinem, as well as Susan B. Anthony, among others. This conference adopted a National Plan of Action for women’s rights and a plan for getting the constitutional Women’s rights amendment passed. Phyllis Schlafley held her own opposing conference at the same time. As we know, the amendment didn’t pass. But this was the beginning of an explosion of women’s rights that women just 5 to 10 years younger than I take for granted.

Betty Cole



George B Cole



Then there is David’s Aunt Betty’s self published novel “Falling, I Find Wings” about four young women whose lives intertwine. She told us these women are all from her own life, at one stage or another. She also wrote “Waiting for Climbers” a book of poems. David’s Uncle George B. Cole’s book is called: “A Frontier Boy and Other Wild Animals”, which is his autobiography, described as “…an authentic taste of the westward movement during the close of the nineteenth century …an intimate glimpse of the Kansas frontier through the eyes of one who was there.” He came to our wedding when over 90 years old. I remember him as quite a sage.



Making decisions about what to do with these precious things filled with memories, nostalgia, and history, are the most difficult. Giving the memories to our children, who want to start lives of their own, is difficult. Andy seems to be the one who most wants to hang on to tradition and nostalgia, as is my brother Larry and myself. But you can only take on so much before being overwhelmed. Consider that now we have collections of historical items for our children’s Great-great grandparents down to their own parents. Then there are their very own special items which they have had to pare down as they move to live on their own.

 

In contemplating this whole concept of moving on, I have had many thoughts and feelings. I remember my feelings when I packed all my few belongings in the Fall of 1971 into my VW camper and drove West seeking a new life where the possibilities were endless. I called that a turning point. David and I made another adventurous change when we moved our young family to Fairbanks for two years in 1982, while he taught and wrote the book “Alaska Natives and American Laws”.

Now is another turning point but with a more specific destination for the moment, as caretakers of a Kona coffee farm. An interlude in paradise to contemplate more seriously the next steps, leaving open the possibility of returning to Alaska.

Personally, I am mentally ready to make a turn. For 35 years I have lived a life determined by my generation. Actually, David and I are in-between two generations. We are not officially Baby-boomers. But we do not identify with the generation of our parents or even David’s 10 year older brother. Caught in the middle, we feel comfortable in both worlds, yet searching for our own identity. Parents at 35 and 39, we were unintentionally like many of our children’s generation who delay having children in order to pursue higher graduate education and needing financial support from parents for a longer period of time.

Financially we are fortunate to have my defined benefit pension and excellent supplemental health insurance, unlike many just a few years younger. Our children however will likely not have any retirement other than the money they save themselves if they are disciplined. And they are burdened with unbelievable educational debt that we did not have.

Realizing that we will soon be living on the accumulated wealth in the bank right now, with no more salary or income other than from our investments, is frightening. This is especially true after having lived through the recession of the last three years which reduced our net worth by 25% (which was much better than most who lost 40% or more). Can we withstand such a hit again? What will happen to the cost of living during the 20 to 30 more years we will be living in retirement? What will fate bring to the US and world economy, unforeseen and uncontrollable? What medical or physical challenges will we face as we already experience age related weaknesses in our bodies?

David has had influence on students and Alaska Native Law in general. Will he adjust to living where no one knows him as “David Case”? Can he find self satisfaction pursuing other interests? I have pursued many avenues of interest. Can I find even more areas to explore and learn? Can we contribute in some way to our new community? Will we be able to make new friendships?

I am the practical one, the one who worries about these things. David is the conservative financial son who learned from his Father what it was like to lose his fortune. Can we find a comfortable, engaging, meaningful life? Will we hold onto the past? Will we create something new? Will we find a way to meld the two?

I have been looking forward for 32 years to rekindle the relationship with my husband that we had before kids defined our lives. I am looking forward to the relationship with our children’s’ families, their growth and development, as well as their career experiences. One thing that has happened as a result of not having grandchildren yet, is a closer relationship with our adult sons. Grandma Case’s saying: “A daughter’s a daughter all your life, a son’s a son till he takes a wife” isn’t true for us, I don’t believe. That is because of them boomeranging home at various times in their adult life, which has made our lives richer getting to know them as adults.

We have already begun the inevitable going away parties, luncheons, and small get togethers with friends.

Here you are.  I take your photo with a camera in my mind.  I give you a big hug.  But will we even keep in touch via Facebook?  How much time and energy can we each give to continuing a friendship long distance?  Will we be reduced to once a year holiday newsletters?  Will you really come visit?

Caretakers of a coffee farm in Kona, HI. It sounds exotic. It sounds like an idyllic life. What will we make of “moving on”?

Poem written at 27

Do your own thing

When you don’t succeed in what you face
Be like the fly
But don’t die
Or tell a lie
Let it by.

When time comes at too fast a pace
Always delayed?

Time is weighed

Decide, not dismay

Play, don’t be played

Always want to have a seat and not race
Instead of your client
Never be suppliant
Or always reliant
Just a little defiant

You say you get to use the place

Because you obey the rule

Let efficiency be your tool
And laziness your jewel
Stay on that mule!

Have you always wanted to have your space?
Hear songbirds sing?
An Italian bell ring
Instead your hands wring?
Do your own thing.


Doin it then



Doin it now

My Day as an Election Official

April 5, 2011.


The Anchorage Municipal Elections were held Tuesday. I agreed to be an official again, which I vowed I wouldn’t do after the November general election left me exhausted, but my friend Barbara asked again.

I arrived at 6:30am just as a snow storm began with big white flakes. From our vantage, it looked like the snow on TV when it isn’t in tune with the station. The halls of West High were unusually quiet because the 9th and 10th graders were testing. They gave us one less table because of this.

As the voters drifted in through the snow, one or two at a time, we watched the snack and drink machines being refilled, and a security guard sitting suspiciously quiet by the front door. I later tried to get a drink but the machine kept taking quarters and not registering any money. I left my cell phone in the bathroom where I had removed my long underwear since we didn’t have a cold draft as I had anticipated. The sly sleepy security guard had it, thank goodness.

My job was to find the voter’s name on the register, highlight the box above it, X in the box whether they gave me a Voter ID, were personally known (PK), or “other ID”. This was usually a driver’s license, but could be a soldier’s ID who just got back from Iraq and couldn’t wait to go again (he came with his parents who were very proud). Then I turned the whole register around for their signature in the highlighted rectangle. If it was busy, they received a card saying “Signed register” and passed it to Pat who handed them a ballot inside a security folder, and then were told to be sure to vote both sides of the ballot.

Another official stood by the big black box where the voter put the security sleeve with ballet. It magically sucked the ballot out and counted the votes. You could put the ballot in either side top or bottom and it still could count correctly. At this station, you got to hand the voters their “I voted today” sticker. While you waited for a finished voter to supervise the sucking of the ballot (sometimes they wouldn’t go through), you could tear off stickers ahead of time. Barbara told us that years ago the League of Women Voters gave out small yellow feathers to voters, but they became too expensive.

I had the alphabet from A to K, and Margaret had K to Z. In the morning, the line was longer at K to Z. In the afternoon, it was reversed. Someone said that A to K slept in. Everyone was patient in line, even when the official knew the signing voter and was having a conversation about their children or their recent travels, plumbing problems or knitting.

Most of the officials have been doing this job for 30 years or more. The voters still asked about Pauline Martin who died two years ago who was the head official for eons. The other long time official, whom I think I replaced, just lost her husband, so she may be able to replace me when I move. This continuity of service results in a neighborhood open house. Everyone has the opportunity to catch up on all their neighbors, and not just the officials. Voters talk with other neighbor voters. We should offer coffee and cookies so they could justify staying even longer and running into even more neighbors. Our precinct has a higher that usual turnout, most likely because of this once or twice a year gathering. Margaret knows so many people (she is proud to mark PK when they sign the register), that she can recognize and differentiate Elizabeth S _____ and Elizabeth K ______ who both have the same last name.

It amazes me that there are so many elderly voters who come faithfully. Wheelchairs, canes, shuffling walk, (through that snow, remember). Many have family members or caregivers assisting. One elderly lady said she had voted in every election since she was 21. Old sourdoughs, whose names everyone in Anchorage are familiar with were there. One such lady (I PK her because she is a neighbor) still has her upturned 1950’s glasses and ‘50’s fur coat, all decked out with full makeup and high heels. Another conversation in this over 80 (even 90 to 100) crowd is about who died last year. One notable voter who lost her former Governor husband recently, and always wears a hat, probably voted absentee this year. We all looked for her.

The most interesting part for me was recognizing the faces of so many people I have known who have drifted in and out of my life through the 35 years I’ve been in Anchorage, and how much older some of them look today. I guess I look older to them as well. It is even more poignant since my husband and I will be moving out of Anchorage in June.

Throughout the day television crews visit our precinct. For some reason they always choose Precinct 645. I was probably on two channels at least. We usually have a notable candidate or two who vote here. Too bad we don’t have Sarah Palin. I would have been interested to see if she had a retinue, and if she brought a child or two or three.

We have over 1,600 people on our register. However I recognized several, who had passed on, or moved out of state, or lived elsewhere now. Questioned ballots, a tedious process, are usually used by voters who have moved and don’t know yet where their new precinct is located. The questioned ballots are “gently” folded in thirds and placed in a special envelope by the voter.  One couple who could have given birth to their twins that day, lived within walking distance, but their precinct was at North Star school.  They patiently filled out their questioned ballots after venturing to the State voting location which was closed.

So out of 1,600 on the roles, we had 596 ballots. If you allow for a 20% inaccuracy of the register, and the number of absentee and early voters (another 10%), we had a pretty good turnout. I get 57%. At the general election in November with the write in candidacy of Lisa Murkowski which drew lots of reluctant voters, we did exceptionally well for a mere Municipal election. With these calculations Iget 57%. Usually Municipal elections garner 20 to 30%. All day we set goals, the first being 400 voters. We cheered when we reached 500 and were rooting for 4 more voters to make the total 600. We had one last “runner” at 7:59pm. We actually had over 600 if you count the questioned ballots.  We still got comments from the older voters about how sad it is that so many US citizens don't vote, and how many wars we fought to have the privilege.

At the end of the night, all the officials have to sign the results tape to certify the election in our Precinct. At that time we get to see how the vote went. The advantage of being an official is this firsthand knowledge of the results. For example, I knew right away in November that Lisa won.

We have to sign many other forms and pack all the materials in a certain way (this envelope goes in the green bag, this is sealed and goes in the red bag, etc.). All the leftover ballots are counted and returned, even the stubs. Thank goodness we don’t have to disassemble the booths, tables and chairs or the big black box. A separate crew does that in the morning. Our officials need every one of us to help 80 plus year old Barbara put the materials in the back of her car to take to election headquarters. Helpers unload it for her. Our day ended at 9:00pm, 12 ½ hours later.  The 4 inches of snowfall had all melted.

Diary of a knee replacement

Knee Replacement Diary by Dorothy Case, wife of David Case who had the replacement, beginning January 13, 2011
Dr. Linda Rasmussen performed a knee replacement of David’s right knee around 11:00am Friday 1/13/2011. It took her 39 minutes to perform. She said it went perfectly. However, his knee was really a mess. She said from a 1 to 10, his was a 10. She said other doctors send their problem cases to her. Hopefully that is true and this is a success.
Day 1: David came back to his hospital private room in the Ho’Okipa ward at Castle Medical Center in Kauai, HI around 2:30pm. He felt great. He had a hearty lunch at 3:00 and then ate the regular dinner as well. I left around 4:00 to beat the H 1 traffic. He was doing well on all the drugs. He could feel his feet and could move his toes. He did his breath exercises and sat up in a chair.
Day 2: Saturday, I got there in the AM early and he was sitting in a chair. His PT was bending your ankle forward and back and sliding the knee up and back using a cheat sheet in bed. He had PT in the afternoon. He achieved a 108 bend and almost able to straighten it to 180. Nothing hurt. He shaved. He ate heartily lunch and dinner. I left a little later. He had an okay night. His hgb was 8.6 – low. He used the urinal and bedside commode. He put on his own shirt and the black baggy pants which ended up being a problem maneuvering what with the knee drain and leg squeezers and the IV tubes.
Day 3: Sunday, his hbg was 7.6. I called and he was up walking to the bathroom with a walker. He was feeling weak. They gave him a shot of Procrit. They offered to give him a transfusion. He consulted with my brother David and agreed that he needed it more than the risks. They began the transfusion shortly after I got there. We were supposed to have a celebratory lunch together provided by the hospital, but David didn’t even want to eat. His leg was cramping a lot and it helped to massage it. You could tell that the whole leg had swollen a lot. He could no longer straighten his leg or bend it as much. I think the pain meds they injected right into the knee finally wore off. He lay in bed and slept most of the time for the transfusion. About 3:30 after it was infused, he started to feel better. He shaved. He ate a light meal. I left at 5:30 and felt guilty I had to leave. He seemed to rally the rest of the evening and tolerated some more PT. He used the urinal and bedside commode.
Day 4: Monday. I got a new rental car, a Chevrolet crossover which has a hand hold and bucket seats that are higher so he can get in and out. When I got to the hospital, he was much better. He had already shaved. PT included instructions on walking with the walker: you don’t have to look down, take even steps, Up with good leg, down with bad. Going up stairs can be one step at a time, good leg first, or sideways. More ankle pumps and knee bends with the cheat sheet. Saw a going home movie and got the walker he can take home. He achieved his goals of walking up and down three times, own personal care, bowel movement, knee flex of 88 degrees, up from bed while flat, ate dinner in a chair.
Day 5: Tuesday. Marriott provided a shower chair, a toilet riser, and a wheel chair. Discharge day spent talking to Dr. Rasmussen about therapy. Got prescriptions but their pharmacy wouldn’t fill them so we went to Costco. David took a shower and ate lunch, leaving about 1:00pm. We stopped at Costco for pills. Not open. Took him back to hotel and I returned alone and got the pills and shopped for two weeks of food.
Day 6, Wednesday. David spent most of his time in bed, got up to the deck, ate dinner at the table, iced when down, did exercises, was very concerned about bowel movement. He ate papaya, took the senna tablets, and made a lot of noises. There are a lot of sound effects associated with this recovery. His voice is softer again, and he coughs a lot. He is getting stronger. He took a shower. I am sleeping in the other bedroom. The ice pump is going, he is up and down, using the urinal, etc. I don’t see how anyone could sleep in the same bed as a knee replacement patient for quite awhile.
Day 7: Thursday. I made Hawaiian sweet bread French toast for breakfast. Then we went to PT in Kailua with Kelly at 1:00PM. Dropped David off and I went to the beach. Had a disagreement about how much help he needed. He didn’t want me to be telling him what to do or help him, so I didn’t, but then I didn’t help him when I should have. Hopefully we have worked it out. My neck, shoulder and elbow are sore and I could not lift the wheelchair into the car which it turned out we didn’t need. I was surprised that PT was all the way on the 2nd floor, impossible to get to without a wheelchair. We switched the appts all to that one location, but for some reason, the next appt isn’t until next week. This week is crucial for the therapy, so he will have to work extra hard on his own. He has three sets of exercises to do a day. This was a frustrating day for me.
Day 8: Friday. He wanted an egg for breakfast. He says his body is craving certain foods which he never remembers doing before, mostly protein and fruit. He did his exercises, took a shower and shaved, and then we went to the Ihilani Hotel for lunch using the wheelchair. Along the way it broke, so we exchanged it. Had a nice lunch at their pool and watched the high surf crash over the rocks. The lagoons are closed for the first time ever because of the heavy rains Monday night (that I drove home in) that washed debris from a dump. It is a real disaster for the resorts. No one has been on the beach for a week. We spent 2.5 hours on our outing, so we came back and he did his exercises in bed and iced. My routine is getting ice for the ice bucket, ice for the water pitcher, feed him etc. It is actually a good thing we are here for me because I don‘t have to worry about distractions like wanting to go walking, work out, bridge, OLE classes, etc. Since I’m not there, I can’t do them! So I am free to just have the stress of taking care of David and nothing else.
Day 9: Saturday Jan 22: I started writing this diary. David is learning when to take the pain pills and how much. Papaya and lots of fruit is helping the constipation. He still craves eggs and protein and is doing his exercises faithfully. We put a pressure sock on last night and this morning to help the swelling. They didn’t tell him to keep it on after he got out of the hospital and the PT wondered why he didn’t have it on.
Day 10: Sunday Jan 23: David is better and better he says. He walked from the walker about 3 steps to the wheel chair. We spent some time at the pool; he was on a pool recliner. He wheeled himself in the Naia tower to check out the location of our new room. At sunset he wheeled himself to see it at the end of the wheelchair ramp. His exercises are better; he can initiate lifting his leg straight, and sitting in a chair. It looks like the swelling is going down, maybe 1/3 what it was. Swelling is still preventing further bending progress as is the scar tissue. He knows he has to take a pain pill before doing the exercises. He does them 3 times a day. We moved rooms which was quite a hassle and tiring.
Day 14: Jan 27, Thursday. Today David had his therapy. He was told he could graduate to a cane now instead of the walker. His extension is pretty good. They had him do stuff on a bike. They tried to push his flexion and got to 108 degrees. That is the part that is very difficult and painful because of so much swelling still. He still has bruises. They told him to move the tissue around the incision to break away the adhesions there. We read that he should be using compression socks for 4 to 6 weeks. He hasn’t been using them for a week. He goes again tomorrow, so I guess they are going to push on his leg more to get more flexion and it will hurt. He is still coughing and has fevers at night. His hip is hampering and so is his ankle. I don’t see this as being a piece of cake for him. Kelly said he’s seen better and worse at this stage. He was going to do some work on the computer at Nancy Shannon’s while I played bridge but he walked around in the yard and got tired and rested. He gets pooped out at night.
Day 17: Sunday, Jan 30¸2011. The big move day from Marriott to Paradise Bay “Resort”. We had to pack last night and get out of there early in order to take the car to Avis and get over to the Windward side before the ProBowl traffic, which we did. We hung out at Nancy Shannon’s while David iced and did his exercises. Then we checked in over here. So we do have two bedrooms, a kitchen and TV and even a handicap type of bath. The manager bought David a nice walker but he is now using the cane exclusively. We gave up the wheel chair. Yesterday at Ko’ Olina we went on a long walk/wheelchair ride where he got out and walked for awhile. Then we went to the pool and he swam a little. The routine is he exercises in the am before I am awake, then ices after. Exercise in PM, ice, evening, ice, with icing, walking, daily tasks, in between. The swelling is down but not gone, the scar is getting less red; he is using mucinex expectorant to get the stuff out of his chest, and taking pain meds on a regular basis. I guess he has the constipation under control with the senna they gave him and fruit. He seems to be tireder than usual today. Nancy says there are good days and bad. It was really nice of her to let us hang out there. David achieved a lot of bend the other day, and there is a wrinkle at the top of his knee scar where the skin allowed the new movement it seems. He also wears compression socks all the time now. We are here now for a month and I have no idea what we are going to do. It is a cramped space and nothing to do around here. There is a pool. Everything is really run down but they are slowly fixing it up. We walked down the road among the feral chickens, cats and peacock. Across the street is a teal colored parrot.
I have to have a paragraph about Nancy Shannon and how wonderful she is. We literally couldn’t have had this surgery without her and all her help and hospitality. It was her knee doctor, and she recommended David get the surgery in Hawaii. Several times we stayed at their house and David rested and Nancy cooked dinner. We really enjoyed her and Don’s company. They made it happen.
Day 19: Tuesday Feb 1: yesterday we walked around the property. Then we went into town to the P.O. and shopping for groceries. Then we went to Frommagio’s for lunch, risking our groceries. We took the frozen stuff inside the restaurant! Drove home. David rested and iced. Stayed in room resting until after Ellen TV show. Then we walked down to a park and watched fishermen who had walked way way out into Kaneohe Bay. Then walked back. David was exhausted. They were sawing and pounding with electric tools all day here but they say the main building will be done today. It is a little quieter now. Anyway, yesterday, he did a lot and got really tired. He is taking pain meds all day long. We are massaging the scar and he wears compression socks all the time and elevates his leg. He just uses the cane.
Day 20: Wednesday: Therapy at 2:45. He went all the way around on the bike. Kelly had him lie on his back to get the leg straighter; do stuff with his back to the wall, and with his legs on the wall lying on his back. He only took one pain pill. We went swimming a little. The cool water is nice and he can stretch. He gets really tired. The routine is activity, rest and ice, exercises, rest and ice. Had the Wednseay night dinner and Hawaiian music. Very nice evening. He pooped out early. Bruising is almost entirely gone. The glue used to close the wound is now gone from scar.
Day 21: Thursday. Went to see Dr. Wakasuki, the ankle doctor. He has done 5 replacement ankles. There are two ankle replacement surgeries, the star and the agility. Agility you need to have a bone fuse. Star has been done in Europe for years. Dr. Roger Mann does it in San Francisco. Howie and Barb told us about him. He does the Star. Both surgeries make an incision down the center of the shin to the foot, midline. The Star removes the bottom of shin and top of talus. No bones are required to fuse. Two metal plates with a plastic device in-between. Biggest problem is the healing of the incision. Need to choose patients with good circulation (pulse, hair on toes, see veins.). David has limited mobility in both of his ankle joints, one that goes up and down, and one that goes side to side. He may need to fuse the side to side one. Tower said that was okay, but maybe not now. Both require no pressure at all on foot for two weeks or so for the incision to heal. That has to heal before anything else. You will have more mobility with replacement, but not be able to do anything. If David got a fusion, he may need to do both joints. Fusion is what would happen if the replacement fails. Plastic can wear out and can be changed. Can’t do impact sports, but walking, hiking, dancing, maybe skiing, biking for sure.
David’s x-rays show bone on bone and very little space in the other joint area.
Star: In hospital for at least two days. Surgery takes 2 hours. Use crutches. After stitches are out, you move to a boot. No weight bearing for 2 to 3 months for fusion.
David can go back and forth if living in Kona. Would have to stay in SF for a month or so probably.
Came back home, set David up in the deck with computer and went to play bridge. He worked, took nap, swam again, sat on deck, and rested after dinner. He really rests a lot. His voice is getting very soft, yesterday and today it is very bad. He just has one small scab to come off the scar, swelling down, bruising gone.
Day 23: Saturday, February 05, 2011, had a massage. Then we got some Epsom salts to use on the top part of David’s wound. Still swelling around the knee itself. He still takes pain meds. Went in the water. That looks like it would be really good for his leg and knee. He got tired. Seems a little better. He is walking without the cane sometimes. He is trying out one pill every 4 hours, except yesterday he took two before therapy. The therapist, Jill, massaged his knee and scar first, then had him do exercises. Then she offered a cold pack at the end. I thought she was very good.
Day 24: Sunday. Drove into Waikiki to the Royal Hawaiian. Brought the cryo cuff and stuff but David seemed to do well. We had lunch with Judy and Larry and then drove to Nancy and Don Shannon’s to watch the Super Bowl 45 P:ackers vs Steelers. Other than his voice which you can barely hear, he seemed to be alert and able to have the stamina to go all day like that. The Shannon’s have a nice chair that leans back and he could ice. Went out to dinner and back to watch the half time show and got home at 8:30pm, about 10 hours later. Swelling now mostly in knee.
Day 25: Monday Feb 7: Went to therapy. She massaged first. She measured 115. David forgot to take his pain meds until the actual time of the appt. He did okay I guess. Had lunch in the cafeteria, then came home to rest and ice. He had a telemeeting in AM and in afternoon did work. Went back to see Dr. Rasmusson at end of day. She took Xrays and they gave us a copy of the before and after and the ankle on a CD. She said he was good to go, to do whatever he felt like doing. Got the meds renewed and the PT for another couple weeks. Then went to meet Nancy at the mall at Ruby Tuesday’s for dinner. Walked through Macy’s. It seemed strange to me. My former life. David got really pooped and came home and crashed. Rainy all day.
Day 27: Wed: I set David up on the porch with computer and ice and he did his thing all day while I went into town and hung out with Sharron and Bill at Alamoana Beach. Went to the mall and Nordstrom rack. Came back over at 1:30 to go to the Macy’s in Kaneohe and get Davids’ drugs. Got a pedicure. David wrote one letter for work, got the laundry, moved himself back and forth and seemed to survive okay. Steve & girl came for dinner. He pooped out. Leg hot, just knee swollen.
Day 28: Thursday February 10, 2011 PT with Kelly. He didn’t massage or warm up, just wanted to see his numbers. Had him do standing on one leg to strengthen his quads and hamstrings and then had him step up and down on a step. Both in front of a mirror. No cool down after. Went to Nancy’s while I played bridge. He did some work but is in pain. Made appts for next two weeks in Kaneohe.
Day 36: Friday, Feb 18, 2011. Today is the 5th week from the surgery. David has been walking without a cane now for a few days, and going on short walks, up and down stairs, and doing a lot more exercises including standing up without arms from a seated position, ones on his tummy on the bed, massaging the scar, etc. The scar still has some stuck parts, and the knee is still swollen. He is down to one pill every 6 hours for pain. The thing that is disturbing is his hoarse voice. We went to Dr. Tan who found a bump on his right vocal cord and said anything to be done about it was beyond his expertise. He showed David how not to cough and clear his throat, and to gargle often with water. He is doing that now. But when he talks to people he strains his voice. The Dr. said a tincture of time, and I interpret that as also resting his voice as much as possible. I try to get closer to him so he doesn’t have to strain. It is difficult to get into these new habits, and is just one more thing on top of all the other things. So far he has managed to get ahead of one problem and another one appears right away or even sooner. He has good spirits and is still looking forward to going to the coffee farm, but you can’t help but think that the Big Island vog can’t be good for someone who already can’t talk. We are experiencing the vog here, but I am sure it isn’t anything like over there. We’ll see.
Day 40: Tuesday, February 22, 2011 Therapy at 8:00am. He measured straightness off one degree, with a push, he got to 123 bend. He is concentrating on making sure David gets all the correct muscles firing to walk correctly. His ankle still makes him walk slightly off, however. But he is concentrating and trying very hard. Went swimming and he does lots of exercised in the pool. Then he is tired. He is taking 1 pill every 6 hours, but I think he would like to take more, at least more often.
Day 48: Thursday, March 03, 2011. We are at the Braund farm. David had therapy yesterday and she said he had edema in his calf. He slept with me in the queen bed and didn’t elevate. He is not using ice as often either. He wasn’t able to do his exercises as much. Ie he is getting out of his routine of exercise, ice elevate and rest, do something, exercise, ice and rest, etc. He was able to stop taking the oxycodone finally and he doesn’t have the withdrawal symptoms anymore I guess. He is taking Aleve now. He is getting therapy at “the Club” here in Kona which is connected with a gym so he is getting transitioned to doing stuff in a gym. His weight is about 170 with clothes on. His knee still looks way bigger and different than his other knee. It may not ever be the same. He used two hiking poles yesterday to walk around the farm which is volcanic rock and very unstable.
Day 53: March 8, 2011 We walked all the way down the steep road to the newspaper mailboxes as well as around the bottom of the farm. David uses two poles and says he feels safe that way. Yesterday we walked this route twice and the day before once. He has not used ice afterwards or needed to rest like usual. Yesterday he went to therapy and then we went snorkeling after, and no ice or rest after. He seems to have his stamina back. They are using the “electric” machine on his knee to reduce the swelling. I forget the name but I used to do it at MPFC. He says it helps. We picked some Noni leaves to wrap around his knee, but he didn’t do it. He said the adhesions from the scar seem to be better. It doesn’t sting anymore. He is concentrating on walking correctly. He goes pretty slow and steady.
Day 54: Left Hawaii for Anchorage.
Day 79: April 3, 2011. David has been back at work, more than he would like. He has a hard time getting to the athletic club to workout, and probably only does some knee exercises once a day. The ENT doctor here said he didn’t have a bump on his vocal chord and that it was just thin from aging. His voice has steadily gotten stronger and better able to be heard, except you can tell it is worse in the evening.
The black and blue on the back of his leg was gone way before we left Hawaii, but there is still swelling. The scar is all flat and even straight, although at first it was a jagged thing. He no longer uses the ice. Now the exciting thing is what happens to him at the airport. So far they have always patted him down completely. He has to get to the airport early. We go for walks, but he is slower, however not as slow as in Hawaii by any means. He was back at full speed I would say after we got home, which was day 54, or eight weeks post op.

Bachelorette

When I moved to Cleveland, OH in 1966, I rented a space in an apartment in the Shaker Heights area with three other women whom I had never met. The apartments were large and so the landlord rented them out like this. It had a big living room and kitchen and dining room, but two tiny bedrooms with four single beds. The whole building was young people our age, but somehow I don’t remember becoming friends with any of them or having parties together or anything. My roommate in our little room was Mary Pat. She and I got along really well. She was a teacher. We didn’t like our other roommates because they didn’t clean up after themselves and didn’t do the chores we agreed on.
There was virtually no parking on the street in our neighborhood, so I was able to rent a tiny garage space in the back of the building, reached by a narrow driveway. One day this car was parked in the driveway so I couldn’t get to my space. I was in a hurry, had nowhere to park so I could find the person who was blocking my way, so I had to double park to go into the building to knock on every door to find the culprit. Finally I found him, this big huge guy. I politely asked him to move his car. He took his good old time doing it, but I was able to finally park. The next day, his car was blocking my driveway again! This time I was furious. I quickly found him and asked him to move, please. He went on doing what he was doing. After a few more minutes, and since it was the second time he did this, I started to yell at him and even banged on his chest with my fists. I guess I had a temper tantrum. It didn’t look good, however he was obviously goading me and I didn’t like it.
One of our roommates was named Marion. And believe it or not, she was a librarian. There was a popular song out then called Marion the Librarian. She also drove a red Thunderbird convertible. There was another cute blonde gal in the building we all liked. She drove a yellow VW bug. My VW bug was older and was a light blue color and not a convertible.
One weekend they had a wine tasting in the square in Shaker Heights. We decided to go, but had no idea about drinking wines. There were about 25 different tables with different kinds of wine. We thought you had to taste every kind in order to learn about wines, so we did! We started with the sweet wines, and really liked them, and then moved around the tent to the driest wines. We had gone the wrong way. However, by the time we got there, we didn’t care. We were lucky we didn’t have to drive home. This was back in the days of when you ordered Champagne, Burgundy, Chablis, or Chianti. Those were the only wines served in restaurants. So this wine tasting was to introduce people to other types of wines, which still would not be available in restaurants, but you could buy them at a liquor store.
Mary Pat and I finally moved out together to an apartment building on Euclid Ave. This was a very large apartment with an elevator and a bar on the ground floor. It was very close to my work. There were lots of people our age in this building, some graduate students at Case Western Reserve, now Case. We had parties and lots of fun.
One day I went to drive my car and it sounded really loud. By the time I got to my destination, I realized my muffler was gone. My first reaction was that someone stole it! Our neighborhood wasn’t that great. But when I went in to get a new one, they told me it had fallen off because it was rusty. I was very naïve about cars. A year or so later, my car wouldn’t start at all at someone else’s house. I couldn’t figure it out. I had it towed and the garage said my engine was seized up. It seems I needed to put oil in it on occasion. What a concept. Speaking of cars, much later, while living in Seattle, I had a popular book onhow to take care of your Volkswagen. It had detailed instructions and diagrams for how to change the oil, the spark plugs, do your own tune-up, even take out the engine and fix something and put it back in again. The VW was an easy engine and it was in the back of the car. I took to this challenge and started doing my own tune-ups and minor maintenance.
Back in Cleveland, we decided once to go to the bar in our building. It was always busy and looked like it would be fun. Well, we got there and realized that the only patrons were men! We had a drink and then left pretty soon after. On Valentines evening, we noticed in the parking lot all these beautifully dressed ladies with gorgeous hair, shoes, and makeup. It took us awhile to realize that they were all men.
One weekend we saw that someone was moving into the apartment across the hall. He was very busy making shelving everywhere. Then he hauled in these big boxes. We became friendly and he showed us into his place where he was putting his record collection. He was a local disk jockey who was apparently quite famous in Cleveland, and needed a place to sleep in town occasionally when he had to stay late and not drive back to his home in West Cleveland. He also needed a place to house his records, which filled the walls from floor to ceiling of the living room and second bedroom. He said he had about 5,000 records. He played a few of his favorites for us when we came over. He was about 20 years older than us, but he sure paid a lot of attention to us. At that time, disk jockeys were celebrities. He liked us because we had never heard of him and we treated him like a normal person. I wish I could remember his name, and I wonder what ever happened to all those records.
While living in this area, I participated in the cultural opportunities that were right there in walking distance. I could go to the Cleveland Museum and sit in the garden, or visit my favorite paintings. I became an usher at the Severance Hall and see George Szell conducting the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra. We also went down the other way on Euclid Avenue to some of the Negro night clubs to see groups like Gladys Night and the Pips and Little Richard. Cleveland was a happening town. We also had the Cleveland Indians baseball team and the Cleveland Browns football team when they were the teams to beat.
For some reason, Mary Pat and I decided we wanted to really live it up as bachelorettes and live in the really swinging part of town, which was on the lake. We found an apartment in a building on the beach of Lake Erie with a view of the water. It was more expensive, but had a lot of light and was a much nicer apartment. We must have felt richer or something. That building was really fun. There were parties all the time and lots of single professionals, not students, our age. I remember a clam bake party where you could barely get into the door of the apartment having the party. Mostly it was in the yard and on the beach. There was a garbage can that had fruit punch in it. You were supposed to bring a bottle of liquor, whatever kind you wanted, and pour it into the garbage can. The punch that was created was what you drank. They may have had some clams, I don’t remember much else of that party.
One day in the elevator, Mary Pat met a cute guy named Daryl. They started dating. Up to then, our plans were to work for two years and then move to Switzerland and work there. Mary Pat went to Europe after she graduated from college, and decided she wanted to live and work there because she liked it so well. She had heard that you could do that if you had two years of experience in your profession. She found out that teachers and Medical technologists, like me, would be the type of careers they were looking for. We sent for the application and filled it our when we were close to our two years of work experience. For some reason, the Swiss government sponsored this program and got you a job and everything. Mary Pat decided that Switzerland was the place to go because it was in the middle of Europe so you could travel from there to see the rest of it.
Well, Mary Pat and Daryl decided to get married. Her plans of going to Europe vanished. In fact, Daryl was working for Everyready batteries and was being transferred to Chicago, so the wedding was planned to coincide with that. I was a bridesmaid. However, I had to move out of our luxury apartment and find something cheaper that I could afford myself. I still didn’t have my two years of experience as a Medical Technologist yet. I got a new job at the Cleveland Clinic Hospital in the microbiology department which I found was a step up from working in hematology at the Jewish Hospital. I liked microbiology, and it was a huge department and the supervisor was a sister of a boy I knew in Akron.
I found an apartment in this old, run down building with no elevator that looked out into a parking lot, but it was kind of funky and it was mine. I even had my own TV. One night it was so hot I could barely breathe, so I even bought an air conditioner. It never got that hot again, but I still used it. I somehow gathered a group of friends who would come over for dinner or watch TV or something, so I was never alone. I always thought of something fun to do each night with someone.
During this time, I received a post card from the Peace Corps telling me that they finally found a medical spot for me in a project in Africa, so if I was still interested in working as a Medical Technologist with them, I could contact them. I think the day before I had just finished sending in my paperwork for Switzerland and was committed to going there on my own without Mary Pat. So I never responded to the Peace Corps. I made my reservation to get to Europe on the ship the Bremin which was a German ship. That was I would have to start to speak German, because I was going to Bern, the capital, which was German speaking. I also took a class at the Cleveland University in German language, but I really only learned how to count and say yes and no, after a whole semester.
Before I left, I had to sublease my apartment and get rid of my furniture and TV and air conditioner. All the belongings I took had to fit in my black travel trunk I had from college days. I sold my furniture to the gal who moved in for a measly $200.00! I was disappointed, but glad to not have to worry about it anymore. At the time, I kind of thought I would be returning to Cleveland, and would only be gone a year. Luckily I did break ties there, because I never returned. I still have some of the friends I made there on my Christmas mailing list, however.
There was a big going away party before I left in my apartment. I invited lots of people and many came. We tried to think of a German toast to give with our beer, but didn’t know the German word, so we said “Zweibach”, which is the name of a German toast that we used to eat as children, sort of like a teething biscuit.
I don’t remember what happened to my car, or how I got to New York to embark on the ship, but I remember being in New York with my parents. They were there to say bon voyage. Maurice took us the night before to a very expensive French restaurant. The food was fabulous and he wanted to introduce me to French food and wines and tell me all about France that evening. I was going to be meeting his cousin, Lucienne, who would take me on a tour of Paris when I arrived in Europe. I was so nervous about leaving my life in the United States and going off alone to a foreign country that I couldn’t eat and had to throw up. It was finally hitting me that I was making a huge change and I would be all alone doing it.
The next day, my parents and friends could come onto the boat for the afternoon with me to help me settle into the boat and have a bon voyage party. I invited some guy I knew whom I forget his name, but he actually came. My parents got me some champagne and flowers. Then they blew the whistle and they had to leave and I was on my own on this German speaking ship going across the ocean.
4/28/09