I’ve been diagnosed with a fast type of macular degeneration and I am losing the sight in my right eye. I’m getting treatment for it and so far my left eye is OK. I’ve received all my vaccinations and booster for covid, flu, shingles, pneumonia and all the rest so otherwise I’ve survived this pandemic well.
Memories of China
I’ve spent time editing my photographs during the quarantine. I want to share the pictures I took traveling during my Chinese Fulbright fellowship. They form an interesting record of life in the People’s Republic of China during 1997 and Spring 1998. The internet had just come to Chinese campuses. Also, Chinese students were now responsible for finding their own jobs, rather than being placed by the government. Thus, the China I recorded combined traditional, communist, and capitalist features; interesting contrasts.
The Fulbright program sponsored scholar’s travel to give guest lectures on any State University campus. I traveled to many different regions of China in addition to my posts in Wuhan, Chang Chun and Beijing on this program. I have alphabetized the photos by location. The photos include daily life, natural history and cultural history. Enjoy!!
Retirement Life During Covid-19 Quarantine with a Broken Ankle
I am 77 years old and overweight, both of which call for caution. From March 15th until I get vaccinated against Covid – 19, I am staying home most of the time. I only leave the house to pick up groceries put into my trunk by great Kroger workers, and to get necessary health care. Every few weeks I run my Prius around the Athens perimeter highway to charge the batteries and round up the tires and get me out of the house without contacting other people. I diligently wear masks, wash my hands and socially distance when I absolutely cannot avoid other people. So, I’m a scaredy cat who believes in SCIENCE.
The Fall
The first week in April, 2020, I fell on some water on my kitchen floor and broke both lower leg bones right above my ankle. Luckily, I was able to reach my cell phone to call 911 and to call my daughter and ask her to send my grandson Anthony over from Roswell to help me. He returned home from Spring hiking in various National Parks and was caught in GA by the quarantine. He agreed to become my caretaker for the duration.
The first day the ambulance took me to St. Mary’s Hospital emergency room. The next day I saw a Dr. in the Outpatient Orthopedic Clinic. He took one look at the x-ray and shook his head. The day after that the surgeon put a plate on my fibula and a dozen screws in my tibia in Athens Piedmont Regional Hospital and sent me home without an overnight stay. Thank goodness I still had the wheel chair I bought in China when I separated my tibial growth plate because I now faced no weight bearing on my left leg for two months. Anthony took the wheel chair to the local gas station to pump up the bicycle tires and it was ready to go more than a decade later.
What can you do when you are stuck in the house and can’t even walk? Well, you knead bread dough, play gin rummy, read lots of books, and try novel recipes and crossword puzzles from the Sunday New York Times. You also watch TV and watch the birds and squirrels fight it out over the bird feeder through your back picture window. You learn to hop a lot from bed to wheelchair to bathroom to wheelchair to sofa and back again. I lost 10 pounds with hopping as my only exercise.
Anthony heroically pushed the wheelchair and drove the car when we had to go to the doctor. He picked up groceries, cooked our meals, scrubbed the kitchen floor, painted Easter decorations, and fetched things I had left in the bedroom. In addition, he yelled with me at the politicians on TV and beat me mercilessly in cards and answering Jeopardy questions. In the last week, when I had finally graduated to a walking boot and started to take Physical Therapy, Anthony helped my cousin Terry mount a beautiful cedar screen door to replace the old wrecked one.
The meager wages I paid Anthony could never compensate for his kindness, patience, strength, and persistence. He is now driving to Oregon to seek his future. I wish him all possible health and happiness.
With physical therapy and a boot came my first tentative steps outside. For 8 more weeks at home, I did PT exercises every day for my ankle and for my wasted-away muscles supporting knees and a dodgy hip. All that sitting and laying around really makes one go to pot. I practiced walking to my mailbox using my Hurrycane, then walking to the corner (my house is the corner house so it wasn’t far). Then I walked one drive way further every two days until I could walk to the end of my street and back.
The Aftermath
Today, six months after I fell, I walk about a mile every morning around my subdivision without a cane or a limp. I also bicycle 5 to 10 minutes every hour on my stationary bike to keep my knees and ankles flexible and earn my weight watchers activity points.
I’m still watching a lot of TV, baking bread, reading Scandinavian mysteries, and watching birds, as seen below. Like most people, I Zoom with family and my book club and I take a few Olli courses by Zoom as well. During a recent rainy period, I took a series of photos of interesting fungi along my local neighborhood walks. I don’t have a book to ID them so they have no name labels.
I have very carefully, with masks and social distancing, had two visits from family members. My granddaughter picked up her furniture I stored over the summer when she returned to UGA while I hid in the other bedroom. Also, my cousin Terry and his wife Diane came back and mounted the second screen door outside then came in for an individually packaged lunch eaten 6 feet apart. Diane told me how much fun she had painting and urged me to try it. So now I’m beginning my first painting by numbers canvas. The numbers and spaces are much smaller than when I did this as a child. Even using my mother’s lighted magnifying glass, I’m terrible at it with trifocals and hand trembles, but it looks OK from a distance. It’s not art but it is fun.
What a life! I’m sticking with it even through the isolation. I mailed in my ballot to vote in the primary and in the November election. My Voter page said both arrived safely and had been accepted. I expect to mail in a ballot for the congressional runoff in January too. Being a hopeful person, I postponed our family reunion in Helen GA from July 2020 to July 2021. I hope we can all get a vaccination against Covid-19 and meet safely by then. I’m really longing to see my children, grandchildren and great grandchildren in person and exchange real hugs.
I Greet a Second Great Grand Daughter
What a joy! Our family welcomes another member, Grace. What a lovely name to fit a beautiful little girl.
Grand Daughter Ashley Graduated from Georgia Southern University
Congratulation Ashley, Job well done!! I wish you much luck in the future.
Daughter Karen Friend in Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City
My daughter Karen Friend has worked in Marketing for Macy’s in Atlanta for many years. She participated in local community service events, but this is the first time she participated in the annual Thanksgiving parade in NYC. Macy’s selected her, based on her audition tape, as one of three employees from Atlanta to ride on the Singing Christmas Tree float. Her office gave her a confetti send-off congratulations party.
I met her in NYC on Monday. On Tuesday I visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art while she had singing practice. A noted composer created the anthem the group practiced at home, but this was the first time the singers met each other. They practiced morning, afternoon and evening for three days before the performance. Husband Bruce, son Anthony, nephew Daniel and daughters Ashley and Rose joined us on Wednesday. We explored Times Square and saw a Broadway performance of Dear Evan Hansen during Karen’s afternoon break from practice. We celebrated the three family birthdays of the week with a fantastic Italian dinner.
On Thursday, the two young men set off for their observation post midway along the parade route. The weather forecast predicted the lowest temperatures in many years. Bruce, Ashley, Rose and I set off about 6 AM. We walked to the favored seating wait lines several blocks between our hotel and the store. We inched closer block by block and were quite frozen when we reached the Macy’s store entrance. It opened only for special family ticket-holders as guides pointed the way to hot chocolate and coffee served in a lower level while we waited for security to open the stands.
With our reserve area family tickets, we sat on bleachers in front of the Macy’s store about 20 yards from the main entrance. The giant turkey balloon indicated the parade performance spot by the door. We still had about an hour to wait before the parade arrived and we were frozen. Macy’s doesn’t miss many sales opportunities. I soon sent the girls to purchase lap blankets on sale just inside the store door. I don’t think we could have survived without them even though we dressed for cold weather.
The parade contained everything a parade should have. Floats carried performing musicians, bands marched, stilt walkers strutted, Rockettes kicked, flags twirled, and giant balloon figures hovered over all. It provided enough fun to keep us excited even as we froze our butts to the aluminum stadium seats. Finally the Christmas tree appeared and stopped to sing. Luckily by then, some folks with small children deserted the stands so we moved closer to the performance to hear the singing. Karen is in the bottom row of the tree on the right in the blurry still picture captured from the video. For us, Santa was an anti-climax to the big Singing Christmas Tree.
We met Karen back at the hotel and commiserated with Anthony and Daniel who did not have a building behind them to cut the wind. It took me most of the afternoon to thaw out. Later, we ate a family style restaurant dinner of turkey and fixings—A family first to eat restaurant smoked turkey for Thanksgiving dinner.
Friday the family explored NYC midtown, visiting the NYC Library on the way. We met my sister Karen and her husband Tony for a delicious lunch in Bryant Park. They left in time to return to New Haven CT that night. We traveled back to Georgia over the weekend. Altogether I’d say we had a unique, exciting Thanksgiving celebration.
Summer Trip to Ecuador, The Galapagos Islands, Peru and Machu Picchu
In high school, we studied the geography of South America and I wrote a report on the culture of Peru. When I majored in Zoology as an undergraduate at the University of Michigan, I studied Darwin and evolution. My father, who collected antique books as a hobby, gave me a leather bound copy of The Voyage of the Beagle. I admired Darwin’s book but didn’t read it until I decided to travel to the Galapagos Islands this summer. When I found a Smartours trip that combined visits to both Peru and Ecuador I decided to see these places in person.
Ecuador
We flew as a group from Miami to Quito, the capitol of Ecuador. Quito nestles among volcanic peaks with picturesque vistas. We adjusted to the time and altitude by visiting the tourist equator and the real equator on the first day. Here we learned indigenous cultural traditions and saw how people transform cacao into chocolate. We toured Spanish heritage treasured cathedrals and the Quito central plaza at the end of our stay in Ecuador but first, we flew to the Galapagos. The tour group leader greatly simplified this process. He procured for the whole group, the special passports and round trip flight tickets strictly limited by government efforts to protect the islands.
Galapagos
Galapagos National Park Guides led an introductory tour through the tortoise protection and propagation center. The tour introduced us to many of the special species of Galapagos plants and animals. We stayed in a wonderful National Geographic honored Finch Bay Galapagos Hotel facing a lagoon filled with water birds.
The group split in two and visited three separate islands by boat and rubber raft during the stay. With separate guides and schedules, in groups of ten we saw most of the famous species except the flightless cormorants and equatorial penguins. I particularly loved the giant tortoises, the blue footed boobies and the red throated frigate birds. The land iguanas entertained when they ate very spiky prickly pear cactus fruit. The cacti were like no other, evolved as tall trees to escape eating pressure from iguanas and tortoises. Another amazing plant species, relatives of daisies, grew to huge trees as well.
We experienced the volcanic origin of the islands in several ways. We hiked through a lava tube, snorkeled off a black volcanic sand beach and walked along two huge craters formed by volcanic collapses. I hope to return someday to visit more of the islands, but if it doesn’t happen, I left on the flight to Peru quite delighted with what I saw of this enchanting place.
Peru
The guide introduced us to Peruvian history via a bus and walking tour of the city. We visited ancient prehistoric ruins, Inca temple sites and Spanish Catholic Cathedrals. The Spanish clearly adopted a ” to the conquerors go the spoils” philosophy. They tried their best to wipe out indigenous temples and palaces by building on top of them.
To prepare us for the vigorous climb to come we traveled through the Sacred Valley to Cusco and on to Ollantaytambo. An elderly Inca woman demonstrated spinning, wine making, guinea pig raising, art and agriculture tools. Her modern granddaughter sold hiking poles to those who had none. The hike through the ruins here introduced us to ancient ruins of a sun temple, a water temple, and agricultural terraces. Also our guide observed how fit we were as we climbed these ruins. A Shaman demonstrated rituals and objects traditional to Peruvian culture and blessed our journey.
Machu Picchu
We traveled the second part of the Inca Trail through the Sacred Valley via a spectacular train ride. The Urubamba River rushed by as we viewed the two Sacred Peaks out the train windows. We spent the night in a hotel full of exhausted people returning from their hike through the ruins, an unsettling experience. Early the next morning we joined a long line waiting for a bus to take us up to the gate. The buses limited the number of entrants at one time so the ruins were not too crowded. A few really fit hikers climbed straight up a trail through the bus switchbacks, up to the gate, then climbed the ruins. Crazy!!
The Machu Picchu ruins themselves have been extensively rebuilt but retain a mountain majesty difficult to describe. We climbed rock step after rock step, through the grain field terraces to get to the mountain top. The peak contains the Sun Temple, the priest’s and ruler’s palace, and the astronomy observatory. I was very thankful for my Hurrycane to help my old knees up and down so many steps. Thank goodness for the bus back down the final slopes to the hotel where I barely stayed awake for supper. The second day I hiked on level ground to a very interesting museum. Exhibits described the culture, construction, and British rediscovery of the grounds we explored the day before. I also relaxed in a botanical garden full of high jungle native tropical plants.
Return
On the return visit to Cusco and Lima we traveled again through the Sacred Valley. We stopped to explore and gape at the amazing bounty of the Pisac market used by local Inca descendants. We also learned about corn and potato culture, and Vicuna, Lama and Guanaco wool dying, spinning and weaving at the Anawak cultural preservation center. Later, however, I declined the offer to eat fire roasted guinea pig.
After no problems on the many flights from Miami to Quito to the Galapagos to Lima, disaster struck on our flight home. We boarded an early flight to Bogota, Colombia but the airlines cancelled our group’s flight from Colombia to Miami. I became quite familiar with the airport shops as we waited 8 hours to board another plane. Even with this delay, I loved the trip and returned exhausted but exhilarated. It took my knees over a year to recover, however, so I would not recommend this trip to the faint of heart or weak of knee.
Visit to the National Memorial for Peace and Justice
I traveled with my friend Ann Darby to the National Memorial for Peace and Justice and the accompanying Museum in Montgomery Alabama this week. I felt somber, sad, angry and profoundly moved by the large number of hanging panels in memory of people lynched in the United States. Each panel contained the name and date of hanging of each individual who lost his or her life in a single county. Other sculptures on the site memorialized the slave and oppression experiences of African Americans. Outside the primary Memorial building we saw duplicate panels waiting for residents to raise funding and arrange to take them to the home counties named.
The separate museum downtown did not allow pictures, but it contained audiovisual displays of the slave experience and the history of slave trade in the United States. Although small in actual area, the message overwhelmed and profoundly moved me. I strongly recommend you visit this Museum and Memorial yourself, because I cannot duplicate the experience in words and pictures.
My First Great Grand Daughter is Born
Grandson Xavier, wife Jessica, and brothers Zeke and Wilder greet a new baby sister. Welcome to the family, June Kate! I hope you live up to the creativity and intelligence of your grandmother Kathleen. She loved her nickname Kate.
Mom Died at the age of 101
MARGARET GLEASON SKROMME of Hoosier Village in Zionsville, Indiana passed away peacefully on September 29, 2017. She moved to Indiana after her college sweetheart and husband of 73 years Lawrence H. Skromme died in 2012. Margaret was born in 1915 in Waterloo, Iowa, to the late Max Gleason and Leila Freeman Gleason. She graduated from Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa in 1938 with a B.S degree in Home Economics Education and taught home economics until she married.
Margaret and Lawrence lived in a Lancaster, PA home overlooking the Conestoga River for more than 50 years. Margaret loved to garden, watch birds in her many backyard feeders, and collect antiques to furnish and decorate their home. She also actively participated in the Grandview United Methodist Church. Margaret loved to spend time with friends and her infectious smile made her friends wherever she went. Most of all, Margaret loved being with her family, even traveling to two family reunions after she turned 100.
Her daughters, Cherlyn Granrose, PhD of Athens, GA, Inga (Jerry) Hill, PhD of Indianapolis, IN and Hon. Karen (Anthony) Sequino of Woodbridge, CT survive her. Also 11 grandchildren, 20 great-grandchildren, 4 great-great-grandchildren, many nieces and nephews and a lifetime of friends will miss her very much.
In addition to her husband, her granddaughter, Kathleen Granrose and her siblings, Maxine (Milton) Dobrin, Marie (Dean) Andersen, Beal (Rodean) Gleason and LeAnne (James) Smittkamp predeceased her.
Her family buried her in Bethany Cemetery in Kelly, Iowa beside her beloved Lawrence.
