Bill and Kent's Place

Our Visit to Portland, Maine

I actually took this photo right from our room. Not such a bad view!

Back home

We are back from Yuma, Arizona and really enjoyed the warm weather there. It was around 75 most days and for the most part, sunny. Later in the week that we were there, we went to Ajo, Arizona, a sleepy little place that has little going for it. The people there are very poor and there's little there in terms of places to stay or eat. But, it's close to a place that we wanted to see, Organ Pipe National Monument.

Here are a few photos we took...

An organ pipe cactus

I've grown to like the beauty of the desert a great deal. And since my operation, I've become very sensitive to cold weather. I have less tolerance for it.

Health wise, I'm feeling good. I've lost about 50 pounds. My diet is completely different from the "old days" before my operation. I seem to be getting my energy back. I'm not quite like I was before, but I've reconciled myself with the fact that I may not get that back. As long as I pace myself, I'm fine. But gone are the days where I can put work first, and put in a twelve hour day without it having consequences.

The down side right now is that I have fluid in my right lung that seem to have the doctors more concerned than I am. I had to go in for another X-Ray today. They first noticed it before I went to Arizona. I had hoped that they dry air of Arizona would clear it up. But that didn't happen. It's not causing pain. I can breathe without effort. So what's the problem? Anyway, my doctor is consulting with my cardiologist who has stated that "the heart is involved" with this issue, whatever that means. And he is consulting with the cardiac surgeon about it. So, we'll see where it goes.

Other news... this issue of heart disease (took me a long time to come to terms with saying that I have heart disease) apparently runs in my family. I knew that. My father died of a heart attack when he was 47 years old back in 1961. Everyone attributed it to over work, but they didn't know much about it back then (keep in mind that this was in Emmett, Idaho).

But now, my brother is having issues. He's four years older than me. He's a veteran, so he's in the VA health care system. They flew him to Seattle to do an angiogram, just like me. And, they found that he has three blocked arteries and will have to go through a triple bypass. The difference is, he doesn't have the health that I did when I went in for bypass. That's about all I can say about it without violating his privacy. We've grown very close over the last few years and it's hard for me to see him go through this. I plan to go to Idaho again this summer, probably in June or July.

Home at Last

It's always nice to get home. When we unpacked, we had some surprises. I guess we forgot our phone chargers (no big deal), and my exercise watch that syncs up to my chest strap to monitor heart rate (big deal), and Kent's chest strap for his Garmin unit that measures a lot more than mine (another big deal). Those will be expensive to replace I suppose. I think they were in the folds of the bedspread and just got overlooked. We have the hotel staff looking into it, but you know how that goes. We will probably never hear from them. Other than that hick up, it was really a nice trip. It was the first trip since my bypass operation, and marked another milestone in my recovery; independence. On the last day, I took a taxi to the Lincoln Memorial, walked from there to the Vietnam Memorial, walked to the World War II memorial that I had not seen before in it's finished form, and from there to the Holocaust Museum, and on to the Jefferson Memorial. In all, I'd say 5-6 miles of walking! That's a lot for me. That night we went to dinner and on the way back decided to walk back to the hotel, which was only five blocks. But after two blocks, I had to stop every block, grab hold of something, and just catch my breath and slow things down a bit. I had exhausted all my allotted energy for the day. I'm glad I don't do that too often. And now, I face a mountain of work at my job, right after my cardiac rehab class this morning. I have nine more sessions to go and I officially graduate. After that, I'm declared rehabilitated, aside from having to see the cardiologist ever so often, but I can live with that. And of course, exercise every day. I'm off to my class. Have a nice day!

Reflections on Washington, D.C.

We took a few days off and went to Washington, D.C. for a few days. We left Hartford on Friday and will leave on Tuesday. We're having a great time seeing all the sites again, but this time, it's not the first time we've been here, so we can pick and choose our favorite places. Oddly enough, one of my favorite places is Arlington National Cemetery. I know a lot of you are asking, "WHY?". Well, because of my life philosophy. I believe life is a mixture of a lot of things; happy, sad, wonderment, thoughtfulness, hard times and good times, friends, family, birth, and death, and what all of those mean to each person. It's different for everyone. I know people who go through their entire lives being happy. Just happy. And when something bad happens to them in their lives, as it eventually will, surely God will take care of it. He won't. It's just you and your friends and your family. I'm actually good with that. I'm also good with the fact that they are happy and don't want to explorer anything out of that mystical sphere that they have going on. Good for them! But everything in my upbringing, my life experiences; the loss of so many of my friends at an early age, so much death in my early years with my family, and this year, confronting the fact that this could have been my last year.... all these things have made me. I own then, whether I like them or not. So I had no problem going to Arlington to be in the company of men and women who have shaped our nation, with the vast majority of them dying a horrible death alone on some battlefield. I don't talk much when I go there. Silence is for them. And also, I'm somewhat overwhelmed with a mixture of profound sadness; not for them, but for the fact that as a human race, war seems to be necessary for some insane reason. And, I'm grateful for them, that they "gave the last full measure of devotion". And as long as we remember, and people like me remember their sacrifice, they will not have died in vain. We visited John F. Kennedy's grave site, and just a short walk away was Bobby Kennedy's grave, and just a short walk from that, the same distance, was Senator Edward Kennedy's grave site. It was hard to see that. People were there. No one spoke. Many were crying. I guess that is what we should tap into more. If we did that, perhaps we wouldn't be so cruel to each other as days go by. Someone remarked online last night, "Why do you think our country isn't free?" I quickly typed that freedom isn't freedom unless every single one of us have the same rights as everyone else. That is the definition of freedom. We don't live in a country shrouded by freedom. We live in a country where the majority have their rights, and others don't. Some people like it that way, obviously. Just look at what happened in Maine last week. But, if that's the way you like our nation to be, don't call that freedom. This is not what those men and women in Arlington Cemetery died for.

A Restful Weekend

It was a nice and restful weekend for us. We decided on the spur of the moment to take off Saturday morning and go to Cambridge, Massachusetts. We only stayed for one night, but it was nice to actually get away for a bit.

We stated at The Charles this time. We have a few places we like, but The Charles is right in the middle of Harvard Square with all it's excitement and so many people out collecting signatures for one cause or another.

We had dinner at Sandrine's Bistro in the middle of Harvard Square.

The next day, we had a leisurely breakfast at the hotel, and headed home. We were home by 2:00p.m. on Sunday and just rested the rest of the day. Sometimes, doing very little is just what the soul needs.

Campbells Falls State Park

When we were in Norfolk, CT last weekend, this was the first small hike I did after surgery. I wanted to test how much I could do. It was a fairly short hike and was only moderately steep close to the falls, but I was happy to be able to do it. View Full Set View Full Set

Rock Hall, Colebrook, Connecticut

We went to the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival this last weekend in Norfolk, Connecticut. That's located on the north western corner of the state of Connecticut. Coventry, where we live, is more on the central-eastern part of the state. We had a nice time. It was the first time we were able to get away since my surgery. I probably overdid it a bit, but it was worth it just to get away. The music was superb, and so were the accommodations. We stayed at a place not too far away from Norfolk call Rock Hall. It's located in the small town of Colebrook, maybe a 10 minute drive from Norfolk. Here are some photos of the property. The other really nice thing is that we were the only people staying in the place. There are four bedrooms, and all but ours were empty. So we had lots of privacy and the whole place just to ourselves. View Full Set View Full Set

New Zealand Photos (South Island)

It seems to be taking me forever to get my New Zealand photos completed, but here are a couple of other sets. I hope you enjoy. The two new sets are: Greymouth to Fox Glacier Fox Glacier to Te Anau Countryside north of Te Taho Countryside south of Te Taho Fiddlehead near Fox Glacier Fox Glacier Lake Wanaka Lake Wakatipu

A Nice Weekend

It goes to show how out of touch I am... the Academy Awards are on tonight and I didn't even know. But, I just happened to tune in as I was channel surfing in time to see the movie, Milk, win an award. It was very sweet indeed. And if Harvey were alive, it would blow his mind that all these years later, an Academy Award is being given to a movie that celebrated his life, and what he gave to us. In a word, Hope. And we have to keep that going because if we don't, life isn't worth sticking around for.

I have hope that within the next four years, we can start to turn this awful economy around. That my friends will stop losing their jobs. That all gay Americans who want to serve in the United States military will be able to do so openly and proudly.

I have hope that a bill will be passed that enforces the will of the fourteenth amendment of the United States Constitution and will in one stroke strike down all the hateful state amendments that were passed prohibiting legal recognition of our relationships, and will finally say that just because we are gay or lesbian, that our relationships are just as valid as any other marriage across our nation, and those relationships deserve the label of marriage.

Hope is so important. I finally want to hope for decency. An off comment I suppose. But something happened last week in Hartford. A 26 year old man was driving along on I-84. He parked his car in the middle of the freeway, and for the next 3 hours, traffic in both directions was closed down because the man in the parked car had a gun to his head. He had lost hope. I wanted to reach out to him. I felt horrible that he somehow found himself in such an empty and lonely place.

And all around me at work, people were saying, "I wish he'd pull the trigger already so they can clean up the mess and get traffic going again." Honestly, is this what we have become?

I don't know what to say to that. I'm sad that as a society we have lost our humanity and compassion. And I'm so terribly thankful that I cried with thankfulness when I heard that the police were able to talk the man down so he could get some help.

I'm thankful that I am very much human, that I have compassion and love for others, and that I still have hope in my heart.

The photos below have little to do with that, but I have wanted to say these things all week ever since that man wanted to end his life. We all have moments that are low, but we have to think that there are people who care and love us. ALL of us! Remember that.

These were taken when we were in New Zealand in December. They are the first of the South Island photos. Feel free to view the full album on Flickr.

Lazy Sunday

Where's this wonderful weather we are supposed to have today? I was planning on a nice walk/hike somewhere and maybe a few photos along the way, but it is now sleeting and windy. They said today was going to be the best weather day of the weekend. It seems that the weather people always get it wrong in the North East. So, I'm just going to do wash today, and go to a movie later. Kent is in Washington, D.C. for meetings until next Wednesday. So it's just me and the cats.

I finished of the photos we took of the North Island of New Zealand. If anyone would like to see the complete upload of all sets of the North Island, here is the link. This is the last photo of the set.

Raukawa Falls