Monday, April 8, 2019

"System Upgrades," Future Plans, & Promised Photos

Oregon Symphony fundraiser
"Are you still writing your blog?  It's been months since the last one."  Yes, I am, but I haven't had anything profound or exciting to write about.  We've been home for over five months, and it seems like five years.  We're anxious to be traveling again in June, following some needed "system upgrades" for our bodies.

Over six (6) weeks in
this--even in bed!

Kathy had cataract surgeries on both eyes and now sees better than ever.  She also had a leaking cyst on her foot removed for the third time, but under general anesthesia--no more leaks!  (In the interest of good taste, I won't publish a photo of her splayed out foot that her surgeon sent me.) I had rotator cuff surgery in early January.  The surgeon also removed some bone, making it a long and painful recovery without much sleep at night.  But I am finally getting some mobility back, resumed practicing my drums, and hope to ride my bike soon.

So, as I recuperate, we are finally experiencing what retirement looks like when not traveling as much as we did last year.  So far, so good.  We took advantage of our forced domestication to read more books, host dinner parties, and go to concerts, fundraisers, social events, wineries,  spend more time with Kathy's mom, and organize slide shows (see bottom of this page for links to them).
Van Duzer Winery--one of several we visited

Our quest to make the perfect
ramen
Lots of walks
Kathy stayed very busy as Technology Chair with the Salem Chapter of Assistance League, and I continued with Rotary and the Capital Manor board.  I used some of my downtime to learn all I could about Winston Churchill, including wading through a new 1100-page biography and watching related documentaries.
How I spent my November
A great way to put our
trip into perspective
Guest "celebrity" servers for a Capital Manor fundraiser
























So where are we off to next? 
In June we're pulling our Airstream to Banff, then across Canada to Quebec.  Then south to Becket in the Berkshires of NW Massachusetts, where we'll stay for a week with Skyler and Spencer and go to the Tanglewood Festival.

We'll drive back through the northern US, home for the first week of August before we leave for two walking safaris in Tanzania with friends we met in 2006 in Slovenia on a bicycling trip.  From Tanzania we fly directly to Lisbon, Portugal.  We'll spend a week there before starting to walk part of the Portuguese Camino de Santiago, returning home in late September.

With our new upgrades in place, we are optimistic that this could be yet another vintage year.

As promised, here some links to travel photos that we've presented at the Dallas Retirement Village and the Willamette Valley Travel Club.  Sit back with your favorite beverage  in front of a larger-than-cell-phone screen and enjoy!

Camino de Santiago.    Rather than a chronology, these photos are organized around themes: Scenes from the trail; Cities and Villages; Accommodations; Food; and Cathedrals and Monuments.  You can catch our daily narrative of the trip on our Tumblr web sitewhich we posted into from cell phones while on the Camino.

Exploring Southern Japan.  We traveled independently for about 10 days last May before joining a Sierra Club hiking trip entitled "Hiking the Ancient Buddhist Trails."  It's more or less chronological, with some intermissions about trains, food, and toilets.  We published three posts at this site.  Simply go to the month of May to the right of this page.

A Brief Road Trip Through Scotland.  This was for the Willamette Valley Travel Club,and you can easily find a good narrative to it by clicking on our blogs from last July.  (Note:  The link will take  you to a Powerpoint file shared on Google Drive.  You'll probably need to download it.)



New Year's Day before surgery

Returned Peace Corps Volunteer dinner

Enjoying the blossoms with Kathy's mom
First Citizen Banquet

A very wet April Airstream rally
near Oakridge
A February visit to Cannon Beach with brother Neal

We're not fans of the Willamette Valley fog, but we do enjoy views
 like these of Minto Brown wildlife refuge from our deck during the winter.













1 comment:

  1. I'm glad to see you've both gotten overhauls and have plans to head out on more adventures. I look forward to checking out your photo collections! However, I think the shots you just posted of Cannon Beach and Willamette Valley fog look as gorgeous as anywhere else you've traveled!

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