Truman Capote

We watched a movie a couple of nights ago - here at home, an old DVD that Ellen picked up last month for $1 at the Bartlett Public Library - a movie titled Capote, starring Philip Seymour Hoffman. It was released in 2005. It is a very compelling movie about Truman Capote's experience of writing the book that is considered his masterpiece, In Cold Blood. He is thought to have created a new genre in that book, the "non-fiction novel," which is, of course, an oxymoron. He wrote a novel, but it was based on real events and real people. He had seen a news article in the New York Times about a horrific crime committed in Kansas, in which four members of a isolated farm family were found dead in their house. The murders were committed by two men who had presumably gone to the house on the basis of a rumor that a large sum of money was there. They never found a large sum of money. Capote was intrigued by the case and decided to go to Kansas, learn as much as he could about all the people involved in it - the victims, the perpetrators, the police, the community - and write about it. He devoted 4-5 years of his life to the book. He became emotionally involved with Perry Smith, one of the perpetrators, who was on death row. He worked to help Perry appeal the death sentence, but ultimately the appeal failed and Capote witnessed Perry's execution by hanging, a scene that is included in the film. After the executions, he is able to complete the book, and when it is published, it is a sensation, but Capote pays a huge personal price for his success. The whole experience devastates him, and he is not able to write another book. The publication of In Cold Blood, turns out to be both the apex of his career and the beginning of a downward slide in which he loses control of his life, abuses alcohol and drugs and dies. One is left to speculate about what was really going on inside of him. What did the whole experience really mean to him? And perhaps most pointedly - was he unable to live with the possibility that he had manipulated Perry Smith, "used" him, to further his own career? Seeing the movie reminded me that I had at one time owned a biography of Truman Capote, who, as I have mentioned in this blog before, is actually a blood relative of mine. Truman Capote was born Truman Strekfus Persons. My paternal grandmother was Leola Persons. He is my cousin, six times removed, I think: i.e., my grandmother's g.g.g.g. grandfather was a brother to Truman Persons' g.g.g.g. grandfather, or something like that. His mother divorced Truman's father, Arch Persons, and married Jose Capote, a Cuban, who adopted Truman and renamed him. I wondered if I might still have that biography somewhere. I had not actually read it (or if I had, I had completely forgotten it) and I turned to an archival record of my library that is on my old MacBook Pro laptop. Sure enough - it was in Box #6. I found box #6, and there it was! So now I can read it - I actually started reading it last night while some clothes were in the drier, and got pulled right into it. Capote also wrote a memoir titled A Christmas Memory, which I read aloud every year in the pre-Christmas season when Ellen is baking fruit cakes to give to friends and family. It is a lovely, quite touching portrait of a beloved older relative whom he called "Sook," that Truman lived with for a time in Alabama, when he was just a young boy, who also bakes fruit cakes every year to give away. That the same author could write both A Christmas Memory and In Cold Blood makes it pretty clear that Capote was a complicated figure. He was infamous for his efforts devoted to self-promotion. One of his earlier works, Other Voices, Other Rooms, also about his early life in Alabama, featured a photographic portrait of him which provoked a lot of controversy. He disclaimed any responsibility for it - it was all the publisher's doing, he said - but he had in fact engineered the whole thing.

The controversial portrait of Capote by Harold Halma

Phillip Seymour Hofffman in Capote.

My copy of Clarke's biography of Capote. Maybe I'll get a better understanding of Truman Capote by reading this.

Some statistics and summaries from our trip west.

Our trip west lasted exactly five weeks: from Sat., August 13th to Sat. Sept. 17th. We (i.e., Ellen) drove a total of 7,775 miles, and in so doing, I am sad to say, we consumed a total of 245 gallons of gas: which works out to be 31.7 m.p.g. Our 2011 Subaru Impreza should do better that: it's just a little hatchback. But that figure is actually better than we expected, because around town we were averaging 27-29 m.p.g. That's a lot of carbon released into the atmosphere. We have not come to the point where we are willing to give up seeing our family out west, though that could be forced upon us by health issues at any time. We could go by train, which would probably be the lowest carbon-per-person method of travel, but that would be more expensive, I think (though maybe not. I should check that out). It would not have the convenience, for sure. E.g., there is no Amtrak station anywhere near Alpine, WY. But - to continue with statistics - those 245 gallons of gas cost a total of $976.60. That is an average cost per gallon of $3.99. The price of gas varied fairly widely on the trip - from a low of $3.25 per gallon in Higginson, MO to $4.99 in Hines, OR. Overall, the average cost of gas per mile was 12 1/2 cents. We stayed in nine motels: Motel 6, Clarion, PA; America's Best Value, Onawa, Iowa; Townhouse Motel, Lusk, WY on the trip out to Wyoming, and a Super 8, Craig, CO Boarders Inn and Suites, Brush, CO; Red Roof Inn, Holton, KS; First Western Motel, Fairway City, IL; Rodeway Inn, Wauseon, OH, and Econolodge, Canandaigua, NY, on the trip back. I haven't been able to compute the total cost of housing in motels, but I think it averaged about $100-110 a night. There were a few motels under $100, and some over. $1000-$1100 for motels would be close to the total cost. We stayed in someone's home 26 nights: Maggie and Jerry's in Bartlett, IL (4 nights); Paul and Jenny's, in Alpine, WY (17 nights); Susan and Christian's, in Boise, ID (2 nights); and J.E. Seibert's in Salem, OR, (3 nights). Our average number of miles driven per day was close to 500 - we had 14 days devoted to driving: 7,775 divided by 14 = 555, but some of those 7775 miles were accumulated during days we were staying in Alpine or Bartlett - little side trips here and there. So the average for major driving days is less than 555, but probably over 500. The other major expense - food - I did not really keep track of. But we would have had to eat if we had stayed home, and I doubt that we spent more on food during the trip than we would have spent at home, partly because much of the time - e.g., at Paul and Jenny's - we were being fed by someone else. Overall, I think the trip went well. I'm sort of amazed that I actually did it and survived to tell the tale. Getting COVID at the end was, of course, an unwanted conclusion, but even that could have been a lot worse than it has been. We told people we hoped to see them next spring, but no one knows whether that will happen or not. We have to get through a winter first.************** Meanwhile, we've got a couple of spectacular fly agaric mushrooms growing outside the back door!

Deborah McKean’s Memorial Service

Deborah's service was held yesterday at St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church in Tomaston, ME. Ellen and I planned to be there, and I had been invited to speak a word of tribute to Deborah, but we were still testing positive for COVID Friday evening, and even if we had felt up for driving to Maine, which we didn't, we wouldn't have done any favors to anyone by doing so. But John and Cynthia were there, amazingly, and my godson, Tom McKean, did a fantastic job of reading what I had written with great sensitivity and feeling. I know because I watched it on YouTube this afternoon. It was a lovely service, with great hymns, an anthem composed for the occasion, many tributes by family and friends, and the great readings and prayers of the Book of Common Prayer. I look forward to a full report when J&C get back.

Deborah Adams McKean (1939-2022)

Susannah McKean Nicklin remembering her mother.

Tom McKean reading my tribute. Later in the service he expressed his own thoughts. Sitting behind him is Samuel Nicklin, Tom's nephew.

Phil McKean honoring Deborah, his wife.

John and Cynthia in the congregation.

St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church, Thomaston, ME.*********************************** If you want to watch, just go to YouTube and search "Deborah McKean."********************************* Earlier today, we attended the Guilford service via Zoom - it was held in West Dover, the last of the four "Union Services" of the summer. It featured three children - the service was about children - and a box of blocks. One of the little boys proved to be quite adept at balancing blocks, which held everyone's attention! That was not what was expected, but Pastor Jeremy did a good job of incorporating what was happening spontaneously into the flow of the service.

West Dover Congregational Church. ********************************************* Otherwise? Did the word puzzzles today, read and listened to the radio. A nice, quiet day.

Out of the house!

Since getting COVID, I have not been out of the house until yesterday afternoon. Ellen decided that it would do my spirits good if we made the trip to Grandma Miller's bakery, and got some Morning Glory Muffins and chocolate eclairs. That sounded good to me, so we did it, mid-afternoon on Friday. It was a nice afternoon, and the drive was very pleasant. I decided to pay attention to churches we pass by on the round trip which took us up Rte. 30 through Newfane, Townshend and Jamaica to Rte. 100 north, then to Grandma Miller's, which is just south of Londonderry, VT., and then on through Londonderry, over Rte 11 to Rte 121, then down WIndham Hill to West Townshend, where we rejoined Rte 30, and back through Townshend, Newfane amd home. That trip took us past 5 churches that a few decades ago were all active Congregational Churches: Newfane, Townshend, Jamaica, Londonderry and Windham. I have preached in all five of those churches at one time or another during the past 50-60 years, some several times. Today, only two of those churches are still members of the Vermont Conference of the UCC: Newfane and Londonderry. Townshend was taken over by a fundamentalist group decades ago, and I don't know if they are still helding services or not. Jamaica was a Federated Church and I think it pulled out of the Conference at least ten years ago. Windham, where I have preached many times, closed its doors a few years ago. Newfane and Londonderry have small congregations but can still afford to have pastors, though I'm not sure they are full-time. The route also went by two other churches in West Townshend and South Windham which have never been Congregational. Seven churches on a 40-mile trip or so. It is ironic, because Vermont is considered one of the most "unchurched" states in the nation! But most of these churches are inactive. We also went by two defunct ski areas - Maple Valley and Magic Mountain. We went through South Londonderry - there is a church there too, uncertain what the denomination is, but you can't see it from the road. We also went off Rte 30 to South Newfane where a bridge is being rebuilt. That has been going on for ages - since Spring - and there seems to be quite a ways to go before it will be finished.

The Townshend Church.

West Townshend Bible Church.

Jamaica Federated Church.

Londonderry Congregational Church,U.C.C.

An early touch of fall color.

Newfane Congregational Church, U.C.C.

Windham Congregational Church - no longer active.

South Windham Church - uncertain status and denomination.

Grandma Miller's bakery.

My chocolate eclair - Yum!

Going through South Londonderry.

Magic Mountain Ski Area in Londonderry - defunct.

Maple Valley Ski Area - has been defunct for years. This is just a couple of miles from our house.

Bridge under construction in South Newfane

Little frustrations.

These past few days have been largely uneventful in the usual sense. We haven't really done anything. We are gradually getting better from COVID, but still fatigue easily. But there are concerns! I'm experiencing problems with my laptop computer: the battery will not take a charge; it can be used when it is plugged in, but the charge hangs around 4-7%. Strange things are going on with my sover.net email account: when I send out a letter, it is from "VolP Portal," not "Larrimore Crockett," which must be confusing to the recipient. Has it been hacked? The propane fireplace insert is also acting up: it won't light properly; sometimes it just won't light at all. A new debit card sent to me while we were away never arrived. Our spring is very low - not dangerously low, but close. Why are so many things suddenly a problem? These are relatively minor problems, I guess, especially when compared to what's happening in the nation and the world, but taken all together at the same time, they are a frustration. I will say, though, that I got a very lovely note from Phil McKean. I had sent him as a backup, a copy of what I was going to read at Deborah's Memorial Service Saturday. I had sent it twice to Tom McKean, who is going to read it, but it was never acknowledged, and given my email woes, I wondered if maybe it never arrived. So I sent a copy to Phil. He got it, and he loved it. That made me feel good. Another positive: fourteen people have responded favorably to my offer to lead a Bible Study group at the Guilford Church. That is an amazing response, I think. So we just have to work out the details. That should keep me out of trouble!

Life goes on.

Here it is, Monday afternoon, and we are coping with this new reality: we both have COVID. First of all, I think we are both doing ok. Ellen says she feels better today. My "cold" symptoms have settled into my chest. I talked with Dr. van Dyke, and she is prescribing Paxlovid. She feels that with my previous issues with breathing, this is wise. Paxlovid has good results in preventing more serious illness, hospitalization and death. It also can result in "Covid rebound," but I guess that is an inconvenience, not life-threatening. If it happens, it just entails an additional five days of quarantine. I'll be here at home for a while, in any case. John will pick up the prescription for me. He has aleady done some shopping for us at Hanneford. Thank you, John! ************** I will not be going to Maine for Deborah McKean's memorial service this coming Saturday. And I think Ellen is going to have to give up the Common Ground Fair, which will be a disappointment, I'm sure. I will send what I was going to say at Deborah's service to Tom McKean, my god-son, who has graciously offered to read it. John and Cynthia may be able to go to the service - they have an invitation to stay with a couple at a cabin near Thomaston next weekend - at Morse Mountain - and if they decide to do that, they can attend the service. I hope our family can be represented. So, life goes on, whatever happens. I think it is always good to be reminded that we are not indispensable.************ Yesterday, we attended church at Guilford via Zoom - how convenient! A lot of people don't know we are sick. Maybe that is just as well. And last evening we watched the first episode of The Holocaust and the United States which is Ken Burns' newest documentary. Already in the first episode, it has brought to light a lot of things I was unaware of - I suspect that is generally true. It is easy to point the finger at Roosevelt or Cordell Hull and say, "You should have done more," but there was widespread popular sentiment against immigration, and in particular against Jewish immigrants. This was not just the failure of some politicians; pretty much the whole country was complicit. It makes me curious what my parents were aware of, and what they thought. The whole story takes place right at the time I was born, and the weeks, months and years following.

Not how we wanted to return!

Well, Ellen tested positive for COVID this morning. She woke up feeling sort of sick with a sore throat and was congested, sneezing. Very much like a cold. But she had a solid positive in a self-test. I tested negative. So we scratched any thought of going to the Penn Yan Diner. We just headed for the New York Thruway and came directly home. Ellen felt well enough to drive, and after she ate she felt better yet. We stopped at a plaza on the Thruway where there was a Popeye's - Ellen's favorite because they have rice and beans. I went in and got the food, wore a mask. We did take a route we had not done for years - to save the stress of roads around Albany. We got off the Thruway at Amsterdam and took NY #67 East toward Bennington. It is a more direct route than the Thruway (sort of), but of course is slower because of all the towns you have to go through. It also has a lot of turns. But it is interesting - it goes through what I guess you could call a workingman's district of New York State. No mansions. The towns are modest. It's probably Trump country. Not that he cares that much about working people, but they seem to think he does. Anyway, we stopped to get ice cream at Chelsea in W. Brattleboro, and were home by 6:10 p.m., or so. Ellen is now wrapped up in a couple of quilts on the sofa and is resting. The house is very cool. I could easily build a fire in the wood stove.

Our tests. ****************************************************** LATER ON SUNDAY I did build a fire in the woodstove. But it wasn't so easy - at first, nothing wanted to burn - paper, kindling, logs - all soggy from humidity in the basement. But I persisted and finally got a good hot fire going. Now the stove is taking care of that humidity! I also have had to deal with problems upstairs. The batteries in the propane stove thermostat were dead. I found some new ones in a drawer and installed them, and went through the procedure for re-lighting the pilot light. But the stove still doesn't want to light. The last thing is to replace the 4 AA batteries in the stove switch box. We don't seem to have fresh AA batteries. John offered to do some shopping for us, so I asked Ellen to put AA batteries on the shopping list. But the big news Sunday morning is that I have tested positive for COVID. I don't have a lot of specific symptoms - no sore throat or heavy congestion. I am achy, tired and had a slight fever earlier (my temp is normal now). So I guess I have a mild case. I hope so. This does raise some questions about going to Maine. We'll see how it unfolds.

My most recent test.

Not quite where we wanted to be.

Tonight we are in a motel in Canandaigua, NY, an Econolodge Motel. This is not exactly what we intended. We normally come home from Chicago through the Finger Lakes of upstate New York, and have a little ritual of stopping in Penn Yan, where we (i.e., me, Shirley, Betsey and John) lived back in 1967 when I was a faculty-member at nearby Keuka College. Ellen and I have often eaten at the Seneca Farms stand where there is both food and ice cream, or have had lunch at the Penn Yan Diner. Today, we drove from Wauseon, OH and came along I-80 to near Clarion, PA - pretty much coming back the route we followed coming out back in August. But this time, we realized we would be getting to Penn Yan in the evening, right about supper-time. Since Ellen has made it clear she really doesn't want to drive any more after dark, that meant spending the night in Penn Yan. Which would be fine - except that when I went on line to find a room, the rooms in the entire region were mostly already booked up, and what was left in Penn Yan cost $250 and up! This is crazy! Penn Yan is not a fancy town! I guess the fact that it is a popular resort area - both lakes and wineries - explains some of that, and maybe Friday night is also a popular night. Anyway, we had to scratch Penn Yan. The closest we could come is Canandaigua, which is northwest of Penn Yan by about 16 miles. We did get here just after 7p.m. just after the sun had set. Almost dark but not quite. It's possible we might be able to get breakfast at the Penn Yan Diner - not sure it's open on Saturday. The price here at the Econolodge is not cheap - $120+ taxes and fees - but it's better than $250+ taxes and fees! And the room is nice. No COVID symptoms as of now. I took my temp after we got to the motel, and it was 98.8 - which I guess can be considered normal for evening, though technically it is a very slight fever. I'll take it again in the morning. So, we will arrive home tomorrow, sometime in the afternoon - it is about a six-hour drive from Penn Yan. If we can be finished with breakfast by 10:30a.m., that would be 4:30p.m. We'll see!

The Penn Yan Diner. It is open on Saturday, so maybe we'll get breakfast there.

Unexpected developments!

Our original plan had been to leave Bartlett this morning and head for Swarthmore, PA, taking a more southernly route through Ohio into Pennsylvania south of Pittsburg and then on to the Pennsylvania Turnpike. We were going to stay at Sarah and Harry's Friday and Saturday night and head for home on Sunday. But something happened to change all that. Last evening, Jerry began to feel sick. He had a fever and was coughing. I suggested that he test for COVID and he did - and he tested positive. We had not been wearing masks so we were all exposed. That made a visit to Swarthmore unwise, even though thus far, we feel no symptoms. Sarah agreed. So now we are heading to Vermont. We did honor our decision to never again have to deal with the maze of interstate highways in Chicago, so we went south and west from Bartlett, went back pretty much the way we came from St. Louis, going down IL Rte. 47 to Dwight, and then turning east into Indiana, thereby avoiding the Chicago Metropolitan Area entirely. We worked our way up to Walkerton, IN, on Route U.S. 6, which is very familiar territory for us. When we came to Nappanee, we found a street fair in progress - the Nappanee Apple Festival. So we stopped, looked around a bit and I got a hot dog, and Ellen found two apple turnovers for us. We saw quite a few Amish people and horses and buggies - this is very close to Goshen, IN, which is the center of the Amish horse and buggy business. If I wanted to buy a horse and buggy (which I considered about 14 years ago at the time of the gulf oil spill), that's where I would go. But I guess I would have to truck them home - I doubt that I would ride the buggy from Indiana to Vermont (though that would be very interesting!). But at this stage of our lives, a horse and buggy is not really practical. I still think that for a lot of people, it could be workable - an alternative to fossil fuel that could live alongside electric cars, I should think. Not for everyone, for sure, but they seem to work ok alongside cars in Indiana. Why not elsewhere? We kept going into Ohio, and tonight we are in Wauseon, OH in a Rodeway Inn. This is not as far as we usually get, but our route around Chicago took longer. We'll probably spend one more night on the road and get home on Saturday.

A piece of the street fair.

An apple fest sculpture.

Three young Amish women in their traditional dresses and bonnets.************************************** Before Jerry got sick yesterday, we (Suzie, Dennis, Ellen and myself) visited Peter and Lori to see their new house in Algonquin. Peter himself was not doing well, but he said he wanted a distraction. He is dealing with both an infection and a clot in his right foot. He is on both blood-thinners and a powerful antibiotic, but his doctor said that if he wasn't better by today, he would have to go into the hospital and get antibiotics via IV - a powerful infusion. And we heard today that that is exactly what has happened. So Peter, we are sending you healing energy! We got a tour, and very much admired their new home, which is just a few minutes from Rachael, Brendon and the grandchildren. They are in a very attractive neighborhood.

A new garage door - the envy of the neighborhood!

Peter and Lori's new living-room, looking into the dining-room.

Ellen, Peter, Suzie, Lori and Dennis in the backyard.

The front of Peter and Lori's new house. ****************************** Earlier in the day, Ellen drove me to Schaumburg, IL to a cannabis dispensery, where I got a cannister of gummies that help with sleep. They were originally recommended by Roger Hull - he chews a half-gummy each evening. I got some for myself and they have really helped with sleep. I was running out, but I also wanted to give some to Jerry, because today is his birthday. He is 80 years old today! So I went to this dispensery in Schaumburg. I took with me the package for the gummies I got in Oregon to see if I could match that. They did not have that same brand, but they had some that were similar, so I got two cannisters, one for me and one for Jerry. I gave it to him this morning and he seemed pleased. I hope they help you sleep better, brother!

Another full day!

Boy, we are really packing experiences into this trip! Monday, Ellen had to drive from Holton, Kansas to St. Louis, MO. And we had to get to St. Louis in time to have a chance to visit with Katie and Chritian, have supper with them, and then get to our motel. When the day began, I did not yet know where we would spend that night. I had to figure out how we could get to a motel before dark, and still have time with Katie and Christian. I couldn't find anything online in Katie's neighborhood, at least nothing we could afford. I texted Katie and asked her, and the best she came up with was a Drury Inn twenty minutes away in the wrong direction. I finally "thought outside the box" and looked at East St. Louis, across the Mississippi River in Illinois, and found The First Western Motel in Fairway City, IL, just fifteen minutes from Katie's house. So we could leave at 7p.m. or so and be at the motel while it was still light. And it was only $58! That is unheard of these days. It wasn't fancy, that's for sure. No breakfast. But the room was ok, the bed was comfortable, and we slept well. What more can one ask? We had a very nice visit with Katie and Christian. We said we would try to arrive "mid-afternoon," and it was 4p.m. We got into Missouri by a route that totally avoided the mess around Kansas City, and then dropped down to I-70. That actually went very well; the route I chose was very good road, little traffic, nice scenery. It took longer that it would have if we had dropped down from Holton to I-70. But that would have taken us right through Kansas City, and I wanted to apare Ellen that. So it worked out. We found Katie and Christian's place easily - thanks to "Siri"- and we had about 3 hours with them. Christian fixed chile, and so we didn't have to take time to go out to a restaurant. This was our first time to meet Christian. He is a lovely, gentle, man, who is very loving with Katie amd obviously makes her very happy. He is still sort of "finding his way," as is Katie. They are both 30. He is very interested in the healing arts, things like Qi Gong and Reiki. I think that is a direction he would like to develop, if he can.He is currently working with Door Dash delivering food, and Katie has a job calling people, which she can do from home. It isn't exactly telemarketing - but like that. More activist, political calls, rather than selling things, I think. She is also going to try substitute teaching. The school district was very interested in her applcation, even though she never finished college. She does have experience teaching teens in a summer music camp. That pays very well - $150-200 a day, according to Katie. So just a few days a month would pay her share of the rent (which is much less than Denver and she shares the cost with Christian). Their apartment is a furnished rental, for two months, with the possibility of extending that. They are looking around. So they are "on their way" in several respects. More power to them!

The apartment on Oregon Ave. in the Benton Park neighborhood of St. Louis.

A trip across Kansas

Sunday, we left Brush, CO at about 9a.m. or so, and headed for Kansas, going through a little corner of Nebraska and then down to U.S. 36, which we followed across much of Kansas. It was a very untraveled route, and there were long straight stretches where one could look to the horizon, and not see a single car. However, we were looking for a "place of interest" where we could stop, learn something new and maybe even find some postcards! Such a place was on a highway just 20 or so miles south of U.S. 36, in the town of Logan: The Dane H. Hansen Memorial Museum. It looked interesting, an unusual institution to find in a small, Kansas town. So we headed south to find it, but when we turned east to get to Logan, we found the highway was closed. There was no clear detour. So we just headed back up to U.S. 36, and gave up on the Hansen Museum. A bit further down the road we did stop at the Geographical Center of the Contiguous United States. We had been there once before, many years ago. It was essentially unchanged, with one exception. But we had it to ourselves for quite a while, and it was very quiet.

The Little Chapel at the Geographical Center

Standing at the lectern in the chapel. This chapel is not, I suspect, part of the original site. It seems to have been created and is now maintained by local evangelical groups.

The pyramid marker of the "Center." How this point was determined is not explained anywhere at the site.

A cedar tree brought from Lebanon and planted by a group of Lebanese men - see plaque below.

A plaque explaining the source of the cedar tree. This gift has something to do, I am sure, with the fact that the Geographical Center Monument is located in the town of Lebanon, Kansas. One can only hope the fragile little cedar tree will survive. I hope someone locally is watering it regularly. ***************************************** After that stop, we needed to get to our motel reservation in Holton. KS, and unfortunately we were running late. Ellen had to cope with nighttime driving conditions, which she finds very difficult because she often cannot really see the road very well, especially with oncoming cars with bright headlights. So the last hour was stressful. But we made it, and had a good night.

Saturday was sort of crazy

Saturday was an insane day - in the sense that it had more stuffed into it than is wise. But we managed to get through it in one piece, and it was enjoyable, if exhausting. We started out in Craig, CO, and had to get to Rob's house in Boulder by 1p.m. or so. The Rocky Mountains lay between us and him! When I checked the weather early in the morning while still in bed in the motel, it indicated cold temps and rain - possibly freezing, but also potentially foggy in the higher elevations, up in the clouds. So I decided not to go through Rocky Mountain National Park, on Trail Ridge Road, but instead to go north of the Rockies to Fort Collins and then down to Boulder. We left the motel around 7:30 a.m., early for us. That route proved both wise and also very nice in terms of scenery - our highway was a scenic highway and it went through a spectacular canyon - the Poudre River Canyon, which was deep and went on for 30 miles or more. Pretty spectacular rock cliffs on either side of us.

Scenes along the Poudre River Canyon. **************************************** We got to Rob's house by 1:15p.m., which was perfect, but as we drove up Sunshine Canyon Drive, it got foggier and foggier, and we realized that's what much of the trip would have been like the Rocky Mountain National Park route - navigating hairpin turns on Trail Ridge Road in heavy fog would have been no fun! So we came the rght way! We had a nice lunch with Rob - a cup of soup and we made our own sandwiches from sliced turkey, swiss cheese, sliced tomatoes, spinach leaves and a variety of mustards. And we got really caught up on many topics - personal, family, work, the whole bit. We hadn't been together to talk face-to-face since his wedding in Santa Fe, which was in November of 2018 - almost four years. We had talked on zoom, the telephone, and had texted a lot, but there is nothing like being with someone in person. I was so engaged, I forgot to take any photos! But here is a nice piece about him from the Colorado University website, and a recent portrait: Robert Shay is Professor of Musicology at the University of Colorado Boulder, where he previously served as Dean of the College of Music from 2014 to 2020. His writings on the music of Henry Purcell and seventeenth-century England are well known, particularly the book Purcell Manuscripts: The Principal Musical Sources (Cambridge University Press, 2000, co-authored with Robert Thompson), a recipient of the Music Library Association’s Vincent H. Duckles Award, given annually to “the best book-length bibliography or other research tool in music.” Shay’s articles have appeared in the journals Early Music, Music & Letters, and Notes: The Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association. He has also contributed chapters to the books Purcell Studies (Cambridge University Press, 1995) and King Arthur in Music (D. S. Brewer, 2002). He is currently editing Purcell’s opera, Dido and Aeneas, for Bärenreiter (Kassel, Germany). Shay is a founding member of the Society for Seventeenth-Century Music, serving as treasurer from 2000 to 2003 and chairing the program committee for the 2004 annual meeting. He hosted the Society’s 2018 annual meeting in Boulder. He has been an invited lecturer at Brandeis University, Northwestern University, the Round Top Early Music Festival, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Western Illinois University. Shay previously served as Professor and Director of the School of Music at the University of Missouri (2008 to 2014) and Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Conservatory at the Longy School of Music, in Cambridge, Massachusetts (2000 to 2008). From 1991 to 2000, he was on the faculty at Lyon College, in Batesville, Arkansas, where he directed the Concert Choir and taught courses in music history. He also served as Chair of Lyon’s Fine Arts Division for two years and was a visiting professor at Duke University in 1999-2000. Shay holds the M.A. and Ph.D. in musicology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the M.Mus. in choral conducting from the New England Conservatory of Music, and the B.Mus. in vocal performance from Wheaton College (Illinois). He also studied voice and conducting during two summers at the Aspen Music School, and participated in Harvard University’s Institute for Educational Management in 2006.

Robert Shay. We talked with Rob until close to 4p.m., and then we felt we needed to get down into Boulder and find Max. We had arranged to meet Max at his work place, and then Mais would join us and we would go out to eat. So we said our goodbyes with hopes we could come again next year and went on our way. The day had already been pretty full, but it was about to get fuller! We got to downtown Boulder and found Amante Coffee on Walnut Street, where Max works. Finding a place to park was a challenge, but we resorted to using our Handicapped Parking Tag, and got a spot within a half block. We went in, didn't see Max at first, but he came out from the kitchen, and made a latte for us - on the house! Mais did join us, and after 6p.m., when Amante Coffee closes, we talked about supper. The restaurant Max had chosen - Taco place - was on Pearl Street, in a pedestrian-only area. I couldn't be dropped off from the car. So, I got both poles, and we walked. It was ok. But when we got there, they said they were closed to inside dining! We discussed options, and decided on take-out. But that involved at least a half-hour wait. So we decided to go to Max's place, and then Max and Mais would come back and pick up the food, bring it back and we would eat at his "house," - it actually is a little house that he shares with three other guys, down in South Boulder, a neighborhood Ellen and I recognized because it was near where Lyria Pascal, Betsey's Qi Gong practitioner, lived and where we frequently took Betsey for her healing sessions, back in 2015-2016. So we walked back to the car - about two-three blocks! - and re-arranged the luggage, so Max and Mais could squeeze into half the back seat, and we went to Max's place. Forgot to get a photo of the house! But after we had our supper - fish tacos for Ellen and me - we again took a little drive to the Sweet Cow Ice Cream place for cones. It was an easy walk for Max and Mais, and an easy drive for Ellen and me. And again, Sweet Cow ice cream was familiar to us - but not this branch. We had often gone to their other branch in North Boulder, back in 2015-16, and liked their ice cream a lot. I experimented and got "Larry's crazy peanut and chocolate bonanza" (or something like that). I don't usually for strange flavors. I usually get Maple Walnut. But how could I resist? It turned out to be loaded with peanuts and chocolate bits - it was good, but I had to hope it wouldn't keep me awake. (It didn't).

At Sweet Cow Ice Cream Shop with Max and Mais. We said our goodbyes at the shop, but the day was far from over for us! We had to get to our motel, which was in Brush, CO. About an hour and a half drive east of Boulder. I had had to guess where we would want to get to, guess what time we would be able to leave Max. It was later than I had guessed. And we had to find our way to Brush. Thank goodness for the GPS on the phone. It got us there, but itwas stressful for Ellen driving the Interstate in strange territory after dark. She really hates nighttime driving. We did not get to the motel until after 10p.m. It had been a long, long day, packed full. But we made it, and we fell gratefully into bed at Boarders Inn and Suites by Cobblestone in Brush.

Boarders Inn and Suites by Cobblestone************************************************* Today, we drove from Brush into Kansas, and almost all the way across Kansas to Holton, KS, not too far from Kansas City. Another long day. We looked in vain for a museum and lost time in that endeavor, but did stop at the Geographical Center of the U.S. We didn't get in to the motel until 9:20p.m. - another nighttime driving stress for Ellen! More about that when I get a chance to write about it. Time for bed.