February 2019

February 2019

PA, DE, Haiti, Jordan, Israel

1- F- DE/Haiti- we left Nadiv's house at 3AM and made our way to the JFK airport to Port-au-Prince and then to Jacmel.  It was great to be back in Haiti, this country that puts a spell on me.

2- SA- Haiti - it was a full day and it felt like two days and we saw and did so much. We visited a local art gallery. Charlotte Charels stopped by the hotel to greet us.  We went tot he Salvation Army to see what changes had occurred since I was last there 5 years ago. We spent the afternoon at the Foreign Lanusgage Institute (FLI) and sat in on classes and engaged in discussions with students.  We had dinner with the staff.  We came back to the hotel and hosted some friends for drinks and conversation.

3- SU- Haiti/PA- today was a long travel day from Jacmel to Port-au-Prince to JFK airport to a wonderful Jewish deli in NJ to DE to PA.

4- M- PA- OMG, I was a lazy ass today.  It was a gray day and I was overwhelmed by my trip to Haiti so it was an effort to get out of bed.  But it was rolling around to 5PM and I just had to get up. I did listen to podcasts all day so it was not a complete waste of time. And then I got dressed and went to a town hall meeting to listen to the mayor of West Chester.

5- T- PA-  I joined  Mary Graham and others at the Love City Brewery in Philly. These people are good company.

6- W- PA- Today's focus was my painful tooth and a trip to the dentist.  There is a new dental hygienist and I don't like her.  And I may have to get a second root canal operation on an existing crowd.  Damn, damn, damn.  And I had to order a new mouth guard for $701.  What a rip-off.

7- TH- PA- I went to the movies with Kathy Flatley.  We went to see If Beale Street Could Talk and I wasn't overly impressed with it even though I love James Baldwin's writing.

8- F- PA- Two of my students were in a production of the Vagina Monologues in a local theatre so Phylis, Marianna Mangan and her family joined me for the show.  When the play first showed, it was hailed as bawdy, brazen and edgy.  Now, 20 years later, it was tamer than I had anticipated.

9- SA- PA- Tricia Bill and Lauren came over for dinner.  We went to Iron Hill and then came back to my apartment building for a cup of coffee.  Some neighbors met up with us in the lunge and it was fun.

10- SU- PA- not much activity today as it was windy and cold.  I just ran a few errands.

11- M- PA- It snowed all day, nothing heavy but enough to cause people to cancel most events in the evening.  But my event wasn't cancelled.  I was ushering at the Uptown Theatre for the primmer viewing of Live the Stream, the story of legendary Joe Humphreys, a world renown fly fisherman.  Sharon and Glenn joined me and it was fun.  I was glad we all made the effort to go.

12- TU- PA- It snowed through the night so my damn dental appointment was pushed back to later this morning and the dentist instead I get a root canal done on an existing root canal.  Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn.  That was a mere $800.  And the cap is now damaged so I need a new cap and this tooth is pissing me off.

13- W- PA-  Phyliss and I watched The Wife this afternoon.  Glenn Close is up for an Oscar nomination for her role.  She was good but I don't think it was her best.  Afterwords, John and Debbie and I went to Bar Avalon for mussels.

14- TH- DE- lunch with Betty and Shelly Evans at Stewart's Brewpub in Bear.

15- F- PA- tonight we had whiskey club and it was packed with people.  I liked the vibe of the event even though I can't stand whiskey.

16- SA- PA- I ushered at the Uptown Theatre for the showing of nominated animates short films and live action short films.  Man,  most of them were so dreadful to watch.  They were filled with violent and despair.

17- SU- PA- I met up with Patricia and Lauren and went tot he Colonial Theatre to watch the showing of nominated short documentary films.  They were also difficult to watch as the themes were filled with death, racism, loneliness, desperation and despair.  On a positive note, Brian turned 49 today.  I cant believe my baby brother is that old.

18- M- PA- It's President's Day and facebook is filling up with photos of Obama. Trump is getting burned for his bogus National Emergency and our democracy is rotting away.  An indictment from Mueller 's investigation would really pick up my mood today.

19- TU- PA- I was at the dentist again today and she was going to work on my damn tooth again but i convinced her to wait until i came back from my month long trip tot he Middle East.  Thank God.  I no sooner got home that i got a notice from the airlines to reschedule my flight out tomorrow due to the pending snow storm.  At 330, my flight had been changed to 730 tonight.  I had to hustle

20- W- London/Jordan- I traveled all day and now I am out of sorts. I'm exhausted and wide awake.

21- TH- Jordan- first impressions: it's clean, dense in the city area, Muslim, quiet, orderly.

22- F- Jordan- we roamed the streets of Amman and I felt that I could have been in any town in Europe. The white cities stretched for miles at a time.

23- SA- Jordan- i went to a Turkish Bath House and I got beaten up by women with loofa pads. I got rubbed, scrubbed and tubbed.  I loved it.

24- SU- Jordan

25- M- Jordan- We spent the day in Petra and it was a magnificent day.

26- TU- Jordan/ Israel-  We were up and on the road by 730 AM and headed to the Dead Sea Highway to cross the border in to Israel.

27- W- Israel- We spent most of the day at an olive farm. And I loved the enthusiasm of the family as they explained every aspect of making the best olive oil in Israel.

28- TH- Israel- OMG, it was cold and windy and I struggled all day with this chilling weather.  We started the day at a farm and we helped trim the fruit trees.  We then went to an ancient ruins near the Mediterranean Sea and the rough waves and sporadic rain kept us wet.  Then we went off to the top of Mount Carmel.  Later I had dinner with Yacov and Marie.  It was great to see her in Israel.