US COVID-19 cases pass 650,000

We are well past 650,000 COVID-19 cases and still climbing rapidly, according to WorldOMeter.com. The good news, is that the number of new cases each day is now hovering around 30,000, which means the case number curve is now mostly linear, instead of exponential, as it was earlier. It feels intuitively obvious, that we can attribute the leveling-off of daily new cases, to the preventative measures everyone is supposed to be taking, such as washing hands to protect ourselves, wearing homemade or even improvised masks to protect others, staying at home except for essential activities, and social distancing when out and around other people.

HTTPS Redirection

I just tried turning on HTTPS redirection for this (Blogger-supported) site of mine, and discovered it broke the KristanAndSumner.com URL, so I changed it back. It would made your connection more secure, by switching you to an encrypted connection, even if you used the insecure http:// to get here, instead of https://, but I guess my KristanAndSumner redirect doesn't support that. If you were all to switch over to using the KSHushing.blogspot.com URL, it would work just fine. Since I don't know who's using which URL, I'll leave it alone.

Aha! I figured out a way. I configured my KristanAndSumner.com DNS redirection, to forward to https://kshushing.blogspot.com. Success!

Obituary for Sumner K (Bud) Hushing

Sumner K (Bud) Hushing, 100 years and 9 months old, died unexpectedly late Tuesday night, March 31, 2020. He was able to continue living comfortably in his home to the end. He is survived by his children Otamay, Sumner III, and Mikele, his grandchildren Brighton, Tyler, and Dorothy, his great-granddaughter Alice, and his close companion of 28 years, Adele Siegel.

Sumner was born in the Panama Canal Zone to Sumner and Anne Hushing, who quickly nicknamed him Buddy, to avoid first name confusion, and he embraced that nickname until the 1980s. Bud grew up in Litchfield, IL, and Alexandria, VA. He learned the value of honest work, as he washed dishes in his parent’s restaurant in Carlinville, IL.

He earned a law degree from Catholic University in Washington, D.C. in May 1941, after three years of night school. Shortly after World War II began, he joined the Navy, starting out as an Ensign. He worked in the Navy Code Room in 1942, was later assigned to an anti-submarine ship in Boston harbor, and subsequently served on the U.S.S. Zircon, patrolling and escorting merchant ships between New York and Guantanamo. He later found it interesting to reminisce that one such ship was named the Pan Am, a name that had so much significance to him, later in his career.

Sumner spent much of his life flying, and it began in the Navy, after he requested flight duty — something he had always wanted. He learned to fly in Stearman biplanes at a small Texas airport between Dallas and Ft. Worth. He was transferred to Pensacola, FL to finish basic, intermediate, and advanced flight training, and earned his instrument qualification. He spent some time training in the PBY-5 non-amphibian seaplane. He transitioned to the Vega Ventura PV-1, and spent many hours acquiring necessary experience in the Florida Keys area, before he was transferred to Morocco, where he flew the Vega Ventura on long range antisubmarine patrols. He once mentioned that their mission was to fly outbound 4 hours, stay on station 1 hour, then try to get back — with a theoretical 9.5 hour fuel endurance. Fuel exhaustion, and failure to get back to base, was always a risk that weighed heavy on their minds, especially when the winds changed.

After the war ended in 1945, Sumner joined American Export Airlines in New York, using his celestial navigation skills on their long over-water routes.

When he was flying out of New York’s Idlewild (now JFK) International Airport, Sumner met his soon-to-be wife Dorothy in 1946, at a restaurant during a fuel stop in Reykjavik, where he asked a pilot friend to introduce them. It wasn’t long before they were married and starting a family. Their daughter Otamay, son Sumner III, and daughter Mikele were born in a conveniently spaced succession, averaging four years apart.

AEA merged with American in 1948 to become American Overseas Airlines, and then merged with Pan American World Airways in 1950. Early during that period, Sumner was proud to say he participated in the Berlin Airlift.

In 1959, Sumner took advantage of a work opportunity, to transfer to a long-term assignment flying from San Francisco International Airport, and he and Dorothy, with their three children, moved to Palo Alto, CA.

While living in Palo Alto, Sumner joined the Palo Alto Elks Lodge, an organization dedicated to helping others. He also became a lifetime member of the American Legion. He participated in leadership of Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts for several years. He and Dorothy were members of Grace Lutheran Church. He invested in several local Bay Area businesses, and became long-term friends with their owners.

Sumner remained with Pan Am, flying such aircraft as the Douglas DC-4 and DC-6, the Boeing B-707, B-720, B-727, and finally captaining the large long-range B-747, until he reached the FAA-mandated retirement age in 1979. As a Pan Am pilot, he served on many overseas temporary assignments, often bringing his family with him to such widespread places as London, Paris, Tokyo, Tehran, and Tahiti. The Tokyo assignment included some above-average risk, as Pan Am was flying servicemen to and from Vietnam at the time. When he wasn’t on temporary assignment, he preferred to bid for Pan Am’s round-the-world routes, which took him away from home for weeks, but also gave him similarly long periods at home between trips.

Sumner and Dorothy were divorced in the early 1970s. After the divorce, Sumner tried living in Tahiti, Sydney, Honolulu, and Napa. For a short time in the late 1970s, Sumner was married to Joanne, who worked with Weight Watchers in Honolulu, and she joined him in traveling the world. After he and Joanne separated, he moved to West Palm Beach for a short time, before acquiring his residence in North Palm Beach, where he lived for 35 years.

Not long after Sumner settled in North Palm Beach, his brother Bill, also a Navy veteran, moved into a neighboring residence. Over the next 30 years, they participated in business ventures together, had overlapping circles of friends in the Palm Beach social life, and had frequent morning coffee chats, until Bill died in 2015.

Sumner developed an interest in personal computers, and spent many hours learning about them, by working in a local computer repair shop. He became fast friends with the shop owner Mike, and they kept that common bond going for several decades. He was known as a computer expert among his group of seniors.

Sumner was an active member of several social groups in the Palm Beach area, including the Pundits, the Navy League, and the American Legion.

An outspoken and dedicated conservative, Sumner never backed down from a good argument, a trait which skipped one generation, but landed squarely on his eldest grandson, who named his law firm in Sumner’s honor.

Sumner met Mac and Adele Siegel in the early 1990s. He remained respectfully admiring of Adele, but after Mac died, they became close friends, and when Adele’s mother was on her deathbed, he promised that he would keep Adele safe. That was all it took for them to become inextricably intertwined for the rest of his life. They had a busy social life in the Palm Beach area. They also took many driving trips around the United States, to visit friends and family. They both loved the widely varying geography of our country, and meeting new people along the way. They also loved telling corny jokes, and teasing new friends into guessing his age — even at age 93 on his last cross-country driving trip to Denver, no one dared guess any higher than 70.

Sumner loved to play tennis for exercise and fun, playing with other airline employees at layover hotels around the world, throughout his aviation career. He brought his usual concentration and sense of competition to the game, and he regularly won games against young men half his age. He continued his tennis activities, playing with Adele and friends, often at the BallenIsles Country Club where they were practically fixtures. Perhaps because of this regular exercise, or just some wonderful genes in his family, he stayed in surprisingly good physical condition for most of his life. He played tennis until his early 90s, when he decided that his degrading balance was making it too risky.

He also loved restoring and driving fast cars, starting with old Porsche 356 models in Palo Alto, and moving on to the beloved Mazda RX sports cars he drove in the Palm Beach area, until he reluctantly quit driving at 98 years old.

Sumner spent his last few years in a well-established and comfortable routine, enjoying his small morning meal, checking email, making phone calls (he called his children nearly every day), attending the occasional group meeting, party, or gala, driving over to visit with Adele for dinner and TV in the evening, and driving home in time to avoid the raising of the drawbridge near his home — the clockwork timing of the drawbridge over the IntraCoastal Waterway was a significant factor in his schedule. He was a safe driver almost to the end — he only stopped driving 16 months before he died. He was sad that many of his friends died before him, but he had a few loyal friends that would come visit, and accompany him to places like Guanabanas and Duffy’s, his favorite restaurants.

At the end, Sumner passed away quickly, at home, and not alone, just as he had wished. It’s interesting to note, that he was born during the 1918 N1H1 Spanish Flu Pandemic, and died during the 2019 Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic.

A celebration of his life will be held at a future date (to be determined), for any survivors of the ongoing apocalypse. In lieu of flowers, please send 2-ply toilet paper. P.S. He also had a great sense of humor.

Poem for Dad

My Dad learned to fly in the Stearman biplane, flew the Vega Ventura from Morocco, on antisubmarine patrols during WWII, and retired as a Pan Am 747 captain. I'm sure he passed a lot of flight check rides along the way. I was so proud of my father-pilot, that I became a private pilot myself. I found this poem that he had saved, and I suspect he would be happy to hear it one last time - especially with all the politically incorrect references. It’s called...

THE LAST CHECK RIDE

I hope there’s a place way up in the sky,
where old flyers can go on the day that they die.

A place where a guy can buy a cold beer,
for a friend and a comrade whose memory is dear.

A place where no doctor or lawyer can tread,
nor a CAA/FAA type would ‘ere be caught dead.

Just a quaint little place, kind of dark, full of smoke,
where they like to sing loud, and love a good joke.

The kind of a place where a lady could go,
and feel safe and protected by the men she would know.

There must be a place where old flyers can go,
when their flying is finished, and their airspeed gets low.

Where the whiskey is old, and the women are young,
and songs about flying and dying are sung.

Where you’d see all the fellows who’d flown west before,
and they’d call out your name, as you came through the door.

Who would buy you a drink, if your thirst should be bad,
and relate to others, “He was quite a good lad.“

And then through the mist, you’d spot an old guy,
you had not seen in years, though he taught you to fly.

He’d nod his old head, and grin ear to ear,
and say, “Welcome, my son, I’m pleased that you’re here.“

For this is the place where the true flyers come,
when their journey is over, and their war has been won.

They’ve come here at last to be safe and alone,
from the government clerk, and the management clone,
from politicians and lawyers, the feds and the noise,
where all hours are happy, and they’re all good ole’ boys.

You can relax with a cold one, maybe deal from a deck -
this is heaven my son… You’ve passed your last check!

— Author unknown

Rest In Peace, Dad - you’ve earned it!

US COVID-19 cases pass 522,000

4/11/2020 1pm. Well, with all our denial and misbehaving, we've managed to get the USA ahead of all other countries on the planet in documented deaths caused by COVID-19. Italy used to head the list, but now USA is on top. Our total cases has now risen above 522,000.

The really good news, is that the number of new US COVID-19 cases has been flattening out over the past few days. So even though the number of infections is still shooting up, at least it's not going faster and faster (not accelerating). So the more we wear our masks, wash our hands, and stay away from other people, when we're out of the house, the better it will be for all of us. Let's all be safe out there!

Day 7 after Dad died

Today is day 7 since my Dad died. There’s a certain heaviness of heart, to knowing that my last surviving ancestor is gone. I realize life goes on. But I still check my answering machine too many times during the day, to see if he left us a message, while we were out. And I get another lump in my throat, when it occurs to me, what I’m doing, and that there will never be another one of those cheery messages waiting to be played. I can't yet bring myself to get rid of my written list of phone messages from the past month - most from him.

US COVID-19 cases above 350,000

Yesterday’s graph of the number of US cases of COVID-19 shows the number of cases is still increasing at an alarming rate, and has passed 350,000. With all the social distancing that many of us are practicing, and the rest of us are supposed to be doing, I am very much looking forward to seeing some progress (lessening) in the COVID-19 infection rate.

My Dad died Tuesday night

My Dad, Sumner (Bud) Hushing, died late Tuesday night 3/31/2020, in his home in North Palm Beach, FL. I've started work on my version of an obituary for him, which is somewhat therapeutic for me, even though it may not be used, since my sister says she is already a half dozen handwritten pages deep, into one of her own. After being home from his hospital-ER-rehab tour since late January, he was feeling stronger and sounded cheerier over the phone every day, so this sudden event was a surprise, although not entirely unexpected, considering his age and fragility. There is no indication that COVID-19 had anything to do with his death. Here's a photo of him, addressing everyone at his 100th birthday dinner party last June.

US COVID-19 cases above 94,000

There are now over 94 thousand (according to worldometers.com) documented active cases of COVID-19 out there, and the number of infected people is still climbing exponentially. The Colorado governor issued a "Stay At Home!" order starting March 26, which still allows people to get out for essential activities such as grocery shopping and walking for exercise. I would love to see some evidence that our social distancing approach is helping, but understandably with the long incubation period for this disease, we shouldn't expect to see a reduction in the numbers for weeks - or never, if enough people aren't actually practicing it.

Landon Spradlin Died from COVID-19

We knew there would be stories like this, didn’t we? Even though I had not previously heard of him, I‘m truly sad to learn (from a Newsweek article) that Landon Spradlin, a 66-year-old pastor and traveling musician, has died from COVID-19. I see the picture of this guy in the article, and he looks fairly young and healthy for 66 years old. 

This man earlier claimed COVID-19 was being hyped by the liberal press, to do damage to President Trump’s reputation. I wanted to learn more, so I went to his Facebook page, and found the meme he had posted, with totally bogus numbers and message, claiming that the H1N1 swine flu was far more lethal than COVID-19, and also falsely claiming that the previous administration didn’t take it seriously.

Facebook, which is now doing independent fact checking (which infuriates people who propagate their own agendas by spreading lies), had flagged the graphic as being untrue. They also referenced a very informative article, that explains why you can’t compare a disease which is barely getting started here (and still spreading like wildfire), with a disease that has completely run its course, and was 10 times less lethal.

Y’all be safe out there, please! Wash your hands! Don’t touch your face! Keep your distance!

And please, let's all cross–check our facts, before sharing any memes, *especially* if they really ring a responsive chord in you. Take a deep breath, and realize that fact checkers are not the enemy, simply because they find that something we believe in strongly, is false. Maybe we should research it more deeply, and try to identify and reconsider a false belief to which we may have been clinging.

COVID-19 cases increasing exponentially

I hope everyone is making a valiant effort to shelter in place, or at least continuing with spatial distancing, even if your local government isn’t (yet) mandating this action. The number of document COVID-19 cases in USA is approaching 10,000, and is still increasing exponentially, with the number of new cases also almost doubling each day. This chart of USA cases (from worldometers.info) only shows confirmed cases, and is woefully inadequate, since 1) with fast-moving numbers like these, it’s guaranteed to be obsolete long before you see it and 2) It doesn’t represent all those infected people out there who aren’t showing symptoms yet, but are still out and about, transmitting it to other people. I couldn’t believe all the crowds of kids on Spring Break, that I saw on the news this morning. They all will be going home to their local schools, communities, and families. Oh, boy. Y’all be very careful out there!

Here's an interesting fun fact, if you didn’t know it, from the World Health Organization article that describes the naming: the name for this disease is COVID-19, which stands for “Corona Virus Disease 2019.” The name for the virus itself is SARS-CoV-2, which stands for “Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2.” There is a preference to use the disease name COVID-19, because using the virus name SARS-CoV-2 can cause unnecessary anxiety for some populations, especially in Asia, which was worst affected by the SARS outbreak in 2003.

Visiting Dad!

We just got back from visiting my Dad in Florida for a week. It was very nice to have both flights go very well. I enjoyed watching some more downloaded episodes of my favorite (new to me) Netflix show.

Dad was in rehab, after a series of mishaps that resulted in multiple circular trips to ER, hospital, rehab, and home. On this visit, we caught him at the rehab place, where they were caring for him, until his multiple wounds could heal enough, and he could get strong enough, for him to go home safely. He wasn't happy about being there, but he responded well to the assertion that he needed to get stronger, and heal his wounds, before going home  I'm not posting any pics of Dad, since he looks pretty crummy right now.

We stayed in a hotel practically next door to Dad's condo, which made it very easy to stop in there every day, and try to help out with a little cleanup effort. We were also very close to our favorite breakfast place, that serves up some delicious red, white, and blue pancakes, and it was such a treat, to be able to stop there every day for breakfast.

We went out to eat for every meal, and since I'm not posting any Dad pictures this time, I'll just include a few photos of our delightful views at the various nice restaurants where we went. 

We enjoyed the pleasant Palm Beach climate, after leaving the sub-freezing Denver area behind. Here's a photo of our view from the patio at Hangry Grill at lunch one day with Adele. This place was fairly new, with a very knowledgeable and friendly owner, and lots of vegetarian and vegan menu options.

We enjoyed some delicious seafood dinners - including a visit to the Waterway Cafe, one of my favorite dining experiences close to  Dad's condo, and also not far from his Rehab place. We were visiting Dad for his 80th birthday, so many years ago, and I still vividly remember having the most delicious piece of Key Lime pie there, while watching the various sailboats and motor yachts passing by on the adjacent waterway.

The Seasons 52 restaurant was another fun dinner experience, just catty-corner across the PGA parkway's bridge from the Waterway Cafe. I caught this pic of the beautiful sunset, while the drawbridge was going up. In all my years of visiting Dad, this drawbridge over the Intracoastal Waterway, with its very predictable schedule, has practically run Dad's life, since he had to drive across it, every time he went to visit Adele, and again, every time he went back home. I've always thought of watching the bridge cycle as a fun experience in the past, but this trip, after unexpectedly losing 10-15 minutes to the "bridge up" event several times in one day, I was starting to get a sense of why Dad always made such a big deal, about leaving at the right time to miss it.

After a few days, my sister decided to join us, after I reported on Dad's not-great condition in rehab. Of course, we also visited with Adele at her rehab place every day, and took her out to lunches and dinners as often as we could. I snapped this photo of us, in front of the nice fountain outside the Brio Cafe at the Gardens Mall, not far from Adele's current residence.

We had an amazing dinner at Firefin Grill with Adele, the night before we left. Our table had a large aquarium, with a half-dozen Lionfish swimming around, and an eel peeking out from behind the rocks and coral. That brought back some great memories, of scuba diving in Tahiti, and seeing Lionfish in the wild, on the outer edge of the protective reef around the island.

Our dinner at Firefin was delicious! We ordered the Raw Bar Sampler, and it was all delicious. I loved the crab, oysters, and shrimp cocktail. I've never been able to eat Lobster, but they said they loved that, too.

In what seemed like the blink of an eye, we were back at Fort Lauderdale airport, waiting for our flight back to Denver. We tried eating at Rocco's Tacos, and loved it.

Mesmerica 360!

Jennefer signed us up for James Hood's Mesmerica 360 Denver show at the Gates Planetarium in the Denver Museum of Nature and Science! We really enjoyed the show - the music and the projection! They didn't allow photos during the show, so this image is a snapshot I took, of the constantly-changing ceiling projection before the show.

This ancient mammoth was guarding the corner of the DMNS building, and provided us a nice frame, with the view of the tall condominium across the park in the background.

We enjoyed the view of downtown Denver, looking across Denver City Park, as we were walking out after the show. We don't get to this area very often at night, and it's a beautiful view.

Christmas with family

My niece Dorothy, Jennefer, and I visited my little sister and her family in Atascadero for Christmas! Here's a watercolor-filter of a photo I took in San Luis Obispo, shortly after we arrived, and were already out and about, in search of coffee and Christmas gifts. The miniature palm tree provided a stark contrast to the snow and ice we had left behind in Denver.

My little dog Mandy was a well-behaved traveler, as usual. She curled up in her pet carrier at my feet, and slept through most of the trip. She also used her pet carrier as her home away from home, throughout our visit.

Bob's big pre-Christmas present to all of us, was an afternoon zip-lining adventure in Santa Margarita! It was pouring rain in the morning, and we all expected it to be canceled, but they said they were going, rain or shine, so we showed up, wearing the best clothes we could find, for rain and mud. They were ready for us, with waterproof boots and jackets to borrow. The group before us came back soaked to the bone and shivering, but the rain stopped and the sun came out, just as our shuttle bus left the office for the adventure site. The bus driver gave us a wonderful tour of the central California hills, and we wended our way through the vineyards and cow pastures. We all had a wonderful zip-lining adventure! The worst weather we saw, was a bit of fog and mist, which I thought made it even more fun. There were several (I think six) separate zip-lines. We zipped down the first line, then hiked up to the next launching station, and rode down that one, and so on, until we got to the last station, where the bus picked us up again, and took us back to the office.

Several of us went to see the new Star Wars movie, "Return Of Skywalker." Everyone had their own opinion. I enjoyed it a lot, but I learned a long time ago, to suspend my disbelief, if I want to enjoy a Star Wars movie.

Jennefer and I stopped at the Que Pasa Mexican Cafe by the theater, for a nice warm dinner after the show. When Bob and Dorothy found out we were there, they jumped back in their car, and came back from the house to join us. We enjoyed the fun holiday decorations and our family's company! 

Marissa and Brighton hosted a delicious Christmas Eve dinner at the house they bought late last year, just a mile or so from where they had been renting. They had done an amazing job, of getting it ready for themselves, and for their traditional family dinner. I was so caught up in enjoying the evening, that I didn't take any pictures of their perfectly-furnished and decorated home, oops!

We spent a wonderful Christmas morning with sister's family at her house! My niece Dorothy came with us from Colorado, my two nephews Brighton and Tyler were there with their wives Marissa and Annalisa, Marissa's mom Jodi, my grand-niece Alice!

Jennefer and others helped Mikele prepare an amazing Christmas dinner. Even her cat Misha poked her head into the event.

On the day after Christmas, Bob took the three of us Coloradans to "The Great American Melodrama" in Oceano, which has gotten to be a fun holiday tradition for us. They always have done a serious version of "A Christmas Carol," but they also do several other skits, that are usually very humorous and enjoyable. We all enjoyed it! I was coughing a little during the show, and realized that my throat was a little ticklish. I was hoping it was just something in the air, but alas, it was the harbinger of another of my traditional post-holiday colds. Bob bought us dinner at Old Juan's Cantina, a Mexican place nearby in Oceano, which we had never tried, and enjoyed quite a lot. We had a bit of an adventure getting there and back on highway 101, as CalTrans had closed the I-5 highway that day, due to heavy snow in the Grapevine Hill area, and a lot of that traffic had moved over to 101, and brought it almost to a stop. My Waze driving app helped me find some very effective routes to avoid a lot of that traffic.

On our last day there, we woke up to find the previously sparsely-populated parking lot full of cars, several of them running, in the cold moist early morning. I realized that some of those people jammed up on highway 101 the day before, had finally decided to spend the night in Atascadero, on their way to/from their various post-holiday destinations. It felt a little like the moment just before the Le Mans car race, with the puffs of steam coming out of a bunch of cars, and people scurrying around the parking lot, throwing their last few possessions into their cars, in preparation for jumping back onto the highway for the last part of their race (oops, I mean journey) home.

We met a few of the family, for one last delicious breakfast at our favorite place there, "Country Touch Cafe," before hitting the road for the airport. Just driving the short distance from the motel to the restaurant was interesting, with the 30 degree 100 percent humidity generating thick fog all along El Camino Real through the middle of town. It was burning off quickly, so this photo doesn't really do it justice.

We had an uneventful flight home, with Mandy being her usual calm traveler self. We were a little surprised, to see so much snow on the southern Sierra mountains, but it all made sense, when we remembered the news stories about everyone's holiday adventures on the highways.

Thanksgiving in New Hampshire!

We enjoyed a delightful Thanksgiving with my relatives in Portsmouth, New Hampshire! I finally found some time to download the pictures from my phone, so I could post them here. Some of them are modified - I've started using the Waterlogue app to add a little watercolor touch to my stories.

We flew out of Denver, just a few minutes before the beginning of what turned out to be a heavy snowfall, that left nearly two feet of snow on the ground behind us. Lucky us! Here's a pic of the cold threatening sky, while we were having breakfast at my favorite Denver airport restaurant - Pour La France.

Denver snow pics, courtesy of my neighbor, about halfway through the storm.

Portsmouth was cold and breezy. We managed to take some fun, chilly, windy walks around the local neighborhood, to the Hannaford grocery store, and in a few local parks. My cousin gave us several guided tours of the local area, as we were driving around. We visited Odiorne Point State Park, and the Seacoast Science Center, on one of those cold and windy days.

The Science Center in the park included some fun aquariums. There was an interesting story about the birth and migration path of a young whale, and how the sea lanes can have a disastrous effect on the whale population. My niece had never seen a live seahorse before!

The walking path along the shoreline provided some wonderful views of the Piscataqua River, the Whaleback Light observation point, Fort Foster, and many other beautiful points of interest on the opposite shore.

We followed one of Odiorne Park's loop trails out into the local forest for awhile. It was very peaceful, with a few historical monuments to be found.

Thanksgiving day was fun - everyone helped get the food ready, and the dinner was delicious! We enjoyed the meal with my cousins, and their extended family and close friends. It was very pleasant, even for someone like me - out of my element with people I don't see regularly.



We enjoyed a short walk in the Urban Forestry Center, and my cousin discovered a new trail there. I felt privileged to be offered the opportunity to walk their dog Midnight, who was very rambunctious and energetic. Managing her leash took both hands, so I didn't get to take any pictures.

We ventured into downtown Portsmouth for a meal or two, some sightseeing, and window shopping. It's a beautiful New England town! Here's a pic of Portsmouth's Pilot boat, in front of their three very colorful signature tugboats. We visited a pop-up shop nearby. Interesting concept - it's a popular ice cream shop during the warm season, and a venue for local artists to display their wares, during the holiday season.

A big snowstorm hit New England while we were there, starting just a day before we were due to fly back home from Boston Logan airport. It started when we were inside the theater, watching the "Knives Out" movie, which was well done and very entertaining. We were surprised to find it snowing heavily, as we walked out to our car. This is the pretty little snow-covered bench in my cousin's front yard, the next morning.

The snow lightened up, just before we had to drive our rental car to the airport. We were a little concerned about the drive  in the new snow, but the roads were fairly good, and we made it to Logan as easy as pie. The highway was lined with beautiful snow-frosted trees, most of the way down the coast. There were a few slushy slippery adventures in lane 1, and the usual mayhem approaching Boston on I-95 and SR-1. I'm not a fan of relying on shuttle buses to get from the car rental to the terminal, but it is what it is... And the unexpected twist is, we jumped on the blue line bus, settled in for the ride, and then learned, long after it had passed our terminal, that they don’t all stop at every terminal. Luckily, and partly due to my extra-cautious advanced planning, we had lots of time, so we were able to enjoy the extra walking back to our departure terminal.

Continuing our airport experience... we were at our gate with plenty of time, so we were delighted to be able to run off and grab some crab cakes for dinner at Legal Sea Foods. I remembered really enjoying this restaurant, when we were at Logan two years ago, but didn't realize it had moved to a far more convenient location since then.

We were finally aboard our delayed flight home from Boston... and the aircraft’s windows were frozen over. My camera saw through it way better than I could. With that much ice on the vertical window, I wondered how much must have accumulated on the horizontal surfaces of the fuselage and wings. I was a little surprised when a mobile deicing vehicle came to do the job, but so glad that they were ready and able to deice our plane.

Finishing up my story, with a watercolor filtered photo of the tail of a nearby aircraft, as we were pushing back from our gate. We were glad to have an uneventful, albeit late-night, flight home.

So many scams, so little time…

It seems like all the news outlets are talking today, about the scam purporting to offer Costco $75 online coupons, in exchange for propagating the scam to your friends. So sad that they need to offer this one specific scam warning... Especially considering that there are thousands of scams out there that sound equally juicy, but are equally fake and usually very malicious. It might be wise, to remember the old adage: “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!“ Maybe another good thing to remember, is that the Internet is a huge game-changer, because it allows anyone on the planet to contact you - bringing the criminals right to you - wherever you are.

Here are a few general guidelines from the FTC for avoiding being defrauded.
https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0060-10-things-you-can-do-avoid-fraud

Claude Monet Exhibit

Just finished walking through a wonderful exhibit of Claude Monet‘s work at the Denver Art Museum! I didn’t realize, or probably had forgotten, that four of the places he focused on were Paris, London, Venice, and the French/Italian Riviera. So, not only did I get to enjoy his beautiful work, but it brought back so many memories of visiting those places… and also his final residence with that magnificent garden in Giverny!

Around the World westbound!

I finally completed my "round-the-world westbound" adventure, flying the Cirrus Vision SF-50  personal jet! Feel free to read about the whole trip, in the separate blog I created, to tell the story of that adventure, which has an individual blog post for each flight. The Blogger site I'm using, automatically puts the most recent blog post at the top, which makes it a little tricky to read the posts in the order I published them. Here's a link to the first blog post. Once you get there, you can click on the "Newer Post" link at the bottom, to show the next post, and follow the story in the order it was posted.

Gunn 1969 Reunion 50

My high school class' 50th reunion is in the Bay area this weekend. I'm a little sad that I'll be missing it. I was asked by two friends to join them on the reunion planning committee, which I did, and I've been trying to be helpful for most of this past year - helping set up and maintain the reunion website, trying to find contact info, for the many people for whom we have no other information than their name, and supporting the decisions and coordination for some of the details of the planned events. It's been fun, connecting and working with the other committee members, some of whom I'd never really known. When we talk about the various activities, they sound like fun, but I won't be making it out there.