Has Anything Really Changed?

I don't know quite where 2022 went. We've stayed busy, but I am not sure how much we accomplished, but we made it to the holiday season reasonably intact.

Daniel, Paul, Claire, Jamie, Sarah

Jamie is our "adopted" daughter (she moved to Virginia in 2019 and has been part of our family since then. She and Sarah were online friends for years before that.

Just before the pandemic, we had an appointment for Daniel at the spasticity clinic at the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore. They recommended a baclofen pump, which could help reduce the tightness of his legs and arms. But the pandemic! A year and some later, he had the test dose of the baclofen, which was successful. But then the Delta variant arose, so no surgeries again. Finally, in February 2022, they said they could schedule the surgery. 

Daniel in an occupational therapy session

So in late March, we went to Baltimore after Covid testing and spent the next two weeks there with the surgery at Johns Hopkins and a period of rehab at Kennedy Krieger to start adjusting the dose. Daniel was a trooper, and the staff at the hospital and rehab were great. He has done well with this and we've been back three times now to refill the pump. The benefits will continue to increase as he has more PT and chances to do more things.

Mealtime in Daniel's room 

Sarah spent the 2021-2022 school year in State College, PA. In the fall semester, she was taking classes on campus, but switched back to online classes for the spring (really winter in that location; there's generally no sign of spring until close to final exams!) semester. She enjoyed spending the weekends playing games with other students on campus (board games and Dungeons and Dragons). She had quite a nice setup, with a studio apartment, a grocery store a short walk away, a nearby bagel shop where the staff got to know her regular order, and lots of good places to eat in the area. I loved visiting her and walking around the town and campus and getting my Penn State Creamery ice cream fix.

"This"was my first off campus place. 
It was a real dump when I lived there!

 I checked out two of the places I lived. The first place I lived, which was a run-down house beside an Italian restaurant, is now a large apartment building that takes up the half-block.

The other is still a house, but the room I had, which was all windows, now is almost completely covered with siding. (It was very drafty when I lived there.) 

She moved back to Virginia in July, in time to greet a friend who came from Italy to spend a couple of months with Sarah and Jamie. They spent time visiting the museums, the zoo, going on day trips to Luray Caverns, etc. Sarah and Jamie caught Covid around the end of July, just when they were planning to go visit another friend in South Carolina. Fortunately, their friend had had Covid shortly before coming to the U.S., so she was able to help take care of them. Jamie had some issues due to her asthma, but Sarah had a mild case.

Typical dish in Morocco

Sarah got to spend some time in Morocco helping a friend who was going to stay there for awhile. She and her friend discovered Moroccan food and loved it! 

Sarah also loved the cats and really wanted to bring this one home.

Paul joined them for a couple of weeks to help get things settled, then he and Sarah came home in mid-November. Paul had picked up the coronavirus at the end of the trip, and tested positive when he got here. We confined Paul to the spare bedroom, and I managed to stay sufficiently protected and did not catch it. Nor did Daniel or his aide, fortunately. Paul's illness was mild, fortunately.

Morocco is known for beautifully decorated doors.

An amazing dessert at one dinner in Morocco.

Claire is still managing the Craft Gallery of Artisans United. We now have 22 artists, having added two new artists this year. She spends time applying for grants, making social media posts, solving problems, and so on. Check us out on Facebook (@artisansunitedcraftgallery) or Instagram (@augallery1). One interesting thing Claire did this summer was to work with two students from Penn State on projects to analyze information from our social media accounts and gather information about sources of grants and other fundraising opportunities for organizations such as ours.  

Paul continues to work on genealogy projects. He has a huge database of family information based on a book that was created back in the 1920s for one branch of his family. He has corrected, updated, and expanded the information over many years. He also is working on research for a friend who is interested in learning more about the results identifying possible family members from her DNA test. And visiting cemeteries to document gravestones is a continuing activity.

This gravestone
is by the tree 
in the other photo.

Some places he visits 
look like this! (Above) 

He spent some time trying to sort out three overlapping cemeteries on two trips to Pennsylvania this year, one of which coincided with his 50th high school reunion.

The high school reunion turned out to be fun. He went on a tour of the high school, which has grown and changed quite a bit since Paul went there. It was good to reconnect with some old friends. He also enjoyed the chance to visit family this year.

The high school has an extensive 
and impressive art collection.

A student lounge at the school.

Claire has been retired five years as of the end of August. She has enjoyed recent chances to get together with friends from work. It is great to see how well people she hired and worked with have done. 

Since we have not been traveling much this year, we have continued the project to get rid of things we don't need. Claire joined a Buy Nothing group, which has been a good addition to the Freecycle groups she had been using. One nice thing about this group is there is more of a focus on getting to know people to whom you are giving items. It's sometimes surprising what people want, such as some large pieces of foam, the frame of a papasan chair, and a small travel alarm clock.

So onto 2023. I am looking forward to watching the animals in our backyard: lots of foxes and deer, typically. We had a family of foxes that spent some time under the shed on our neighbor's property, which gave us some great views when they were playing on nice days. The deer eat many of the plants in our yard, so we don't get to have much of a vegetable garden and have to spray stinky deer repellent on plants we want to keep from being deer snacks. My desk, which we moved to the basement when the first household covid cases hit three years ago, is perfectly positioned to see what's enjoying the yard.

Sometimes they get REALLY close!

We send you good wishes for a healthy and happy new year! 

A Few Moments from 2021

It was a long and winding year. 

• We all got our vaccinations in the spring and boosters in the fall. 
• Sarah completed two semesters at Penn State, one completely online and one taking in-person classes at the University Park campus in State College, PA, where Paul and Claire studied many years ago. 
• Daniel has done very well with online programs for his day program and music therapy.
• Paul made a lot of progress getting rid of invasive species in our yard and continued his genealogy work until he came down with sciatica in November. He's starting to feel better now, in late December.
• Claire continued as gallery director of the Craft Gallery of Artisans United, working hard to increase awareness of the gallery, which has paid off with a big increase in business this holiday season.

We feel fortunate to continue to have excellent aides to help care for Daniel. We are happy that Sarah is finding her way toward a bachelors degree (through I still am not sure when she plans to graduate, but that's OK). We have enjoyed good health for the most part, and are working on improving that in the new year. Getting rid of the accumulation of "stuff" is a priority, but still feels overwhelming even though Freecycle, a Buy Nothing group, eBay, Goodwill/Unique, and the trash or recycling cans have taken many items. Other pursuits often seem more appealing; maybe you can relate to that!

We look forward to the day when we can return to traveling, but for now, there is enough here to keep us busy.

We hope the new year brings health to all and an easier road than the one we've been on recently! Get in touch when you have a moment so we can catch up. 

The photos below provide a brief tour of some of the things that kept our lives interesting this year. 

Claire celebrated her 70th birthday with her two
best friends from high school!

The cats enjoy the holiday decorations.

Daniel got to go to camp this year! 

Some kids broke the window in Sarah’s car.

Fortunately, the mom dealt with it with no problem.

Sarah is studying sustainability and energy policy at Penn State. 

All the furniture in her apartment was piled in the middle of the

room at move in! Moving things around wasn't too hard, though.

Paul is removing invasive-species trees and growing orchids, 

which may not be native but also are not invasive.

What a yawn! The foxes and deer enjoy our 
back yard, and Claire has a really great view
from her desk.

Look closely to see the deer.

Daniel rocking his mask after getting
his first covid vaccination.

Daniel still enjoys using his gait trainer.

Cooking new things: paella and a samosa pie with

my first attempt at a hot water crust.

We have blackberry lilies trying to 
take over a patch of the front yard.

Our street is known for the azalea display in the
spring. This year was especially beautiful.

Our Pandemic Year

The posts before this one cover our planning for a trip to Uzbekistan and canceling three days before we were to leave. Fortunately, we were able to get most of the money back from our flight reservations and all our hotel reservations were cancelable. Now that we have spent the rest of the year mostly in our house, the idea of going ANYWHERE is uppermost in our minds. The vaccine can’t come soon enough, but even then, it’s unclear how soon other countries will be open to people from the United States. Watching the terrible toll this pandemic is taking on people everywhere is difficult. I can't even imagine how hard this is on the medical professionals who are caring for people affected by this, as well as the stress on all the people who work in grocery stores and other places we all need to interact with. I hope everyone in these positions is getting access to the vaccine quickly!

Our year was probably pretty much like yours: nothing like what we expected. We were about to leave for Uzbekistan when the pandemic became apparent. The rest of the year was predictable: 

We did the things you can do at home--watching friends get married on Zoom (did so many Zoom calls!), spending a lot of time closing then reopening the craft gallery where Paul shows his photos (and Claire is Gallery Director), enjoying the porch with the cats, doing "Covid haircuts," enjoying nature.

Sarah finished her associate's degree and will start a B.S. program in sustainability at the Penn State World Campus in January. Daniel has adapted well to online programs but misses going places. We also helped one of Sarah's friends find a great new apartment and helped her move this summer. Sarah is currently living with her.

One of the cool places Paul visited in
Uzbekistan in 2019...
would have loved  visiting in 2020!

Making new things:
empanadas! Not beautiful,
 but tasty.

Baking cookies: oatmeal
is a family favorite

Zoom wedding--such a beautiful day;
so happy for John and Martha!

Craft Gallery of Artisans United:
Paul's photos on wall in rear.

Relaxing on the porch with a cat

Sarah getting a "covid haircut."

Beautiful tree near the gallery 

Paul continues to work on genealogy; Claire is taking classes (not for credit) at the local community college and managing communication for groups we belong to. (It's nice being retired, especially in the current environment.) We've also been working on that continuing project of "getting rid of stuff;" not sure we can see a big difference yet, but there's hope. And watching all those videos on Netflix, of course.

The year has been challenging, but here's hoping for better things to come, like a great vaccine so we can see you all in person and get back to traveling and other things we like to do.

We wish you a healthy and happy holiday season and a great new year!

Planning and canceling--ugh!

January 2020

In January, we started planning to visit Uzbekistan, in part to participate in celebrating Navruz, the spring festival that also is a sort of new year's holiday. We bought plane tickets and started making hotel reservations. We did not have to do any research to decide on hotels, since Paul had visited last year and wanted to stay in the same hotels. We tried to make train reservations, but it was not possible to use the Uzbekistan Railways site to pay for tickets, as they apparently do not accept credit cards from outside the country. So we were planning to buy tickets once we got to the country and could pay cash. Our first transportation was to fly to Urgench (near Khiva), giving us several days to arrange the train trips or get a car and driver if the train was not available.

Not long after we made our initial plans and reservations, the first hints of the expansion of areas affected by the "novel coronavirus" were hitting the news, though the focus is still on China.

February 2020

We are reading guidebooks and online information, making plans to bring fabric back for backpacks made by Taluuma Totes, and starting to gather things we would need for the trip. Trying to decide what to take for the potential variations in temperature was the most difficult issue. Winter coat? Jacket plus sweater?

Also, Paul's foot is still giving him trouble, so should he take the orthopedic boot in addition to the  smaller brace. Then a "pop" in his other foot raised the importance of that question. He went to urgent care, where an x-ray showed there was no broken or dislocated bone, and a visit to the podiatrist a few days later suggested that rest and continuing to use the crutches would probably be all that was needed. Hobbling, not driving, and spending more time sitting down made for a slower life.

Conavirus is becoming more of a concern, but we felt like our plans were sufficiently protective that we could continue with the trip.

March 2020

Now we were getting our backpacks out and becoming more serious about things like how much money to take, getting fresh bills from the bank, etc.

We were three days away from leaving for Uzbekistan and about to finalize our packing when we saw information about that country quarantining people from many countries, including the United States. Apparently, there are no confirmed cases of COVID-19 there, and they are trying to keep it that way. So we would have to spend 14 days in a hotel. But what does that mean when you are staying in small hotels with no restaurant? Could we fly to our first destination or would we have to stay in Tashkent? Would anyone actually be checking?

An email exchange with the U.S. Embassy in Tashkent did not provide much reassurance, and the wording of the notice was pretty specific that if you had been in the United States (and some other countries) you would have to self-quarantine for 14 days. The information on the website includes the following statements:

• Visitors subject to self-quarantine must be kept in their place of residence (house, hotel, hostel, etc.) for up to 14 days, not be allowed to communicate with people other than family members, and not be allowed to visit public places.
• Disciplinary sanctions will be imposed in the event of disciplinary violations by quarantined individuals.

The first statement is pretty clear. While I am not sure about the meaning of the second, I am not one to risk violating something in a country such as Uzbekistan.

So we were forced to cancel our trip. It is disheartening to have to put away all the travel items we had gathered in preparation for this trip. The small benefit is that we don't have to deal with the problems people have had in reentering the country, and we are here in case anyone in our family comes down with this illness, but every-day things like cooking dinner are not what I expected to be doing today! I would much rather be writing about and posting photos of mosques and markets and large kettles of plov (rice and meat and spices, oh my!). Another day....

Let's hope we can find a time to go when things calm down. It looks like a place with many beautiful and interesting places to visit, as well as lots of great food to eat.

2019 in Annandale

A lot of our activities this year have revolved around two of Sarah’s friends moving to Virginia. One friend moved here at the beginning of March, with Paul driving to Arkansas, loading up Sarah’s car, and driving back to Virginia. The second came in June, and involved Sarah flying to North Dakota, renting an SUV, helping her friend pack up her things, and driving back to Virginia. We have been helping both friends navigate the health care, employment, and housing issues that one faces upon moving across the country. They have enjoyed the attractions here, especially the Smithsonian museums and are settling in.

In March, Paul traveled to Uzbekistan, visiting the cities of Khiva, Bukhara, Samarkand and Tashkent. He enjoyed it more than he expected and wants to go back in 2020 with Claire. He was there for the Navruz holiday (first day of spring), when there are celebrations all over. The architecture and crafts were very interesting and he came home with some amazing knives and beautiful paintings on antique paper that is quite old. Meeting the artists also was a highlight.

Paul was invited to join a group meal during Navruz.

Some entertainment during Navruz celebrations.

We had some great food in Albania, including these fried sardines.

This is typical of the scenery and the amount of traffic.

In June, Claire and Paul visited Albania, which has been on the list for a long time. Paul was able to get an assignment to escort FLEX students back to Albania, giving him a free airline ticket. Claire found flights at a reasonable cost and spent a couple of days on her own near Tirana, the capital, before Paul’s arrival. We rented a car and visited several towns and drove on some challenging mountain roads, mostly paved, often not two full lanes wide. Fortunately, there was very little traffic, and we only had a couple of close calls with oncoming vehicles that were not really paying attention to what they were doing (probably counting in the lack of traffic!). We stayed in small, local hotels, found interesting restaurants, and walked a lot. Albania is best known for the resort towns along the coast, but we found the mountain areas more to our liking. 

There are castles all over Albania. We had a view of this one from our hotel in Girocaster.

A view of the Adriatic from a restaurant in Himara. The coast is lined with resorts.

What better way to spend a summer day!

Daniel spent two weeks at the Easter Seals/UCP camp in the mountains near Roanoke that he has attended for several years. He had a very good time. The camp always has great staff who are so attentive to the campers, and the camp activities are adapted for the needs of each camper. Swimming is always a favorite activity. 

Daniel with camp staff.

He also participated in a camp for people who use AAC (augmentative and alternative communication). The camp is held at a hotel near Pittsburgh. Activities are designed to give the campers opportunities to interact using their communication devices in a variety of situations. In addition to sessions at the hotel, we went on a tour of the baseball stadium (beautiful view from the press box!), took a boat trip on the three rivers, and visited the National Aviary. 

The Willie Stargell statue at PNC Park.

He has been participating in a day program three days a week since his school days ended in 2017. He also enjoys a number of programs set up by the Fairfax County Therapeutic Recreation program, such a a dance club, Saturday morning activities, etc. One of his favorite activities is bowling, which is does with a group called KEEN twice a month. We have a bowling alley less than a mile from our house that is in the process of being renovated. We plan to take Daniel there to bowl when they reopen. He also participates in some local activities sponsored by other groups, such as swimming and parties by the Joey Pizzano Memorial Fund. 

More swimming for Daniel.

 

Sarah has made great progress in her academics. She is on track to finish her associates degree in May, so now she needs to decide where she wants to go for her bachelor’s degree. It has taken her awhile to get there because of her wide-ranging interests. She is now focusing on policy development, environmental issues, and process improvement and is trying to decide how to implement these interests. 

She has done a lot to help her friends who have moved here.

Some of her time goes to some work in the Minecraft environment, where she is a lead moderator, trainer, and does other things her parents don’t actually understand. Minecraft is where she met her friends who moved here, as well as other online friends with whom she has been able to connect in person, including via a trip she took to England in July.

This fall, Claire became gallery director for the artists' cooperative where Paul and Sarah sell their work (Artisans United Craft Gallery). There are a lot of things to do to help the gallery be successful, so she just needs to make sure this does not become all-consuming.

One of the activities that took a lot of time and energy this fall was deciding on a new van that is adapted for wheelchair access. There have been a lot of changes in these vehicles since our first van, which we obtained in 2004. It was about to completely fall apart, so we are very happy to have a new one. (Claire was stranded in traffic in August, which was pretty much the last straw. We did not want to have Daniel and his aide in that situation and felt fortunate that so far all the bad breakdowns occurred when he was not in the van.) Claire picked up the new van on December 19th. It is such an improvement! 

So as we happily drive off into the new year, we hope yours is happy and healthy.

Claire, Paul, Sarah, and Daniel