So ready to Kick 2020 and COVID-19 out the door along with the political chaos and discord of the last four years. Hope 2021 is a better year for everyone!
We are planning on "hitting the road "in 2021in our new travel trailer that we have named the WanderPod. Woot, woot! WanderPod's first adventure and ours too, was navigating up our narrow, steep, and twisty driveway to her new home. Here is a little commemorative video of that adventure.
All is Well with Worrall TravelRs waiting for vaccines, and local shelter in place orders to lift.
Monday, November 23, 2020
Good people need to stand for Good Trouble
Russ and I belong to two international organizations. One is SERVAS and the other is Friendship Force International. Both organizations strive to create understanding and peace through personal relationships and friendships. We love both of
these groups because of their forward thinking. Yesterday, Sunday, November 22, 2020, a small
group of masked, Friendship Force member-photographers of Sacramento, went on a walk
to see and photograph statues and art around Capitol Mall in
Sacramento. I made a short video of the art work and murals
The COVID-19 Pandemic has changed our lives in 2020 and most likely into
mid-end of 2021, and perhaps forever. If there is a silver lining to
quarantine and sheltering in place, it is the time we have had for
self-reflection and critical thought. What do we value? Who do we trust? Does the virus care about our skin color, our political affiliation, our beliefs, our prayers, our gender, our age, how much money we have or our occupation? It doesn't care because we are all human beings, our DNA being over 99.9% similarity with small insignificant differences, like skin color. Race is a figment of our imagination not a reality, and yet so much hatred is based on lies intended to elevate some and push others down.
Ten years ago, I retired from the CDE in Sacramento so I welcomed the opportunity to return to the Capitol. While we enjoyed the company of our
friends (from a socially acceptable distance) and appreciated the
beautiful sculptures and murals that we had come to see, Russ and I, along with our FF friends, were
saddened and disturbed to see the homelessness, remnants of riots and
violence, closed businesses, vacant streets (with the exception of a
fair-sized group of die-hards protesting the 2020 election results
and Pandemic curfews). We saw people who were mentally ill living on the street, and a few freshly-minted homeless that looked
like they had just showered before wrapping themselves in
fresh blankets on the sidewalk under an overhang. We came away haunted and sad. How can we live in one of the greatest nation's in the world, and not take care of our citizens?
Our greatest understanding as world travelers is that we now know how privileged our lives have been as a people of European ancestry who immigrated to America and were given opportunities because of the whiteness of our skin. My ancestors may have been poor when they arrived in America, but they had unparalleled access to opportunities over the years that native Americans, other immigrants, indentured servants, African slaves did not have (and still do not have) like jobs, homes, education, and discretionary income, and respect.
I am not ashamed of who I am, and no one should be ashamed of who they are because of who their parents are, where they were born, the color of their skin or what they look like. We can't change our past, but we can change our future. Those of us who have had privilege are in the best position to help and uplift those who have not had privilege. We cannot continue to live in a hypocrisy of believing that we have equality and justice for all while inequality and injustice prevails.
What to do? We don't know what we need to do, but good people need to do something beyond donating to charitable causes, praying, casting their ballots, and building global relationships one person at a time. These are all good things to do, but these things alone are not enough to stem the tide of inequity, injustice, and deep divisions on our doorsteps. We need to be brave and stand for good. Yes it takes bravery to speak up when there are those who are pointing their guns at you. How else will peace prevail? Violence is not the solution to peace.
I hope that the next administration can bring sanity, compassion, and dignity back to our federal government. I hope that SERVAS and Friendship Force can help us bridge the divides we have at home and abroad by combining their resources with other humanistic non-profits, educational institutions and work in partnership with our government. We must help the needy, but focus our attention on our children, the next generation. Our world depends on the next generation growing up without prejudice and our survival on our planet will only occur if we are united and work together to solve whatever comes our way.
Yes, we have to be apart for right now! Hold on to a "tomorrow" when we can be together again. In the meantime, try to stay upbeat and be a vector of kindness and joy.
New York Day 4, Rainy Morning, Waitress the Musical - Matinee on Broadway, Saturday, April 20, WTRD 35 of 36
Today is our last full day in New York City. It started to rain last night and is supposed to rain until early afternoon. We take advantage of staying out of the rain and indoors this morning to relax and for me to catch up on blog posting. Late tomorrow morning, we will be catching a train at Penn station, three blocks from our studio. We are headed to Essex Junction, just outside of Burlington Vermont, where we will be staying with our son and family until late May.
Russ and I eat last night's pizza leftovers for lunch and head for TIme Square at 1:00 pm. We are going to see a Matinee at 2:00 pm just a block off Broadway and TIme Square. The rain has ceased, the sky has cleared, and the streets are crazy crowded with pre-Easter-Sunday tourists. We can't even imagine what it must be like here on New Year's eve as we walk single file through the shuffling crowds as we approach Time Square and 47th Street.
We arrive at the theater just as they open the doors to the theater. Russ and I bought our tickets online Thursday morning. We are five rows from the front and almost center to see Waitress the musical starring Shoshana Bean and Jeremy Jordan. We had a great time watching the play and the unfolding of the story.
After the play we worked our way through the crowds back to our studio. We plan to eat at the Chocolate and Wine Bar across the street later this evening.....they have some other food too, but wine and chocolate sound like a perfect meal for our last night in New York. This concludes our blogs for the Africa, Madagascar, New York City Travels. We left New York City by train on Easter Sunday the following day to visit family in Vermont. Met some ladies on their way to the Easter Bonnet Parade before we boarded the train. Goodbye New York!
All is well with the Worrall Travel R's the last night in New York and Worrall Travel R Day WTRD 35 of 36.
New York Day 3, 9/11 Twin Towers Remembered, High Line Walk, Friday, April 19, WTRD 34 of 36
We were up early again this morning and couldn't sleep in beyond 4:00 am. Again we chose to walk south through Greenwich Village and Soho to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum.
We had tickets for an outside guided tour of the area where the twin towers once stood. Our guide David was six years old when America's centers of commerce, military, and politics were being attacked by terrorists. At a tender age, he learned about terrorism. He became a historian of the 1970's and now works for the 9/11 Memorial organization.
The memorial is a powerful reminder of both extreme evil
and extreme courage. David walked us through the pre-history of the tragic day, the tragic day, and the personal stories of individuals whose names are engraved on the symbolized ponds where tears of water fall into an abyss of negative space. Most of us were choked up and reliving that horrible day that changed our loss of innocence, the way we perceive the world, the loss of so many lives, and the unsung heroism of civilians and first responders who showed extraordinary courage.
TEARS
Today the memorial and the museum are a shining testimony of human resilience and hope.
The mood in the museum is quiet, reverent, and a flashback of terror for those of us who were old enough to remember the devastating attack.
We walked back to our studio along the Hudson River and the High Line (an abandoned overhead railway that has been converted to a green belt walking trail, providing a high ground perspective of the city. It's a beautiful walk.
A walking sculpture
We log in another 10 miles and our feet feel it. We stop for pizza on the way home.
New York Day 2, Live with Kelly and Ryan, NY Metropolitan Museum, Thursday, April 18, WTRD 33 of 36
We slept well until we woke up around 4:30. Not bad for the first night back. After our first back to normal breakfast of yogurt, granola, and fruit, we hailed a taxi for the ABC studio building where the Live with Kelly and Ryan is produced. While we waited in the priority queue for seating, we met two ladies from Mystic, Connecticut. One of them was a real fan, the other was a friend of the fan. We enjoyed our conversation with them and in the end of the second show, the friend won a $500.00 gift certificate. We were excited for her.
It is interesting to see the behind the set and scenes of a live show between commercial breaks. The New York new car show is debuting this week, and there were three cars positioned on the set creating challenging logistics for the production crew. Both Kelly and Ryan are small people. Kelly is very tiny, almost twiggy like. Watching their interactions with guests, audience, and production staff during the breaks was amusing. There seemed to be a little discord going on between staff members during the first show and Kelly made it clear that she didn't want to hear them arguing.
The staff is right there between breaks to fix up her makeup, comb her hair, hand her a jacket. If Ryan drops something which he did, someone picks it up and places it on a low table so that it can easily be retrieved. We were surprised how scripted comments and quest questions were, each written out a cue card and held up for Kelly and Ryan to read and say. We watched two shows. Thursday was live. Friday's show was live to us but taped for the following day, Good Friday. Not sure if this was done because of a holiday weekend or simply because this always done for a Friday.
In between shows the hosts change clothes and come out again. The first show featured guests James Brolin, and the second show David Muir. Russ really enjoyed the cars, all of which were SUVs, the 4 wheel drives of station wagons. We had a good time and were out on the street in the real world by 11:30.
We walked through central park and enjoyed the spring feel of the day, and spent the rest of the day in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, seeing only a fraction of the exhibits. It is a very impressive place and we really enjoyed the American Art and the Egyptian artifacts.
On our walk back to our studio apartment along the river and then up the avenues, we stopped at Toscana's Italian restaurant for an excellent dinner of lasagna and veal scallopini. Russ and I as newlyweds (50 years ago) ate in an Italian Restaurant called Mama Leone's. There was an older couple next to us who heard us discussing whether we could afford to buy some wine. They gifted us a bottle. So sweet. Still brings tears to my eyes. Unfortunately, Mama Leone's closed in 1994 with the hope of reopening in a new location, but it never did. Our dinner at Toscanas was excellent. Fifty years later we were still discussing whether we could afford to buy a bottle of wine. Haha!
We walked about 10 miles today, and return back to our studio late in the evening.
