Author Archives: ruthek

Driving all day

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It only took a little more than eight hours; now I'm in Chicago. The trip went very well. My book on tape, The Man Who Loved China, was fascinating and the time passed very quickly. Joseph Needham was an amazing man. I regret I never met him or paid any attention to his writing. Now I'd like to read all 18 volumes of his Science and Civilization in China. 


Dunhuang was one of the first places Needham visited in China and the book has a lot of information about the caves and the manuscripts found there. I went to Dunhuang in 1982 as part of my tour of China. I really knew nothing about it, just that it was on the silk road and sounded more exotic than the other tour choices I was given. In fact, I learned very little by going there. The information from this book was a great addition to my knowledge. 

When I finally cruised through downtown Chicago, the book completed, I was able to adequately admire the skyline and again notice all the new buildings I know nothing about. There was a time I felt I knew every bit of this city. Eleven years later I relearn it each time I arrive. 

On the road again

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Tomorrow morning I'm into the car and away to Chicago. I'll be gone about 12 days, and I've got plans for every single day including after I arrive tomorrow night.

It's an eight hour drive. I have as company a book on tape about Joseph Needham, he of the eighteen volume Science and Civilization in China. I've been listening to the first two CDs as I drove around yesterday and today. I think this will be great company for my long trip.

In addition to all my friends and relatives I'll be getting my Japan Rail Pass, which I almost forgot. Making plans for both China and Japan has been challenging. I'm sure it would be better to make two trips, but I don't have that kind of money, or stamina for two long plane trips.

After six days in the city I'm going up to Door County with Raja and several other friends who all go back 30 years or more. Should be a great reunion.

Ponderings

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Darcy and I went to Mellon Park for her walk this morning. There was lots of activity as they are getting ready for the Fair in the Park. As we left we passed three kids who were waiting to direct the artists as they arrive. One of them admired Darcy, petted her and asked, "What's his name?" My reply, "her" pause, "her name is Darcy." I thought about that as I walked away. Why was it so important I identify Darcy as a her. It certainly makes no difference to the dog, and none that I could figure out to the young man who asked. It was all my own bit of foolishness. What makes gender so important, anyway? Aren't we all created equal?

I love the photo Bob Brady posted today, but I found out it's been Photoshopped. You can see the original here.

I've been living in Robin's house since I returned from New York. It's a huge house and I could have two rooms and my own bathroom if I went up to the third floor. But I don't want to go up there–I'm having some trouble with stairs–and she doesn't want me up there–too hot, and we'd have to use extra air conditioning. So I'm in the guest bedroom on the second floor–enough stairs–and sharing the bathroom with Charna. And my computer gets a place on Steve's desk.  None of this is a problem for me. I hope it's not for them.

Food is something of a problem. Robin keeps kosher. I've had to learn how to do things in her kitchen. She's also more of a vegetarian than I am. She and Charna eat lots of veggies and lots of cottage cheese. I like the veggies. Cottage cheese is one of the few foods I avoid at all times. I spent a lot of time in Trader Joes last week trying to figure out what I could bring back here. At the time it seemed like a huge problem, but it has all worked out. I'm trying to be a contributing member of the household, thus the dog walking and some minor cleaning.

Photos from the East Coast

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When I first moved to Robin's house on August 15, Darcy followed me all evening, slept with me that night and the following morning, after I made the bed, she got in and made herself a nest.

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I don't know what she had in mind but being taken to the dog sitter when we left on Saturday was not it. She's hardly paying any attention to me since I returned from New York.

Pictures from Philadelphia, particularly the Magic Garden on South Street are in a new album on the right. Here are people lining up to get in the door of the Philadelphia Museum of Fine Arts.

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I wrote about it here.

Pictures from Hannah's Bat Mitzvah are in another album to the right.

Here are a few shots from the Henry Moore show at the botanical garden,

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Falun Gong protesting across the street of the Chinese consulate,

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one from Chinatown–I couldn't resist buying the rambutan–

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and finally a little sunshine inside the Metropolitan Museum. 

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Sarah Palin and the dirty old man

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My friend Raja has a wonderful analysis of McCain's pick for vice-president:

I consider him just another dumb-ole-boy with a penchant for beauty
queens. (including Cindy McCain). I know it's supposedly all about
politics, but a 72-year-old man selecting a young woman to achieve his
ambitions- one who perhaps could become the leader of our country–is
an insult to all of us. It's pure pandering–an outgoing, determined
personality with a pretty face–is now qualification for vice president?

You can listen to, and read about, all the expert in-depth political
analysis blanketing the news. Trust me. It's not that complicated.
There is no fool like an old fool.

Of course, there's another take on all of this. Read the top 10 things about Palin here. These things certainly freak me out. But I'm much more concerned about Shelby Steele's assessment of Obama's chances of winning. He asks the most frightening question: "Is America now the kind of society that can allow a black — of
whatever pedigree — to become the most powerful human being on earth,
the commander of the greatest military in history?"

The next question is: will America survive as the country I want to live in if Obama loses?

Of many things, including that Chinese visa

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Fencing for the nonexistent crowds was gone, but there were twice as many people milling around inside the consulate when I arrived to pick up my visa. Despite the seeming chaos I was out in minutes, passport and visa for 60 days in hand. Whoopee! Now I can continue making plans without changing my plane tickets. Stay tuned for more details.

After this most important task we went to the Museum of Biblical Art and looked at a spectacular Durer show. I am amazed at the wonderful condition of these 500 year old prints.

My medications finally seem to be properly adjusted. I haven't had any palpitations for the last four days; the longest stretch I've had since all of this began. I'm now taking twice the amount of both meds as I began with, but it's still not much.

Monday was optician day. I went to see my contact lens doctor in the morning. She's the only doctor I still see in New York. I wasn't happy with the person I was referred to in Pittsburgh. The lenses she was prescribing would have cost more than my going out of network and returning to New York. I asked the Pittsburgh doc if I would see any better with the more expensive lenses and was told they would be the same. Returning to NY seemed a no brainer to me.

When I went to that Keratoconus meeting last month I found out about a study of possible genetic links in KC being conducted at Columbia. In the afternoon I went through an hour of testing and donated two small vials of blood to be part of the study. Since my mother also had KC I felt I might make some kind of contribution.

I loved Hillary's speech last night. Too bad she didn't have that same positive approach during the campaign. I really had no preference going into the campaign–only for the person who would unseat the Republicans. When Hillary became so nasty toward Obama I felt I couldn't vote for her. I particularly liked her saying: her mother was born before women were able to vote–her daughter was able to vote for her for president. Let's hope the next president will be a woman, but right now I still feel the most important thing is to get the Republicans out.

Hannah’s Bat Mitzvah

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Preparation for a bar or bat mitzvah is difficult and takes a long time. The child, becoming an adult, is expected to learn to chant, not just read, in Hebrew, a portion of the Torah. To understand it sufficiently to speak about it as part of the service. Hannah was required to read the first portion of Eikev, Deuteronomy 7:12-11:25, a long section where God is telling the Israelites to obey his laws and not take for granted the land of milk and honey he is about to give them.

Beware that you do not forget the Lord, your God, by not keeping His
commandments, His ordinances, and His statutes, which I command you
this day,

lest you eat and be sated, and build good houses and dwell therein,

and your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and gold increase, and all that you have increases,

and your heart grows haughty, and you forget the Lord, your God, Who
has brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage,

I can't believe that I, the unbeliever am quoting scripture, but I really enjoyed this one.

You shall know that, not because of your righteousness, the Lord, your
God, gives you this land to possess it; for you are a stiffnecked
people.

Remember do not forget, how you angered the Lord, your God, in the
desert; from the day that you went out of the land of Egypt, until you
came to this place, you have been rebelling against the Lord.

I wonder about the mixed message the kids get from this–reading the stern message of God and all the while preparing for the PARTY, the place, the music, the food, the dress. I don't mean this as a criticism of Hannah and her parents. They are great people and have done a wonderful job of raising Hannah and her brother. I am very fond of all of them. I just can't help but wonder, in general, at the failure of the real message, because clearly, we fail. In most cases the party far outshadows what should be the real learning experience; both the child and parents learn only about parties. Pictures of the party when I return home.

More China censorship stuff

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Here's a column by Nicholas Kristof from today's New York Times with more about blogging and censorship. I don't think it applies to my problem. All I can do is wait and see what happens when I get there.

I was able to see the Acer ultra light laptop at Best Buy today. It's slightly larger and looks much better than the Asus I looked at before. The keys are more comfortable. I hope I can make a decision on it soon. There's one more I'd like to see.

Where did the week go

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I thought I was going to have lots of time in New York, but half my time is gone and I've hardly done anything. Our supposed arrival on Monday night became Tuesday morning instead. We remained near Philly on Monday and spent much of the day at Swarthmore, one of the colleges Charna wanted to visit. I can't believe she'll be going to college next year. I knew less than nothing about Swarthmore–what I thought I knew was wrong. I didn't walk around the campus with them–still avoiding sunshine–but happily sat through the info session and was hugely impressed. It sounds like a great place, although I suspect these info sessions always make the schools sound great. But they talked about things I think are important and skipped all the other things they could have said.

I got dropped off at Renee's apartment about noon on Tuesday. The Chinese consulate website said Monday and Tuesday were bad days to come, too busy, so I opted not to go. I walked down to 86th St., stopping for frozen yogurt for lunch (bad move, but one of my favorite lunches), finally getting to Best Buy where I had hoped to find the ultra light laptop I want to buy. They had one, not for sale, the last time I was here, but no more. Since then a number of others, slightly larger but no heavier, different processor, have been announced, but no one seems to have them in stock. Robin recommended this one, but I'm not happy about ordering unless I'm sure I'll get it quickly. I'm also not sure what the delay is about. My former husband was an electronics engineer. Sometimes whatever company he was working for would announce a new product and take pictures of an empty box. This is known as vaporware (love that word) and I'm a little concerned these computers are really vaporware.

Tuesday night Renee and I went to see Woody Allen's new flick. She was bored; I rather enjoyed it. There was a lot in it I related to. Wednesday morning you know about. By afternoon, somewhat cooled down, we went to the Bronx Botanical Garden. It was a wonderful day–sunny, not too hot–perfect weather for walking around. We looked at the Henry Moore sculptures and took two rides on the tram, we like it so well.

Today we will be going out to Long Island for Hannah's Bat Mitzvah, another one of those where did the time go moments. We'll be staying until Sunday afternoon.