Sylvia's Journal

The rhythm of my trips abroad has slowed down a bit, but new assignments are on the horizon, at least till the end of June when two major MSH projects will end activities and go in close-down mode.

I am on my way to Cote d’Ivoire. I checked with Faro to see if he still remembered that Abidjan was the capital – he had forgotten but then remembered. Last week he saw something about Lemurs and when he heard that they live in Madagascar he flawlessly pronounced its capital Antananarivo, according to Sita. I don’t think many 4 year olds (or 40 year olds for that matter) in the US would know this.

We have had some wonderfully mild weather which melted the two feet of snow and coaxed small green sprouts out of the ground. But winter is not over in Massachusetts. We have learned not to get our hopes up.

The mild weather invited everyone to go outdoors and walk. But walking these days is, once again, not all that easy. I returned to the local PT outfit and am being treated by a young man whose father grew up in Zutphen (NL) – he speaks Dutch the way Sita does. I am also taking medicine to treat the neuropathy in my left foot; it makes me sleepy and has reduced my energy a bit.

Before heading out to the airport we took a long walk on a local estate with sweeping views over the ocean and uneven terrain. Although I enjoyed the walk it crippled me, and it required a rest stop at a local tea house before I could continue a brief visit to the Cape Ann museum. It is a discouraging development.

The Air France lounge makes the 6 hour wait for my next flight quite pleasant. Aside from the good food and coffee, there is the free 20 minute Clarins face/massage treatment. I was able to get one of the last two spots and enjoyed the treatment. Sometimes it is heavy on the product demo side, sometimes it is more of a facial massage, like today. It was delicious. I feel asleep and then was gently brought back to earth by a soft tap on my shouldere. As an extra bonus I was given a cream to keep my skin from aging and instructions about all the other products I should buy.

I settled back at my headquarter desk, always cranked up high (we can crank it up and down to work either standing or sitting – I stand all the time). We are awaiting the announcement of a new CEO, with anxious anticipation. For me the anticipation is linked to whether I will stay or retire.

I am now in the thick of two courses; one, a paying one, to refine my coaching skills. It is laced with references to recent neuroscience discoveries. The other, prompted by all the references to the brain, a free course on coursera on Understanding the brain: the neurobiology of everyday life. Although the course doesn’t start until this week I am already halfway through. I watched the lesson on hearing with Axel, to better understand his hearing loss. I also learned about my own near vision loss in the module on vision. I am enjoying the course so much that even after a full day at work and two hours of commuting, I can’t wait to log on again. I am learning a ton and hope this will, incidentally, also contribute to my brain’s health.

We had managed to plan our trip to be bookended by two snowstorms. We had missed driving all the way from home in the first storm, at the start of our brief vacation since we stayed over at Sita’s; but on the day of our departure we traveled through the eye of the storm on empty highways, barely plowed and sanded. A trip that should have taken 3 hours, took us 6 hours. Some people thought we were insane. It is amazing how the vision of sitting by the fire in our own living room during a nor’easter provoked us to undertake this trip.

Before we left we were able to visit MassMOCA which was probably the highlight of our trip. The theme was ‘wonder,’ and we did wander the halls in wonderment: Nick Pave’s 1000s of mobiles dangling and twirling from the ceiling, Sol LeWitt’s murals, and more. That alone would have been worth the trip out west, though not necessarily during snowstorms. Hubris, Axel called it, this challenging of the elements.

Just barely back from Maine we packed our bags again and left for Western Massachusetts for a few midweek days with friends at an AirBNB at the very northwest tip of the state that is famous for its mountainous vistas and museums (spellcheck doesn’t allow musea).

Before we left we had a physiatrist doc measure the functioning of my left foot’s sensory and motor nerves to better understand the neuropathy and needle pricks I experience in my left foot that is so severely traumatized, first by the accident and then by the fusion. The closest she could come to give my condition a name is ‘ski-boot syndrome,’ a disturbing sequel to my aviator’s foot (there is no treatment) and could have come from a too tight cast or else it would be nerves tangled up in a mass of scar tissue. I had already resigned myself to the fact that this is just part of my ‘condition humaine.’ I will not subject my foot to another surgical operation which, so far, none of my care takers are recommending, not even the orthopede.

We stayed the first night out west with Sita and Jim. We hadn’t seen our grandkids for about two weeks and could not possibly go to their part of the state without a visit. On Tuesday a snowstorm hit the region and so schools were closed. It was a reminder how this complicates the life of working parents when two kids under 5 are home and you try to get something done. And so the timing was good as I could run after the kids while mom and dad earned money.

The drive from Easthampton to Williamstown should be about one and a half hours but with the snow it took us quite a bit longer, over roads not plowed and the temperature dropping steadily below freezing, a bit of a hairy ride.

We met up with our friends at The Clark Museum in Williamstown, had a lovely lunch and then visited a wonderful exhibit on Japanese woodblock prints.

Just barely back from Maine we packed our bags again and left for Western Massachusetts for a few midweek days with friends at an AirBNB at the very northwest tip of the state that is famous for its mountainous vistas and museums (spellcheck doesn’t allow musea).

Before we left we had a physiatrist doc measure the functioning of my left foot’s sensory and motor nerves to better understand the neuropathy and needle pricks I experience in my left foot that is so severely traumatized, first by the accident and then by the fusion. The closest she could come to give my condition a name is ‘ski-boot syndrome,’ a disturbing sequel to my aviator’s foot (there is no treatment) and could have come from a too tight cast or else it would be nerves tangled up in a mass of scar tissue. I had already resigned myself to the fact that this is just part of my ‘condition humaine.’ I will not subject my foot to another surgical operation which, so far, none of my care takers are recommending, not even the orthopede.

We stayed the first night out west with Sita and Jim. We hadn’t seen our grandkids for about two weeks and could not possibly go to their part of the state without a visit. On Tuesday a snowstorm hit the region and so schools were closed. It was a reminder how this complicates the life of working parents when two kids under 5 are home and you try to get something done. And so the timing was good as I could run after the kids while mom and dad earned money.

The drive from Easthampton to Williamstown should be about one and a half hours but with the snow it took us quite a bit longer, over roads not plowed and the temperature dropping steadily below freezing, a bit of a hairy ride.

We met up with our friends at The Clark Museum in Williamstown, had a lovely lunch and then visited a wonderful exhibit of Japanese woodblock prints.

We spent the weekend in Camden (Maine) and surrounding towns. We met the artist and her husband and son for tea on the day of our arrival and hit it off well. We then went to explore our temporary home.

The town of Camden, as is most of coastal Maine in winter, was quiet and deserted. Only the locals remain, just a few thousands I imagined. They get through the winter by serving each other food, or conducting classes (art, yoga, resume writing), and doing such basic things as tax preparation, snow shoveling and car repairs. Winterfests are organized to keep people from shutting themselves in I suppose. The Camden Winterfest included toboggan races, snow sculptures and a film festival. The wind was harsh and the temperature below freezing which was good for the Winterfest but generally not so great for southerners like us.

After I dropped Axel off I practiced some drawing skills, guided by an imperfect homemade video of an artist who taught me the basics of analytical drawing. In spite of the poor quality of the video I learned a lot – good teachers can work in any medium. A noontime I went to Rockland, some 20 minutes away and visited the deserted Farnsworth Museum which is best known for its collection of 3 generations of Wyeths.  I admired the middle Wyeth’s watercolors which makes me want to pick that up again and take another class; all that is for later when my travel schedule allows for following a series of classes (=retirement).

In the meantime I finished reading two of the three cozy mysteries we bought last week. I am enjoying the hours that Axel has his lessons being free as a bird. I had brought bagfulls of stuff to do leaving me plenty of choices.

I had signed up for a class at the Rockland Art Loft to learn the craft of Zentangle, a meditative form of drawing that consists of a tangle of patterns, executed with great discipline on small tiles with a thin black pen. Although it was not at all the kind of drawing I had wanted to learn during the week, it was fun and added a new practice to bide time when waiting for something to happen, like medical personnel to call your name or planes to land or lift off. The pictures below are from our class. This pdf contains my first-four