InMotion

My wife Carol and I have returned from an extended (23 day) live-in experience with my 92 year old father in his apartment in the Memory Care unit of his retirement community.  He moved into memory care a couple months ago, and for a while before that, it appeared that he was nearing death. Carol and my sister Cindy decided that we would stay with him for his last weeks, and we took turns living with him.  We appreciate more deeply and better understand the work staff in these places do. Lots of bathroom time.  Understatement.  Now Dad's recovered some physical abilities. He is still able to walk, talk, and laugh, but has very little short term memory.  His thoughts and memories and present experience seem to blend and twist into surprising shapes and utterances that challenge one's ability to make sense of anything.  Being his son and having all those shared years with him at a tender young age the things he says and does often trigger emotions and thoughts that add to the

What do you do when your father is 92 years old  and his equipment (heart, kidneys, structural supports, brain) starts going on the fritz big time?  Well, I have concluded that there is something I can do to help, and here I am trying to do that. After my mom died in 2004, he lived alone for 12 years  in the independent apartment section of a 3-tiered senior living facility in Spring Park, Minnesota, 20 miles west of the Twin Cities.  3 years ago, while walking in his apartment he fell and broke one of the vertebrae in his neck.  He's never made it back to the independent living he enjoyed, and now my sister Cindy and I are here seeing what's what and hoping to return to our  "regular lives" in the not too distant "future".  My parents raised my 3 sisters and I in Michigan, and 2 of the sisters still live there. I live in Louisiana, and Linda, the oldest of us 4 sibs, took a long life journey that finds her currently pretty much home-bound with disabilitie

 After 2 weeks back in New Orleans, on Nov. 15 I arrived here in Spring Park Minnesota, where my dad resides in a dementia unit of a care facility.  This is a unique and intense emotional as well as physical journey.  I am squeezing this post in early Sunday morning, while dad is still sleeping.  Soon we will begin the day, and I promise to return with another post and will try to report from this very different place I find myself in now. From New Orleans' newest bicycle bridge, Wisner street City Park

Monday: Quick moment between very slow trips across the apartment and other aspects of life with my dad here in Minnesota. We're getting it all together as we the family take over all the care from the care center, with spectacular help from my wife Carol and sister Cindy. I'm back (Tuesday afternoon), had to stop writing because I am too distracted here in the studio apartment with dad.  I am just here.  I don't have a profound insight on the end of life or my relationship to my dad, but being here is just what it is, is important, is real. He's now finally drifted off for an early afternoon nap. He may awaken anytime, so I'll just post these pictures, taken on my bike rides.  I will continue trying to write when I can.  I have been able to ride for an hour or more on 6 of the 9 days we've been here so far.  I liken it to plugging into a charger, beautiful.  Late afternoon, Dakota rail-trail, Mound, MN (across the street from dads place) bridge over

I'm going to try and do a stream of consciousness piece.  Last night I slept pretty well. I like curling up under the covers and feeling as if I'm in a cocoon, safe and sound while metamorphosing.  Only 3 times up with dad during the night, to help him with the bathroom.  He and I might have synchronized bladders at this point in time.  Dad is having markedly reduced cognitive function, as a result of heart, lung, and kidney functional depletion (old age). Carol and I along with my sister from Michigan have decided that for the next few weeks at least, a person will be here and with him 24 hours a day.  As you might imagine, we are taking this one day at a time.  Will this plan last until his 93rd birthday in April?  That last sentence is not in keeping with the previous one, which gets priority, so enough said.  I do feel peaceful about this, and I am happy to be in a position to do it.  Our good friends Jim and Annie are trailer-sitting for us with our rig in their drivewa

Here's a short post on something we've been reading and want to recommend.  As we head west in our Toyota 4-runner and Airstream Sport (collectively called "home"), we've been listening to Michael Pollan read us his book, How to Change Your Mind .  Today's installment concerned reports of the drug psilosybin used at high doses in subjects that volunteered for the study.  They could be enrolled in the trial if they had a diagnosis of cancer carrying a life-shortening prognosis and were anxious about their impending decline and death.  I found the report astounding.  As a life long "dabbler" and current practitioner in eastern philosophy and Buddhism, the descriptions of what might be going on in "the mind" of the participants as they have a drug-induced trip were familiar.  Not the hallucinations and all that, but what might be happening in the brain and the mind to change what we accept as the "truth" of our  experience of reality

The Kavanaugh thing: The nation becomes more harsh, more protective of the capitalists, more open to influence by rude, crude, pathetically limited human beings.  In the face of this cycle of foolishness, we all can be ourselves, express ourselves, and help empower those around us that seek to contribute to the common good.  While we continue to exist in this cruel environment, we can be kind.  Of course there's anger.  Often, I don't know what to do with it or feel ambushed by it.  The Buddhists say you can transform it into wisdom.  See Nasty Woman Meditation , Tricycle Magazine Summer 2018. Here we are, almost plunging into winter and with these opportunities ahead to collectively vote for change.  Personally,  I notice that anger can rise up so fast, it can be breathtaking.  It's just right there, just below the surface.  It's got to be helpful to work with it skillfully.  We're going to be angry a lot, so we can be assured of having ample opportunities to pra

Just received a letter from my son Tyler, who got married on August 31.  Handwritten, thanking my wife Carol and I for helping out before during and after the wedding.  Here are the words he used in reference to the time we shared together: Chaotic, loving, bonding, collaborative, enchanting.  Agree.  Thanks, Tyler.  I continue on, dreaming of living free of expectations of any kind, "loving what is" as Byron Katie  says. Here is where we were earlier today: Carol at our campsite in 29 Palms. Two miles from a big  (8000 folks) Marine base (Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center) and 10 miles from Joshua Tree National Park Joshua Tree National Park.  Rockpiles, but these are really good ones.  We're in Arizona now, I plan to tell you more about it. We had 17 days in California. We'll be back.

There’s a literary magazine that I enjoy occasionally called The Believer. At the beginning of articles they have a short paragraph or a few lines displayed thusly: Discussed: and then key words or phrases are listed.   An example from Steve Silberman’s piece in the Aug./Sept. issue about Bill Evans and the song Nardis partly goes as follows: Discussed: “Reeves Sound Studios, A Musical Vacuum, The Mind That Thinks Jazz, Collective Sympathy,...” I’m going to try and follow that practice on the blog, so that readers can catch something of the content before plunging in.   So here goes: Discussed in this post: United Bicycle Institute, Cognitive Grooves, Morning Pages, A Son Has A Party Ashland, Oregon: I attended the week-long course Introduction to Bicycle Maintenance . It’s really interesting what happens when I am in a learning environment.   I get anxious and my cognition gets into a groove resonating with the idea of poor performance, or something like that.   Yo

Why haven't I posted to the blog for so long? Here's the reason: I am tired.  Writing is work, and I am procrastinating.  Totally will not bore you with excuses, although I do have a bunch and some are quite nicely thought out, I think. Maintaining a life on the road comes with so many tasks (like today, I have to add to the to-do list "how to fix a leak in an RV sewer hose"). I can get distracted; it's easy to come to the conclusion that I "don't have the time".  Ha Ha.  But here I challenge myself: within a day or 2 after our September 23-26 visit to my son Tyler's in-laws (they attained that status on August 31), I will sit with the blank page.  Something will appear.  You will find it here.

I keep reflecting on my astonishment during the  Roanoke performance Sunday as the afternoon became evening this last July at the  Hiawatha Folk Festival  in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  The issue is covers.  I have let it slip that I am often experiencing peak live music performance moments of bliss when great artists known for their creative work and possessed of excellent chops cover songs I have loved.  Often, these are songs I played on vinyl until the inevitable scratches led to skips (what we called "buffering" back in the day). One example is Sarah Jarosz' cover of Paul Simon's  Kathy's Song  on Austin city limits some years ago (the link is a different live performance, I think).  Wow.  I got to thinking about how our experience (Sarah's and mine) are the same and different.  I don't think artists cover songs they don't think are incredible, and so we both are enjoying the artistry of the song, me along with my finely honed sense of s

22nd Annual Sisters Folk Festival (link below) starts today.  We are 4 miles up the road from the festival site, and we have our bikes and bright lights.  Right now, I am ensconced in the Lodge (our pet name for our 22 ft. Bambi Airstream travel trailer). I am clicking on music links to try and craft our festival experience.  We have friends to share the experience with, we are very happy.  Yet, as all the other experiences on the road/river rush by us (feels like bumping along on a stretch of rapids),  I notice that my blog post on the  Hiawatha Traditional Music Festival  was left on banks of the river a couple months ago.  Here, I'll go look for it.  Be back shortly.  I know, "shortly" could be longly.  I will try, try, try.  22nd Annual Sisters Folk Festival

Right now, it's Tuesday afternoon in Tacoma.  I've just had lunch and a shower, and before that a bike ride along a route formerly traveled several times a week when I was a Tacoma resident.  I visited Costco and REI and came out of it with my glasses newly adjusted and a resignation to continue shopping for shoes and other elements of my wardrobe for my son Tyler's wedding on August 31.  We spent 3 days at the ocean on the southern Washington state coast, at Seaview and Ilwaco.  It was the 10th year in a row that Carol and I and 8 others have done this, at the same beach house rental.  Spectacular.   Discovery Trail We are on the road, and have no nearby place to park our travel trailer.  A friend cleared brush on her land and had an electrical service installed for us, but that's 20 miles away from everyone.  Have you lived this way before, no home and no reservations?  I haven't.  Friends are so generous, they will offer to help in so many ways.  They provide b

BILLINGS, MONTANA.  Hard to crystallize a  coherent report when every week is pretty much a vacation that I used to have only once a year. That's my current excuse for not writing much recently.  However, I am almost certain that I will be able to put together a report of my experience at the Hiawatha Traditional Music Festival last month, and that will be fun to write and hopefully a good read.  So stay tuned.  I do have some photos: Ronald D. Gramenz A few steps from our camp in the cottonwoods on the bank of the Little Missouri  River. Medora, ND Theodore Roosevelt National Park Big "Medora Musical" venue where they serve up the cheesy patriotic song and dance to 2000+ folks.  The extreme jump roping visiting troupe made a great impression.  I think Cardi B was in the song rotation.

I am writing from the Back Channel Brewing Company, so named for their location on part of Lake Minnetonka just west of the twin cities.  You can get good beer anywhere you go.  Challenge now is to find a way to coalesce road experience into a useful post.  Carol says that you can just tell everyone that you are living each day to the fullest, and to mention the walk in the park you had today with your dad, who is 92 years old.  We also competed on the putting green located at his assisted living residence. He won. So there. I'm sure something will percolate up for future posting; you can consider this blog post a substitute for a blank page.  I think I'm suffering from writer's block.  Now, I have to post a few recent photos representing our travels from Kewadin, MI to Savage, MN.  I have to do this because if I do a new blog post, I will reward myself with a Ten Letter Word IPA from Back Channel.  I would have included a picture of my dad, but I am having techn

It's the Michigan motto: "if you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you". OK, this is the Michigan/Family portion of the trip (July 1-29 in MI).  I was born in Sault St. Marie in 1952.  Actually, I spent the years 1952-1979 and 1985-1988 living in Michigan, so I'm in for 30 years.  Just about the same amount of time living in Washington State, with 5 years in Maine.  So I'm not really a Michigander, I'm a Michimaine-Washwanderer right now.  Holy cow!   Our trip up to Michigan from New Orleans took us thru Montgomery AL, Nashville TN, Lexington KT, and Fort Wayne IN. In this blog, I plan to reflect back at times, so not all posts will be in chronological order.  Nashville, June 22-25.  A bike path called the Music City Bikeway is an east-west corridor, and Carol and I used that to get from our KOA in northeast Nashville to the Country Music Hall of Fame downtown.  The path is notable for a wonderful bridge across the Cumberland river. The Hall is

Day 2 here in Nashville. Tomorrow Carol and I will spend some time at the Country Music Hall of Fame.  There is a new exhibit there on the "Outlaws" of country music in the 70's including Waylon Jennings, Chris Kristopherson, Willie Nelson and others.  I will post impressions afterward.  Strangely, my first and only visit to the famous Ryman Auditorium involved politics: a road show presentation and taping of the podcast Pod Save America .  You can check it out wherever you get your podcasts!  The musical element to the performance was the theme to the show, played REALLY LOUD.  A local woman working on issues with immigrants was the featured guest; I have listened to a bunch of episodes, and the interviews with local activists and politicians have been a highlight.  Interview with Jon Lovett Doing laundry today, but also was happy to bike on the Music City Bikeway from Froggy Bottoms to the downtown area early this morning, about 15 miles round trip (I love Sunday mor

In the early 90's, occasionally jazz music would find it's way into my predominantly pop-music playlist.  One such was a 1995 release called Rhythm Within  by trombonist Steve Turre with Herbie Hancock on piano, Pharoah Sanders on tenor sax, and John Faddis on trumpet along with 12 other players.  I loved the mysterious vibe invoked by Mr. Turre's playing of the seashells (mostly conch shells), something he reportedly learned from Rashan Roland Kirk.  He and the other musicians on the record would play shells of various sizes (conchs have an extremely limited range so you need several), with specially modified "mouthpieces" crafted into the shells.  When I heard that he was playing at the tiny club Snug Harbor in New Orleans, I got a ticket right away.  The quartet  was billed as being co-led by Turre with local drummer and Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra member Herlin Riley. This quartet was put together just for 2 performances, and included a pianist and a bass

Carol and I are going to be traveling, living in our 22 foot Airstream Sport travel trailer.  We have some road experience, purchasing the Lodge, as it's dubbed, in the Tacoma area and traveling with it for about 5000 miles, taking the long way to get to New Orleans last fall.  Now, we will reverse course and head back to Tacoma, followed by a trip down thru Oregon and California, eventually turning left and  crossing Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas back to Louisiana. I am predicting adventures, and hope to be able to report on some of these thru this medium.  I am a neophyte and no doubt will learn as I go. Right now, we are deciding on what to bring along, and getting the rig ready for the road.  We'll get those tires pumped, the lug nuts tightened, and the batteries charged.  Let's see, am I forgetting something?  I do like the challenge of learning RV stuff and the setup and breakdown rituals.  On our maiden cruise down here, we kept up a fairly brisk pace and it was

Here in New Orleans.  Carol and I have been festivalling at another one: this is the Tomato Festival, I think it's the Creole tomato fest.  We walked the French Market, heard about cooking heard music and watched dancing (I did my exercise routine for knee surgery recovery instead), and wondered if there would be a big rainstorm due to the dark sky and loud thunder.  Just a few fat raindrops, then back to sun and heat (88 now). News: Carol and I will be leaving for Montgomery Alabama on Tuesday June 19, and will have stops in Nashville KY, Lexington KY, Fort Wayne IN, Grand Rapids MI, and Kewaydin MI.  Our rig batteries have a fresh charge, we are set  for launch and learn!