Thursday, May 27, 2021

Travel Plans

I’m going back to the Valdez Theatre Conference in Alaska next month.  I’ve been making travel plans since last November, including booking my hotel room, and re-booking the flights that were cancelled a year ago.  The conference is taking all the necessary precautions, and so am I.  One of the reasons I signed up early for the vaccine in February was to be assured that I would be fully vaccinated before I traveled.  The state of Alaska had imposed stringent protocols on travelers arriving from out of state, including mandatory pre-arrival testing and quarantine.  Those have been relaxed, and I have proof — real proof — of vaccination.  So, the show must go on, and it will.  (Just so you know, we will be doing my play “Home-Style Cooking at the Gateway Cafe” on Wednesday, June 23 at 9:00 a.m. Alaska Daylight Time.  That’s 1:00 p.m. EDT.  It will be Zoomed.)

This won’t be my first trip during the pandemic.  Last October I went to Cincinnati to see my mom for the first time since my father died, and we went through all the protocols, and I’m planning another visit later this summer.  But for a lot of people, this coming Memorial Day weekend will be their first trips out of isolation.  Airports are getting busy, rental cars are hard to find, and as is the case in this farkakte country, there are those who, in the name of “freedum,” refuse to go along with the CDC and FAA guidelines on wearing masks.  And they are finding out just how much that rebellion is costing them.

I hope that those folks are nowhere near my flights in June; I have tight connections to Anchorage and I don’t need the disruption of some MAGA maskhole grounding my flight while he strikes a blow for liberty and gets perp-walked through DFW.

How about you?  What are your travel plans, if any, this summer?

Saturday, December 5, 2020

Friday, October 9, 2020

Travel Day

For the first time since January, I’m taking a trip.  I’m heading off to visit my mom, whom I haven’t seen since last January.  I’m also taking her my old yet refurbished laptop so she can get back on line.

I have a very early flight out of Miami, so this will be it until I get to my hotel and get settled in.

Thursday, January 2, 2020

Travel Day

Out this morning for Cincinnati and the embrace of friends and family.  I’ll be back Sunday night and will keep up my light and variable blogging until Monday when things get back to what passes for normal around here.  Play nice.

Saturday, November 23, 2019

Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Travel Day

I’m in Orlando at a charter school conference in a very nice resort with very spotty internet access, so this will be it for the day.

Monday, October 21, 2019

Catching Up

It was a long weekend in Lakeland.  The fuel system on the Pontiac had some issues to the point that we got about 85 miles from Miami and had to turn around and come home.  We left the Pontiac at Bob’s house and took his car.  Tropical Storm Nestor moved across Florida and brought heavy rains Friday night and Saturday morning so the show was moved lock, stock, and barrel into three covered public garages.  By 11:00 a.m. the weather cleared and the rest of the day was beautiful.  The photo was from later in the day when the clouds had cleared to the east but some more rain showers were moving in.

We left early Sunday morning (and a shorting-out fire alarm system at 4:30 a.m. didn’t help with a good night’s sleep, neither did walking down nine flights of stairs carrying our luggage because the elevators were locked out) and got home around 11:00 a.m.

I’m taking the Pontiac into the shop this morning, then catching up on some work once I get to school.  So I’ll be back a little later to catch up on what’s been going on.

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Travel Day

I’m heading out later this morning for Kansas City and the third annual Midwest Dramatists Conference.  I’ve been at all the previous conferences and made great friends and learned a lot about the craft and art.  Plus, they have a great barbecue joint next to the hotel.

This year they are doing a reading of “A Life Enriching Community,” which is one of my ten-minute plays written originally for Miami 1-Acts, and has the distinction of being the last play I performed in.

Anyway, blogging will be light and variable for the rest of the week.

Saturday, September 14, 2019

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Traveling

One of the things I heard leading up to retirement was “Oh, now you’ll have time to travel!”  Well, yes, I might, but I certainly did enough while I was working full-time because I was earning paid vacation.  (Depending on how you look at it, retirement is paid vacation…)

Anyway, I’m heading out today for a few days to visit my parents in Cincinnati.  So I’ll see you on the road.

Wednesday, July 31, 2019

The Last Time I Saw Pecos

Eighteen years ago today I left Albuquerque to move to Miami. It was me, Sam, the Pontiac, and my philodendron. All the rest was on the moving van. We left at 6:30 p.m., made it to Pecos, Texas, by midnight, and spent the whole next day driving across Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, finally crossing the Florida border after midnight, August 2 (I had vowed I would not stop in either Mississippi or Alabama). We arrived in Miami at the home of Bob and Ken 48 hours after leaving Albuquerque. Sam’s gone, but I still have the Pontiac and the philodendron.

The afternoon of July 31, 2001, was the last time I saw Allen until 2013. It was also the inspiration for my play “Last Exit.”

Saturday, June 22, 2019

Random Youtubery

When I was in Alaska, I flew from Anchorage to Valdez on Ravn Air in a turboprop plane.  Here’s a look at the first turboprop, and I remember flying on one of these, too.

Wednesday, June 19, 2019

Traveling Companion

Allen and I loved to travel, and we had some of our best memories together when we went to Europe, to Jamaica, to Montserrat, and many road trips when we lived in Michigan and New Mexico. So in that spirit, so to speak, I took Allen along with me to Alaska, knowing that he wouldn’t let a little thing like death interfere with a visit to a place he always wanted to see. And I could hear him say, “You went to Alaska and didn’t take ME?”

So here is proof that he did get to go.

Tuesday, June 18, 2019

Catching Up

So, what’s been going on down here while I’ve been up in the Last Frontier?

I really didn’t grasp how far it is from there to here until I got home and realized that it took over 20 hours — including layovers — just to do the trip without incident. Some of my friends are still waiting for their connections, and they’re not going as far. For the record, I was the winner of the farthest-traveled from within the U.S., but there were three participants at VLFTC from Australia. They win, mate.

I’m taking the day to catch up on stuff at home (not to mention laundry), so I’ll be back later.

Monday, June 17, 2019

Back Home Again

It took about 20 hours, including seven of those being layovers in Anchorage and Los Angeles, but I’m home again after an amazing week of theatre, friendship, learning, growing, doing, and becoming.  The Valdez Last Frontier Theatre Conference has imprinted on me an appreciation for the craft I practice (and practice and practice) and created a bond with people I admire and truly feel a connection with both as a writer and a human being.

I took this picture as I was heading back to the hotel after the last event, the gala dinner and celebration. It was getting late, but as I’ve shown over the last ten days, the sun doesn’t really set in Valdez this time of year. In fact, it wasn’t until my flight landed in Los Angeles this morning at 5:30 a.m. PDT that I saw my first dark night in ten days.

Perhaps that’s a metaphor for the feelings I have for these wonderfully talented friends I’ve made: the light won’t go out. Or, to put it in theatre terms, it’s not goodbye; it’s just intermission.

Saturday, June 15, 2019

Alaskan Cruise

When I told my friends and co-workers that I was going to Alaska for a week, a lot of them assumed I was going on a cruise.  That’s not surprising; cruising from Seattle up along the Pacific coast is a very popular vacation and I know a lot of people who’ve done it.

Well, last night we took our own cruise along part of the Alaska coast.  This was a two-hour cruise through Prince William Sound and by the Shoup Glacier.  Almost all of the VLFTC company went along and we saw some spectacular wilderness along the shoreline, spotted a group of otters playing in the water, and even got to touch a piece of the glacier.

Here are some photos in no particular order.  Enjoy.

Map view of where we were on Prince William Sound.

Heading down the Sound.

The Shoup Glacier.

Those little black dots in the water is a group of otters playing. This is as close as they got to us.

Waterfalls.

A piece of the Shoup Glacier.

More waterfalls.

The conference ends today with a monologue presentation, a slam of ten-minute plays (including “Ask Me Anything”) and a gala dinner. Tomorrow we all head for home.

Friday, June 14, 2019

Happy Friday

The reading of “A Moment of Clarity” was beautiful, and a lot of people in the audience were wiping away tears at the end, as was I.  Thank you, Dick Reichman and Dave Haynes for bringing Clyde and Dan to life.

We still have two more days of fun and theatre here in Valdez, including an evening cruise to see the nearby glacier and perhaps see some wildlife (beyond the fun at the Fringe).

I took a short walk yesterday to the top of an overlook near the convention center and got some photos of the town of Valdez and some of the plant life that grows during the short time they have to grow.

Wednesday, June 12, 2019

This Isn’t Florida

I’ve lived or visited a lot of different places with different climates, and I learn to appreciate the differences.  For instance, in Florida you are very aware of the intensity of the sun so putting on SPF 50 to go out and work in the yard is part of the deal, assuming you care about not getting skin cancer.  Here in coastal Alaska in the summer you carry industrial-strength Off! in your pocket or purse.

This was sent by Bob, and while it’s humorous, it’s applicable. The skeeters here are not as big as the ones in the sign — I think that applies more to northern Minnesota or Michigan — but they’re just as annoying.

The other adjustment is the amount of daylight in the summer.  As I noted previously, this close to the Arctic Circle this time of year, the sky is lit up for 24 hours and the sun is up for over 19.  In Florida we are used to basically 12 hours of daylight year-round and virtually no twilight: when the sun goes down, the sky goes dark almost immediately.

It rained yesterday afternoon and evening. In Florida we’re used to downpours that are localized and heavy. Here on the coast of Alaska, it’s more like a light drizzle and mist that settles in for a while.

I haven’t included any pictures of the plays yet because they haven’t done mine yet.  That changes today — or tonight, actually — when “Gee Your Butt Smells Terrific” goes up at the Fringe.

Tuesday, June 11, 2019

So Far So Great

This is an amazing place to have a theatre conference, and no, we don’t spend all the time in a room watching plays and eating.

Actually a lot of us spend time walking around the town.  Everything is within walking distance, including restaurants and other venues, and the local people have been very welcoming.  Valdez is a summer tourist mecca for trips into the Alaska interior and fishing, and even if the temperatures aren’t subtropical, it’s a nice break from the humidity that awaits my return next week.

As for wildlife, I was told to be on the lookout for moose.  So far all I’ve seen are some of the local indigenous population of rabbits.

And, yes, I have wasted no time doing some shameless self-promotion. If I don’t do it, no one else will.