TODAY’S RANT

On a visit to the eye doctor last week I had to wait an hour and a half to see her, which is unusual because she’s usually only a few minutes behind schedule.  When I finally got in, she apologized and said that was the first day they were implementing the new program mandated by the federal government as part of Obamacare.  They now have to upload all patient information to the feds, and it was taking so much time that they were running late.  She said she will have to hire more staff to handle all the paperwork.  At the same time the feds are cutting back on what Medicare will pay doctors and hospitals.    She said she’s young enough to deal with it and she loves her work, but many of her older colleagues are thinking of retiring because they just don’t want to cope with it all.  I said, “This is a disaster in the making, isn’t it?” and she said, “Yes.”

All of us on Medicare will continue to get benefits as usual, but what good will that do us if our doctor(s) retire and no other doctor(s) will take us?  If it costs doctors more to treat us than they can get in fees, more will refuse to treat Medicare patients, at which point the feds would probably demand that they treat us.  That would drive more doctors out of practice.

Perhaps the scariest part of all this is that the federal government will have access to all our medical records, and that’s how they will determine what treatments we will be allowed to have.  If you’re old and have myriads of health problems, you will not get expensive treatments because your “quality years of life remaining” is low. 

Why do the people who rail against having to show photo ID at the polling place seem to have no problem with the federal government having all our health records?  Where is the AMA, which is supposed to be looking after doctors’ interests?  Where is AARP, which is supposed to be looking after seniors’ interests?  Where  are the libertarians who hate any government intrusion into our lives?  WHERE IS EVERYBODY? 

No matter what your age, you need to be concerned about where this is going.  If you think you’ll get all the medical care you need when you need it and all for free, you’re naive.

Here is a good article, and here is another (by the New York Times, not exactly a bastion of conservatism).

Use your heads, people.

LETTER FROM ISRAEL (Part 1 of 4)

This year in Jerusalem

Dear Lois,

Last week our group held our long-awaited study vacation in Jerusalem. Because the traffic situation is horrendous, it was decided to stay in a centrally-located hotel and do most of our sightseeing on foot. Our regulars who use walkers and others who can’t walk for hours opted out, so we were only 32.

I’m going to divide the vacation into four “chapters” because we did so much and because Fridel took hundreds of photos.

The first day we drove to Jerusalem (2 hours from Haifa), checked into the hotel, had some lunch, and met everyone as planned at 3:30pm.

We headed for a series of neighborhoods which were among the first to be built (in the 1880′s ) outside the Old City walls. Before that Jerusalemites, including Jews, lived within the safety of the city walls. The walls were locked after dark and provided protection from the wild animals and Beduin robbers outside. The conditions for all were unsanitary and crowded. The Jews lived on contributions from Jews abroad who thus helped maintain a Jewish presence in Jerusalem.

That afternoon we visited Nachlaot and Mahane Yehuda. The various Nachlaot neighborhoods were established by groups of Sephardic Jews. (Sephardic Jews are the descendants of the Spanish Jews who were expelled from Spain in 1492. 　They dispersed in every direction: to Holland, making their way to the Americas with the Dutch; to the Levant and Asia Minor to Turkey, Syria, Greece, Bulgaria, etc; to North Africa, and of course to the Holy Land.) The model for each neighborhood was a rectangle of attached houses with a common courtyard and only one entrance from the street for easier defense. The buildings are old but charming; many are being lovingly restored.

Mahane Yehuda is especially interesting because of the main Jerusalem Suk. A Suk is an indoor-outdoor market place. Fridel goes to Haifa’s Suk twice a week for fruits and vegetables, but many people buy fish, meat, candies and baked goods, even hardware and paper products. I am not a suk person, but it is handy that Fridel is. Prices and quality are better than at the “super.”

From Mahane Yehuda we walked back to the hotel via Jaffa Road (literally the beginning of the road from Jerusalem to Jaffa) and saw the Light Rail. I have not met anyone who has a good word to say about the Light Rail. This project, which was supposed to eliminate congestion, took double the projected building time and tied up center city for years, ruining many businesses. 　Several bus lines were cancelled and people in the outlying neighborhoods who used to reach any place by bus now have to walk or take cabs. Tickets can only be bought by machines that don’t always work. There is a stiff fine for boarding without a ticket, a nasty surprise for out-of-towners and tourists.

Our evening program was, as usual, social.

Love, Marsha

(Marsha and Fridel are coming to the U.S. this week, but unfortunately we won’t be seeing them this time.  Last time they were here, we happened to be on a trip East and we are able to meet with them for a lovely visit.  Look for more on this series on Jerusalem when they get back to Israel.)

Our hotel was on a very short pedestrian street.

Nachlaot street.

Courtyard.

The Suk, outside portion.

Suk, one of the covered “streets.”

Suk, more.

Jaffa Road with the hated Light Rail.

Sephardic synagogue with lovely wrought iron and ceramic tiles.  On the left is “Eshet Hile,” a tribute to the ideal wife and mother. The door features the 12 tribes.  On the right is a charity box and a board with times of worship.

Jerusalem street scene.

An example of how poor eyesight can skew things:  I read the phrase “really attempts to be fair” as “rarely attempts to be fair.”  A bit of difference in meaning, right?

I have a Letter from Israel waiting in the wings to be put up here – a really interesting one (and notice I didn’t say “a rarely interesting one”).  I’m sorry it’s been so long, Marsha, but it’ll happen soon.

(Back temporarily with a stray thought.  Hope to resume real blogging next week.)

Well, I don’t know.  But it seems to me that if you don’t want pictures published of yourself topless or bottomless, then don’t go outside topless or bottomless, no matter how private you think the venue is.

I am now operating with half an eye.  The eye that was operated on yesterday has 20/150 vision today, and my “good” eye won’t be very good until I get my new glasses lens in two weeks.  The world is all soft and fuzzy but not conducive to doing anything that requires good vision.  I will be back whenever the lights go on in my head again.

I had eye surgery on my other eye today (so glad I have just two eyes, but of course very thankful to have the full set of two), and all I want to do is sleep.  Check back tomorrow to see if I’m awake enough to make sense.  (This did make sense, didn’t it?)

ODDS AND ENDS

I love lobster, but I won’t order it anywhere but the Coast of Maine.  The longer a lobster is out of the ocean, the less taste it has.  Order it at The Red Lobster?  Not on your life!  “Lobster on the hoof” (while in the shell sitting on your plate) is wonderful, but in the summer the lobster sheds its old shell and grows a new one.  Until it fills out the new shell, there’s a lot of water in the claws.  You pay dearly for a big lobster, crack it open, and water pours out.  Always ask if it’s a hard lobster or a soft one.  If it’s soft, flee.  A lobster roll is a much better buy.  The work has already been done for you.  I had five lobster rolls while in Maine, and one lobster omelet.  You might say I had -

Jerry is of Dutch descent, and when I saw this boat I couldn’t resist posing him with it.

It had been many years since I had seen seaweed, what with the Great Lakes not having tides and all, and  I got reacquainted with it on this trip.  It looks – and smells – the same.  An 11-foot tide is a BIG tide, my friends.

At one restaurant Jerry the Scientist found out his silverware was magnetized. We asked the waitress about it and she said yeah, some of it is.  No one knows why.

It was a great trip and I was able to revisit places that are dear to my heart.  Some of my happiest memories are of times spent on the island of Vinalhaven with my grandmothers and my only aunt.  They thought I was wonderful, despite all evidence to the contrary, and all children need people like that in their early years.  Never say never, but I don’t expect to ever go back .  It was good to revisit it all and see my dear relatives in my heart and mind.

OH CANADA

It’s hard to think of Canada as a foreign country since Canadians look like us, talk like us and have the same kind of coins, but it does require a passport or enhanced driver’s license to get into it.  I do miss the days when such wasn’t needed to go between the two countries, but we will never see those times again.  We’ve been there many times over the years and have never had a bad experience.  We’ve found the people very friendly and helpful.  It’s a beautiful country and we’ve loved it as our “second country.”

We drove across Ontario on our way home, stopping for a boat cruise of the Thousand Islands area on the St. Lawrence River, which borders the U.S. and Canada.  We went to a small museum and I saw this ship model, among others.  I do love these big models and wish I had the knowledge and patience to build one.

This was the boat we took on a 2 1/2 hour cruise.

This gull was sitting not three feet from me until we got underway.  Obviously he’s used to being around people.  I think gulls are beautiful – too bad they’re such scavengers, but I guess something has to be.

This is one of the Thousand Islands I would like to have.

Unfortunately this is the one we could afford.  Maybe.

In the early ’70s when our boys were growing up we went to the Thousand Islands area and boated around.  We landed on this island, the site of Boldt Castle.  At that time it was an absolute ruin, open to the elements.  It had been vandalized for 70+ years.  It was being built about 1900 by a millionaire for his wife, but when she died during the process, the husband abandoned the project, even though he had already put a lot of money into it.  In 1977 it was bought by the Thousand Islands Bridge Authority, and since then millions of dollars have been poured into it to make it the way the millionaire had envisoned.  It’s a fascinating story of love and tragedy, and more details can be found here.

We were stunned at how magnificent it is, considering its condition when we last saw it.  We didn’t go ashore, although the 5 hour cruise does so.  It requires a passport or enhanced driver’s license for landing.  I would love to see the inside.

TOMORROW:  Mopping up the trip

SLOGGING THROUGH DEEPEST DARKEST MAINE, NEW HAMPSHIRE AND VERMONT

After Bar Harbor we started the long trip home. 

We think this is Mt. Washington in New Hampshire.  The sun was so bright I couldn’t tell what I was going to get in the picture.  At 6,288 feet, it’s the tallest peak in the northeastern U.S.  The weather is notoriously awful at the top.  It can be a beautiful August day at the bottom and snowing at the top. Winds can top 200 MPH. Perhaps not the best place for a family picnic.

We came upon the Appalachian Trail and decided to hike it.  What, you say, this picture doesn’t prove we hiked it? How about this one.

Yes, we have hiked the Appalachian Trail.  Maybe not from Georgia to Maine, but at least a few hundred feet.  What do you expect from four people with a combined age of 310?

A couple of pictures taken as we made our way across New England:

TOMORROW:  Adventures in a foreign land

Our next stop was Bar Harbor/Acadia National Park.  Sam and I have been there several times, but its beauty never gets old. 

One of my favorite things to do there is sit on the rocks and watch the ocean.  Dee and Jerry liked it too.  Some people brought chairs, but there’s something about sitting on a rock …

These guys were rappelling up and down this cliff.  We chose not to join them.  As you can see, the tide was out.  My mother was right:  ”It’s always low tide.”

I like this shot because of the variety of boats, from a small lobster boat to a cruise ship.

View from the top of Cadillac Mountain.  It’s about 1,520 feet high and is the highest mountain within 25 miles of a coastline on the east coast.  At some times of the year, this is the spot the sun hits the U.S. first  It was a hazy day, but you can see the town of Bar Harbor and even the sand bar which gave the town its name.

They don’t call it the rugged rock-bound coast of Maine for nothing.

Acadia is one of the few national parks on the east coast and so it draws a lot of people.  If you can avoid it, don’t go in the summer.  Parking is limited at the various scenic spots and the crowds are large.  September is an excellent time to go.  The weather is still warm but the crowds have thinned.  It truly is a spectacular place.