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A Vacation Trip to the Southland and a Dance with Sepsis and Hematuria

This is a two-part adventure. The first part is the vacation trip that Tony and I took to the “Southland” in July for two weeks, starting July 7, 2013. The second is about my dance with Sepsis and Hematuria, “Greek Goddesses of Death,” that began on July 23.

The first part was wonderful, except for the “Slow-Kyll Expressway” in Philadelphia. The second part was unbelievably weird, and it’s not over yet (August 12). You can skip the vacation narrative in part one if you like. Please don’t skip the dance with death in part two.

Part One: The Vacation in the "Southland"
Tony and I decided to spend a week in the “Southland” visiting his family and friends in New Jersey and Pennsylvania and a week visiting my family and friends in Maryland and Washington, DC. (To Mainefolk, anyone from outside Maine is “from away” regardless of how long they live in Maine, and anyone from south of New York City is from somewhere “south.”)
The first week we visited Tony’s father, who is 88; Tony’s siblings Frankie, Fleshia, and Drusilla, and their families in New Jersey; Tony’s first lover of decades ago, Jim, who is now in an Alzheimer's unit outside Philadelphia; and Tony’s long-term friends Fay and Jay, with whom we stayed for a week and whom we thank for their truly gracious hospitality. We also got to have lunch and an afternoon with my cousin Shelly and her husband and son near Quakertown.
Fay and Jay took us to see Beth Sholom temple just north of Philadelphia, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. It was intended to be an American Jewish synagogue, rather than a Jewish synagogue in America. It has a hexagonal vaulted single membrane dome of metal and Plexiglas that still looks very avant-garde but is very hard to cool and heat.
They also took us to New Hope, PA / Lambertville, NJ, a very artsy enclave on the Delaware River. At Ramon Roblédo’s gallery in Lambertville, I bought Tony for his birthday a silkscreen print of Jimi Hendrix by John Emery.
Beth Sholom Temple by Frank Lloyd Wright
Beth Sholom Temple by Frank Lloyd Wright
 
I also bought a black and white sketch of a male torso with stunningly beautiful lines, as seen from the rear, by Ramon. We also bought lots of books.
The Philadelphia area traffic is very taxing, the worst I have ever experienced in my life including Boston, New York, DC, and Los Angeles---especially the Slow-kyll (they call it the Schuylkill) Expressway, which repeatedly goes back and forth from three lanes to two and cannot begin to handle the volume. Stay away! The water was also the worst I’ve ever had. I think I was poisoned.
The second week we spent with my son Jeffrey and his family, as well as my old friends Don, Fernando, and Ken in Washington and Andy and Joe in Baltimore. We spent four days with Jeffrey and the kids seeing the National Air and Space Museum, the B & O Museum in Baltimore, and the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.
We made two trips to the Rockville Barnes & Noble, one for Tony and me and one for Jeffrey, Eleanor, and Henry. Tony and I alone visited the National Gallery of Art, where we concentrated first on Medieval and Renaissance paintings. I have never seen so many weird-little-old-men faces of Baby Jesus in my life. One looked like a pig and several like little old men. Who did these artists think Our Little Lord Jesus was!!!
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