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.