May, 2021

May has been an up and down month. There's not much change from last year, but little by little there are changes every so often. A week or so ago, I went into a local country store for lunch with friends, not realizing I had left my mask in the car, but the server said if I had had my 2 vaccinations, I didn't need to use the mask! We all had our shots, so our lunch was normal! Today I went into my supermarket which did NOT require a mask!

May 1st was a great start to the month - a string quartet session in a screened patio on a warm spring day. What more can one ask for? Following this, was a week of concentration practice on Saint-Saen's  "Danse Bacchanal" for the 14th Covid Cello Project. It was exciting to play, but it took a while to get up to the  tempo Tony the Director, had requested. 145mm to the quarter note is fast for cellists! Friday was the deadline and I managed to get my video in 3 minutes before the deadline. Yikes! It should be premiered soon, Tony spends hours and days to get through 400 or more videos and put it all together. 

Another musical event from the family - Dan and his group, the Maplewood Men's Glee Club. Such fun!

                                                        https://youtu.be/du_QZPkhuXI 

To make the singers sing together, the men each had to sing in their cars which had a gizmo hooked up! In spite of Dan telling me carefully how it worked, I can't even begin to fathom it out!

Early in May, I met up again with an English friend. We had belonged to a walking group many years ago, but on return from my sabbatical year in England, I didn't get back into it until a neighbor, who is a member, mentioned the group. I connected with my English friend again, and we meet up on Saturdays with the group to hike around trails in Chapel Hill and beyond, many of them I had never walked. 

All this walking is a great incentive to add up our steps for our Conqueror Challenges. Our team (Dan, Jane, Maggie and Jennifer) finished up the Kruger National Park in South Africa, 256 miles in 34 days. 

Our 4th challenge is the Great Ocean Road in Australia starting in May 13. Here's the first postcard. I love reading them. Note the photo of Tiger showing where I am on the trail!

Here's a letter to give us an idea of where we are.

I made it to Lorne and I wasn't quite sure where to start. For a small seaside town, although it does explode in population during high season, it has a plethora of activities, waterfalls, galleries, shipwreck stories and of course more surfing beaches.

Lorne was named after Marquis of Lorne, Scotland on the occasion of his marriage to one of Queen Victoria's daughters. It is widely known for its art community. Each year it puts on the Falls Music and Arts Festival and also the Festival of the Performing Arts but the more interesting one is the foreshore exhibition every two years of public artworks as part of the Lorne Sculpture Biennale.

All year round there's something happening in Lorne. In May you have the Great Ocean Road Marathon which starts in Lorne and winds its way to Apollo Bay. It's a challenging race not just due to its hilly course but also due to its 27mi (44km) length. If the marathon is too daunting then there's always the three-quarter mile (1.2km) Pier to Pub swim which has been going for 40 odd years. It's the largest ocean swim in the world with as many as 4,000 competitors. In 1998 it entered the Guinness Book of Records with 3,071 swimmers. Put on your swimming trunks and hit that nice cold southern ocean.

Between June and October the Southern Right Whales begin their migrating journey along the southern coast of Australia towards the Indian Ocean to breed and raise their calves before returning to Antarctica. Sometimes you can even spot humpback whales and blue whales.

The town itself is a heritage delight with several buildings acquiring the Victorian Heritage designation. A visit at the Heritage Centre run by the Historical Society tells the story of the "diggers" who built the Great Ocean Road and the history of the local indigenous people and early European settlers.

Thinking I was done with the town, I popped in at the Visitor Centre to discover that within 10km of Lorne there are at least 10 waterfalls to be explored. The most well-known is Erskine Falls. At 30m tall it sits nestled amongst a fern gully. Another lovely one is the Kalimna Falls that follows the route of a timber tramway used for transporting timber in the 1890s and 1920s. You can stand behind the falls and look through them like a curtain to the large pool surrounded by mossy logs and rocks.

A walk up to Teddy's lookout gives views of St George River and the coast that tells the story of a four-masted barque named, Hinemoa, which ran aground in 1908. Thinking they were reaching Melbourne, they soon realised the lights they saw in the distance were burning logs from a bushfire. Luckily the barque wasn't damaged and was towed off the next day. However, the story of the Osprey is shrouded in mystery. This three-masted schooner is said to have wrecked in 1854 due to heavy storms but the rumour is that it was deliberately ran aground by the crew so they could run off and make their fortune in the newly discovered goldfields. The truth will never be known but it sure opens up the appetite for the stories yet to come on the Shipwreck Coast of the Great Ocean Road.

Caesar is getting fat with all these medals!

On most Wednesdays, I teach an adult student (Chief of Staff Nursing School at Duke)in her home. I don't mind driving up to Hillsborough, as there is a beautiful house and grounds open to the public, perfect for lunch and then after the lesson, to get my steps, a walk along the Eno River that goes through the town. Diane has a lovely house and huge garden. Here is her vegetable plot - I got broccoli and a huge cauliflower. 

This last week of May was a challenge for the cats and me. Time to go to the vet for annual checkups, mostly shots. Tried to get both in the two carriers -Tiger, not a problem, just yowling, but Ollie flat out would not get in hers, so had to rearrange her appointment. Two days later, I managed to get her in her carrier and had her checkup. Still has bad dental issues, but otherwise she's in good shape. They needed extra shots, as since a few weeks ago, they have been exploring my backyard, acres of woodland. It was Wolfie's haven, he had 13 years of happiness. I was not so happy with his presents of snakes, but that got curtailed by keeping the patio door closed. If I get any presents from these two, the door will be closed. Tiger has a very loud meow so they won't be left in the cold or sweltering heat. Here is a video of Tiger jumping from the patio wall to the roofs of the three units. He loves being so high up!

After taking the cats to their appointments, it was my turn - to Endodontics, as I have a Chronic Sinus Tract.(so far it's not painful).  You can look it up on Google if you really want to know. Somehow, appointments got switched around. Instead of the Sinus appointment which I really wanted, was the Jaw check (I didn't know anything about that one) which was supposed to be done before the Sinus. I was very sorry about that, as the Endodontist who had come to my last dentist appointment, knew exactly what to do about the Sinus issue. Not everyone knows about it.  Unfortunately, with losing this appointment she is  not available until July, but she highly recommended a colleague for a mid-June appointment. So far I haven't been sent an appointment for the jaw issue.😨

Fortunately, the end of the month had a happy ending - a friend told me to see a movie at our local little theatre, the Chelsea.  "Dream Horse" made in Wales is about a true story of a family buying a mare to produce a superb racehorse. It's a beautifully made film, with its ups and downs, and of course making me homesick as it was set in the area where my mother's family lived. Don't miss it. It opens in the UK on June 4th. 

School for Kate and James ended on May 26th. They both have excellent grades. Kate has been continuing with her gymnastics, getting medals at meets, and is a strong soccer player, especially at getting goals. She has just been made vice-president for Student Council in her last year, 2022, then Graduation! James has done well in Track and soccer winning a sports letter.   Zoe, still on-line, finishes later, as in New Jersey school starts after Labor Day, whereas in NC most school start mid-August. Zoe is a great student, always gets straight A's in spite of having to be glued to the computer for hours. Her school has not been open since last year, so all her work has been on-line since then. Fortunately Zoe, Dan and Elisa have been able to take their work to New Hampshire for a few weeks to get a respite from staying home. It's a great place for hiking in lovely countryside and having all the calmness around you. 

The last Friday of the month was playing quartet music with friends from the Durham Symphony. Our last meeting was in December, when we went to Diane's garage to play. It was so good to be inside, no masks and sitting normally!

Sunday May 31 ended with an outdoor get-together of Coventry neighbors. It was a gorgeous late afternoon - a good crowd, delicious nibbles, beer and wine. As we now have a decent Board, life is better with good people. 

How about this for a mask! Happy 90th birthday David Attenborough. 

As they say - Keep calm and hug a cellist.

Love Jane