Month: December 2022

Merry Christmas and Hanukkah 2022 and Happy New Year 2023

Writing this in the midst of reports of a “tripledemic” of COVID, flu, and RSV, it feels as if we’re caught in some kind of warp — things are getting better, things are getting worse . . . . One columnist wrote it seems like Middle Ages redux. 

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, though. And there is still good reason to share good tidings and cheer. Also to share news of important loss.

Larry and an egret, Oceanside Pier, during the 2020 visit by the Kenahs.

The most significant event of 2022 for me and many others was the unexpected death in June of close friend Larry Kenah. I’d known Larry since early years at Boston College, nearly 60 years. In recent years, Larry sent me a note on St. Patrick’s Day, thanking me for hosting a party that holiday in our senior year at  our Brookline apartment. It was then and there he met Marcy McPhee, soon thereafter his bride and partner  over the next 50+ years. Marcy, Larry, and I were frequent golf and BC football game companions when I lived in Greater Boston and, since my relocation to North San Diego in 2012, their home was my home away from home on my annual visits East. Rest in peace, Larry.

Our “family photo” is even more discombobulated than usual this year. Recent illnesses in my household, COVID and otherwise, just made the process difficult. Photos of the Andersons, for example, are from New Hampshire, on their trip in the fall.

Julia and Sam, as well as Dillon, are enjoying their second winter in Ypsilanti, Mich. I visited them in late August, the first time I had been with Julia in three years. Dillon has his own apartment close by and is working at the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences in neighboring Ann Arbor.

In late November, I had what I believed to be a very small basal cell skin cancer removed from my forehead. It wasn’t small. The process left a rather  large wound, requiring a bandage taking up half of my forehead. Not photogenic, so my photo in the composite is from my time as a hole captain again at the Farmers Insurance Open in January. The marshal who took the photo called it “Billy and the  Blimp.”

The summer 2022 issue of Boston College Magazine contained a little feature about an old grad, the magazine’s founding editor . . . me. I didn’t know when the magazine was to be distributed. I got congratulation emails from East Coast friends three weeks before the magazine made its way West.

Normally, I join a group of classmates and spouses for a football game or similar event each year. This year, after so many activities curtailed, we sought a solid block of time together in a nice place. Of course, I kept suggesting San Diego. Not surprisingly, we ended up at the other side of the continent and it was grand. 

The Captain Isaac Loveland Homestead, c. 1850, Chatham.

We rented what had been a B&B in Chatham, Mass., at the outside crook of the elbow on Cape Cod. Each couple  and single had separate bedrooms with bath and it was in a great  location for walking to the beach or downtown. In addition to just chillin’ together for several days, we visited the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge just off the coast to see seals and birds. Some of us took a trip to Provincetown. Also was able to visit other friends who had joined the contingent of those who don’t just visit the Cape, they live on it. You can see much more here.

Does anything say “New England” better than this Chatham scene?

Returning to Boston, I caught up with several colleagues at BC, family, and friends. Because Avis wanted a certain  vehicle back at Logan Airport and that’s where I was returning my vehicle from a  suburban location, I was offered this at the same price as an economy model. Had not driven a vehicle that big. It was fun! Lent me a certain panache. Weird, but it had California plates. A gas  station attendant in Winchester, Mass., asked, “You didn’t drive that out here, didya?”

Obligatory pets pic, Cinderella and Baxter, with Addy.

Merry Christmas and Hanukkah to you and your family. May 2023 let us be free!

Airbnb-ing

In the last two months, I used Airbnb twice. I had never used it previously. They were for practical reasons, not vacation, and the locations were unconventional or, perhaps in some minds, “funky.”

The first location was seven minutes away from my house. With the Andersons on vacation in New England in mid-October, it seemed the right time to have our house fumigated for termites, as had been suggested by pest control firms. That’s the tenting you see, usually on houses going up for sale. For two days and nights, the house would be inaccessible. This was the view when I left.

I chose a place nearby, but not just for location. The site was described as a mini-farm, with various animals about. I texted the owner when I was about to leave and she replied that I should text her when I arrived at the gate, because the tortoise was out. I wasn’t totally sure I was at the correct location until I saw this.

The owner told me the tortoise, King Tut, was the animal that tried most often to escape, and sometimes was successful. Her phone number was painted on his shell.

Pepper drinking from the fountain outside my door.

When I was introduced to Pepper, I was told she was “the guests’ dog.” She liked to spend time with visitors, the owner said. Indeed, Pepper spent a lot of time sleeping just outside my door and always greeted me when I arrived at the farm.

My red Mazda at the farm.

My residence was at right.

Here’s a gallery of other animals on the property.

A few weeks later, Anza-Borrego Foundation held only the second bi-monthly board meeting in person, in Borrego Springs, in nearly three years. To reduce my 90-minute commute to the meeting, I rented an Airbnb closer to Borrego Springs, in the Chihuahua Valley of Warner Springs.

Well, the remote location was “closer,” but it only reduced my drive to 60 minutes. This location was also on a mini-farm and the facility was called “The Barn.” I arrived near sunset, driving the last couple of miles on dirt roads.

Here’s an overhead of the location, with the Airbnb at upper right.

And, indeed, it’s a barn.

The upper level is the living space. And the door is pure barn.

The “kitchen” was spare but functional. I had brought a frozen dinner and was to meet folks for breakfast in Borrego Springs, so the kitchen could be minimal.

Once again, I had farm animals for company. Again, I arrived near sunset and was to leave shortly after sunrise, so I spent a little bit of time checking the animals out before nightfall. Here’s a gallery.

Yes, ostriches.

Also, remote as the site was, more than farm animals are about. Several signs warned renters of potential sources of danger.

Leaving the next morning, I drove several miles almost all downhill before I came to a sign indicating the elevation was 3,000 feet. I guesstimate “The Barn” was at an elevation likely in excess of 4,000 feet. That explains why the morning was so “brisk.”

I found both experiences pleasurable and interesting. I do want to get back to the Chihuahua Valley. The landscape is, to me, magnificent. I hope to take future visitors there, too.

I rated both units 5 stars. Neither was the epitome of luxury and comfort, of course, but that’s not what I wanted anyway. These were relatively inexpensive, comfortable, met all my needs, and provided very interesting experiences.