Returning from Cuba in late January 2012, we
had a few months at home before our next travels. The pharmaceutical company in Munich received
my invoice and asked for my bank’s SWIFT number so they could use it to send
their payment. However, my bank didn’t
do international transfers. I told the
company they would need to send a check (in dollars). They let me know that was very inconvenient
for them. I knew they wouldn’t do any more
business with me, and that was fine with me.
Every once and a while I still got a phone call from ex-clients asking
if I could help with a project. I told
all these callers that I was retired.
In February, I served as an election judge
for the Presidential primary, the first of four elections that year. In Missouri, voters do not register by party. This means that in a primary election they
are required to ask for the party or non-partisan ballot in which to cast their
vote. For this Presidential primary
there were four parties: Democratic, Republican, Libertarian, and
Constitution. As usual, I was exhausted
after the long workday. Diane decided
that she would only work as an election judge during the general election in
November. In March, after we had
received all of our tax documents, I used the H&R Block tax program for
Diane and me, Mary F, Ellen and her partner Gale. For many years, these friends would continue
to work with me to calculate their taxes.
The True/False documentary film festival
was moved forward a week from the last weekend in February to the first weekend
in March. The previous years had been
quite cold in late February, and the ice storm one year made walking from movie
to movie a dangerous endeavor. As usual,
Earlene came for True/False, flying into Columbia and immediately going to an
appointment with Robert for a haircut and color. The next day, we drove to Fulton, MO to tour
the Churchill Museum. We wanted Earlene
to see it in contrast with our tour of Blenheim where he was born. That evening we attended a reception followed
by a filmmaker’s forum. It was part of a
new pre-festival conference called BOATS (Based on a True Story). It was held primarily at MU's Reynolds
Journalism Institute with panels pairing filmmakers, leading critics and
journalists to discuss how and why they do what they do. There were panels all the next day and the
morning of the following day after which the festival documentaries
started.
During the winter, I started to have nose
bleeds which were difficult to stop.
After several of these, I made an appointment with an Ear, Nose and Throat
doctor. He recommended that I have the
area that was the source of the nose bleeds cauterized. After the festival, I had it done and there
were no further repeats of the nose bleeds.
In early April, I worked as an election judge for a local special
election.
In May, we flew to Lima, Peru for the
second time to join an Olivia tour to the Upper Amazon: Exploring Peru's
Pacaya-Samiria Reserve. In
preparation for this trip, I read River of Doubt about Theodore
Roosevelt's expedition into the Brazilian jungle in 1913. After breakfast our group was taken on a tour
of Lima, first stopping at the Larco Herrera Museum. Diane and I had been here before, but there
were still plenty of historical artifacts to see. From there we went to Casa
Aliaga, the oldest colonial mansion in Lima, maybe even in all of South
America. The house has been owned and lived in by the Aliaga family and their
descendants since Francisco Pizarro granted the land to Jerónimo de Aliaga in
1535. We walked through the elegant
salons that were richly decorated with Spanish colonial furniture, as was the
dining room where we were served lunch.
Interior of Casa Aliaga
In
the afternoon, we flew from Lima to Iquitos where we boarded a bus for the
two-hour ride to Nauta, located on the north bank of the Maranon River, a major
tributary of the Upper Amazon. There we
walked on boards placed over the muddy ground to board the Delfin II, a small
boat that only accommodated 28 guests.
It was even smaller than the ship we were on in the Galapagos Islands.
The Peruvian owners built the ship for the express purpose of exploring deep
into the Peruvian Amazon. The staff on
the ship was from Lindblad/National Geographic, and they were very
conservation-focused. This would be a
different experience than the ocean or river boat cruises we had been on
before.
Trip from Lima to Nauta and back
Delfin II
The emphasis on this tour was on exploring
the rich ecosystem of the 8,000-square-mile Pacaya Samiria National Reserve, a
vast area of Amazonian jungle and floodable forest bordered by the Maranon
River on one side and the Ucayali River on the other. Known for its
biodiversity, it sheltered animals from pink dolphins to spider monkeys and giant
South American turtles. It was also home to hundreds of bird species, like
colorful macaws. We were on the alert and moving from 5:30 a.m. when the
pre-breakfast expeditions began. We
picked up our binoculars which were hung outside the air-conditioned rooms. Bringing glasses from the air-conditioning
into the surrounding hot and humid air made them unusable for some time. Then we were ready to board the zodiacs and
explore the river and surrounding forest.
Pacaya Samiria National Reserve
We began by going past Nauta and on up the
Maranon River. At night, the crew pulled
the boat up and tied it off on a river bank.
The unusual pink dolphins in that river could often be seen swimming
around the ship. Early in the morning,
we could sometimes see young children who had been sent off to catch fish. If our zodiac paused by their boat, they
liked to show us their catch floating in the water in the bottom of their canoe
(like a Piranha whose teeth they had clipped off). The rivers were very high, flooding some of
the native villages next to them. The
flooding is caused by seasonal rains in the Andes Mountains, which melt snow
and glaciers, raising water levels. Parts
of the forest may flood from December to May each year. We were not going to be taking any
hikes. Our guides usually took us up a
small tributary of the river. Once our
zodiac got stuck in some large lily pads whose tendrils wrapped around the
blades of the outboard motor. Our guides
had to get out in the water and work hard to get us unstuck.
Crew piloting boat through flooded waters
Families and dogs suffering through the
flood
After a couple of days, our boat reversed
course and went back downstream in order to go up the Ucayali River. It was exciting to go through the confluence
of the two rivers and briefly be in the Amazon River itself that flowed
downstream from there before reaching the Atlantic Ocean. One afternoon we stopped at a village market. They were selling many products that they had
made themselves. Diane and I were
intrigued by a wood carving made by a native man but were short of cash. After
borrowing some money from another Olivia guest, Diane and I were finally able
to purchase his hand-carved wooden caiman.
Another day, we were taken to a lake and offered the opportunity to
swim. As tempting as it was in the hot
climate, Diane and I declined, remembering the warning given us by the woman at
the MU Travel Connection (where we got our pre-trip vaccinations). She told us about tiny parasites we could
encounter that like to swim into any available openings, like the vagina. To us, it was not worth the risk.
Diane and me practice Tai Chi aboard the
boat
For a nature lover like myself, this was a
great trip. The boat was very luxurious. The food was fresh and nicely prepared. The boat owner’s wife was along during our
tour, and was very gracious and welcoming.
I was continually amazed at the eyesight of the guides, how they could
spot birds or animals, even when they were high up in the trees or in the
shadows. The guides deserved much of the
credit for making this an enjoyable trip.
Celebrating the trip
When we got back to Columbia, we found an
invitation from our friend Nancy to join her for her birthday on a visit to the
Budweiser Warm Springs Ranch. It is the
official breeding facility of the Budweiser Clydesdales, the large horses that
are bred for their distinctive coloration and size. We were shown the stalls, pastures, food and
equipment, including the horse shoes for their large feet. What made this visit real special was the
presence of the newborn foals. Nancy
gave us permission to ask a guest, and we brought our medical student, Marcia,
to join us. The Heyssel Senior Teacher
Educator Partnership (STEP) Program at the MU School of Medicine matches
first-year medical students with senior citizens in the community, and Marcia
was matched with Diane and me. After the
tour, Nancy and her husband, Harry, took us and some additional guests to lunch
at The Bistro at Les Bourgeois Vineyards in Rocheport, MO. It was a lovely afternoon with friends.
Budweiser Clydesdale horse (?pregnant)
Horseshoe
Foal
Me, Marcia and Diane
There was starting to be a lot of talk in
the country about legalizing gay marriage.
After Amendment 2 passed in Missouri in 2004 denying its legality, Diane
and I hadn’t thought much about it. On
May 9, President Obama became the first sitting U.S. president to declare his
support for legalizing same-sex marriage.
Then on June 6, Judge Barbara Jones of the District Court for the
Southern District of New York found section 3 of DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act)
unconstitutional in Windsor v. United States.
Section 3 was the part that prevented the federal government from
recognizing any marriages between gay or lesbian couples for the purpose of
federal laws or programs, even if those couples were considered legally married
by their home state. Edith Windsor and
Thea Spyer married in Toronto in 2007 where same-sex marriages were legal. At
the time of Spyer’s death, the state of New York recognized the couple’s
marriage. However, the IRS denied Windsor use of a spousal estate tax exemption
on the grounds that, under DOMA, the federal government did not recognize
same-sex marriages for the purpose of federal benefits. Gays and lesbians were becoming hopeful.
In July, we visited the Missouri Botanical
Garden in St. Louis to see the exhibit: “Lantern Festival: Art by Day, Magic by
Night,” an international exhibition of 26 larger-than-life, lighted works of
art from Zigong, China. There were
elaborate outdoor sets crafted of silk and steel that celebrated Chinese
culture through bold color, dazzling light and striking design. The exhibition was the first of its kind and
size in the United States, giving us an opportunity to witness a spectacle
rarely staged outside of Asia. We viewed
it both in daylight and at night.
Two dragons in the daytime
Same two dragons at night with smoke coming
from their mouths
Details showing materials used in their
construction
In this time between trips, I also started
working with two of our younger friends about the structure of their
finances. They were using a financial
advisor to manage their retirement funds and they were concerned about the
management fees. In talking with them, I
also discovered they did not have any money in a savings account that they
could use when the need arose, like a new car or house repairs. That meant they had to get loans or buy on
credit which meant paying interest. They
also had credit card balances charging interest. I gave them advice on how to divert some of
their income into an account from which they could pay off all debt and then
start on a plan of asset allocation with Vanguard, rather than using the
financial adviser. They were both smart
women and were happy to get started on this plan.
Diane and I finally decided to change
lawyers from the one in St. Louis we had started with in 1991 to one in
Columbia, as it appeared we would be living here the rest of our lives. Our bank recommended a woman lawyer, Helen
Cripps, and we found we were both comfortable with her, even though she was not
a lesbian. She was happy to work with us
on our revocable trust agreements, as well as all the other legal documents:
Last Will & Testament, Durable Power of Attorney, Health Care Declaration,
and Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care.
We felt well-protected.
I continued to meet and learn from my
friend Bob. He urged me to use more
Google products. I created a joint Gmail
account for Diane and me and set up a Google Contacts account into which I added
the phone numbers, home and email addresses of Diane’s and my family and
friends. I also set up a Gmail account
for our Tai Chi group in order to send announcements about Tai Chi
activities.
Diane and I were very active politically by
donating money, attending fundraisers, talking to candidates and supporting
Muleskinners. We decided to take it one
step further. Diane and I started
writing election newsletters which described voting procedures and made
recommendations on ballot issues, non-partisan and Democratic candidate races,
starting with the August primary. Based
on news articles, Muleskinners forums and our personal knowledge, we offered
our opinions. We invited our Tai Chi
friends to join that email list. Soon
there were over 100 email addresses that received our election recommendations. We urged the recipients to share with friends
and family as well. We made it clear
that we would promptly honor any request to be removed from the email list. We hoped that sending this information would
encourage more readers to vote and become educated on political issues. We planned to continue writing and sending
the emails.
On Tuesday August 7, I worked as an election
judge during the primary election. It
was a long ballot as there were races at the state level for the US Senate and
House, the Governor and Executive Branch as well as county races.
With all our upcoming international travel,
we also applied for a Global Entry Card, filling out the forms and paying the
fee online. It would make us eligible
for shorter lines leaving and coming back into the US. US Customs and Border Protection would review
our applications, and, if conditionally approved, we would be notified to
schedule an interview at a Global Entry Enrollment Center. The program was relatively new; few airports
had a Center, and the wait times for interviews were long. We were able to schedule our interview for when
we flew to the Denver airport in October.