Weekly Ephemera #141

I skipped last week's Ephemera post because I was out of town last weekend.  Time to catch up.

• Last weekend we went to Minneapolis, to celebrate one of the Wife's cousin's First Communion.  We stayed at the Matron of Honor's (MoH) and Best Man's (BM) new house.  Their new house is very nice and is perfect for them.  The long weekend was full of family and conversation and I had a good time.
  
  The first communion was nice and the after-party with family was fun and full of food.  The Godson's and Deacon's families are great and fun to be with.
  
  On Monday we joined the MoH and BM and went antiquing and booking in Stillwater, MN.  It was a bit drizzly but we had a great time looking for treasures.  Sadly, none were found.
• I finally took pictures of the rest of our magnets.  Naturally, a day later I came across three more magnets hiding on my desk in the den.  I will be posting a couple travel magnet posts later this week.
• Our travel agent called this week and told us the September tour dates for our Greek, Albania, Macedonia trip fell through.  Fortunately, there are dates in early October that will work so she is reworking all the hotel reservations and Athens tours.
• Moving the trip will let me go to Rilo Kiley's reunion tour at the Astro.  Looking forward to that.
• I walked three times over the last two weeks.  I walked a total of 27.9 miles (44.9 km).   I skipped a couple walking days to get some chores I'd put off far too long.
• I started watching "Andor" season 2.  I like it so far.  Also watching the current series of "Doctor Who".  I'm also working through a show on Amazon.  "ALTER Collection" is an anthology horror series where each episode is themed and consists of four to ten short films.  They are a bit hit or miss and some are surely movie school projects but they are holding my interest.
  
  On Friday the Wife and I went to see "Sinners".  I have mixed feelings.  The music, setting, and ambiance were spot on but the horror felt a bit off.  There are many layers in the movie and it's worth a view.
  
  Since the conclave is this Wednesday I figured I'd better see "Conclave" so I watched it today.  The three cardinals vying for the position of Pope reminded me of the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Visually stunning at times, loved Ray Fiennes, but the final twist was not necessary.

P.S.  Happy Anniversary to the Wife's Niece and Husband!  To everyone else, I hope the 4^th was with you today.

Book: Richard J. Evens' "The Coming Of The Third Reich"

For my fifth book, I returned to non-fiction.  This e-book was given to me by a gamer friend back in February 2022.  I wanted to read it but I kept putting it off for one reason or another.  Given current world events, I finally decided to read Richard J. Evans' "The Coming of the Third Reich".

"The Coming of the Third Reich" is the first of a three-book series on the rise and fall of the German Nazi Party.  It covers the period from the late 1800s to 1933, when Hitler became Reich Chancellor.  The second book covers 1933 to 1939 and the third book covers World War II and the end of the Nazi party.

I'd known a lot about this history for a while.  Back in the 1980s, when I was in college, I read William L. Shirer's "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich".  Evans' book goes into more detail and is an easier read than Shirer's book.

Reading this book while watching what has happened in the past thirty-five years or so is kinda scary.  The parallels, especially during the last one hundred days of the current administration, are both creepy and quite foreboding.  An example of history rhyming as Mark Twain might have said.

I gave this book four stars out of five on Goodreads.  I have the second book in my e-book library.  I expect to read it sometime this year, and I wouldn't be surprised if more parallels reveal themselves.

A New Magnet Display Wall

As many of you may know, the Wife and I collect travel magnets wherever we go.  I photograph each one and you can see them in the Travel Magnets tab at the top of Homer's Travels.  There are currently seven hundred and three magnets.  I haven't photographed the magnets from our Great Britain or our Guatemala trips yet – forty-nine and eighteen respectively.  So, adding them all up, we will have Seven hundred and seventy travel magnets.  Not surprisingly, we were running out of display space for them all.

Last week, I started putting together a new magnet display wall in the She-Shed.  I am a master procrastinator capable of taking two hours of work and stretching it out to five days.

On Monday, the first day, I cleaned the oil off the two-by-four-foot metal sheets on the first day.

On  Tuesday, I attached nine command strips – theoretically capable of holding forty-five pounds – to each of the two-by-four-foot sheets and put them on the wall.  Even though each sheet only weighed twenty-four pounds (plus the weight of the magnets) I was paranoid, so I rested the bottom edge of the sheets on the top of the wainscoting to take some of the weight.

On Thursday I cleaned the oil off the four six-inch-by-four-foot sheets that would go across the top.

On Friday I attached the command strips to the small sheets and put them on the wall.

The new She-Shed magnet display wall with most of our international magnets.

The Wife put the magnets up on Friday.  She moved the international magnets to the She-Shed.  The American magnets are staying upstairs on the original two display panels.  We were both surprised that we had enough to fill the upstairs panels.

We now have 21 ft² for domestic magnets and 36 ft² for international magnets.  In our den I have another 4 ft² with all the magnets from the Camino, Appalachian Trail, and a few places I visited without the Wife.  We now have room to grow ... and more places to go.

Weekly Ephemera #140

I hope everyone had a happy Easter.  We spent the day at the Wife's niece's place with family.

• I put up the new magnet display.  I will talk more about it later this week in another post.
• It's been a dry winter and early spring, so we turned on the sprinklers earlier than in the past.  I also spread weed and feed a month earlier than I normally do.
• On Wednesday our roofers came in and repaired the hail damage from last summer.  A screen guy came by to take three of our window screens to repair the tears.  New gutters were put in on Friday.  The only thing we are waiting on is the window wrap repairs which will probably happen sometime in the next two weeks.
  
  We watched as bad weather and hail blew through the next day. Fortunately we only got rain and wind.  North of us saw softball sized hail stones.  Dodged a bullet there.
• Our air conditioner was inspected on Thursday as well.  Everything checked out.  The day before, the roofers had noted that the chimney for the furnace and water heater was severely corroded.  Our HVAC people will likely have to replace it.  We are waiting for an estimator to come by.
• On Thursday I had a follow up ultrasound of my kidney.  Everything looked good (yay).
• I hiked once this week.  On Monday, I didn't feel like walking, so I worked on the magnet wall. Friday was cold and windy, so I skipped my walk to finish the magnet wall.  My one walk was 8.6 miles (13.9 km).  I probably needed to rest my legs a bit but next week I need to get back at it.
• I finished "Daredevil: Born Again".  I liked it.  It was a more low key Marvel show with more intrigue and less fighting.  I also watched "A Quiet Place: Day One".  I liked the original two movies and I enjoyed this one as well.  It sketched in a few plot points left blank by the other movies.
• I started planning out the stages for the Wife's Camino.  It may take us longer to finish than I expected.  I planned out shorter stages which lets us hit more interesting places but adds to the length of the walk.  These plans, naturally, will be subject to change.  Fortunately I paid a little extra for airline tickets that can be changed.

Weekly Ephemera #139

• This week we had our sprinkler service turn on/adjust our in-ground automatic sprinkler system.  Normally I would just turn it on myself but there were a few sprinkler heads that I wasn't sure how to adjust.  Watching the technician I realized I could have done it myself.  This was the first and last time I will pay someone to adjust my sprinkler system.  They charged way too much – over double what the service was worth in my opinion.  Another expensive lesson learned.
• Spring is solidly here.  The AC has been turned on and probably will stay on until the fall.  This week we will have it inspected to make sure everything is working properly.
• We received some sheet metal that will become our new travel magnet display.  The metal will cover part of a basement wall in the She-Shed.   We will have another thirty-six square feet of display space soon.  Not sure exactly when as I have been in a major procrastination mode lately.  I'm going to try to get it done sometimes this week.  It really shouldn't take much time to put up, but my brain is still dreading it.  Heck, I still haven't photographed our magnets from our Great Britain trip last September.  I am a master procrastinator.
• I walked three times this week for a total of 26.4 miles (42.5 km).  Each time I walk I go a different route.  I think I've done most of my longer routes so this week I'll have to start repeating.
• We started watching the final season of "The Handmaid's Tale".  That show hits too close to home.  We are balancing that out by watching the latest season of "The Great American Baking Show".

The Beginnings Of An Escape Plan

Ever since the current administration was (re)elected, we have wondered what we would do if the worst-case scenario played out.  The Wife was adamant that we needed to have at least a concept of a plan.  I was hesitant, thinking we should stick it out.  I felt that leaving the country would be wrong when so many people do not have the luxury of that option.  The last eleven weeks, especially the last one, have shifted my way of thinking.  I still think we should stay, but I am now a little more amenable to making a contingency plan.

First of all, we can't stay in America so we have to consider where we would go.  During the COVID pandemic the Wife put in the time and paperwork to become a citizen of Luxembourg through her ancestral connections.  This means she, as a European Union (EU) citizen, can live anywhere in the EU.  I, on the other hand, am not an EU citizen but, As I am married to an EU citizen, I can become a permanent resident of Luxembourg, similar to having an American green card.  Residency allows me to live in Luxembourg indefinitely, but I cannot move to other EU nations.  I would still be restricted to 90 to 180 days, depending on the country's rules, just like any tourist.

I still need to investigate how to transfer our American retirement funds to EU/non-American financial institutions. I don't think there is a way to do this without incurring a large tax bill. Currently, this isn't an issue as the money can stay in America. However, if things really go all authoritarian, I could see restrictions on moving funds out of the country becoming a problem.  Until then, I have moved all our stock holdings to cash to protect our assets.

There is still a lot more to plan but let's hope this stays a hypothetical plan that never needs to be exercised.

Weekly Ephemera #138

• Where the heck did April come from, and what did it do with March?!?
• We went to see Bob Dylan and the Band on April Fool's day and boy howdy did I feel like a fool for going.
• I walked three times this cloudy, gloomy, and windy week.   I walked 24.7 miles (39.7 km), which was close to my goal.  Next week, barring any unforeseen distraction, I will try to go more miles.
• Thursday and part of Friday, I watched the tariffs cluster-F demolish the growing economy this administration inherited.  Earlier today I put in sell orders for all my stock investments.  This decision drove me crazy – too many what-ifs and WTFs.  The uncertainty in the world, and the economy, is making me feel very uncomfortable.  Going to all cash and 'safe' investments will help me rest a little better at night ... if the FOMO doesn't kill me first.

Music: Bob Dylan And The Band At The Orpheum

On Tuesday the Wife and I went to see Bob Dylan and the Band perform at my favorite venue, the Orpheum in Omaha.  I can't say I had a great time.

The first thing that was new was increased security at the Orpheum.  I assume the security, aimed at preventing the use of phones and cameras, was most likely a Dylan requirement and not a venue requirement.  No other concerts there have restricted phone use.  The security process consisted of the following:

• As we entered we showed our ticket (on our phone only, no printouts allowed) to a couple of greeters who would write down the section, row, and seat number on a post-it and gave it to us.
• Next you showed your ticket on your phone to the ticket taker who scanned the QR code.
• Next you gave your phone to another person who locked it in a bag and returned it to you.  The Yondr bag, larger than the phone, no longer fit in your pocket and had to be carried in your hand.
• You showed the post-it to the ushers who took you to your seat.

During the hour or so we waited for the show to start (no phone - no clock - no idea how long we waited) we watched multiple people being questioned if they were in the correct seat.  Turns out some of the greeters weren't putting 'balcony' on some of the post-its.  The only way to clear this up was to go out to the lobby so that their phones could be unlocked to verify their seats.  This continued after the performance started as late arrivers came in and found their seats occupied.  Not a very smooth process.

The performance itself was ... not what I expected.  There was no warm up band so Dylan came out with his band and started performing.  I expected not to understand the lyrics - Dylan is known for his unique vocal style - but I didn't expect to not understand eighty to ninety percent of what he was singing.  I can confidently say I did not know a single one of the songs he performed.  I found this unusual as I am familiar with some of his stuff.  You would expect he would at least sing one familiar song for the more casual Dylan listeners in the audience.  He did not.

I liked his band.  They would start playing and I would be getting into it then Dylan would start playing the piano, his instrument of choice during this concert.  His playing was discordant and often distracting.  His singing did not help.  I did like when he played the harmonica.  Dylan is eighty-three so some of this may just be his age.  I don't know.

One odd thing is his lack of interaction with the audience.  He did introduce the band members (the only words I recognized were guitar, bass, and drums - the names seemed garbled) but he never spoke to the audience.  No 'Hello Omaha', no 'Thanks for being here', no acknowledgement at all.  The show ended without an encore.

I obviously didn't enjoy Bob Dylan.  I feel like it was a waste for me to be there.  I feel like I took a seat away from someone who would have really appreciated Dylan.  The Wife enjoyed it more than I did.  She did recognize one of the songs but not until the song was almost over.

Guatemala 2025 - Days Thirteen And Fourteen - Ending On A Good Note

Saturday - 02/22 - Tikal

Saturday morning we got up, ate breakfast, and watched the oddball attendees of the Tikal Convergence who were staying at our hotel.  The people attending were shamans, shaman wanna bes, and shaman cosplayers.  The colorful costumes and flowing fabric was an overload for the senses and common sense.

A ceiba tree.

Our bus picked us up and took us to Tikal national park, home of one of the larger Mayan complexes.  I'd been there twice before back in the 70s.  Things had changed a bit.  It is better organized and accessibility to the temples has been improved.

Our tour guide spoke great English and we were in a small group.  We entered the park and walked past the enormous ceiba trees to the main temple complex.

It felt a bit smaller than I remember but I was a bit smaller back then so everything felt bigger.  Our guide gave us time to wander around the two main temples and the adjacent structures.  Since I was here last they'd built a wooden staircase and platform on one of the temples to make it easier to climb.  It started showering while we were there but it didn't interfere with us enjoying the temples.

The temple complex seen from the top of one of the temples.

We met back up with the guide and we visited other temples that were only partially uncovered including one that gave you a panoramic view of the jungle and the tops of temples.  All in all the tour was very good and it was a great ending to our Guatemala trip.  Tikal was just as magnificent as I remembered it.

The top of the jungle with several temples poking above the treetops.

We stopped for lunch in the park before heading out through the gift shop.  The bus dropped us off at the airport.  I remember it just being a grass strip but it is now an international airport.

We returned to Guatemala City and spent our last night in Guatemala.

Sunday - 02/23 - Returning Home

We had a relaxing morning at the hotel before going to the airport for our afternoon flight home.  The return was uneventful.

Epilogue

I was somewhat concerned about visiting the country where I'd grown up.  My memories of this place were a messy amalgamation of good and bad.   My high school years were not the best for me.  I worried I would sink into a gloomy place but that never happened.  I found myself enjoying return to my old haunts even if I couldn't visit my old house.

Things change and a lot has changed in Guatemala.  Most of the changes, I suspect, are more a result of foggy memory than actual change.  The City definitely was more built up but the countryside, besides the fast food signs, was what I remembered.  The roads were better and towns had grown.  The influence of tourism, especially in the western Mayan Highlands, was more pronounced.

The new parts, for me, were disappointing.  The eastern part of the country still hasn't been prepared for foreign tourism yet.  As a result, our experience during our second week was a bit lackluster.  It was also unfortunate, and beyond anyone's control, that the rain in Rio Dulce ruined what could have been a highlight of the trip.

The Wife dragged me kicking and screaming back to the country of my teenage years and I am very grateful she did.

Pictures can be found in my 2025-02 Guatemala Google Photos album.

Weekly Ephemera #137

A slow week here in the Homer's Travels household:

• I walked three times this week.  They were relatively short but I am working my way back up to longer distances after the long break I had.  I managed to walk 20.75 miles (33.4 km).
• On Friday we turned on the air conditioner for the day because we hit a high of 81℉ (27℃).  On Friday night the heat was switched back on as the week ahead will be a more chilly seasonal temperature.  Saturday it rained and was gloomy all day but, with the warmer temperatures and the wet weather, things are starting to green up, another sign of Spring.
• I started watching "Daredevil: Born Again" this week.  It has the same cast as the Netflix Daredevil series which makes me happy.  I liked the original series and this one, so far, is just as good.