Here we are, continuing to expand our horizons on this 4th Saturday in September. Welcome to my 13th and final cocktail hour, during a time where we venture a bit further from home and enjoy a beverage. I offer you Cheers! À votre santé! 乾杯/ Kanpai! Saúde! Salud! May we all remain healthy, safe, financially afloat, and hopeful.
On August 25, we drove to Macedonia, Ohio, halfway to Chicago, where we visited Cuyahoga Valley National Park the next morning, taking two hikes in a light rain.
We spent four days in Chicago, the Windy City, going on a public art walk and an architecture walk in the Loop and through Millennium Park, seeing “The Bean,” which was blocked off, and Crown Fountain, which wasn’t operating because of coronavirus. I flipped off Trump Tower along the Chicago River. We enjoyed the Impressionist paintings at the Art Institute.
We took a bike ride along the lakefront of Lake Michigan in the 90°+ weather. We enjoyed great views of Chicago at 360° Chicago and strolled around the 9-sided Bahá’i Temple of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois.
We walked among the headless armless iron sculptures, called Agora, at Grant Park. We learned all about company towns and labor strikes at Pullman National Monument. We were serenaded by bagpipes at University of Chicago’s Rockefeller Chapel as the university welcomed the Class of 2024. We saw a number of Frank Lloyd Wright’s houses, including Robie House and the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio. We enjoyed colorful street murals at Pilsen and visited Ukrainian Village, where we had potato pancakes and vodka at Tryzub.
Our last morning, we drove through the colorful Boystown and strolled through Wrigleyville, where we admired the classic Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs. That afternoon, we enjoyed the amazing Chicago River Boat Architecture Tour and learned all about the famous architecture along the Chicago River. We took a short stroll along Chicago Riverwalk.
We drove back the long haul of 12+ hours in one day to get back home again on August 31.
After returning home, we enjoyed a dinner out at Kalypso at Lake Anne. We celebrated my sister-in-law’s 69th birthday on our screened porch (socially distanced) with take-out Thai food. This was the first time we’d seen her since the pandemic began. We dined in at Ariake; this was the first time they’d opened inside dining since the pandemic.
At the end of August, just before our trip to Chicago, I saw the GI doctor for a Stretta consultation, and found that after I do that procedure, which should help toughen and thicken the muscle around my lower esophageal sphincter (LES), I will likely have to have another treatment to help the function of my esophagus.
I took the COVID-19 test once again in preparation for my Stretta procedure on the 17th, and had to self-quarantine until the procedure. The test came back negative.
On September 17, I actually had the Stretta procedure, after waiting an agonizing 2 1/2 hours past my scheduled time, not having had anything to eat or drink since midnight the night before. “The Stretta is a non-surgical outpatient procedure that takes 60 minutes or less. A Stretta device travels through the mouth, down to the LES (muscle between the stomach and esophagus). Once in place, it delivers radiofrequency (RF) energy to the muscle. This regenerates the tissue, resulting in improved barrier function that may prevent reflux and reduce GERD symptoms,” according to the pamphlet for Stretta.
The effect of Stretta works over time; patients usually begin to see improvement after about two months. Some patients improve more quickly than others. Studies show that some symptoms may continue to improve for 6 months or longer. This requires much patience on my part, not a strong suit of mine!
Since the procedure, I had to be on a liquid diet for 24 hours, then a very soft food diet for two weeks; this is extremely limited: water, milk, yogurt, soft drinks, fruit drinks, soup broths, pudding, ice cream, applesauce and cream soups. I’ve been on the very soft diet for 9 days. It’s so boring!! As of today, I’ve lost over 20 pounds since my highest weight on May 7. This includes the two months I was on an “acid watcher diet” and cutting many foods out of my diet. I’ve lost 5.6 lbs. since I had the procedure.
After two weeks on the very soft diet, I can move to a soft diet, which includes more foods, but is still very limited, for two more weeks. I hope it will all be worthwhile in the end. So far I see a slight improvement in my symptoms, and I’m hoping for more in the coming weeks.
On Friday, September 18, our beloved Supreme Court Justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, passed away after battling various cancers and trying like hell to hang on through the presidential election. On Sunday, we went downtown to the Supreme Court to pay our respects and to read the tributes written by mourners. I won’t even get into the political ramifications of this loss; let’s just say it has created a firestorm, as the corrupt and amoral Republicans in the Senate will go ahead and nominate an ultra-conservative judge to fill the vacancy left by Ginsburg, despite being so close to an election where many of us (anyone with a shred of decency) hope like hell that Trump will be removed.
We also stopped by to see the new Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial in D.C.
I stood in line for an hour and 40 minutes on Wednesday, September 16 to vote early in Fairfax County. I wanted to get my voting done before we take our Canyon & Cactus Road Trip in later October. I’ve done my civic duty, and now we just have to see how it all unfolds with our dictator-wannabe POS president, as he tries to steal the election and even pretend the results are falsified. And we’ll see what the spineless Republicans do to enable him to destroy our democracy. I will be protesting in the streets if there is any chance it looks like he has not been legally elected and he tries to hold on to power.
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We still have the highest number of COVID cases in the world, over 7,059,200 as of September 26, 2020, and the highest number of deaths at 203,575. Worldwide, there are nearly 32,590,000 cases and 989,128 deaths. The U.S. has 21.6% of worldwide cases and 20.6% of deaths, despite having only 4.2% of the population. Isn’t America really GREAT?
Here in Virginia, we are holding steady, but not doing as well as we did early on, with 144,433 cases and 3,136 deaths. Our governor has eased restrictions and has made rules about mask-wearing inside public places, and for the most part, at least in Northern Virginia, people seem to be following the guidelines. However, since the state has begun to reopen college campuses, cases have increased, especially in college towns throughout the Commonwealth. We are just going about our business, with much reduced activity, wearing masks anytime we are indoors or in contact with other people.
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I have been writing a monthly cocktail hour/diary about this challenging time; this will be my last one. I invite you to share your own experiences with what we’re going through right now, either in the comments below, or in your own blog post, which I invite you to link below. I hope that we will get through it unscathed, sooner rather than later.
Peace and love be with you all!
~ wander.essence ~ 
I love architecture in Chicago, they’re so inventive.
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They really are! 🙂
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I will so miss these wonderful posts from you!! Thank you so so much for taking us along on so many of your journeys and the personal observations you shared with us along the way!! We all wish you well on your future wanderings and perhaps one day again you will decide to share a thought or two with us down the road! We are all praying you will get through this miserable time in American history with your health restored. I would love to say how great you look, how healthy and fit, but it has come at a huge cost and we are all sorry how this has affected you, but your bravery to fight it at all costs continues to inspire!!! The world thanks you and Mike also for everything, number one for your votes against the disgusting POS in office whom we fear will indeed go the route of the leader of Belarus and fight to remain in power at all costs unless more people like you are able to vote him out decisively. We love you and we will all miss you!!! Thank you again for all your wonderful coffee hours and the virtual drinks shared and the photos and the memories! The butterfly photo this time was my favourite one xxxxx
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Thank you so much for your kind words, Mona Lisa. I hope too that we can get through this miserable time in our country’s history. And I hope that my health will improve as well. You are too kind, and are actually one of my few readers who appreciates what I write. I’ll still keep in touch on Facebook and Instagram of course, and by email. But I’m tired of blogging after 10 years. I need a break! I’m glad you like the butterfly photo. 🙂
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Heavens, this is a bumper post, Cathy! I know you’re winding down but it feels like winding up! I have to say you look great in the photos. Chicago looks awesome and your photo collection is fabulous. I hope the procedure brings all the benefits you hope for. You two do like your food, don’t you? 🙂 🙂 I’m tired of the subject of Covid-19 and I’m really just trying to live my life. Its impact is inescapable, of course, not unlike Trump and the UK’s Boris. I don’t know when I’ll be able to see my youngsters, as flights are cancelled left, right and centre and companies go to the wall. I can only watch helplessly from afar.
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Thank you so much, Jo. I don’t really know what it means “a bumper post,” but maybe it is good. Or not? Chicago was fabulous; I felt so good just to get away from our boring home area (even though I felt awful the whole time)! I hope the procedure really solves my problem, but it is a slow process and I have to have patience. We do love our food, which is why recovering from this and having my diet so limited is difficult. I’m tired of COVID too, but I keep behaving responsibly, not going out that much and wearing a mask when I do. I’m hoping to at least see Alex in October, and Sarah this Friday. I’m just hoping everything works out. 🙂
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Chicago looks amazing. I hope the treatment works for you. And you already know I agree about the political stuff. Good luck America!
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Chicago was fabulous. Thank you for the good wishes! I’m so happy to have already placed my vote in Virginia. 🙂
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I really enjoyed seeing all the photos from your Chicago trip on Instagram. So many fabulous buildings. Best wishes for the continued success of your procedure.
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Thanks so much for your good wishes, Carol. I’m hoping for the best myself. I’m glad you enjoyed my Chicago pictures on Instagram. It was a fabulous city. 🙂
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We are second to USA and though fatality rate is not so high we still have to be careful. Landlocked for six months now. Domestic and international flights have resumed but at personal risk. So enjoy the travel posts of places new and unknown
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I’m sorry to hear about India, but you have a much larger population than we do, so if your numbers are less, you are doing exponentially better than we are. I’m so tired of being locked here in the US. Domestic flights are on, but yes, we have to wear masks on them. I look forward to any opportunity I can get to travel. Thanks, Indra. 🙂
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👍
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What an amazing collection of beautiful pictures.
RBG was an amazing person.
What troubles me though is that there is NO independence of the judiciary in the US and hasn’t been so this is not a Trump thing though, of course, he is playing it for what its worth. Without taking from RBG – which I would never want to do – I cannot but feel that she should not have been on the Supreme Court in the first place, as per all the other clearly politically biased members. The fact that there is furore over who replaces her and when serves to prove my point and show that both Republicans and Democrats are equally to blame. You may recall that the Dems tried to make an appointment (albeit they failed and it was a little further out from the election) last time round. Have I misunderstood the purpose of the Supreme Court? I take to be to implement the law AS MADE by the lawmakers WITHOUT political or personal bias though accepting that some level of interpretation of the law (its intent) is oftenrequired especially at this level…. That is certainly the purpose of ALL courts in Australia, the UK and other places that I am familiar with.
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Thanks for your nice words about my pictures, Albert. All the weaknesses in our system have become glaringly evident in the last four years, and yes, even before that. Yes, I believe justices should be chosen in some other way that is not so political. They should use their judgment without political or personal bias, as pure interpretations of the law. I agree that should be the purpose of the court. Here was a great article I read about how the Supreme Court justices might be more fairly chosen: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/09/22/justices-themselves-can-turn-down-heat-by-creating-their-own-term-limits/?utm_campaign=wp_todays_headlines&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_headlines
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Yes I agree that that last 4 years has exposed them but they were there already which is worrying.
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I totally agree with you and I too have always been amazed at the way the US Supreme Court is run and how it changes the police, the DAs etc. with each election. Law-givers should be totally above the law and non-partisan. We are all partisan in some way, all political, but if in positions of power we must be able to put these aside and view things with an unbiased eye. As human being we can fail, here in the UK we often do so (as in Australia), but both countries have civil servants, media and groups who will ferret this out and expose it (easier without the Murdoch press, of course) and hopefully, correct the bad. Alas, here in the UK, bumbling Boris is taking his cue from Trump and trying to ride rough-shod over long constituted laws, and we are fearful – not to mention powerless.
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They are all wanna-be dictators and have no respect for constitutions and democracy.
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Hope the procedure works for you, Cathy. All the very best for the coming weeks and months
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Thank you so much, Sue. I’m hoping for the best too. 🙂
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I’m so sad to hear you are leaving us but I hope you won’t make this permanent. Do please, pop in occasionally and tell us about your life – such a pleasure to read and always interesting. I’m not on Facebook or Instagram so I shall miss any postings you make. I hope your health improves and that the procedure is successful. My sister is awaiting the same procedure in Sweden (already postponed twice because of Covid) and it was interesting to read your version. I won’t tell her, she hopes to be fully functional after the op.
I also hope your postal vote isn’t lost as POTUS seems to want to lose all the postal votes but all right-thinking people are rooting for a new pres. even if he’s not ideal. Just think, if only Hilary had got in last time. Come to think of it, I’d even welcome baby Bush back!
Your last post was as usual, superb, and I shall remember you with fondness, along with your lovely posts from el Camino. Good luck.
Mari
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Thank you for your kind words, Mari. I plan to take a year off, at least, but we’ll see about later. I want to see what materializes when I don’t have blogging to take so much of my time.
Interesting that your sister is waiting for the same procedure in Sweden. Please let me know how she does with hers. I’m two weeks out now and I have some good days and some very bad (yesterday was horrible, but today is much better). I just hope it keeps generally improving over time.
I didn’t vote by mail, Mari. I stood in line for 1 hour and 40 minutes to do early voting in person. Luckily I’m in Virginia that has all manner of ways to vote. I feel so good to have it done. I don’t think I can take another four years of Trump; if he is elected I will have to find an escape route from the U.S., temporary or permanent. I’m the same, I’d even welcome George W. back. Anybody with a shred of decency.
Thank you so much for your kind words, Mari. I will check in to other bloggers, I hope more often than I can seem to find time for now, so we’ll still be in touch. Take good care, my friend. 🙂
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