Corona Virus, Pandemics and Remembering My Grandmother

Edward and Bertha Roth's wedding photo 1918

I have been reading about the Corona Virus for over two months now.  From the first outbreak in China up until counting the daily death toll here at home there has been little of anything else to think about.   It is on the TV news non stop.  And Facebook is no escape from it either.  There is the doom and gloom daily updates and the humorous daily memes to capture our attention online.   We are not supposed to gather in large groups right now.  Weddings are being cancelled and conducted with no guests.   There are questions about how to hold memorial services for our deceased when we are not supposed to gather in groups of more than ten.   Our schools are closed.  Many are without jobs.  We will never forget these days.   Much like watching the daily body counts from the Viet Nam war on TV we now are counting bodies by country and ranking which ones have the most deaths.  It's truly frightening and exhausting.

I was joking with some friends on Facebook today and we were comparing our efforts scrubbing our floors and house holds today.   As I scrubbed my own kitchen and dining area today with Pine Sol I took a deep breath and smelled the fresh scent of the Pine Sol.  I was immediately back in my Grandmothers tiny three room apartment.  She scrubbed and cleaned her apartment on a daily basis.  The minute I would walk into her home I was surrounded with the scent of Pine Sol.   I could not help but feel her presence with me today while I cleaned.

As I reminisced about her today it dawned on me that she was alive for the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic to which  out current situation is so often compared.   And yet I never remember her ever talking about surviving a pandemic.  Her name was Bertha Wilson but was known as Bertie to most of her friends.   She was born in 1897.   I stopped to think about what she might have been doing in 1918.   She was not bombarded with non stop daily updates about the pandemic.  Radio's were not common in most homes until the late 1920's.  There was no TV with twenty four news and daily Presidential updates.   There was no internet to surround her with doom and gloom.  So I have to wonder if she even  realized there was a terrible flu spreading across the world.

I did some quick research on the Spanish Flu today.  It started spreading across the globe in 1918.   One article stated that many believed the virus came to the United States through the military.  In 1918 my grandmother met and married her husband Edward Roth.

Edward Roth 1916

The second waveof  the Spanish flu arrived in the United State late summer 1918.  It is believed it was carried by the returning dough boys from World War I.  My grandfather was one of those dough boys returning home and was stationed at the newly opened Aberdeen Proving Ground.  The virus spread from Boston and to New York and Philadelphia before spreading west to St. Louis and San Francisco.

Dough Boys Returning Home - My grandfather Edward Roth upper left

Edward Roth 1918

Here in Maryland the first notice of the flu came in late September 1918 in a handful of soldiers at Camp Meade.  Each soldier was quarantined.  But visitors and other solders were allowed to come and go at will.  Then within a few days there were almost 2,000 cases reported at the camp.   In Baltimore theaters and railway and street car operators were asked to keep their spaces well ventilated.  They were asked to post signs suggesting travelers sneeze and cough into kerchiefs.

My grandmother Bertha Wilson and her mother Katherine Wilson

I do know my grandmother had a very active and busy year in 1918 during the epidemic. She met and married my grandfather. They moved from Maryland to Indiana, his home, after they were married that year. While in Indiana my grandmother had one child who was still born. She was very depressed and missed her home and family very much. So they moved back to Maryland in early 1919 while the flu was still active in the country. But she survived. I never knew my grandfather. He died when my mother was still a teenager during the Great Depression. My grandmother lived until 1976. She raised four children during the Depression. She survived the death of her husband. Every year she would watch our local 4th of July parade. When the military from Aberdeen Proving Ground would march past she would put her hand over her heart and say there go my boys. And she would always have a tear. Sad but sweet memories for her I am sure.




My grandmother often spoke of World War II. She would mention the black out drills, the rationing and the the Great Depression. She loved telling stories. But she never once mentioned the great pandemic of the Spanish Flu. She survived all of this. And we too will survive this pandemic. And maybe like her I will never mention it again.

My grandmother Bertha Wilson with me 1953

Plagues, Epidemics and Memorials - History Repeating Itself

Pestsäule - Plague Column - Vienna Austria

Travel is my passion,  and taking photos of my travels is my favorite hobby.   So when faced with social distancing and the threat of quarantine due to the COVID-19 virus, I find going through my travel photos and thinking of the beautiful places I have visited brings some sort of calmness to the madness all around me right now.  With all of the attention focused on Corona Virus today, I found myself being led to photos I have taken of Plague Memorials in Central Europe.  

Santa Maria della Salute, Venice Italy

Santa Maria della Salute on the Grand Canal in Venice

 In the summer of 1630 and up until 1631 a wave of the plague assaulted Venice killing nearly a third of its population.   As an offering for the city's deliverance from the plague the city vowed to build a church dedicated to Our Lady of Health, Santa Maria della Salute.  The city decided not to dedicate the church just to the plague or a patron saint.  They decided to dedicate it to the Virgin Mary who they believed was the protector of their Republic.  I visited Venice in the spring of 2002.   When I arrived in Piazza San Marco and walked to the water front of the Grand Canal this beautiful basilica dominated the horizon.   

Images of Santa Maria Della Salute

Church of All Saints - Sedlac, Czech Republic

Two years after my visit to Venice, I traveled to Prague in the Czech Republic in 2004.  I returned  again in 2015.  Both times I visited the Kostnice located in the village of Sedlac.   The Kostnice is an Ossuary or Bone Church.   It is named the Church of All Saints.   In all of my travels this is truly one of the most fascinating places I have seen. 

The cemetery and Church of All Saints - Sedlac, Czech Republic

  In the thirteenth century the Abbott of the Monastery in Sedlac was sent to the Holy Land in Jerusalem.  He returned with a mound of dirt believed to have come from Golgotha.  He spread the dirt over the Abbey cemetery.  Because of this dirt this became a very important burial location.  During the fourteenth century the cemetery was filled with bodies from the Black Plague.  A new chapel was built in the fifteen hundreds. Many graves were exhumed for the new chapel and the bones were stored in the basement of the new church.   In 1870 the history of these bodies from the Black Plague takes on a macabre and fascinating turn.   Frantisek Rint was a local woodcarver.  He was employed to organize the old bones that had been laying the basement for all of these years.  The bones were used to decorate the church.  Chandeliers, a chalice and altars were all transformed into bones.  Rint even signed his work by writing his name on the wall with bones.  

Signature of the artist

The plague Column of the Virgin Mary Immaculate in Kutná Hora, Czech Republic

Just a short walk from Sedlac is the village of Kutna Hora.  Located here is a Plague Column.  I have seen  several of these through out Europe.  This one was built as a reminder of the death from the plague of the early 1700's.  There is a statue of Mary on top of the column as on many Plague columns.  Many of these columns were built to honor Mary in hopes for protection from other plagues.  

Trinity Monument - Prague, Czech Republic

The Trinity Monument is another Plague Column in the Czech Republic.  This one is located in Prague's Lesser Town Square.   At one time there was a pillory and gallows here.  So this square is historically associated with death.  But now there is a monument here that memorialized the end of a disease that plagued the city of Prague.  After the outbreak of the early 1700's was finally under control, the city erected this Plague Column.

Pestsäule - Plague Column - Vienna Austria

The Trinity Column in Vienna is located on Graben, one of the main streets in the inner city.  It is one of the better know Plague Columns in Europe.  It was built after the great epidemic of 1679 and is one of the cities great pieces of art often compared to the work of Bernini in Rome.  While I was in Vienna I was not worried about the plague.  My luggage was lost and never arrived.  So I was concerned with buying underwear in a city where I did not speak the language.   I took photos of the monument without really knowing what it represented until I returned home and was doing research on my photos.   At the time of the plague the Habsburg emperor Leopold I fled the city but vowed to erect a mercy column if the epidemic would end. 

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.These churches and monuments were erected to memorialize the loss from the great plagues that challenged the western world in their time. They were also created to ask forgiveness for the sins they felt lead to these plagues and in hopes to protect their people from future epidemics. After the horrors of 9/11 we have build great monuments and displayed pieces of the World Trade Center in our major cities across the country. We have one here in Baltimore. In New York we have build a towering sky scraper complex to replace and memorialize the original World Trade Center. I am wondering tonight what will happen at the end of the current world wide pandemic. Will we be inspired to create art and memorial fountains to remember it? Will we learn from our greed and hoarding that is harming us now? Will our current leaders promise to build memorials to our sacrificies. Or will they build great monuments to themselves to brag about their self imagined great accomplishments in fighting this enemy? We will survive. We will recover. But will we learn from our mistakes?

Movies, Mom and Me. Entertainment in the early '60s

I have not written a blog for a while.  I enjoy writing my blogs.  I mostly write about travel.   And my second favorite topic is my family.   Today I read on Facebook that it is Kim Novak's birthday. February 13. 1933.  And this little piece of nostalgia inspired me to sit down and do some blogging.  I grew up loving movies.   My mother loved movies.   I know my fascination with them stems from her influence.  My father would watch a John Wayne movie or a World War II movie, but he did not like anything "dirty".   My mother was quite a conservative lady also.  But she did like the early 1960's bedroom farce movies.    She and her sister, my Aunt Louise, did not go to the movies often.  But if a Doris Day movie came to the local theater they would go see them.   Of course in those old movies Doris was usually the worlds oldest living virgin being seduced by Rock Hudson and or James Garner,  Cary Grant or even Rod Taylor at times.   These movies were naughty enough to make my Mom and my Aunt giggle, but never "dirty" enough to offend them. 

Growing up I listened to everything my mother said.  If she was on the phone I would be someplace nearby to listen to her conversation.   I learned a lot from eavesdropping on my mother. She would have been shocked at the thing I learned that she thought were just between her and her friends on the phone.  It was the early 1960's.  I was eight, nine, ten years old.  I also listened to every conversation she and my aunt had at the house.  They never knew how much I listened to them.  And they did love to talk.  They would come home from the movies and talk about Doris Day or Kim Novak.  They were always shocked at the things "those writers" got away with in the movies.  If there was a paperback novel from the movie they had seen Mom would buy it.    She would pass it on to my Aunt and tell her the novel was a little spicier.   My Mom had a copy of Boy's Night Out and that is cover I have posted at the top of this blog. 

After listening  to them talk about the movie I then would always want to go see it also.  I went to the Saturday matinee every weekend growing up.  It cost a quarter for the admission.  I would always ask to go see the movie on Saturday that they had just seen on Friday night.    My aunt would always scold my mother and say you shouldn't let that boy go see those movies.  They are too adult for his young mind.   My mother always laughed and told her I would not understand the adult humor but I loved the music and the colors.    I have no idea what that meant.  She admitted she was shocked when I came out to her many years later.  But that loved the music and colors remark tells me different. She had a baby's diary she wrote notes in when I was growing up.  One phrase I still chuckle at is "Larry is very musical and loves to dance."  Mom understood me coming out much  more than she would admit!   But she was partially correct about the movies though.   You can see from the cover of the novel above it was very colorful.  And to this day when I see Boys Night Out my first thought is the red rose on the back of Kim Novak's black dress.  And then gifts the men were bringing to Kim,  the yellow wrapping paper on Tony Radall's champagne bottle and the red roses Howard Duff had in his hands.  And yes even the theme song is still a favorite of mine  Patti Page singing Boys Night Out.  "What the boys are out after, the girls are after too!"  Oh those racy lyrics! 

But these movies all touched something in this little gay boys sensibilities even at those young ages.  I have a lot of gay men friends on Facebook who are movie lovers also.  And we all know, love and talk about these same movies.   To this day I still watch these movies.  I have them all on DVD.  All of the Doris Day movies, Kim in Boys Night Out, even Billy Wilder's One, Two, Three.

  One, Two, Three.  Now that one really intrigued me as a kid.  My Mom and my aunt came home from watching One, Two, Three and were still in hysterics over the scene with balloons.  One of the men in the movie dressed in drag to lure German spies and had a red balloon and a blue balloon in the top of the his dress.  One of the spies has a line where is upset because "one is red and one is blue"  I thought that was the funniest line ever. 

Once again I was allowed to go see it at the Saturday matinee.   This time Mom was correct though.  The humor went way over my head.   But I still liked it.  And there was the colorful balloons and the great music.   I still carry an appreciation for classical music writer Aram Khachaturian and his bouncy dramatic Saber Dance to this day.  And when I hear it I immediately think of the blonde actress in the tight dress dancing on the table top while the music plays.  Not surprisingly I have both Saber Dance and also Patti Page's Boys Night Theme still in my personal collection of music.   And if you ever drive in my car for any distance there is a good chance they might turn up in my music rotation.

So thank you Kim Novak.  Happy 87th birthday.   I am glad you are still with us.  My Mom and my Aunt have long passed on.   But your birthday today brought them back to me for a few minutes.   And not surprisingly Boy's Night Out is on the play list on Turner Classic Movies today.  I won't even have to dig out my DVD today.

He's very musical and loves to dance

2019 - The good , the bad, and the ugly. Travel, breweries, and family issues

Each year on New Years Day I take time to reflect on the past year.   Some years are wonderful.  Some are uneventful.  And some I am just glad to see be over.   2019 was one of those years.   There were good moments.   And then there were some bad ones.   Nothing unusual about that.  But the bad ones seemed to be overwhelming this year.

Mark changed jobs twice this year.   The bank where he was employed was sold and he had to find a new job.  This was a bad situation that worked for the best.   He found a new job well before the bank finally closed so he was never really unemployed.   He phoned me from work one morning and said to me I start the new job in two weeks.   So lets plan a last minute trip before I start the new job.  I am never one to turn down a chance to travel.  Out of nowhere we decided to go to Milan.

I love Milan.  I had been to Milan once before in 2002.   But many people are unimpressed with Milan.  On my first trip even the woman at the ticket counter in the airport asked me "Why Milan?"  So I was bit concerned Mark might be unimpressed also.  But I had nothing to worry about.   Mark loved Milan as much or even more than I do. 

Mark chilling at a ristorante in the Galleria in Milan

We also had the chance to take a train to Bergamo while in Milan.

Beautiful Bergamo

Also on this trip I had the chance to return to my beloved Switzerland.  And any year I can visit Switzerland is a good year.  While in Milan we took a side trip to Lugano.  It was definitely Switzerland but it also had a very Italian feel to it.  It's right on the border of Switzerland and Italy.  There is just something about Switzerland that captures my spirit even if they are speaking Italian.

The beautiful Lugano Switzerland

Mark started his new job after we returned and it worked well for him.  But then out of nowhere he received another job offer.   The job had a good increase in salary and also was a much better commute for him.  So after just a few months he bid farewell to the new job and started his adventure to a job in our neighboring county.     And he really likes the job and everyone who is working there.  Even though I have said this was not a great year for us, work wise it's been a great year for Mark.

Because Mark was in a new job we were not able to travel this summer.  But don't feel bad for us.  We spent every weekend this summer visiting local breweries in the Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Virginia area.   It was great fun.   We were entertained every weekend.  And we got to try both very good and some mediocre beers.  But even mediocre beer isn't all bad. 

RAR Brewery - Cambridge Maryland

The year was going well.   Mark was enjoying his second new job of the year.  My daughter Katie was hired for a new position with a large increase in salary.   And then the ball dropped.  My daughter Danielle was made redundant at her job.  She was completely unprepared.  She was given a small severance package.  And she remained unemployed the rest of the year.   Then to add fuel to fire her wife was let go from her job also at the end of year.  We are all hoping after the holidays are over they will be be able to find new jobs the first of 2020,

In November we were able to travel once more.   Our friend Gillian from Manchester, England joined us for a week in Hawaii.  It was Mark and my fourth trip to Hawaii.  And once more we were overwhelmed. 

December found us with two more problems.   My daughter had to have cervical surgery.  She had to have a disc replaced in her neck.   Then her boyfriend had emergency surgery two weeks before Christmas.    To top all of this, Danielle and her wife were unable to join us for Christmas due to their job situation.   We had a very uneventful Christmas missing Danielle and Andrea.  We spent the morning on our Iphones with face time opening presents together.

We lost some dear friends this year.   A beloved extended family member passed away on Christmas Day.   We lost family members in Mark's family. And we lost a beloved little dog named Kobi who has been a part of our family for fifteen years.  We have continued to watch Mark's Mom slowly fade away to the monster of Alzheimers.   But we still have so much to grateful for. And we have a lot to look forward to in 2020.  We are already planning some travel for February.  I am assured Danielle will find new employment.  I have a 50th high school reunion in mid 2020.   2020 you are the beginning of  a new decade.  We are counting on you to start of this decade better than the last one ended.

Hauʻoli Lā Hānau - Mai Tai's, Alex O'Loughlin and Another Birthday in Hawaii

Birthday morning on our rooms 9th floor deck at Aston Waikiki Sunset Motel 

My husband Mark does not really care about birthdays.   He does not particularly like celebrating his own birthday.  It's just another day to him.  But that is not me.  I love birthdays.   When the first day of November roles around I get very excited.   That's because I don't only celebrate the day I was born.  I celebrate the entire month.  I usually jokingly label my photo's The Never Ending Birthday Celebration every year.   Mark humors me and always goes along with my celebration month.  He even goes out his way to make it special because he knows how much it means to me.  Two years ago when I turned 65 he took me to Hawaii so I could climb Diamond Head  on the my birthday.  Hawaii has almost become our second home.   We have traveled there four times in the past six yeas.  It was such a thrill to stand on top of Diamond Head and take my photo on my 65th birthday.   Now thanks to Mark,  two years later I found myself back in Waikiki for another birthday. 

We woke up early and the weather did not look good.  Each morning when I woke up on this trip I looked out of the huge window and in our room to check the weather.  And most mornings there was beautiful sunshine.  On my birthday I woke up and  looked outside to see a very dismal cloud cover.

Oh well.  I was not going to let it ruin my birthday.  We  had already had seven perfect days in the Never Ending Birthday celebration.  So I was not going  to get upset over a cloudy possibly rainy day.  We were not planning on climbing Diamond Head this year anyway.   But within the hour the sun started to appear and burn away all of the clouds.

So I showered and got dressed in my Hawaiian shirt and prepared for the days adventures.

My shirt almost matches that beautiful blue sky.

The first order of the day was a huge birthday breakfast.  We love the breakfasts in Hawaii.  I am not usually a breakfast person.  But when I get out on the islands I love their huge breakfasts.   We usually eat at one of two places near our hotel, either Cheeseburger in Paradise or LuLu's.   Both serve huge delicious breakfasts.  But I wanted something different on my birthday.  So I told Mark and our friend Gillian, who was with us on this trip, I wanted to walk down Kalakaua Avenue to the Maui Brewing Company for breakfast. It was a good walk from our hotel to the brewery but I had seen photos of their breakfast and new it would be worth the journey.

And I was correct. This was the best breakfast I had eaten on the entire trip. I had Banana Brûlée pancakes with macadamia nuts. The banana's had a crunchy sugar coating. The macadamia nuts were sweet and delicious. And the maple syrup was infused with an IPA beer from the brewery. The IPA was not to strong to take away from the syrups sweetness, it just addressed it perfectly. This was a great start to my birthday.

Now that's a happy breakfast face.

We had turned in our rental the car the previous day so we could not drive any place outside of Waikiki. So my plans for my birthday were nothing like the previous year when we climbed Diamond Head. I had a few things in my head I wanted to do though. The big breakfast at Maui Brewing was the first thing and I was able to check it off as accomplished. My next goal was a birthday Mai Tai at the Hula Grill at the Outrigger Waikiki Beach Resort. In my opinion they make the best Mai Tai's in Waikiki. Later that evening I wanted to go to Arancino di Mare for an Italian meal. It's Hawaii, why not Italian? And finally I wanted to end the day at late night happy hour at Cheeseburger in Paradise. So nothing extravagant was planned. It was our last day in Waikiki. We were flying home the next day. So this plan was perfect in my opinion.

 
We left the brewery and walked towards Honolulu but we never actually got outside of Waikiki. We, or rather I had a major distraction. We did take some time for goofy photos. That should be of no surprise to anyone. I saw a tattoo parlor and thought it might have been fun to get a tattoo for my birthday while in Hawaii, but I really had not budgeted for that. So instead I just too silly photos outside of the parlor.

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I saw a tall condominium where I told Gillian that Mark and  I could by our dream home.    Gillian basically said dream on and let me know when you hit the lottery.   I'll move with you.

 I still think one of the corner units by the upper pool would be an excellent investment.  Maybe I can convince Mark this by my next birthday?

I then saw an interesting statue.  It was not a memorial or religious symbol so I did not feel wrong for taking a funny photo with it.

We then saw a pretty park and decided to cross the street and look at the flowers and trees in the park.  As we entered the park we saw some white trailers in a circle.  On closer look we realized they were dressing rooms and crew trailers for the TV show Magnum P.I.   There were also signs directing you the from the trailers to the filming area for the show.   We decided to follow the signs and maybe get a chance to see them filming a scene from the show.   But here is the story.   Every time Mark and I have gone to Hawaii I have always joked about running into Alex O'Loughlin who plays McGarrett on Hawaii Five 0   I am a huge fan of the show and have watched every episode since it started telecasting ten years ago.   And Alex is a real fantasy for me.   But each year we have not run into him or any of the crew filming his show.  I like Magnum P.I.   But it's not Hawaii Five 0.  So seeing the trailers and maybe the cast would be fun but not the major thrill of Hawaii Five 0 or Alex.

We followed the signs to the Outrigger Reef Hotel.  This hotel has another one of our favorite bars with one of the best beach views in Waikiki.   When we got to the hotel lobby it appeared the film crew was leaving.  Then we saw two aids walking with Chi McBride from Hawaii Five 0!

trailers 

Chi McBride from Hawaii Five 0

I just stopped in my tracks and stared.  So they were filming Hawaii Five 0 even though I only saw production trilers for Magnum P.I.   My first thought was it's my birthday and I am going to see Alex O'Loughlin.   But we never saw him.  Apparently Chi was the last actor to leave the set that afternoon.  So we continued on to the Reef Bar at the hotel.   We did ask the bartender about the filming and he said it was not unusual to see it going  on if you worked in Waikiki daily.   Gillian told the bartender that I needed a drink.  She said it's his birthday and I had just missed seeing Alex.    The bartender laughed and asked me if it really was my birthday and I said yes.   He mixed a mai tai and passed it across the bar to me.  He said, "Here you go.  Happy birthday! Compliments of the house!" 

Chilling my brow with a mai tai

I jokingly told him I needed to chill.  Being this close to Alex had me over heated.   He laughed.  Before leaving we decided to toast Hawaii Five 0 with a a Kona Big Wave.  Kona is one of the beers that has product placement on the show regularly.   The bartender then asked if we wanted one more.  He said to stick around.  Alex might be returning.   We laughed and thanked him but we needed to move on.  Their mai tai was good at the Reef Bar but it could not compare to my favorite at the other Outrigger Hotel's Hula Bar farther down the street.   And having one there was my original plan for the day.

We thanked the bartender, tipped him well for his kindness and left the hotel.  As we walked through the lobby we saw several big cars pull up in front on the driveway and we saw a lot of people getting out of them and heading into the hotel.  It was the production crew returning!  I was a bit preoccupied and looking all around when Gillian and Mark started yelling at me to turn around.  They kept saying turn around, look behind you.  And I turned and there was Alex, McGarrett in the flesh.  He just walked past me.    Wow...this was a birthday present. 

He was surrounded with production crew and they were trying to get him out to the filming location on the beach.   He did wave and acknowledge some of the fans in the lobby.   Mark and Gillian are both saying to me "Where's your phone!   Get a photo!"   Well I was just too excited.  I did get my phone out and was trying to open  the camera but I was all thumbs and he was gone before I could get a photo.  But I didn't care.  After six years and four visits I finally got to see a filming of the show.  And it was on my birthday. 

We left the hotel and headed back to Kalakaua Avenue. We did some window shopping at the high end stores that line the avenue. Then we eventually ended up at the Outrigger Hotel where the Hula Bar is located. You can try mai tai's all day, up and down Kalakaua Ave and you will not find one better than the one they make at the Hula Bar in my opinion. And after four visits in the six years I will admit I have tried them all. It was getting late in the afternoon. By the time we reached the Hula Bar we were getting hungry and also needed something cool due to the heat of the afternoon. I remembered how Gillian had mentioned my birthday earlier I was given a free mai tai. So I decided to try it one more time. I mentioned my birthday to the bartender and voila! There was a complimentary mai tai sitting in from of me. And it had a smiling face on the glass as if to say Hauʻoli Lā Hānau Larry! (Happy Birthday Larry).

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I did need some lunch.  I'd had two mai tai's and a beer on an empty stomach so far today.  So I ordered shrimp taco's at the bar.   They were an excellent fusion of Hawaiian and Mexican food. 

And then I ordered one more mai tai because they are so good here.

So this had been a three umbrella day... so far. 

After lunch we returned to our hotel.  We all needed to rest for a while.  We had done a lot of walking and I had done a bit of drinking. 

After napping and showering Mark and I were ready to head out for my birthday dinner.   We picked an Italian restaurant near our hotel.  It something different from our standard Hawaiian vacation meals.   We have several inexpensive Hawaiian shirts we have bought as souvenirs over the years.  But on our last day we always save our dress Hawaiian shirts to wear.   So we dressed up and headed out with Gillian to Arancino di Mare for an Italian dinner. 

It was the perfect ending to a very special birthday.   But it still wasn't quite over.   We decided to stop in to Cheeseburger In Paradise for their late night happy hour.   It was near our hotel and had become our night cap stop on several nights.  We had gotten to know the two evening bartenders, Andrew and Jacob very well.   When we walked in Jacob laughed and told Mark and I that we had gone more Hawaiian than him.   They are required to wear Hawaiian shirts and accessories while they are working.  He said "Look at you two.  The shirts, the kukui nut leis, and Larry you even have on the Makau fish hook necklace.   I feel like I dressed down tonight."    I used my birthday excuse once more to see what would happen.   I told him we dressed up for my birthday dinner.   He laughed.  Then I told him I had been drinking free mai tai's all day.   He said " but I bet you haven't had a birthday shot yet have you? "   Gillian and Mark both laughed and told him that I had already had enough free drinks for one day.   And then he asked me again if I wanted a birthday shot.  And of course I said "Hell yes!"  Jacob then made me a shot he called Hawaiian Gummy Bears and toasted my birthday.

We ended up all smiles by the end of the night at Cheeseburger in Paradise.

And still the night was not over.

Jacob the bartender

Andrew the bartender

We had learned from the bartender Andrew on a previous night that he was from Perry Hall, Maryland.  Perry Hall is only about ten minutes from where Mark and I live.  It was another one of those small world stories.  After I finished my shot that Jacob had made for me, Andrew pointed to another man at the end of the bar.  He was a local regular at the bar.  Andrew told us that he was from Edgewood, Maryland and I should go say hello to him.   So still in the happy birthday spirit I walked down to the end of the bar and said rather loudly "Hey Edgewood.  How are you doing?"   The guy looked at me like I was crazy and asked how in the hell did I know Edgewood, Md.  I told her I had worked there for quite a few years at the US Army base.    He laughed and bought me one last drink.  And then we took a photo together.  But you know what they say on the internet.  Photo or it didn't happen.

Making friends with Marylanders in Hawaii.

Finally back in our hotel room.   From the cloud cover in the morning, to the sunshine in the afternoon, to the darkness of night.  

Hauʻoli Lā Hānau Larry.   Happy birthday Larry.   If you have to get old, this is the way to do it.  

The birthday is over.   One last shaka "hangin loose" salute before the lights go out.  And yes the lights did go out.  We had a sign on our door telling us the hotel was to lose power at 11:30 pm until approx 4 am. for emergency maintenance.   And they left us a little survival kit.