To the Cemetery

I read in a blog that the Copan cemetery was pleasant. So I set out today with my back pack imagining I'd sit on grass under a spreading tree, sketching pad in hand. But cemeteries here are all choc a bloc with great square cement blocks, mostly decorated with brightly coloured plastic flowers. What you see here are the most cared for ones. The rest are sad affairs and unfortunately there's a lot of garbage strewn about. Ah well.

But then I found a small gallery of photos describing the excavation of the Mayan temples towards the end of the 1800s. What's fascinating is the Hieroglyphic Stairway Plaza before and after the excavation. In the first photo from the late 1800s, you can see excavtors with wooden cranes and ropes lifting tumbled stones. The second photo shows what the mound looked like before.

Another gallery photo showed a wedding party at the ruins. They don't look very happy do they?

The result of many ecavations is the Heiroglyphic Stairway Plaza as it looks now.

From the ancient to the modern and not so modern.

 

Luckily I have 2 1/2 weeks here still because the Ruins are closed now due to a protest against low wages. There's a ton of corruption in this country. So the money the workers should be earning is probably lining a few pockets.

I hope I'll be able to post photos for you of the temples, plazas and terraces. According to researchers this Mayan civilization area was inhabited from 2000 BCE to 900 CE and is right up there in magnificence.

As with other special places in the world such as the Acropolis in Greece and Venice in Italy, Copan has preservation problems. The ruins are endangered by erosion of the river and also by agricultural practices. The site is also in a seismic zone and has been damaged by at least two earthquakes.

Tomorrow I'm going to church with my "family." It's an Evangelical church and a two hour service. I'll have to be on my best behaviour. The family I'm living with is Mayan. I didn't realize that the father taught at a Mayan school until we passed by it yesterday and I asked my instructor Dunia if they were Mayan. What a dolt I am.

Good night.

 

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Off to the Boston Symphony Orchestra

Hi Family:

Boston has been a whirlwind with hardly a second to write. After trying to purchase online tickets for Beethoven Series Part 4 five weeks ago, we were so lucky to find two jump seats yesterday for tonight's performance because the house was sold out ages ago. It's the first time in 57 years that the BSO has featured all nine symphonies in a series. I suppose as in any unfamiliar city, we walked around in circles Tuesday afternoon and evening orienting ourselves. Eventually we figured out the subway system, got all the trolley car tours sorted out and were on our way. We walked till we dropped on Tuesday and trollied around yesterday to Trinity Church, a beautiful old church built with incredible support structures on landfill, the Christian Science complex where the Christian Science Monitor was born, the Rodeo Drive of Boston, the original Cheers restaurant and tons of graveyards. Bostonians love their history. Harvard where we spent most of today -- at the art gallery, an organ recital and the book store (I think Dad would rather have been walking around our bush at home!) is pronounced "Havad" here. Last night I toured the BSO complex and tonight the performance --can't wait. Up bright and early for the 10 drive home tomorrow.

Hope you are all well.

Love Mom

Mount Monadnock's Elusive Summit

The Elusive Mt. Monadnock Summit:

In hindsight we should have started the climb at 9 am instead of 11. But the state park attendant said it was four hours round trip. I figured we'd be down in three -- maybe 3 1/2 max. We had packed lunch, gloves, hats and an extra litre of water at the ranger's suggestion. He'd advised we ascend the White Dot trail and descend on the White Cross. The trail for the first 20 minutes climbed gently over small rocks, then almost in the blink of an eye the surface changed to huge jagged boulders in a fairly steep ascent. This was a surprise for both of us. I know we hadn't expected a walk in the park, but not such honking monsters. Our pace felt glacial. A number of goat footed climbers whizzed by. About 2/3 of the way up, the terrain changed again. Up ahead, I heard someone say "steep".

I thought we were on steep. But then there we were at the bottom of an almost vertical face of granite. I felt that old fear creeping up inside -- the fear of something impossible. I'd already been on all fours for the last 20 minutes, then this rock. Dad was more goat footed than me and with a lot of "lend a handing" we made it up and up and up. Unbelievable. By the time we reached the junction with the white cross trail, we'd been grunting up for two and three quarter hours with still another half hour to the top.

After lunch, we started descending the White Cross trail -- the same boulders but no rock face -- reaching the bottom (thank god for hiking poles) in two hours, only 1/2 hour before sundown. Five hours, our bodies in one piece and not much the worse for wear. Whew! It was a fantastic experience and the views incredible. According to most material we'd read, Mt. Monadnock is the second most climbed mountain in the world, after Mt. Fiji.

Off to Boston tomorrow.

Be well,

Love Mom

Lost in the Woods

Hi Everyone -- kind of exiting day for a while taking the hiking route around Gibson Pond in Mount Monadnock State Park. Got a late start, so by the time Dad and I got separated the shadows on the trail were lengthening. By the time I stumbled back to the car, I could see a note on the dashboard. It read, "Don't leave the car, Bob." So I sat down on a boulder fence and painted the nature at my feet -- twigs, oak leaves, rocks and off in the distance where you can see mountains, well that was actually a parking lot. I'd tied my scarf to Dad's arial. It was the first thing he saw when he emerged from the woods after three runs around the pond. We'd crossed tracks, I guess. Tomorrow we're hiking to the top of Mt. Monadnock, 3165' Tomorrow we stick together.

Love Mom

Right Out of Psycho

Hi Family;

Coming here to this quiet isolated part of NH from the GTA engine has been discombobulating. So many streets in surrounding towns are graced with enormous clapboard houses, but many are in need of paint. I would love to have been here in different times. The area was wealthy at some point in its history, for sure.

Yesterday we decided to try a climb of Crotched Mountain. But Dad wasn't up to it. So we drove to Antrim, the nearest town, hoping to find a food store. But Antrim is very sleepy. So we drove to Hillsborough, shopped and then searched and searched for a coffee shop. (Dad needed a latte and date square.) We were fussy. No coffee made at 10 am and stored in a thermos would do. So we drove an hour west to Keene and found a funky organic coffee house. Then we searched for a gorge that sounded picturesque. We'd left the resort at noon, gotten lost a bunch of times and by then it was five and getting dark. Finally arrived back here at six thirty. Must have been out of our heads on the road for four hours after eleven the day before.

The Francestown ski hill collapsed in 1989 at the beginning of a recession bringing this resort and 15-18 buildings under construction down with it. These derelict buildings hover over us, some with roof holes, looking like the set of "Psycho." The ski hill, reopened in 2003 and the guys working on a new lodge deck said that snow making begins in two weeks, that the the temp goes down to 0F in winter. Hard to imagine as we walked around in the 70 degree air.

Today we climbed Crotched Mountain where on a clear day there's a view to Mt. Washington -- also where 20 years ago or so hiked from hut to hut with Janet and Ted. Remember Liberty Springs Trail, Jan? Remember Ted purchasing a scarf and the diminutive hut master daughter of the American surgeon general carrying 100 pounds on her back? Another lifetime ago methinks. The wind was ferocious today, gusting to 70-80 km./hour, scattering clinging leaves in its wake.

We're enjoying ourselves -- a different part of our little world.

Love Mom

Hiking in New Hampshire During the Moose Hunt

Hi Family:

Crotched Mountain Resort is nestled in a forest just outside Francestown about and hour and a half west of Boston. The secondary roads in Vermont and New Hampshire are much smoother and better maintained than those in Ontario and because we’re further south, we’re catching the tail end of autumn, our second autumn. The hills are cloaked in russet, yellow and the occasional red. For the last four hours of our eleven hour jaunt here, we wound through huge hills, stopping every now and then at the top of a mountain for a view that spread forever.

The receptionist at the desk last night said, “You’re hiking? Then you’ll have to wear a vest.” Dad said, “A 303 can shoot a mile.” Ugh. Keeping company with hunters wasn’t my plan. But there’s a school at the top of Crotched Mountain and that’s where we’ll head today for a short hike at least.

After three days, Dad’s fever was down this morning. But he’s still coughing and not too frisky so it’s lucky we have a two bedroom suite and yes Mark, we have plumbing and even granite countertops!

Will post again when we have more to relate. Photos to follow. All is well. Love Mom/Lynda

Chill in the Air

Hi Family;

Here is the underpainting for a new painting based on a series of Massassauga Park photos. If I could change the URL name of this blog, it would be Come Fly with Me. That would be more engaging.

All our deck plants are snug in a new and improved plant room -- new cedar table, refinished cabinets and more room to saunter. The first plant room view is from the massage table.

When the sky is dark and ominous with sun peaking though the clouds, the view of our kitchen window Aspen (last photo) is magical.

I'll write again from Francesville NH. Be well. Love Mom