OF LUGGAGE & LAVENDER

Mt Hood, Oregon - Elev 11,249'

We took a little trip to see the sights of the Pacific Northwest and were not disappointed.  As for the particulars I will not bore with the minutiae.  Instead allow me to whet your appetite with highlights and photos.

Mt Hood
From 36,000' elev.
Clearly my photo
is better
than stock, right?

By the way I took 880 photos!  But don’t worry I’ll cull out the ‘not so good’ ones, edit and crop the rest and keep only the cream of the cropped crop.

Don’t you just love digital?

The trip was a tour with the group formerly known as Elder Hostel.  Many did not know what the title meant but they were possibly hostile to the elder part so the name was cleverly updated to Road Scholar Tours (RST.)  I can now proudly say I am a Road Scholar!  Take that Bill Bradley.

So how do you see everything in such a large area in just 11 days?

You don’t.

But being a scholar means knowing your limitations.

However you do get a chance to live out of a suitcase and lug luggage from hotel to hotel travelling by trains, busses, luxury coaches, street cars, light rail, and ferries and of course by foot.

Luckily our luggage was stored most of the time and in the end you feel refreshed and invigorated that you did more in less than 2 weeks than most people do in a lifetime! (As long as they don’t live very long.)

Important note: Attention spans being what they are these days even I wouldn’t want to read about the entire trip in one sitting so I will tell of the vacation in several parts.

If you are reading a part higher than number one and wish to go in order (no reason really but) scroll down for the beginning of the trip.

PART I

Our 11 day adventure began in Portland Oregon pronounce Err-Gone where we spent 2 nights sandwiched around a full day before getting gone.

The irreplaceable &
therefore nearly ever
present Roger!

After an introductory dinner hosted by our tour over-guide Roger where all travelers introduced themselves to the group and explained what they did or are still doing we were regaled by a local expert who spoke about Portland’s pre Statehood history.

This type of informative lecture is a key feature of the RST experience and we were treated (subjected?) to at least one in every city or locale.  They were well done and I will try hard to remember half of what I heard and re-learned from my school days.  Just don’t ask me to repeat any of it.

We had our first glimpse of all the interesting people we would be cooped up, I mean traveling with for the next 10 days.  But just as there is safety in numbers there is also nervous anxiety among strangers.  And there were 36 of us in that room.  Most had been on RST in the past so they were familiar with the concept.  We were not.  Clearly we had some work to do.

After a full buffet breakfast at the Doubletree Hotel we headed out for our day's tours beginning with Portland's:

Every year since 1907 a rose
is selected & the breeder
anointed Queen for a year!

All Hail the Queen!

Rose Test Garden.

And in 1977

they crowned

Queen Susan!

 The garden was incredibly fragrant and roses of all colors and sizes surrounded us.

A perfectly sunny day for
tiptoeing, uh romping
through the roses!

Roses to the left of us, roses to the right of us, well you get the picture or pictures.

Wonderful world of roses?

The colors!

The aroma!

The diversity!

The Storied PEACE ROSE

My favorite was the Peace Rose.

And finally a rose bush that
dates back to the discovery of Newfoundland by Lief Ericson

A tip of the hat from
The Royal Rosarian
and the Resches

A Rose Hip from a very old bush

Royal Rosarian &

I bid the roses

adieu & head

out for our

next tour.

And that next tour is of the Lan Su Chinese Garden.

This entire garden of Chinese tranquility occupies one square city block in downtown Portland.

This civic marvel was built overseas, taken apart piece by piece & meticulously reconstructed in Portland in Sept 2000.

     Note the city just beyond the outer wall.

You almost feel as though you need a passport to enter but luckily just a ticket, prepaid by RST. Out of our fee of course.

Several objects are strategically placed to give a peaceful feel to the garden.

Another panoramic view of Lan Su for you 

 Exotic artwork and architecture abound.

Not sure what they did to warrant a

lineup but Hey, It's Chinatown, sort of.

Some of the beautifully carved wood panels depict scenes from the city where the Garden was constructed

Gorgeous Jade creatures guard some of the fine furniture.

Lunch was at the Portland Grill WAAAY up (31st floor of the "pink" building) overlooking, well everything.  Large windows basically offered a 360 degree view of Portland.  Several mountains including Mt Hood and Mt St. Helens, what's left of it were visible to the north but hard to see with the camera.

You'll just have to take my word for it!

Next up was a quick visit to Columbia Gorge and it's very expensive Rest Stop/Visitor's Center.

The dot all the way on the upper
right is the Visitor's Center.

The Rest Stop is on the left and it's interior ceiling just because I felt like taking the photo on the right. Hey, it's my camera and my blog so tough!

Off to the famous (to many) Multnomah Falls for a delightful dinner at the lodge.

Enjoying my 'Fisheye' Lens again.

First view of the falls walking
from the parked coach

We hiked up to that bridge in the background to work up our appetite. As if we needed to walk some more!

A few of the wonderful people on this RST

And believe it or not this was just the first day!

To be continued

WWLS

Surely everyone has heard the acronym WWJD.
It stands for: "What Would Jesus Do?"
And I believe it is fair to say that were he alive today the man of peace would not approve of anything the current GOP candidate for President of the United States says or does.

But Jesus is a figure from over 2,000 years ago and in some ways irrelevant today.
So how about someone from our recent history?
Someone with a fairly high approval rating among both or most political parties?
Sadly the man of whom I speak is also long gone but his thoughts are not.  They are preserved in quotes passed down from generation to generation.

Ladies and gentlemen I give you a new metric upon which to measure Donald Trump:

WWLS

What Would Lincoln Say?

Actually what DID he say?
(Click the link to read a litany of the 16th President's sayings.)

What Would our 16th say?

Abe's actual quotes are in bold red italics:

Firstly and perfectly:
Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt. 
Sorry Donald but that ship has sailed!

And how about the people who are thinking of placing this dangerous man in the White House?
America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.
PLEASE DO NOT!

And what about all the statements that spew from Mr. Trump's mouth that seem to contradict themselves?
No man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar.
But he sure as hell tries!
Sadly he succeeds in fooling far too many which should lead all of us to realize we need a better educational system in America! (No more books printed in, edited and distributed by Texas!)

I like this one too:
What kills a skunk is the publicity it gives itself.
The Trump stench has not yet harmed the publicity hounding con man's poll numbers!

And then there's the most famous:
You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.
Well so far he has fooled enough to be a YUGE threat to the future of our great Democracy!

And also famously:
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Well not exactly ALL men, right Donnie boy?

And speaking of ALL MEN he is threatening to prove the following painfully correct!
A house divided against itself cannot stand. 
He has created a divide from which may not soon heal!

And if you still think you wish to have the Donald as the leader of the free world and in control of America's nuclear football:
Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.
And then make sure your fallout shelter is well stocked.

And finally in Lincoln's own words he directs us, no begs us not to believe in the likes of Donald Trump but to reject him, shun him and keep him and others like him as far away from power as is humanly possible!
We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.

The party of Lincoln approved this message, albeit quietly so as to not incur the wrath of their current standard bearer!

Lincoln would've loved me.
I'm the greatest leader that ever lived!
The best leader!
The only leader that can...

THE CLEVELAND ADDRESS

by Donald J Trump

Four score and seven years ago the Democratic Party brought forth on this continent a crashed stock market.

Do the math people!

I want the liberty to conceive with Melania in the White House, and dedicate my life to the proposition that while all men are created equal I am more equal than most!

Now we are engaged in a great civil debate, testing whether our Party, or any Party so conceived and so dedicated, can take all 5 branches of government.

Ya know there are 5 branches, or there will be when I take over and they will be the best branches ever. I mean the tree I create out of those new branches are going to be fantastic, the best the greatest branches ever, you wait and see but it won’t happen unless you vote for me and then we will be great again with the greatest best most amazing branches ever.

Okay, where was I?  Oh yeah.

We are met on a great battlefield of this campaign. We have come to dedicate a portion of that campaign to making certain I don’t lose money. And as a final resting place for those Democrats and crooked Hillary who say they give their lives but we know they are lying, right? I mean you know they lie. That’s all they do is lie! They can’t even do that good.  I mean if I lied it would be the best lie ever, EVER! It is altogether fitting and proper that we beat back the Democrats this November.  And this time I’ll make sure my kids all vote, right guys? No more screw ups, ha ha, right?

But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot be hollow in this nation. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled in the Supreme Court and the debates with me and lost because I am so much better than them could have consecrated it but did not.  I have the power to add or detract from this nation and I will do so to the best of my ability.  And you know my abilities are great, and my plans are large, like my hands and other parts where I have no problems, believe me, none at all down there or anywhere.  Ask my bit, I mean Melania.  Wasn’t she great? Wow, what a freaking great speech she wrote.  And that delivery! I mean wow, even Chris Matthews was blown away although she would never, uh well let’s get back on point.

The world will surely note, and long remember what I say here today. And it can never forget what the Democrats did four score and seven years ago!

It is now for us the living, rather, to dedicate here to the unfinished work which my family fought here and have thus far so nobly advanced. It is for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us, beating crooked Hillary and ending the reign of the Kenyan!

Let us make sure Scalia and other honored dead conservatives and Evangelists and all religious people except Muslims cause you know what they want to do take increased devotion to the cause for which we now here dedicate ourselves.

We must highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain! That this nation, under Trump, shall have a new birth of freedom and jobs and safety and that government of the Trump, by Trump, for Trump, shall not perish from the earth.

THE SAGA OF A SHORT TRIP ON AMERICAN AIRLINES

We took a week vacation in and around Minneapolis. This is not the story of the wonderful time spent in the Twin Cities but rather the story of our round trip on one of the most ineptly run airlines in the United States today, American Airlines!
Our vacation ran from July 2nd to July 9th.
It may seem a bit long but you only have to read it - We lived it!
I'm willing to bet some of you can relate!

Even though there were many errors and mistakes made with our outbound flight I will start with the return flight saga.  The outbound appears at the end and in a smaller font for anyone interested in the complete pathetic story.

July 8, 2016:        On our last day of vacation we received a text alert that our return flight on the 9^th will be delayed and while being asked to be at the airport in time for the original departure time of 4:25 (which was originally 3:00!) we should not expect to leave until 5:34.

July 9, 2016:    12:15 pm:        We arrive at MSP at 12:15pm and the flight is not moved back to the earlier time.

                        3:45 pm:          After 3½ hours in the airport a text informed us the flight will be further delayed until 5:49.

                        5:50 pm:          Passengers are starting to get angry as there is no airplane at the gate and no word of any further delays.

                        6:00 pm:          An aircraft arrives at the gate and all passengers and crew depart.  A supervisor is seen talking to a flight attendant who seems animated and abrupt before leaving.

                        6:45 pm:          I am tweeting constantly about the level of non existent service we are getting and explaining to anyone interested how American Airlines is the worst airline in the world.  AND I receive a reply from American on Twitter explaining that they had many delays in and out of my location due to bad weather.  REALLY!  I counted 2 clouds in the bluest sky you'd ever want to see so the only bad weather this liar must have been talking about was  a blinding sun!  Do they think we are that stupid???

                        7:05 pm:          New texts are received by all in the waiting area that the flight is now scheduled to depart at 7:22!  The reason given is the flight does not have a full complement of flight attendants. They are 1 short since the attendant who left earlier did not wish to go past her allotted time working. But the supervisor is waiting on a flight due in any second to see if one of those flight attendants would work our flight.

                        7:15 pm:          The arriving attendant agrees and applauded as she walks to the gate.  Passengers start loading including 2 blind passengers and 2 wheel chair bound people.  Clearly we will not depart at 7:22 pm but at least there is light at the end of the tunnel.

                        8:05 pm:          I notice luggage being off loaded from the plane and turn to ask the supervisor why.

                        8:08 pm:          Texts arrive stating our flight is now officially canceled!

                        8:15 pm:          While the 4 passengers are helped back off the plane the supervisor explains that Minneapolis dispatch will not allow the flight attendant to work our flight because they have a more important flight that needs her in the morning and should would not be back in time for that one if she left with us for LGA!

                        8:45 pm:          Like sheep we line up for vouchers for dinner and a hotel for the night. We are told to call an 800 number (800-446-7834) to reschedule and many are given 5 am flights.  We receive word that although there are many direct flights in the morning we will not be accommodated on any of them and must choose between flights with stops in Charlotte, Chicago or Washington DC Reagan, DCA. Alternatively we could fly into a different state – Newark and find our way home from there!  I accept the 10:55 am DCA stop with connection at 3:00 pm to LGA but receive a text confirming that we are booked through Charlotte and into Newark at 5 am!

                        9:00 pm:          The supervisor and William at the 800 number finally straighten everything out and we can depart for dinner and a hotel after spending 9 hours in the airport!

July 10, 2016:  8:30 am:          We arrive at MSP and proceed to wait to depart at 10:55.

                        11:20 am:        We finally take off but note that our connecting flight is at 3:00 pm out of DCA and we may not arrive until just before that time.

Bye bye connection!

             3:35 pm:

We land at DCA but cannot pull into a gate since it is occupied by another aircraft!  Almost is if a bad joke we are sitting on the tarmac directly across from our connecting flight at gate #31. I take a photo of our soon to be plane.

                        3:50 pm:          We deplane and find that we must board another shuttle to get to the departing gate but the shuttle is not ready and will not be back for 5 minutes.

                        3:55 pm:          The shuttle arrives and we load. While we are being driven across to the correct terminal the driver stops to let 5 empty carts pass in front of us.

                        3:57 pm:          I watch our connecting flight pull out of the gate while still in the useless stopped shuttle.

                        4:05 pm:          We arrive at the gate and are placed on the 4:00 flight to LGA which also will pull away from the gate 5 minutes earlier than scheduled. The first and only flight all week to leave on or close to schedule!

                        5:15 pm:          We are finally off any and all American Airline / Republic Airline / American Eagle airplanes and find that our luggage had made the earlier flight out of DCA.  Brilliant!  Our pieces are off some place in the corner of baggage claim with only one piece damaged.  The final blow delivered unwittingly by a luggage handler somewhere along the way.

Conclusion based on the time line of the changes made to the flights we booked is that American or Republic or American Eagle OR ALL THREE knew in advance of all the possible problems and delays but chose not to address them!

It is not hard to calculate allowable flight work times for pilots and other airline employees so the crew shortage was known well in advance.  The fact that no entity saw fit to have an alternate crew ready to go is unacceptable.

One other point of note: No matter how the airlines screw you or ruin your vacation plans or treat you like dirt or insult your intelligence with obvious lies IF YOU COMPLAIN THEY THREATEN TO CALL 911 AND / OR HAVE HOMELAND SECURITY ARREST YOU! You have no recourse but to accept their level of inept service and total disregard for the customer.

The total amount of extra time spent sitting in airports caused by the inept people running the three corporations noted above is14 hours and spans an entire wasted Saturday and Sunday!

The number of lies and misinformation involved in every aspect of this experience makes me wonder how this airline can stay in business for long.  It also makes me wonder why I or any traveler would ever want to fly with any of these uncaring corporations.

Thank goodness our next trips are booked on professionally run airlines!

(And now the outbound story:

April 14, 2016:            We received confirmation from American Airlines of our round trip from La Guardia LGA to Minneapolis MSP on American Eagle operated by Republic Airlines.

Our Outbound flight # 4462 on 7/2/16 from LGA at 6:15 and our return flight # 4645 from MSP 7/9/16 at 3:00 were set.

We made all our plans for travel to and from the NY airport based on this schedule.

We noted that food would be available for purchase on-board both flights and since we have and pay annually for our AA Aviator credit card we would receive discounts on those purchases.

Before going on let me say the statement about food was not only a bold faced lie but we seemed to be the only ones not knowing this. When we arrived at the airports and asked about food on-board we were nearly laughed at and told to buy sandwiches beforehand.

April 16, 2016:            We received an email with our Record Locator OZXBEO explaining that our return flight was no longer #4645 but now #4317 and the time of departure was now 1 hour and 20 minutes later at 4:20. Food for purchase was still noted on the confirmation.

April 25, 2016:            We received still another email noting another change to the flight that was 10 weeks away.  Return flight # 4645 at 3:00 that was changed to # 4317 at 4:25 is now flight # 4485 leaving MSP at 4:25.  This meant that our return to LGA was not the original 7:05 pm or even the 8:04 pm but now 8:11. (Food still available for purchase though.)

July 2, 2016:                We arrive at LGA early in case security takes a long time and find that the flight is slightly delayed and will now leave at 6:19pm.  We also find that the confirmed gate of departure has changed twice already and as we sit in the waiting area receive news that gate change number three is being announced ALONG WITH a change of terminal!

We are all told to board a shuttle to take us to the new terminal.

We stand in line for 10 minutes and after walking down the stairs to board the shuttle are asked to return upstairs because there’s no more room for us.

We wait another 10 minutes for the shuttle and finally arrive at the correct (?) terminal and gate only to find that the gate is being changed for a fourth time.

One of the workers at the airport said he had never seen so many changes in his life!)

SUNSET OF THE AGE OF AQUARIUS

The era of Woodstock is a distant memory and the Haight Ashbury scene has basically been replaced by Hate Kill & Bury.
In honor of this sad turn of events I've updated a Golden Oldie and dreamed up an imaginary group to sing it.
Sadly I believe it fits the current political atmosphere of America.
I give you The 6th Dimension!
(So as not to infringe on any copyrights I suggest you decide to what tune you would like to sing the following.)

SUNSET OF THE AGE OF AQUARIUS

When we’ve mourned our 7^th massacre

And GOP aligns with NRA

Then terror will rule the country

And hate will steer the polls

This is the sunset of the Age of Aquarius

The Age of Aquarius

Aquarius

Aquarius

Discord and misunderstanding

Compassion and all trust are gone

Only falsehoods and derision

Golden years are just a vision

Mistakes rule our education

Science loses to creation-ism

Aquarius

Aquarius

Aquarius

Aquarius

Aquarius

Aquarius

OUR TAX CODE NEEDS TO BE UPDATED!

Life has its ups and downs. The stock market; your temperature and even your emotions go up and down. But people only want taxes to go down! And that’s understandable since who wants to pay more when we can pay less for anything?

But the constant lowering of taxes is killing America!

Okay perhaps it’s a bit melodramatic to say it’s killing America but it is killing the American Middle Class!

Recently President Obama went after tax cheaters.  And because he is President Obama he had to go it alone as once again the GOP controlled Congress refused to do the right thing or anything the Kenyan Democratic President would like.

Not only do they refuse to help the American economy they won’t even discuss the matter since raising taxes on the mega wealthy would harm the very people and corporations that fund their political campaigns and lives!

While most Americans want the wealthy to pay their fair share of the country’s tax bill they probably don’t understand how important it is that they do so.  And let’s face it; if raising their taxes means raising mine forget it.

And this is because most of those people don’t understand what a progressive tax system is let alone how it works!

If you tell the average American that our Nation prospered and grew under the Eisenhower Administration they might smile at the memory of good times but Corporations and the so-called 1%ers would not!

So why the disconnect?

I though a rising tide lifted all boats!

Well the top tax rate during Republican President Ike’s reign was over 90%.

Whoa, did you say 90%???

Questions like the following show how misinformed people really are!

People keep saying that the income tax rate under Eisenhower was around 90%. Is that really true? If I made a million dollars in 1955 would I really only be able to keep one hundred grand?

How can the average Joe make a living if he has to give the government that huge a chunk of his income?

HE DOESN’T!

And that misunderstanding by the average Joe is the essence of the problem.

Our tax code is broken into brackets.

I’ll pause while you joke about March Madness.

Go ahead, I’ll wait.

But these brackets produce April madness, April 15^th to be exact!

Ever since GOP GOD Ronald Reagan was in the White House the Republican Party has been fighting to lower all taxes.  Not because they care about the average citizen but rather they want the wealthy to be able to sock away and hide more and more of their wealth.

A 1955 dollar would be worth $8.89 today.  This means if you are earning $50,000 a year today it only equals $5,624 back then! And $200,000 today is the equivalent of $22,500 back then.

Both of those phenomenal salaries would neatly fit into today’s 20% tax bracket!

However the person earning $200,000 in 1955 would be getting the equivalent of $1,778,000 now and that person would be paying taxes in the 91% bracket.

So does that mean he keeps only $160,000 after taxes?

Should we hold a telethon for the poor guy?

NO! He pays on a sliding scale so that only the money earned OVER $1.778 million is taxed at that rate.

In fact if you get out a calculator and ask a 9 year old with patience and a lot of scrap paper for help you will figure out that his entire tax bill, not including loopholes and offshore hiding places, would come to slightly under $138 million.  He gets to keep over $384,000.

Granted it is a large chunk of money but I dare say very few people would have trouble living on such a tidy sum of money.

And the taxes paid by this good American would AND DID help America thrive.

As a nation we were the envy of the World and we grew a middle class that had the freedom and wherewithal to live wonderful productive lives raising families with hopes of a bright future.

That has changed as greed and corporate welfare has taken over the country.

The wealthy figured out how to change the conversation and make the people of the formerly large middle class vote against their own best interest.

As was attributed to John Dickerson of the Continental Congress, one of America’s first Conservative legislators and a wealthy land owning man, “Most people with nothing would rather protect the possibility of becoming rich rather than face the reality of being poor” and that is why they will vote Republican! (sic)

But just as the stock market changes so too can our tax system.

It does not have to remain a tool for wealthy people and corporations to rape and pillage Americans.

I do not propose that we return to the 90% top bracket days but surely the wealthy could survive a similar fair tax sliding scale that sported a 50% ceiling!

Under that tax code a person earning $1.778 million would still take home nearly $1 million per year!!!

We must keep our eye on the prize and that prize must be the fair treatment of all citizens of this country.

If you really want to build our economic house and make America great again fixing our tax code is one of the necessary building blocks to a prosperous future for all!

SCHOOL BUDGETS MUST BE FUNDED

A recent letter to the editor of Newsday stated that a couple was tired of paying school taxes and felt that as seniors they deserved a break or at least a reduction. After all our taxes are always too high, even if we pay next to nothing!

I too am a senior and as such I understand the feeling.  Like the writer my children have been out of school for quite some time and I pay my tax bill in full when due.

The writer feels he has lost money since no one likes to pay a bill and get nothing in return.

But do we get nothing?

My first and most obvious thought is the return on investment for educating the next generation and the ones after that.

If anyone wishes to know how important a good education is look no further than the Republican primaries and sadly their current front runner.

The second slightly less obvious benefit to paying a fair school tax is the funding of the district’s education budget.

All school districts have basic nuts to crack that allow them to run smoothly.  This does not include extracurricular activities that tend to produce a more ‘well rounded’ student body.

If the district does not have enough funding for basic needs they may be forced to pass an austerity budget which cuts out many programs.

This bare bones measure immediately decreases the value of the child’s education and the property values of the homes in the neighborhood since young families generally don't wish to doom their children to a poor education.

As seniors are more likely to be selling their homes in the near future, downsizing or moving into retirement communities in the south I believe this loss of value could easily outweigh the amount of money invested in our children’s education.

And finally a more obscure yet perhaps most important reason to continue paying school taxes, our American Democracy.

Attorneys use the phrase “slippery slope” to signal how small bad decisions lead to catastrophe.

If we pick and choose which taxes to pay and which to ignore because they do not immediately benefit us how long before we are paying none and the community fails?

For example:

1. Ever since I bought a Kindle I rarely go to the library so I want that part of my tax bill removed.

2. My neighbors and I all have snow blowers so I don’t feel we should be required to contribute into the town budget for snow removal.

3. And while we’re on this slope I don’t believe we should be fighting so many wars overseas so I want my tax that are earmarked for the military removed from my bill at once!

4. And don’t get me started on the Federal Government funding all the things other States want! Why should I care about Kentucky?

Now back to reality.

I do in fact think our taxes are too high but I believe this to be the result of legislative waste and a tremendous amount of loopholes allowing corporations and those who can most afford to pay their fair share to avoid paying one cent.

When we fix this last item I believe we will all benefit far more than just a slight lowering of our local school tax bill.