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The words of Edward R. Murrow symbolize to me the collegiality and warmth of this marvelous rally: We will not be driven by fear into unreason.

I can’t begin to tell you what a delightful day this was for me and for the tens of thousands of Americans of all ages, who flocked into the capitol to show solidarity for the return to rational, humane discourse in this country. There was not a bit of rowdiness or irritation, though everyone was packed in like sardines, from the Capitol to the Washington Monument. And I’m sure the organizers never expected so many people or there would have been more monitors and loud speakers. But nobody seemed to care. We were there on a glorious autumn day to show our support. We couldn’t get close, so after awhile we sat on the grass with other families, watching the children play and listening to the music.

As Jon Stewart, host of The Daily Show, said in his opening remarks, and I urge you to hear the whole introduction on YouTube: “Don’t divide us…we’re all Americans.” Here are a few sentences out of context that really resonated with me. “It takes an exhaustive effort to hate.” His was a plea for unity and civility. “We can have animus, but not be enemies.” “If we amplify everything, we hear nothing.” “We live in hard times. Not end times.” “And every day, despite our many problems, we work together to get things done.”

There were lots of homemade signs. Here are a few of them:

Moderate to the Extreme

Real Americans Don’t Use the Term ‘Real Americans’

Nobody but Hitler was Hitler

God Hates Nags

God Hates Figs (you know the parody, of course)

Clown to the Left of Me, Joker to the Right. Here I am, stuck in the Middle with YOU!

Real Patriots Can Handle a Difference of Opinion

And here are a few photographs. If only I could have been up in one of the trees so you could see the vast crowds, but the internet will show you that. Martha, my daughter, and I tried like mad to climb onto the verandas of several museums, but it was forbidden. Such is life. It was a grand day. We saw the sun rise and the sun set as we roared in our Maplewood bus along the highway. On the way down the roads were so crowded that we had to go north in Delaware and go off the beaten track to avoid the traffic. All in all, it was beautiful!

Getting there was half the fun

Look up to the right and see who has the best view!

My sentiments exactly

Ladies at rest. Everywhere we went we made friends…

A wide demographic. You name it, they were there!

And they WERE there

One fleeting view of the stage

The wave

Picnics and a breather away from the crowded Mall

It's over

...and the Capitol is still standing

But not Martha, who was grooving in the sun

Matha, Cally, and MP...three generations getting ready to board the bus and head home

I just heard from two fellow climbers I met on the Kangchenjunga trek in Nepal in 1996. I’ve written about both of them before, since they continue to lead energetic and adventurous lives. If all goes well, I’ll meet up with one, Terry Rollins, when I visit Dharamsala in December, after climbing with my daughters in Sikkim. Terry has been teaching English to Tibetan refugees as a volunteer at the Tibet Charity in McLeod Ganj, Upper Dharamsala, since July. He’ll return to Japan in April, to continue as an ESL teacher in that country. I’m thrilled to be able to connect with him after all these years!

Another avid climber from the Kangchenjungo trip is Sigrid Selle, who is a photographer extraordinaire, and has trekked in such faraway places as Pakistan and Yemen. She spent last August in Mongolia, covering the whole country by jeep, staying in yurts along the way, and taking two separate treks in the western mountain ranges, Altai and  Kaakhiraa. She planned the entire trip on the spot, visiting small villages and hiring guides as she went. Now this is something I would love to do. Any takers?

Here are a few of Sigrid’s photos, which she has graciously given me permission to scan. The colors cannot compare to the originals, but are, nevertheless, outstanding. She is known in the San Francisco area for her stunning slide shows…and she hasn’t gone digital!

Ladakh

Kangchenjunga, third highest mountain in the world, from Ladakh

Mustang

Kashgar/Xinjiang

Yemen

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Hunza Valley/Pakistan

Tolbachik Volcano/Kamchatka

Finally, I cannot disappoint my friends who laugh at my theater addiction. You can’t blame me for seeing two wonderful new shows on Broadway before I depart for Asia. I highly recommend the hysterically funny La Bete, starring the amazing Mark Rylance, David Hyde Pierce, and Joanna Lumley, written by David Hirson and directed by Matthew Warchus (remember, he directed the recent hits, God of Carnage and The Norman Conquests). And don’t miss Kander and Ebb’s final musical, The Scottsboro Boys, a wrenching story that is told as a minstrel show with a powerful bite to match its powerful performance. To top this off I saw the Metropolitan Opera’s latest production of Modest Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov, with the magnificent Rene Pape in the title roll. Long it is, but with such a chorus and orchestra, under the baton of the Russian, Valery Gergiev, that the four hours flew by. Many thanks go to my good friend, Phyllis Bitow, who squired a group of us in the wee hours back to our suburban nests.

Stand by for more information about my upcoming trip, plus a few more travel tips.

I think it’s autumn that keeps me in New Jersey. The heat and humidity are forgotten, and the ice and snow seem far away. It’s easy to live in the present, walk through the curled up red and yellow leaves, and kick aside even the storm clouds that bring the blessed rain to revive our parched land and half-dead bushes. Every week or so I join members of the AMC (Appalachian Mountain Club) for a hike up and down the hills of Harriman or Bear Mountain or the cliffs that abut the Hudson River. Sure, Harriman is in New York State, but close enough to qualify as my backyard. Here are a few pictures of yesterday’s seven-mile hike in the park.

Two weekends ago I visited my friends, Carol and Ted Goodman, who moved from Morristown to Williamstown, MA. That is one beautiful community, which I had visited as a child whenever my father returned to Williams College, his alma mater. I’d move there in a minute if it weren’t so far from NYC and my family. The Goodmans have a lovely house atop a hill with a 360-degree view of the Berkshires. Who could ask for anything more? Watch for Carol’s new book, Never Lie Down, coming soon to Amazon.com.

I had a wonderful discussion with Joan Malespina at the non-fiction book club of Maplewood Library. We shared various adventure stories and she told me about Erik Weihenmayer, the blind climber who has summited Mt. Everest. He is the only blind person to have climbed the “Seven Summits,” the tallest peaks on every continent. Take a look at his website. He’s amazing!

In preparation for my November 16 departure for Sikkin, I’ve combed through Campmor and EMS, finally investing in a down sleeping bag that goes to zero (now what do I do with the other three?). With it all I’ve pared down my belongings to one duffel, one backpack, and a small daypack. It’s taken me twenty-four years to get wise. Next, I traded my humongous Canon camera for a small Nikon Coolpix P7000 that has more bells and whistles than I could use in a lifetime…but I’ll try. Add to that a small digital voice recorder and my pint-sized Sony video camera, and I’m wired to go. Expect a lot of reports along the way. The only sure dates are three weeks trekking in Sikkim with my daughters, Cary and Martha, and three more weeks in the Dharamsala area visiting Tibetan friends, the TCV (Tibetan Children Village) school in Bir, and the mountain community of Tso Pema.

A note about Sikkim. It’s the second smallest state in India (after Goa), located in the northeastern part of the country in the Himalayas. It’s nestled between Tibet and Bhutan on the east, Nepal on the west, West Bengal on the south, and China on the north. So you see I have lots of choices if I decide to jettison India. Who knows? I’ll be traveling by the seat of my pants as usual, with a return ticket on Feb. 28. Keep tuned for new developments.

My theater addiction has been drastically curtailed, but I did enjoy the hilarious English import, Alphabetical Order by Michael Frayn. You may remember two of his other hits, Noises Off and Copenhagen.

And for those of you getting on in years (tell me who isn’t?), I recommend a new book, Dare to Be 100, by Dr. Walter M. Bortz II. Hell, he’s even older than I!

I’m in the planning stages for another long trip to Asia—Sikkim (northern India), Myanmar, and the Tibetan community in and around Dharamsala—so I’m particularly sensitive to the news bombarding us daily, about the plight of the flood victims in Pakistan and Ladakh, as well as the disturbing information that many of the products we consume, like SUV’s, mobile phones, play stations, and laptops, add to the destruction of the rain forest or the continuation of terror in such countries as the Congo. And most of us are unaware of this.

I just watched the excellent new PBS program, Need To Know, last Friday night, the 24^th, and was stunned by the segment documenting the horrendous use of rape, torture, and murder as a weapon of war in the Congo. What further appalled me was the connection between these rampaging soldiers and the United States. These groups fund their weapons and, thus, continue to subjugate and terrorize women and girls, by selling a variety of precious minerals to companies in the United States (and elsewhere) for components in the above-mentioned products. Not all these minerals come from the Congo, but a large percentage does.

President Obama touched on this in his speech to the United Nations, but we need to examine our part in buying the products containing the minerals, and to insist on transparency by the U.S. companies as to where they buy these components.  Make sure that they have a supply chain that guarantees conflict-free minerals. They may be reluctant to give out such information, but by keeping the pressure up we can help eradicate the atrocities going on in this war-torn country.

I suggest that you look at this report on PBS.org and make your senators and representatives aware of how pervasive the problem is (just this past summer the number of rapes in a few isolated villages topped 500), and the urgent need to write legislation prohibiting U.S. companies from doing business with Congolese warlords and rebel groups. I may sound naïve, but pressure does work.

I plan to return to Myanmar in mid-January for a month, and this time I shall write the stories of some of the people I met on my first trip, and what has happened to them in the interim. The news out of Myanmar has been grim, and I have not dared make any overt contact, myself, for fear of endangering those I met.  But I think it’s time to take my own advice and stand up and be counted. I will not use names, but I will tell it as I see it. No holds barred.

The news from the Plainfield Symphony about last night’s concert is great! It was one of the most enjoyable concerts I’ve played, largely because of our new conductor, Charles Prince, and Leonard Bernstein’s daughter, Jamie, who presided over a concert of Aaron Copeland’s Billy the Kid, Leonard Bernstein’s Suite from On The Waterfront, and Charles Ives’ Symphonuy #2. All these pieces were challenging, with six tympani and assorted percussion, an amazing brass and woodwind section, and strings that played faster than seemed possible. Jamie showed the many ways that these composers “shared” each other’s compositions, and, using song and placards to the audience’s delight, traced the use of American folk music by the inimitable Ives.

but so is the heat and humidity. I must admit that it was difficult to drag myself out of the White Mountains and Lake Winnipesaukee this year. I wanted to stay all September and just float in the water, but the Plainfield Symphony was calling as well as the bills and all the minutiae that make up our post-vacation reality. But I’m grateful for a summer of almost no computer, no television, no newspapers, and no loud political discourse. Naturally, I was made aware of the catastrophic floods in my beloved Ladakh in August as well as the plight of millions of flood victims in Pakistan. Who can be immune to that? And I am prepared to come face to face with some of the suffering during my upcoming four months in India. But, then, there are numerous people who are trying to help and actually making a difference, so that’s encouraging. My friend, Tamara Blesh, who just returned from Ladakh, has related her first-hand experience of this crisis. I will write more about her work in a subsequent blog, but do check out her excellent website at: http://www.travelinglibrarian.org/

This summer was a time for family and friends at the cottage….

Leah, John, & Sarah Kelly

Leah and Judy Wyman Kelly

Tom...Shall I? It's pretty cold

Carmen, Tom's girlfriend, experiencing the Peterson family for the first time

….and it was also a time for work, as we repaired the road (thank you, Peterson muscle), stained the dock, and tried to ameliorate the damage caused by Old Man Winter.

Tom starting on 14 tons of fill

Nobody one-ups Martha!

Or me....

A partial view of the results, and there's more to go....for the remaining relatives

There were also some great mountain trips, the most outstanding being a hike up to Greenleaf Hut on Mt. Lafayette in Franconia Notch. It was son Tom’s treat, but he forgot to check with God about the weather. It was the only three rainy days of the month, which provided a very challenging slog up the Old Bridle Path, perilous even in dry weather. But you can see by the smiles that we had a great time. Unfortunately, we had to scratch the hike over the Franconia Ridge and down Falling Water Trail because of the fierce weather. But wait another year…we’ll be there.

Yours truly heading up the Old Bridle Path to Greenleaf Hut in the rain

Son-in-law Gary, Martha, Carmen, and Tom just after coming down the Greenleaf Trail, and preparing for a 4-mile hike to the car

My addiction to sunsets is almost as serious as my addiction to theater, so bear with me as I post a variety of scenes of the water and islands of Lake Winnie that we see every evening from our cottage. There’s no way I will ever be able to capture the soul-soothing images that bombard me each summer, but I keep trying.

The woods at sunset

Cottage in the evening glow

Evening shadows

The beginning of a three-day blow

Now the Day if Over

Really over....

“What’s the matter, Meg?” you say. “Are you obsessed with summer heat?” Well, maybe just a tad. I’ve recently returned from a glorious month in Seattle, Whidbey Island, and Vancouver Island. I grooved on wearing polar fleece in the morning and evening and not having to apply sunscreen…even in midday. I curled up in my sleeping bag under a clear starry sky, surrounded by tall fir and cedar trees, in the depths of the Canadian forests. I climbed past glacial pools and over roaring waterfalls in the mountains rising at the center of the island.

And then I returned to New Jersey! Need I say more? I have no air conditioning and am wondering if the Brownie points I gain from being “green “ are worth the suffering in 100-degree weather. Then I think of those poor people in Russia with their heat and fires, and know that I can stick it out until my time comes to be in New Hampshire’s Lake Winnipesaukee, which starts this Sunday. And don’t try to get me out of the water!

I’ve vowed to keep my entries short, so here is a pictorial recap of some of the highlights of my trip. It’s not easy to select from 500 photos, but I’ll do my best.

My first two days were spent in Kirkland, WA, visiting two old friends, Nancy and Bob Quickstad. Here’s Nancy standing by Snoqualmie Falls east of Redmond, WA.

For almost two weeks, I worked in the Good Cheer Food Bank Garden and the Whidbey Institute at Chinook Westgarden with my daughter, Cary Peterson, and once again gained new respect for those hardy souls who work as itinerant farm laborers. I also ate some amazing veggies right off the land. As I did last year, I observed the work being done with young people at risk, who, instead of being sent to detention, are given a chance to experience work in a garden and get positive feedback from adults who really care. These gardens supply quality organic food to over 800 families on the island who could not afford supermarket prices. This is a group of people who really care about the welfare of its citizens…with no strings attached. The aim is a hunger-free community for all.

Me, the beet-picker…

Volunteers of all ages work at the Good Cheer Garden

Every year I go camping and hiking with Jon Pollack, whom I met while climbing the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal in 1999. This year we took a day to roam around pristine Vancouver—Stanley Park and Grenville Island—before taking the ferry across the Straits of Georgia from West Vancouver to Nanaimo, and heading for campsites on Buttle Lake in Strathcona, and the Greenpoint Campground on Long Beach, part of the Pacific Rim National Park system. These parks, both national and provincial, are clean and beautifully maintained, with large wooded sites, some on the ocean and others on inlets. We stopped for a day at two other campgrounds as well—Miracle Beach and English Falls River. Our two major climbs were Bedwell Trail to little Bedwell Lake and Crest Mountain, both steep and challenging. The most difficult part of Bedwell Trail was the steep road leading to the trailhead. A dried riverbed would have been easier!

A little aside that tickled me about the crossing from Vancouver to Nanaimo. There is a favorite Canadian confection that is called a Nanaimo Bar–a no-bake, three layered bar that is incredibly delicious, which I tasted during the trip. You can get the recipe on line and I strongly recommend it. Get this…you start with a crumb base (can include nuts and coconut), followed by a layer of light custard buttercream, topped with a smooth glossy layer of semi-sweet chocolate. Eat one…you’ll think you died and went to heaven!

Canada abounds in woodland walks, bogs, and an especially lush rain forest. Photos will include the Wild Pacific Trail and such beaches as Half Moon and Florencia. These are reached by wooden staircases that blend into the wild, tangled forest.

Lionsgate, the great suspension bridge in Vancouver

Our first swinging bridge on the Bedwell trail

One last word to the intrepid traveler. This was the first time Jon and I had ever been stopped at the border as we were crossing back into the United States (going to Canada was a matter of 18 minutes). It was a very uncomfortable and infuriating experience. First we were an hour in line in our car and then we were selected for a spot check and our car examined thoroughly, along with our papers. Fortunately, we had been very careful not to carry any food or plant material, but it was not pleasant to spend another hour in a crowded room waiting to answer all manner of personal questions. I suppose we were lucky. Some people were being finger-printed. It’s sad to think of yet another impact of 911 on our borders. A word to the wise. Work on your patience!

Having just returned from the cool woods and even cooler waters of Lake Winnipesaukee, NH, I’m about to join with fellow Maplewoodians to experience the magic of this year’s Maplewoodstock , a panoply of bands and entertainers from rock to folk and pop to funk, performing to eager listeners dotting the grassy park in the center of town. It’s a lovely two days of fun for the whole family, produced by my son-in-law, Gary Shippy, whose band, Walk the Dog, will also perform. There’s a colorful bazaar of goodies to tempt the artistic and the hungry, and a fellowship of kindred souls who just love being surrounded by good music. Now, if only the predicted thundershowers will hold off it will be perfect.

To prove that there are still pristine, unspoiled places on this earth, I’m possting a few sunset shots from the Noble Cottage on good old Lake Winnie, the largest lake in New England, still clear and sandy-bottomed as in my childhood days.

Before going to New Hampshire I attended the annual Mt. Laurel Autoharp Gathering held in late June at Little Buffalo State Campground in Newport, PA. This was the celebration of twenty years of gatherings, and organized by the dynamic duo, Coleen and Neal Walters, themselves members of Doofus, a lively old-time band using guitar, autoharp, mountain and hammered dulcimer, fiddle, banjo, and acoustic bass. This gives you an idea of the versatility of the music presented and played from morning ‘til night (try 3 AM).  I have some neat videos of the proceedings, which I still don’t know how to mount on this blog, but I also have a few pictures taken toward the end of the festival, showing friends and performers. For an extensive coverage of the Autoharp Hall of Fame presentation (this year going to the fabulous John Hollandsworth) and the contest of champions, won, again, by Lucille Reilly, on her diatonic autoharp, visit the Mt. Laurel website.

Lucille Reilly

A list of performers includes Hello Stranger (Dale &Teresa Jett and Oscar Harris). Dale is the grandson of country legends A.P and Sara Carter, with roots in the Carter family tradition; Julie & Carol Pagter with Country Ham, an old-time, bluegrass and gospel band; Ivan Stiles, an award-winning autoharpist whom I met many years ago while I was writing my autoharp method books; Rick Fitzgerald, last year’s autoharp champion; and Lindsay Haisley, a premier musician who has set the Texas music world and every autoharp gathering in the country on fire with his stunning performances. He always plays my favorite Willie Nelson hit, Crazy, on his chromatic autoharp. There aint’ nothin’ like it! Trust me.

Lindsay Haisley

...with his wife, Cheryl DeHut

Who says married couples don't have fun?

Mike Fenton from England, autoharper extraordinaire, who taught the pre-festival workshop

Mike with wife, Rachel, on the mountain dulcimer

Once again, I stayed with my friends, Carole and Fisk Outwater in their RV. This year we were joined by the expert mountain dulcimer performer and author, Lois Hornbostel, who joined Carol, Fisk, Nadine Shah-White, and the well known rock singer from England, Bob Fish, in a rousing and hysterical presentation of the late ’50’s, early ’60’s tune, Teenager in Love.  Take a look.

Nadine, Lois, Bob, Carole, and Fisk

Ian and Nadine Shah-White performing at their workshop

Carole Outwater and Michael Poole jamming in the yard

Jamming with the dog

Heather Smith Farrell-Roberts. These English sure love long names! Heather plays a sweet autoharp

Dale Jett and Oscar Harris on stage...great country sound!

June Maugery, 1996 champion

Mike Herr, 1998 & 2004 champion, still going strong

Jammin' at Mike's

On Monday I leave for my yearly visit to Seattle and Whidbey Island, where my daughter, Cary, lives…and for a new adventure with Jon Pollack, my Himalayan buddy. It’s back to Canada, again, this time to explore and climb on Vancouver Island. There will be plenty of stories and plenty of pictures. So keep tuned all you mountaineers. After that, it’s the Whites.

I have always traveled spontaneously and, as my children like to say, “by the seat of my pants.” That’s all well and good, going from place to place with my nose in a guide book as I try to figure out where to stay and what points of interest to visit, but more and more I find that my travel experience is richer when I delve into the culture and history of an area before arriving. Obvious, you say. Not so for the majority of travelers. They get so caught up in the details of what to take and how much—plus shots, money, visas–that they lose sight of the fact that they will be faced with a new culture,  a new set of rules, and very likely—if they go off the beaten track—with the need to know the rudiments of a new language. And, folks, that’s the real fun of it!  I found a rather obscure book about Burma, or Myanmar, before visiting that country in 2007. I ended up with a respect for its rich and troubling history that no guidebook could possibly convey. It talked about the democracy movement and the years of upheaval under British rule, and the conditions leading to the present repressive government. It made me eager to talk with the people, and gave me some knowledge of their struggle far above the tourist sampling of temples and monuments. I’ve been doing the same for my upcoming trip to the Grand Canyon and adjacent national parks with my two grandsons this June. They’re young and eager to know about the geological and early American history of these rugged lands loaded with Native American history and the amazing adventures of the first settlers. It will not be the pristine experience so beautifully documented by Ken Burns, for it’s summer and the whole world heads West to our national monuments. But it will be more than just pretty pictures of rock formations. It will be the unfolding of a special place in this great land that is unique in our history and worth our reverence and respect.

So my simple rule #6 is to spend some time at your local bookstore or library and steep yourself in whatever place you’re visiting. Don’t try to cover the waterfront…take one country at a time and dig deep. Know something about their leaders, their writers, their customs. You will be rewarded by a new appreciation of your fellow human beings, wherever they live, and your eagerness and willingness to learn about them will be met with open arms. Trust me.

A word to the wise to young women, especially, who have come of age in an American society where just about anything goes, including exposed belly buttons, mini-skirts, and skin tight T’s and jeans. This applies as well to young men who like to hang their baggy pants halfway to their knees, caused, they say, by forgetting to put on a belt. Not only is that sloppy, but it gives a vulgar impression of America, which may seem an old-fashioned thing to say, but take it from a world traveler, it doesn’t help you if you want to win friends and get to know another country.  And those low-cut T’s are especially inappropriate in countries like India, where most of the men are trying to “make you happy” anyway. Don’t make it worse, especially if you’re a single woman. They’re fair game, as I’ve said many times before from personal experience. And age makes no difference. In Asia, older is better. That’s nice, but it can have its drawbacks.

I’m going mad with preparations for an exciting and challenging summer in New Hampshire, Whidbey Island, and Vancouver Island, but I did manage to see a few of Broadway’s best. Top of the list, and a birthday present from Paul Sharar, is Red, the new play about the painter, Mark Rothko, starring the superb Alfred Molina and newcomer Eddie Redmayne. Don’t miss it.  It was also a treat to visit with my former daughter-in-law, Andrea Giammattei, with whom I saw White”s Lies, not the greatest drama, but it starred Andrea’s old teacher, Betty Buckley, who is always a delight to see. Once again I saw God of Carnage, and enjoyed the new cast: Janet McTeer, who was so powerful in the classic Mary Stuart last season, Jeff Daniels, who played a different role this time around, Lucy Liu, and Dylan Baker. This time I took Judy Wyman and grandson Thomas Bixler. If I really like a show, I want to share it. It’s my weakness and my joy.

Just for fun I’m posting some photos of my grandson, Thomas Bixler, who has spent the last few days sealing my back deck, pulling weeds, and refurbishing the wrought-iron railing in front of the house. After all, what are grandchildren for? It’s quite an experience supervising a close relative, especially one who sees no reason why drops of brown primer are unattractive on cement pedestals and sidewalks. So much easier than fiddling with drop clothes. It was fiery at times, but fussy grandmothers usually win, and it’s nice that children are so forgiving. I’ve decided to trade perfection for good company.

m

Can anything be accomplished without an iPod?

Christopher’s ferns

I missed photographing the rhododendrons because of rain, but there

are always coriopsis, spirea, salvia, and a host of geraniums.