Puerto Montt Chile

I forgot my flickr password so am posting photos here. These were all taken in Puerto Mont where the ship docked for most of a day. It’s a small port so the ship anchored – or whatever they do – in the middle of the water and we took tenders into the port. (The tenders are rated form 90 passengers for the short rides from the ship to the small docks but are rated for 150 people if the ship starts to sink. I just don’t see how that many people would fit on these small boats but I digress.)
There are a few scenes from the dock at Puerto Montt. The tide was low and we had to climb up from the tenders at about a 45 degree angle. It must have been tough for a number of the passengers. It also looked tough on the old boats near the edge of the water. One looked to be well past any floating ability.
Some men were unloading lots of potatoes – future papas fritas perhaps. One man was selling ground chili pepper in burlap bags placed on the sidewalk. That seemed odd. It didn’t seem that many tourists would buy chili pepper and most of the people walking around were tourists.
We passed a parked helicopter – no idea why it was there – and noticed a shop for helicopter blade repairs. Again, no idea how many helicopters dropped by this little town to have their blades spruced up.
There were many shops selling scarves and sweaters and women knit away at blinding speed but we bought nothing. Shop keeper after shop keeper said the scarves were alpaca but they felt like cotton. The, one woman said that the rest would all tell us the fabric was alpaca but they were lying. It’s cotton. I believed her. Nobody claimed they were hand woven though they were soft and colorful.

We took a public bus to Puerto Varis. We walked through the bus terminal but didn’t see any tickets for sale there so went back to the mini bus. There was a sign in one that said Puerto Varis in the front window and a sign on the side that said 600 pesos, about $1.25. A tray of coins near the driver meant that he sold the tickets there.
When he began to back out of his parking space it seemed it would be impossible. There were buses beside and behind him. He just backed up with about half an inch to spare on either side. He took money from passengers as they got on making change and driving at the same time. He had one passenger sit up front with him and he took a cell phone call while paying a toll and continued to talk as he drove and made change. Possibly the regulations for bus drivers in Chile and in the US are different.

Fran and Fransja in Valapairso

Fran and Fransja, people we sat with in Atlanta, met in Valpraiso and sailed with on the Veendam, told us some rip off stories with great whatareyagonnadoaboutit glee.
First, they got some help from a man to move their luggage from the home they stayed in to the car to move from Santiago to Valparaiso. He said he would do it for a tip and so she tipped him what she thought was $2 dollars. It was really $20. He said he was moving luggage for 2 people so she gave him another bill. Then the woman who was driving them asked what they had tipped and Franja said about $4 dollars.
“That’ not enough,” her friend said so she tipped the guy another $4. Finally Fransja worked it out that she had an error involving decimal places and she realized why the guy was so happy.
Then they bought some wine to have wine, bread and cheese for dinner. They chose a bottle of wine and paid for it and felt pretty good about their good deal till they stopped in the next wine store just to look and found the same bottle for half the price. It was, they reported, lousy wine but it was paid for so they drank it.
The third rip off was they paid for stamps in a store where they bought post cards. They paid 600 pesos per stamp and never noticed that the stamps were worth 440 pesos.
While Fran and Fransja felt they were taken advantage by the citizens of Chile, Rick and I were cared for by a number of friendly aunts and uncles in Chile.
One woman came up to us in Santiago to tell us to wear our back packs in front so they wouldn’t be stolen. Several people told me to put my camera away or it would be stolen. Maria at the Hostel Morgan circled streets we should never walk on and one woman noticed that we paid for something with a 10,000 peso note instead of a 1,000 peso note and she made the woman give us back our money. Had she not spoken we never would have realized the mistake.

Valparaiso

Valparaiso
We took a public bus from Santiago to Valparaiso and that went very well. Not like in Peru where the goats were on the roof and the standing people pushing their butts against sitting faces but a “super class,” four star, air conditioned Pullman Bus that really was quiet and smooth.

The receptionist at the Hotel Orly gave us a note stating that we wished to buy 2 tickets to Valparaiso on the next bus. If he hadn’t there is no telling where we might be now. There’s not a lot of English in Chile.

We got to the bus station by taxi with an English speaking driver who will be going to the beach on February 20 when the prices are lower and he can take time off. He insisted we try the Late Harvest wine during our stay. Late harvest the wine made from grapes that stay on the vine for a long while and dry some and become very sweet making a sweet wine for desserts. At any rate he left us at the station and Rick managed to get us tickets with the note.

Valparaiso is a port town built on 42 hills so many of the sidewalks are like those in Alaska – steps – endless steps. Walking 5 blocks might mean 2 blocks up, 2 down and another up. Driving is circuitous because of having to wend around the hills.

The houses are wonderfully painted. They are coral and turquoise; sunburst yellow and aquamarine; and some are simply the canvas for cats, cows, flowers, boats and portraits. To say that the city is colorful is inadequate. The many retaining walls, the garage doors and the house walls are decorated. The sidewalks are decorated. The doors burst with imagination. The steps are yellow brick roads into a dazzling city.

We stayed at the Hostel Morgan where Maria was wonderful. She and her daughter run the hostel and she shares her knowledge of the city. She had an adaptor that we borrowed to charge the laptop and the camera batteries. She prepared breakfast and visited with us. She accepted our post cards and money for stamps and would post them for us later. If you ever go to Valparaiso, stay at the Hostel Morgan and wear comfy shoes because every step is either uphill or downhill.

Also staying at the Hostel were Fran and Franja. While they are interesting on their own I realized that we had sat next to them at the Atlanta Airport and then we learned that they were going on the Veedam for the cruise. Fran works at Alyison Orchards and Franja does all kinds of stuff including restoration of antique dolls and toys.

We went from the Hostel to the cruise ship terminal where we had an interesting experience. Boarding for the ship was delayed. The reason for the delay was not well defined. Apparently high winds delayed the entry to the port by 3 hours. They sailed against 90 knot winds which are gale force winds of over 100 mph. They also experienced really rough seas. Many people on the ship were sea sick but many more suffered by gastrointestinal problems so the ship had to be sanitized before anyone could enter it.

We have no idea what happened to the passengers who were sick. Did they have the flu? Which flu? Are they now quarantined somewhere? How many were sick? How much of the sickness was due to the rough seas and how much to bacteria and how much to viruses? What bacteria and what viruses? How worried should we be?

Holland America said that anyone who was not willing to board the ship could have a full refund. They never give a full refund. Holland America sent us by bus to the beach resort town just down the road where they set up food at the Sheraton Hotel. They set up a corded area where we could leave our backpacks and carry-on luggage but then nobody watched the bags and slowly they disappeared. One man had his backpack taken from the back of his chair but hopefully the rest of the backpacks were taken by their owners. We kept ours in our hands the whole time.

Also by means of apology HA gave everyone $15 ship credit. That adds up to a lot times 1300 people but not much when divided by the 6 hours we sat around the Sheraton and waited. We were told that the buses would take us to the ship at 3:30 so we went for a walk and then returned to the Sheraton where nobody knew anything and we didn’t leave until 6:30. On board there are some stringent modifications. HA had told us that the authorities are impressed with their response to the situation. We kinda wonder what the authorities know but nobody’s talking.

Our cabin steward looked exhausted when we were finally allowed to come into the area to see him. He said that he hadn’t eaten since breakfast at 5:30 that morning. An extra crew had come in to help sanitize the ship with a special solution but in addition to all the normal cleaning, every common surface had to be sanitized. Some kind of powder was put on carpets and an oily solution went on the furniture and all hand rails and tables. Even now, when using a public restroom, one uses a sanitized wipe to open the door.

There is no self service. There are no salt or pepper shakers on the table. There is no bread basket but the server delivers bread and butter to each person. There is no self service for at the buffet or at the water, tea, coffee areas so that means considerable delays. Even the daily Sudok puzzle has to be handed to people rather than be put out in a tray. There are extra hand sanitizer dispensers – everywhere – and people use them. All the books are locked closed and I don’t know that I’d want to read any of them.

No handshakes are allowed. People are to bump elbows – the Holland American Bump. The captain asked everyone to refrain from ever touching their faces just after telling us that there is nothing to worry about.

“The authorities” – the people so impressed with the response to the situation - will assess the situation in 2 or 3 days and decide if any self service may be reinstated. We were wondering if this illness on the ship was enough to make the news out there is the wider world where uninvolved people may know more than those rocking on the sea.

HARDMAN HOLIDAY NEWS

For more photos click on the Flickr cloud to the right....

Most years I vowed to start the Christmas letter early or to keep track of major events all year and so to post this primary-source, family history but this year I didn’t even try.
In January Rick and I went to Singapore and then cruised around Australia and New Zealand. We traveled 5 weeks—a trip made possible by friends who helped with house, mail and cat tending.
The photo above was taken looking down from the top of the monument at Borobodur while the next photo is from the paper factory and museum in Burnie, Australia.

Next is of a farmer works his field in Bali.



























While we were home in the summer Rick and I (mostly Rick) worked on doors— 4 of them. My favorite is the door to the basement studios. Rick repaired a door rescued from a trash pile and we installed my handmade sunflower tiles in place of the glass. As part of the door project I meant to paint the front door green but all I managed was to leave the can of primer in the front hall for 2 months. Maybe in the spring









The other big event this summer was our garden. Rick a rototilled the sand and compost into a nice mix and I planted snow peas, tomatoes, broccoli, garlic, pumpkins, squash, strawberries and rhubarb.


The rhubarb & pumpkins took over the land. I planned on strawberry rhubarb crisp for Rick but there were few strawberries (next year will be great) so looked toward apples but we didn’t get a single apple this year from a tree that generally had bushels to share.
The radishes were round and spicy; the carrots short and sweet and the lettuce grew faster than we could chew. One gourd seed from the compost germinated and gave us about 50 gourds but the tomatoes rotted for us as they did for most.

The broccoli produced until after snowfall. We’re making the garden larger next year and planting okra and more things that appeal to Rick so that means fewer zucchini.

While our tomatoes rotted we went to the Baltic States on a cruise. This photo is part of the city wall in Tallin, Estonia.








I spent Halloween in Boston with Emilie and Josh. Em was a speaker at the Boston Vegetarian Society Food Fest. Josh and I helped her serve 400 samples of food to her guests during the event and then we all went out dancing that night.



Jay had several pieces of his work accepted as part of the Fleisher/Ollman Gallery annual group exhibition. “I Don’t Watch the Internet” opened on Dec 10 and runs through January 16. Rick and I are going after Christmas. a(This is Rick, Me, Miss Dot, and Jay in Philly. Miss Dot is Jay's neighbor and extended family.



Other than that I continue to play flute and make pottery. Rick builds furniture, works on the 1939 Chevy and fixes things I break. The cat purrs; snow falls; fire snaps and one hopes the world comes to value kindness.

Alfred University Equestrian Teams

The Alfred University Equestrian teams work diligently to ride precisely. They aim for technical perfection as a rule but once a year they get a little wacky and ride in costume, to music, without judges, just for fun. That happened last Sunday at the Bromeley-Daggett Equestrian Center.


There were top hats, feathers, glitter, donkey ears and a horse’s tail fighting for relief from a green Shrek costume.

First up was Kristen Kovatch in her equestrian version of Brittney Spears. Kristen rode “Docs Peppy Image” – her own horse – while Brittney’s recording of “Circus” filled the arena. There was some impressive galloping where she and the horse leaned into the turns as if she was taking a winding road full speed on a motorcycle.

Nick Munch rode “Mighty Little Lena” and Katherine Kennedy rode “Roan” with her fluffy skirt blowing to the tune of “Love Story.”


Aeryn Dougan dressed her horse, “Spring Start” as Shrek and herself as a big-bellied donkey and performed to “Bad Reputation” from the first Shrek movie.


Hanna Certis rode “Old Frank Hickory” to the sound of “I Can Sleep When I’m Dead,” one of several country western tunes that thumped along with the hooves in the area. Another was “Address in the Stars,” a song that accompanied Kayla Summerville on her glitter-speckled horse “Paulie.”

There was an impressive dressage duo drill by Rebecca Jacobson and Beth Ulbrecht. Beth is the head captain of the English varsity equestrian team which is currently in second place in the region – their best performance ranking so far.

Finally there was another freestyle western performance – a trio with Kristen Kovatch, Natalie Grow and Kate West.
The arena is a fairly large area but it seemed to shrink when filled with three speeding, skidding horses. It took guts and confidence to attempt that work with a trio but it went smoothly as one would expect because these three women are members of the Western Riding Team and are in 2nd place in the region.

There are 3 more events open to the public in the near future. All are free though there will be food for sale in the concession stand.

On January 16 & 17 Alfred U will host the Western Interscholastic Equestrian Association Show and on February 6th they will host the Western Intercollegiate Horse Show Association. Both evens generally run from 9 am to 4 pm and the arena has heated viewing areas on both floors where visitors may sit or stand and watch. All are welcome to attend.

There’s also a horse sale scheduled for December 12. The sale will feature 5 colts used in the Training Program. These colts were purchased so that students could experience training a horse and the sale is a part of that class. In addition to those 5 colts there will be about a dozen other horses for sale.
For more information visit www.alfred.edu/academics/equestrian/facilities.cfm or contact Nancy Kohler, Program Director, at 607.587.9012 and remember to “cowboy up.”

Allegany County Citizens for Responsible Government

I attended the October 26 meeting of Allegany County Citizens for Responsible Government. The meeting of people from around the county was inspiring because it was real citizen action with people coming together without regard for political party to work on one issue.

The meeting started with the approval of the minutes from the last meeting, plowed through some correspondence and then jumped full force into a review of name-calling and what the board members and legislative guests felt were ies and political manipulation.

The tinder in this ongoing conflict is the proposed “Citizen’s Plan” that would renovate existing spaces in the old jail and the old Belmont School to provide for the Allegany County Court’s need for space at considerably lower cost in dollars and environmental impact than the construction of a new Court House wing. I favor this plan because I’m one to reuse and recycle.

Barb Hetzel, the only Democrat on the group’s board, read a letter from Chairman Crandall denying permission for citizens to tour the third floor area of the old jail. He cited safety concerns and security concerns because the area is used for storage. They wanted to see the floor to personally as they had toured the available space at the old Belmont School.

Hetzel also read parts of a letter from the office of the Unified Court System, Sixth Judicial District. The letter discussed the use of an existing building to satisfy the needs of the courts in the city of Oneida. The UCS indicated that “there is no requirement that court offices be all on one floor” and stated that the City of Oneida would be reimbursed “for construction renovation costs to an existing building at 100% for interior construction, electrical work, and plumbing work for the space the court occupies.”

The letter elaborated that Cooperstown recently completed a similar project where an old grocery store was reworked to serve the needs of the court system. Where courts were given space by renovating existing buildings the cost of the project was “approximately one third the cost of new construction.”

The letter sounded as if there was great support at the state level for renovating an existing space and that the state should cover the cost of the program rather than stacking the tax burden on Allegany County.

Then the steam really poured on the issue when Hetzel read a lengthy letter presented, by Dave Pullen, to the county legislature at their meeting. The letter, dismissive of the lawsuit and several specific individuals involved with it, was read in full at the meeting after Pullen was “granted privilege of the floor” while time to respond to it was denied to Kruger.
Pullen said that the lawsuit pages were riddled with errors and strikeouts but Scott guessed that what, at a glance, looked like strikeouts were actually underlines meant to indicate case names. Scott also said that the deadline to file was nearly expired by the time he was able to prepare the paperwork and that once filed he would be able to make amendments and corrections.

Pullen said that the order of show cause was not signed by a judge. This is true, said Ross, but it is because all of the local judges recused themselves and it was necessary to wait for a judge to be assigned to the case. Now that a judge is assigned, the paper will be signed.

Kruger was displeased that the letter trumpeted the value of letting the vote of the people stand and cited cases where the legislators worked to dismiss the voice of the people. He said that legislators had tried to have Young and Giglio create a special state law to allow the construction of a court house next to the jail without a local vote on a the matter.

Kruger also stated that Hornell built their court facilities in an old bank and the total cost was $2 million. He said that listening to Pullen read his letter without being able to respond or question was like being a mule in a hailstorm with no choice but to take the pelting.

Kruger said it was important for voters to look at who really has concern for the tax payers. While Social Security recipients will get no COLA this year because there is no inflation, they will have to pay higher taxes because all the department heads were voted raises. He also said that while he has never been a member of ACCFRG that he has attended all meetings to answer questions and to listen to the people. That, he said, was his job and he intended to do it as well as he could. “Where he the other members (legislators) been? They chose to hide in caucus,” said Kruger.

For the matter of the lawsuit being brought to support the candidacy of Ross Scott, several members made it clear that this was not a decision made by one or two people but many voters - over 100 citizens attending the September meeting. Those citizens donated their money to pay the fees. Scott said that he was working on the project, gratis, as a public citizen and he’d have done it whether or not he was running for office. The timing of the stages of the project, and therefore the actions against it, has always been the choice of the county board of legislators and not of Scott or of ACCFRG.

Also, in the matter of timing, Scott stated that the lawsuit challenges the unconstitutionality of the plan’s approval. The deadlines for dealing with an unconstitutional process are different and this lawsuit was filed within the timeline for that process.

Responding to Pullen’s letter asserted that the purchase of 2 houses in Belmont had nothing to do with the court house project Cindy Gowiski read a letter written by Mr. Margeson to one of the home owners. The letter specifically says that their home is needed to provide area for parking because of the project.

Galen Stout reported on his pursuit of the naming of the Allegany County Courthouse as a historic structure. The State Historic Preservation Office determined that the Allegany County Courthouse is eligible and sent letters regarding that Mr. Crandall, the Preservation League and others. None of the recipients have responded.

I’d like to thank these people for digging into the dry numbers and issues and speaking up in the face of “hailstones.”

Stop the Pottery -Time for TV

Being president of the Allegany Artisans is one of those jobs pointing in more directions than a porcupine’s quills.
Last Wednesday was like that. I was trying not to skid into panic mode over the Studio Tour (just 11 days off) and was making one of my to-do-list/calendars that would map my way through the studio and end with all pots dried, bisque, glazed, priced and displayed when I remembered that one of my points of duty involved calling Lea DiCenso, executive producer at AM Buffalo. I had talked with her a week earlier and she said that hosting the Allegany Artisans on the show this year unlikely but she never knew what might happen. She has managed to feature the Artisans every year for a while now. We couldn’t complain about a year off.
I dialed expecting voice mail. She answered. I expected her to accept a few photos and information for WKBW’s website but she jumped into business mode. There was a cancellation. 6 minutes were available on Thursday – 18 hours hence. Could I make a few things happen?
My first use of the to-do-list/calendar was to flip it over to take notes from Lea while swallowing concerns for pottery. Pots could dry while I was on TV on Thursday.
I started mental calculations and plans. Sarah Phillips agreed to throw her gardening aside and go with me. She would pack up some paintings. I started taking tracking down 6 photos – 300 dpi – horizontal orientation.
Lea needed a poster that would work on TV. She had rattled off pixel dimensions that I immediately forgot. (Don’t tell her that.) The Allegany Artisans always have a vertical poster and she wanted horizontal. Sarah and I brainstormed options and I remembered that Hope Zaccagni had sent a pdf of part of the brochure for our website. Rick dropped what he was doing to work on that. If he cut off the top and bottom and photo-shopped the Tourism phone number and website over the group photo, we could call it a horizontal poster.
Hope Zaccagni designed the brochure so had all the photos but she was in meetings all day but Steve Walker had some and so did Kandace and Alec and so did I. Mine were from 2008 but a Bruce Greene teapot is timeless. WKBW had jpgs in a couple of hours.
Russ Allen agreed to drop off a wooden train and Bob Chaffee promised a carved plate and a never-wrinkles table cover. I packed my Pete Midgley vase from the mantle, Hope’s drawing from the dining room and chose a shirt that would show off my Jim Horn pin in googly-eyed splendor.
In the morning Sarah and I drove to Buffalo. Security at WKBW is strict. There are lots of doors but visitors go to the front door and call the person who is expecting them. Inside there are reception areas, offices and rooms filled with monitors, keyboards and blinking lights all held together by miles of cables and wires.
AM Buffalo is a live show and the studio has a few areas – the jackpot drawing set, the sofa set, the rolling table and the kitchen. There are 5 cameras aimed in different direction. Each wears a monitor for the text above its unblinking eye but there are no people behind the cameras. The people are off in those equipment-filled rooms. At least I expect they are during the show. When we arrived just after 9 a.m., the crew that came to work at 4:30 that morning was having lunch.
Sarah and I set up our art and talked about it. Linda Pellegrino laughed at my cow bank while Lea insisted it was a pig. Mike told me to bring in the table and clay demo stuff that Lea said to leave in the car. “Ask Lea,” I said, not wishing to be stuck in the middle of anything.
As if Sarah and I had a smidge of Linda’s experience and ease we were given a 2 minute sketch of our 6 minute show. It was my 3rd show and I knew not to try to prepare. What I hoped to say would never fit with what Linda would shoot out as a question.
I set my inner monitors to keep with the conversation and mention as many artisans as possible. Push the phone number. Name the website. Keep breathing. Try not to look doopy. Don’t cough. Don’t sneeze on Linda.
Seconds later the segment was over. Linda said it was easy to go on air with us. We were so confident and at ease. Could have fooled me.
I stopped at the Allegany County Tourism office on the way home. Patience Regan jumped out of her chair saying I should have warned her before getting myself on some big TV production. She had 18 phone calls in just 2 hours. Whether or not you caught us on WKBW, come to my studio for great pots, Jim Horn’s pins, and refreshments. Sarah says to see her in Rushford for paintings, silk scarves and better refreshments.
Of course there are more choices. Visit www.AlleganyArtisans.com to find all 36 locations and all 47 artisans offering locally made, quality work during the 22nd annual Studio Tour.