Still On Vacation Saturday

I lied! Last week I said that I will be back playing Saturday 9 I took the last couple of weeks off. But now I am down visiting my brother and sister-in-law. My cousin is stopping by their place and I went to join them.

Next Saturday I'll be back for Sat9 for sure!

P.S. I just wish that I am sitting out on that beach somewhere right now.

I'm Taking The Morning Off.

I forgot. Forgot to write my blog this morning and I will be driving home this morning... So no blog this morning. Well other than this.

And depending on how I feel after a 4 hour drive, maybe I'll skip the afternoon post also, but I will be back for the Saturday 9

On Vacation!

I have company at the cottage this weekend so I will not be able to posts on a regular schedule.

I have some prewritten posts but no new blog posts.

On Vacation

I am going to bow out of playing Saturday 9 for the next two weeks, I am at the cottage and have company this weekend and a graduation party next Saturday.

My posts have been pre-written for the next two weeks because with company it will be hard to keep up with writing the blog.

A Vacation!

I am going to bow out of playing Saturday 9 for the next two weeks, I am at the cottage and have company this weekend and a graduation party next Saturday.

My posts have been pre-written for the next two weeks because with company it will be hard to keep up with writing the blog.

My Story Part 173 – Is This Yours Or Is It Some Strange Seaweed? [Reprint from July 01, 2021

[Reprint from July 01, 2021

[This time when I went to Fire Island I brought a spare wig.]

Ever get rolled around in the surf?

Rolled up on to a the beach and deposited like some “flotsam” from a shipwreck?

Well I have on Fire Island in New York.

The day began bright and early at a couples house on Long Island, we had a long day ahead of us and I didn’t know the adventure that I had ahead of me that day. We were going to a picnic out on Fire Island in the town of Fair Harbor and here is My Story Part 127 from 2012…

---

But first, I had great time out on the island and I think I fell in love with Fair Harbor.

On Friday morning I drove down to a friend's place down in New London to leave my car with her and she drove me to the Orient Point ferry terminal. I had a nice trip across the sound over to Long Island on board the New London; the trip took an hour and twenty minutes to cross the sound. On the way we went by the Plum Island (Plum Gut) lighthouse and the Orient Point (Coffee Pot) Lighthouse. (click on image for a full size picture)

It was a very humid day where the ocean and the sky kind of blended together and you couldn’t tell where one ended and the other began. At the ferry slip at Orient Point, there was the car ferry and the high speed ferry that were heading back to New London.

When we docked, I was met by the wife of a couple that I know who live on Long Island and she drove me back to their house.

Saturday we drove out to the ferry to Fair Harbor on Fire Island, we were going to party at the island’s doctor's house. The house is used for a visiting doctor, the island residents invite a doctor to come out for two weeks free in return he is the on call doctor for the town (As I understand it). The couple that I was visiting, the wife sings with a group of people who sing traditional music on Long Island and the doctor’s wife is a member of the group. This is the ferry that we came over to Fair Harbor on… And the ferry slip. What surprised me was the speed that the ferry traveled, my inexperienced guess was 25 knots (compared to the Orient Point/New London ferry which I would guess traveled at 10 knots), we were passing out pleasure boats like they were standing still. I sat on the top deck with my friends and I was sheltered from the wind by the wheelhouse.

On the island there are no cars so the only way to get around is by walking or bicycling. The center of Fair Harbor is a the doctor’s office, the fire station, a general type store and a restaurant, all within about a hundred yards Around the corner is the food store and the walkway to the ocean (that is the ocean in the distance, about a quarter mile) and as you can see, bicycles are the main form a transportation. All the “street” are only four or five feet wide and all along the streets are summer cottages on lots that are around 90’ by 100’, some of them are nicely landscapes will others are hidden away behind hedges.

                          








The streets are crowded with foot and bicycle traffic and if you have to carry something, you can always use a wagon. The doctor's wife met us at the ferry with a wagon and we piled the bags that we were carrying on it. They even had a place by the ferry to store your wagons...

In the afternoon I headed over to the ocean side to cool off in the ocean and the water temperature was just right, I could have stayed in it all day.

I was out in the water up to my waist, out pass where the waves were breaking and when a wave came in it usually rose up to my chest and when a big wave came in I jumped up to let it pass. I was enjoying myself with the group when… I looked up and there was a wave about two feet taller than me and it was starting to break… right on top of ME!

When I stopped being tumbled in the surf, I felt to the top of my head and my wig was gone!!!!! I frantically looked around for it, but I didn’t have my glasses on and I couldn’t see it anywhere. PANIC! Panic, panic… what do I do? How can I go back to the party? How can I go back on the ferry? PANIC!

What seemed like a life time went by (in reality it was only 4 or 5 minutes), this woman came up to me and said, “Is this yours or is it some type of seaweed?” Whew! Thank you, thank you, thank you! She was holding my wig down in the water. I was so embarrassed, I was it total panic mode. I don’t know what I would have done if she didn’t find it or if someone found it.

So the rest of the day was uneventful. We took the 9:30 ferry back to the main island after watching a beautiful sunset.










On Sunday it was another extremely humid day, we drove over to the north shore to Northport and walked along the walkway in the park. The bay was a forest of masts from all the sail boats.

Afterwards, we drove around the north shore and down a number of winding roads, past big estates nestled along the shore to we got to Huntington Harbor Lighthouse.

Today I came home on the 8:00AM ferry to New London, my friend came picked me up and brought me to my car. I was home by 10:30. It was a beautiful weekend and I enjoyed it immensely. As usual all my worrying before hand was for nothing. I survived the temporary lose of my wig and quickly got over it. 

---

To this day she thinks that I was a cancer patient who had chemo.

Lesson learned:

#1 Bring a spare wig!
#2 Keep a spare set glasses in the car.
#3 When you thinks everything is going your way natural throws you a giant wave to knock you over.
#4 Some things in life are bad
They can really make you mad
Other things just make you swear and curse
When you're chewing on life's gristle
Don't grumble, give a whistle
And this'll help things turn out for the best
And
Always look on the bright side of life
Always look on the light side of life

Always Look on the Bright Side of Life
Monty Python

My Story Part 174: The First Time [Reprint from July 28, 2021]

[Reprint from July 28, 2021]

(Switch Day!)

View from my desk

We all have started off on a new job and know how nerve wracking and rewarding it can be, but now imagine what it would be like if you started off your new job as a woman for the first time.

In 2007 I got laid off, transitioned, changed all my legal documents including grad school and in the following year I started my internship at a women’s rights organization.

Talk about stress!

Remember those little quizzes in women’s magazines about life stresses; 20 points for a divorce, 10 points for being laid off, etc. Well I always thought we should a 100 points for transitioning and that year I hit jackpot!

So that morning I got ready to go to work… I actually wore a dress! And for those that know me that’s amazing.

The first hurdle was getting by building security. The building housed the YWCA and other non-profits and they had a separate entrance than the YWCA besides the YWCA offices, there was NARAL and CWEALF (Where I was interning).

“Hi! I am the new intern at CWEALF.” and all he said was “Second floor to your right.”

And so began my internship.

I know that crossdessers dream of going to work as a woman but really it isn’t all that exciting, you are concentrating on your work, not your clothes.

My desk overlooked the Capitol and swiveling around in my chair I could look out and see the Capitol dome and one of my duties was to go down to the Capitol to pickup the mail and to drop-off the mail. (Yes, the legislature does have its own mail room and I also wrote a weekly newsletter that was sent to every legislator.), so I got to know the Legislative Office Building (LOB) pretty well.

Lobby Day

Another thing that I did as an intern was to organize a Lobby Day (Here I am helping trans people find their legislators).

Testifying on a trans bill 

There are no dress codes for the LOB; jeans, a tee shirt, and sneakers are perfectly fine but being from the old school I prefer business dress so I always wore slacks, a blouse, and flats. I feel that as a representative of a non-profit that I should present a positive profile.

After graduation I found myself giving testimony at public hearings. I also

Press conference at the LOB

have been part of press conferences, a couple of times the press conferences we held at the LOB in hearing chambers with different legislators including the US senators and congressmen. 

I am on a legislative committee and also the governor’s council on hate crimes so I have to look my best when I attend those meetings. Most of the other meetings that I attend are at various state agencies such as the Department of Aging and Disability Services.

With Dress Barn out of business and the wig store closed I have to find a new clothing source for plus size clothes. While for shoes I go to Footprints on the Berlin Turnpike, they care large size shoes and the staff will measure your foot. I have bought everything from ankle boots to sneakers to mid heel dress pumps.

~~~~~~~~~

Switch day is usually either Saturday or Sunday when the motels or cottages usually end their week, those days are usually mobbed with people either coming to the Cape or leaving the Cape. For me it is the day I come or leave the Cape.

My Story Part 175: Jury Duty [Reprint from August 19, 2021]

 [Reprint from  August 19, 2021]

This a short story today, it is very anticlimactic. 

A few years after I transitioned I got a summons for jury duty, being retired I had no problem with it as a matter of fact I looked forward to it.

One, I wanted to see how they handle a trans juror.

Two, being retired it was a good excuse to get out of the house and do something different.

And three, I had been on juries before and it was like a live soap opera. I wouldn’t want a murder trial but a nice fender bender sure why not.

So the night before I called the phone number of the court house and it was a “go” for the next day and I laid out my clothes for the next; slacks, blouse, and low heel pumps with knee highs.

I showed up at where you sign-in, the bored clerk looked asked me my name, checked me off on the list, and handed me a pamphlet. She said that we couldn’t listen to the radio because it might have something about the trial, and she asked me if I had any reading material related to the trial, I said no unless we are on the planet Darkover.

I walked in to the room marked “Jury Waiting Room” as I walked in the room people looked up at me and then went back to what they were doing. To one side was a row of vending machines and on the other side approved reading material.

I got a vending machine coffee… Mmm, and a day old New York Times and sat at a table with an open seat. We each had a yellow sticker marked “Juror.”

The bored clerk from the check-in desk called us to order and showed a video of some bored judge telling us how important juror duty was. One by one we went into to be drilled by the attorneys for the Voir dire... lunch… rushed out to a Burger King… back to our very own waiting room.

The bored clerk put on the movie “The Help” for those who wanted to watch. I was reading my book, but the movie kept on calling me. I would glance up now and then, but I started to get into the movie.

The bored clerk came out and said that the case was settled, and we can go home now. She then turned off the TV. One juror said that she wanted to see the end of the movie, we all chimed in… Yeah, it is almost over! The bored clerk shrugged and turned it back on and retreated to her office.

When I got home… off came the pumps and on came the slippers.

It was a totally uneventfull day. No stares. No comments. Being a trans juror was no different than when I was a cis gender juror.

My Story Part 180: Pride [Reprint from September 12, 2021]

[Reprint from September 12, 2021]

Yesterday was the Hartford Pride.

I looked up in my diary the first Pride that I went to and it was on September 2001. Wow! I cannot believe that it has been twenty years!

The COS tabling crew, I'm on the left

I wrote back then in my diary (note over the 20 years meaning and usage of words have changed),

If you asked me a year ago if I would be in the Connecticut PRIDE, I would of said “No way!”. Even six months ago or last week I would have said the same thing. But, T caught me in a good mood and I said yes. So, here I am shaving my legs, doing my nails getting ready to go out, march and help out at the COS [Connecticut Outreach Society] table. In a most public GLBT event of the year, with newspaper and televisions reporters. I’m scared, but I’m going. As the Grateful Dead said “What a long strange trip it’s been.”

Just got back from the Pride Day festivities. I had a very good time. Sat around the COS table-answering questions people had about COS and Transgenderism. The Pride day celebrations were held in Bushnell Park right behind the state capital. As usual T got here two hours late and we got there to late for breakfast with the state legislators or the parade.

It was a very good experience, I meet a lot of interesting people and possibly some new members. All in all a very productive and positive day.

Now it is different then it was 20 years ago, the difference is that twenty years ago I didn’t know anyone, Saturday it was like old home week. I knew so many of the people there, as they went by the CTAC table we said hi and talked for awhile. I got up and made the rounds of the other booths, someone from the Stonewall Speaker recognized me and we talked, and at the Prime Timers table I recognized the whole crew at the table, I took a bus trip with them to the Culinary Institute of America and then to West Point. Wandering down some more booths we a cooperate sponsor’s booth where I picked up a couple of flags. About three quarters around the circle of tents was the Health Collective tent where I volunteer.

2021 Hartford Pride --Photo by Sue.

Then I stumbled down to one of the last tents and it was the Planned Parenthood tent and it was tabled by an old friend, I have know here since 2006 when we were at the first meeting of the anti-discrimination coalition’s meeting on passing the gender inclusive non-discrimination bill, over the years we have worked on many bills together. She is the lobbyist for Planned Parenthood here in Connecticut and a classmate at the UConn School of Social Work and is the one who told me at the Legislative Office Building that I was named in the state budget appointing me to the legislative committee, “LGBTQ+ Health and Human Services Network.”

There are so many good memories at the Pride.

My Story Part 185: Makeup [Reprint from November 24, 2021]

[Reprint from November 24, 2021]

Those that know me know that I very rarely wear any makeup, well there was an exception to that.

I get requests for interviews all the time and in 2018 I got one from Comcast… Hun?

Well they have a program that they call “Newsmakers” and they invited me on their program and they were taping it at the Infinity Music Hall in Hartford, that peaked my interest in doing the interview.

So I am wandering around the deserted lobby of the music hall wondering if this was the right place. The place is deserted. So I go into the music hall and there are people up on the stage just milling about and I walk down there, and say “Hi I here for an interview for ‘Newsmakers.’”

This woman walks over to me and says she’s someone with the show and puts her arm around my shoulders and steers me backstage. Whoa how neat is that wandering around backstage of Connecticut premier music venues! She then introduces me to the person who will be doing the interview and then she asks me the question… do I want any makeup for the show?

My first inclination was to say no. But then I remembered the Nixon Kennedy debates how Nixon refused makeup and lost the election to Kennedy. So I said yes.

The woman leads me over to another woman next to a tall director’s chairs and seats me in it, puts a towel over my dress… yes you read right I was wearing a dress and not my usual Tee shirt and jeans. I was then lead out on to the stage and seated at a desk with the interviewer.

We chatted for a while and somebody said “Two minutes” and the interviewer went over the questions he was going to ask (I found out that when you are going to be interviewed for a show like the Sunday talking heads show they go over the questions they are going to ask.) and then someone said “30 seconds.”

We sat up straight in our chairs… 3, 2, 1!

When it was over we shook hands, they said that they would email me with the link when the show came out.

I emailed the link to my brother’s family, I thought that it was neat that I was on a cable show that is on the New England News Network, the response I got blew me away!

Instead of hearing back “That’s cool!” I go emails back from them “You got to meet Eric Clemons!!!!”

Who?

Eric Clemons!!!! 

Who?

The ESPN sportscaster!

Who?

You don’t know who Eric Clemons is?

Um… no.

He’s been a sportscaster for ESPN, FOX NFL Sunday, and FOX Sports Net!

Okay if you say so. 

Photo by Comcast

Oh... getting the makeup done was really neat. Sitting up on stage with the lights, mic booms, and the bustle of the stage crew made it feel like I was in a Hollywood movie. I have been on the local Sunday talk shows on the local network affiliates for Fox, NBC, and CBS and they don’t do any makeup so this made me feel kind of neat, like it was a big production and it made the interview special.

On Vaction!

 

I will be posting some of "My Story" post while I am out on Long Island for the holiday weekend.

On Vacation

 

I'm taking today off... I'll be back tomorrow.

Going On Vacation This Summer?

All my bags are packed,

I'm ready to go

I'm standing here outside your door

I hate to wake you up to say goodbye

Leaving On A Jet Plane - John Denver

Tis the season of traveling and vacations, but this year we have curtailed most of our vacation plans because of the virus. Many have paid for their airline or train tickets or have paid for a cottage and now we have to make a decision… to go or not to go. And it is compounded by the fact that the states and Trump have said it is okay to go on vacation but we do not feel safe and could lose our deposits.

The cottage next to me have had several renters this summer already, a family pulled in Sunday afternoon and probably will stay a week. So far the license plates were from Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York

What health experts want you to know about travel and vacations

It has been difficult for many Americans who are struggling to balance staying home during the pandemic with feeling like they need to get out of their immediate space for both self care and enjoyment. Many have not taken breaks from working from home, or have struggled with being unable to see family members. So it is natural to ask how to take some time away to re-charge. But what is the best way to do it? And when are there serious issues to think about? What options may work for tricky situations? We asked health experts to help you navigate how best to get away and what pitfalls they see along the way.

[…]

What types of Covid-19 precautions should people take this summer while traveling by car? By plane?

Dr. Jay C. Butler

Butler is the deputy director for infectious diseases at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

Airports and security lines may put people in close contact to others and social distancing may be difficult on crowded flights so it will be extremely important to wear a face covering, cover coughs and sneezes and wash your hands. Traveling by car may expose people to others and infected surfaces when stopping for gas, food and bathroom breaks. So anticipating your travel needs are important. Bring alcohol-based hand sanitizer, wear face coverings in public places and pick up food at drive-throughs or curbside restaurants.

[…]

What types of trips or vacations might be feasible before a Covid-19 vaccine is widely available?

Dr. Jay C. Butler

Butler is the deputy director for infectious diseases at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

It all depends on the final destination. It is possible that you may be visiting a state that decides to put into place travel restrictions, such as stay-at-home orders or shelter-in-place orders, mandated quarantines or require a negative test result prior to entry. So check on local updates before and as you travel.

I have been watching where I travel on the Cape, for the most part my guests and me have been eating outside. The one time we did eat inside the tables were spaced over six feet apart and all the doors out to the deck were open and a very good breeze off the bay was coming through the doors. The one beach  that I went to people were more than a safe distance apart. Provincetown was crowded on the 4^th we way down from normal and everyone wore a mask. The local grocery store had mandatory masks rules and limited the number of people in the store (We decided not to go shopping because it was too crowed and there was a line outside waiting to get in.).

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Bending the rules to go to the cottage? Here’s how to be safe

Global News

By Meghan Collie 

June 6, 2020

[…]

Now, as the weather gets warmer and provinces like Ontario begin to allow short-term rentals, including lodges, cabins, cottages, homes and condos, Canadians are wondering if they’re allowed to head north and, if so, how can they do it without spreading COVID-19?

The top worry for health officials is people who live in densely populated cities with high rates of COVID-19 moving into smaller, more rural communities where the virus may not exist yet, said Colin Furness, an infection control epidemiologist and assistant professor at the University of Toronto.

“There’s a lot of COVID-19, relatively speaking, in Toronto and very little in cottage country (north of the city),” Furness said.

“It’s not so much about protecting oneself … it’s really about protecting where you’re going and not bringing COVID-19 with you.”

TWEET THIS

Hypothetically, it should be relatively easy to maintain social distancing at the cottage, said Dr. Stan Houston, a professor of medicine at the University of Alberta.

[…]

The first step is to eliminate one of the riskiest behaviours known to spread COVID-19 ⁠— grocery shopping. Furness says you should pick up anything you want to eat or drink in the city where you live full time before leaving.

“Bringing your own food and your own stuff to drink and not going to any grocery stores, (liquor stores) or drug stores is the No. 1 thing,” Furness said.

I checked the Massachusetts website on COVID-19 and Wellfleet only had 5 cases. 

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For trans people traveling carry extra worries.

This from BBC The Travel Show:

Travelling as a transgender woman

Sue Pascoe shares her experience about travelling as a transgender woman.

She told The Travel Show there had been times when she wanted to "shrink away" when she heard negative comments about her from other passengers on a plane.

But on a trip to India her view of the world was transformed where a different culture meant she received a warm welcome.

"That was my moment when I decided that I had found one place in the world that no matter if everywhere else didn't accept me as Sue, here was a place where I could be Sue," she said.

And then there is airport security...

The Unique Anxiety of Traveling While Transgender

Everyone hates going through airport security. But if you're trans or nonbinary, it's a completely different ballgame. Writer Kam Burns details the specific challenges you may encounter as a gender-nonconforming person — both abroad and stateside — while offering tips to ensure your vacation is the relaxing trip you deserve.

Allure

By Kam Burns

November 23, 2019

[…]

ProPublica recently reviewed all data that’s publicly available regarding complaints against the TSA and found that five percent of civil rights complaints filed with the TSA between January of 2016 and April of 2019 were from trans and gender-nonconforming individuals, despite the fact that we make up less than one percent of the population. And that was just of the people who chose to report.

The TSA body scanners that are used in standard security protocols in airports were not designed for people with bodies that aren't gender-normative. TSA agents have just a few moments to hit a blue or pink button before a person steps into the machine. If there’s a penis or breasts where the machine thinks there should not be, an alarm goes off.

The article offers some tips on going through security for trans passengers.

Things You Can Do to Prepare and Feel More At Ease

If you fly frequently, consider getting TSA PreCheck. Your line to get through security will generally be shorter, which will give you more time to deal with any issues that might come up. You’ll have an expedited screening process and the perk of not having to take your shoes off in an airport, according to the TSA website. However, it does cost $85 for a five-year membership, so if that's prohibitive for you for whatever reason, there are other things you can do to ease anxiety.

[…]

For those who choose to wear a packer, a binder, or any other restrictive or enhancing garment, know that there’s a chance it will set off the machine. If that happens, respond as directly as possible and in a straightforward way. For example, if you’re wearing a binder, pull the agent aside and say, “This is a chest binder I wear to make my chest appear smaller, because of my gender identity and presentation.” Having a prepared response in advance can alleviate anxiety, and if you can provide an answer with confidence, you may be able to avoid further questioning. If the TSA agent continues to make it difficult for you to move forward, providing concise yet honest answers will also likely give you more success in filing a complaint later.

The last tip is,

Know what to do if something does happen

If you or a friend ends up having a negative or unsafe experience, it’s important to know your rights. The National Center for Transgender Equality has a guide on who to talk to and how to file a report in the case of discrimination. There’s even an app called FlyRights that will let you file a report from your phone immediately.

The way transgender people are treated in airports is unfortunately just a symptom of a much larger problem. Unfortunately, lack of awareness around gender is a huge issue, and though it's one that extends outside of the baggage claim, TSA body scanners and airports are designed for a binary society that puts anyone outside of the norm at risk. Luckily, there are people working to make those changes on a more systemic level. But in the meantime, do what you can to take care of yourself and your friends.

I know that I avoid flying, even though I haven’t flown since 1999 I would rather take the train or drive  to my destination.

Rio Has One.

Santa Cruz has one.

Trinidad and Tobago has them

And P’town has one.

Yesterday I took the bus up to P’town for their Carnival.

And I can tell you the bus is the way to go (It is $2 one way and only a $1 for seniors). Cars were parked alongside of Rt. 6A all the way to North Truro and the way home cars were parked on Rt. 6 also to North Truro. I overheard one P’town police officer talking to an Orleans officer (I also saw Truro, Eastham officers and a state police helicopter flying up and down Commercial Street) there that there were around 100,000 people in P’town for the parade!

We came down Rt. 6A in to Provincetown and as we crossed into P’town there was a number of floats in the Harbor Hotel parking lot and Commercial St was blocked off to traffic and we drove down Bradford St., then down Stanton on to McMillian Pier where we got off.

I wound my way through the crowds to in front of the town hall where I stay for over an hour, it was amazing! I never saw P’town so crowded. Our bus was the last one that they allowed t cross Commercial St. and then it was blocked off.

Every once in a while the state police helicopter flew over just above tree top level and a couple of times it hovered over town hall just a couple of hundred feet in the air..

I don’t know if you could call it a parade for the most it was just people scantly costume walking up and down the street, mostly men many of them in drag but there was a few women who were also dressed up.

There were lobsters dancing in the street!

Even Napoleon was there today!

As it was getting near five o’clock I wanted to catch my bus back to Wellfleet or I would have to wait until 6 for the next bus and I didn’t want to wait that long. My feet were sore from standing on the road for two hours and it was HOT! But at least it wasn’t humid.

Since the Commercial St. was blocked I asked a couple of cops if they knew where the bus was picking up passengers and they all didn’t know so I went over to the bus stop on the pier. There was a bus stuck there until after the parade so I asked the driver and she told me to go over on Bradford by the Gulf station.

As I made my way there I saw that there were floats going by on Commercial…

I finally made it across Commercial St. since the police were not letting people cross it I started looking for a way across it. There were two old men who I overheard that they were looking for the bus; one of them was in a wheelchair so I told them that the buses were over on Bradford. One of the officers let them cross the street so I started talking to the man pushing the wheelchair like I was with them.

So I got to the intersection where the busses were supposed to be and there was about a dozen busses all jammed up and it was a quarter after five… did I miss my bus and would have to wait another hour?

I was just standing there kind of dazed and a bus drive leaned out of the bus window and said “Can I help you miss?” I told him that I was looking for the FLEX bus to Wellfleet, he looked out the window up and down the street, he said “There it is!” and I ran toward it.

I asked the drive if he was stopping at the Dunkin Donuts in Wellfleet, he said yes and I stuffed my buck in his machine and sat down. No sooner that I sat down and the crowd started coming in and the bus was packed standing room only.

The younger people were giving up their seats to the older people which really nice of them; three older women were offered a seat looked at me. I said I am going to be 70 in October.

I got home at 6, heated some clam chowder I bought earlier in the day and turned on the TV… the Patriots game… ugh

---

Today is a travel day; I am heading home for a two o’clock meeting so this post has been pre-written on yesterday night.

Mini Vacations

Well this doesn’t really fall under the category of Staycations but it is nearby and will make a great weekend getaway.

The next three photographs are from the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary...

Hatches Creek

The next three are lighthouses from around Wellfleet.

Nauset Lighthouse

The present Nauset Lighthouse, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is made of cast iron with a brick lining and stands 48 feet high. It was built in 1877, and was located in Chatham as a twin to the one that is there today. In 1923, the smaller wooden lighthouse in Eastham was retired, and the north tower in Chatham was dismantled, moved to Eastham, and reconstructed about 200 feet from the edge of the cliff near the relocated keeper's house. In the 1940s, Nauset Lighthouse was painted red and white as a daytime indicator. In 1981, the light's Fresnel lens was replaced by two two rotating aero beacons. The signal was changed from three white flashes to one red and one white flash of 5 second intervals between them.

Nauset Light Preservation Society (NLPS)

The Three Sisters Lighthouses

An 1836 petition by Eastham residents concerned about loved ones at sea caused the Boston Marine Society to recommend to the United States Congress the construction of the Nauset Lights. Congress granted $10,000, and the contract was awarded to Winslow Lewis, the lowest bidder at $6549.

Three 15-foot high masonry towers were built. The lights soon gained the nickname “The Three Sisters” because from sea they looked like women in white dresses with black hats.

Cape Cod shores change quickly. The National Lighthouse Board ordered three new moveable wooden towers to be built thirty feet inland from the original masonry ones.

National Park Service: The Three Sisters - A Chronology

Highland Lighthouse

Highland Light Station, also known as Cape Cod Light, is located on Outer Cape Cod within Cape Cod National Seashore in North Truro. Commissioned by George Washington and established in 1797 as the 20th light station in the United States, the original 45-foot tall wooden tower and keeper's dwelling were built more than 500 feet from the edge of a 125-foot-tall clay cliff. A new brick lighthouse was erected near the original tower in 1831. The present 66-foot-tall brick light tower, keeper's house, and generator shed replaced the previous structures in 1857. An enclosed walkway connects the tower and the one-and-one-half-story, L-shaped, Queen-Anne-style keeper's dwelling.

Cape Cod National Seashore: Highland Lighthouse History

Why Does It Takes A Death To Begin The Dialog?

In Iowa a high school trans student was murdered and now the community wants to open a discussion,

Kedarie Johnson's death prompts transgender conference for educators
Des Moines, Register
By Mackenzie Ryan
October 29, 2017

A homicide involving a gender-fluid high school student in Burlington last year has prompted Iowa's first conference on transgender issues geared toward school teachers, administrators and counselors.

"There's a serious need in the state," said Nate Monson, executive director of the advocacy group Iowa Safe Schools, the event's organizer. Transgender youth are more likely to commit suicide, be sexually assaulted or the victims of a hate crime, he said.

The death of Kedarie Johnson has served as the catalyst that's sparked conversations to promote understanding and awareness of issues unique to transgender and gender-fluid youth, Monson said.

Why didn’t they begin the conference before the bullying, harassments, and the violence began? Why can’t they be proactive instead of reactive.

Then you know that the so called “family” associations are against any discussion…

Drew Zahn, a spokesman for The Family Leader, said the conservative Christian advocacy group believes that teaching and encouraging gender fluidity harms children, but added: "We would agree with Iowa Safe Schools that no child should be bullied and our schools should be made safe for all students."

I think that we can all agree that “…no child should be bullied and our schools should be made safe for all students” but by the statement “that teaching and encouraging gender fluidity harms children” shows that you want to encourage bullying against sexual minorities and denning our existence.

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What a wild night! Pouring rain, high winds all around the state, we had 3 inches (7.62 cm) of rain in the last 24 hours and in the last 5 days we had a total of 7 inches (17.78 cm). All around the state were wind guests of 60 mph (96 KPH) which is approaching hurricane speeds

15,000 people without power and many road closed with downed trees. Every time the lights flicker at my house there was a calliope of beeps as the alarm system and other electronic things reset, I now have to go all reset all the clocks.

The swamp (AKA wetlands) is flooded and doing its thing, slowing the runoff from the 7 inches of rain in to the brook downstream. No large branches or trees are down and basement is dry.

Raise Your Hand If You Been To P’town

My first encounter with Provincetown on Cape Cod in Massachusetts was back when I was about ten or twelve when my parents used to rent a cottage in North Truro on route 6A right on the water. They used to rent it for a week and our neighbor rented it for the next week so that us kids could have two weeks on the Cape and our parents had a week vacation away from the kids.

When we went to P’town my father used to call it an artist colony and I used to think it was because all the street artist but I think he called it that because of its bohemia atmosphere.

Then in 2000 I got to see P’town from another perspective… Fantasia Fair.

Equality Is Changing Provincetown's LGBTQ Scene
Vice
By E.J. Graff
June 20 2017

It was our special refuge, a private stretch of gorgeousness that straight people ignored: Provincetown's lesbian beach, and then another few hundred yards to the south, its gay men's beach. You found it only if someone told you about it, or more likely, brought you there. And once you did, you kept going—or at least I did—year after year after a friend first brought me in the 1980s, buying Herring Cove T-shirts as a little wink-wink that signaled when we said we were going to the "Cape" for vacation we really meant P-town. That was back when we had to be subtle, back when we didn't want to incur the wince of "hets" (as we sometimes called straight people) who hadn't yet guessed that our short hair and long stride meant we were… that way.
[…]
Now it's all changed. Like so many resort towns that were once refuges for outcasts, artists, and queers, Provincetown is expensive. It's too expensive for the young people; practically the only ones left on the beach are old folks like me, or lesbian and gay families with their kids, who started to appear somewhere in the late 1990s, putting a lid on the lasciviousness. No longer do the Smith College girls get jobs as servers for the summer, sharing a run-down house for Memorial Day (known as "baby dyke weekend"), roiled with romance and breakup drama. Now, the shops are staffed by Eastern Europeans here on J-1 visas—living God knows where—while the Smith girls take internships in career-track positions since, after all, they can flirt respectably anywhere now.
[…]
At Century, the mid-century modern store with sleek, pricey clocks, watches, jewelry, and high-end bags, I chatted with Brenda LeBlanc, a dark-haired, butch year-rounder of my generation whose brother owns the store. She told me that retail business is down because the bed-and-breakfast and rental prices have gone up, so that now there are vacancy signs almost every week, except for the popular times like July 4th, Carnival, Family Week, and Bear Week.

I have to agree with E.J., it is expensive but so is everywhere along the water, if it is within sight of the ocean add ,000 to the price. And yes, there are a lot Eastern Europeans but I don’t think they are taking jobs from us, those “Smith girls” are going to summer school or looking for a job that looks good on their resume.

Many of the smaller B&Bs have been gobbled up and converted into private residents and the prices have skyrocketed and many of the B&Bs left have a three or four day minimum stay during the summer.

We may have lost our haven, but now, everywhere else, it's OK to be gay. Maybe that's a decent trade

I don’t agree, in my opinion straight people are not taking over but rather rich gays and lesbians are.

When we were there at the end of May there was talk of Fisherman’s Wharf being sold and a 250 room upscale hotel to be built on the pier and also it is supposed to be up graded so that it can take cruise ships. A lot of the residents were complaining about the mobs when a cruise ship unloads a thousand passengers at once, while the merchants dream of thongs of shoppers invading their stores.

# # # # #

As many of you know we are selling the family lake cottage in New Hampshire and I am thinking about buying a three season cottage on the tip of the Cape within walking distance of the bay.

Take A Little Trip To The Caribbean

Take a little trip, take a little trip
Take a little trip and see
Take a little trip, take a little trip
Take a little trip with me
                           "Low Rider" - Jerry Goldstein

People try to talk me in to taking Caribbean cruises with them, I back down for two reasons. First is I don’t like cruises and second… I want to live.

That might seem like a strange thing to say but many Caribbean island are very, very anti-LGBT. It might not be bad for lesbians, gays, or trans people who can integrate into society but for trans people who stand out in a crowd it could be deadly.

Most countries score an F on our LGBT human rights report card
The Conversation
By Susan Dicklitch-Nelson, Berwood Yost, and Scottie Thompson
June 8, 2017

June is Gay Pride Month, but the sobering reality is that most countries, including the U.S., do not protect sexual minorities.

Our research gives most countries in the world a failing grade in LGBTQ rights, reflecting widespread persecution of sexual minorities. Only one country in 10 actively protects the human rights of sexual minorities.

From persecution to protection
The Franklin & Marshall Global Barometer of Gay Rights (GBGR), started in 2011, ranks countries based on 29 factors that quantify how much a country protects human rights.

It looks not only at constitutional protections, but also societal indicators, political opinion, civil society and economic factors. For example, we look at whether the majority of citizens are accepting of sexual minorities and if gay rights organizations can peacefully and safely assemble.

Countries are then graded on a five-point scale, from F (“persecuting”) to A (“protecting”).

The extremes are stunning. In 2017, 23 countries have legalized same-sex marriage, yet 71 countries still criminalize same-sex acts.

Iran, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Syria and Yemen score lowest on our scale, with an overall GBGR score of 3 out of a possible score of 100, while Luxembourg, Malta and New Zealand score highest, with 100 percent. A score of 100 percent doesn’t mean a country is perfect in its treatment of LGBT individuals, but it does mean they protect LGBTQ rights.

How do the Caribbean Islands do in the survey?

Bahamas, Barbados, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Trinidad and Tobago all get an “F” for Persecuting.

So no, I really don’t want to walk around on the streets of any of those islands.

P’town In Photos

Over the weekend I went up to Provincetown with a group from the Connecticut Outreach Society, there was a total of five members for a long weekend. I drove up with Deja and we got there a little bit before the two o’clock check-in time but they let us register.

Saturday morning I was going to go out to shoot the dunes in the National Seashore Park but I woke up with an aura migraine and since I can’t see where I am looking it makes it quite hard to shoot photographs. So I closed the room drapes and put on some Eagles and just chilled out for almost an hour.

After the aura dissipated I went out to take photos of the town…

The parking lot attendant’s booth.

Whaler’s Wharf mall, which is built on the site of a theater was destroyed in a fire in 1998 and was rebuilt as an open air enclosed mall. Hun? Well the best way understand it is the photo.

As you can see you can look right through the two story build and in the center there is a large circular space open to the sky.

The sea kayaks out behind the mall

This was taken at sun rise on Sunday from my motel room balcony at Long Point Lighthouse across the bay.

In the afternoon I went out to the Race Point Bike Path and walked along it for a little less than a mile.

All photos are HDR taken at EV -0.3, 0, & +0.3