Letter From Las Vegas: May 2007

A Tokyo Wedding

Japan had never been high on the travel list but when nephew Rob and Tomomi decided to have a ceremonial wedding, we just had to go. What a treat!

The wedding was at the Togo Shrine with a full Shinto ceremony. It was an impressive event that neither Trudy or I would have wanted to miss.

Tokyo was spectacular so the next few posts will give you my view of the trip. We still have Boston and Buffalo before we are back, so this may take a while.

More as it happens
Bob

Off The Grid

You can be Happy

or you can be Sad

But we're off the grid till after Japan !

More as it happens.
Bob

"Gelato in the Venetian"
"Quothe the Raven in the Valley of Fire"

Unpacking

Had the Buffalo News liked this "My View" submission a bit better you would have seen it there. Because they sent a rejection letter, you'll see it here. Trudy and I collaborated on this and the names haven't been suppressed to protect anybody, we just thought it stood a better chance of publication without names. Shows you how much we know.

Unpacking in Las Vegas

My wife, her mother, and I moved from Buffalo to Las Vegas in late 2005 and we have finally unpacked our metaphorical suitcases. The first few months were as hectic as you might expect but made even more so by family illness. Our daughter’s fiancé, was diagnosed with a potentially fatal type of cancer and required immediate surgery. We were barely in the house when I left for the UCLA Medical Center to act as support for our daughter, and my wife was left to take over the care of our almost six year old granddaughter. We had been long term Buffalo city denizens. We had a total of almost 170 years for the three of us, all of it in the city and most of it near downtown. We hardly ever owned more than one car, almost always biked, bused or walked to work, and our two kids switched back and forth between public, private and back to public education with no clear consensus about the winner. All in all, it’s been a good and rewarding life. Life is different in the desert but still a lot is the same. 2,000,000 people some times make us long for a ”Buffalo” traffic jam but then again, with over 300 day a year of sunshine and the most rainfall in one day, less than 3 inches, one adjusts. Over time, our politicians are no smarter (or dumber), although we may have the edge on corruption. Casinos and gambling aren’t really the answer to life’s problems. Even though tourists and locals leave a billion dollars a month at the tables, our schools and social services are constantly struggling. Opinions about geography and climate seem pretty classic. People out here think the snow in Buffalo is a literal killer and most people in Buffalo think we probably won’t survive the next summer day. If one more person says, “you must be glad to be gone from the snow,” I’m going to bring back some snowballs from Mt. Charleston and pitch away. Our daughter is married now and her husband is on the mend. The house is settled, xeriscaped, and lots of friends have visited. We know our way around town and are looking forward to summer again. The desert hiking and canyon exploration are a constant delight and my photography is beginning gain a measure of acceptance. From October to May, snow on our 12,000’ mountain is only a half hour drive away and we are now docents at the premier history location in the Valley. Last week on an airplane home from a trip away, my wife finally found someone who got it right. When she said that we had moved from Buffalo to Las Vegas, a passenger told her that he was heading to an assignment in Las Vegas but he had been on assignment in Buffalo last year and loved the great architecture and restaurants. We always thought that Buffalo’s goodness is unique but it took the move out here to understand that the problems are universal.

Since we mentioned the Xeriscape, I thought you might like to see what's in the Back Garden. Blooms began appearing about 3 weeks ago and last year we had flowers on the Yellow Bells until January.

Oleander