And by that I mean it’s been really hot. Though, technically, yes, it is officially summer. And as usual, it’s flying by.
Every summer I have loads of ideas in my mind of things I want to do or accomplish. Every summer I get through many or some of them, but mostly time just flies by and honestly, I forget how HOT it gets (how quickly we forget).
One of the life goals Louie and I have is to make sure to take advantage of opportunities to experience new things. This ranges from taking hikes, taking trips, going to shows and concerts, and whatever else pops up. Sometimes it costs money (concerts, operas, mud runs), sometimes it’s free (hiking) and sometimes it is fairly inexpensive (camping, road trips).
Friday was the final concert for the music camp I’d been helping out at. I wasn’t required to attend the concert, but I thought it would be fun to see the kids play, and also wanted to catch up with some colleagues. I had a couple of private students playing and thought I might run into their parents as well.
This was the youngest orchestra playing. All the groups did a wonderful job. For one of my students, this camp was his first orchestral experience, and I think he loved it. (I should have encouraged him earlier! I’m trying to do better with encouraging my private students to participate in outside orchestras-some have them at school, but others don’t.)
After I finished teaching, we loaded up a little picnic and went to meet April at Shakespeare in the Park. Each year, there are several weeks of a free outdoor performance of Shakespeare in Forest Park. This was the first time I’d managed to go, and I’m so glad I did. The play was Midsummer Night’s Dream, which I thought I’d seen, but realized, after it started, that I was thinking of Much Ado About Nothing. Anyway, the weather was really fantastic, breezy and not too humid (it had been really hot all week, so we got lucky) and we enjoyed some snacks and drinks while watching a great performance.
Saturday I had to work: two weddings. That somehow took up the whole day! In the evening I just realized and read—Louie was hanging out with a friend from out of town, but I felt I’d been running around all day and just wanted some downtime rather than trying to socialize.
Sunday morning we got up early and took two dogs (we were dogsitting Banjo for the weekend) and met April, who had her dog and another dog, and went for a little hike in Forest 44 Conservation Area. It’s near 44/141 and is a nice place to do a little hiking. We’ve been a few times, and this time we tried a hike we hadn’t done before. It was pretty neat, except for one place where a bridge was out! Luckily we were able to backtrack, as there were a few loops, and we ended up deciding to cross a creek to get to a part of the trail we hadn’t been on yet. The dogs loved it, we were sweating but not too bad, and everybody except me found ticks on themselves afterwards.
I had my selfie stick with me so we got a picture of the whole gang! It’s hard with the dogs because they don’t understand what we are trying to do.
Sunday evening Louie and I had tickets for Shalimar the Clown at Opera Theatre. This was our other show for the Young Friends Subscription. We had some friends who were attending as well, but first we went to get our buffet dinner. We sat and chatted with people for a few minutes, and this time there was a really friendly “host” sitting with us. She was awesome and made me think, gosh, I should join the Young Friends board. And then I thought, yeah, they probably meet during the week after “normal” people work, like at 5 or 6 on a Tuesday, you know, when “everybody” can make it. But maybe not.
After dinner we hung out with friends (Opera Theatre sets up this whole area with chairs and tables and tents for people to picnic and hang out before and after the shows) until it was time to take our seats for the show. This time our seats were further away, but more center.
Another pre-show picture.
I have to say, I absolutely loved the opera. It was gorgeous: the music, the costumes, the set. It was deep and dramatic, and the story was so tragic, but so good. I love modern opera best, I think. I wish I could see it again, it was that good. I want to watch it again and see what I missed (for instance, that the main female lead played both herself and her daughter, something I didn’t notice until the bows), and to enjoy it again. I just loved it. I am going to read the book (it’s based on a Salman Rushdie book, Shalimar the Clown) and I hope that other opera companies will perform it, and maybe we will travel to go see it somewhere else . In any case, I have my memories, and my thoughts.
Now we are back into the regular work week. This is a 19 student week, though it’s possible it’ll be a 17 student week. Or less, you just never know. Leslie and Athena are visiting on Thursday and I’m very excited about that, and worried about whether the house will be in proper shape. (probably not, but I’ll do what I can.) We don’t have many plans for the weekend, but I think the zoo is in order, and some restaurants, lots of chitchat and hanging out, and probably reading some books over and over and over, as one does with a toddler
Oh, and I finished “Eligible” by Curtis Sittenfeld. Not my favorite of her books, and I pretty much knew how it would end (it’s a modern day retelling of Pride and Prejudice) but it was fun and I enjoyed it. I still think Prep is the best of all her books, though American Wife is a close second.
This week was pretty hectic. I’ve been teaching at the Webster U Community Music School String Camp every morning, in addition to my normal arduous teaching schedule…well, that is, 21 students this week. About half my normal schedule.
I lost one of my favorite students—her family is moving further away and will be changing teachers, and I’m very sad about it. Yesterday’s lesson was really wonderful and bittersweet.
More sad news (devastating?) is that the Tavern of Fine Arts is closing. I’ve played there a dozen or more times in the past few years—really, probably more, dozens?—and attended many concerts by my friends and colleagues, and I’m so sad they are closing. Being able to play and attend concerts at the Tavern was a true gift here, and now we won’t have that anymore. It was a special place and will be missed!
It’s tough, being a classical musician, being an artist. It’s a constant hustle. I don’t take the Tavern closing as a signal that “classical music is dead” but that the restaurant business is hard work, and our economy isn’t so good, and that the arts are always something that is hard to turn a profit with…the symphony doesn’t, Jazz at the Bistro doesn’t…Sigh.
(I wanted to add, I’m so grateful for the owners, Aaron and Matt, and their vision, and all they did for five years to make St Louis a better place, and I’m so sad that they have to close.)
It’s a damn shame, because it was awesome to have somewhere to play and somewhere to see others play, for free. Maybe that was the problem, though I always made sure to order a drink and usually food, but who knows. The arts are incredible, they are important, they are worth money.
My head is full of new ideas and brainstorming. The one thing I’m sure of is that those of us most affected by this will move on and continue to make a wonderful contribution to the local arts world, because that’s what we do. We pull ourselves up, over and over again, because we love it. I teach violin and I play classical music because there isn’t anything else I would ever be happy doing. Or at least I have no interest in trying!
Well, this blog took a turn, but I’m okay with that. We are living through troubled times, especially with the recent shooting in Orlando…though I imagine that all times of human history are troubled. Throughout it all, what’s important is love and kindness, music and art, and doing our best to make the world better.
I can’t believe it’s Tuesday already. This summer is flying by! This week I am helping out at the Community Music School’s String Camp. I’ve done this for a few years (I think this is my third year) and it continues to be a fun activity. Each day I give a 45 minute sectional to each of the three different orchestras. I try to make it enjoyable for the students as well as informative! (A sectional is when the orchestra divides into parts, so I teach either the 1st and 2nd violins together, or just one of those sections.)
I’ve done a few interesting things since we last spoke. Thursday night I went to see Opera Theatre St Louis perform Ariadne. Louie and I got a good deal on tickets to two shows as part of the “Young Friends” subscription. For those “young” people under 45, you get dinner, drinks, and a show all for about $40. We had to commit to two shows, so we have another coming up that I’m really looking forward to. The dinner was a buffet style dinner outside under a tent, and we chatted with another couple beforehand. It was open seating at dinner and we tried to be friendly, but we were joined at a table for 8 by 4 other people who knew each other already and didn’t even say hello to us, which is frankly kind of rude at an event. Especially when two of those people were wearing badges saying that they were “hosts” of the event! But, we had a good time nonetheless, and the opera was fun. The first act was stronger than the second act, plot wise, and I would have preferred to hear it sung in German, but otherwise it was a wonderful performance. Maybe someday Winter Opera will have the same budget!
And then on Sunday Louie and I were going to do a long hike, but the weather was super hot and I didn’t sleep well and we wanted to take it easy and leave Mackenzie (the dog) at home—she gets hot easily and has been having more hair issues too. So we decided to go to Lone Elk Park. Lone Elk Park (listed in the 60 hikes book!) is a place that doesn’t allow pets, EVEN in the car, because there is wildlife and BISON. BISON! HERE IN ST LOUIS.
I only learned this last year after our trip, which made me super excited, but I hadn’t had a good opportunity to visit. First we did a 3.5 mile hike on the White Basin Trail, The hike was very nice and had a variety of terrain. It was really hot but the trail was mostly shaded, and easy to follow. There were a few trees to climb over. We passed two other hikers who told us they’d seen a bunch of elk, so we kept our eyes open, but didn’t see any on our hike, only lots of squirrels and chipmunks.
After finishing the hike, we got in the car, turned on the a/c, had some snacks, and went to drive all around the park. First we did see a whole bunch of elk!
There were quite a few females or young elk, hanging out by the road. It seemed like their fur was shedding. They didn’t seem to pay us much attention.
And then we drove through the bison area. Louie and I are old hat at looking for wildlife while driving slowly, and we were in luck. Oh, right before we turned to the bison road we saw a male elk from a distance as well! Too far for a picture without a good zoom lens though. So the bison seem to be kept in a certain area, and the signs warn you not to get out of your car at all.
We weren’t disappointed. It only took a few minutes until we saw them. Maybe 5-6 of them up a hill in a shady area, pretty far away, but one closer, that we stopped and watched for a few minutes.
He got closer too, and we were ready to drive away if needed, but he also seemed more concerned with eating grass than anything, so we just enjoyed watching the strange creature. I could be wrong but they seemed smaller than the ones at Yellowstone?
In any case, it was a delightful afternoon, and so unique. I want to go back! Oh, and we saw a couple of friendly raccoons, who came up to the car. I assume people feed them, but we didn’t.
Look at that guy with his weird toes!
I definitely recommend you check out Lone Elk Park if you like animals! It was a really neat experience. The hike wasn’t super exciting, but it was pleasant, and NOT difficult—the signs at the parking lot say “difficult”. I’d say “intermediate” in that there are some up and downs, but in the sense that “easy” would be a flat paved walk.
This week: teaching, practicing, getting ready for Leslie and Athena to visit next week (!!!!), another Opera, and, weather permitting, Shakespeare. Plus a few dinners with friends. I’m tired just thinking about it
Woo hoo, there are some pictures from the Mud Run last Sunday!
Things I learned:
1. There’s a lot of waiting in line. For this race, it seemed particularly bad. There was nearly a 30-45 minute wait for one of the obstacles, and probably 10-15 for practically all the others.
2. Mud isn’t so bad. You just have to accept being muddy and dirty. And keep your mouth shut when crawling in the mud.
3. I have no upper body strength and cannot lift myself up. Some of the obstacles I wasn’t able to do because of this. And while maybe I could have gotten a boost from my teammates, maybe it wasn’t quite enough. I need to work on this!
4. I love swimming and I am not afraid of falling in the water. One of the obstacles was crossing a small river/large creek on a rope. There was a rope over and a rope under and people tried to hold out to the top one while walking. It was the scariest thing ever to get started on, as the start was muddy and over an embankment, but I kept telling myself, make it over the water and then it doesn’t matter. I fell in. It was lovely.
5. Running around in a cornfield isn’t that fun. Since the mud run was a 5k, we did a bunch of obstacles (stuff floating in the water, going under ropes over the mud, going through muddy tubes, etc.) but still had to get some running in. I am the worst at running. I can run for a long time, but I’m just so slow. Add to the things I need to work on.
6. It was fun! Mud is fun! We had a great time as a team. Wear old clothes, but they will likely be able to get clean again. Wear old shoes, but don’t assume you can’t wash those either. It’s just mud. After the race they had fire hoses to rinse off, which we thought would be cold but actually were really nice. Bring lots of towels and definitely bring a change of shoes!
My arms are very long.
I look like I’m having fun. I’m not sure if that was actually the case.
Writing your number on your arm was optional, but seemed hard-core. I’m always obsessed with trying to seem hard-core, aren’t I?
Tunnels are hard. I couldn’t crawl anymore so I was pulling myself.
Louie climbing over the wall like a boss. Do the kids still say that?
(April had enough upper body strength that Louie’s boost really helped! TEAMWORK!)
We got mugs at the end of the race. They had also had pint glasses but they only had mugs by the time we finished. At the time we were annoyed, but after drinking out of my mug a few times, I’m happy about it.
The team! Oh, another thing I learned, looking at these photos. I should wear lighter clothing next time so the mud shows up more in the pictures!
I sound tough sometimes, on this here blog, but I never feel very tough. (Do I sound tough here sometimes?)
Right now, I feel exhausted. April and I ran a 5k yesterday morning, and then today Louie, April, and two friends named Amanda joined me for a mud run called the Crusher in Eureka, Missouri.
I say, I’m not tough, because both Amandas seemed to think that hiking in and out of the Grand Canyon and running a 5K the day before meant I was tough and all kinds of athletic and would do well. I’m not. I get scared easily and I fall a bunch. I lack upper body strength and I run very slow.
I’m going to process today a bit more, and also hope that the races will put pictures up to share. But a mud run was an experience I hadn’t had today. Are they supposed to be mostly waiting in line to do the obstacles? We did wait an awful lot, probably as long as we were running and actually trying to complete the obstacles.
I digress.
Last weekend after our float trip got canceled, Louie and I decided it would be best to do an epic hike in the area. We chose to go up and around Bell Mountain, which made a 12 mile hike. It was about a 2 hour drive.
We probably underestimated the difficulty, and it was muddy, I actually ran out of water, I wished I’d brought my hiking sticks, and most of the folks we saw were backpackers, but we had a memorable day, probably pushed the dog too much even though she seemed to have fun, and definitely made a great memory!
The trail to the top of Bell Mountain starts on the Ozark Trail. We didn’t hike far on the OT though, before going off on the Bell Mountain loop. If you want to take the loop, the author of 60 Hikes within 60 Miles recommended going counterclockwise so you save the views for the later portion. It was muddy from the get go but once you get used to that, and just accept that you’re going to get a little wet, it was pretty nice.
Not sure what’s going on with me in this picture, but there were lots of rocky parts. This hike was similar in ways to our hike last fall in Taum Sauk State Park.
There were several creek crossings. By now creek crossings were old hat for us. I guess I’m becoming a more experienced hiker, even though I keep making mistakes like not bringing enough snacks and thinking that a 12 mile hike will be easy because it’s in Missouri.
There wasn’t as much elevation change as in the Grand Canyon, but there were some steep parts, especially the climb from the creek up to the summit. We were hoping for the expansive views the book author promised us, but we just got a teeny bit. Maybe because of all the trees. As always, no matter the challenge…hiking in Missouri continues to be mostly wandering in the woods. We sometimes daydream about moving somewhere more scenic (sorry Missouri) but then we remember how cheap it is to live here and how we get to travel a lot, and how our jobs and such are here. Sigh.
But the view was pretty decent from the top. Amazing for this area, honestly. That’s what happens when you see the world. You get spoiled.
Okay, fine, it’s really beautiful. And we were jealous of all the people backpacking. There were a few ready made camping sites along the trail, one I thought looked really cute near the creek, and then on top of the mountain too.
So we might be back, though summer ends up usually getting pretty hot and buggy here.
When I left our adventure last, Louie and I were driving a borrowed Honda Civic (with stick shift) towards the Grand Canyon.
We took a slightly scenic route from Flagstaff to Williams and enjoyed seeing the forests and the various bushes and whatnot in the landscape. I don’t know everything, I’m sorry.
Anyway, we got to the Grand Canyon and entered the park for FREE using our National Parks Pass from the previous summer. We paid $80 for a year long pass, and we have more than covered that amount of park fees. It’s wonderful.
We decided to hit up our campground first, Mather Campground. I remember staying there one night as a young child, and the name stuck out at me. I think I’d seen the word Mather on some notes my dad had made and I thought it was a weird spelling of mother or something. I also remember they had pay showers and you had to put quarters in for the water which absolutely blew my mind.
The ranger at check-in told us that we didn’t need to worry about bears but that the ravens were the real problem. She used a funny word for them but I’ve lost it. Louie?
Our campsite looked pretty nice. (Site 293, in case you are interested). We quickly set up the tent and did a few other things then headed to the Grand Canyon itself!
Like I’d said before, Louie had never been, but I had. I remember thinking it was different than I’d thought it would be. I pictured a canyon as a deep, deep hole, and instead it was more spread out with various juts and crevices and rocks and all different colors.
Almost like a mountain range, except we are on top of it.
We walked along the rim trail from the visitor’s center and Mather Point, probably a mile each way. Then we remembered we had a big hike planned for the next day and probably ought to get some rest!
Dinner was beans and tuna and couscous, one of our favorites for some reason. You mix white kidney beans with tuna (at home I’d add salt and pepper and maybe lemon) and then our favorite camping trick is to put that on top of a serving of those flavored couscous you can buy in a box. Sounds odd, but it was delicious.
One of the odd things about being out in the wilderness is the lack of cell phone and internet service. I’m used to (as we probably all are) just looking up odd facts on my phone and never having to worry about things too much in advance, like weather forecasts, or sunrise times. It’s nice being disconnected, for sure, though sometimes it means you get things wrong.
We planned to wake up at 5 am with the hopes of being on the trail right around sunrise. Except we didn’t actually know when sunrise was, we just assumed it was around 5:45 because that seemed like a normal sunrise time.
Oh, I should digress. In the middle of the night (well, around 11 pm, which is the middle of the night in a National Park Campground) I had to use the bathroom. I managed to get out of the tent, I had my headlamp on, and I headed for the facilities. (Flush toilets, cold water, hand dryers.) As I got closer, I saw a group of about 4 deer in the bushes right in front of the bathroom. I assumed my approach would scare them off, but they showed no real fear or surprise. I wasn’t sure what to do—I tried shining my light at them but they made no move. I heard what I thought was another person approaching and was about to whisper to them about the deer, when I realized it wasn’t another person. It was a giant, huge, deer, and it was very aware of me and was in the middle of the road. I was a little scared, but just then the other deer moved so I went into the bathroom.
However, when I came back out the giant monster deer was still there, blocking my path back to the tent! I tried to approach it, hoping to scare it off, but it took a few steps towards me instead, with an ominous clomping sound. I pictured getting attacked by a deer, and wondered if this was something that happened to people? I wasn’t thinking clearly, but I was scared. I knew our camp area was a loop of sorts, so I decided to be safer and walk back the long way, along the loop.
After what seemed like forever but was probably 2-3 minutes, I realized it was a REALLY big loop, especially at night, so I turned back around. By then the giant monstrous beast had moved off the roadway—I could see the deer off to the side but I moved quietly and firmly ahead and did make it back safely to the tent. (edit to add: I realized later these were elk, not deer!)
I kept hearing noises all night and figured it was the deer, looking for me and planning to attack if I left the tent.
In any case, by around 4:30 am our neighbors made a bit of noise packing up their tent. Oh, and it was completely bright outside. By the time Louie and I got up at 5 am most people around us were awake, making breakfast, or had already left. People get up early there, evidently, and the sun rises MUCH earlier than it should. In other words, the Grand Canyon is in the wrong time zone.
Our hike plan: to hike down the Bright Angel Trail to the Colorado River and back. Warning: all the rangers and signs warn you not to do this, that it is too far for one day. Our friends all told us we could and should do it, that it is awesome and we will be fine. We packed food and water, and knew there were multiple places along the trail where we could fill up our water as well.
The Bright Angel Trail is the one that heads down, FYI.
The Bright Angel Trail is the one that heads down, FYI.
The way down was easy. The trail is wide and well graded, and mostly just sandy. There were resthouses with water and vault toilets at 1 1/2 miles and 3 miles down, which seemed like a lot to us. (We learned why later, spoiler alert).
We’d started down the trail right around 6 am, and by 8:30 am we were resting on a bench at Indian Gardens, eating trail mix. Indian Gardens is about 4.5 miles down, and generally where rangers tell you to turn around for a day hike. We said, that’s for amateurs, not us, and continued down to the path to the Colorado River, 3 more miles.
I didn’t take as many pictures from that point on. First because I thought, well, let’s hurry and then on the way back we’ll be slower and take more pictures. But then my toes started hurting, and I was tired, and it was hard to hike. There was a part where you go around a corner and then you just see the trail, going down and around, deeper and deeper into the canyon, and I wish I had taken a picture. I remember though, I was both terrified and awed. Truly awesome, I guess.
But we made it to the river! The Colorado River, which was the whole reason the Grand Canyon exists. It was windy down by the river, and there were several rafts, one of which blew over and practically knocked Louie over. (he was trying to dip his feet into the river.)
I started getting really worried about getting back. I do this on hikes, I worry about finishing. I shouldn’t, I get into my head too much, and I don’t enjoy the moment. But in this case, I started really worrying. And I didn’t feel like eating, but I was hungry. We started walking back, and I realized I was nauseous and hungry, and we might have 8 hours ahead of us, and I just sat down and started crying and panicking. I worried I’d have to be picked up by mule or helicopter, and it would be awful and embarrassing, and that we made a huge mistake and that I am NOT like other people, hiking is hard, and I should have turned around at Indian Gardens.
Then we got passed by a group of men, going really slowly. Slower than we had been going. And I thought, okay, I can do that. I can go that slowly.
So we did. Bit by bit. We took a lot of breaks. The sun was hot, and high in the sky, and I’m sure Louie didn’t want to go so slow or stop so often, but he did, because he was with me. And we made sure to drink more water than we had been. And we made it back to Indian Gardens.
At Indian Gardens (10.5 miles so far) we ate a bunch of peanut butter pretzels from Trader Joe’s, made a Hammer Fizz drink with tablets in the water, and I really started feeling better. Only 4. 5 miles left.
After Indian Gardens, the path is really just up. Before that it mostly was up, but now there was no flat parts. We continued taking lots of breaks, and it was still hot, but we started to notice that everybody around us was also suffering, which made us feel better. Ha! Funny how that works, right? We finally made it to 3 mile hours, and enjoyed more Hammer Fizz, more snacks, and another long rest (15-20 minutes?). Then we set off again. Relentless forward progress. One foot in front of the other.
The last 3 miles were the hardest. 1 1/2 mile house seemed so far away…vault toilets were never such a wonderful beacon in the distance. This rest house smelled like urine so we didn’t stay long. And then the final ascent. As we got closer we’d run into folks just wandering down a bit from the rim, which was annoying in a way. Here we are, exhausted, sunburned, smelly, having been to hell and back, or that is, the River and back…and these folks are just out for a little stroll. And then closer yet, wearing sandals and drinking wine, or taking up the trail posing for pictures. Closer still. The rim was in sight, but still so far. More breaks, more catching of my breath (hard to do, but not as hard as earlier in the day when I was perhaps dangerously close to heat stroke). And then. We cleared the top!
You’d expect bells and whistles, or a brass band, but instead there were just tourists everywhere. Nobody we knew, nobody to celebrate our victory.
For some reason I’d carried a selfie stick this whole way. We set up for a picture with the Trailhead dedication rock. Some guy was trying to take a picture while we were setting up our picture and he seemed annoyed we were in the way—I think we deserved a minute with the rock after our day!
I’d told Louie during the hike that I would never do it again. And that’s a good idea, but of course as time goes by you start to forget how hard things are and you only remember the fun and the beauty and the feeling of accomplishment.
After the hike we went to take showers. Glorious! Even though honestly, the showers were pretty gross. Still, we were covered in so much red dust that it was wonderful. And then we bought a few things at the grocery store and then we ate and drank and rested and it was a wonderful night.
Our campsite at Mather.
We had new neighbors for the second night and it looked like quite a few people were staying longer. Unfortunately we had to leave the next day.
We woke up a bit later, closer to 7 am (decadent sleeping in!). We packed up camp and went to check out more of the canyon rim views. Basically there are two ways you can go, west or east, and we decided to check out east side viewpoints and then leave the park that way and head back to Phoenix. The west side would have awesome too but we had to make a choice.
We stopped at almost all the stops along the way, including the Tusayan Ruins and the Desert View Watchtower. Louie even hiked down the Grandview Trail a bit (there are actually many trails into the Grand Canyon, and I guess another day, another year, we’ll have to do something again.) Oh, and Moran Point, which was absolutely gorgeous but also fun to say…well, fun to mispronounce.
We were sad to leave, and my legs were sore, sore, sore. But we were expected back in Phoenix for a concert that night and needed to get back to clean up. We left and drove through Cameron to Flagstaff to Phoenix. It was a wonderful trip, and hopefully we’ll get to do it again!
We are planning a bit road trip for later in the summer. Colorado, Utah, and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. It doesn’t cost that much to camp and cook our own food, gas is on the cheap, and so the only real cost is taking the time off. Since Louie is on an academic calendar he doesn’t work during that time, and I’m self-employed and summer is definitely a lighter time. Some people wondered last summer how we could afford it, and that’s the answer: if you drive, and mostly cook your own meals, and camp, it’s really pretty affordable to travel. This trip was more expensive since we flew to Phoenix, but it didn’t cost much more to see Sedona and the Grand Canyon!
If you have questions, let me know—I’d be happy to help.
. In any case, I have my memories, and my thoughts. 
