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Subject: Postcard from Portland
Dear Family and Friends,
"Beauty is a form of genius -- is higher, indeed, than genius,
as it needs no explanation. It is of the great facts in the
world like sunlight, or springtime, or the reflection in dark
water of that silver shell we call the moon." --Oscar Wilde
And there is nothing more beautiful than the smile or laugh of your
child after they've been so sick that they don't feel like eating or
playing or even standing up. This morning for the first time in a week
and a half Elisha awoke with a sparkle in her eyes and a smile. Today
the sun is shining outside as well as in our hearts. We've just returned
from a stroll under blue skies untainted by any trace of clouds. Elisha
laughed, giggled and shrieked with joy. It is seventy degrees, yet snow
lingers in the glens of the distant hills. We all sorely needed this
elixir of Spring.
By contrast, a week ago we returned from the "Vacation from Hell". The
statement is in no way a reflection on the loved ones we traveled to
visit, but rather on the misery attendant to the maladies many of us
suffered.
As is the custom in my family each year, we gathered to celebrate
Passover. In recent years we have assembled in Florida since that's
where the majority of the family elders (including Shelly and Mitch :-)
live, But this year we convened in Cincinnati where my niece (Missy)
lives with her husband (Richard) and son (Alex, who will turn one year
old this month). We looked forward to seeing their new house in Blue
Ash, as well as having a shorter journey than normal. Elisha was
exceptionally well behaved on the four-hour flight there. After landing,
I picked up the rental car and we drove to the Best Western where we'd
be staying. That was the kickoff of our woes. The hotel had assured us
there was a refrigerator in each room. Ours had none, and a phone call
to the front desk revealed the promise to be a lie. Since Elisha was all
but weaned, it was important for us to be able to have cow's milk at
hand for her. *sigh* We had also been assured there would be a crib in
our room. Wrong again. Another call to the front desk... "It's in the
room we had originally intended to put you in. But that room wasn't
ready when you arrived so we put you in a different room. We'll have it
sent over." (Never mind that check in time is 3pm and we arrived at
4pm). Forty-five minutes passed and still no crib. I called the front
desk again and they were surprised it hadn't been delivered yet. After
another 15 minutes a hotel employee showed up with a Pack N' Play [1],
dumped it on the floor and disappeared. Liz and I were incredulous that
he didn't even offer to set it up for us. By this time we had no time to
spare in getting over to Missy and Richard's house for the Passover
Seder. We were joined by my sister and brother-in-law (Shelly and
Mitch), who had driven up from Florida - as well as neighbors of Missy
and Richard (Barry and Susan) and their two children. We all had a
delightful service and feast and enjoyed seeing Missy and Richard's
grand (~4600 sq. ft.) house. It was also a pleasure to meet their au
pair, Tina, who sat down with us at the Seder table. We had been looking
forward to Elisha meeting her cousin Alex, but he had come down with an
ear infection and had been having GI problems (to put it loosely).
The next day (April 1st) my mother flew in. She had opted to spend the
first night of Passover in Florida with my Aunt Charlotte and Uncle
Morty, who for health reasons were unable to travel. We shared each
other's company (sans Barry and Susan) at the second Seder.
The following morning is when things went rapidly downhill. Elisha awoke
at 4am sick to her stomach (I'll spare you a more gruesome description).
The symptoms continued on and off until our departure two days hence. We
were able to have breakfast at the hotel Sunday morning before heading
home. But the "hostess" (an oxymoron) informed us they had no
highchairs. I protested that they had a highchair for Elisha the
previous Thursday. She countered that the two they had were needed for
an Easter buffet at which they expected 1,100 people and offered us a
booster seat. I declined, explaining the obvious - that she was not yet
big enough to use one. She begrudgingly fetched a highchair. The one
bright spot to our hotel "experience" was when the assistant General
Manager stopped to admire Elisha. He asked what her name was, and then
asked us if it was spelled with an "A". Our answer floored him. It turns
it *his* daughter's name is also Elisha and he showed us her picture (a
darling 3-year-old with blond hair). And moreover, his wife's name is
Elizabeth!! This was too much for him, and he insisted on picking up the
tab for our breakfast. I briefly discussed with him our less than
satisfactory service and he urged me to detail our complaints in writing
(which I will do). It was reassuring to find out that there was at least
one employee at Best Western who gave a hoot about customer service.
Elisha and Alex were not the only health casualties. Missy was running a
fever of 101 (it spiked to 103 after we left). Shelly, Mitch and Liz
were borderline some of the time. And Tina was too ill to join us for
dinner on Saturday, having spent most of the day on the couch in the
lower level.
We did, however, enjoy getting together. Liz, Missy and Shelly shopped
at an outlet mall, where Missy and my mother (by proxy) got some cute
outfits for Elisha. And Aunt Mary (from Liz's side of the family), who
lives just down the road in Sharonville, visited us on Saturday
afternoon and met Elisha for the first time. It's too bad Elisha wasn't
feeling her Wheaties :-( She'll simply have to come to Oregon for a
visit!
A final note on the trip - Elisha blew out a diaper and soiled her
outfit just as we were boarding the plane to come home. Fortunately, Liz
and I had learned from the trip back from David's Bar Mitzvah last
October [2] to be certain to bring a change of clothes for her. And the
flight attendants were extremely helpful when they saw our quandary.
We took Elisha to the doctor the day after we returned. He diagnosed her
as having Rotavirus [3]. It takes 4-8 days for it to run its course, and
he told us to continue restricting her diet to Pedialyte, rice cereal
and breast milk [4]. By Thursday, her condition had grown considerably
worse. She was refusing food and would not drink Pedialyte. Furthermore,
Liz's milk production was no longer sufficient for that to be her sole
source of nutrients. Liz took her back to the doctor and found that she
had developed a fever and ear infection. Elisha got an ATB shot (ouch!)
and was put on Zithromax. I cannot describe how emotionally draining it
was for Liz and me to see our energetic little girl reduced to a dishrag
by these infections. Those of you who are parents (excuse the
Clintonism) "know our pain".
I've just completed the coding phase of my current project at ADP except
for creating the InstallShield package to deliver the goods. I expect to
complete that before the end of this week. This will hopefully permit my
stress level to normalize and allow me to spend more time with Liz and
Elisha. Liz's new part-time job shows promise, and she's worked out a
schedule that should avoid conflicts between the two jobs she's now
juggling [5]. This should provide for peace of mind for her, too.
The other news of import from March is that I turned 34 [6] the first
day of Spring.
This postcard is running long, so I'll refer you to the recent entries
in Elisha's diary [7] (which I just updated) for more news on her.
we love and miss you all,
Sandy, Liz and Elisha
Addendum: The tornado that blew through Blue Ash two days ago missed
Missy and Richard by a scant 1.5 miles!! Thank G-d they and Aunt Mary
were spared.
[1] http://www.gracobaby.com/
[2] http://www.herring.org/pfp_9811.html
[3] http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/revb/gastro/rotavirus.htm
[4] I should note that Elisha was all but weaned before the trip. In
fact, she didn't nurse at all (a first) on 4/1 (also a first :-).
[5] The available treatments on her first job had dwindled to 5 hrs/wk.
[6] Okay, so shoot me... I prefer counting in hexadecimal ;-)
[7] http://www.herring.org/elisha.html#1999_03
_________________________________________________________________
Data harvested from http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/climate/index.php?wfo=pqr
CLIMATIC SUMMARY FOR PORTLAND OREGON
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PORTLAND OREGON
321 AM PST THU APR 01 1999
...TEMPERATURE...
HIGH YESTERDAY... 53
LOW YESTERDAY... 38
MEAN TEMP........ 46 DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL... -3
NORMAL HIGH FOR TODAY... 58
NORMAL LOW FOR TODAY... 40
RECORD HIGH FOR TODAY... 79 SET IN 1987
RECORD LOW FOR TODAY... 30 SET IN 1971
...DEGREE DAY DATA...
HEATING
YESTERDAY... 19 DEPARTURE... 3
MONTH....... 586 DEPARTURE... 37
SEASON...... 3454 DEPARTURE... -308
COOLING
YESTERDAY... 0 DEPARTURE... 0
MONTH....... 0 DEPARTURE... 0
SEASON...... 0 DEPARTURE... 0
...PRECIPITATION...
YESTERDAY............. T
TOTAL FOR THE MONTH... 4.03
NORMAL MONTH TO DATE.. 3.56
TOTAL FOR THE YEAR.... 19.38 TOTAL SINCE OCT 1... 39.35
NORMAL YEAR TO DATE... 12.76 NORMAL FROM OCT 1... 26.90
...WIND DATA IN MPH...
AVERAGE WIND SPEED YESTERDAY... 8.7
FASTEST 2-MIN WIND YESTERDAY... 16 FROM 60 DEGREES
PEAK WIND GUST YESTERDAY....... 17 FROM 210 DEGREES
...ASTRONOMICAL DATA...
SUNRISE TODAY...551 AM PST
SUNSET TODAY...638 PM PST
SUNRISE TOMORROW...550 AM PST
SUNSET TOMORROW...640 PM PST
MAR CLIMATOLOGICAL REPORT FOR PORTLAND OREGON
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PORTLAND OREGON
321 AM PST THU APR 01 1999
TEMPERATURE DATA......
(DEGREES F)
AVERAGE MONTHLY TEMPERATURE.... 45.8 OR 1.5 DEGREES BELOW NORMAL
AVERAGE MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE.... 52.7
AVERAGE MINIMUM TEMPERATURE.... 38.9
HIGHEST TEMPERATURE WAS 72 ON DAY 19
LOWEST TEMPERATURE WAS 31 ON DAY 11
HEATING DEGREE DAYS (BASE 65) COOLING DEGREE DAYS
MONTHLY TOTAL ........... 586 MONTHLY TOTAL .......... 0
DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL.... 37 DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL... 0
SEASONAL TOTAL (JUL-JUN). 3454 SEASONAL TOTAL (JAN-DEC) 0
DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL.... -308 DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL... 0
PRECIPITATION DATA....
..RAIN..
TOTAL FOR THE MONTH......... 4.03 OR 0.47 INCHES ABOVE NORMAL
TOTAL SINCE JANUARY 1ST..... 19.38 OR 6.62 INCHES ABOVE NORMAL
GREATEST 24 HOUR RAINFALL WAS 0.54 INCHES ON DAY(S) 28-29
..SNOW..
TOTAL FOR THE MONTH......... 0.0
TOTAL FOR THE SEASON........ 0
GREATEST 24 HOUR SNOWFALL WAS INCHES ON DAY(S) __ __
..NUMBER OF DAYS..
WITH .01 INCHES OR MORE 21 HIGHS 32 DEGREES OR COLDER 0
WITH .10 INCHES OR MORE 14 HIGHS 90 DEGREES OR WARMER 0
WITH .50 INCHES OR MORE 1 LOWS 32 DEGREES OR COLDER 2
WITH 1.00 INCHES OR MORE 0 LOWS 0 DEGREES OR COLDER 0
SKY CONDITION......... SEA LEVEL PRESSURE............
NUMBER OF DAYS CLEAR .. MM HIGHEST 30.38 INCHES ON DAY 01
NUMBER OF DAYS PTCLDY .. MM LOWEST 29.36 INCHES ON DAY 02
NUMBER OF DAYS CLOUDY .. MM
WIND DATA.............
THE AVERAGE MONTHLY WIND SPEED WAS 8.7 MPH
THE FASTEST TWO-MINUTE WIND WAS... 43 MPH FROM 210 DEGREES
THE HIGHEST PEAK WIND GUST WAS.... 51 FROM 200 DEGREES
--
Sandy, Liz & Elisha Tigard, Oregon School of Herring
webfeet@herring.org bigfish@sns-access.com http://www.herring.org/
And that's the news from Portland
where everything is green, rolling stones gather moss,
and the rainfall is always above average.
Most Recent Update: Friday, 12-Sep-2008 14:39:40 PDT
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