Leroy's Art Blog

It has felt odd this month in Seattle. Pretty much like the vacation that it really is, but at the same time it is as much “home” as anything else I can claim right now. So, while enjoying the time with family and a side trip toPortland to visit Tanzania Peace Corps friends, I have also been working to line up medical insurance and following Craigslist to see what kind of initial living quarters might be available in Philadelphia, come September.

Kent and Deena, in Portland, OR

Kent and Deena have a beautiful house in Portland, and spend a lot of time gardening. So their immaculate house is surrounded by flowers, vegetables and beautiful green things. This seems to be typical of Portland, where many homes have extensive landscaping or gardens around them.







We spent a day playing along the Oregon Coast, characterized by huge rocks standing just offshore, like sentinels. A lot of them are pierced by holes or tunnels - seems like a strange geological feature.

I wasn’t their only guest. Steffanie Meyer was there too. Steffanie had been stationed close to Kent and Deena, but I hadn't spent much time with her in Tanzania. It was delightful to get to know her better, and of course sharing Peace Corps stories was great fun. Steffanie is studying for an advanced degree at the U. of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, and will be doing her thesis work back in Tanzania. She is even making money based on her Kiswahili, as she will be a teaching assistant for a language course during the school year.

We did a lot of hiking, along the Oregon coast and the Columbia River Gorge. The Gorge is spectacular - broad, with high cliffs on both sides and lots of high waterfalls. We hit one trail along the Gorge though that I found to be a killer. Beautiful, but about two hours of climbing sharply with no real breaks in the terrain. I hated it that I had trouble catching my breath during the climb, and had to stop repeatedly to rest. I can’t delude myself anymore, I really am becoming symptomatic from my lymphoma. Two months ago, in Guatemala, I could have handled that hike much more easily, even at 9000 ft. So I will have to take it easy this next month while touring Glacier and Yellowstone Nat’l Parks with my family, and be prepared to stay in the base camp and read while my clan strikes out for the more difficult trails. And when I arrive in Philadelphia in September, I will have to get cracking right away to set up a medical team to work with.

Apart from all this good friendship and warm family events, I also got the good news is that my Workman’s Compensation claim has been accepted, so the expenses of treatment should be taken care of now, even without requiring a co-pay.

The happy four of us, on the trail. And now, Matt and Paola arrive tomorrow night from China (Thursday), Roy and Alice return from summer camp on Saturday, and then we head out for Montana. What a summer!