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2006
A Year of Joys and Sufferings,
the Birth of Calliope and Visits by many Friends
Entries from our 2006 Calendar
Every time we return to our house in the Palisades, we are newly enchanted by its space and beauty, by its light, by the openness to the garden, by its seclusion. There are always flowers - from Trader Joe’s. Barbara loves them. Before Barbara returned from her trip to Tübingen and Rome in July I had set up three large bunches. It looked so beautiful that I took this picture. No other picture reflects the joy of seeing her back on this day better: the gray couch, the Zapotec Tibetan rug, and the Cycladic Goddess under my glass table - all acquired on impulse for their beauty - are at the quintessence of our love.
The many months of Prednisone and Methatraxate treatment in the Spring of 2005 had improved Barbara’s rheumatoid arthritis in her hands. The summer of 2005 had been good. But as the Winter progressed her pain returned and her chronic diarrhea worsened. Dr. Gu, the acupuncturist, helped her discomfort, but could do nothing to diminish its cause.
Klaus had taken Lilo to Karlsbad in Bohemia in 2005, and they were planning to go to the same luxurious Spa Hotel again. I persuaded Barbara to join them. Klaus, as always reliable in such things, quickly secured a reservation for her, and she flew to Hamburg on 8 February.
A few days before her departure Cornelius arrived for a conference in LA. He stayed with us and finally with me alone when Barbara left. A wonderful time together, which prompted him to promise to come back in February 2007, just to see me! Barbara will go to San Francisco to roam the museums and visit friends.
Lilo’s photo of Karlsbad in the snow-covered Bohemian Mountains (Erzgebirge). The hot springs and the spas lie in the steep valleys that cut across this pleasant, wooded landscape..
They ”lodged” at the Grand Hotel Richmond. A veritable fairy palace: great expansive public halls, period furniture, meticulous service, white table cloths and crystal glasses... and mostly empty in February. Even the snow serves primarily as decoration. A full 2-week “cure” at the 4-star Hotel including three meals, a private room with modern bath for under 1200 Euro....!
The refurbished Market Square of the town. One drinks the warm mineral waters, takes baths and packings with healing earths, eats well, and in former times gambled, pursued intrigues, had affairs, and wrote poems. Many famous German writers and poets spent time there and at nearby Marienbad. In 1946 the German-speaking population of the Egerland was ethnically cleansed, the great spas fell into ruin. After the fall of Communism the spas have been restored and revived to their former 19th-century splendor.
On their drive back to Hamburg the three spent 2 days in Dresden, to visit the newly rebuilt Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady), its dome is visible in the canter background. It had burnt to its foundations during the infamous air-raid in 1945. During Communist times the ruin was kept as a reminder of the brutality of the Western Allies air war. After reunification it was rebuilt with public contributions and had just been re-consecrated.
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Klaus and Lilo in Hamburg Barbara with Jochen and Gerd
Hamburg, the snow from Lilo’s window.
Barbara Home again
Barbara returned well rested and with an assortment of creams and rubbings, which her Czech doctor had prescribed. She would go there any time again, but her general condition was unchanged.
Meanwhile we had a spell of bright and sunny weather and took a long walk along Point Dume Beach in Malibu.
Julia Euling visited us for a few days, and as always her cheerful disposition cheered us all. Later in March Renate Göbel, a sculptress from Cologne, appeared at the Weisman Foundation in order to repair some of her fiberglass sculptures there. She naturally attached herself to German-speaking Barbara, and we enjoyed a memorable dinner with her and intense discussion of Chi Gong, which she swore by.
Concerned about her mother and wanting to connect with her past, Susanne flew in for a weekend at the beginning of April. A surprise: Susanne had changed into a much softer woman - John must love her well - with long hair. She had become weary of the exhausting work as a manager at a Bed, Bath & Beyond store in Atlanta and was thinking to move them all back to Colorado, which John loved, and where he had set up a successful photo-studio with an old friend. The rapidity with which Susanne makes decisions and carries them out has always been a breathtaking delight: Within 3 months they had sold their house and bought a new one in Denver-Lakewood, had self-moved all their belongings in 3 long cross-country trips with a rental truck, and Susanne had a new job as assistant manager in a much nicer BB&B store - half-an-hour commute from their house.
Every year Barbara paints a few new Easter eggs to restore broken and given-away ones and try new designs. None is ever the same as another or earlier one. This is her extra splendid production of 2006.
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Susanne had barely left, when Sophia appeared. Slenderer than we had ever seen her, exhausted she threw herself at us - as you can see - crying for help. They had fled Seattle and moved to Nashville, Tennessee where David’s clan lives. Her marriage was drifting in shallow, ever rockier waters, and her father, the rock in her life had died in August 2005. We counseled her to act instead of wallowing in tearful desperation. Psychologically, Susanne did one better, she advised her to get a paying job at a department store. The only advice she really took to, and soon she became Miss Dior at a cosmetic counter, where she did very well. Her troubles occupied us and Susanne throughout the year.
On 15 July 2006 at 15:30 Anne-Cecile gave birth to a girl in a wonderful, private Roman hospital! They named her Calliopé. Here you see her, the happy mother, and a short-haired Ulysse peeking into the picture.
Cornelius was, if possible, even happier that she was a girl. He cradled his newborn joy with great dedication. She is crying. The white glove is to prevent her from sucking her two, left-hand fingers!
Barbara would have liked to fly to Rome immediately, instead she sewed a dress for her youngest grandchild, much too big, but stitched with all her love and warm wishes.
Now we had two Homeric grandchildren! Nobody knew who was Calliope: the oldest of the 9 Greek Muses. She protected epic poets, philosophers, and scientists. She was Homer’s inspiration. Instead of an announcement - which I left to Cornelius - I set up a webpage for her with pictures from Greek vases and all the lore I could find. With the help of astro.com I cast her horoscope and learned that she was a moon-child, who - contrary to her brother - would forever remain a mystery to me….
A visit to Marga was overdue. She had turned 92 in June and for months had begged Barbara to come – only to have second thoughts a few days later. As Christian wrote, “jeden Tag wird sie kleiner und krummer”. Ecki, Kelly, and Regine had announced their visits later this summer. We were not going to go anywhere this Summer. Barbara made a quick decision and flew to Stuttgart on 18 July to stay in Tübingen until 1 August.
Barbara intentionally took no pictures of Marga - she does no longer like to be photographed. I include a charmingly candid photo of her taken by her cosmetician in late summer 2004.
Experience of many years had shown that these loving care-visits had every time required Barbara’s last resources. Her immune system being low, I feared that she would return completely exhausted or with some nasty respiratory infection. To prevent catching a virus on the packed flights, I had bought her a tiny private electronic air purifier (Wein Mini-Mate AS-150MM), which she wears on a string around her neck. It is not cheap, but has proven its effectiveness over several years.
Somehow Cornelius must have sensed Barbara’s longing to hold Calliope in her arms. He arranged for cheap flights to Rome - and so it happened that Barbara was able to spend a weekend in Rome.
Anne-Cecile, Barbara, and a jealousy-plagued Ulysse at breakfast on Sunday.
Sunday afternoon they went to their favorite beach on Lake Martignano, north of Rome. The tired mother and a much grown Calliope sleeping.
Frail Nonna Barbara with her granddaughter. Barbara’s skin is blotched from the Prednisone she took for a long time.
For Barbara’s return I had put flowers all over the house: A bunch of peonies just before they were to fall off.
A portrait of Barbara in early August. The stay with Marga had been easier than expected and her visit to Rome, however brief, had cheered her up.
Meanwhile Susanne and John had taken command of their new house, renovated its inside and planted some trees in their garden. The happy couple on an outing into the Rockies with a new, fire-red jeep John had bought.
Susanne and her two girls, Jenny - on vacation from North Eastern University - and Kelly, still in her contrary mood.
Kelly had begged to stay with us for a week and Barbara had decided to see whether she couldn’t get her out of her depression. She took her on an outing to see Carolyn and Torrey Pines north of San Diego.
For almost two years Carolyn had had a job as co-pilot flying a Lear Jet for a private owner. Here you see Kelly and Carolyn leaning on the shining plane.
Years ago, when the Girards lived in La Jolla, we used to roam the Torrey Pines Peninsula with them. We had not been back ever since our children moved out. I gave Kelly my camera, and she came back with a load of pictures of plants and rocks - which she likes especially -
and of Barbara with the Sea and La Jolla in the background.
A lively dinner table: Kelly, Monika serving, Alena, Ecki (Barbara’s nephew, Klaus’ son), and Marisa. They had been on a camping tour in California and part of the Southwest and wanted to spend a week with us. Unfortunately, to her great chagrin Barbara’s general condition had worsened. Weak, raked by pain, and shaking uncontrolled (probably from low hemoglobin and a loss of electrolytes due to her diarrhea) she spent most of that week in bed. Monika took over the kitchen and Ecki, who is an alternative physician, sat by her bedside or searched the telephone book in vain for a homeopathic doctor. There was no reputed man to be found in LA….
Barbara went to see her Kaiser enterologist, who prescribed XXX for her. On the morning the Lattmanns left she took the first dose - and collapsed with terrifying cramps. I drove her to the Kaiser emergency, where we hung around for several hours before a doctor diagnosed serious dehydration and put her on a drip and a monitor. When this initial rescue operation did not have the expected success, they decided to keep her in intensive care. I left reassured, she was in competent hands.
The medication the enterologist had given her was a sulfonamide, which ten years earlier, another doctor had already tried on her with similarly disastrous effects. Neither of us had thought of that: a strong allergy against sulfonamides.
Regine called, and I sent her to see the Zoo and the Wild Animal Park near San Diego for a few days. Barbara spent 5 days at Kaiser before they had stabilized her sufficiently to go home. All visitors were banned except I and Arleen, who faithfully spent a couple of hours with her every day. Regine returned and stayed with me - we ate out every night.
At this moment Susanne flew in, and drove to the hospital to pick up her Mumintal, while I took care of Regine and Simon as well as I could. They were very helpful and understanding. Regine turned out to be a most practical and reliable friend.
I needed something beautiful to do to keep my balance. Fortunately, searching the internet I found at Gutenberg.org a wonderful prose edition of the Odyssey in an old a translation by Samuel Butler. I had never read this epos in its entirety. The lively tale persuaded me to find illustrations for it and make a book for Cornelius’ and Ulysse’s birthday from it. It turned out magnificent. I made the pictures by converting the images of Greek vases and other drawings into silhouettes with the help of the computer. Here are a few:
Calliope, Homer’s Muse.
Nausikaa driving her laundry home followed by Ulysse
Circe bewitching Ulysse’s men into swine
The Sirens tempting Ulysse
At the end of September the terrible news reached us that Sherwin Amimoto, our last intimate friend from Aerospace, had suddenly died of a heart attack in Hawaii on a post-wedding trip with his wife Linda (they had got married in March 2006). A great loss, my only genuine Buddhist friend. Linda is still inconsolable.
September - the last of our Agapanthes blooming in front of Barbara’s window.
For a detailed account of our Denver trip click here
Barbara had learned how to heal herself by lying very still and concentrating on her inner powers. By the first week of October she felt well enough to drive us to Denver to visit Susanne and pick up Marc and Monique – who would fly there from Holland. She drove me through Nevada, Utah, and Colorado on the northern route (Interstate 70) along which she had taken Jutta and innumerable German tour-groups. For me this part of the Southwest was new, for her it was a memory trip. Often she would turn almost absentminded, so that I had to nudge her. Everywhere she encountered ghosts from her past: a German woman having passed out with a heart attack at the high altitude - the road often climbed to 3000 m - or Jutta swimming for her life in the swimming pool of their motels….
Fall colors in Torrey, Utah, where she had stayed with Jutta at a small motel. The rain clouds on the horizon would overtake us next afternoon.
At Arches it poured. Only towards sunset did the clouds open.
After three days and a snowstorm on the pass in the Rockies we reached Susanne’s house in Denver-Lakewood. Kelly received us. Susanne tired from a day’s work later that night.
John and Susanne at dinner one night. We stayed for a week. Three days after us Marc and Monique arrived.
Marc and Monique had met Cornelius in Rome more than 20 years ago. Marc went with Cornelius to India (1986) and to Pakistan, China, and Tibet (1988) and both joined us on our Tibet expedition to Mt. Kailas (1995). They visited us many times in California and
The house turned out much prettier than we had imagined: John and Susanne had worked very hard. But the greatest surprise delight was Kelly! Somehow she had snapped out of her black mood and turned herself in a wide-awake charming person with numerous interests. Excited about languages she asked me to teach her Russian and some rudimentary of Chinese…. She is taking the German course at her high-school and Monique, Barbara, and I teased her all week in German. Here she is looking for her favorite songs on her laptop to show them to expert Marc.
Every now and then Grandpa Rolf escaped from the family excitement to sit on a tree stump in front of the house and smoke - half a cigarette - because of the altitude of Denver (2000 m)….
One afternoon John put us into his new jeep and drove us - on perfectly good roads - to Golden. Here he shows Marc and Monique the town below: Coors Brewery, his studio.
We drove home through the Indian Country, the Land of the Navajos. I had last been there in 1994, and Marc knew of several places neither of us had been to: Great Sand Dunes in Colorado, Chaco Canyon in New Mexico, and the fantastic Antelope Canyon near Page in Arizona. If you have not seen them click on the above link for more pictures from this splendid week.
The high point for Barbara was a hike to White House Ruin in Canyon de Chelly, Nevada which she had last taken with Jutta. The hike was too steep for me. I watched them climb back 2 hours later.
Barbara, who had just lain completely down in intensive care, seems to be running up. Of course, she wasn’t really. She was putting one foot before the other in great concentration. A great triumph for her.
On the sudden inspiration of Marc and Barbara we drove to Monument Valley on the same day and spellbound watched a fabulous sunset. We took many photos - Monique’s was the first one - the light was changing fast. I’ll show only these two, more are on the Indian Country website.
A “stitched” panorama just before the sun disappeared.
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Anne-Cecile and Cornelius with their 6-month-old Muse
All summer we had waited eagerly for new pictures of Calliope, and then Cornelius sent us two batches of photos by e-mail! She has grown so much, pudgy and round-faced, the Moon-Child!
Lice !! - Ulysse and his mother in turbans! Cornelius swore he had escaped the plague.
Mice ! - Ulysse in clean-room garb on a visit to the mice cages in his father’s lab.
Halloween! A coy Ulysse dressed up as Prince Charming.
The Return of my Metal Sculpture
In 1976 I had made a metal sculpture, a “meditation object”, for the wedding anniversary of Mary and John, whom we had met in Greece in 1971. The marriage had ended in a divorce a decade ago, and I had always wanted the object back. Finally I wrote John an e-mail. He found it in his attic - and a few weeks later it arrived to our great joy!
We celebrated Thanksgiving at Basha and Pari’s with their friends from all corners of the world; by now a happy annual ritual.
One last disaster this year - the sewage pipe under the house got stopped up. Roto-Rooter came and with an electronic camera discovered three gaping holes full of roots in the old cast iron pipe! With a heavy heart we paid them $7000 to (literally) blow a plastic liner into the pipe instead of digging up the concrete foundations of the house. The work took 5 days. Now we should have no more stoppages every 6 months….
We celebrated a quiet Christmas Eve with Anneliese and Peter Grohs. Here is this year’s slender tree in our living room. You cannot see them really, but we always have real candles on our tree.
Half around the world, Marga was celebrating Christmas with the Scherwitz’s. Christian took this charming picture of her and Eva on that evening.
14 January, 2007
