Alternative facts world

I went back to sleep at 6am and just work up at 8am from an elaborate dream where a series of things were going wrong. It was a variation on the classic anxiety dream- in this instance, I was trying to get to a musical performance at a school (Athens High?) where I was accompanying a group of three or four singers on acoustical guitar. I'm not sure who these people were but some were girls I knew from high school. The event was scheduled for 530pm and I had told them we should get there early to go over the songs, which apparently we hadn't practiced without a full band. Then, I found myself at a different place, possibly a music store, where people were studying at tables like a school cafeteria. I looked over and saw Conner Tribble reading something.He smiled at me mischievously, as if we were both in on something. Someone to our left started playing blues chords on an electric guitar with wah-wah. It sounded good and I listened as the music became more complex. Then I saw Lili Lewis on a stage to the left playing keyboard and singing with some other musicians. I suddenly realized it was almost time for the performance and I needed to leave. I went outside and began to walk back to the place the story began where I'd previously been, perhaps to get my car. I turned down a street with several large hotels and realized this wasn't the right one. I continued circling to my left behind a large building thinking I was one street over from the correct street. Somehow I found myself standing in the lawn of a commercial building with a man who was demonstrating and trying to sell me a device that was attached to the end of what looked like a large steam pipe. I don't have any idea what the device did except it was supposed to have something to do with music. During this interaction, a group of white men in casual conservative clothing showed up to film a commercial or industrial documentary. The leader approached me very politely and asked if we could move a short distance to get out of their way. I said yes because I needed to leave anyway. The man selling the device, however, became agitated and started making angry statements to the group leader. It seemed the agitated man no longer worked for the company where the demonstration was taking place and his use of this facility was illicit. I walked away still looking for the place I'd previously been. I had several telephone sets, one of which seems to have been an intercom phone from somewhere (maybe a hotel) and another one a cell phone. I was trying to dial Mary Lou's cell but the keys on the keypads were strangely irregular and in some cases missing. A call came in on my cell from someone wanting to speak to my office about a professional matter. I told them I was in the midst of "a crisis" and couldn't talk now. I managed to dial all Mary Lou's number except the final digit which I hit as 4 instead of 0. Maureen answered and told me with distress that Cody "told me he didn't want to be with me anymore." I was concerned but preoccupied with being late. It was now a few minutes past 5:30 and I somehow had heard (or imagined?) the singers talking about me being late. One girl (Jan Carter?) was quite upset and angry and the audience was restless. Just before I woke up I was trying to figure out how late it would be when I got to the event and whether we would still be able to perform.

New Year’s Day 2017 (Greetings from tropical paradise)

Here we are in an upscale rental house overlooking the idyllic Bahia Redonda on the Pacific coast of Nicaragua on vacation, myself, Mary Lou, Maureen, and Cody, Maureen’s exceptional boyfriend. We were scheduled to leave the day after Christmas flying to Managua. Cody and Maureen left on schedule from New Orleans via Miami; however, Mary Lou and I were delayed taking off from Baton Rouge to Atlanta and consequently had to wait until Tuesday as there is only one flight daily to Managua on Delta via ATL. We were both out of sorts at Christmas due to a variety of factors starting with the horrific election of Donald Trump as POTUS and ending with no communication from our two estranged daughters who spent Christmas together in New York City. I emailed our travel plans to them and received no response. Mary Lou is quite disheartened by their failure to so much as text us a Christmas greeting. Now, as of 1:46pm CST on January 1, we have no New Year’s wishes from them, as well. One wonders what is going on in their minds; but, whatever it is isn’t in all likelihood an excuse.

In spite of all that, our ongoing Nicaraguan experience is delightful. We caught up with Maureen and Cody in the old colonial city of Granada on Lake Nicaragua, a veritable inland sea created long ago by volcanic activity. Volcanos, some extinct, some still quite active, surround the lake which lies along the Western hemisphere’s notorious Ring of Fire.

Nicaragua is largely an undiscovered tourist destination, reportedly a lingering result of the civil war between the Sandinistas and the Contras, though it was resolved many years ago. Daniel Ortega, the 71-year old NSLF leader, was out of power for several terms but now has been reelected for the third consecutive time with a healthy majority of the vote. Nicaragua is economically poor but physically and culturally rich. Tourism is on the upswing and the future of Nicaragua looks promising.

The rental house is owned by some undoubtedly wealthy physicians in Portland, Oregon who discovered this area on a surfing vacation in 200?.  Their story is sketched in two self-published books documenting planning and construction. The reader sees the young boys and girls growing up during the process and imagines them now as college students headed for successful careers. Me, I'm heading down the mountain to the cafe on the beach at Aqua Health Resort, just next door.