Tamara Unleashed

I arrived in Cleveland last night to visit a colleague I admire. She has a lovely home and family. We had a great family meal with her 14 y/o and 10 y/o daughters each having a friend over and a drop-in resident for dinner. Young energy is wonderful to observe and be a part of.

Today was a spectacular day here sunny skies and scattered clouds, mid 80’s and humidity below 40%. It does not get much better than that.

We drove to Peninusula OH which is in the southern part of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park and rode south to just north of Akron. The ride in the park was mostly shaded and beautiful:

I didn’t see any geese today but there was this heron:

On the way back, as we were crossing a street and reentering the trail, I evidently lost focus and bumped into one of the barriers to keep cars from going on the trails. I wish I had a slow motion video because I think it was a pretty graceful fall. I landed on my back and did not hit my head and knew my neck was fine. I felt a bit of a sensation in my lower back that concerned me initially. I could tell pretty quickly that I had not broken a arm or a leg. I rolled over and waited a bit for the shock/anger at myself/embarrassment to wear off. I stood up slowly and checked out the bike which was my biggest concern. It looked fine. I spent a couple of minutes stretching my back and as I had good range of motion and limited pain I thought I was fine to ride the rest of the way back to the car and I was. While I could feel the scrape on my ankle while I was riding, this evening I noted the bruise on my foot.

When we got back to Peninsula, we had lunch before driving the 30 minutes back. After a shower, I took a muscle relaxant, a non-steroidal, used a heating pad and had a nap. When I woke up pain was no worse and perhaps a bit better. I went for a short walk to loosen up and had a gin and tonic before dinner. I quickly noted I was feeling far too good for the amount of alcohol I had consumed. As I had no responsibilities and was not going to drive I continued to drink my G and T. I felt wonderful but there is no way I should have been driving, operating heavy machinery or even using the knife in the kitchen. The warning on the label is a correct.

We had dinner outside. The buzz from the G/T slowly receded and it was the end of a wonderful day.

Hopefully, I will not be too sore in the morning. We are going to try to do a shorter ride around the neighborhood and get a pedicure before I take off for Columbus around 1 PM.

Uneventful drive from Sag Harbor to Williamsport. Light rain most of the way. Took about an hour to make it through NYC. Williamsport is in a beautiful valley and a bit larger than I expected. We are staying in the historic Genetti Hotel downtown.

This is in the lobby

I went out for walk in the drizzle and there were several statues to little league baseball:

I am listening to the book Caste by Isabel Wilkerson now – I highly recommend it. It may be a better way to frame the conversation about privilege in this country. I am looking forward to hearing more on my drive to Cleveland this afternoon.

It was a gorgeous day for cycling. I got out at about 1015 and headed for the North Haven ferry to the south side of Shelter Island. It was about 4 miles. It is a small ferry that holds about 10 vehicles. We just took off and you can see the destination in the distance of the photo. There are 2 ferries that run about every 10 minutes.

The roads on Shelter Island were good with cars and bikes sharing the road. There is not a huge amount of traffic so it was quite easy. Below is the map of today’s ride. The green dot is the where the ferry runs with Shelter Island above and North Haven and Sag Harbor below. I rode a total of 30 miles – my longest ride of the year. There were some challenging hills on Shelter Island. I rode north and to the east, then across the north end and then the west side before going back to the ferry. I stopped for a short water and energy break at the north end. If it were not for all of the landscape workers and equipment, the island would have been very peaceful.

When I got off of the ferry, I had ridden 22 miles and I wanted to get to 30 so I toured around North Haven and found many dead end streets or very private streets/driveways. I did some of the same road riding I did yesterday to get to 30 miles.

After a shower and rest, we took at 3 mile walk around parts of Sag Harbor I had not seen yet. All in all I felt I earned my margarita, chips and guacamole at K Pasa a local Mexican restaurant. We then drove to one of the South Hampton beaches for a view of the ocean south of Long Island. A very enjoyable day. I feel like I partially made up for my lack of activity on the rainy Sunday.

Tomorrow I had west to Williamsport PA, where I will meet up with a friend from Pfizer who retired to Ithaca. Friday I will make the shortish drive to Cleveland.

Midwest, here I come.

My drive to Sag Harbor was uneventful. The drive across the GW bridge just after 10 AM went pretty smoothly and while traffic was slow going across Bronx, it was not stressful as cars stayed in their lanes and there was plenty of room between cars – not bumper to bumper with cars darting around trying move ahead. I was struck by the complexity of the road systems and how many cars/people have to use the roads every day getting in and out of the city. It struck me as miraculous. I took the Throg’s Neck Bridge onto Long Island and driving on Long Island was a different story. Speed limit is 55 mph but that seemed to just be a “suggestion”. Literally everyone was going 70 mph and while there was no need for it, cars were passing crazily on right and left. Thank goodness there was not a lot of traffic. I noticed that there was a lot of traffic going in the opposite direction and I hope that is weekend people that stayed on an extra day and not what I will be experiencing on Thursday when I leave.

I am staying with the woman who co-authored a paper in the early 90’s that was like a jolt of lightening when I read it. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1049386705801975 I knew immediately, that this was what I was searching for. I couldn’t provide good care for women with bladder problems without thinking more holistically about their health. I sent a copy of this article to the University of Washington Dean of the Medical School, the Medical Center CEO and Medical Director and the Director of Nursing and suggested that UWMC and School of Medicine needed to think boldly in planning for their new Women’s Health Center. I had no expectation that it would lead to anything. A couple of weeks later the Chair of the Department of Urology told me he had been asked by the Dean to attend a meeting to establish the vision for the planned Women’s Health Center and he asked me if I had any idea why he had been invited. He didn’t mind that I had seeded an idea without his knowledge, but he had no desire to attend this meeting. He got permission for me to attend this meeting representing Urology and I ended up Co-Chairing this Committee with the Medical Director of the Medical Center. I learned shuttle diplomacy during the 2 months we had to come up with the vision, primarily going back and forth between the chairs of Ob-Gyn and Internal Medicine trying to get them to understand the vision and not be threatenned by it.

The UW Women’s Health Center had multiple disciplines seeing patients in the same space but woman who was selected to be the Director did not really understand the vision. I think I was considered too junior to be selected as Director of the Women’s Health Center and I ultimately decided to not move practice there. It was during my time in Philadelphia the I proved to my satisfaction that interdisciplinary care was possible and worked well.

Today I walked and cycled get familiar with the area on the bike.Tomorrow I will take the ferry to Shelter Island to cycle.

I met a friend for a walk along the Hudson today north of Sleepy Hollow. Weather was still cloudy and cool but it was not raining. We have known each other for years – she is a urologist as well and we reflected on our experiences over the years as the only woman in the room with urology colleagues and pondered how our lives might have been different if we had chosen a specialty other than urology. I can’t actually imagine myself in any other specialty. I am still fascinated by the bladder and what we demand of it.

From the 6 mile walk I drove a short distance to have lunch with a Pfizer colleague who is still with Pfizer. It was a lovely meal with his wife and daughter. His wife is a hospital nutritionist who worked through the Covid crisis in Westchester County. She indicated the hospital went from having 100 beds dedicated to Covid patients to one or two beds occupied with Covid cases. His daughter was in middle school and indicated she adapted reasonably quickly to the remote learning a year ago and feels like she learned well. She has been back in school 5 days per week for the past 2 months. This school is having class size no larger than 15 and they stay in the same group all day with the teachers rotating to the classrooms. Students have the option for remote learning which is how they have been able to maintain smaller class sizes for those returning to school

The day ended with the sunshine and rather than cycling as I intended, I met my friend from Pfizer on the upper west side. I found a parking place on the street that I could drive straight into. Score – I did not have to try to parallel park under pressure. We took a lovely walk in Riverside Park. He worked in Labor and Delivery last June and July and is still impacted by all that he saw in the hospitals last year during Covid. While I had hoped to cycle today, it just got too complicated with the time compressed to late this afternoon. We would not have been able to have as much conversation as we did walking. As much as I wanted to cycle in NYC I am glad we had enough time to catch up.

There seemed to be less people masked on the sidewalks today than Friday. I hope that cases and deaths will remain low as the masks come off.

Off to Sag Harbor tomorrow.

I left off yesterday’s adventure in High Line Park looking toward the Edge in Hudson Yard. As we got to Hudson Yard, the Vessel was the first visual experience. We did not walk to the top of this structure. Apparently after 3 suicides from the top the city apparently considered closing it. Instead they will not allow anyone to enter alone. Hopefully that will be sufficient. It would be a shame to close this to the public.

Next I met King Nyani –

Then we got in line to go the the Edge https://www.edgenyc.com/en 100 floors up. Even with the cold wind and a bit of drizzle it was spectacular. There was about an hour wait in line and there were very entertaining visuals that made the wait go reasonably fast. While everyone was masked, there were no requirements to maintain distance which felt very strange after over a year of trying to make sure you were not within 6 feet of anyone indoors.

The tall plexiglass surrounding this platform really disappears into the background. It back of the photo is the queue of people waiting to take photos in the very tip of the platform. The group in front of us looked as if they had planned their poses ahead of time and they each did multiple standing and sitting poses. I should have given it more thought…

After this very cold experience, a cup of coffee was in order and following the respite we went east to visit the new Moynihan Train Station. It is not fully open yet but trains are arriving and leaving. At the entrance we walked in there was this piece of art was suspended from the ceiling of the entryway – an upside down cityscape. The openness and light of this new station will make travel feel entirely different than Penn Station.

The day ended with a early outdoor dinner (in a unheated tent) with another Pfizer colleague. Just being shielded from the wind made it pleasant enough for an hour. This was a fabulous. day even with the wind, cold, rain and drizzle.

Today I had breakfast in Montclair NJ with another exPfizer colleague and got to experience the challenge of parking in a town with limited public parking. After parking 3 times only to find out it was reserved for residents, I found some street parking.

I played Scrabble for the first time in decades. I have not played it enough to ever feel like I was good at it but it was a perfect way of passing time while it rained outside. The rain is supposed to stop tonight. It will mid50s for my late morning walk along the Hudson with a friend, followed by lunch with a different friend and finally a late afternoon cycling adventure along the Hudson in Palisades Park and perhaps across the GW bridge into NYC. I am a bit nervous about the bridge but I will be riding with someone who knows what they are doing. The sun is supposed to be out by then with temperature in the 70’s. Can’t wait.

Today was a busy day. I am going to divide it into two blogs as tomorrow will be a much quieter day. I started today out with a breakfast with a old colleague from Pfizer days. We didn’t overlap that long at Pfizer but we continued our friendship outside of Pfizer and it was fun to just pick right up our conversation about all sorts of topics as if 8 years had not passed. He will be a great resource for the next stage of my life.

I then caught the bus to Manhattan – in the midst of the hardest rain of the day. While I had a rain jacket I hadn’t really packed for rain and 40 degree weather but managed to layer well enough for the day. Once in the city, I went to the home of one of my first women in urology friends that I met in 1986 or 87. I visited her apartment many years ago – long before I would have imagined I would eventually live in Manhattan. At the time I was so shocked that anyone could live in such a small space and it is a generous 1 bedroom apartment by NYC standards. She has completely renovated it and has created more custom storage space that I could imagine. It no longer feels small to me. She has created beautiful space with more storage than I have in my 2 bedroom apartment. We then went to lunch and had a great crab curry and Fish Cheeks on the lower East Side.

We then went cross town to the new location of the Whitney Museum. From the Whitney, there was a good view of Little Island, a new park built over the Hudson River south of Chelsea Pier. The first photo is the view from the window of the Whitney and the second is an official photo that shows the full park which is much more than I could appreciate from what I was able to see.

One of the exhibits in the Whitney gave me some new ideas for my kitchen renovation. I had been thinking of more of a black/white/gray theme but this was pretty interesting.

We left the Whitney and went to the south entrance to High Line Park. While I had heard a bit about the park before I left NYC, I had never visited it. I lived on the east side and High Line Park is on the west side quite a ways south. This was built on an unused elevated rail line. The designers used the original rail structures in many aspects of the park.

As we got about midway along the walk in the park, our next destination was visible – The Edge. The platform jutting out of the tall building is The Edge located at Hudson Yard.

Up until this visit, I had never heard of Hudson Yard. It was built over rail tracks between 10th and 12th Ave and 30th-34th Streets. Construction started in 2014 after I left Manhattan. A video describes it as: The Hole; The Platform; The City; The People. Amazing that so many buildings can be built on a platform over train tracks and according to the video, the trains never stopped running during the construction. Between Little Island and Hudson Yard, I was truly impressed by all that had to have transpired between the vision and the reality. Stay tuned for Part 2.

Today I took NJ Transit from Teaneck to Port Authority. It went very smoothly. I got in about 90 minutes before my lunch date so I decided to walk across town on 42nd street to Pfizer and my old apartment building. When I got out of Port Authority, I noticed immediately that at least 75% of the people on the sidewalks were wearing masks. The amount of people on the sidewalks seemed like a Saturday midday rather than Friday midday. The city was coming back to life. It is hard to know what the new normal will be with so many of the jobs staying remote full or part time.

As I got closer to the East Side where I worked and lived it felt normal – like if I had a place to live and a job to do I could walk right back into NYC and be content. Oddly it is not the “sense” of home I felt in Philadelphia – comfortable but different.

Normally at the main entrance of Pfizer there is a steady stream of people in and out and I was literally the only one there. Very odd feeling. I walked around the corner and took a picture with the building I lived in for 9 years in the background.

I lived on the 28th floor of the red building. My vertical commute in the building elevator was longer than the horizontal commute to Pfizer. I had a fabulous view of the Chrysler Building, the East River, Tudor City and the UN. I often wonder how much my living space made the transition to NYC easy for me. There was not a building blocking light or view on 3 sides so I had lots of sunlight every day. I did not have to deal with public transportation – bus, subway or taxis to get to work and could walk to get pretty much anything I needed. I was able to take my time adjusting to what was unfamiliar in my new environment.

After my trip down memory lane I started walking back to the West Side for my lunch date. I realized I was not going to make it hailed a cab. Most of the cabs I saw looked like tiny minivans rather then the sea of yellow sedans when I left – far fewer taxis on the streets.

I had a wonderful lunch with a woman who was a medical assistant for me at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle. She then went to WSU, Temple Medical School, NYU Ob-Gyn Residency, Penn Urogyn Fellowship and has been on faculty at NY Hospital/Cornell for past 10 years. It was so fun to catch up with her. I was so distracted by needing to use the bathroom after lunch that I forgot to get a picture with her.

As I was walking back to Port Authority, the temperature really started dropping and it became clear the predicted rain was going to happen. I walked by the Madison Square Garden and saw people going into the new train station under the old Post Office across the street from MSG – work that was just getting started when I left. I was amazed by the number of people zooming around on the City Bikes in the middle of the city. Bikes seemed to be used for commuting – not just being used by tourists to ride in Central Park or on the paths around the city.

I will be back in Manhattan tomorrow and will be on other parts of the city. Hopefully the predicted break in the rain for the afternoon will happen so I can do all of the outdoor activities I have planned.

I had connectivity problems last night so I was not able to blog. Yesterday I had a lovely drive down backroads from VT to Westchester (Brewster). I drove 50-55 mph and just soaked int he beautiful scenery. I arrived in Brewster for dinner with an friend. It was wonderful to catch up on the evolution of this young woman from completion of her MPH to a competent professional and mother. A great margarita and Shrimp Diabolo were enjoyed as well.

I then drove to Teaneck, NJ through the Bronx and across the George Washington Bridge (GWB). While I lived in NYC for 10 years, I did not have a car and I don’t think I had driven over the GWB before last night. Following the GPS and trying to watch signage was a bit of a challenge but I made it. Traffic was really not bad. When I got to my destination I admit I had. feeling of accomplishment. It amazed me that within 10 minutes of being on the GWB, I was in suburbia. It was dark when I arrived so I couldn’t. fully appreciate the neighborhood.

This morning when I went out to the car, I felt like I had walked into a set of a TV show – Ozzie and Harriet. The homes looked exactly like the outside shots of all of the 50-60’s sit coms.

In the afternoon, 2 women joined my host and I and we had a wonderful time on the patio drinking champagne, wine and eating all the foods I do not normally eat. These are all friends from my years at Pfizer. Two of the women live in NYC and were a part of the millions that were “trapped” inside when Covid attached NYC a year ago.

Tomorrow I will take the bus into Manhattan for lunch and if the weather is reasonable, I will go down to the new World Trade Center. The weather for Friday-Sunday is not great, but hopefully it will be better than is predicted.

Sadly this is my last full day in Vermont. It was a beautiful morning and I had the opportunity to read in a couple of different beautiful locations. I think I did more admiring of nature than reading.

This pond is on the property and the little “camping” cabin on Heron Pond is available on Airbnb. It has such a peaceful vibe.

I also had the opportunity to see an artist in action throughout my time here.

This afternoon was for water activities on a lake/river in Brattleboro. We had one kayak and one paddle board. As we were getting on the water, it got pretty windy so we didn’t feel comfortable standing on paddle board. As I have not done much of either activity it was felt that it was easier to just sit on the paddle board that get in the kayak so I took the paddle board. The paddle is quite long when you are sitting on the board and I spent a fair amount of time going in a circle. So we switched paddles. I used the kayak paddle pretty successfully while seated and my friend who is much more experienced made the long paddle work well for the kayak. So I figure what I was doing was kaya-boarding. We saw two geese guarding their goslings and a mother duck with a dozen ducklings swimming along. It was very relaxing. I didn’t have my phone on the water to take pictures. No need to invite trouble.

We then had dinner at the Whetsone Grill overlooking the Connecticut River. I loved how they solved the issue of signage for the toilets. A head and body with two arms and two legs labeled Humans.

On the way back from the bathroom, I was surprised to see Bernie sitting off to the side. He looked like he had been sitting there awhile as he had gloves on. I went up to give him a “safe” peck on the cheek. This was totally unexpected.

On the way home we stopped to take photos of one of the Ob-Gyn practices that I had been admiring every time we drove by. It is very nice to be in an openly liberal state and town.

Tomorrow I head off to the NYC area starting with a dinner in Brewster, NY. Does anyone remember which TV character grew up in Brewster? THAT Girl – Ann Marie. I am meeting a young woman who contacted me at Pfizer when she was looking for a place to do her MPH internship. I had a project that I thought was concrete enough to be a student project but had no idea how it was related to public health. I met her for a lunch interview. I thought she was very bright and capable and she thought the project was suitable for her project. She was exceptional and I figured out a way to hire her as a full-time employee after her internship. Because of her experience she went on to get her DPH. I have not seen her since her wedding 5 years ago.

My home base through Memorial Day will be with a Pfizer colleague in Teaneck, NJ. I will head into Manhattan most days to meet up with friends and meet up with others in their homes outside the city.

I will be sorry to leave Vermont. I couldn’t quite understand how my colleague could work and live in NYC Monday-Thursday but technically live in Brattleboro VT. It seemed like a crazy thing to do from my perspective. Now that I have been here, it does not seem crazy at all. So much to do in a very compact space surrounded by beauty. Mystery solved.