Five Days in Cancún

Daniel and I just returned from a five-day vacation in Mexico, our fourth time in that country together.  February is an ideal time to go to Mexico, especially if you live in a climate like those of us in northeast Ohio.  Also, as Cancún is known as a spring break destination, by going in February you’re avoiding the spring breakers – although we saw our share of drunken Americans.  We chose Cancún as our primary destination partly because we hadn’t been there before but mainly because it was served by nonstop flights from two carriers: United and Frontier.  We’ve only flown Frontier once before, a trip to Las Vegas in 2017 where we encountered no difficulties and the flight was like a party.  Many travelers seem to dislike Frontier Airlines.  I think part of the discomfort some feel with Frontier is the DIY aspect of doing business with them.  Everything is done via the app or the automated kiosk at the airport – including tagging your own checked baggage.  Aside from a bit of lagginess with the app, we had no issues and since we were flying internationally, we had to interact with a ticketing agent – who was very nice and helped us resolve a very minor issue.

We awakened at 4am Wednesday the 11th and drove to the airport.  After checking our bag and showing the ticketing agent our passport, we made it through TSA with enough time to grab a quick breakfast and buy some bottled water before going to the gate.  This worked out well for us because food and beverages cost extra onboard.  Our flight to Cancún was uneventful, but people baffle me - Cancún is not the place to bring babies or toddlers, yet our flight had plenty of them.  The plane itself, an Airbus A321neo, was clean and functioned well, but the cabin was designed for efficiency more than comfort.  The seat backs did not recline, did not have touch screens, nor were there chargers on board.  You get what you pay for.  If you can fit these factors into your expectations, Frontier will work fine for you.  Frontier is known for its unique plane livery and the animal tail for our flight down was Chopper, the Great White Shark.  (Our return flight featured Mitch the Wolverine.)

Once we landed at Cancún International Airport, we breezed through border control, got our luggage, and took the ADO bus to the hotel zone.  The bus dropped us off at Plaza la Fiesta, and we grabbed a quick lunch on our way to our hotel of choice, the InterContinental Presidente resort, an IHG hotel.  After multiple travel experiences with Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, and Raddison, I’ve concluded that IHG simply offers the best value for the money.  Our hotel room on the 5th floor was comfortable without being ostentatious.  The resort had three restaurants and a host of amenities.  It also had beachfront access although Dan & I aren’t especially beach oriented.  After settling in, we explored the hotel zone and stopped at Mextreme restaurant for drinks and a small dinner.  Later that evening, we took a taxi to a gay club in downtown Cancún which was nearly empty and where the music was deafeningly loud.  There was another gay club nearby but they had a $20 cover charge and nothing was happening there aside from a drag show and karaoke.  Cancún is not Puerto Vallarta.  So, we called the same taxi driver - who had given us his phone number - and he swung by to return us to our hotel.  This time his young son was in the passenger seat and I showed him photos of the snow in Ohio.

Enjoying a bit of nightlife.

We awakened fairly early Thursday morning and had a fine breakfast which included beef tips and chilaquiles in the hotel’s beachside restaurant buffet. This was Dan’s birthday and we had an open day to follow our whims.  We took the R2 bus (12 pesos, about 70 cents per rider) to La Isla mall.

Truthfully, there wasn’t much there that you couldn’t find in any US mall.  But we did ride the Ferris wheel which offered some excellent views of the hotel zone.  Then we went to the local cinema and saw “Send Help,” which was presented in English with subtitles in Español.  This was one of those fancy theaters where they bring drinks and snacks to you.  

I gained a bit of weight in Mexico.

Friday the 13th was a lucky day for us and featured a trip to Yucatán including stops at Chichen Itza - which gave us a sense of the pre-Conquistador history of the area, a buffet lunch at La Casona in the small town of Valladolid, and the cenote of Oxman.  An interesting thing we learned is that many residents of this area are of Mayan ancestry and their Español is heavily peppered with Mayan Yucatec words and phrases. The late lunch we had in Valladolid was so generous that we didn’t have room for dinner, although we had a small snack with drinks before turning in for the night. 

Chichen Itza

 After the long trip to Yucatán Friday, we stayed close to Cancún’s hotel zone Saturday.  We did have one excursion out to the bay where we were able to see the underwater ecosystem in a glass bottomed vessel.  From there we walked to the Mayan Museum of Cancún, which has the ruins of a small Mayan village.  The museum itself does not appear to be in very good shape.  This is something we’ve noticed in Cancún: parts are modern, parts are charmingly rustic, and parts are in serious disrepair.  We walked to Plaza la Fiesta that evening for dinner at Casa Tequila and some shopping at the Mexican outlet where we saw an extremely drunk American guy struggling to remain standing.

Daniel outside the Mayan Museum.

Sunday was our last full day here.  We spent two hours on the beach.  The sand here is so white and fine - and the water amazingly clear.  Then we returned to Mextreme for lunch and drinks before a final walk around Plaza la Fiesta.  They say that Cancún is not the “real” Mexico, but we had an enjoyable time.  Still, our next visit to Mexico will likely take us elsewhere - perhaps Zipolite in Oaxaca, or Mexico City.

 

Our return trip to Mextreme.

We awakened early Monday morning for a quick breakfast before checking out and heading to the airport.  As we waited in line to check our luggage, an announcement was made that Frontier’s flight to Philadelphia had been canceled - eliciting a groan from some of those in line.  Meanwhile, an arrogant American bound for Cleveland was berating the ticketing agent for something which was his own mistake.  I always feel the strong urge to speak up to bullies like this, but I held my tongue.  Soon we were checked in, through security, and at gate 53 in terminal 4.

Our flight to Cleveland arrived early, but as usual, US border patrol was a cluster of inefficiency.  This has been a sadly familiar experience, encountered every time we return to the United States, whether at airports in Chicago, Dallas, Charlotte, or Cleveland.  A noteworthy contrast to our experiences with the efficient, friendly border services we've witnessed in London, Barcelona, Puerto Vallarta, and now Cancún.  We retrieved Brownie from boarding around 5pm and were soon home; unpacking, having dinner, relaxing, and planning our next trip. 

Yet another proposed ordinance in South Euclid

One advantage of being old is that, as long as one maintains one's mental faculties, one has a long memory.  I'm old enough to remember when the Mcdonald's on Mayfield Road in South Euclid (which has been rebuilt at least twice) featured signs on the outside proclaiming "CITY ORDINANCE - NO EATING IN CARS."

It recently came to my attention that the South Euclid City Council is considering an ordinance to regulate the removal of large trees on the private property of South Euclid residents.  As a hard-working, tax paying, voting resident of South Euclid, I am strongly OPPOSED to this ordinance. 

When I purchased my home on South Belvoir Boulevard in 2008, there were four large oak trees on my property – two in the front yard, one in the back yard, and one bordering my neighbor’s property.  Over the course of time, it became necessary to remove two of these trees because of the danger they presented to our homes – in fact, a large branch broke from the tree in the back yard and pierced through the roof of my house’s extension, requiring an expensive repair.  Removing large trees is an expensive proposition.  I can assure you that no homeowner makes the decision lightly.  The last thing we need is yet another government commission looking over our shoulders.

City council was fine with this development at Queen Ann Court, which cut down numerous mature trees - which won't be replaced.  But when it comes to removing trees on YOUR property, they want to make the decision for you.

My parents moved to South Euclid in 1971.  From then until 1980 we lived on Queen Mary Drive.  The backyard of our house faced a wooded area.  Since I moved back to South Euclid in 2008, South Euclid has aggressively pursued developments of large tracts of land, including Cutters Creek, Oakwood Commons, and more recently the Queen Ann Court extension and now Trebisky Grove.  These projects have and will result in many large, mature trees being cut down – the vast majority of which will never be replaced.  The chief proponent of this new ordinance has cited the environmental, infrastructural, and mental health benefits of trees.  I have no argument with that.  My question is this: did the proponent or any supporters of this ordinance support any of the developments listed above?  If so, then their advocacy of this ordinance reeks of hypocrisy, because those developments cause far more damage to our environment and strain on our local infrastructure than individual property owners will.  I find it bitterly ironic that City Council now wishes to regulate hard working, tax-paying residents whose aim is merely to maintain their own property as they see fit.  South Euclid homeowners already struggle with some of the highest property taxes in northeast Ohio.  In the final analysis, it is the property owner who is the best judge as to whether to maintain a tree on his own property or remove it, not a city entity.  South Euclid’s population has dropped by some 27% since its peak in 1970.  Don’t give those of us who remain here another reason to leave.

Manacorda and Hadelich with the Cleveland Orchestra at Severance

This weekend’s Cleveland Orchestra concerts featured guest conductor Antonello Manacorda along with the welcome return of one of the greatest violinists of our time, Augustin Hadelich.  The orchestra is fresh from its triumphant performances at Carnegie Hall, where they received rave reviews. 

The concert opened with Mendelssohn’s popular Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64.  This is a composition that balances Classical rigor with Romantic expression, with all three movements linked via bridge passages.  Nearly every violinist of note has performed and recorded this concerto.  Having heard Hadelich several times, I was looking forward to his interpretation and was not disappointed.  Violinist and orchestra delivered a performance which was intimate and emphasized the work’s lyrical aspects.  One highlight was in the central movement where Hadelich’s soaring lyricism held the audience’s rapt attention.  The finale eschewed all shallow virtuosity while not sacrificing brilliance – it was swift without sounding rushed.  A standing ovation was followed by an encore, a bluesy piece that was at once familiar and unfamiliar.

 

Following intermission, Manacorda returned to lead the orchestra in Schoenberg’s Chamber Symphony No. 2.  I’m familiar with this work only through recordings and will confess that I have not assimilated it enough to be able to comment on the performance except that the work was delivered with an appropriate starkness.

The closing work was Schubert’s famed Symphony No. 8 in B minor, D. 759, by Schubert – the so-called “Unfinished” Symphony.  Manacorda began the work with stillness, as if it was arising from nothing, making this all too familiar work a mystery once more.  As the introduction segued to the main theme, I was stuck once again by what an unconventional opening movement this is.  Manacorda is one of those rare musicians who understands the importance of silence, and those moments of stillness served to make the movement’s turbulent episodes all the more dramatic – even traumatic.  For those who follow such matters, Manacorda observed the repeat.  The second movement featured a relatively flowing tempo, with the melody in the high violins beautifully floating over the strings.  Again, Manacorda took care to keep the orchestra at a true pianissimo when the score indicated it.  The concert ended in a contemplative and serene mood – far removed from our stressful era.

 

The constancy of change

I made a stock pot of Split Pea Soup, enough to last a week, to counter the cold weather this weekend.

 While the soup simmered I had some spare time, so I decided to peruse the latest updates to Google Earth.  There has been quite a bit of development in South Euclid, the suburb where I live.  My family spent nine years living on Queen Mary Drive, 1971-1980.  There was a wooded area behind our house.  I vividly recall climbing very high up a tree in those woods one day, only to have the branch I was on snap.  Had I not grabbed branches to slow my descent as I fell, I surely would have been seriously injured.  Now those trees are gone.  

My childhood neighborhood as it appeared in 2023.  My parents' former house with the reddish/brown roof is just above the wooded area near the top of the photo.  The wooded area along with the large grassy area was sold by four homeowners on Trebisky Road (the north/south street at the right of the photo) to a developer a few years ago.  Queen Ann Court dead-ended at the field.

The developer built 16 homes on the land he acquired and here's the neighborhood as it now appears.  

This is not the only development in this area since my parents' house was sold.  While we were there, a small farm owned by the Whigam family stood just west of Trebisky Road.  We would walk there and buy corn on the cob and other produce when it was in season.  In the 1980s the family sold the farm and the land was developed into Daryl Drive.  

Here's another example of development, closer to South Euclid's central core.  Two empty lots are being developed into townhouses.  The upper lot is off of Francis Court, a one-way street that connects Prasse Road with South Euclid's main drag, Mayfield Road.  The lower lot is off Sheffield Road, behind the post office.  My sister Sarah and I both have memories of the lower area.  My sister was a pitcher on the SELREC softball team, which played on this field.  Years later, when I was a high school student, my friends and I used to hang out here after hours and sneak beers.  One time we saw a police car in the distance and booked it out of there.  This was in 1984 so I assume the statute of limitations has long since passed.

The large green area at the lower right is the former SELREC ballfield.  SELREC disbanded years ago and, as both South Euclid and Lyndhurst have recreation centers along with plenty of parkland, they had no use for the land.

 

The area in 2025, the open areas at the lower right and upper center being prepared for construction.  The projects are expected to be complete by the end of 2026.

With all these developments, those who live on the adjoining streets may feel inconvenienced.  Their lives are being disrupted by construction and once complete, the neighborhood will have a higher density than before, to say nothing of the tree loss.  But the nature of our capitalist society is that whoever owns the land, whether an individual or a developer, has the right to do what he wants with it - subject to certain zoning limitations.  Sure, the city could refuse to issue a construction permit, but the city would then be sued and lose.  Finally, it must be pointed out that these developments will bring property and income taxes to the city and the local schools - and given that the city's population has dropped by about 27% since its peak in 1970, the city needs the income to maintain infrastructure like roads - maintenance which doesn't get cheaper with less population.

 

Mozart and Shostakovich Symphonies at Severance

Contrasting symphonies from the 18^th and 20^th centuries were on the program at this weekend’s Cleveland Orchestra concerts led by music director Franz Welser-Möst.

First, a personal note: I was returning from a quick trip to Florida yesterday and landed in Cleveland a mere three and a half hours before the concert.  I collected my luggage, raced home, had dinner, and headed to Severance Hall in time for the pre-concert lecture.  What I had not anticipated was that, despite wearing my noise-cancelling Air Pods during the flights, my tinnitus was aggravated by the plane ride.  Accordingly, I had some difficulty hearing high frequencies during the concert.  I was also quite tired.  Fortunately, the concert was made available via the Adella app and I was able to watch again in the morning before writing this review. 

The concert began with one of my favorite symphonies: Mozart’s Symphony No. 41 in C major, K. 551 – the so-called “Jupiter.”  The nickname likely originates with the work’s first publisher, who probably appended it to add to the sales appeal for the work’s first publication a few years after Mozart’s death.  The composer created this work, his last symphony, in a mere 16 days.  It was one of several works composed for a concert in 1788 which apparently never took place, and it appears the work was never performed in Mozart’s lifetime.  The work has a propulsive quality that anticipates what Beethoven would achieve early in the following century.  Welser-Möst’s approach balanced this propulsiveness with Viennese elegance, favoring transparent textures and tempos that were on the fast side, particularly in the work’s second movement.  Welser-Möst injected some humor into the Menuetto’s trio via some naughty rubato – maybe as a reminder that Mozart liked to imbibe. 

Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 11 in G minor, Op. 103 – titled “The Year 1905” by the composer, could hardly be more different than Mozart’s.  About the only thing the two works have in common is that they both have four movements – but even this similarity is deceptive as Mozart’s are distinctive while Shostakovich’s are interconnected.  The latter composer’s work is double the length of Mozart’s, uses a much larger orchestra, ends tragically, and commemorates an event: the  Russian Revolution of 1905, which began with the massacre by Tsar Nicholas II’s guards against workers who were delivering a petition protesting working conditions.  Further protests and strikes followed, capped by a mutiny on the Battleship Potemkin, which forced the Tsar to grudgingly accept some reforms which instituted a Constitutional monarchy.  The reforms were watered down over the next twelve years, which led to the 1917 Revolution which gave the world the Soviet Union – a new form of totalitarianism.

As for the Symphony itself, I first became familiar with the work’s opening during Carl Sagan’s 1980 series, Cosmos, and later the soundtrack LP from the series.  The world premiere recording by Stokowski was featured and I eventually bought the complete performance, which imprinted itself in my mind as how the work went.  In retrospect, as the work was new, neither Stokowski nor the Houston Symphony Orchestra had fully assimilated it, and as gorgeous as the 1958 sound was for the time, the interpretation as a whole was sectionalized.  Welser-Möst brought a much more direct, cohesive approach to the sprawling work.  The opening, set on the Square of the Tsar’s Winter Palace, was atmospheric without being blurry, with chaste horn and trumpet solos from Nathaniel Silberschlag and Michael Sachs.   Throughout the movement, Welser-Möst kept the dynamics muted, which made the crescendos of the second movement all the more startling.  This movement, which depicts the brutal massacre of the 9^th of January, was brilliantly brought off; seldom have I heard the climax presented with such controlled, mechanistic violence.  The third movement, titled Eternal Memory, was given a restrained performance, which is unusual in Shostakovich interpretation; but it worked and set the stage for the devastating finale.

Though this symphony was completed in the Soviet Union of 1957, and the orchestra planned for this program months in advance, my mind still made a connection to the events in this country over the past year – particularly the recent murder of a Minneapolis woman at the hands of an ICE officer this past week.  In Lee County Florida, a Donald Trump stronghold, I saw an anti-ICE protest on my way to the airport, and there were larger protests all over the country.  It seems that after the events of the last few months – the increasingly disturbing revelations of the Epstein report; the US intervention in Venezuela, which is entirely about oil; Trump’s threats against Greenland; and the continued oppression of US citizens – that the American people are finally awakening to the growing danger from within. 

2025 in Review

2025 was a year filled with challenges and frustrations, yet with progress on the personal front.

January was a particularly difficult month.  First, the inauguration of Donald Trump and his immediate implementation of Project 2025, which he said he knew nothing of and would never put into action.  As usual, Trump lied and while his lackeys help carry out his perverted agenda, his supporters are either pleased with the turn of events or clueless as to the implications, as those of us with historical knowledge witness the rise of fascism in the United States.  Second, our furnace died during a cold snap.  This necessitated an expensive replacement.  The flip-side is that our natural gas usage has dropped as the new heater is far more efficient.  It’s also quieter.  Third, we encountered some major plumbing issues with our bathroom which required cutting into the living room ceiling to address.  This was not only disfiguring to the ceiling, but it was also expensive.  The good news is that the bathroom is now in the best condition it’s been in since we bought our house in 2008.

The new bathtub drain as seen from the living room. The hole has since been patched.

Later in the year, we also decided on something we’d been putting off for years: getting the ductwork cleaned.  Having peered into the vents and cold air returns, I knew they hadn’t been cleaned recently – it’s possible they were never cleaned from the time the house was built in 1941. The before and after difference was striking not just in the reduction of dust, but in furnace efficiency.  My sinuses appreciated the change as well.  

In February, Daniel and I were able to get away from the toxic atmosphere of the United States for a week in Spain, a country which survived nearly 40 years of fascism.  The trip was memorable enough that it inspired a new composition. 

Outside Sagrada Familia

In March, we returned to Daniel’s native Puerto Rico for the first time since 2013.  It was a lovely trip and, in many ways, was like stepping back in time.  We visited three shopping malls while there, and all three places were busy and cheerful as if we’d suddenly found ourselves in the 1980s. 

A few snaps from Daniel's hometown, Aguadilla.

The food court of Plaza Las Américas Mall.

Our summer was fairly uneventful until September, when we took a quick trip to Minnesota to spend a weekend at the Mall of America.  As with the malls in Puerto Rico, the MoA was active and entertaining – although we didn’t wind up buying much.

At the Museum of Illusions in the Mall of America.

November marked some interesting developments.  Trump and the GOP lost nearly every election.  Although it was an off-year election and the impact was minimal, it’s a hopeful harbinger for 2026.  While on vacation in Palm Springs, we learned that the Supreme Court had rejected the appeal from that lunatic, Kim Davis, meaning marriage equality is safe – at least for now. 

Some snaps from our time in Palm Springs.

 

Throughout the year, our dog Brownie continued to mature and mellow.  He still has his zoomie moments and suffers from separation anxiety.  But several trips to Camp Bow Wow have shown him to be very well-socialized.

Our Brownie...

We attended too many concerts to recount individually.  The most interesting ones are recounted in this blog.  My purchases of recorded music slowed to a crawl, in part thanks to the downsizing of Sony Classical – a mere shadow of what was once a formidable label.  I’ll have more thoughts on that in a future post. 

The greatest highlight of this year was making contact, thanks to my brother Robert, with our uncle John – who, to the best of my knowledge, I’d never met.  John, a former Naval officer, is the last surviving member from my father’s generation of the family and has been a font of information on our history.  He’s also an utterly charming gentleman and a delight to spend time with.

With my brother Rob and our uncle John.

John in his Navy days.  

He eventually rose to the rank of Lieutenant Commander

 and served on the USS O'Bannon

I continued the quest I began in earnest in 2021: getting myself into better shape.  After initially hitting a plateau, my weight is once again headed in the right direction – downward.  In November my doctor gave me a clean bill of health: vitals, blood work, all where they should be, although he advised me to try and lose those last 15 pounds. 

Despite the good health news, I did something this year I’ve wanted to get done for quite some time: making my final arrangements.  The helpful staff at Lakeview Cemetery made everything easy: I’ll be cremated and my ashes placed there near my mother’s grave.  I’ve even purchased a headstone.

Planning one's own interment may seem heavy. But it was a pleasure to work with Lakeview Cemetery Memorial Advisor (and fellow Brush High School alum) Petronilla Ragland.

When I tell people about about making my final arrangements, I get the oddest reactions.  But I have a realistic and unsentimental view of death: it’s the one thing that we all have in common.  From personal experience I know what it’s like when a loved one dies unexpectedly.  The survivors find themselves having to make decisions about which they may have varying degrees of confidence.  Did their loved one want this, or another alternative?  Embalming or cremation?  A formal funeral service or an informal celebration of life?  What kind of burial?  What kind of marker did they want?  What, if any, religious symbols?  Last, but not least: How to pay for it?  By making these decisions myself and paying in advance, I’ve relieved my loved ones of the burden of making those decisions, and of the cost.  Further, I have some control over the process while I’m alive – and the legality of what I’ve stipulated will remain in force after I’m dead.  Naturally, I hope the need to carry out these plans won’t come for quite some time.

See you around in 2026.

 

Ravel and Ligeti at Severance Hall

Tonight’s Cleveland Orchestra concert featured a pair of piano concertos performed by guest soloist Yuja Wang, with by guest conductor Petr Popelka.

The opening work was Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, commissioned by pianist Paul Wittgenstein, who lost his right arm due to injuries suffered during the First World War.  Based on his recordings, Wittgenstein (who’s younger brother Ludwig went to elementary school with Adolf Hitler) was not a top-tier pianist.  Yuja Wang is, of course, an extraordinarily gifted pianist, and her gifts were especially well suited to this concerto.  It wasn’t a question of mere technique, although her accuracy, layering of notes, clear articulation, and mastery of the pedal were apparent.  Wang also played with a sense of direction and narrative sweep which are too often missed in performances of this work. Popelka and the orchestra delivered an accompaniment which deemphasized the lusher aspects of the work in favor of a grittier approach.  For example, the opening contrabassoon solo  sounded more menacing than usual. 

The second work was the Concerto for Piano and Orchestra by György Ligeti.  As brilliantly played as the work was by Wang and the orchestra, I could not find myself warming to the piece, which served only to aggravate my tinnitus. 

Wang generously performed two encores: A Latin-sounding rag piece which was unfamiliar to me, and the finale movement from Prokofiev’s Seventh Sonata – which really brought the house down. 

Since many reviews and articles featuring Yuja Wang focus on her couture, I’ll mention that she wore a black dress during the Ravel, and quickly changed into a more colorful one for the Ligeti and encores. 

At intermission, we peeked outside and saw snowfall substantial enough to persuade us to make a premature exit, so we did not stay for the second half of the concert.  As it was, it took us far longer than usual to get home.