Category: Dittmeier

Rip Van Winkle?

Rip Van Winkle, in Washington Irving’s short story, is a Dutch American in the pre-Revolutionary War period who falls asleep after drinking with some shadowy figures in the Catskill Mountains. He sleeps for twenty years and wakes up in a setting that is vaguely familiar but radically different from what he knew before.

I don’t drink and didn’t sleep away my 40+ years in Asia, but I can relate to the feelings of confusion and wonder that must have accompanied Rip Van Winkle upon his awakening. When I left Cambodia, I was returning home but it’s not the home I left in 1983!

So much has changed:
• communications are so different,
• politics are chaotic and without the civility and care for the common good of another era,
• landmarks and establishments on the streets have disappeared,
• even in the church, parishes have been merged and closed and 1/3 of the priests are from other countries.

And those are just some of the changes I’ve encountered. It’s going to take a bit more time to adjust to the American way of life today.

Maryknoll visitors

I had a wonderful visit today with Judy and Dave Saumweber who stopped by in Louisville for a few hours on a trip to visit another friend on the East Coast. The Saumwebers, from Minnesota, were Maryknoll Lay Missioners in Cambodia when I arrived and are a wonderful couple and wonderful missioners and wonderful friends. I was honored and so happy that they adjusted their route to come through Louisville!

Bicycle Gloves

I bicycled to work daily in Phnom Penh but cycling there was much different from what it is in Louisville. The cold is one big difference. I had a pair of leather gloves but on the really cold days here in Kentucky, after fifteen minutes my fingers were frozen. People at Nazareth Home and at St. Boniface Church heard me talking about how unpleasant it was, and then they started giving me gloves! But even gloves purpose-made for cycling didn’t work when the temps were below 35º or so. Then some of my brothers and sisters got me a Christmas present of heated bike gloves–and they work! Riding with them in cold weather is heavenly!

I tried all sorts of gloves to keep my fingers warm and tried putting a thinner pair of gloves inside heavy gloves but that didn’t work either. The large gloves on the right, with the blue lights on the cuff, are the ones that gave me relief. They have USB-charged batteries in those large cuffs.

Reconnecting

This morning I finished an article for our diocesan newspaper about my return to Kentucky, and related the experience of reconnecting with family and friends. And then this afternoon I had the opportunity to actually do that.

I have lots of first cousins on the Dittmeier side of the family and today nine of us got together for lunch. These are some of the people who bought the e-bike for me.

Then I made a brief visit to Ruth, now 104 years old, and her daughter Peg. I have known, liked, and respected their family for more than 50 years.

Dittmeier Christmas Time

Today the Dittmeier family had their Christmas gathering at Nazareth Home Clifton where I live. This was a first because always before we met at my sister Mary and husband Mike’s home. The out-of-state families with children came this year, though, so we moved to Nazareth Home where there was more room for the children to play. It was a delightful gathering.

False Alarm–deja vu

A couple weeks ago two fire trucks rushed to Nazareth Home for a false alarm that was never explained. Yesterday morning a fire engine appeared again, this time responding to an alarm triggered by some food scrap that had fallen onto the electrical burner in the building where I live. It started smoking when the stove was turned on and activated the smoke detector and automatic alarm that called the fire fighters. They were most gracious as they checked things out and then climbed back on the truck at the end of their shift for that day.

Dittmeier Thanksgiving

For most big US holidays when it’s expected to be with family, all the married sisters and brothers go to their in-laws’ homes on the holiday itself, and then all the Dittmeier siblings meet the following weekend. Yesterday we all got together after I got back from the trip to Bardstown with the deaf group.

We have a wonderful family and this time more of the family from Cincinnati were able to come with the younger grandchildren. Great!

This photo shows about 2/3 of the group chatting after we ate.

Another learning…

It’s COLD bicycling in Louisville in November

Since I arrived in Louisville a few months ago, I’ve been lying low, going slow to get the feel of life in the US and what is expected of me as a retired priest. One particular area of interest is getting around since I will not be driving but depending on the e-bike my cousins bought for me. I’ve been checking what it’s like to ride in the rain here, what it’s like riding at night–and what it’s like riding in the cold.

Today the temperature was in the upper 20ºs when I left for a meeting. I had already found it’s not so bad riding in the cold except for my frozen fingers. The black gloves on the left were given me by my sister. They are great, just a tad too small but really pliable–and warm for the first twenty minutes. The red gloves are ski gloves I borrowed to test. They aren’t as pliable but they give me an extra ten minutes or so before my fingers are frozen. I’m going to have to keep working on this because it’s not even winter yet!

I’ve been here before….

50+ years ago I used to have my hair cut at the Tri-City Barber College in Louisville. Then I went to Asia for 42 years, and for the last 20+years in Cambodia I had my own barber school, a job training program for deaf youth.

Today I returned to Tri-City after the long absence. It’s in a different location and the staff I knew are no longer there. The same could be said for a lot of my hair: it’s no longer there. But I got a cut from Eli, a delightful young man, eager to please, and he only charged me $7!