Israel 3,

March 16,2024,

Hi Everyone,

It is always somewhat difficult to get used to a 6 hour time change. Coming to Israel and sleeping more or less on a 10 hour flight was no different. The seats and the space between the seats gets progressively smaller and inversely proportional to the inflated airline prices. Nevertheless, I should not complain as El-Al is the only airline to keep ferrying paying customers into a war zone with no interruption of service.

Yesterday, I spent most of the day walking up and down the beach. There is a boardwalk extending for miles along the sea. The boardwalk is lined with expensive and medium priced hotels. There is an endless supply of restaurants, snack bars and cafes to choose from. Young men and women are jogging on the boardwalk and on the sand. Volleyball is the favourite game here and there are dozens of nets where people play. Everyone is having fun on a warm spring day away from the war.

Further down the cost is Gaza. It has the exact same sandy beaches. In 75 years they have managed to build, no hotels, no restaurants, no cafes, no snack bars, no boardwalks and no volley ball nets. There is of course a tunnel system that could be used for a future metro. If I owned 10 meters of sandy beach on the Mediterranean, even with my poor investment knowledge, I certainly would know what to do to bring in the tourist dollar.

I woke up late today and had my first good night sleep in a week. I had breakfast at the hotel and chatted with several people who had just finished their first week of volunteering. I am excited to start tomorrow. I got a call from my cousin who had made Aliyah some 20 years ago. We drove to a Memorial Square for the kidnapped men, women and children. It is very sad. Their pictures were posted on a wall and there is a tunnel, mock-up which you can go through and write some words of encouragement. My cousin bought me a ‘bring them home’ tee shirt written in Hebrew and a similar supportive dog tag. We then went back to her house for lunch where I met her charming family. They will be coming to Montreal this summer.

Every house, apartment and hotel has a bomb shelter or safe room. Theirs is no exception. We went down into the basement which is an unfinished room with cots and some kids designs on the walls. The atmosphere was damp and there was some water leakage. The family takes shelter in the room when the sirens go off which has happened many times. I still can’t understand why ‘they’ make ‘us’ live this way. I can still remember my father saying to me ‘children don’t hate, adults hate, adults teach children to hate’.

This evening I will meet my Hebrew tutor at the hotel and we will go out for dinner.

Love,

brian

Israel 2,

March 16, 2024,

Hi Everyone,

I flew from Montreal to New York and then to Tel Aviv yesterday. The flight was uneventful, the food was pretty good, except that I had to keep asking for a refill of my wine glass. I hope that the airplane did not run out of wine because of me.

I am staying in a downtown hotel on the beach with a beautiful roof top terrace with a view on the beach. Many of the guests here at the hotel are volunteers with the same program as mine. We all ship out tomorrow to our respective army bases. The army bus will pick us up at 8:45.

It is spring here, 20C and was quite breezy yesterday. There was 20K of wind and there were a lot of boats out. As the bumper sticker says ‘I would rather be sailing’. The water was rough with no swimming signs, but that did not stop people from going into the water.

Last night I was invited for Shabbat dinner by a lady who takes care of MDA ambulance volunteers. I might be able to do that later in my trip. Here at the hotel I have met people from all over the word, not all of whom are Jewish.

Tel Aviv is a wonderful city. I will write about it later as I get to see it more. The city seems to be running normally; you wouldn’t know that there was a war going on. On the other hand, Hezbollah fired 250 rockets into the north of Israel. They obviously have not had enough yet.

Love,

Brian

Israel 1,

March 15, 2024,

Hi Everyone,

When the war started on Oct. 7, I volunteered immediately. It took several weeks to get everything in place. I still am working part time and needed to re-organize my office and the hospital. 

I could not look myself in the mirror one more time until I had a place secured in Israel. I will be working on an army base and perhaps as an ambulance technician afterwards. I will have an IDF uniform and dog tags.

It is unfortunate, but the world is against us again. Jew, Jewish, Israeli and Zionist are all the same for most people. The vicious anti-semitism, cloaked as anti-Zionism has been brought to the forefront. There are pro-Palestinian demonstrations everyday in Canada. ‘Free Palestine’…. was it free before with Hamas ruling. ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’….where will the Israelis go? ‘Death to the Jews’…. no translation necessary.

Everyday we see statistics on the number of Palestinians killed. We never see daily stats on the number of Ukrainians, Congolese, Ethiopians, Yemenites and Rohingyans killed? Where are the pro….demonstrations for these unfortunate people? There are major conflicts all over the globe with millions of people killed every year. If the Palestinians were not fighting the ‘Jews’ would anyone support them?

I am following my beliefs and doing what for me is the right thing to do. This has nothing to do with religion as I am a confirmed atheist. Israel has a right to exist even if I don’t live there. Some people have even asked me, ‘if Israel went to war against Canada, which side would you be on’?  My answer is simple; my father spent 6 years in the Canadian army fighting for freedom and was a D-Day veteran. What did your father do? Most people can’t answer that simple question. Unfortunately, 75 years after the war, Israel, a Jewish and mostly secular country is forced to defend itself. 

Israel is 15 km wide. A tank can drive across it in 15 minutes. It is surrounded by 1 billion Arabs. It has no friendly borders. The Arabs can loose 100 wars. Their countries will still exist. If Israel looses 1 war, the Israelis will be driven into the sea and no country will come to their rescue.

I stand with Israel.

Brian

Jackson Hole 7,

Feb. 3, 2024,

Hi Everyone

It was an epic day today except that I couldn’t see any of it. It snowed 3 inches last night and we had a light snowfall all day today. Unfortunately, the fog hadn’t lifted from yesterday and with the mild temp of 5C it was comparatively worse. I started rather late hoping that the fog would lift but was disappointed. Inevitably, I stopped skiing early which is quite rare for me. The fog resembled the same fog that I had experienced in Whistler, 20 years ago when I skied off a cliff… Needless to say, I was very conservative in my choice of downhill runs. Tree skiing was out of the question for all of the brave skiers.

I fly tomorrow at 7:00 am so it will be an early night for me as the taxi will pick me up at 5:00. I have a last dinner tonight with the docs.

Love,

Brian

Jackson Hole 6,

Feb 2, 2024,

Hi Everyone,

It snowed about 3 inches today. Visibility was 0. I started the day on my carving skis and then switched to my semi-powder skis in the afternoon. The snow was wet and heavy compared to the hard packed surface yesterday. It was difficult to differentiate between the bumps so I stayed on the blue-black groomers. I have had 2 no fall days in row so maybe my skiing is improving with my CARV lady’s constant instructions. I have it set up so she gives me a turn by turn comment on my skiing. It’s like skiing with a private coach. By the way, a private ski instructor costs $1700 Can a day. Maybe I should change professions!!

I had a chill this evening so I decided to eat dinner at the hotel bar and try for a no alcohol meal. Great, at the end of the meal they offered me a shot of lemonade gin and orange vodka. I tried…

Love,

Brian

Jackson Hole 5,

Feb. 1 2024,

Hi Everyone,

I am sitting at the bar in the Mangy Mouse, bar-restaurant , an apres ski, in type place. I like to sit at the bar when I am alone because I can talk to anyone sitting beside me (male of female) who is in the same situation as me. I have been here many times with my kids for an apres ski pitcher of beer and natchos. The place is typically American, a barn type atmosphere, with a fire place, country and western music and flat screens on several walls. There is a ground floor and a balcony with tables and chairs. The place caters to a 20-30 something crowd so I blend right in. The menu is pretty simple with the standard fare being hamburgers, ribs or nachos. I took a picture of my burger which you can see below. I think that it will take me 2 days to eat it.

The skiing today was hard packed with sunny skies making the trails somewhat icy. My CARV lady was not too happy with my style. My day schedule was not too different from yesterday and probably the same as tomorrow. (Sounds like a song that I should write.)

Love,

Brian

Jackson Hole 4,

Jan. 31, 2024,

Hi Everyone,

The forecast for today was cloudy with sunny periods later in the morning. I made a decision to stay a little later than usual for my medical conference. I was up at 6:00 for breakfast and attended the conference until 11:00 minus 1 hour for a ‘private lesson’.

By 11:00 the sun had come out at the top of the mountain giving us 5C temperatures and spring like conditions. This really is not what I am used to in early Feb. The snow was heavy, heavy wet with big moguls, reasonably easy for the ‘expert’ skier to manoeuvre. I have been trying to ‘carv’ but this is an impossibility in these condition. I kept my skies 10 inches apart, the usual distance for carving and went for an early tumble. That makes 3 falls in 3 days which is 3 more than my total for last season. Watching other ‘expert’ skiers, I realized that you must keep your skis closer together in ‘heavy wet snow’ and semi jump the turns. I landed on my left shoulder again, lost a pole up the hill and sat around for a few minutes to recapitulate. I seem to have replaced my shoulder with the fall, as it did’t hurt me for the rest of the day. 2 volterans to night and I should be ok for tomorrow.

I bought a machine called CARV this season. It has an in sole with 75 receptors that you place between the outer and inner boot. It takes a ‘younger’ person to set it up so Marion set it up for me. The insole then connects to a battery placed on the outside of the boot, which bluetooths to your phone and then to your iPods in your ear. Have I lost anyone yet? Once set up a nice lady then makes comments on your skiing and gives you pointers on how to do better. You can set it up for a score at the end of the run or have the lady comment on each turn with instructions on how to improve your skiing. It’s quite incredible as she even knows what trail you are on and in which resort you are skiing. She knows when you stop and gives you a run down for 30 seconds when you are on the chair lift. When you are skiing alone, she makes a nice companion. Perhaps 1 day I will get to meet her. She reminds me of the GPS lady that accompanied me on my motorcycle trip in Germany last summer.

I am finishing off my bottle of Italian red wine that I started in the Italian restaurant where I ate yesterday. They were very nice to have kept it for me.

Love,

Brian

Brian

Jackson Hole 3,

Jan 30, 2024,

Hi Everyone,

The day started off well as who ever ‘borrowed’ my ski poles yesterday, probably realized that he/she had taken them by accident and left them for me to pick up where I had left them yesterday. So now I have 2 pairs of Leki (expensive) poles that allow me to ski better.

Yesterday’s soupy, spring like snow conditions had frozen overnight leaving extremely hard packed terrain with ice balls everywhere. The visibility was nil with fog,fog,fog all over the mountain. I stepped on the basket of my ski pole, rather hard to do, fell and re-sprained by already sprained left thumb and left shoulder. At about 10:30 I thought that I had taken a blue ‘groomer’ but ended up on a black diamond mogul trail. The bumps were impossibly hard to manoeuvre. I missed a mogul, flew through the air and landed on my head. It was the third hardest bang that I ever got on my head in my athletic career. The first was a minor concussion in a hockey game 20 years ago and the second sustained when I went over the handle bars while practicing for the world championship triathlon last year. I broke a finger which I did not have set as it would have set me back in my training. It is a little cooked but hell I don’t play the piano for a living. I counted to 10 and then side slipped down the bumps, eventually going for a capuchino to decide the future plans for the day.

After an hour, miraculously the sun came out and burned off the fog. The rest of the day I skied in the sun with 5 C temperatures, soft spring soupy snow and a bluebird sky. I am sitting in an Italian restaurant, eating lasagna and sipping Italian red wine. I ordered a bottle which they will cork for me so I can come back and finish it tomorrow.

My urology conference begins tomorrow at 6:00 am. There are 150 physicians registered for the conference, double the usual, which runs from 6 to 11 and from 4 to 7. If the conditions are good, I might cut out early. You only live once!!

Love,

Brian

Jackson Hole 2,

Jan. 29, 2024,

Hi Everyone,

I am sitting in the Snake River Lodge bar-restaurant, having finished my dinner and reflecting upon the last 2 days. As I mentioned in my previous entry, my door to door travel time was 21 hours. The poney express must have been faster. This evening I had my 1st real meal. I had a pain au chocolates and capuchino for breakfast at 5:00 am before boarding the plane yesterday. This was followed by a sandwich and cap for lunch and a scone and cap for supper. I arrived too late for dinner and had a late night beer. For breakfast today I had a cap and muffin, a yogurt and cap for lunch and finally a real dinner this evening. Maybe I lost some weight.

Today was an epic day as usual. The snow conditions were great but the visibility was impossible. It was cloudy with a thick fog that covered most of the mountain. I have 2 pairs of skis. My Rossignols are eastern skiing carving skis, 74 mm underfoot. They are good for carving hard packed, somewhat icy eastern trails. I also have a pair of Salomon semi powder skis, 92 mm underfoot that are good out west where there is softer, powder snow. I started the day with the Rossys but they were too heavy for the conditions. It was 0 C with soft heavy snow and I was having trouble turning in the deep snow. I switched to my Salomon skis which were more appropriate for the conditions. I left my Leki carbon poles (expensive) and went back to the hotel to exchange my skis. On my return I found out the someone had ‘borrowed’ my poles obliging me to purchase a new pair. This was disappointing as nobody locks their skis and theft is almost non existent.

I met 3 fellows on the gondola and they invited me to ski with them. Danny, Carston and Jordon are from Utah-North Carolina. 2 of the fellows were in their twenties and 1 was the father. 1 is a family practice resident. They ski like my kids and actually complimented me on my skiing abilities. Wow! While going up the chair, I managed to drop my brand new pole. It was on a very steep part of the mountain. I was willing to let it go but they showed me a reasonable way to ski around the cliff and recuperate my pole. There is nothing more difficult than skiing on steep moguls, in the fog, with only 1 pole to balance oneself.

At the end of the day we took the gondola up. The upper part of the mountain was above the clouds.

Love,

Brian

Jackson Hole 1,

Jan 28, 2024,

Hi Everyone,

This is probably the 30th or 40th time that I have flown out west for a medical-ski conference. As a urologist, I am some what spoiled by the fact that there are/were 4 conferences held in such illustrious places as Jackson Hole, Aspen, Whistler, Vail, Ferny, Kicking Horse, Lake Louise and Revelstoke. Each year I get to choose my destination usually depending upon my kids school breaks or holidays. For the first conference I took Antoine to Whistler. For the second conference I took Melanie. I think that I took the twins and Dominique for the 3rd conference. Eventually the whole family came. As the years past, we added the boyfriend, the girl friend and of course the husbands and wives.

At first we stayed in the conference hotel. Eventually it proved more practical to rent a condo and a Suburban to get us around. Each couple was responsible for cooking the meals. My job was to pay the bills, eat and drink. The kids skiing improved to the point that they became equal or better than me. The last time we went to Revelstoke, Marion remarked to me ‘ don’t worry Daddy, Alyson and I discussed it, and we decided that one of us will always stay back and ski with you ‘. So nice!! This year I am here alone as the kids have small kids of their own, are pregnant or have career responsibilities.

I don’t know why but my trips are always plagued with airplane travel problems. It took me 46 hours to return from Hamburg last year. My skis arrived back in Montreal 2 days late. Today was no exception. My flight was delayed for 3 hours due to ‘an electrical problem’. I guess that I should me happy that it didn’t occur in mid flight. That caused me to miss my connecting flight. They re-routed me to 2 other connecting flights. I went to the United Customer Dis-Service Counter to find out what could be done. You can always find the United counter in another terminal. There is usually a long line of customers shouting and 1 poor over worked employee saying ‘please be patient, I am doing my best.’ Today, I must say was an exception. In spite of the line up, the lady was quite helpful. My door to door travel time was 21 hours. I was up at 3:00 am to catch a 6:05 flight as it takes several hours to get through American immigration. My ski bags arrived 4 hours ahead of me. I don’t understand why I could not have been place on the earlier plane. I thought that it was illegal to have your baggage on a plane without you.

I will be up bright and early tomorrow to catch the 9:00 tram. My photos didn’t upload yet, so here is one of Louis at Mont Habitant.

Love,

Brian