Goodbye To The Macallan......

It seems somehow that this winter and it's storms and sub zero temperatures will never end....or maybe it's just that both Sonja and I have been struggling with winter colds of late (hers turning into Bronchitis on the way to getting better, mine more recent and apparently still undecided as to what mayhem it might cause). Or more likely, it's just the obvious.....

On January 25th, we finally had to euthanize our beloved companion of more than 10 years, Mac, and it is in truth still difficult to talk about. As he first adopted us in 1999,in Montgomery, finding Sonja in a parking lot and never looking back, we never really were sure of his actual age. It must have been close to 16 or 17 from what we could tell, and certainly in the last month of his life his systems seemed to all be slowly failing him. We knew his time was coming, though there is never really any genuine preparing for the loss. He was the heart of our little "pack". He will be forever missed and remembered. Macky.....R.I.P.

Happy Solkwanzchanachuhmas!!!

Here's hoping you all have a happy and healthy Holiday Season!!! Just kick off your shoes and put your feet up near this photo, and you'll feel....well....a little pixilated maybe, but that's about it. Go hug somebody instead.....And per several requests, as we moved again this past summer into new digs here in Ithaca, I've included our mailing address here for cards and such.

Paul and Sonja
1517 1/2 Slaterville Rd.
Ithaca, NY 14850

All of our love and best wishes to all of our friends, across the country and in Europe!! Merry Christmas!!!!!

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Christmas Break.......

Well, for all of you (or both of you) who are still checking in on the blog periodically, just a quick note to let you know that we're both good and doing well!!

We are just about done with this semester, finishing up papers and grading as we speak. Both productions that Sonja and I participated in this fall were great fun to be a part of and very successful....Sonja assaying Lady Bracknell in The Importance Of Being Earnest, and chewing the pedagogical scenery as Holofernes in Loves Labour's Lost.....while I reprised The Rev. Canon Chasuble and Lord Boyet, respectively, in those same plays. It's been a good year so far, and I think we're both looking forward to this 5 week (albeit unpaid) break now. We'll be staying in Ithaca, and doing some house and dog sitting for a friend. And a big chunk of this time will be spent getting ready for our next projects at Cornell....Sonja playing a large role in a new script, an adaptation of a book called The Body Project, while I work on Hector in The History Boys.

And thanks to all who passed along their concern about our little guy, Mac, who had been under the weather (at somewhere between 15 and god, there isn't much weather he manages to get above these days). He has rallied yet again, we're thrilled to say, and Bea Lillie and Spenser are fine as well. All fur children healthy and accounted for!!

So hope this finds you all happy and well!! More before Christmas no doubt, and in the meantime, stay healthy and happy, and stay in touch!!!

Happy Re-Birth Day!!!!

Well, the semester moves along apace, but that's not really what this entry is all about.......

On Wednesday, October 3rd, it will be exactly one year since Sonja nearly died, not once but twice, at the Cayuga Medical Center here in Ithaca, NY. As such, October 3rd has been determined by the appropriate authorities (alright, me, her husband Paul) to be Sonja's Official Day Of Rebirth For The Remainder Of Her Days. Here ye, here ye, so decided!!

I doubt this is going to let any of us off the hook for her actual birthday, which conveniently enough is only nine days earlier on the 25th. But all things considered, when one has survived a series of events like this (see all previous entries), it takes on a new meaning I think to be able to declare that this one particular day is the one that needs to be celebrated. This one day is when the fight began, when survival became the only point, and when the future became something to be wrested back one day at a time.

So raise a glass sometime today, smile like you mean it at someone you love, and celebrate Sonja.....brand spanking new at the age of 1!!


P.S. -- Special thanks to the great Joe Decker for the use of the photo above...

School's In......

How did this happen??? Summer's over for us, and we're happily ensconced back up in Ithaca, in new digs that are a vast improvement over last year!! New address and a land line phone number are listed below. We're both in good health, and start teaching again this week. We've been in rehearsals for Importance Of Being Earnest for a couple of weeks now (Chasuble again for me, and Sonja as an unusually charming Lady Bracknell)....having a very good time!!

Hope everyone's summer was good and your happy and well. All our best to all of you, and more to come soon!!



-- Paul and Sonja
1517 1/2 Slaterville Road
Ithaca, NY 14850

607.277.2803

paulhebron@gmail.com
bertzen@gmail.com

Me and Robert Davi......

Yes, it's my birthday....virtual cake soon to be followed by the real thing!!

Sonja sends much love to everyone from Martha's Vineyard, and by mid July will be visiting her Mum in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Hope for the best. Then back here to Philadelphia for a brief stint before we return to the twisting of young minds in Ithaca.

Hope this finds you all happy and well, have a wonderful 4th of July, and love from us both!!!

-- Paul

School's Out!!

Well, we've finally finished the second semester at Cornell.....grades are in and classes and productions are done!! We were both fortunate in the calibre of students we worked with this spring in our respective classes, and we both survived a fairly awful production of As You Like It to close out our work on stage.

This past weekend we boarded Spenser the Cat with our dear friends Carolyn and Judy, threw the pups in the car and drove out to Martha's Vineyard to work at the brilliant dance colony run by old pal Wendy Taucher. It's only office work we're doing ("Hey there, Monkey Boy, fold those flyers faster!!!"). Those of you who've suffered the near shattering sight of me dancing on stage know why it would be obvious my that my only association with a dance studio would be licking stamps. I'm here through the 25th, then back to Ithaca to get us out of that apartment, before returning with all of the animals to Philly for the summer. Sonja will remain working for Wendy here in MV through to the latter part of July, taking Yoga each morning, and generally breathing in the salt air. Her health continues to be good....her cardiologist recently took her off of one of her medications entirely, and reduced two others. It's still a balancing act with her meds, but she seems to be handling them quite well, knock on wood.

And again thanks to all who continue to watch this space, as it were, for news and updates. I've been working on getting Sony to contribute more often (one more posting would automatically double her output); I've suggested that she take the time at some point to describe some of her "adventures" when she was still sun-downing and living with her drug induced dementia. Some of the stories of her views from "the inside" of that experience are (happily, now) pretty entertaining. We'll see.

More to come as the summer progresses!! Wishing you all cool winds, cold drinks, and good friends!! Love from us both!!!

-- Paul