Last night we went to Danbury, Connecticut to visit Gerry, Nancy and Jeremy and hear Dr. Jane Goodall speak at the Western Connecticut campus. Jeremy met us at the train station. We haven't been out there in four years and probably haven't seen him in at least three. What a change. He and Jason are really young men now. Jeremy drove us back to the house, where we were greeted by an excited white furball named Balto. Balto was smaller when we met him four years ago but he's still an adorable dog and very friendly.
Nancy made chicken, popcorn cauliflower, salad and corn on the cob for dinner. Everything was delicious. Gerry was working so we drove over to Eckerd's and Jeremy ran in with a plate of food for him; apparently Gerry doesn't get much of a dinner break. Then we headed over to the college campus.
We went into the gym the back way and no one stopped us at the door to take our tickets. Considering that Jane Goodall is world famous, I would have thought security would be tighter, but they were very laid back. We sought someone out and gave in our tickets but we could have gotten away without paying a cent.
Because we arrived a bit late we had to sit way in the back, and I could barely see her. This was too bad because I was hoping to take some decent pictures. My camera does have a zoom lens but it is better for taking pictures of scenery. Anyhow Jane started off with a story about an eagle soaring high, and then a little wren hiding in its feathers takes off and flies even higher than the eagle. She named four beings who helped her to soar so high: her mother (Vanne), Dr. Louis Leakey, David Graybeard (the chimp) and her dog Rusty.
Then she gave a chimp pant-hoot to say "hello." She imitates it so well that you would think there was a chimpanzee on the podium! Her talk was about the chimps of course, but also about the environment and how environmental pollution and overuse impacts on people as well as animals. She told us stories about chimps helping people and people helping chimps, under dangerous conditions. Although we do some awful things, she pointed out that we do care about others and that it is amazing and wonderful that we do. She sees hope in that and hope in the young people who work on these issues through her organization, Roots and Shoots.
Chimps are the ambassadors of the animal world, she told us, because they are so very similar to us that they bridge the gap between animals and humans, and lead us to care also about the other animals as well.
There was more, much more, only I can't recall all of it, naturally. When her talk was over, she signed autographs. We stood on line for an hour and a half for her autograph. Jason and I kept trying to photograph her but the pictures mostly came out blurred. I don't understand that. But when we did get up front they took a photo of us with Jane. I gave her a note and a letter from Bruce's co-worker, and told her that when I had cancer I put seeing her in person on my "must do" list. She said, "Isn't that lovely!"
Afterwards we went back to Gerry and Nancy's and spent the night. In the morning Nancy took us to North Salem where there was a dirt road to walk on with all sorts of great scenery and animals, horses, dogs, roosters, etc. After lunch Jeremy took us to a store called American Trash that sold used CD's, clothes and books. It was a nice hippie-dippie place, too bad it is going out of business in a few days.
We caught the 3:10 train back to New York and got home about 5:30. Most of the photos we took of Dr. Goodall came out blurry but I did get some good shots of the scenery on that dirt road. It was a great visit and seeing Jane Goodall was one of those experiences of a lifetime!
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