Dad K died, Is it possible to travel overseas?

 12 May - Thoughts to travel to America for Dad K's Memorial Service

Dad Kennedy died on Easter Sunday (Australia time) 2022 in Casa Grande, Arizona, USA at home with his wife Anita and children Richie and Ana, and some of their families.

It seemed impossible that Monte and I would be able to travel from Tasmania to Arizona for the Memorial Service and family gathering.  We are in the midst of the COVID pandemic and after two years of Australia, particularly Tasmania, trying to remain safe from the virus, the government gave up, opened borders and allowed people to take their chances while providing vaccinations and health advice.

Following an Australian family gathering of Monte and Kathy’s sons on 2 May 2022, it was decided to fully investigate regulations and costs to go for the Memorial Service.

We had last been to the States in 2017 at the sudden request of Mom Mumford’s doctors.  We visited Dad Kennedy at the time and other family, too.  Mom Mumford perked up with our arrival but was required to move into aged care.  We helped Marshal and Kitty with that move.

We tried returning in late 2019 but were prevented due to various family pressures and activities. We then booked flights for Easter 2020, but Covid struct and borders were closed. The Premier in Tasmania announced, ‘We have a moot and we will use it!’  Mom (Kaye) Mumford  died in April 2020 the day after Marshall and Kitty were allowed into hospice to visit her after 5 weeks of COVID lockdown and isolation.

For two years, there was virtually no travelling interstate or internationally for Australians.  Thousands of Australians were stranded overseas.  People were ‘lock downed’ in their homes and limited to essential travel to obtain food and medical care.  Schools were switched to on-line and parents became teachers or learning monitors. There was limited exercise periods to walk or jog. Masks were worn when ever in stores and close contacts were limited within stores and offices.  Vaccines were trialled and then administered.  As the number of vaccinations rose, governments looked to lessen the close contact, mask wearing and travelling rules.

In mid-December 2021, Tasmania lifted its border rules and Myles and family were able to visit for Monte and Kathy’s 50th Wedding Anniversary.  Christmas was planned for all the Australian Mumfords to gather again in January 2022, in Strahan Tasmania.

We wondered when we would be able to travel overseas again to visit family and friends.  There were vaccination restrictions and needed documentation.  Rules were different in every country. - going and coming, citizen and non-citizen, dual citizen  Infection, sickness and death was high.  Covid variants changed the rules regularly.  Many people were tired of the rules and ignored them increasing the spread of infection. 

So following the family meeting in early May and notice that Dad's Memorial Service was scheduled for 10-11 June, Monte searched the internet for flights while Kathy looked for travel rules and regulations.  We contacted family and friends to explore the possibility. 

 Lemon Honey Tonic

50:50 fresh lemon juice and raw honey. If possible, make about 250 ml jar. 

Either stir 1 T in cup of hot tea and sip - don’t drink OR stir 1 T into shot (or more) warm whiskey or brandy and sip.   

Honey over the past couple of years has been Trevor Chalk’s. He used to sell as a St John’s Youth fundraiser.

 Mumford Chicken Soup 

My worn-out "More With Less Cookbook", @1976, I thought had what I do with chicken - 'Two Meals for 4 People from a Three-Pound Chicken", page 180.  So, as Monte says, I modified again a good recipe into what our family likes.  The 25th Anniversary Edition, @ 2000, has the same recipe and a note printed in from a woman who received the book as a Christmas present in 1979 of her cultnal adventures and resource on nutritious eating and the challenge of living more responsibly.

The original recipe is a Chicken Stew then Chicken Soup.

My variation is Roast Chicken and vegetables, Chicken Soup and, depending on how many were eating either of those two meals, a Thai Green Chicken Curry.

So the Mumford Chicken Soup:

Cover with water in large kettle:  1 chicken/turkey carcass and any leftover bones, vegetables, gravy etc from roast dinner.  

Cook one hour, strain the soup, then add and simmer covered for another hour:  diced/sliced vegetables suitable for soup or preferred for a total quantity of 4-6 cups: tomatoes, celery with leaves, silverbeet, onion, turnips, carrots, parsnips, leeks.  While vegetables cook, take any remaining meat from bones.  Determine how clear a soup you want/need for next step.  For thick soup, blend vegetables and put back in kettle - adding ½ c of rice or add 2 c cubed potatoes for last 15 minutes or add one of a variety of pastas - shells, fettuccini - and cook for needed time.  For clear soup or broth, strain again, but use strained vegetables in a curry or some other way.  

'Healing Chicken Soup':  For a sick person needing clear broth, once egg can be added to diet - beat egg and stir in after soup is strained or as reheating.  Then as person can take additional foods, add potatoes or rice or pasta; then vegetables - either blended or cut fine - until 'regular'/thick chicken soup.  I don't use tomatoes in soup for a sick person - usually only onion, carrots, celery, silverbeet. I didn't grow up with parsnips, turnips or leeks and they might be fine!  I love sweet potato but never think of it when making soup!

 It is now 2022!  How amazing not to have written or recorded a recipe these last few years.  

And today I came as I was asked about my chicken soup recipe and thought maybe I'd put it here.  But no, not many recipes are here!  But what is interesting is that my mother's funeral recording and speeches are here! And my dad is now expected to be in his last days.  Fitting to review and consider life and death yet again.

I will post the Chicken Soup recipe separately but will write a few words here.  It is two years into the Covid pandemic with various lockdowns, restrictions, vaccinations, booster.  We had just returned from Europe as Covid continued its spread from China to Italy to Spain.  We returned  on 16 February 2020 from Madrid and not much more than a month later, Tasmania's premier stated 'we have a moat and I'm not afraid to use it'.  Tasmania did keep the pandemic at bay for the most part until 15 December 2021 when borders were opened.  

Today, 30 March 2022, there are over 2,400 new cases reported and nearly 12,000 active cases in a population of less than 500,000.  We've done a little domestic travel - to help a son and family move before a new baby arrived in April 2021 and returning to meet the new baby as well as see how much her big brother had grown, but no international travel.  Monte's mother and my dad were to be visited in 2020 as well as other family and friends across the US and in Europe.  But Mom M died, my dad stopped recognizing me, other family and friends got sick and some died.  So much has happened in these few years and Skype, FaceTime, Facebook, Messenger, Zoom and WhatsApp have really helped keep family and friends together.

Chicken Noodle Soup is a basic Mumford Medicine food!  As a child, I remember Campbell's Soup with the slithery noodles, but as a young wife and mother, it was expensive and surely couldn't be that hard to make.  What began of making three meals and soup from one chicken, became a family standard every month and especially during the winter months or when someone was sick.  In two cookbooks, it is recommended to keep the carcass, bones and any leftover vegetables, gravy, skin, whatever, to make chicken broth and soup.  It has always surprised me how much meat can be taken from the carcass and how much people often leave of the wing, leg or thigh.

I better finish writing and post the recipe.