Fuller Center Build in Cluj, Romania, Day 1, May 11, 2026

In our hotel, I shared a two bedroom apartment with Sam.  We had one bathroom, a large kitchen/dining room/living room area and a nice balcony.  On Monday, we had a team meeting in our living room, as our apartment was the largest for our team.  After breakfast and the meeting, we rode to the worksite.  We had an orientation and safety briefing.  We were issued hard hats, but used our own gloves.  Eventually, they will have 50 duplexes at this location.  We would be working on the eighth one.  Our team was split, with five people working on the larger one on the left and four of us on the smaller one on the right.

 

 

After work, we had a walking tour of the city and learned about the history of Cluj and Transylvania. 

Many buildings were from the 15th century, like this cathedral

This was a memorial to people who were lost during the fighting to end Soviet control

After the walking tour, we went out to eat, and then took a city bus back to our hotel.  The public bus system was relatively easy to use.

Off to Cluj, Romania, May 8 - 10, 2026

On Friday, May 8, I set out for Romania.  United Airlines took me from Phoenix to San Francisco to Munich and finally to Cluj.  As soon as I arrived Saturday afternoon, I had problems - my suitcase did not get there with me.  And then there was this opaque manner of communicating with the airlines to find out what happened.

 

Four of us volunteers were on the same Lufthansa flight and were met by a staff member of Fuller Center.  Sunday we were on our own during the day and I walked around and explored the area around our hotel.

 

 

There are still lots of these Soviet era apartment buildings

 

Sunday evening, we met in the hotel lobby and enjoyed a walk through the park to a nearby mall for our first team dinner. 

 

After dinner, we ambled back to the hotel and got ready to do some work helping to build homes.

 

 

 

Phoenix and Portland, March and April 2026

In March, our friends Bridgette and Julianne came to visit for a week.  They each had a private room in Central Park North at the Beatitudes.  Among other things, we had a nice visit at the Deer Valley Petroglyph Preserve: https://deervalley.asu.edu/ Then ten days later, my sister Helen visited us at the Beatitudes.  Among other things, we celebrated Patty's 75th birthday.

In April, I spent three weeks in Portland to take care of Mr. Stowe while Ben and Martha were traveling.  When I arrived on the 7th, I was impressed with how many trees were already in bloom.  

As I continued to enjoy all of the spring blossoms, I tried to regularly send updates to Ben and Martha about how Mr. Stowe was doing.  I would also visit Megan and get photos of Miss Piper to share.

From Ben and Martha's home, one of the coffee shops I would walk to was the Bipartisan Coffee House.  They have a magnificent collection of photos and posters from political contests, showing people from all political parties.

These maple trees on Division Street has so many seed posts they turned the sidewalk yellow.

Did I mention that I enjoyed the spring blossoms and taking care of the dogs?  And when Megan is available, she enjoys many of the same things.

And another trip to Bipartisan Coffee.

And then after three weeks of spring blossoms, dogs and family, it was time to return to the dry, hot weather in Phoenix.