life in the old lane

Except for doing my FitBit walking and a little swim – mostly I post processed yesterday’s images. Have I mentioned that my free disk space is down to 71GB. Better find the DELETE key soon!

I really have to address the “going back east” issue. I think I have more stuff than I started with.  Wrong, I know I have more stuff. At the very least – I have the turtle purse project. And, some beach glass, shells, etc. Well, to quote Scarlett – I’ll think about that tomorrow.

At this instant I am hungry. Maybe a little salad featuring avocado.

Note to self: Don’t put origami butterflies in the purse/tote bag.

Yes, here I am wearing the damn white dress again. Function at Carlton’s Palace. I was a worker bee.

It was a long day. Help set things up. Work in the kitchen. Change clothes. Take pictures. at ceremony. Change clothes. Eat. Clean up. Put things away. Take pictures at concert. Final kitchen clean up. Go home (with leftovers). Post process pictures.

About the post processing. Everyone was wearing white dresses. A post processing nightmare. Why didn’t I shoot raw? I wasn’t thinking.

And that is it for today’s post.

Wind is HOWLING around. But, it is just wind. Not a blizzard. We might be getting a bunch of rain this evening. But, tomorrow is supposed to be fine.

There seems to be no phone service (again). A contractor cut a massive cable earlier this week. Most folks didn’t realize that when the landline is cut – you might lose your cell service too. The stores really hated it. They couldn’t take plastic. If you needed 911 you were out of luck. Apparently many folk suffered mightily from smart phone deprivation. The phones are apparently out again this afternoon. At least that is what they said on TV.

No Valentine’s Day grief. Carlton didn’t celebrate Valentine’s Day. He did commemorate the day, however. Captain Cook was killed down the road from here on February 14, 1779.

I gave out my origami hearts, walked to Target, worked on my turtle purse, read, napped just took it real easy today.

A sort of lazy day. Yoga. Walked 6.5 miles. Talk story. Origami hearts. Read a book under my favorite coconut tree. Might not have been too smart since it was very windy.

Yoga was outdoors. Just like in Yoga Journal. Right on the ocean. Under coconut trees. Best yoga venue ever. It was windy and my hair wasn’t all that well secured. When I got home, I found a big harmless black bee tangled up in my hair.

Wind is today’s theme. The wind brings change. It is time. Time to move on. What ever that means.

Enjoyed an All American Day: 2 National Parks, US Post Office, Fine coffee right at the mill, Breakfast at Denny’s and a stop at Costco. It doesn’t get much more American than that.

Started the morning off with a trip south to Pu’uhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park. There were whales. I only had the plastic lens, so no photos. No photos of sea spray rainbows either.

Next – Peaberry coffee, a stop at the post office, breakfast at Denny’s and a visit to Costco.

And finally – visit Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park. Most of us old hippies call this park “The Old Nude Beach”.

We (my friend Billy and I) started out at 0630 hours and I logged 4.93 miles on the FitBit. I worked on my craft project, took a tiny swim, lounged under “my” coconut tree this afternoon. An altogether fine day.

BTW – One of “my” financial institutions want me to sign up for visual and voice recognition login options. Sounds fine – but wait – what if said financial institution gets hacked. The cyber criminals would not only have my name, address, ssn and credit card number but a photo too. So, what is to stop them from making their own Peg Bethany Photo ID??? Gotta think about this. Of course there aren’t that many Peg Bethany’s around – so I guess they could come up with a photo anyhow…

As for the voice recognition part – I know I have an awful voice – not sure anyone would want to steal it!

I have just realized that I am getting down to my last couple of weeks here in Kona. A couple of weeks ago, when I got the ticket home, I made a going home “to do list”. Then, I promptly forgot that I was actually going to be heading east.

So –

I took a picture of my fantastic salad. I’ll try to remember it in a couple of months when all the veggies on the east coast have come from hundreds of miles away. This salad was all from Big Island – except for the raspberries. Raspberries from California are cheaper here than they are in Virginia – so – raspberries not tomatoes.

I know that several non-US folk read this blog. Thanks!… So, here is a little run up to the next topic.

In way too many parts of the United States way too many people are “armed and dangerous”. Three apparently upstanding Muslim young people were shot by Craig Hicks in Chapel Hill North Carolina last night. There were rumors that this was a hate crime against Muslims.

Now, let the rant begin… According to the Washington Post:

Later on Wednesday, Hicks’s wife insisted that the shooting was only due to parking arguments and not to any bigotry. “I can say with my absolute belief that this incident had nothing to do with religion or victims faith, but in fact was related to the long-standing parking disputes that my husband had with the neighbors.

Now, exactly how is killing three unarmed people over a parking space better than killing three unarmed people over religion?

Another note to non-US readers. Actually if the killing was over religion – that is a federal offense. Killing someone over a parking space is a state offense.

Which reminds me of one of Flip Wilson’s Reverend Leroy routines – Rev Leroy updated the 10 commandment – to include “Thou Shalt Not Kill – Unless they cut you off on the freeway”. BUT, HELLO, it was humor not how to live your life.

Found this fine old Ford at the old airport this morning. Gotta love anything that is older than I am that still works.

After a walk around the beach and the Maka’Eo Walking Path – it was off to the all day craft project to make a little turtle purse.

This is what the project is supposed to look like when it is done.

However, my turtle purse has a long way to go. Very long. Maybe even impossibly long. I refuse to be discouraged. I also think that my little hotel room is not a suitable for working on the turtle. SO, I boxed the turtle and all of it’s parts up. I’ll just send it back to Virginia. And work on it in my well lighted living room.

Note to Carlton: Yes, I will finish it. I do not need to hear about your first wife and her unfinished projects again. But, it might take 6 months. What say, I’ll try to get it done by the anniversary of your death. Not one day at a time … one bead at a time.

Winter here today. Not cold. Not even chilly. But windy with choppy sea. From my bed, I can see the mast light on the sailboat above – so – I can keep track of the weather all night long.

I went on a “fast” 3 mile walk this morning and then had a fine yoga class on the beach. Our teacher didn’t show up. But that didn’t stop the class. Just do it. I finished off my walking with another 2 miles at a stately pace. All this left me tired – so I took the afternoon off.

I lost my mind last week and signed up for an all-day craft class tomorrow. I think I am trying to get ready for the old ladies asylum. I have NEVER taken a craft class. I don’t do crafts. On the plus side – I went to pick up my class ticket – they gave me a nice little package the included some chocolate. That is a promising start. I’ll report on the class tomorrow.

Smart boaters move to any safe harbor they can access when the ocean gets crazy. The Kinikini was leaving anchorage and the second crew member swam out to the sailing canoe.

Note to Carlton: Your friend, Chris died on Saturday. He took roses to Harpers Ferry for you – I feel I should take roses to Gettysburg to honor him.

Nice little sunset yesterday in the village.

Had I nice day today. Frankly, I have had a lot of nice days here in Kona. I may have mentioned that for I while I was concerned that I wasn’t sufficiently bereaved. Whatever that means. Finally, I figured out that I was bereaved every single day from December 2, 2012 until October 3, 2014. I was shocked and surprised on October 3 when I found Carlton dead. But I wasn’t any sadder than I had been on October 2. As the shock wore off so did the sadness. I had prepaid my grieving.

Some random thoughts:

1. I hate washing dishes. I didn’t know I hated washing dishes because Carlton washed every single dish. Or he put them in the dishwasher. (I did wash all the cooking pots, pans and utensils – just not glasses, cups, plates and silverware.)
2. I haven’t a clue how to run Carlton’s fancy vacuum cleaner. Hopefully, he saved the instruction manual.
3. I have never in my 71 years cleaned a toilet. I have two toilets. Guess I’ll have to Google “How to clean a toilet”.
4. When I start my Sunday off with a tasty restaurant breakfast – I have used up an entire day’s worth of calories before 10AM!
5. Moving to the old ladies asylum will take care to #2 and #3 and I’ll have to be sure I get a dishwasher in my unit. Because I don’t want to wash dishes.

Found a couple of pikake plants this morning. The pikake is an unimaginably fragrant tiny flower. It grows on a slightly thorny bush.

According to the University of Hawai’i:

Pikake is the Hawaiian name for a jasmine, Jasminum sambac, which is one of about a dozen Jasminum species grown in Hawaii as ornamentals. The name is adapted from the word “peacock,” because the Hawaiian Princess Kaiulani reportedly was fond both of this flower and the bird. …  J. sambac is known as sampaguita in the Philippines, where it is the national flower, gunda mallige in India, mo li in parts of China, and Arabian jasmine in the mainland USA. It is grown commercially in India, Thailand, China, and the Philippines for its fresh flowers, which are also used to make perfume and as flavoring for tea. In Hawaii, pikake is grown in landscapes and gardens and by commercial producers of lei flowers.

In lei making, buds are strung soon after they are harvested. A single lei strand is 36–38 inches long. The number of buds in a single strand of buds strung lengthwise varies with the length of the strand and the time of the year. During summer when the buds are large, about 85 are needed to make a single strand. During winter when the buds are smaller, about 125 buds may be needed. A large, fancy rope lei with the buds strung crosswise takes approximately 1000 buds. A pikake lei can be kept for 4–6 days with no loss of fragrance or quality when stored in a plastic bag at 40–45°F.

 Above, we have the Password Directory. Sold by The Container Store. Now, I don’t know about you – but that looks a heck of a lot like my Mother’s address book. And, how safe would that be anyhow?

Walking on the beach this morning – round about the time Carlton died, I found a tiny plastic action figure. Maybe it is a Ninja Turtle? A Power Ranger? Who knows. Not me. Don’t know how old it is or where it is from. In my fanciful moments – I’ll choose to believe that it is a tiny message from Carlton – telling me to get my sorry ass in gear. Hence the gear on the little guy.

An altogether fine day. My origami – well, let us just say that I have 3 dollar bills all crumpled up and no new figures. Why money origami? Well “good” origami paper costs about 50cents a sheet. And when you screw up – you just have a scrap of paper to recycle. If you totally screw up a money figure – you just smooth it out and put it in your pocket and turn it into a cup of coffee… Nevertheless – I picked up a packet of real origami paper at Ace Hardware today. (Think about that – Peg in a Hardware Store, a hardware store that sells origami paper.)

I think I am already living in an old folks asylum – when I went out to the beach early this morning, I was reminded that I should go back to my room and get a sweater, When I was going out for a swim, I was warned that it was cool and windy and that I should be careful. It is actually pretty nice to be looked after.

Have a fine lunch today. Poke. When you live in Hawai’i you have to believe that mercury poisoning is a good thing. Because you are going to eat all the poke you can get your hands or chopsticks on. Just to refresh the memory – poke – is the Hawaiian version of elegant Japanese sashimi. Simply chop up some really fresh fish. Add favorite spicy seasonings. Eat until it is gone. No such thing as leftover poke.

It was a turtle kind of a day. First, this little turtle appears at the end of the pier. He is a regular. Then I found a huge turtle while swimming. I followed him around for a while. But, no surprise, the turtle can swim better than I can.

A little front came through early this morning… so, it was a little wet. But, it dried up nicely.

I spent my 5 mile walking time pondering my move to the Senior Asylum. Any Senior Asylum. But, with the focus on the Goodwin Houses in Northern Virginia. A little summary:

I don’t consider myself “old”. That is denial. Plain and simple. Denial. I am old. I have been getting Social Security for 9 years. No one ever cards me – they just give me the senior discount. In Hawai’i, I am called Auntie. People address me as mam. I don’t enjoy rap music. I have no visible tattoos. I never go commando these days. I am old and in denial.

The average age for moving into a continuing care retirement community (CCRC) is 80. I am not 80. So, I am definitely too young to move to a CCRC. More denial

The Goodwin Houses require a serious chunk of change as a “non-refundable admission fee”. SO, it would make economic good sense to move in sooner rather than later and amortize that cost over more years. I have no problem with the non-refundability of the admission fee. I’ll be dead. If I want to move – well, then I’ll be screwed. So, it behooves me to choose wisely.

Moving to Kona really isn’t an option. I love it here. Adore it here. But part of the charm is that I don’t have any responsibilities. I am a city person. Not a village person. I don’t want to ever need an oncologist. But, if I do need one, I don’t want to have to go on a plane ride to see one. I really like Trader Joe. And public transit. Baseball games. And the ballet. Not the opera. Don’t need opera. Face it – I am a devout city person.

I like travelling. The idea of a bumming around the country in a VW bus is appealing. Around the world in 80 days – where do I sign up? But, this has nothing to do with the Senior Asylum – Unless – I move on to a cruiseship. Old ladies have done that.

Carlton and I both paid $300 to be on the waiting list at the Goodwin Houses. Three days later Carlton died. (No, Carlton – I can not get your money back. Yes, I tried.) While on the waiting list, I can use the gym, eat in the restaurants, and take part in the activities. (Bingo, here I come!). When I get home, I have to absolutely force myself to do something every week at one of the two Goodwin Houses. I know this will help me get a “good” unit. This is working on my denial issues.

The Asylum will cost less per month than I am paying now. And, they feed me one meal a day.

I wandered into a quilting shop and first thing I knew – I had signed up for a all day purse making class. All day next Tuesday, with 2 hours off for lunch. It is across the street from my hotel. Last thing I need is another hobby. But this is a one time project. And doesn’t require any accouterments.