Author: Peg

Don’t know enough about wana – or sea urchins – to know what kind this is. We have lots of different wana in the area.

Failed to do anything remarkable today. Walked 5 miles. Went to yoga. Went to the beach for a little swim and a lot of people watching. Had tuna, avocado and tomato for lunch. And, that might be dinner too. Read some. And played with the camera. Since my ability to read is returning – I am giving the camera manual another go.

Tomorrow is my day off from exercise. The body is ready for a day of rest. Of course, if I want to actually do anything – I still have to walk… But, maybe not 5 miles.

 

Just because I live in a hotel, doesn’t mean that I don’t have a few domestic chores. I did my laundry, went grocery shopping and cooked up rice cooker “Chicken, rice and broccoli”. The meal was good and I have two additional meals. All stashed away in the newly defrosted fridge in disposable microwavable bowls. Did I mention I hate washing dishes? Thank you Carlton, for years of dish washing.

Went to yoga this morning. I have been doing three 75 minute classes a week. That is about all I can afford and about all my body can stand. So, it works out fine.

I am enjoying being here – but, I am starting to get a little antsy. I think I want to be back in Arlington getting stuff “settled”. I need to get over this little impatient period. Sort of Carlton-like behavior. Wanting to get stuff done that isn’t ready to be done or that doesn’t need doing at all.

Today’s “adventure” was a crab hunt. The ghost crab to be precise. There are two kinds of ghost crab in Hawai’i. The Horn-Eyed and the much more ghostly Pallid ghost crab.

Ghost crabs eat almost anything, they are sort of nature’s tiny beach cleaners. They adjust their color to match the color of the sand on “their” beach. If a crab is moved to a different color beach – it will change color over time to match the new beach.

 

This guy is the a’ama crab. It lives on rocks along the shore line. All of our shoreline rocks are black – so a’ama crabs are also black – but – they are really red. When they molt – they leave red shells behind. These guys are good to eat. Raw. Not steamed. They know they are tasty so they are pretty skittish.

My ability to read has been returning. My ability to read a complete paragraph vanished the day Carlton died. But, as my ability to read has returned – I realize that my ability to read had been fading for the last two years. Without really noticing, somewhere along the way I stopped reading books. I still listened to audiobooks – but, my concentration was not up to reading a book. Or even the newspaper.

Note to Carlton: You used to make the bed. Every single day. As soon as you got out of bed, you made it up. If I rumpled the bed up during day – you would remake it. You said it was a part of your AA program. Well, you will be happy to know that I have taken over the job of making the bed. Every morning.

Aside: I am living in a hotel. But, the maid only comes to tidy my room twice a week. So, I have ample opportunity to practice bedmaking.

Lots of dolphins around this afternoon. I got many of pictures of “where the dolphin was”. And a few OK dolphin shots. But it was nice just sitting on the dock of the bay…

Went out to breakfast this morning at Bubba Gumps with a friend. That counted for lunch as well, and dinner will be very small. Eating out with friends, that is a change that I have made in my life since Carlton checked out. Carlton really hated eating anywhere except at “home”. If we were traveling “home” was the motel room. Maybe in 35 years we ate “out” 5 times max.

And one last dolphin photo…

First high school canoe race of the season. Within a couple of boat lengths of the start line the yellow canoe flips and the #11 boat runs over the #7 boat.

The owner of the legs in the previous photo appears to be OK. The race continues.

The yellow canoe is being righted. Numbers 7 and 11 are off and racing. It is a long race – so the yellow canoe will continue.

Within feet of the finish line – number #7 flips. In this photo it is already a goner and the guy in the 2nd seat knows it.

It was an altogether finest kind day on the water.

What’s not to love? Think I’ll get out there for my daily mental health swim.

(I know I should pull some of the blue cast out of the first boat images. But, I am too lazy to go back and do it just now. Maybe later. Or maybe never. And some of the boat shots are about twice as big. Click on them if you want to see more.)

Blow up beach toys perk up any photo.

A nearby 3 story condo must have a pretty bad case of termites. It has been all bundled up in festive red and white strips for the last 2 days. Termites – one of the bad things about Hawai’i. Snails in your Xmas trees is another bad thing. Our village is short Xmas trees this year – because 1,500 of them were infested with snails. The trees were not allowed to land – they were sent back to the west coast. Somehow, I think they got dumped out in the ocean.

Yesterday, I took pictures of the night heron catching a boxfish. He caught another one this morning. Boxfish must be a regular menu item for our neighborhood heron.

How exactly did I go from being we to being me? Exactly how do I be me instead we?

The boxfish must be hard to get down. It is a really FAT fish. Unlike puffer fish – that are all full of air… boxfish maintain their shape with bones. Kind of like the difference between the Goodyear Blimp and the Hindenburg.

(The heron is not in full adult plumage. I’d guess it is nearly 3 years old.)

On my day off – I made two trips to the post office to mail a Xmas package to my office. There was an altercation underway on my first trip. Carlton and I are famously averse to altercations. Life is too short for unpleasantries. Especially if some one might “Go Postal”.

I went to MickyD’s for an Egg McMuffin and picked up some sushi for my dinner. I broke out my wetsuit today and went for a nice leisurely swim. An altogether fine day off.

I don’t know if this link will work – but here is a nice article from the Post about being a cadaver at Georgetown. Try it.  That is where Carlton is so supposed to be. Waiting for his turn on center stage.

Carlton, they are still fussing over you in AA. I know you would be saying “principles not people”.  I am not fussing over you very much. I still wear my wedding ring. I imagine I’ll wear it until I die. I may have “something” done with your ring when I get home. There will be no Carlton shrine in my home. The Carlton shrine is in my heart.

I may not be fussing over you, but I miss you like crazy. Especially all the time.

 

I was a little depressed this afternoon. Again. I think is is because it was cloudy. Which made me decide to not go for a little swim. I was hanging out on the pier with my camera – when – the sun came out. I quickly returned to my room, suited up and went for a little swim. And felt much perkier. So, the lesson here is – be careful on cloudy afternoons and go for a swim – no matter what. The ocean seems to be important to my mental health.

Tomorrow is Thursday – and my “scheduled” day off. Last Thursday was Thanksgiving and I went to a luau. That is not the time to take off exercising. Any how, tomorrow will be a day off exercising. Instead of heading off on a 5 mile brisk walk at 0-Dark hundred – I’ll put the right lens on the camera and go looking for the night heron.

Note to Carlton: I have gotten rid of all the stuff you had stored/stashed here in Kona. Your “Palace box” went to Billy per your directions. I put your slippahs out for the homeless. Most of your clothes had seen better days several years ago and I really don’t want to see your shirts on our homeless population – so, your clothes went into the trash. That is where they belonged. Your snorkel gear was a big hit at the thrift shop. Who knew you had 4 snorkels and 5 masks? And, finally, I gave Ben your tools yesterday.

On December 1, 2012, Carlton was being a museum guard at a fancy fundraiser at his Palace. When he came home from the event he said “You know that bump on my chest? It ruptured.” That started my worrying. My campaign to get us back to Arlington ASAP to have that thing looked at. My attempts to convince Carlton that sensible people did not go in the ocean when they have an open wound. We didn’t get back to Arlington ASAP, he continued to go in the ocean. We ended up with metastatic squamous cell cancer and a raging life threatening infection. This ended with a massive amount of radiation to his sternum in December 2013. Which weakened his heart. Which is why I am a widow in December 2014.

And, I think it is why I am dealing “so well”. I had 2 years to get ready. The Merkel Cell Carcinoma was just a bonus cancer that showed up in the spring of 2014. If the heart attack hadn’t gotten him the Merkel was waiting to nail him sooner not later.

I found this picture today. I was wondering if the fundraiser was taking place this year. I went to the old website and it was abandoned. But, surprise – there was a picture of Carlton on the header banner. They used a 2012 photo to advertise the 2013 event. There is no 2014 event.

The black crowned night heron that we call ‘Auku‘u is the same night heron that is found in North America. It wasn’t brought here. It is one of the birds that were blown here.

Hawaiian proverb #1812, “Kohā ka leo o ka ‘auku‘u,”  – “The voice of the ‘auku‘u is heard to croak,” and referred to “…a snooping gossip. The ‘auku‘u bird lives in the upland and goes to the lowland for fish, often snatching them from people’s ponds.”

I feeling a little “down” this afternoon. Maybe because it is cool and cloudy. Maybe because Carlton is dead. Maybe just because. Maybe I am just bored. Must remind self that sometimes I felt like this when Carlton wasn’t dead. Anyhow, the camera and I went down to the pier. I removed the plastic lens that and put real glass on the camera.

Gotta have a little talk with myself and blast myself out of this funk. Think more about others and less about Peg’s issues. Go to yoga tomorrow morning. That should get things going in the right direction.

I figured these fine old cars deserved a little vintage post processing. They show up every Saturday AM for breakfast at Splasher’s Grill. This photo was taken with the plastic fisheye lens. I have fine Leica glass – but I have more fun with the plastic lens.

A couple of photos from the Old Airport on Friday –

These two photos were taken with real glass.

Got thru November as a widow. Well, in 6 hours I will have made it. All things considered, I liked September heaps better.

I did not rouse myself sufficiently to go down to the pier to see the crazies in person. Yesterday was swim 6.2 miles. 6.2 miles is a long f-ing way to swim in the open ocean. So, most of the swimmers had a canoe following them for safety and refreshments. The fastest swimmer was done in 2 hours and 31 minutes. The slowest 5 hours and 12 minutes. After that – the crazed ones hopped on bikes and rode 90 miles. Mostly uphill. They took the night off and this morning headed off on a 172 mile bike ride. The survivors will run back to the village tomorrow – that will be 52.4 miles. There are 38 folk, male and female, doing this. Believe it or not, this event is in it’s 30th year. And, it is by invitation only. Sorry, I know you all wanted to do this.

I am not optimistic about the Xmas shopping season. I was on my walk today when I passed Wal Mart. Well, I was hot so I decided to take a few laps around inside Wal Mart to cool off. The lines for checkout seemed manageable – so – I picked up some Woolite for my yoga togs. When I went to checkout there were at least two checkers actively looking for customers. This should not be happening.

You know Carlton, the idea of moving out of Northern Virginia is starting to wander around my brain. Or getting a studio unit at the old ladies asylum – so – I’ll have more travel money. Except for a nice comfy reading chair, I have everything spacewise that I need right here in this hotel room. But, we knew that all along. Where would I move? Honolulu, Portland, Seattle, Key Largo, Paris, Pago Pago?? Do I have to actually live anywhere?