Author: Peg

Ok, I should have this widow woman shit down pat by now. And, I think I am doing pretty good.

Today, I was very grateful for all the great years Carlton and I had. I dug out an old “burn list” for our “exit lines” CD which we listened to in the car anytime we were going to a funeral.

Name	Artist
A Change Is Gonna Come	Neville Brothers
The Far Side Banks Of Jordan	June Carter Cash
N Dis Life	Israel Kamakawiwo’ole
Looking Forward	Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
Goodbye My Friend	Keali’i Reichel
Someday Soon	Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
Dress Sexy At My Funeral	Smog
St James Infirmary	Louis Armstrong
Box of Rain	Grateful Dead
Tears In Heaven	Eric Clapton
Will The Circle Be Unbroken	Neville Brothers
See That My Grave Is Kept Clean	B.B. King
Only Good Times	Keola & Kapono Beamer
The End of the End	Paul McCartney

An eclectic assortment.  Rock, Hawaiian, R&B, Country. And that was kind of us. I made the first version of this for cassette tape from real vinyl records.  Every five years or so, I would tweak it. But, it always had to fit on an old school CDDA format CD.

And, I still have all those tunes on Forbin – so, I fired up the list, put on the headphones and listened. Carlton and I did a lot of talking about death and life with these tunes in the background.

Such a long long time to be gone
And a short time to be there

 

When I needed all the help in the world just to get across the street – Faye was there for me. When Faye would need a little support for the Palace, I tried to be there. This afternoon, I heard that Faye died unexpectedly. But, as she wished.

It was a good afternoon to received such somber news.

I took these pictures 5 years ago today. Carlton was coming back from a bike ride and I was going out for a little walk before cooking dinner. My camera was on burst mode and I just fired it off as he was crossing the street while I was waiting for the light. Later that evening, I deleted the pictures. And a couple of days later I got them out of the trash can. Because these are the last pictures I took of Carlton – while he was alive. We should all be riding our bikes the day before we die.

A hui hou malama pono.

Now I can say “This month I will be going back to Hawai’i.”

I take pictures of people all the time. Every now and then someone sneaks up on me. Who is this old woman?

 

Ever since I moved into The Asylum, this rather scary 7-foot tall bronze statue of a 1950’s woman has graced the atrium. After a while, you get used to her. And eventually, you can sort of like her.

The Iron Lady – whose real title is Woman Power – is the work of one of our elderly residents, Caroline Hufford-Anderson. She died at the age of 96 last week. She was active in every good cause that ever there was in Arlington for years.

I am not feeling so very perky right now. My left shoulder has gone seriously wonky. And, my left leg – which was better than the right one is feeling a little “off” today.  All part of the decay/aging process I guess. It doesn’t matter what is wrong with me. What matters is how I deal with my decaying body. For now, I am ignoring it. Nobody gets out alive.

A rather fine stink bug find. These are considered good stink bugs because they dine on other not so fine bugs. The bite the victim and then suck out their insides through that long orange tongue/straw.  Using the usual macro lens. (Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 60mm f/2.8 Macro Lens).

Called Kona. I am expected. “My” room awaits me. Speaking of Kona.

This shot is from another camera on to of The Fish Hopper. I wanted to see the Royal Caribbean Ovation of the Seas. It has about 4,000 passengers. And is about twice as big as the usual cruise ships that stop in Kona.  It doesn’t seem to have had an impact on the fishing. So, life is good in Kona.

 

A fritillary and st michaelmas daisy is a close as I can get to fall today.  Summer is hanging around a little too long for me. Enough with the heat.

I found this tiny little flowering plant in our garden. Looks like something that should pop up in spring.

Oh, now I know what it is.  It is some sort of cyclamen.  Give my elderly brain a high five for pulling that out of the mush up there.

OK, what now? Before breakfast this morning, I finished up my last four videos. After breakfast, I moved a bunch of the files off Forbin. Now, what should I be doing? This project has soaked up most of my spare time for the last 4 months or so.

I went for a walk and stopped in to check out one of my special little charities. Phoenix Bikes.  After many years in an old storage shed, they now have a nice little setup in a community center near The Asylum. But, I think that they are still good people, helping kids on lots of levels.

Spent absolutely all-day finishing up the little project for the Employee Gift Fund. By this time tomorrow, I will be done. Hey, someone over in Maryland just had a little fireworks show. Very little. But still fireworks. Thank you whoever you are in Maryland. I love fireworks.

What do I love?

1. 1. 1. Fireworks
      2. Guinness
      3. Dark chocolate
      4. Almost anykine icecream
      5. Being outside
      6. Dinner with my Asylum sisters
      7. Turtles
      8. Octopuses
      9. Butterflies
      10. Remembering the good times Mr C and I had.

Not too shabby a list. Superficial. But, that would be me.

When I get upset with my country, it is good to be reminded that people actually want to become citizens. And, it is great that the residents of The Asylum pay the citizenship fees for the employees. Elizabeth has been in the US for 11 years and she has been a housekeeper at The Asylum for 9.

The current fee for a U.S. citizenship application is $725. That total includes $640 for application processing and $85 for biometrics services, both of which are nonrefundable, regardless of whether the U.S. government approves or rejects an application. A non-trivial chunk of change.

Diligently working to finish my project for the Employee Gift Fund. It has gotten to the brutally boring phase. Being sure that everything is lined up. All the transitions are smooth. And, that I am not going to bore everyone to death or offend too many people.

Went out this afternoon for a little nature photography. I took the Olympus 60mm micro  4/3s macro lens.

As luck would have it – the first thing I found was a robin. So, I shot the robin with my macro lens.

And then I found a nice butterfly.

 

Got home from the office.  Tired as usual on Wednesday.  After a much needed little nap, I discovered that my Pen F camera had just returned from the shop. I started getting the settings back as I want them, and went out for a couple of bee shots.

The camera seems to be “good as new”. Now, if only I can get the settings reset  to what I like! Back in the day it was ISO 400, F8, and whatever shutter speed seemed OK or the lightmeter suggested. And that was it as far as settings went.

Got my flu shot today too. I got it in my “bad arm”. Figured that I would give that damn arm something to complain about. And, at least I still have one “good”  arm/side to sleep on. When you get old, you discover that if you have two of a thing – one will go bad. Guess that is whey we get two arms, legs, eyes, etc.

Anyhow, the bad arm hurts like crazy now.

Updated my iPads to iPadOS 13.1 . It was a quick update. And, except for a dark mode, I haven’t seen much new. But, I haven’t played around a lot yet either. As you might imagine – I live DARK mode.

It’s Aloha Wednesday. No work ’til Monday.

The big bee up in the header was taken with my  Olympus 60mm micro  4/3s macro lens. And the other bees are with the Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 14-150mm f/4-5.6 II Lens.

It was a strange day. Crazy at work. Lovely weather. Yoga. 4th anniversary of my move to the asylum. Brownies and ice cream.

And – the unveiling of “The Asylum Sisters Pleiades Totem”

We each have a spirit animal. elephant, lion, turtle (that would be mine), pig, cat, orangutan, and Maryland blue crab.

 

Senior Quest for Meaning: Mission and Motivation. This isn’t going to end well. Or I am going to really want some of the shit that our senior management is smoking.

The Spiritual Life Committee has planned a series of inter-religious and humanistic reflections on a topic basic to human life and meaning. The theme this year is “Nurturing Our Spirits: Goodwin House in the Next Decade.” We will hear primarily from leadership and staff about how they see the mission statement of Goodwin House fostering and motivating them and encouraging Goodwin House to grow and develop over the next ten years. The first introductory panel: “Mission and Motivation” will feature our new CEO  RL and Chair of the Board of Directors MH  and Resident Council member CB discussing their spirituality/values and the ways in which Goodwin House’s mission can enhance them and encourage them in new directions.  September 24 7:30PM.

Earth to Goodwin House. A Mission Statement is not a spiritual path. No matter what the long-range planning people say…

When the house starts printing shiny brochures touting such drivel – it is time to be sure that I have a good solid Plan B. I do.

I am going.  To “Observe by watching” to quote Yogi Berra. His quotations could be a damn good spiritual path.

But wait. It’s not all grumpy stuff. My Pen F camera has been repaired and is coming back.

I am not 100% happy with the sturdiness of Olympus gear. But. I always buy used cameras – and you never know for sure how hard they were used before they were traded in. I seem to get 2 years and then they go off to the shop for an overhaul. I have a friend here that go less than 2 years on hers.

Coming to the end of my fundraising task.  And I have pictures left over.

I have the utmost respect for the people who feed us day in and day out. I get tired of the food. I fuss about it. But the kitchen staff work damn hard getting the job done. And, I bet they get tired of cooking the same stuff too.

And this captures the very best of The Asylum.

All of these were taken in color and converted to black and white. Because I think best in black and white. Remember when Ted Turner colorized his black and white movie catalog? Fortunately, about that time he married Jane Fonda and she made him stop that shit.