Author: Peg

Feeling sore after Sunday’s yoga class. The body is too used to yoga at a hospital or at an old folk’s home. Not used to real yoga classes. But, I think I’ll go back for more tomorrow. Maybe I’ll just do every other chaturanga dandasana. 

But, I did go for a nice little swim. 

Lots of hawfish today. They perch on top of the coral heads and just wait for lunch to swim by. The whitish spots on the coral are parrot fish nibbles. 

This is the only parrotfish that I got today – and you can sort of see her teeth. Parrotfish cruise lazily around taking little bites out of coral. Coral is their entire diet. They process whatever nutrients that are available and poop out the rest as sand.  A UH study some years ago found that a large Hawaiian parrotfish would poop out about 850 pounds of sand per year. Pretty impressive. This is a smallish parrotfish so maybe 100 pounds? If you like your nice sandy beach – thank a parrotfish.

On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron. H.L. Menchen Baltimore Sun, July 26, 1920. 

Another fine day in exciting downtown Kailua-Kona. The sun came up. The tides came and went. No worries.

I logged about 3.5 miles on the fitbit, 30 minutes in the ocean and 45 minutes napping. No pictures from the snorkel run. Not the fishes fault. Mine I think. I tried some new settings on my camera. Back to the old settings tomorrow. 

My friends sent me some advertising – just in case I wanted to go shopping.

BUT WAIT THERE IS MORE! 

“On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”  H.L. Menchen Baltimore Sun, July 26, 1920. 

 

I love the ocean. Today, I was feeling confident enough to swim out to the little coral reefs. And, it was totally wonderful. Well, except for this creature.

The crown of thorns starfish is native to Hawai’i and most of the time aren’t a real problem. But they are still big, ugly and menacing looking. (they are problems in other oceans)

I had a fine day today. Went to a “hard for me” yoga class at 7:30 this morning. Then I went for that nice swim. And, I made pineapple, avocado and tuna salad for lunch. Spent the afternoon reading, Nightmare in Pink,  a 1965 novel in John D. McDonald’s Travis McGee series. Carlton had a lot of Travis McGee books in our Amazon account. 

And, here is Carlton in all of his butter bars glory with hot air in hand. Carlton didn’t consider himself a veteran. His active duty Army career was only so-so. Apparently one of his CO’s wasn’t too pleased with Lt Combs. So, as soon as possible Carlton became a civilian. Carlton called himself a Sunshine Soldier – he was on active duty after Korea and before Vietnam. He spent most of his time in the wilds of Oklahoma – Fort Still. 

“On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”  H.L. Menchen Baltimore Sun, July 26, 1920. 

No martial law yet. Damn, that pusillanimous creature.  

It really isn’t funny – business is seriously down at my little hotel. This is Saturday of a 3 day weekend and the joint should be busier. Well, I am doing my part. 

I hate it when that happens! When my Fitbit battery dies and I didn’t get credit for 2 miles of walking. Half of it, seriously uphill. Well, I had my phone in my back pocket.

But, I don’t always trust Shamu II.

Yesterday, Shamu had me walking on water. Trust me. I didn’t take it swimming and I don’t walk on water. 

Technology is pretty insane. Hard to imagine that my TELEPHONE did all that. And took both the pictures on this page. 

The Orange Lord was a no-show at a military cemetery outside of Paris at a ceremony to honor 11/11/18. It was raining. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron all made it. Well… Enough said.

“On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”  H.L. Menchen Baltimore Sun, July 26, 1920. 

Cannot think of a single thing to write about tonight. That might be a good thing. I have nothing to complain about. Well, except maybe, the MacBook’s voice recognition software. Seems to me, that Google’s works better. So, let’s make an experiment.

Yep, the Google phone did a better job. Maybe, some sort of training is required. Because this really doesn’t work very well. But, who gets trained? Me or the software? I did not have to train the Google software.  And, I did install the “enhanced voice recognition” enhancements. Oh well, stay tuned. 

Found a fine little school of Moorish Idols on this morning’s swim. It was still a little murky. But it was still good. Also went for a nice walk. Didn’t overdo it and I stopped halfway through for a coffee. I am learning to be an old person. Learning to slow down. Stop and drink the coffee. 

Looked over my lanai after lunch and what did I see? A mongoose.  Pretty sleek looking fellow. 

According to the local paper, another couple of people on Big Island turned up the Rat Lung Worm. It’s not an extremely  serious disease, but the name just grosses me out. 

And, I guess the good news is that martial law hasn’t be declared, YET. 

“On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”  H.L. Menchen Baltimore Sun, July 26, 1920. 

I wonder if it is correct to call these babies “moorish idols”? Seem a little like calling Brazil Nuts – N-word Toes. I am surely not going to call it a Zanclus cornutus. 

The ocean was a bit too murky when I went out for nice pictures. And I have been reluctant to swim out to my favorite snorkeling spot. I am not sure that I am strong enough. Hopefully, my confidence will return. I have been coming here for over 20 years and this is the first year that I have felt “less fit, less physically able” than the year before. It is not a good feeling. I shouldn’t surprise me. I am rapidly approaching the ¾ century mark. I should be damn grateful that the old equipment held up as well as it did for as long as it did. 

Thinking back, I guess Carlton started cutting back some when he was in his early 70s. He went from playing tennis every day to every other day. He cut his one mile up a steep hill morning walk here in half. When he died at 79 he was by no means confined to a rocking chair – but he wasn’t the energizer bunny that he had been when he was a mere boy of 65. 

Note to self. Deal with it. Nobody cares. You shouldn’t either. 

I was smart enough to keep the flash forced off today. 

I have a TV here, I could watch the news. Thinking about starting pool – when will The Orange Lord declare Martial Law? That would be something new for me. I know Japanese Americans who were interned durning WWII. I remember the House un-American Actives Committee. I remember Kent State and Bloody Sunday. But, I don’t remember Martial Law. It could happen boys and girls. It could happen.

Lounging in bed, drinking coffee and looking at Facebook when one of my friends announces that she just got back from walking her dogs and it wasn’t even sunrise. Well, I figured I should get my sorry ass moving. 

Later in the day I went for a nice swim. But, my underwater shots today were all ruined by backscatter. I salvaged some Collector Urchins.  Or Decorator Urchins. Some believe that these urchins just sort of pick up debris accidentally – like cats collect dust bunnies. Hence Collector Urchins. Others suggest that the urchins pick up debris on purpose. For camouflage, UV protection, who knows? Hence Decorator Urchins. 

Backscatter is what the white spots are called. It was my own fault. My camera’s flash was supposed to be force off. But I accidentally had it forced on. I should know better. No way I can say “whatever happened is what I planned” with this one!

Now what about dinner? Made potato, chicken and avocado salad for lunch. That about wiped out my culinary creativity for the day. Fortunately, I like sandwiches. 

Missed my morning walk today  so I went for my morning walkabout about 12 hours late. At sunset vice sunrise.

And up then I stop and wait for sunset.

My friend, Billy, leaves for 3 weeks on the east coast later this evening. He has been house and cat sitting for a while. He took me up to enjoy the cooler weather and check out view and house while he cleaned up. I do enjoy visiting his various houses. This one had two laundries. One washer and dryer in the garage for the really dirty clothes and another set in the laundry room for normal dirty clothes.

Time for dinner now. Peanut butter and banana sandwich I am thinking. Had a big breakfast. And cookies. Not exactly starving. Hummm, thinking about what is in the fridge – think I’ll make a salad with chicken, potato and pineapple tomorrow.

Can it really be Monday? It doesn’t seem like Monday. Sun is shining. Trade winds are doing their job. Ocean is still warm enough. Life is good.

This afternoon, I went for another “test”  swim. This time I took my fins. The creaky old legs did OK with the fins. Took the little underwater camera out too. I was rather cautious and stayed in pretty close to shore. As I said, life is good. 

However, a little bluestripe butterflyfish swam under my lens. They are common in Hawaiian waters. But not very common where I usually go, so, it was nice to see.

Add to that a little walking – almost 4 miles today. A little visiting. Some reading. And I clicked “unsubscribe me” from half a dozen emails that clog up my inbox. I don’t really care what is on sale at any clothing store. So, I don’t need their emails. 

Tomorrow – the most continuous election in my memory – it is just setting the table for 2020. And no matter which side wins – our nation is still loses. 

So for a little peace and tranquility – I leave you with 

 

 

I did absolutely nothing today. Only 2 miles on the FitBit. Decided that some downtime was called for. I have actually been running around like crazy all week. Some back in Falls Church and some here. 

It is my Energizer Bunny approach to life. Time to cut back a little.  I was talking to one of my friends about this yesterday. Telling her that I really wasn’t able to do as much as I could in days past. I mentioned that I am totally freaked out by doing less, cutting back, etc. She laughed at me. Said that most people started cutting back way earlier. I think there will be plenty of time to rest after I am dead. We’ll see. This do absolutely nothing day has been pretty sweet.

Did go for a little walk this morning – checked out Old Airport. In the 8 months that I have been away the beach has changed. That is the way beaches are.

As usual for Saturday AM – the local old car guys meet up to talkstory and eat breakfast. 

Across the street, on the pier, predawn fishing is winding down.

I am nicely settled in. Shortly after sunrise, I made a hike to the grocery for eggs and salsa. Happy to report that I was able to open the bottle of salsa – this is not always the case. And I made my most favorite breakfast – English muffin, microwaved egg, avocado, and salsa. And coffee.

Plans are in place for Thanksgiving dinner. Costco Chicken, Stove Top Stuffing, canned cranberry sauce, salad, and that only in Hawai’i treat Pumpkin Crunch from the grocery. Oh and wine. 

Went on a walk – got over 5 miles in today. AND, I went for a nice little swim. Yesterday I just floated around. Today I actually swam. Without my fins. Tomorrow I will try the fins.  This is good. I really wasn’t ready to hang up ocean swimming. I really like fins. So, I hope I can still manage them. This old age crap sucks. But, for now, it beats the alternative!

And another exciting day in downtown Kailua-Kona comes to sunset

Another lazy day of re-entry. At 0630am my friend the night auditor and I walked up the hill to Safeway and Walmart. Actually, she did Safeway and I did Walmart. Stocked up on things like laundry soap, toothpaste and a really cheap yoga mat. My friend was going to stop off and feed the feral chickens. But, I came directly home. Now isn’t that an exciting way to spend the day. 

I managed to get 5 miles on my fitbit. And I “prepared” 4 meals: Breakfast, 2nd  breakfast, lunch and dinner. 

I ended up with a toaster this year. So, I made avocado toast (or rather avocado English muffin) for dinner yesterday. Dinner tonight was peanut butter and banana on English muffin, Hopefully, I will remember how to cook soon. Since I have a toaster, I guess I could have Poptarts. Or Eggo waffles. 

Went for a little float around the ocean this afternoon. Maybe tomorrow I do the fins, mask and snorkel routine. Since my legs have been giving me so much discomfort of late – I am more than a little concerned about my ability to swim. I should have experimented in the pool back at the Asylum. But, that experiment fell into the category of asking questions that I don’t want answers to.