Author: Peg

And the best butterfly – a red-spotted purple admiral – yes there really is such a butterfly – well, it got away. It was out and about when I only had my phone. 

The sun was out. It was glorious. But this just appeared:

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH
390 IN EFFECT UNTIL 11 PM EDT THIS EVENING FOR THE FOLLOWING
AREAS

Well, it was good while it lasted. Tomorrow, I will make another attempt to wade off to the office. Looks like I can get there semi-dry. Then slosh back home. Or maybe Uber it. 

Best part of today: Tacos for Breakfast. But, the butterflies were pretty damn special too. 

Rain and more rain. Got half way to work this morning when I got soaked. All the way through to my underdrawers. In less than a block. Turned around and sloshed back to the Old Bat Cave. Everything, including the Old Bat, needed drying. 

On the other hand, just now, Kona is looking incredible.

Wonder if there is any chance it can last until I get back there.

I may not be able to see the computer after mowing down 7 glasses of wine. I moved into The Asylum 3 years ago today. And, they would not feed me dinner because I was wearing jeans. Well, tonight they put my name on the table along with 7 wine glasses. And, I am going to sashay into the dining room. In my jeans. (Dark wash).

OKAY, I sloshed and waddled my way back to the friendly confines of the Old Bat Cave.Seven courses of dinner, but I missed photographing the pig and red wine course. 

Next was the pig and red wine course – which I was too drunk to photograph.

This is not your mother’s Asylum.

Too easy to declare dinner the best thing that happened today. Gotta narrow it down to the fish course. all things considered, not a bad 3rd anniversary at The Asylum.

No pictures from here today. So, I took a random dive back to Australia and landed in Cairns.

Where they have BATS.

In fact, there was a lot to love about Cairns. So much so, that I might go back for another go at it this winter. 

It is a dilemma. I am running out of time to go places. So, I shouldn’t take do-overs. But, I am running out of time to go places – so, I don’t want to waste it going somewhere crappy.  

Fours years ago today, I came down to the Asylum and give them a $2,600 deposit to get on the waiting list. It was not one of the best days of my life. Little did I know that in less than 2 weeks I would be a widow. 

This photo is from this afternoon here at the Asylum. The woman is the artist and Frank, a resident, is one of those people who can talk the ears off a gargoyle. 

Best thing today: “Computer, tell me a joke about yourself” and Alexa says “A person didn’t laugh at one of my jokes, so I put it on their to-do list and set a reminder.” Hey, it is a rainy day.

Second best thing. Remembering how much I liked Cairns.

Okay, we all have to go vote. In this election. In every election. Even for dog catcher. 

I have this Facebook friend. The nicest lady ever. She would visit you in the hospital. Bring you mac and cheese if misfortune overtook you. Take care of your plants and pets. She is also 100% Trump supporter…

She posted this on Facebook yesterday.

The dear lady completely misses that:

1. It is an obvious Photoshop job. and
2. That her hero is handing a flood victim a maga hat. so
3. The whole thing was put together by the anyone but Trump camp to start with.

This is the mentality of the Trump supporters. They cannot be swayed by reason, common sense, science or truth. We have to vote them into insignificance. 

The original photo – from several years ago in Houston.

The best part of today was when I finished my labors in my weedlot. I moved some plants around – so – I am actually hoping for rain. 

No new pictures tonight. So, this nice fish and the moon from early January. 

I was lost in laundry land all morning. Decided that after 3 years, it was time to wash the bedcovers, mattress pad, all the pillowcases. (The house changes the sheets and one set of pillowcases every week.) We have two washers on my floor, but it is considered very rude to monopolize both of them. So, it took awhile. And, I did my regular laundry as well. On the plus side – all that coming and going to and from the laundry room – I aced my Fitbit count.

I wonder what an old lady’s step count should be? I haven’t been as good as I could be at hitting 10,000 per day lately. AND. I am more than a little fatter than I was when I was getting my 10K in every day. Think this could be cause and effect? 

Best thing that happened today: Well, it hasn’t happened yet. Looking forward to diving into my nice fluffy clean bed! 

You know, maybe I need a better underwater rig. No, forget that!

It’s Aloha Thursday, no work ’til Monday. I am rather tired today. Guess I am just getting old. How can that be? 

That is one of the strangest things about getting old. Asking myself: “How did this happen?” I really never expected to be old. Live hard, die young and leave a beautiful corpse. Never trust anyone over 30. Will, you still need me, will you still feed me, When I’m sixty-four? 

And now I am seventy-four. Maybe I have five years. Maybe I have five hours. Maybe I have twenty-five years. Nobody is promised tomorrow. 

Too bad the village is so crowded!

Best thing today: Dinner on the little patio with friends. Chili, cornbread, red wine, black coffee, and Chocolate Hazelnut Truffle Ice Cream Bomb. 

Three construction cranes right outside my window. Don’t think that any of these will endanger my view of the Washington Monument. But, that is what I see when I look out the window from my desk. 

Tonight there was a huge lineup at dinner. I don’t do lines well. SO, I retreated to the bar where I ordered a burger to go and a beer while I waited. Then I took my beer and burger outside for a nice al fresco dinner. There is always a way to game the system. Any system. Just ask our president.

Spent the morning being tech support for several of my friends. Fortunately, they had easy problems. Spent the afternoon doing an inventory of my sweaters and reading. Mostly reading. I don’t have very many sweaters.  Actually, I have 10. That seems like too many sweaters. Maybe I need to think about my sweaters.

Bad news from Kona – the night security guard (who is a nice old man) at my hotel was assaulted and is in critical condition in hospital in Honolulu. He never has a gun. Three known miscreants attacked him, in the hotel parking lot. 

Good news from Kona – the air is better than it has been in 10 or 12 years.

From the looks of the clouds this afternoon – I think (HOPE?) that we will be drying out soonest.  On the plus side of all this rain — mushrooms.

Lots and lots of mushrooms. I know nothing about mushrooms. So don’t expect me to ID these things. All I know is that rabbits don’t seem to eat them. So, I will not snack on them either.

One of the nurses brought a hospital holiday cookbook from 1981 to the office today. The main attraction was who contributed recipes that was still around. I was most interested in the recipes. Goodness they were dreadful. 

But wait! According to wikipedia – Watergate Salad is real. A Kraft concoction. Check it out. It is green and lumpy. 

I took my HUGE “golf” umbrella to work today. It did the job. It kept me dry. By not allowing it to rain until I was safely back home. Whatever works.  And now we are having a tornado watch. If I see one out my window, I will take a picture. But, I think the evilest weather will bypass The Asylum.

Nothing much happening. And that is completely OK. Grateful that I am not in North Carolina.

In this part of the world, a sure sign of the coming of autumn is flocks of starlings. Our flocks are not huge like in northern Europe – but – you still notice them.  And they make interesting “flight clouds”.  This is just the start of a flock. 

Today’s “good thing” – was brunch. The food was fine. The conversation suitably bitchy. And a tiny little chocolate dessert morsel was outstanding.

And, the sun came out this afternoon. But, not to worry. Rain is promised again tomorrow.

Feeling a little nostalgic looking back 4 years – Carlton was still alive and I was filling out our application to The Asylum. September 16, 2014, I noted that I wasn’t planning on moving until 2016 and hoped that I could manage seated yoga and dinner at 7 PM. Well, I moved in 2015, have a standing dinner date at 5:30 and still don’t do seated yoga.

6 more weeks and I’ll be getting ready for Kona. Heck, I am ready for Kona right now. 

Best lucky thing yesterday was the picture of the Washington Monument from my window. It was cloudy humid and hazy – but for less than 60 seconds the monument and only the monument was illuminated by the setting sun. And my camera was nearby with the correct lens on… one of those times when everything works.