Author: Peg

Billy called me up early this morning suggesting sunrise watch, a little walk followed by a big breakfast. I was up for that. And while we were watching the sunrise – we saw our first whales of the season At least 3 and maybe 4. 

The sinus infection is the same. But, that is to be expected. I have had problems with sinus infections for decades. And, mine are almost always caused by viruses so no reason to go the antibiotic route. You just wait. Then you are better. 

For the first time this week, I logged my 5 miles. So, maybe I am a little better. 

Australia has a lot of really cool animals. Maybe I should turn my Aussie Adventure into an animal quest. For sure have to get kangaroos, koalas, emus. Wouldn’t a platypus be cool? Impossible, but cool. 

And here, once again is the traditional Solstice greeting that Carlton and I used for years. Even decades.

Wishing everyone the best of the festive season – no matter what it’s called at your house. In pagan traditions, the solstice is a time to put away the things of the old year and look forward to the new. One observance of the solstice involves extinguishing all the fires in your home before midnight on the eve of the solstice and lighting a new fire the next day. This probably won’t be quite as symbolic if you have central heating. Or if you are in Hawai’i.

The winter solstice falls on December 21 – the word solstice means “sun stopping.” The winter solstice is the day on which the sun reaches as far south of the equator as it gets, and is as such the shortest and darkest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. The solstice marks the rebirth of light for the coming spring.

The winter solstice also marks, among other things, the druid festival of Alban Arthuan – a time for bestowing gifts upon those less fortunate than ourselves. Out of this observance has grown the more popular tradition of gift-giving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, maxed-out credit cards and 70% off sales. May the goddess be with you during this season – but don’t blame her if you get fruitcake again.

I am grateful for that which I have.
I am not sorrowful for that which I do not.
I have more than others, less than some,
I am blessed with what is mine.

Carlton and I did not celebrate Xmas. But, we did observe the solstice. Summer and Winter. 

As for me, I have been enjoying poor health today. No worse than yesterday. Maybe a little better. Treatment plan is still “rest, hot tea, ibuprofen”. But today the sun was out so I did some of my resting on my lanai. Also took a small walk.  

Only have round trip tickets to Brisbane and a train ticket from Perth to Sydney. And I am really tempted to “treat” myself to 3 days on Lizard Island. Heck, the whole trip is a treat for me. “Later” has officially become “If not now, when?”

The gray and damp isn’t the problem. The problem is that I seem to have caught the respiratory bug that has been running around the island. Hopefully, I have a “lite” version. Most people end up going to Urgent Care and getting antibiotics. But, I figure there is a greater than 50% chance that it is viral – so – I’ll pass on a trip to Urgent Care. Rest, hot tea, ibuprofen. For now – that is my “treatment plan”.

While resting I reflected on Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Like so many of us, Meghan had a starter husband. Wonder how starter dude feels about his ex marrying a prince. Megan sure did “the best revenge is living well” thing to the max. 

I started reading the old Travis McGee hardboiled detective books. There were about 20 of them – first one in 1964. Not very intellectual. I believe they are all available in Kindle format. 

 

If you are looking at the skinny tree around Dec 19, 2017 – the header picture is a detail shot of this tree.’s feather and lauhala decorations. 

Gray and rainy (or snowy) all day today. 

I had a nice restful day – a friend made fine enchiladas this morning. She is from New Mexico and knows what she is doing enchilada-wise. So, I had a fine lunch with ample leftovers for tomorrow. 

About the Australian Adventure:

• Round trip from Kona to Brisbane locked in.
• Train from Perth to Sydney paid for – I was planning on going the other direction, but east to west was sold out for February.  So, west to east is good. 
• Got my Aussie Visa. Paid for my Visa with my Visa card.

What more do I need? A plan to get back to the Asylum. A couple of US2AU electric plug adapters. Not in the least concerned that there is anything that I might need or want that isn’t available in Australia. Well, guess I should be sure I have 30 days of BP drugs. 

Donned my gay apparel and went to the Holiday Tea at Carlton’s beloved Hulihe’e Palace. Lots of good food and genteel behavior. 

Last night’s Hotel Xmas party had lots of great food. And, the behavior was more fun than genteel. Let us just  say it ended with a pillow fight. (Well, this is a hotel. We have lots of pillows!)

Back to the Xmas tree series – in addition to the “big” trees there are smaller trees. The Peacock tree – in honor of Princess Kaʻiulani.

I took all these tree pictures for Billy.  And, since the pictures were for his Mother, I got him into this picture. 

Strange weather this afternoon. It is gray, very humid, just feels weird. 2 feet of snow coming – according to the weather guy. Stay tuned.

I have been avoiding the ocean for the last few days. But, today I bundled up in my wetsuit and went for a 30 minute swim when the winds were down and the  sun was up. NOAA says the water temp is 78° – but I don’t believe it.

The sail boat is a 44foot Helia – a sweet ocean going sailing catamaran. You can most likely buy one for about ½ million. This one came up from Kiribati and the captain admitted that he ran out of fuel 3 days before he ran out of ocean. Fortunately, it is a sail boat. The passengers were looking forward to nice juicy burgers for late breakfast or early lunch. 

Figured out why I am having so much trouble with my Australia Adventure. I was behaving like a tourist and not a traveler. I was trying to do everything. See everything. Know when I am going to sleep every day. What I am going to do every day. Where I am going to be everyday. That isn’t me. So, I will get plane tickets. And a room for the first two nights. And, I will get the cross country train tickets. And a room at the distant end of the train. And, I’ll just make up the rest as I go along. I was trying to be all grown up and organized. Screw that. My backpack and I are going to be travelers. Not tourists. Not all who wander are lost.

I might miss out on. a few things. I might end up paying top dollar for plane tickets. But, I will not be stuck going to Darwin when Darwin is expecting a Cat 4 cyclone – just because I have reservations to swim with the crocodiles.

AND…

As you can see, I really don’t need my own Xmas tree. Indeed, Carlton and I never had a tree. I don’t think I ever had any decorations. 

My Australian Adventure is like this origami that I am trying to figure out. When I get all the pieces together – it will be awesome, but, for now the origami is just scraps of paper and the trip is a jumble of options. 

Vulnerable, entitlement, diversity, transgender, fetus, evidence-based and science-based  – There they are. The seven words that the Center for Disease Control is not allowed to use. What the fuck happened to my country? The CDC is what stands between us and plague, smallpox, Marburg, TB, etc. Note the the Orange Lord – science doesn’t care it you believe in it. 

Today, I took pictures of every Xmas tree at Hulihe’e Palace. Well, most of them. I think. Mostly, they are for Billy’s Mom. Who, I gather, loves Xmas trees.

And, I was pretty proud of myself… The Palace wanted me to help with the design of their web page. And, without being snarky I reminded them that 10 years ago I offered to do it for them but they were not interested in my help. And, that now – thank you for thinking of me, but “I don’t do that anymore”. And besides that, you can not have something that is really important to your business in the hands of one old woman who lives in The Asylum. 

I believe that is what Carlton called “Avoid beginnings.” 

Thought some more about Australia – mostly factored in the size of the country, the extreme heat in the north, jelly fish, and my advanced age. I hate jellyfish. Our box jellyfish can ruin your day, but Australia’s box  jellyfish can end your life. 

None of this is going to stop me from going – but – it might influence where I go. Before entered my dotage, I always factored a down day in every travel week. I am thinking I should up that to 2 down days per week. 

 

Feeling a little sub-par today. I think it is a combination of allergies and a poor night’s sleep. I feel better after an antihistamine  and a huge nap. Soup for dinner and I’ll be all good as new. (I hope)

Spent some time making Australia Adventure itineraries. I decided to drop the rock, but add the reef. I understand that Uluru (Ayers Rock) is more than just a really big rock. Just like Grand Canyon is more than just a great big hole in the ground. But, I can not see everything. And I am pretty sure that this will be my last crack at Australia. I am a water person. I would rather spend 3 days looking at the ocean over 3 days looking at a large red rock. 

The weather is chilly and windy. But sunny. And, the town and hotel is having a pre-holiday slow spell. I am having a slow spell too. Trying to learn that slow is OK.

 

Total day off from physical stuff. Fitbit thinks I died. But the old body needed some serious down time. 

I made currency origami hearts for the hotel staff. And, gold origami butterflies for other people. 

And, I tried to plan the trip to Australia – but it has too many moving parts. I have to nail at the one part down and build out from that. 

I was going to skip “the reef” and “the rock”. Am sort of rethinking that now. Which just adds more moving parts. Don’t want to over plan this adventure. If I am going to over plan it – I might as well go on an AARP bus tour!

Back in the 80’s when Carlton and I were bumming around NZ we decided to go to Australia – fortunately we had visas. So, we just went to the Christchurch airport and hopped a plane for Brisbane. No plans, no reservations. Could I just do that again. Just land in Brisbane and wing it. And, 4 weeks later just show up at the airport and come back to Kona.

Today’s local paper: lead article was about what to do in case of nuclear attack and the second article was about cattle rustling. It is a tad weird in Kona this year. 

(And, at this instant it is a wonderful evening in Alabama.)

The plan is coming together for the Australia Adventure. I played with various scenarios today. And, I know it can be hot as the hinges of hades especially in Northern Australia is February – but – so is DC in August.  

Think that for sure I’ll come back to Kona for 3 or 4 days after the adventure. It is a lot cheaper to fly back here and then on to DC – rather than leaving for the Asylum  from Sydney  or Perth. I can also leave my computer, jeans, jacket, gloves, etc here. None of these things will be needed. 

(Still good in Alabama!)

After starting and finishing our holiday shopping – Billy and I went for a little walk. A couple of female monk seals are known to hang out in this area and we were lucky to see both of them.  Male monk seals are in the 300-400 pound range and the females are bigger. This is a good place to hang out. Not many people. And, just off shore is a fish farm – which must supplement their diet with some easy pickings. 

Billy was going to our candy factory to get candy for his Xmas presents – I went along for the ride and decided to get a box myself to use as my “Secret Santa” gift. That is it for my Xmas shopping. Still have to finish my Xmas Butterflies. 

Adventure Plan Monday.

• Kona to east coast of Australia. Direct flights from Honolulu to Sydney, Brisbane and Melborne. Leave stuff at hotel.
• Spend a couple of days east coast of Australia – then take plane to Adelaide and take the train to Darwin. It isn’t the best time of year for this trip – but I am running out of adventure time in my life.
• Figure out how to get to Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia – Snorkel with whale sharks.  OOPS, wrong time of the year for this. 
• Head to Perth.
• Train to Sydney. 
• Back to Kona. Collect stuff. Rest up a few days and head home. 

That is Plan Monday.