Author: Peg

I let my apolitical shields down – and the coming darkness rushed in. I fear for the republic. It happened on my watch. Mea culpa. Enough said. Please, giant meteor – just do it. Just finish us off.

Planning the rest of the way back to the asylum. Still thinking about flying to LAX. Spend the day in LA. Once I get to Union Station in LA, there are lots of options for things to do, depending on how perky I feel after a night on the plane. Then 10 hours to Flagstaff on the train. In Flagstaff, catch a bus to Grand Canyon. Spend 3 nights in Grand Canyon. Bus back to Flagstaff. Spend night in Flagstaff. Back on train at 5:30AM one night to Chicago. Spend six hours in Chicago. Then on the train for one last night. Back to Union Station, DC. Then metro to metro center to pentagon. Bus to asylum in time for dinner. But, the only reservations that I have are for 3 nights in Grand Canyon. 

Well, and there are a boatload of reservations about the future! There are reservations and reservations. 

Rotisserie Chicken and rice was lunch. Maybe egg sandwich on tap for dinner. 

Nice day. The waves showed up as promised. Vog still here, but it didn’t seem to trouble me too much. Got my 5 miles walking in just looking at waves. No swimming. But an hour of yoga. Aside: I have a friend who says she has “old skin”, well, after an hour of yoga – there is no doubt that I have “old ligaments”. 

Thought about what I might do at Grand Canyon. The really wimpy “Rim Trail” is 13 miles long. I can do 1/2 of it one day and the other half the next day. Then I could do a small more challenging trail on the arrival or departure day. I can also read by the fireplace and drink hot chocolate.

No mules for me. They are big and smelly. And, if I train it back to the asylum – I don’t want to smell like a mule for 55 hours! Also, I’d need to get a pair of jeans. Not to mention shoes and a jacket. No mules.

Dinner will be avocado and something. And, I’ll finish up the Grace Hopper book. Also, start a new audiobook. That will be my exciting Saturday night. Which is fine. 

 

 

It was still voggy and the ocean was still cloudy. But, I went out for my 30 minutes of ocean swimming. For no apparent reason, I took the camera. And, a found a cute little juvenile rockmover wrasse. Which I strange, because rarely if ever do I see any rockmover wrasses where I was swimming today. But, I did see one on November 25 – maybe – we now know what she was doing here. 

The juveniles look like little fragments of seaweed. And, they flop around in the ocean like seaweed as well. 

Big surf is predicted for tomorrow. High tide is at 5:30AM. We haven’t had any big surf on this side this winter. And, they haven’t had much surf on the north shores either. We might get 8 to 10 foot waves. The north shores maybe 30 footers. 

Speaking of waves… One of our neighbor restaurants trimmed a tree, big time. Yesterday. When I was doing yoga, I realized that I could see more of the shoreline. In fact, I can actually see where I put Carlton.  He’ll have a fine view of tomorrow’s waves – if they come.

No decisions have been made about how to get to the Grand Canyon and how to get home from the Grand Canyon. Occam’s Razor. It will be real easy to over complicate this. 

 

 

Sort of a yucky day for me. We are having a stretch of vog (volcano fog) and I am one of the unfortunate souls troubled by even “moderate” vog. And the ocean was junky. I logged my 10,000 steps and did my yoga. And just took things easy. And the only photo is from my walk this morning.

Oh, what is vog? Vog is a form of air pollution that results when sulfur dioxide and other gases and particles emitted by an erupting volcano react with oxygen and moisture in the presence of sunlight. When we are lucky the tradewinds blow it away. When the tradewinds vanish – we get vog. This is the first day that I have really troubled by it this winter. 

So enough complaining.

456 – that is how many pictures I took of surfers this morning. The waves were small. The surfers were not all that good. One looked bored. He might have been hanging wall paper. The other one was fat. Not all that uncommon… but this very white guy’s belly and butt kept peeking out of his shirt and shorts. And, the photographer wasn’t on her “A” game either – or I would have managed at least 1 keeper out of 456.

Grand Canyon is a go. Have to coordinate plane, train, bus and hotel. The hotel is the hardest part of the puzzle.

As you can see, there are not many days left. February was all full too. I have a room on March 1 and 2 and then I move to another room on March 3. Now, I just have to figure out how to get there. And out of the there. And back to the Asylum.

Conditions not favorable for photography today. So, here is one from yesterday – which gives another view of the akule school.

Pretty sure that I’ll stop off at the Grand Canyon (GRCA) on the way home. One of Carlton’s old college buddies said he and his lady spent 4 nights at GRCA last year. Which makes me rethink how long to stay. 

Just have to smooth out the logistics and make reservations. Where trains, planes, and greyhound busses are involved reservations are not optional.

Oh, I find myself reading a real book. Well, the book isn’t real, but the subject matter is: a biography of Commander Hopper. “Grace Hopper and the Invention of the Information Age”.

And that is about it from my very boring apolitical self.

Another lazy day. They just keep piling up. But, wait! I am an old woman. A faux-retired old woman. Everyday should be a lazy day. 5 miles walking, 30-50 minutes swimming, 30 minutes yoga. I am not going to live longer. It is just going to seem longer. (And, hey – is this a bad thing?) And, how hard is it to swim 30 minutes in the bay when it it is full of fish? Or, as would say here “choke fish”.

Started a little research on my trip back to the asylum via Grand Canyon, hereinafter referred to as GRCA which is NPS-speak for Grand Canyon. It seems to be doable. Los Angeles to Flagstaff – get off at 5:30 am. Bus to GRCA leaves at 7:45 arriving at 9:30. Spend night (or two) in El Tovar Hotel. Then bus back to Flagstaff leaving at 3:15pm arriving at 6:15pm. Overnight in Flagstaff near station. Hop back on the SW Chief at 5:30AM. Just in time for breakfast. Or hang for another day in Flagstaff? Overnight into Chicago and on to Washington via the Capital Limited. 

It seems pretty easy and makes me wonder how many National Parks can I get to using public transit?

And I gotta check out the weather. Since I have early fall and summer clothes with me. 

I call these fish akule. When they are are juveniles they are called halalu in Hawai’i. Big or little, they are big eyed scad. Good to eat (if you like little boney fish)  but better used as bait to get something tastier. 

The dolphins showed up in a bay a little earlier than usual this morning – before the obnoxious “swim with the dolphins” boats showed up. They put on a nice show for the swimmers, kayakers, and paddle boarders. 

It was a very calm day so I swam around until I got too cold. Found a small pink tailed triggerfish. I like these guys and they are really hard to photograph with my camera. But, that doesn’t stop me from trying.

No real plans have been made about returning to the asylum, yet. 

So you can see why I am not furiously planning my return. 

Had rotisserie chicken and papaya for lunch. Nothing planned for dinner yet. The chicken and papayas are all finished. But, there is a potato. “Baked” potato with avocado and lots of salsa. That would be good. 

Just a lazy day. Now, it is time for yoga. 

 

As I said, absolutely nothing going on today. But, that is OK. 

Thought about our soon to be Russian President. I have almost accepted that the world changed. It changed on my watch. I most share the blame. The center did not hold. Well, at least my declining years will be damn interesting. Maybe the giant asteroid will wipe out humankind and put the planet out of her misery for a while. There are always various doomsday climate change scenarios. Maybe one of them will playout at warp speed. Could happen. A week ago a 26 acre chunk of lava fell off of our island into the ocean. Momma Nature takes care of herself. 

A friend suggested that I should go to Vegas in addition to or instead of Grand Canyon. I think I could maybe swing by Yosemite on the bus. But only if there is a room for me in the Ahwahnee Hotel. Yep, they have rooms in March.

Nice lunch today. Rotisserie chicken and papaya. Cheese and avocado sandwich on tap for dinner.  

 

 

I should say something profound. But, since I swore off all things political, I have become a very dull old woman. 

Still thinking about the way back to the Asylum. Still swimming, walking, and yoga. 

Still getting back to reading. One of my resolutions was to “Read More”. Well, Carlton wouldn’t approve of that resolution. He would say if it isn’t quantifiable, then how do you know if you are doing it… So, the revised resolution Read 50 book in 2017. They don’t have to be “serious” books. Just books. And, since I have a spreadsheet of my Kindle books, it will not be hard to keep score. Carlton loved keeping score. 

I still have the vague “Travel More”… but, since my only travel in 2016 was to and from Hawai’i even one trip will be “more”. 

A cute goldring surgeonfish from today’s swim. They are called kole in Hawaiian and in olden days, kole were placed under posts during construction of a house for good luck. Good luck for the humans, not so much for the fish. 

 

We were married on January 5, 1994 in our living room, on a snowy afternoon in front of the fireplace. Getting married was not my idea. It was Carlton’s. As these pictures clearly show. We had been together 15 years. It was working. So, why fix it? Carlton said – I didn’t have to consider it a marriage, I could just consider it a business merger. But, getting married was “the right thing to do”, just like moving to the asylum was “the right thing to do”. 

BTW – Carlton was the wedding planner. He made ALL the arrangements. Today would also be Carlton’s 44th AA anniversary. 

I still wear my wedding ring. I still consider myself Carlton’s wife. Which is sort of funny since I refused to change my name. And, no, now that he is gone, I don’t regret not changing my name. 

This one is for all my new friends at the Asylum. Carlton was a volunteer at GHBC then and he drafted me to come down and sing Xmas carols. Not because I wanted to, because I could sing harmony. 

Today’s best fish photo…

Thinking seriously about flying into LA then taking the train to DC. An expansive trip would include a detour to the Grand Canyon. Amtrak runs a bus – to GRCA. There is also a frou-frou excursion train. Gotta check out the details. And, the “normal” weather in early March. I will not go on a mule ride at my advanced age. Nevermind that I don’t have any long pants. Or boots. 

Planned activity: parasailing. That would be here in Kona. Maybe on Jan 20th???

Well, this week’s Do Something New – going on a monk seal quest early this morning. Monk seals were found. My contribution was leaving my real camera at home. Took only the cheap underwater Olympus. All of today’s photos are with that camera. 

Apparently monk seals do three things. Look for food. Eat food. And sleep. The larger one was in the water. 

She swam over to look at us and soon swam out into the open ocean. Looking for food, I guess. 

These monk seals are endemic to our islands and there are only 1,000 or so left on the planet. Most of them wisely hang out on our uninhabited northern islands. Yes, there are many more than the 8 Hawaiian Islands that you many have heard of… Depending on who is doing the counting there are 132 – 159 islands in the fine state of Hawai’i. The Island of Hawai’i – AKA The Big Island is the largest and southeastern most. This is where I live. Kure Atoll is the most northwestern land mass. It is less than 200 acres and was once a LORAN station. Now it is a favorite resting place for monk seals.

No swimming today. Boat day. And, the ocean is just too busy. Also, I need to give my aged body a little recovery time. So, just walk and yoga today.

While walking home from breakfast – I decided to try my underwater camera out on the “Hong Kong Orchid Tree”

I was rather pleased with the job it did. I might have to take this camera back east with me. Rather than leaving it in storage here for next year. I never leave anything here that I really like. I bring my wetsuit and mask home to the mainland, but leave my fins here. Most of my clothes stay here. None of my technology stays here. 

Time to think about going home in a six weeks or so… Directly? Take the train across country again? Travel home by going west? The earth is round. That will work.