Started the day with a nice walk. Then, it seemed like a good time to do laundry. After I put the clothes in the dryer – I noticed dolphins in the bay. And, nobody was near them – because it was 2 hours to SuperBowl time. So, I figured the laundry didn’t need me. Down to the pier with the new long slow lens.
Best of show
Need more work with dolphins and this lens. And, I missed the paddle boarders. I would normally use them to fix a manual pre-focus. But, it was great to see the show.
Back to the laundry – and I made lunch. Nuked asparagus – two minutes. Added 1/2 an avocado and 1/2 a papaya. And a little balsamic vinaigrette. (Thanks for the asparagus, Billy)
SuperBowl lunch bowl
Rooting for Denver and the Old Guy. Don’t really have much interest in either team.
Sort of a leisure day. Walked up to Safeway and used the last $20 off coupon that I got by getting typhoid and HepA shots at Safeway before going to American Samoa. And, I went down to the Farm Market for avocados and papayas. Then I reminded myself that I am leaving in 3 weeks. So, I need to be careful when grocery shopping. No need to stock up. Time to stock down.
Food. After almost a year and a half, I finally figured out how to feed myself. My all alone by myself self. I like cheese, veggies, hardboiled eggs and salad. I love avocado, papaya, pineapple and fish. All these things are way better in Hawai’i than in Virginia – and – in Virginia the asylum feeds me. So, I have stopped trying to “real” meals. Put some veggies in a bowl. Nuke it for a bit. Add a hardboiled egg or some fish – and there it is – lunch or dinner. If I am feeling really lazy – start with an avocado and lettuce – then I bypass the very arduous microwave part. And there is alway my standbys yogurt and oatmeal. All I need is a bowl, a knife and a spoon. No muss. No fuss. And, it is Real Food.
Tonight – I am going to start with asparagus. Arduous Microwaving!
I have some images on the desktop that I was going to use yesterday when the wifi wasn’t working for me. More snapshots for the BBQ dive. But, no food porn photos.
Big Jake’sBig JakeThe SmokerTomorrow’s BBQ Chicken?Sign in the impeccably clean unisex bathroom.
Another “busy” day today. Walk, swim, lunch with the girls from Iowa. I had salad today. Otherwise, I’d be ordering a new wetsuit from Amazon tonight.
Lovely clear calm water for this morning’s swim. Fish are from today. Click on the fish photos for larger versions.
Good light along the reef – sergeant major fishLooking for dolphins
Dolphins were out there – but they didn’t come over to visit.
Another flying gurnard
He took off – and I was able to get a short little video of him (or her).
Note to Carlton: Friends of Carlton knew that he refused to eat “out”. Especially in restaurants, anykine restaurant: fast, fine or dive. Well, I went out to eat with friends 3 days in a row this week. And, I guess this is my resolution #7: Do one new thing every week for this week.
Rooster – This one has the best pipes.But, this one has all the girls. Both of them.Juvenile Black-Crowned Night Heron
The juvenile night heron was a little bit of a mystery. Shouldn’t have been. The bird was acting like a night hernon. It just didn’t look like a night heron.
(The chickens are at the old airport. The heron at the pier.)
Went out for a ladies lunch today. Fine fun. Then went walkabout in Costco. The fitbit is happy.
Question for Carlton: Do I want to go out to a park this summer? It is the 100th anniversary of the NPS. It would be different without you. But, everything is different without you.
I went out for a swim early this morning and found:
No one in the water
No gear stashed in the rack
A friendly warning
Look around – box jellies.
So, not a good day for me to swim out. I have an irrational fear of jellyfish. (Nevermind that once I went to Chicago just to see a jellyfish exhibit.)
Our Hawaiian box jellyfish are related to the Australian box jellies. But not as vicious. Also, ours come like clockwork 8-10 days after the full moon. They will be gone tomorrow.
They don’t look so bad on the beach.
Started packing for the Way Back train trip. I packed my iPad with audiobooks. (The trip is a month away. Start packing early!)
Regular readers may recall that I won this fine quilt. Fine, handmade, HUGE quilt. Even hand quilted. It has been stuffed in a big trash bag and is on the floor by “Carlton’s side” of the bed here in the Kona Seaside.
I wish I could figure out what to do with it. Get it shipped back to the Old Bat Cave, I guess.
Refresher. I did massive downsizing last year. And, had a studio apartment renovated to my specs. I has two gray walls. Pictures were framed to go on those two walls. My bed, which I had built 50 years ago in Hawai’i is queen size and has 12 drawers. My clothes are in one side – and “Carlton’s side” is used for storage. Which is to say, the California king size quilt in the picture will cover the drawers. I am not sure that would be OK.
The Old Bat Sleeping area
There is a trunk in the corner that Carlton liked. It is filled with old quilts. Quilts that I made. Quilts that my Grandmother made. Quilts that my Great grandmother made. (My Mother didn’t make quilts.) The quilt that is on the bed – I made. It isn’t finely made. Big applique. All machine work. Carlton died on that quilt.
These quilts have been a part of my life. They went to NPS jobs in the summer. They went to picnics. Cosy naps were taken wrapped up in them. A lot of sex was enjoyed under these quilts on cold nights and rainy afternoons. Babies played on these quilts. Cats purred happily on these quilts and kneaded little snags into the fabric. Coffee has been spilt on these quilts. And, tears shed. Did I mention – love made? And, this is just what has happened to these quilts since they have been a part of my life. Who knows what happened to them earlier. There are six quilts. The oldest dates from maybe the 1920s. The “newest” – I made in the late 1980s or early 1990s.
Which brings up the Hawaiian quilt. A beauty. But, there is no room in the quilt trunk. There is no room for it in the Old Bat Cave. If I had gotten it last winter – I would have made room for it one of the walls. I would have had the walls painted beige. And, it would have pride of place on one of my walls.
But, quilts don’t belong on walls. They belong on beds. This new quilt deserves a life. It doesn’t deserve to be stashed in a trash bag in my storage cage.
Our little drinking village with a fishing problem.
Started out the morning on the pier. Thinking about doing some street shooting. But, it is a fine morning and I see some surfers in the distance. So, edgy street photography loses out to surfers.
Young surfer from Hilo at Honls
I got about 120 shots out of three waves this I caught this guy catching. And, to make it more fun for me – he came up and introduced himself and asked me to email him some pictures. No great shots – but some good ones. If you can not get too many surf shots – check out 50 more at:
Another flying gurnard – but the wings are still folded.Lavender tangs – they frequently look like they are smilingBunch of lavender tangsLapakahi State Historical ParkMoonset at the old airport
Yep, I am cleaning off the photos that have stacked up on my desktop. (Click on them for larger versions)
Cloudy and cool and breezy today. So, I think it will be soup for dinner.
Zika and Dengue Virus. When I was in Samoa they had big signs warning about the dangers of Dengue, Chikungunya and Zika. I had to Google Zika. What a difference a month makes. Now Zika is on the national news every night. Dengue is still on the local news every day here in Hawai’i. And Chikungunya is still off the US radar.
I was expecting to have second thoughts about my train trip. But, no buyers remorse. Five days of napping, reading, eating, looking out the window, coffee drinking, giving the fitbit a rest… what’s not to love?
Found 2 pennies while doing my fitbit walk today. Figured that was a sign from Carlton that it was OK to take the long way home. (Picking up pennies was a big deal to Mr C)
Early this morning returing a coffee walk… There were a couple of cop cars outside the hotel – a not unheard at the Seaside. There was a news report of a stabbing at a westside hotel. So, figured that the Seaside was where it happened.
Came up to my room where I see a woman with a Marilyn Monroe complex in a pretty white slipdress with a train case talking to two cops just outside the hotel property. Hummm, she must be the problem. She looked a little like a working girl – but they are usually too savvy to get caught by the cops like that. They can be entrapped, but not busted for some “hotel” offense or the other. So, I figure she was just some silly girl who made a really bad choice man-wise. And, later I notice 3 overstuffed suitcases on the sidewalk as well.
Time passes. She is screaming into her phone. “You said you would be here 2 hours ago. Coming to get me has to me your highest priority today. He left at 3:30 yesterday and the hotel threw me out at 8AM…”
Another couple of hours pass. I am having lunch and notice a man stuffing all the luggage into a late model sedan. The girl is not in sight. I assume she was already in the car.
I hope she learned something from this little drama. Always have a viable Plan B girlfriend. I guess she had a Plan B – it was the guy who came and scooped her off the sidewalk. Sge needs a better Plan B.
Just a normal day today. Got lunch at the grocery and ate it at the beach. 3 guys surfing. 2 girls sunning. This wasn’t the best place to surf today – but it was the best place to eat lunch.
Girls sunning.
Thank you, Carlton for my new previously owned long slow lens.
