Weak internet tonite

So, I’ll just use the iPod. Worked on the photo scanning project today. And on the cookbook project. Also went for a nice swim and lounged by the pool. Alll that without Internet.

How can I leave this?

A nice sunset

Spent most of the day scanning old photos at our local palace. I have done about 1,000 so far. Shoe boxes hold lots of forgettable images.

We had little meatball subs and chocolate pie for lunch today. Tuna, rice, avocado and papaya on tap for dinner. Did I mention that there is a diet in my future??? Hope I still fit in the jeans. I might should start the diet before the sunsets tonight.

Been wondering if I should backup my Gmail account. Since Gmail seems to have wiped out 150,000 account over the weekend. Already back up my addressbook – from time to time. At my age, I have more things to worry about than losing my emails. So, I’ll not backup my Gmail.

Looking forward to finding out about the new iPad on Wednesday. She who dies with the most toys – wins.

Going Home – March 9

The Dock of the Bay

Yesterday I finally got us tickets home. Leaving March 9 arriving in Baltimore March 10. One can get from the Baltimore airport to our apartment using one bus and two subways. I got us a good price. No strike that – I got us the best price I have seen in a couple of weeks. And, the routing is only slightly silly. Kona to Seattle to Atlanta to Baltimore – then to the 1 hour bus/subway/subway trek to our apartment. All that for less than 400 bucks each. Not great – but not too bad either.

I have a feeling that there will be a diet waiting for me when back home. The wetsuit is starting to feel a little tight – even for a wetsuit. And, I’ll not be buying a larger wetsuit.

Had nice shark steaks yesterday and our beloved Spam Musubi was today’s main event. Chicken katsu is on tap for dinner. Papaya, avocado, too. And lettuce. I went to a rummage sale this morning and came away with two bunches of leaf lettuce. That is pretty Kona-kine behavior. One donates what one can to the local swim club rummage sale. And, one of our local lettuce farmers donated a case of mighty fine lettuce. Sure beats donating a pair of  Speedos with sprung elastic!

Mal-de-internet

Drat… my Virgin Mobile internet device has turned into Slut POS non-working device. Oh well, at least it had the decency to crap out with only 48 hours of airtime left. Back to using the unreliable Skywave service at the hotel. Naturally, I could connect to it most of yesterday after I decided that the Virgin Mobile device had died. Oh well. I am on line now. That is what matters.

Whale 2day

Whale as seen from the hotel room this morning
Where the Whale Was- Looks a lot like "where the dolphin was"
What 7 dollars gets you at the farm market. On a good day.

We woke up at 5am today. Huge rainstorm… Even lightning. Lightning is very unusual out this way. By 9am – it was over. But, it remained cool all day.

Had poke, rice, avocado and banana for lunch. (The Hawaiian poke – which is our local-kine sashimi – not West Virginia poke weed)

From Last Sunday

Some old time R&R
A little hula
And a shave ice

Life is good.

An Exit Strategy from Kona:

Eat fish, avocado and papaya everyday until we leave. Oh yeah – eat pineapple everyday too. And maybe someday actually get plane tickets.

Dolphins Today

Dolphins everywhere
Where the dolphin was
Jumping out by Jack's Old Boat

After spending most of the day scanning mediocore snapshots – I went out and sat on the end of the pier and watched the dolphins at play.

Jumping out by Kalani's strange boat
Just Jumping

Someday, someday, I might get brave enough to jump off the pier and swim out to visit the dolphins. Not worried about being hurt by the dolphins. Worried about over estimating my swimming prowess. These shots were taken with 300 mm zoom.

Free Chickens

From the West Hawaii Today

A fine slice of the Kona life. Why do I think that the chickens don’t belong to the person who placed the ad in the paper?

Good news… The USB memory key that went AWOL yesterday reappeared today. And, it reappeared before I hiked up the hill to WalMart for a replacement. Life is serene again.

Speaking of the serene life. Yesterday I started wondering about my life philosophy. I am not a person of faith. I would be considered an atheist, a freethinker, a secular humanist, None of the Above, or a plain old pagan. I have as much faith the tree as I do in the dude who was nailed to it. But, how, as a faithless old woman, how do I get along in the world…

In a single word “NEXT”. I think that NEXT sums up my outlook. No matter what has happened. What happens NEXT is where I focus. NEXT would be a great thing to have on one’s tomb stone. Assuming one had a tomb stone.

And then there are the three trite guiding rules:

  1. I can always have the last word – sometimes the last word has to be “Aye aye, Sir”.
  2. It’s a white man’s world and the sooner I accept that the happier I am. (It doesn’t always have to read white man’s world. It  could be someone else’s world at the moment, but for most of my life “white man” worked fine.)
  3. Nobody is promised tomorrow.

And, that really is about all there is to my operational plan for a reasonable life.

Yesterday

A Good Day for Family Album Shots

Yesterday, I spent way too much time swathed in my long white dress with my best hat on my head, my ceremonial nuts around my neck and my feet blessedly unshod. Details at http://www.huliheepalace.net/new-members-2011

Hard thing was behaving like a lady for 6 hours. And, the Daughters of Hawai`i  think that one’s legs should not go all the way from the ground to the crotch… And, if one’s legs do go from ground to crotch – then one must wear a slip under one’s long white dress to conceal that fact. I can barely manage the dress part. I don’t own a slip. Haven’t owned a slip in at least 40 years. Much less a floor length white one. So, I spent all day hopping around like a mermaid so no one would report me to the slip police. (In fact one lady brought a slip of me to borrow…) I am so not a lady.

Somewhere between yesterday evening and noon today – I lost my 32gig usb memory drive. I think I must have left it on the bed and when the sheets got changed today – it went out with sheets to the hotel laundry. The good news is that there were only pictures on the drive. And I think that I have copies of everything here or there. I had it all set up to use with my photo scanning project – I think, hope, that everything is over at the palace on their elderly computer. Peggy and USB memory keys don’t mix. Dropbox is for me.

A Dark Day in 1893

US Marines "Storm" Iolani Palace Jan 1893

Spent all day running a very slow scanner. It was attached to an even slower vintage Dell XP computer – but fortunately the Airness was willing to drive the scanner. Which made things go faster than they would have gone using the Dell. Thought you might like to see the US Marines storming Iolani Palace. Queen Lili’uokalani had decided not to fight, and the front gate was open… but the Marines decided to go over the fence. There were 3 or 4 interesting images. This is a part of one. Most of them  are best forgotten …

Mid March

Kalani's Boat

This morning when Carlton came back from his walk – he said the had secured the hotel room thru March 15. I don’t imagine we’ll stay that long – but – I did resupply the peanut butter, jelly, and rice.

Had a fine swim today. The waves had a nice gentle wiggle today. So, I just bobbed around with the fish. For the last month I have been sort of seriously swimming. Trying to improve my technique. Trying to swim farther. Today – I just had fun. Fun is good.

Interesting day – Watson won. I was not rooting for human species. But, for the computer. I’m sorry, Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that. And, the senate democrats in Wisconsin went AWOL. Being an old union woman – ILWU Local 142 – I guess I was rooting for the democrats. But, I guess this is just a preview of coming attractions.

I’ll be spending tomorrow scanning stuff for Carlton’s Palace.

Men – And less than acceptable clothing choices

Old Man - Sans Pantaloons

AND

Young Guy - In Whitie Tighties

Men. What can I say? Actually I would not put my bear ass over on those rocks where the old guy sits. As for the briefs – well – at least they were spotless – going in at least.

Fine lunch of shark, avocado, rice today. (Microwave Shark Steaks – season with something peppy – I used the last of the pepper jelly – seal up in a container. Nuke for 3 minutes. Let set about 2 minute. Open and Eat.)