Category: The DayBook

I was standing right outside my building. Actually, I was sitting on a fire hydrant.

It is approaching 5:15 PM.

Kona doesn’t really have any Marching Bands. 

Everybody is required to either be in the parade or watching the parade. 

There was a truck with Santa on it. But, I was scrambling out of the way of the on coming firetruck. It’s about 6:30. Parade was a little over an hour long. 

We haven’t had a Christmas Parade since 2019. 

(I may miss a day or two. Going to stay at Volcano National Park for a couple of nights. Don’t know about wifi/cell.)

According to the USGS:

Volcanic Activity Summary:
Lava eruption from fissure 3 (F3) on the Northeast Rift Zone of Mauna Loa continues but with greatly reduced lava output and volcanic gas emissions. Most lava is confined to the vent in a small pond. The short lava flows active about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from the vent yesterday have stalled
The flow front in the Humu’ula Saddle region has stagnated 1.9 miles (3 km) from the Daniel K. Inouye Highway (Saddle Road) and is no longer a threat.

So, we are down to just one volcano. I assume that the guests will still come. Since one volcano was all we had when the plans were made.

My good buddy Billy and his lady got back from the mainland last week. And this morning Billy and I went out to enjoy the clear sky. We spent a lot of time watching the ocean. Then in the best Kona style, we went to the grocery for take out lunch. And we stopped in the new improved Book Exchange and Gift Shop. 

They were selling a senbazuru (1,000 cranes) for $500. It was sort of a fundraising thing for the Book Exchange. 

Tonight is the village Xmas Parade. The first one since 2019. Of course, I will be going. It’s required. I can actually sort of see it from my lanai. But, you don’t get any candy that way!

When Momma Nature gives you gray. Shoot B/W. Or at least post-process B/W. That would be our local high school  outrigger canoe team practicing. 800 years ago, the canoe would have been koa. Other than that nothing has changed. 

Sort of a laid-back day. But, I did grown-up stuff like looking into scheduling medical stuff for early January. I already have the dentist in late December. Also checked my fixed income “laddering” and tweaked a few things.  

The volcano continues napping. But I haven’t given up hope that it might perk up for the kiddos’ visit.  

Speaking of napping. I did that today. I am trying to get out of Energizer Bunny Mode. I think Energizer Bunny Mode  is counterproductive at my age. But damn, I am having a hard time accepting that I am slowing down and that no amount of powering through is going to get me back to where I was before I wandered off in the land of the  “old people”. 

Main focus now is to soak up enough warm to see me though what ever winter brings. And to enjoy time with  my Hawai’i ohana. Christmas “dessert” party tonight. Time to get myself brushed up.

Don’t know what Madam Pele is up to. Eruptions of Mauna Loa are usually short-lived. Too bad if it goes out before my guests arrive on Monday. But, Kīlauea, the volcanic version of Old Faithful, is still perking away.

So, what’s OK? I am OK. That’s what. I had been suffering from what Carlton called “unresolved discontent”. I was focused on what is lost, not on what remains.  

 
I can still swim out to where the fish live. Sure, it takes longer. And I have to walk ½ to the take off point. (My hotel was across the street from the pier. According to Google I am now ½ mile from the pier.) SO, stop moping about what isn’t anymore and enjoy every fish that swims past.

No need to enjoy this bad boy. A Crown of Thorns Starfish. They have done serious damage to the Great Barrier Reef, but so far so good here in Kona waters. They seem to have some enemies. And our spear fishermen do kill any that they come upon. 

I want to go on 3 boat trips. IceBreaker to the North Pole. Transit the Northwest Passage from Greenland to Nome. Sail a tall ship around Tahiti.

They are all doable. They take 10  days for the North Pole. 20+ for NW Passage and 17 for a nice trip around French Polynesia. Prices are in the if you have to ask . . .  category. 

I am most fascinated by the trip to The North Pole. At this instant. I have always been interested in the NW Passage. And finally, I love Tahiti. 

Assuming I make it 3 more years – and with my family history – that will be stretching it – I could do all three. Think Tahiti should be first because tall ships don’t have elevators!  

But nobody is promised tomorrow. Think to go round up some dinner. Chicken sandwich maybe. 

Nothing much happening. That is fine with me. The proper guy won the senatoral race in Georgia but not by very much. Still way too many stupid people on the loose. 

I am very boring today. I am even boring myself. 

Major accomplishment today was absolutely nothing. Zoom yoga. Some walking. Some rearranging the deck chairs on my financial Titanic. 

All the while I keep looking at the returns from Georgia. How is it that we are even having this election? If the citizens of Georgia are stupid enough to elect Mr. Walker, I can only wonder why the Civil War.  Why didn’t we just let Georgia leave the Union? Good riddance. According to The Times, Atlanta votes aren’t reported yet.  Still hoping the guy who can read, write and tie his own shoes wins. 

This brings up Elon Musk’s brain implant chip. He apparently wants to test it on “humans”. I have a few suggestions for where he can start.

Aren’t these interesting times? 

Yes, one week later the volcano is still alive and well behaved. Now, lets just keep this going for another couple of weeks so my granddaughter can see it. And maybe I get a better view. 

Pretty laid back here. Which is just the way I like it. Carlton and I started coming to Hawai’i earlier each year to get a Holiday from The Holidays. But actually coming back on Xmas day, I pretty much get to miss most of The Holidays.  I am not a Holidays person.

Speaking of holidays. I got tired of trying to get Santa into ocean sports. 

MidJourney is very good at  putting sweaters on small fuzzy animals. 

 

Sort of cloudy most of the day. At least some of the clouds are caused by the volcano. Not vog (aka volcano smog) but real clouds. Water vapor in the air. And hot surface area. The volcano has slowed way down it is now advancing at about 40 feet per hour. Instead of being a fast-moving river, it is wider and thicker. More like a slowly unrolling carpet. 

Funny sort of only in Hawai’i story. “They” set up a parking lot and a little side road so people could SAFELY watch the volcano. As opposed to pulling off the side of the highway. Well, “they” discovered unexploded ordinance in the SAFE parking lot. 

MidJourney.

Woke up this morning to a kitchen full of water. Icemaker sprung a leak. The floors are tile but the rug got wet. I got the water turned off. Everything is pretty dry now. No icemaker is sort of the ultimate of 1st world problems. The coffee maker works. The wifi works. What more do I need?

Nothing is in focus. But it was raining. I know, that’s a lame excuse. 

Dinner was worth getting a little damp. That would be the standard monster chef salad with a big slab of seared ahi and a couple of shrimp.

Just 3 weeks left. One “normal week”. Then a young people visiting week. Followed up by recovering from young people and getting ready to fly on Xmas Eve. And toss in a little visiting and Xmas stuff. 

My project for the next 3 weeks is to get my photos from 2022 all tidied up and cataloged. It really only matters to me. But, if it makes me happy, then I should do it.

My daily MidJourney session: Surfing Santa.

Santa is going to be in a world of trouble in less than a second. A ton of water is going to land on his head. Try again.

He’s going to wipe out too. 

This one is fun. Having a little trouble with fingers.MidJourney has trouble with fingers and toes.

I hear my ham sandwich calling. Oh and the volcano is still alive and well. It is advancing at about 40 feet per hour now. Maybe the highway will still be open when the kiddos come. 

The volcano is still awake. Actually both volcanos are awake. Way back on October 18 I snagged rooms at the Historic (old and a bit run down) Volcano House. We will be there Dec 12 and 13 – so I am hoping for good things from Madam Pele. It’s in her hands.

Big ass ship out in the bay. The village was pretty crowded today.  Didn’t do a swim today.

But I did play with MidJourney. I was trying for a Hawaiian Santa. Not an easy concept for MidJourney.

This one kinda turned out like a cleaned-up Jerry Garcia.

This one gets into the spirit of things. 

 

Okay, that wasn’t what I expected.  I guess that’s why it is ARTIFICIAL Intelligence. It has not figured out that in December reindeers fly. But, I do like that little red plane that it tossed in. 

Some have wondered about my dinner from a few days ago. As the bureaucrats at the Asylum would say “Let’s unpack it”. 

There is a soup that exists only in Hawai’i – Saimin Soup. Our version of noodle soup or ramen. There is a variation on it called saimin salad. Which is saimin soup sans the broth.

This is a seriously tarted up saimin salad.

1. Ahi Poke (raw redfin tuna with “special sauce”)
2. Saimin noodles – chewier than ramen noodles.
3. “Texas” toast.
4. Raw Carrots
5. Our purple sweet potato. Cooked.
6. Huge shrimp
7. Sorta Frito like Japanese things
8. All the other junk you find in Saimin soup. Onions, egg, fake crab. But no Spam.

I didn’t finish the noodles. Or the lettuce. The rest was pretty much demolished. 

Our volcano continues to perk along. It “makes it’s own weather” and last night it had clouded up too much to see the glow from my alley. The lava flow has hit flat terrain. So, “they” say it will take a week for the lava to get to the highway. Madam Pele is still in charge. HOPING it is still visible and accessible when my granddaughter gets here in 10 days. Madam Pele is in charge of that too.

Volcano still perking along. Our shiny new highway is in danger. “They” say lava will reach the road in a couple of days.  But, actually “they” haven’t a clue. Madam Pele is in charge of this show.

I didn’t eat it all but I ate all the good stuff.  

Today’s swim was pleasant. Nothing special. I am just really happy to still be able to get out into the ocean. As for whether is it smart for an old woman to swim out alone… “They” certainly wouldn’t recommend it. But, what if I drown? What will I miss? Dementia? Depends? Pancreatic Cancer? Maybe all three? It’s pretty much a no-brainer. If it doesn’t endanger anyone else. Do it.