Category: The DayBook

This was from Earth Day 2019 – but it seems even more compelling during Rosh Hashanah 2020. I celebrate anyone’s holiday if it involves food.

Another busy day editing video. It is going to be amateurish. But, seems to me that you shouldn’t spend your donors’ money creating a 30 minute “thank you” video. Especially a video that almost no one is going to watch, either on in-house tv or on YouTube.  The only good thing is that most of the audience have failing eyesight and hearing,

But, as Carlton would say “If you think you are having fun, you are having fun.”

Gratitude

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RIP RBG. Peace and comfort. Grateful to have lived in her era.

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Still on a political bent. In the US, threatened cult leaders usually end badly. David Koresh and Jim Jones come to mind. The Orange Lord is a cult leader. He is under threat. You have every right to be concerned. He does have the nuclear codes.

Mālama pono

Hey, I am an old lady. I am entitled to a little wander back to way back when. All film time. The first one was a Polaroid. The others whatever Kodacolor print film I could afford.

Of course, this was post-processed but it was still a weird sky this morning.

Then there was this strange cloud.

I failed to accomplish anything today. But, I wasn’t a total asshole bitch. So, I did good.

Gratitude

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Grateful for 76+ mostly good years.

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Note to Carlton: Ed Bearss died today. He was 97. Hope he died in good health as you managed. (Goodness, if I live to 97 I have 20 more years of this shit. Don’t think I have 20 years of slogging through left in me.)

Mālama pono

The East Coast sun at 7:30 AM as a result of the West Coast fires. It is sacred ash. All that remains of forests, grasslands, homes, habitats, and fellow dwellers of the planet.

Gratitude

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Early morning walks, yoga, zoom with my friends, cooking my own dinner. Small pleasures.

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I spend way too much time looking for my phone.

It can only get so lost in one room. But, at least once a day, I go off on a wild search.

I used to have that problem with my wedding ring. And, I couldn’t say “Alexa, call My Ring”.

Then, one of my friends brought my imaginary giraffe, Gingerbread, to “life”. And, since then I have not misplaced my ring.

Yesterday, I decided that Madam Giraffe could stop holding odds and ends in the kitchen. I moved her to my work/dining table. And, if my phone isn’t in my hand or being charged – it will be in the custody of Madam Giraffe. So far so good. When the phone rang this afternoon, I knew where it was. No, trying to echolocate – now where is that sound coming from.  And Madam Giraffe still has room for the occasional pencil, paperclip, or old school note.

Mālama pono

But, hey, the sun came up this morning. That’s positive.

And, it was a windows opened all day kind of a day. That’s positive.

And, I had better luck with Final Cut today.  That’s positive.

Gratitude

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And, I have friends here at The Asylum. I am so grateful for each of them.

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I ditched YouTube Yoga in the basement today in favor of a little bug hunting.

Zoom yoga starts up again tomorrow. I am paying for that, so I will suit up and show up. With Zoom Yoga – you even have to put clothes on your lower half.

Mālama pono

While I am pulling my hair out trying to get cracking with final cut pro and video editing, my friends here at The Asylum are wrapping up their get out the vote campaign. 4,000 postcards. Ready to go in the mail stream. And that takes  $1,400 in postage. Helping the USPS.  Being crafty old people, the postcards will be dispatched over several days and at several post offices.

Gratitude

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Grateful for nice weather, good friends, and coffee.

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Mālama pono

Well, I pulled the plug on Big Annie. I wonder if she died? (And my legs are looking a little lumpy aren’t they?)

Busy today learning about video editing by editing video. Aren’t I supposed to be in my comfy chair reading “cozy mysteries”?

These are crows. But, the starlings are starting to get bunched up. A sure sign of autumn.

Gratitude

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Grateful to be “overbusy” at this instant. Makes the days go by faster.

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Last night I finally got my act together and took a picture of the Pentagon’s new 911 light show. There was a lot of haze and that made for an interesting rent in the fabric of the universe effect.  (taken with Pixel 2xl out the open window. post-processed like crazy.)

On September 9, 2001, I watched events unfold very early in the morning via a dial-up internet connection. Carlton was playing tennis with the Park Superintendent prior to going to work.

Moving on to 2008.  The Pentagon Memorial opened on September 11, 2008. I took these pictures on October 11, 2008. An evening selected because of the full moon.

Most of the pictures were taken in the area of David Charlebois’s bench. He was First Officer on the American Airlines plane that crashed into the Pentagon. David’s father was a friend and his mother was too frail to make a personal visit to the memorial – so I made these pictures for them. The kids were borrowed and they are sitting on David’s bench. Lives end. Life continues.

Gratitude

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Grateful for today.

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Mālama pono

Yes, this is “the light”. Waiting to get a flu shot at the grocery this morning – there was a big bin of generic disinfectant wipes in “travel size”.  I took this as a sign that I should “travel”. Travel to Hawai’i is supposed to open up October 1. By the end of October, it might be good to go.

This was another busy day – editing video. No problem doing that. It was raining most of the day anyhow.

Gratitude

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Grateful the have checked the flu shot off my to-do list.

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I have friends who are near the western fires. And, some of my friends here have family who are too close to the hot zones for comfort. I remember being in Yosemite wondering if we were going to have to flee the Hetch Hetchy Fire. Not an easy feeling.

When we were with The Park Service, they had cool little notebooks that fit nicely into the uniform breast pocket. Carlton loved those notebooks and always took a couple of extras. When he died I found a bunch in his desk. They had the “10 Standard Firefighting Orders” printed on the inside cover.

The cover said that it was revised 4-67. So, we can excuse the reference to “men”. I always thought that these were pretty good rules to live by fire or no fire.  “Men” has been changed to “forces” and “boss” has been changed to “supervisor” and these are still the “10 Standard Firefighting Orders”.

Be alert. Keep calm. Think clearly. Act decisively.

Mālama pono

And what is “the light” about an elderly Sony cd burner? Well:

1. 1. 1.  I needed to read a CD.
      2. Of course, my MacBook can not read CDs. It is way too cool for that.
      3.  I remembered that long ago before I moved here I had a CD burner.
      4. Did I bring it? If so why? And where is it? If I even brought it.
      5. It was in the 3rd place I looked.
      6. All of the cables were with it.
      7. I plugged it into the wall and the Mac.
      8. Pushed the button to open the door. Popped in the CD.
      9. Lights flashed. Whirly sounds happened. AND
      10. The Mac recognized the drive and cheerfully displayed contents.
      11. Thank you, Apple. It just worked. Definitely “the light”

You might notice that the CD Burner is dusty. So what? I am a bit dusty too. Or is it rusty?

Gratitude

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Grateful for an excellent dinner. Courtesy of me, with an assist from Dining Services. Steak and eggs. With avocado and salsa.

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Spent most of the day editing 27 minutes of talking-head video down to 7 minutes. It’s hard. And I want it to be professional. Nevermind that I didn’t start doing this until I was between 75 and dead. I have standards.

Mālama pono

Not all Little Red Wagons are red.

I worked hard today a being careful, centered, mindful. I tried to only do one thing at a time. I tried to accept that I can not do everything. Some days, I can not do anything. As Carlton would say Easy Does It.

At least I didn’t lock up my computer. I put the new 2TB SSD into service as my Final Cut Pro disk. I got my Lightroom catalog back on track. I had a very productive – my opinion – day at the “corner office”. And I got my own “bookkeeping” done.

I was checking my account with Folger Nolan and they had this photo on the main page. Does that image make you want to give them your money? I didn’t think so.

Looking out my window – with my view of DC. Wondering. Do I want to be here where I can watch the opening salvos of the 2nd American Civil War out my window? (Should I order new binoculars?) Or would I rather be in Kona? Where the news from the front will be slow in coming.

Gratitude

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Grateful to have options. Getting old removes options. Enjoy the ones you have left.

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The Asylum serves the world’s worst falfel. Usually they go directly to composting. They are hard. But they bounce. Thinking that maybe I should be saving them. I can use them as lethal projectiles in the 2nd American Civil War. Or as hardtack – the term was first used during the 1st American Civil War.

Mālama pono

Sunrise over the orchid.

I have had the “Inverse Midas Touch” with my computer since about 4 PM. Final Cut Pro locked my computer up like Fort Knox. After I got the computer and Final Cut restarted it announce that a library was corrupted and did I want to use a backup. For sure I did. And about 5 minutes later FCPX announced that its disk drive was full and I had two choices: death by firing squad or death by hanging. And, it would not let me stop or abort it.

Time to step away from the computer. A cup of coffee and some Googling later I discovered “Delete Render Files”. I now have enough space to try to figure out how to make my new 2TB external SSD drive my FCPX drive. I am not even going to think about this anymore today.

After that, I fire up Lightroom – and I notice that for the last couple of days it has been storing my new images in the “wrong” place.  That has happened before and I know how to fix it – but prudence says this is not the time to do it.

Back to “work” in the northeast corner of the Old Bat Cave tomorrow. Hope the “Inverse Midas Touch” is over before I do anything to the system.

Gratitude

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Grateful that instead of the plain yogurt I ordered for lunch dessert today they brought me an ice cream sandwich! I didn’t eat it. I stashed it in the freezer for an emergency. I feel certain one will occur soon.

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And, as is my custom on Labor Day, I remind one and all that you enjoy weekends and holidays because of Labor Unions. I remain proud to have been a member of Local 142 of the ILWU.

Mālama pono