Category: The DayBook

The Summer Solstice is approaching.  Spring Solstice was March 19. I was locked up. Summer Solstice will be June 20. I will still be locked up.

I thought about going to Bermuda the day I go to the dentist. That would earn me 14 days in solitary.  (Going to the dentist gets you 5 days.) But, I would have any number of days in Bermuda. Ocean. And, I can walk to the grocery. It is an uphill hot walk. But, there is that ocean. Problem. Last year, I could leave here after breakfast and be in my cottage by tea time. Not this year. It takes 24+ hours to get to Bermuda.  I don’t think so.

Gratitude

---

Grateful for all the fine years I had with Carlton. AND, grateful that he missed this adventure. One of us would be dead after 75 days of TOGETHER.

---

Looking back at June 14, 2019.

In the blog I wrote: Singapore has been great. I would come back in a wink. It’s like Japan only hotter and the streets have names and I can read the signs.

Mālama pono

Light is not always in the morning. I love watching the glass buildings reflecting the last rays of the sun.

I have been putting this update off for years. Now WordPress is nagging me about it. According to my host “there is nothing to it”. I am using 5.6 something and should be using 7.3 or so. It scares me to do it. Because if something goes wrong? I really need to do this while I still have 3 or 4 brain cells rattling around. Another thing I would like to do while I can still think is convert to https.

Took a proper lens with me to see if I encountered a rabbit on my morning laps around the building. No rabbit. Of course.

But, I did find a really nice gray catbird. They are one of my favorite birds.

Big event around The Asylum is “visitation” started today. If you want to have a visitor. There are rules.

 Limited to 2 visitors/resident and/or resident couple at one time
 Residents & visitors must wear masks and maintain social distancing
 Visits up to 45 minutes (by appointment) in designated areas with 15 minutes in between for cleaning
 On-campus visits with family/friends are allowed with appointments in designated outdoor spaces only
 Family members/friends required to have negative COVID-19 test within the last 5 days before visiting the resident and provide a printed record of test result and testing date to be permitted on
campus for resident visitation

The real problem is the COVID test requirement. Not all that easy to get and costs between $60-120. Say you paid $100.  I think that would work out to about $2.25 per minute of visit. Most of us aren’t worth $2.25/minute.

Gratitude

---

Grateful for friends who actually bake brownies. And share.

---

Trying to finish cataloging my photos from last year. Currently working on June 13, 2019 – I was in Singapore.

Mālama pono

Someone seems to be trying to escape!

Just finished up a rather boozy zoom kanikapila session with the Hawai’i State Society and some folks in Kealakekua.  These things are still a little rough. But, I hope they don’t completely go away when things get back to normal – and remember normal is just a setting on your dryer.

Today I sort of recovered from my latest video project. I must say it was very well received. I feel like I am competing in a different league. Sort of like “Senior Olympics” where old people are patted on the head for being able to walk 2 blocks. But, some teenagers actually approved. And teenagers don’t cut anyone slack.

Took some practice shots in the milkweed today. Waiting for the monarchs to return.

Gratitude

---

Actually, I am grateful for a lot of things. But, tonight I am grateful that I don’t have to drive home!

---

In case I get really bored, I have been told that one can come out between 8:30 and 9:30 and watch these flowers open. If I do get that bored, I will make a movie. So you don’t have to get that bored. Or I could figure out how to set my Go Pro off remotely and just let it do the job.

Mālama pono

Our milkweed is starting to bloom. So, hoping for Monarch butterflies.

I finally finished up my little project from our “protest” on Tuesday afternoon. I will spend tomorrow cleaning up my computer. Not a problem. I have plenty of time. Maybe not plenty of days. But surely plenty of hours. Make me happy, click on full screen.

Gratitude

---

Grateful to be on the green side of the grass.

---

This isn’t looking good.  We always hope it isn’t the staff that we see. But some other staff. Staff like upper-middle management. Or long-range planning personnel.

Mālama pono

Whatever happens, is what I planned. My phone has a mind of its own. It decided to take pictures while it was in my skirt pocket. Actually this isn’t too shabby. That’s my desk chair and big window.

Actually, I am glad that that is all that my phone decided to do. Unlike that creep retired Navy Captain who accidentally lived streamed vile racial slurs to Facebook.

Spent a lot of time messing with my pictures from yesterday’s Old White Lady Protest. But, I have nothing to show for it. Time to remember that “Perfection is the enemy of progress”.

Gratitude

---

Grateful that I carefully thought out what kitchen stuff to bring to the Old Bat Cave five years ago. I have every I need and very little that I don’t.

---

Carlton’s words for June 9 were: “Life had become impossible for us. We either had to end it all or do something about it.” I am sure the words are about drinking and not drinking and AA. But, they seem applicable to 2020 as well.

Mālama pono

Being what one of my friends calls “OWLs” or Old White Ladies, we had to have our own inside the compound George Floyd Vigil.

I got to go OUTSIDE to take a picture of the signs that were hung on our fence! I even stepped off the sidewalk.

There is more to this story. But, it was a long hot afternoon for me and I hear my bed calling…

Gratitude

---

Air Conditioning!

---

Mālama pono

A few days ago, I was wondering if this plant was a weed. This morning it proved that it is not a weed but Oenothera glazioviana or large-flowered evening primrose.

Stalag 2020. Periodically I get to feeling like a prisoner and I want to escape. Today is one of those days. By the time it is “safe” for us to leave the compound the second wave will be upon us.

To keep the prisoners distracted the wardens had a fiddler come play for us. And they handed out popsicles.  Sort of a “bread and circuses” thing. I took lots of video, but didn’t like any of it enough to mess with.

This was sweet – when the fiddler played “Unchained Melody” the couples held hands and one pair danced.

Gratitude

---

Grateful for a nice tranquil summer evening. Way better than last Monday.

---

This is not as good as the famous “Daisy” ad from 1964. But, it is a contender.

Mālama pono

A friend dropped off a lovely fresh IPA this afternoon. It is the only plane I’ll be getting on any time soon! A great gift. And, I must say, when I collected it, I got envious comments from some of the peanut gallery who said that all they ever got was flowers from Gaint!

It paired nicely with mac-n-cheese which our kitchen produced for dinner this evening. Life is Good.

And yes, life is good. We survived the weekend without violence. Great to see everyone out protesting. Almost all of the signs are homemade. People are bringing their kids out. And, I suspect some of the older kids might be bringing their parents out. I was wrong when I predicted a weekend of violence. Super glad to be wrong.

I wish the election was this coming Tuesday and not in 149 days. I hope we can keep this feeling alive until Election Day.

This might be still a 3rd rabbit. Every morning of late, I have seen a rabbit while out on my fitness hike around and around the building. If I take a real camera, I am sure I’ll not see a single rabbit.

And I caught a fine bumble bee later in the day with my macro lens.

Gratitude

---

Grateful for friends. Grateful that the weekend was filled with peaceful protests.

---

At this very instant life is good. And this very instant is all we really have.
Mālama pono
 

The day started out all silky hazy and pastel. I have been really tired all day. For no reason. Just tired.  I could have sprung into action if action had been called for. But, it wasn’t. So I didn’t.

I did some “nature photography” with my phone.

This is not yesterday’s rabbit. Notice, it has nodules on the ears. It is actually one of last year’s rabbits I think. But, I am too lazy to look at rabbit images from last summer to compare ears. Wild rabbits live 8-10 years, so, it could be one of last year’s rabbits.

And, I finally found a bug. We have a fine crop of milkweed this summer. Hoping for a nice crop of monarch butterfly soon.

This thing came up in my wildchild garden box. I think it is a weed. But, I am going to let it bloom. Maybe it will turn out to be a weed that I want.

Gratitude

---

Enjoying a nice iced coffee at this instant. Grateful the new fridge punched out ice cubes today.

---

Large protests and rallies underway all over our region today. So far very orderly and peaceful.

It doesn’t get much better than this:

Mālama pono
 

No bugs but bunnies. Soon after I shot this bunny, with my phone, another rabbit hopped by. Expect to see more bunnies soon.

I had to go check out the deadline again. Just got a 10-page document that essentially says unless you are going to the doctor (not the dentist) you are stuck here. If you go to the dentist or off the grounds any other reason you are quarantined for 5 days.  Maybe I can turn my trip to the dentist into an all-day adventure. But, that is not until July 7 and a lot can happen between now and then.

Actually, I feel sorry for the Executive Director who is going to have to defend, support, explain, enforce the rules.

On a positive note:  The saloon is now open for take-out orders on Fridays. Guess that management noticed a lack of revenue from the bar.

I got my new refrigerator this afternoon. It took 4 guys to reverse the doors. It seems to be a newer version of the cheap one that I had.

Gratitude

---

Grateful for my new fridge. I’ll be even more grateful if and when it punches out ice cubes.

---

This is not photoshop. It really happened. I saw it. Didn’t have a camera going. Think this might be a sign from Thor, Mother Nature, Zeus, the Weather Channel?

That deserves another look.

I am not expecting a peaceful easy weekend in DC.

Mālama pono

No bugs wandered in front of my macro lens today.

But, some firemen did. And they even came over to the fence and spoke to me. That is the first conversation I have had with a non-Asylum person – face2face since St Paddies day. And neither of us had masks on. The firemen were practicing. I was walking around and around the building.

On the protest front. I regret not being able to go down to the mall for one last protest.  I am willing to take the risk for myself – but I do not want to risk bringing Covid back to The Asylum. So, I wrote checks, (Well, actually, I went on-line and dispatched money.) But, that is a poor substitute for being there. The heat, the energy, the power, the fatigue, the fear. It is a hill worth dying on. For me. But not for my Asylum-mates.

Gratitude

---

Grateful that The Orange Lord hasn’t defiled any churches with his presence or dropped napalm on any citizen today. But, there are still 6 hours left in today.

---

And to those who think that it is all tear gas and riot gear

Last evening.

Mālama pono

This little guy thinks that my “formal” garden boxes are his own personal salad bar. He mows down hosta leaves for sport. But, it’s really hard to get annoyed with chipmunks.

Big time lazy day today. It is currently 93°. Nice hot lazy summer weather. Since I was being really slug-like – I sent myself outdoors this afternoon to shoot bugs.

But not a single bug wandered in front of my lens.

However, an ambulance did. I think that 2 of them came today. We are an old folks asylum. And nobody gets out alive.

Remember my refrigerator saga. Management does not want to expose me to an outside repairman and the inhouse guys are not trained in refrigerator repair – so I am getting a new one. I am expecting it to arrive next week.

Gratitude

---

Grateful that there were fewer helicopters on the prowl last night. And no Blackhawks.

---

Mālama pono