Category: The DayBook

The ocean gives me just what I need. When I was younger she humbled me with her strength. And now that I am old she supports me with that same unchanged strength. I have grown old, but mother ocean remains strong.

I played with some different setting on the camera today. It troubles me that the images are not tack sharp. But, it know that what I get is all that the camera can deliver. Not to mention the obvious – I am not the most stable shooting platform. 

About a week ago, I started my 12 Step Head in Sand program. It is hard to not watch the coming darkness. But, I can not stop it. Just watching it will not stop it. And only make me unhappy. 

Yoga has been good. I notice the improvement in the last 8 days. Yoga and the ocean. And a little zen practice. 

Not my circus, not my monkeys. 1486 days until the January 20, 2021. 

The day started sweetly with coffee at Honls. Then… before you know it – it was time to head up the hill, for Xmas dinner. According to Google, it was 3.2 miles and 1020 feet elevation change away. And Google said it would take 75 minutes. So, out the door I go…

After about 30 minutes I stop for a water break…

Along the way, I am reminded that that solid line really doesn’t provide all that much protection to the pedestrian.

But, at the 2.7 mile marker – a friend stops and takes me the last 1/2 mile. Much much much appreciated. And, she brought me back down the hill. It was all good. 

And, the party was all good. We had to sing and play games for our supper… But there was lots of good eats. Turkey, ham, mini marshmallow-free sweet potatoes. Regular potatoes. Veggies. Apple pie, tiramisu, and fruit tart, ice cream for dessert. I ate everything. Figure I earned it. 

No politics – well – except for the ever entertaining local kind – were mentioned at dinner. 

Think the Hibiscus Project was a success. I found this impressive and festive blossom on this morning’s walkabout. And, I think I came up with an OK shot – using Shamu the Phone. 

And, what am I doing this Xmas Eve. NOTHING. And, before you feel sorry for me. The hotel manager asked me what was doing tonight – when I said NOTHING, she thought about it and said “That sounds wonderful!” 

Tomorrow is another story. I am going to Christmas Dinner. I am taking a present. Said Dinner is 3.2 miles and 1,020 feet elevation away.  Figure that I’ll give myself about 90 minutes to get there. At least if I fail to  nail a ride home – home will be all downhill!. Sort of reminds me of William Faulkner. He was invited to dinner at the White House in 1962 and turned the invitation down with the comment that 100 miles was a long way to go just to eat dinner. 

Billy and I changed our routine today. Went swimming in the usual place but about 5 hours later than usual. 

Coming up on dinner time… In keeping with the doing NOTHING theme of this evening – maybe a nice cold one and a tuna sandwich. On a paper plate.

Today was sort of a bust, fish photography-wise. But, that never stops me. The two blue fish are yellow tail parrot fish and the yellow one is a yellow tang. 

Had a very tranquil day. Walk, followed by a big breakfast. Restocked the nice clean fridge. Yoga. A little Zen practice. Nice swim. Now, instead of watching news, I’ll have a little predinner walk – just to top off the FitBit. 

Dinner is going to be sushi. Will have to decide if beer or sake is the beverage of choice. Something to think about while on my walk. Such a problem.

This is this week’s origami project. I didn’t make a new butterfly today. I made more fish to give to people. I am liking these butterflies. Think I’ll continue with them next week. I have the directions for a damn near impossible one that I may try to master. We’ll see.

And for a little season cheer… one from my trip to the supermarket this morning.

What? You were expecting mince pie and figgy pudding… This is Hawai’i. 

And samples of the potential danger. 

After looking at the monster jelly – none of the regular swimmers were willing to go out. And, I sure wasn’t. Because, for a couple of days a month – I am more than willing to cede the ocean to the jellies. 

So, I headed out for a nice long walk. With the proper gear for shooting whales. But, no whales. So, I decided to practice – I took pictures of boats with the long lens. So, I’ll be ready if a whale shows up.

Then, I came home and did laundry, defrosted and cleaned the fridge, did my daily 30 minutes of yoga, and after the fridge was good to go – I restocked it with beer. And, that was about my day. 

When I started the 12 step Head in the Sand Program on Sunday – I did 30 minutes of yoga. And, by yesterday, I was one hurting old woman. Fortunately, I wasn’t as sore today. I did not crash down onto the mat with a huge umphhh mid Chaturanga Dandasana. NOTE TO SELF: You can not take any more 2 month holidays from yoga. 

I am still avoiding all but local Hawaii news. Hawaii is always replete with with long ongoing political scandals. The current one (which has been ongoing since 2013) involves the Police Chief of Honolulu and his prosecutor wife. The goings on are too bizarre to explain. I feel sure it would have already made the national news were the national news not so filled with the actions of team trump. 

Nice clean fridge has no food. So, I suspect that cheese sandwich might be on tap for dinner. But, before that, I have to do my daily origami. Another dollar bill butterfly maybe…

 

And here, once again is the traditional Solstice greeting that Carlton and I used for years. Even decades.

Wishing everyone the best of the festive season – no matter what it’s called at your house. In pagan traditions, the solstice is a time to put away the things of the old year and look forward to the new. One observance of the solstice involves extinguishing all the fires in your home before midnight on the eve of the solstice and lighting a new fire the next day. This probably won’t be quite as symbolic if you have central heating. Or if you are in Hawai’i.

The winter solstice falls on December 21 – the word solstice means “sun stopping.” The winter solstice is the day on which the sun reaches as far south of the equator as it gets, and is as such the shortest and darkest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. The solstice marks the rebirth of light for the coming spring.

The winter solstice also marks, among other things, the druid festival of Alban Arthuan – a time for bestowing gifts upon those less fortunate than ourselves. Out of this observance has grown the more popular tradition of gift-giving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, maxed-out credit cards and 70% off sales. May the goddess be with you during this season – but don’t blame her if you get fruitcake again.

I am grateful for that which I have.
I am not sorrowful for that which I do not.
I have more than others, less than some,
I am blessed with what is mine.

Carlton and I did not celebrate Xmas. But, we did observe the solstice. Summer and Winter. 

We have more than our share of old cars in our little village. Went looking for a whale today – but found this car instead. You shoot what shows up with the gear you have. 

This was with the cheap long lens. And, the monopod. 

It was a fine morning. Yoga at 0500 hours. Then some Zen practice – prepayment for Facebook time. Then coffee and a walk. Saw my first whales of the season. So, it is official – the whales are here. (no whale pictures today – didn’t have the right gear) Then a big old breakfast. Finally an hour in the ocean with Billy. 

I can not get my own shells off the bottom – being too floaty in my wetsuit and too wimpy to go out without it. Most of the time we were in water too deep for good photos. That didn’t stop me from taking 149 pictures and deleting all but 10 of them.  

Yes, there were eels. Billy found a great big one. No pictures – it took me a long time to see it. And, by then it was going under a rock. But, coming back in the shallows – I swam over this little guy. 

About that urchin shell…

 

Here it is – along with this week’s origami study. The Dollar Bill Moth. I will carefully bring it back to the asylum and turn it into a tiny lamp. 

Doing fine – have two politics free days. 

After 24 hours, the rain stopped. The sun came out. And so did all of the visitors. 

One of our regular Xmas visitors is Paul Allen. He (or at least one of his yachts) should be here by now. Everyone likes looking at his toys and he has fireworks for New Years. But, there is no sign that his house is being made ready for visitors and I think two of his boats are still in the Med. And a third is in Bonaire. So, maybe no Paul Allen or mega yachts this winter. 

So, how did day one in my politics free zone go? It went fine. I did my yoga, and my origami. The national news just came on – so – I turned it off. I “paid” for 10 minutes of Facebook time with 10 minutes of Zen Sitting. I went for a couple of walks. I went for a little swim. Read a book. Having a little warm sake right now, feeling pretty good. If this were a real 12 step program, people would applaud and give me a white plastic “24hour” chip. I’ll give myself a nice piece of dark chocolate after dinner. 

The big old spotted puffer showed up today. 

Still eating that meatloaf. I knew it would take me 6 meals to finish it. My fridge isn’t too very good. So, I don’t want the meatloaf hanging around any longer than necessary. Meatloaf with orange and avocado salad are on tap for dinner. 

Most everyone knows that Carlton had 41 years in AA. So, I know a little about the grand daddy 12 step program. I am powerless over the impending 

1. I am powerless over the impending geopolitical trainwreck. Not my circus – not my monkeys.
2. Just say no to CNN, HUFFPOST, MSNBC… Treat them like FOXNEWS. They are all toxic to me. 
3. Remove all “Alerts” from devices. 
4. Use the local Honolulu news. If anything really important (like a giant asteroid) happens they will mention it. And, if it is a giant asteroid – it will be news because it will make for great surfing. 
5. Counteract every five minutes of Facebooking with five minutes of Zen Sitting. Because, Facebook scatters my mind. 
6. At least 30 minutes of yoga every day. No excuses. 
7. No “windows hopping” at online stores. Just a waste of time. Retail therapy isn’t working for me on this one. 
8. Make one origami model every day and master a new one every week. Just because.
9. Avoid nonfiction. It would be too easy to accidentally pick up some scary historical parallel. Hell, even Thucydides is scary: “What made war inevitable was the growth of Athenian power and the fear which this caused in Sparta.”
10. Read fiction. Any kind fiction. Chick Lit, Sci-Fi, the Classics. It doesn’t matter. I must achieve reality escape velocity. 
11. Don’t get mad. Don’t get depressed. Either ignore the bastards. Or get even. If I just sputter around like a mad wet cat or sulk around like a sea cucumber – they win and I lose. I haven’t decided which tack to take. I am a little too old – notice that hand up top – to really get even. So, for now… They don’t exist. 
12. But, don’t count me out – you never know when when Aunty Peg will start settin’ the woods on fire. 

So, no more politics. Until I figure out what I can do to change anything at all – I will be in ostrich mode. 

Been cold and rainy all day. I have been in the room. Reading. Folding paper. Doing yoga. And, paying for peaking at Facebook by Zen Sitting. Life is good.

Dinner – maybe a meatloaf sandwich. With the last of the papayas. Oh wait – I never showed you the papaya did I? 

Nice sunny day here. Rather a lot of chop this morning so, more than a few canoes flipped. Lots of family and friends out watching today. Good fun. And a good chance to work with the not loved long lens. Once again – the monopod makes all the difference. 

All that chop made the for poor fish photography. But, I still had a nice swim. 

Unfortunately, I couldn’t keep politics out of my brain. I fear we are on the brink of losing our democracy. I don’t believe the Constitution and our revered “Checks and Balances” are going to hold. I feel bad about it. It is happening on my watch. And, I can not stop it. If I feel this bad… How does Obama feel?  

I still blame John McCain for all this. If he hadn’t pandered to the Tea Party by running the remarkably unqualified Ms Palin . . .    

As my Canadian, former East German, friend reminded me several times this winter: “We actually elected Hitler.” 

Not my circus. Not my monkeys. 

Dinner is going to be Meatloaf, avocado, pineapple and papaya again. It might be possible to make “meatloaf for one”, but I sure don’t know how. 

This guy is just plain creepy looking with vacant yellow eyes and buck teeth. Zombie Fish.

It started out cold and rainy today. But, by the time I got back from Safeway – the sun was out and I went for a swim. 

And that was about it for me for the day. 2 mile round trip trek to Safeway and 45 minutes of swimming. Spent the rest of the day lounging. Reading. And trying to not watch the trainwreck. And for a sideshow we have the state of North Carolina. I must remind besure to not invest in anything that has anything to do with North Carolina. And, to avoid all things North Carolina. No great sacrifice that I can see. Wait. I believe that Carlton was born in North Carolina. Not his fault. He gets a pass. 

To those of you who do not follow American politics – North Carolina elected a Democrat as governor earlier this week. So, the Republican controlled state house stipped the govenor of all power. I suppose it is legal. But it sure isn’t right. 

Remind self. You are old. You did your part. You actually voted. There isn’t anything you can do. Chill. 
Not my circus. Not my monkeys.

Meatloaf with avocado, papaya and pineapple on tap for dinner today. 

I notice that it is 17° back at the asylum. So, I shall not complain, not one little bit, about it being a chilly and rainy 69° here. I am just happy that I have some lentil soup, which will make a fine dinner. And, instead of a cold beer – I’ll have a little warm sake and be grateful for the 52 degrees of separation.

No complaints about the day. Cleaned up the “office” part of my room. Made plans for Xmas Dinner. Ordered a last minute gift to take to said dinner from Amazon. “Scanned”, using Scanner Pro app on my iPad, all of the important documents that were forwarded from the asylum. Before the rain started, I went to the farm market for avocados. I reviewed my finances. And, I notice that I will be getting less from Social Security next year than this year. Medicare payment went up. 

Oh, and I made origami fish while listening to a book. I think a could make an Escher type thing with these fishes. But, these fishes are going to be little Xmas ornaments. 

Resolve to stop thinking about anything political. Let us see, what would Carlton say? “Hello, my name is Peg and I am powerless over politics.”  Not my circus. Not my monkeys.

This Christmas wrasse is from yesterday’s snorkel. I always try to get a picture or two of this colorful fish between Thanksgiving and Xmas. It isn’t easy to photograph because it hangs out in the surge zone. I was zipping over these rocks, going where the water wanted me to go, trying to keep myself off the rocks when the wrasse came swimming along. Just point and shoot. The christmas wasse, like most wasses, can change sex. This would be a “terminal” or “super” male.