Category: The DayBook

This B/W photo out of my window at 5 PM this evening looks way more interesting than the gray afternoon looked. 

I did a bunch of “getting ready to go” stuff today. Checked to be sure that I had a place to sleep every night and a way to get from point A to B. And that everything fitted together. Rounded up tip money for the US and Canada parts of the trip.  Made sure I had hard copies of anything really important like train tickets. That sort of a thing.

My origami buddy and I decided on a preliminary strategy for the “craft sale” where we plan on selling some of our models with all monies going to our Asylum charitable foundation. 

I took this model to dinner this evening. Just checking to see if it might be saleable. It might be. You never know. 

Absolutely nothing going on in my world today. I didn’t take a single photo. I didn’t read an interesting book. I didn’t see Oppenheimer.  Or even Barbie. 

According to the blog, on August 2, 2001 Carlton broke a string on his  tennis racket. This was a very big deal. See 8/2/01. There were no tennis racket stringers in Skagway. As I recall, Carlton’s best friend mailed him a racket.

I am going to make a nice cuppa tea and put this boring old woman in bed. 

This is a totally useless origami model. That doesn’t make it special. Almost all origami is totally useless. 

It’s really just paper. 

 

Ok, today I didn’t have to think about being old. Today I feel old. Mostly tired. So, I mostly did nothing except my fitness walk. 

Also, thought seriously about what I’ll be taking on my trip north.

Suitcase with wheels, little ladylike backpack, daypack to use on Zodiacs. 

Plenty of room for origami paper, drugs (an extra large box of Dramamine), and all manner of cables and chargers. The electronic gear goes in the backpack. I would like to take the MacBook. I don’t need it. But, 20 days w/o reliable wifi, I might like the Mac. Especially since I am guessing that there will be a lot of downtime on this voyage. The trip that cost twice as much had more activities. But, as I have mentioned before… Few activities suit my elderly self just fine. Lounging in a chair, drinking coffee, and looking for whales counts as an activity in my world.

Oh and what would I actually do with the Mac, well, cull and catalog photos from 2021 and 2022. But, that can also be done in Kona. And for sure I’ll be taking the computer with me to Kona. Maybe it should stay in the Old Bat Cave. All safe and sound. I’ll have 4 pounds fewer to schlep. And an extra sweater might be more useful!

Excellent burger and Guinness for dinner. A good way to end the day.

I accomplished all of my chores today. But, my Shit2Do List was very modest today.

Still exploring “Learning to be Old”. Today’s additions come from Carlton. And he really didn’t get to be old. He was the same age as I am now when he died. So, he made it to old. But, he didn’t make it to really old.

Walk every day. Outside if at all possible.

Do something “mental” and totally offline for 20 minutes every day.

As I mentioned, these are from Carlton. He went out and rode his bike every afternoon. He would say “You have to keep your legs in working order”.

These are the pictures I took of Carlton two days before he died. I had deleted them but, retrieved them from the trash after he turned up “unalive”. I took the pictures because he almost ran over me. 

Carlton also believed his brain was a muscle like his quads, hammies, and abductors.  So, exercised his brain every day. Usually by spending some time reading a dead tree history book. I find my own brain becoming “scattered”. I am losing my ability to maintain laserlike focus for more than 10 seconds. I  think that part of this is caused by too much screen time. Hence: Do something “mental” and totally offline for 20 minutes every day. 

One week and one day until I go off on my Northwest Passage adventure. 

Hey, I am old. I have nothing better to do than watch the weather out of my window. 

Gratitude

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Grateful that I can still make it up to the 11th floor without having to use the elevator.

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The storm seems to have seriously damaged our elevator service. At least one elevator is still in service, but when lots of people use Zimmer frames and rollators, that’s problematic. I walked down to dinner and back up afterward. That’s not an option for many. 

Free wine and maki sushi with shrimp tempura for dinner. No complaints from me tonight.

But, it’s all good. The sun came up. The Washington Monument was visible. I was alive. All good. 

Gratitude

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Grateful that I can cover 1.5 miles in 24 minutes. I know, back in the day I could easily do 1 mile in 15 minutes. That was then. I am grateful for what’s left.

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There were boxes left over. The leftovers can be sold later. 

One of the things on my to-do list was to see if I had any Canadian money. Found some. I seem to have over $200 Aussie. I even found $20 US in $1 coins. Very little cash is used these days. But, I’ll take my leftover Canadian money – just in case. Only going to be in Canada for two days. But, maybe I’ll find some interesting origami papers! 

During my morning walks, I often come across several people sleeping on the street. It serves as a reminder that there are many struggles in life worse than having to eat mediocre food at the asylum.  If I stop to reflect, it’s only sheer luck that has me living a very fine old lady life and not living on the street or being on a waitlist for Section 8 senior housing. 

Toasty warm here today. SO, what was my big undertaking? Soup stock. I decided to make chicken stock. Tomorrow, when it will be hotter, I intend to turn the stock into chicken soup. This will clean out my fridge and freezer of scraps of this and that. The soup will go into the freezer and might be very welcome when I return home after a month-long adventure. 

While on the subject of the kitchen. 

Well, actually my kitchen counter already has a delightful grouping of dirty coffee cups. (They are all in the dishwasher now.)

Another strange thing this morning was the blog’s security certificate was messed up. Hopefully, I got that sorted out. There are very few things left in the world that I can fix. 

And according to my watch, I enjoyed a 1 hour and 57-minute nap. Maybe some of that time I was listening to an audiobook. I feel rather sorry for Kim Stanley Robertson. The man is a fine writer of sci-fi. But, his audiobooks are the best at putting me to sleep.  

I decided on the big one.  Wintery clothes take up too much room for the small wheeled one and besides, it’s the heaviest. And, I remember the sign in the Salt Lake City Airport that said “Don’t think of it as a long way to walk. Think of it as cross-training for ski season.” I remember being happy that I had the big bag with wheels. Nothing says that I have to fill it to overflowing. 

Took the long way home from yoga today. Rather than wait in the sun 20+ minutes for the most direct bus, I hopped on a nice airconditioned bus and went in the opposite direction in hopes of intercepting the bus that stops right outside my building. It seems a little counterintuitive to go east and north when one lives west and south. But, that’s bus riding. And my plan worked.

My yoga teacher scared me today, she said “I guess you’ll be in Iceland next week”. Well no, I think I’ll be here next week and in Iceland in two weeks.  Not quite ready to be ready to go. 

They weigh from 1.5 to 5.25 pounds. They carry just barely enough to too much. Two have wheels. One is a backpack. I may have aged out of backpacks. I will think about this tomorrow. 

Shortly before noon, I realized that I was down to my last 5 boxes. I was out of “not so good” paper and had filled 3 TJ bags with boxes. 

So, what to do but fire up the GoPro and record the last 10 or 15 minutes of the Box Project?

The last of the trip pieces came together.  Everything I read about the trip screams down parkas, proper hiking boots, and wool base layers. But, I really don’t think any of that is necessary. If I were on the first twice as expensive boat, maybe yes. They had 2 or 3 Zodiak excursions per day. This thing is more of a “drive-by”.  Which is actually much more age-appropriate for me.  So, I am still not going to rush out and get a bunch of “polar gear”. 

But, first. Going out for dinner this evening with old workmates. 

I remember when I used to get a new swimsuit or funky clubbing clothes before a trip. Now I get new compression socks.  On the other hand…

Gratitude

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Grateful that I can still go on adventures. And grateful to Carlton, for making it financially doable.

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Lovely day today weatherwise. Expecting a nice day tomorrow too. Then the heat returns. Wonder how the weather is doing up north?

Iceland – 55°
Greenland – 54°
Nunavut CA – 50°
Utqiaġvik AK – 58°
Nome AK – 59°
Vancouver – 78°

Nice and warm. Wet. But warm. I’ll take it. And, it suits my clothes. 

I counted correctly today. How hard can it be to count up to 20?