life in the old lane

Carlton picked up pennies. He would put his life at risk to pick up a penny on the street.

After he died, I figured he would notice if I failed to pick up a penny. Or perhaps he put that penny on my path to get my attention. 

Well, on yesterday’s one-mile walk, I picked up 23 pennies. So, what is Carlton trying to tell me? Is he pissed about something? Did I do something that he really approved of? 

An April Showers day today. So, no outdoor walking. Somehow, drinking coffee and reading seemed like a great way to spend the afternoon, after spending the morning drinking coffee and patting the tax data into shape. After all this effort, I should just TurboTax them. But, there is that whole “future” thing. I want to have a CPA in the wings for when I can no longer do it.

Old age. It is a bittersweet way forward. But, damn, it’s hard to read that Rachel Welch who wasn’t much older than me died. Or that Bruce Willis who is much younger than me, has dementia.  And you go to a lot of funerals. 

Enjoy every sandwich. You don’t have to wait on a terminal diagnosis to start. 

We formally welcomed a new member to our Asylum Family. And their spirit animal/aumākua was added to our totem stack. We are elephant, lion, pig, cat, orangutan, turtle, horse, and crab. 

And no one except the eight of us cares about this. But, this is my blog. And, I care. Because how lucky we eight are to have found each other at The Asylum? 

Carol, who is in both photos is the artist. Need I remind you of the words of St Francis of Assisi:

He who works with his hands is a laborer.
He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman.
He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist.

Interesting that four years ago my image was focused on the art. This year the focus is on the artist. 

Made more headway on my UFO projects today. Also went to the lamest meeting ever here at The Asylum. Aren’t I old enough to know:

1. 1. 1. Don’t be on committees, and
      2. Don’t go to meetings.

Kids are playing outside because it is 60°.  My windows were open today.

I have a very bad feeling about this. Mother Nature, the bitch, will make it snow 3 feet or run the temps down below zero soon. 

But, for now, I am enjoying  this April-like February. 

But, I am happy to have the sun sneaking back into the old bat cave. Mr. Sun makes it into my room about 15 minutes in the early morning. 

Progress continues on my UFOs: UnFinished Obligations and UnFinished Objects.  One of the unfinished things was culling and cataloging photos from 2022. All done now. 

This of course led me to think about “camera gear” for the Northwest Passage. I am going to try very hard to just take my GoPro and phone. If there is a narwhal or a polar bear – for an instant – I will wish I had a “real” camera. But, realistically, this adventure is going to tax my balance, brain, and body to the max. And even a minimal camera kit might be enough extra weight to kick me right out of the game. Or out of the Zodiac.  And, I don’t expect to see a polar bear or a narwhal. Or a tomato frog. So, why am I going? Because I can.

I love tomato frogs. And since it is dreary and rainy here. It seems like a great day for a tomato frog photo from December 2022 of one of the Hilo Zoo’s Tomato Frogs. 

The Asylum is having a serious case of Fucking Ass Stupid. 

But apparently these acronite think it’s spring. I hope they are right.

Little by little, I am continuing to make a dint in my Shit2Do collection. This is an old age problem that I must guard against. It think that I am where “it” starts. Where “it” ends is your home is filled with piles of unsorted mail, unread papers, unwashed dishes, dirty clothes and only a little path remains from your bed to the toilet and the front door. 

A lot of my “undone” stuff is in the computer. So. It looks better. But it isn’t actually better.  

Some of the things I have to do are obligations that I put on myself. Or they are things the I did mostly for Carlton. I have to finish what has been started. And to consciously keep up to date with ongoing projects. And this is the biggie: Avoid Beginings. Thank you Carlton for the whole concept of “Avoid Beginings”.  Finishing isn’t the problem.  Begining is the problem. It’s too easy to say “I can do that” or “I should do that”. 

I know that I have complained a lot about winter. But it really hasn’t been winter. It’s 59° right now.  The sun is slowly returning to the Old Bat Cave. 

Of course. It is still February. And Momma Nature is still a bitch. 

Made a morning out of wandering around the neighborhood. Enjoying being out. Sort of celebrating the warmness and getting my taxes as together as I can since I am still awaiting major components. But that’s progress. 

I have been loving the crow crossing the moon. So I tried an owl.

We have several problems at The Asylum that might be solved with humor and a little help from MidJourney. Our reusable food take-out boxes seem to disappear into the residents’ apartments and never leave. The boxes are not cheap. 

A more serious problem is the lack of suitable grab bars next to our unsuitably low toilets in our busiest public restroom.  Management does not seem to think it is a problem. But they are not old. They don’t have replaced body parts.

Today, I took action, i.e., spent real money, on my Northwest Passage adventure. Gotta wonder about any trip when one of the items that you are told to bring is “Sea sickness medication”. Also “Flashlight” and “Playing cards”. They don’t tell you this until you give them money. A rather large chunk of money. They seem to be expecting the passengers to be seasick, in the dark, and bored. 

But, Sylvie Earle is a cool woman. It’s great that this Aussie company named a ship after an American woman. And, it seems like a very nice ship indeed. Check it out.

Saw the eye doctor today. No problems. Just old eyes. The old eyes match the rest of the package. But, no glaucoma. No degeneration.  Nothing detached. No cataracts that need removing. Basically all good. Just old.

60+ sunny degrees today. 

Great dinner with my boss of almost 20 years from the hospital. 

Not real sure that MidJourney knows what a beaver looks like. But obviously, beavers use big phones. Or iPad Minis. 

Little by little, I started trying to regain mental focus and direction today. Today was OK. I made tiny bits of progress on my Shit2Do backlog. I didn’t add anything new to the backlog. A modest beginning. 

I committed to the Northwest Passage and Halloween to Xmas in Kona. 30 days in the Arctic. 60 days in Hawai’i. Good. I have travel plans and 90 days away from The Asylum. I was away for 107 days last year. I am sure I’ll find somewhere else to go. After all, it’s a long way to August 24

Didn’t sleep well last night. (The watch agrees.) So, I don’t know if I’ll make it through the State of the Union Message tonight. Heck I might not even make it to “Mr Speaker…”

My doctor is in the ugly building. It’s about 2.75 miles away from The Asylum. I walk there but frequently bus it back part of the way home. I always stop on this corner and ask myself: “If I am healthy enough to walk here why am I here?”

The doctor couldn’t find anything wrong with me. She will try again in October. 

I have a bunch of unfinished projects. This is not good. They aren’t going to finish themselves. But, the bigger question is: Do I need to finish them? Mostly, I think that I have been mentally disorganized for the past 6 months or so. I hope this is just mental laziness and not catastrophic mental decline.

I made it outside today. Managed a 2.5 mile walk. That helped my mental state. The sun was out. The wind was not. It was well above freezing.  All good.

While walking I was thinking about my elderly self on a 100-meter boat. For 30 days. Much of it above the arctic circle.  What happens if I have a heart attack? Or a stroke? Well, I guess I will just die. And that will be fine with me. Damn inconvenient for the ship and my lawyer. But, fine with me.  I will have checked out while on an adventure. Which sure beats checking out from The Asylum Dementia Unit. 

At dinner my beloved besties said that the boat could just put me out on an iceberg. Gotta love my accidental family. Had really good wine and OK pizza for dinner tonight. After dinner one of the family mentioned not being willing to spend $350 for a winter coat any more. It’s funny how this sort of thinking creeps into our lives. It’s not sad or depressing. It’s just an increasing acceptance of reality. Or impermance.