life in the old lane

Ditched Zoom Yoga at 7am this morning to go look for monk seals. 

Much walking carefully over the lava – but no monk seals. Did see some manta rays. And had a nice  walk with Billy. 

Around noon I went out for a quick swim. Took my GoPro – just in case. Well, nothing showed up – but unknown to me it was recording the whole time.

And, my yoga teacher recorded the zoom session – so – I can do yoga class tomorrow. I have been going to a yoga class across the alley. It is different – we hold the postures for 5 minutes. 5 minutes is a long time. 

And what should show up at the pier this morning? The Safari Explorer. It sails around Kona in the winter and Alaska in summer. It left Seattle on Nov 11 and made it here last night. I have never seen it tied up to the pier. But, since we don’t have any boat traffic these days – they were allowed to dock. I am sure they paid nicely for the privilege.  They didn’t bring passengers. Just crew. It’s not cheap. About $1,000 per day per person. Most of their trips are 7 days.

Yesterday I saw way too many roaches wandering around my kitchen. They don’t really bother me. But, I do like to keep them “under control”. So, off to get some roach motels this morning. Hoy Hoy from Japan was the go to roach trap when I lived here 50 years ago. I hope they still work. Stay tuned.

Get snorkeling conditions this morning. Only thing lacking was fish.

Easy to see where this guy got his name from. You can count on seeing a couple of these any time you go out. They aren’t always this dark. They are eatable but it really isn’t worth the effort. 

This is my favorite triggerfish. They are usually darker than this one. Most of our fish change color. 

This tree is sending a message. Never mind that I have had my branches hacked off. And I am planted in a sea of asphalt – I am still going to have bunches of glorious flowers.  Make a note of that, Peg. Don’t let old age and infirmity get you down.

There are advantages to being sans car.

New poke shop since I was last here. Will check them out next week.

Way smaller operation than before time, but still nice to see people and dogs wandering around.

Who knew that chocolate almond peanut butter is a “standard” wonton flavor?

And that was about it for my little walk about this afternoon. Been here 21 days. 33 or so more to go. Good. Not the ½ way point yet.

This morning the gate to Carlton’s beloved Hulihe’e Place was open. So, I darted in to go to the seawall and visit Mr C’s departure point. 

Hard to realize that he has been gone 7 years and it has been 5 years since he went over the seawall  into Kailua Bay. Figure he has made it all the way to Antarctica by now! 

Must be 5PM. I can hear the bells at St Michael’s. Tomorrow morning I can hear the bells at Mokuaikaua Church. That takes care of Sunday services for me.

After I finished doing some chores, I went for a little swim. No pictures worth posting. But, it was excellent.

I always keep track of the glass bottom boat when I am snorkeling  around. We are both looking for fish. And we would both hate it if we ran into each other. 

Speaking of fish – I hear dinner calling me? Fish tacos next door? Grilled tuna down the street? Shrimp something or the other at the Thai place? Definitely fish. And beer. 

We made it through another week without killing anyone. We are entitled to a little sunset. And one of the finest places to be at sunset is on the seawall in front (or is it in back) of the Kona Inn. (where amongst other things John Wayne spent his wedding night – Nov 1, 1954)

So, kickback, relax, pat yourself on the back for making it through another week.The quality is good enough – go for full screen.

Walking and a killer breakfast with Billy this morning. That was about all of the excitement my old body needed for one day.  

I did make a little video of a very nice Lagoon Triggerfish (Rhinecanthus aculeatus). It is a very close relative of the Reef Triggerfish, our official State Fish. I see these guys more frequently. They are extremely territorial and I can nearly always find this one. Unless it is hiding.

Both the Lagoon and Reef Triggerfish are called humuhumunukunukuāpuaʻa in Hawaiian. It’s a fun name to say and makes perfect sense if you take the word apart.

• • • humuhumu = triggerfish
    • nukunu = nose
    • āpuaʻa = pig

So, it’s the triggerfish with a nose like a pig. 

Decided to breakout the wetsuit this morning. I hate being cold. So, why be cold. Also, wetsuits add buoyancy and prevent sunburned butt. All good. Except that my formerly “just slip on like a silk-lined glove” now requires some wiggling and jumping. Went out for 45 minutes or so. Took a lot of video. But it even bored me watching it just now. So, I’ll spare you.

Oh well, snorkeling was way better than the photos. And yesterday I saw a Black phase longnose butterflyfish. No usable pictures.

Here is a cool article about Longnose Butterflyfish from the Waikiki Aquarium. Included is a discussion of the black ones which are found from time to time around Kona. 

Thinking about moving myself here. Then I remember my Asylum Sisters. The dearest friends I ever had. At a time in my life when friends are so very precious.  And, Carlton told me to “Move to Goodwin House”. Be grateful for the good times. Besides, I would miss bitching about the food at The Asylum. 

Did Zoom Yoga at 7AM. Then I went for a fine snorkel. Billy is right, there are enough good days to snorkel. You don’t need to do it on so-so or bad days.That might not be a great plan if you are just here for a week. But when did I ever go to Kona for a week. I think 3 weeks is the absolute minimum I ever did.

I took some video. Don’t know if any is useable. After a nice 45 minutes swimming around, I sat on the pier and dried myself like an old dog. And chatted with a man who was watching his grown daughters snorkel. When they came in they were all excited because they saw a ray. Always great. Only fun thing I saw was a big fat eel. Move too fast for me to photograph.

Eventually, I made it home in time for lunch and an afternoon of chilling. Wrong.   More reports are required. I am only complaining a tiny bit. I really much prefer developing massive spreadsheets on my lanai. Listening to the myna birds. No jackhammering so far this week. But, the air compressor is still outside my door.

After working all afternoon, I am not into editing video. Or much of anything. Think I’ll wander down the street for a burger and a beer soon. 

Note to young people: When you get old, autopilot fails. For example. When you are not old you can wander into the kitchen and just make coffee without thinking about it. On autopilot. Well this morning “on autopilot” I brewed a fine pot of hot water. Autopilot completely skipped the “get out beans, grind beans, put ground beans in filter, put filter in pot, etc” part of the make coffee flight plan.

 

I couldn’t interest myself in just swimming today. And, it wasn’t a good snorkel day. So, I was content to just walk, watch the ocean, do a few chores, a little origami, a lot of reading.  Might sound boring to most of you. But, to me, it was just fine. Heck, I didn’t even take a nap. So, I must have been having fun. Carlton always said: If you think you are having fun, you are having fun. 

My granddaughter says I should find some sort  of semi permanent living solution in Hawai’i. Certainly something to let rattle around in the brain. The Hotel was a fine solution for decades. Don’t know if I can figure out a new solution.

The Asylum has Tater Tots on the menu tomorrow. Not something I am looking forward to going back to. Tater Tots. Next thing you know they’ll be serving SpaghettiOs. 

Time for dinner. Picked up some sushi this afternoon. Another good dinner.

 

The view from the lanai is fine if you are in the correct chair and look up. Otherwise, it’s an alley. Over looking a couple of bars, a barber shop and a yoga studio.

Today was chores. A trek to the grocery. Water the plants. Then remove the sheets, wash and dry the sheets, put the sheets back on the bed. I haven’t done that in over 6 years. Clean the kitchen, and run the vacuum. I am going to be here another 6 weeks. So, I figure I have to do this twice more. Well, the sheets and vacuuming part. The kitchen will require more frequent attention. And, I will have to go to the grocery. And water the plants. But enough with the sheets and vacuum. 

Last night I went to dinner at the landlord’s bar/”Mexican” restaurant. He runs this bar to support his sport fishing habit. So, the fish tacos are pretty damn sweet. 

While I was enjoying my dinner on the bar balcony, the local anti-vaxxer crazies made their apparently weekly  protest march down the street. This time they were shouting “Lets Go Brandon”. I am trying really hard to be apolitical. I know that some of my friends over here are members of the lunatic fringe. Still I didn’t want my dinner to be interrupted by “Lets Go Brandon”. Well, guess what – the patrons who where closest to the street took up the chant “Thank You Brandon”. 

Tonight’s dinner is sushi from the grocery. 

Headed out on foot this morning and the first thing I encounter is Kumu Keala Ching blessing a new business. I wish all good things for the business, but even in the best of times, not much money has been made at this location. And these are not the best of times. Hopefully, they got a good deal on the rent.

My plan was to walk the 2 miles to the craft fair and catch the bus back home. The bus never showed. So I walked back home. I wasn’t quite as perky as when I left. So, cottage cheese and pineapple plus a lot of water for lunch and then a nap. I really wanted to hop in the ocean, but I couldn’t interest my legs in making the trek to the pier. 

But, here are some lavender tangs doing their feeding frenzy thing from yesterday. These are also called brown tangs. And when they are in the feeding frenzy mode they are nearly always brown. 

I found some of my crafty friends at the fair. I left some money behind. And, was invited to several events over the next month. Everyone said “Auntie bring origami” so, I am glad that I brought some folding paper. Origami is a little different here, because of the humidity. It changes the properties of the paper. 

Note: If you haven’t activated Apple Pay or Google Pay. Consider doing it. Especially with you have a watch that supports these activities. It works almost everywhere and beats fumbling with a card. 

Spent most of the morning hanging with Billy. Walking, talking, drinking coffee, finally eating breakfast. He went off to work on an old boat. I went out for a snorkel.

This looks a lot like the spotted pufferfish from Tuesday, but it isn’t a pufferfish. It doesn’t inflate itself to look fat and fatter. It has a box shaped skeleton. It is also a lot small than the pufferfish. Actually, there might be larger box fix farther out. Near shore they are small. And, this one is a lady. 

I waste entirely too much time every winter trying to identify each and every parrot fish I swim by. Not that it matters one bit. It is a terminal male parrotfish of some sort. Most of my friends work crossword puzzles. I puzzle over parrotfish. 

These guys are no brainers to identify. Like some butterflyfish, they mate for life. These are juveniles. About ½ grown.

I made some videos. But, I’ll spare you those and go get dinner instead.