life in the old lane

Easing back to normal. Did a little yoga, went for a walk with Billy, and got back in the ocean.

The monk seal wasn’t around today. I floated around. Pretending to be a big old monk seal.

Will be heading out in 6 weeks or so. Needed to check to be sure that I still fit in my travel pants. They zip. No stress or strain.  But, I can not head out until I actually make some plans.  Gotta make some plans about my little trip to GB in May too. Why can’t I be like normal people and just make plane reservations and go direct? Why do I insist on turning everything into an adventure? Isn’t being old enough of an adventure?

Gratitude

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The Ocean – it is almost too magical to be real.

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Our monk sea remains in the village. This morning she floated around the “Ironman side” of the pier. And, then she swam around to the other side and the beach.

According to the local paper, she is about 10 years old and successfully raised pups in 2018 and 2019. Since monk seals have a very hard time raising pups she is kind of a monk seal superstar.

Gratitude

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Grateful for shoes. Where would my feet be without them?

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I was out early this morning and saw the monk seal coming back in. She looks a lot bigger in the water. She seemed to be stopping to catch a few last minute fish – so – I didn’t hang around and wait to see her land. But, land she did. I talked to the monk seal police this afternoon. They said that everyone had been very respectful. But, they wished that she would move to a more isolated beach.

Maybe today some small kid for the very first time saw a monk seal and maybe this is just what it will take to start that kid on a lifetime of wildlife conservation. Maybe an elder like myself sees her and realizes there is still wonder. Maybe that is why she is sharing the beach with us.

Gratitude

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Grateful that the mail packet from home is a non-event.

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Nice sunny day. That is about as much as I could do for my company.  The monk seal came back for another day on our little beach.

My home state of Virginia seems to be poised on the brink of the opening round of the next American civil war. The first shots of the first civil war took place in Virginia. The raid on the federal armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia October 16, 1859.  Hopefully, cool heads and rational people will prevail on Monday in Richmond.

Gratitude

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Really grateful that Carlton died before the American experiment blew up. Not sure if this sort of negative gratitude counts.

So, let me try again: Grateful for the really fine sunny day.

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Okay for my company, today, I produced a monk seal. And sunshine. No seriously, I had nothing to do with either. This is the 2nd monk seal that I have seen in the village in a quarter century of winters. They are so rare that we all love seeing them but know that this is no place for a 400+ pound pregnant lady.

The entire beach was roped off for her. The monk seal protective league sent educators to help explain to the visitors why the beach was closed. Monk seals hunt at night, and it takes a lot of seafood to fill up a monk seal, and they sleep on beaches during the day. Normally they do this on the northern islands, inhabited only by seabirds. We are the southern most island in the 1,500 mile chain of Hawaiian islands. And, we have a lot of isolated and difficult to access beaches. But, this lady decided to make herself at home right in the middle of our little fishing village with a drinking problem.

For the record. Today was the first time that I missed having a proper camera. But, you shoot with what you have.

Gratitude

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Monk seals, cell phone camera and salted caramel ice cream.

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Well, what passes for perfect at my advanced age. Things can still go south, but for now I am as good as I am going to be. I even managed to take a new picture of a great huge hibiscus.

Wish I could tell you about a great adventure that I planned and pulled off for my company. But, all I managed to do was round up a couple of turtles and keep it from raining on us.

Gratitude

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Grateful to have Betty White as my guide.

“People have told me ‘Betty, Facebook is a great way to keep in touch with old friends…’ At my age, if I wanted to keep in touch with old friends, I’d need an Ouija board”

― Betty White

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Still sick, but better. Temp is down to 99.6°. I managed to eat breakfast today and some soup leftover from Carol’s dinner last night.

Still, I was really tired all day. But, I am getting bored with enjoying poor health. It is like a 48-hour plane trip. Will it never end?

I am a very bad patient. Or maybe just an impatient patient.

I intend to go to dinner tonight. Enough with the invalid shit.

Gratitude

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Grateful to have been blessed with good health.

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Nothing to report. Temp 102.4 °. Haven’t felt this bad in years. Totally abandoned my company.

I seem to have some sort of respiratory virus. Oh yes, with a little nausea thrown in for good luck.

Stay tuned.

Drat. I seem to be getting my annual winter sinus problem. And, like last year when I have company. I had the cold/sinsus crud twice last year. Once in January in Kona and then in June in London and Scotland. Oh well.

You never want to see this on your phone screen. January 13, 2018

Still having winter here. My company hasn’t complained. We are being indoor cats: eating, napping, looking out the window.

Gratitude

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Grateful for the last two years. Because 38 minutes after the Incoming Missle message “they” said OOPS. False alarm. It is good to have a wake up call from time to time.

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Cold and rainy here today. I am pretty sure that it was warmer and sunnier back at The Asylum.

Fortunately my company seemed to be content to stay around the hotel and talk story. Think it is going to be less than perfect weatherwise for her visit. You take the weather you get.

Gratitude

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Sandwiches!

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Not exactly sure why my neighborhood “needs” a wind turbine blade to celebrate neighborhood diversity.  A far better, cheaper, and more useful symbol of neighborhood diversity is the Tacos El Papi Taco Truck that usually parks on this corner.

Pretty sure this isn’t the best shirt to wear at The Asylum. But, then again, it sort of describes the aging process in 5 simple words.

Gratitude

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Friends who fly 5,000 miles in coach to visit.

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Went inside to get the camera – well the phone – came back to get a picture of the moon and it was gone. Whatever happens, is what I planned.

Whatever happened this morning is: I put down a large one on a GUIDED TOUR. Scary right? But, I am going on the GUIDED TOUR with a friend from The Asylum. That will make it less scary.

And, they had just taken my money when they send me a PDF all ready telling me what to do! And when to do it! I am telling myself that it will be good for me to try turning the logistics over to someone else. “Now dear, you must have your luggage outside your door by 7:30”.

This is where I went last year.  Didn’t seem to make it to the southern hemisphere.  But, I did prove to myself that if you keep going west you will end up back in the east.

Gratitude

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For new adventures. And rainbows.

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(I am trying to GoPro a rainbow at this instant.)