It was chilly and damp today. About an hour ago, I put on my swimsuit, went out on the lanai for my towel, and came back in, took off my swimsuit and headed off for a nice hot shower. It was just too chilly for a swim. Even with a 3 mm wetsuit. Rain on the mountains increases the amount of cold fresh water that the springs put into the bay. And snow on the mountain cools the breeze.
Mauna Kea this afternoonHonl’s this morning – I got sprinkled on. A blessing.
Are we 3 weeks out from the election? I have been trying to be a gracious “loser”. Nevermind that my side won the popular vote. And all of you who couldn’t be bothered to vote. Or who didn’t like the choices… Pox on both your houses.
But, I have just been wondering – what is going to happen when the good people who did vote for The Trumpet realize that they have elected the greatest con artist since Charles Ponzi (Or Jefferson Randolph Smith for all you Alaskan types)? Seriously, are they going to get mad? Or are they just going the shrug it off as business as usual?
In Hawai’i you can go anywhere you want to along the coast. My accomplice, Billy the Younger, wonders how far can we get down this lava flow. Lava is really tricky to walk on. Especially when it is wet. And a fall nearly always results in lost skin at the very least.
I turned the GPS tracking function in my new camera on and I have sort of figured out what to do with the waypoints that it collects.
Our trek down the coast – the camera did a good job.
We were so happy to escape with no blood or broken bones that we headed up slope for wonderful early lunch of poké. (Poké is Hawaii’s answer to sashimi.)
It is open from 11 – 6, Tuesday thru Saturday.
Back at the Seaside – I decide that a nice swim was in order. And, what was the first thing I saw – an eel.
The daily eel.
And, that is about all the fun this old lady can stand for one day.
This morning, after a brisk walk and nice breakfast – my friend Billy and I decided to go north and check out the Fish Ponds at Mauna Lani Resort. Since this is an upmarket hotel – Billy and I both changed into “respectable adult people clothes” (as opposed to our normal shorts and tee shirts) I even put on “lady clothes”.
And, the adventure? The wind took my hat and deposited it in the fish pond. I went in after it. Got wet right up to my granny panties. But, I wasn’t about to let anything happen to that pāpale – the man who made it died last month. It is made from hala leaves from Carlton’s Palace. The hat was saved. I made it out of the pond unscathed.
Dorky enough?
And why you might ask didn’t my much younger friend Billy go after it – well – Billy had real shoes on – my shoes are water friendly. The pond bottom is slippery lava. It never occurred to me not to go in after my hat. Hopefully, my shoes will be dried out by tomorrow morning when we have another field trip planned. I plan to wear my dorky hat tomorrow! Not my beloved lau hala pāpale.
In keeping with my eel theme of recent days, after I got out of the pond, I saw this sign.
Going out for a swim I see this little dog with goggles.
The morning – for no apparent reason – I decided to check on the blog. And “everything” was gone. It was not pretty. Like a panic attack. Because – I don’t back up my blog. I back up everything. But, since I changed hosting services a couple of years ago – I hadn’t backed it up.
I took myself off for a fast 2 mile walk. When I got back – I figured out what had happened, but not why. And, things are almost all back to normal. I backed everything up to my computer and setup a daily backup script.
I was surprised at how much this blog means to me. I have had it for almost 17 years. What else have I had for 17 years? Damn little. Lets see: photo albums, some kitchen stuff, my rugs, table, a couple of chairs, my bed, a few pair of earrings. My wedding ring.
New project. You know I love my “projects”. Figure out how to convert the blog – at least the WordPress part – to a PDF document. Or a dead tree book. It is doable. Just really time consuming when you are talking about 17 years of postings (17 X 365 = 6,205 posts). Maybe, I will just keep it backed up and forget about the dead tree option!
Then, when I got out and went for my shower – I found the dog getting a shower.In my next life – I want to be a dog.
Note from Carlton: I figure that all these coins that I found yesterday was your way of checking up on me and telling me that I am doing fine.
Those of you who know Carlton know that he never let a penny go unpicked up. He would endanger life and limb picking up a penny on a busy street.
I have been here four weeks. 1/4 of my winter. It has been good.
The Hibiscus of the Day
The ocean wasn’t too choppy today – but it still wasn’t a great day for photography. But, I took the camera out anyhow.
The first turtle of the winter.Whitemouth Moray Eel
This fine eel was in about 3 feet of water. It was pretty bouncy – I didn’t want this big boy taking nips out of my fingers. Eels are always opening and closing their mouths – not because they are nipping at you – but it is the way they “breath”. And, they don’t have very good eyesight. So, seems to me – in three feet of water one could get nipped.
Been seeing lots of eels or puhi – especially since I put Carlton in the bay. Maybe the puhi is my personal ‘aumakua. ‘Aumakua is a Hawaiian concept that I can not explain. It is sort of a household god, fairy godmother, spirit guide, ancestor thing. And, the final job for your ‘aumakua is to help you to the otherside. And that is about it for my spiritual life.
I still like these reflection selfies best! Again, it was too choppy for sea trials for the new camera – so, I strapped the monopod and the long lens on the real camera and took the underwater camera along – for a little photo play date.
Report on the monopod: It really helps. I can no longer hand hold even 400mm. Even with great image stabilization.
saffron finch (Sicalis flaveola)
Report on the underwater camera on land. It is OK. Image quality doesn’t begin to compare to the OMD-EM 1, but it is OK. Today’s pictures (except the finch) were taken by the TG-870.
Something a little different for today’s Hibiscus. (Once again the TG-870 failed on a red hibiscus). Today’s offering comes from the hou tree. These are not cute little bushes, but real trees.
Hou – Hibiscus tiliaceus
Hau blossoms arebright yellow with a deep red center upon opening. During the day, the flowers deepen to orange and finally red before they fall.
Hou – Hibiscus tiliaceus
Hawaiians used the wood to make spars and ‘ama (canoe floats) for outrigger canoes, fishing net floats, and adze handles.Cordage was made from the bast fibers.
The odds are good but the goods are odd. Yes, there are age appropriate men. Let me tell you about two of them from the hotel this week.
The talker. There is a nice widower from Canada. He comes every year. He is my age. He is very fit. Enjoys good beer, coffee and chocolate. And, he can talk your ears off. This isn’t new. He did that before his wife died. Earlier this week, I decided to see how long he could talk with only the occasional ohmmmm from me. After an hour – I gave up and ran away. Today when I went for my swim I spied him on the north side of the pier – talking to someone. I decided to swim off the south side. When I came out – 30 minutes later – he was still there – talk to the same person. I beat a hasty retreat back to the hotel and my room without being seen.
The helpless. The best thing this guy said was “I am leaving tomorrow”. In fact that is about the only thing I remember him saying. He was large. And not fit. But my age. He asked me if I thought his swim trunks would get dry overnight because “I am leaving tomorrow”. He was troubled by the lack of fruit and veggies. And, he couldn’t figure out what to do with his room card. I could only stand this guy for 30 minutes. Then I told him I needed to get out of the sun – never mind that I was in the shade!
Seems like a good car to find after eating everything in sight yesterday!
Today’s Hibiscus – Failure
Today’s hibiscus is from the new underwater camera. (All of today’s photos are from that camera.) The hibiscus photo was a total failure.
The ocean was too choppy for photography today. But, did that stop me? Of course not! I didn’t expect much. And, I didn’t get much.
Rockmover Wrasse – I rarely see one at this location.
Speaking of location – I played with the GPS Tracking feature of the new camera. It sucks battery bigtime. And, I haven’t figured out how it works. But, this is where I went while it was on.
Old Airport Beach – this AM
And what did I buy on Black Friday? Clean clothes. I put 16 quarters into big white machines and got fluffy clean clothes out.
The close of a very nice Thanksgiving Day. I have 5 desserts in the fridge. I am well fed.
And, for the daily hibiscus:
Taken with the new underwater toy. During Land Trials.
Before I embarked on my own personal food fest – I took the new camera for “sea trials”. The ocean conditions were less than ideal – but still – I had to take the new camera out and under.
The yellow hibiscus is the Hawai’i state flower. But, not this yellow hibiscus. So, who’s checking?
Went for a walk this morning and hung around waiting to see if today was tree decorating day. Turns out it is tomorrow afternoon.
So, I went for a nice swim in the bay – saw a fine big eel – no pictures. And then went on a field trip/lunch run with my good friends Billy and Doreen.
As you can see, we are all mature grownup persons!
The very best part of the day is swim time in the ocean. Today on my swim – I saw a fish behaviour that I had never observed. We have chubs. A modest gray fish. Medium size. Nothing special. It apparently has a yellow variant – I have never seen one. And, “when aroused” – whatever that means if you are a fish – It turns a much darker grey with white spots. Today, I saw a spotted chub. There were regular grey ones in the area. I didn’t have a camera. So, I have no picture. The one that got away.
school canoe practice this afternoon.yes, that is a koa bike – it seems to be rideable
On tap tomorrow – put up the hotel Xmas tree. Or maybe I am supposed to do it on Wednesday. It doesn’t much matter. It takes all morning. But, what else do I have to? I’ll still get my swim in.
