life in the old lane

Nice day today. I didn’t do anything. That would be par for our village. 

1. Old Airport Beach – Billy and I watch 4 whales swimming north and 3 surfers getting some sweet rides.
2. Take a couple of laps around Makaeo.
3. Target run.
4. Back home – turkey sandwich for breakfast.
5. Read some.
6. Go down to the Pier to watch the boat traffic and dolphins.
7. Back home – do some yoga.
8. Baked potato for lunch.
9. Read some.
10. Bubble bath.
11. Nap some.
12. Drink coffee and update blog.
13. And, then I will drink more coffee and make dinner, then read, the lights out.

No swimming for me today. There was too much boat traffic.  And general craziness. When I was processing my photos – taken with 300mm lens – I noticed this girl:

Totally ignoring the boats, swimmers, and dolphins all around while texting or something. 

. . . 

On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron. H.L. Menchen,  Baltimore Sun, July 26, 1920.

Numba 3 day of Christmas my Tutu gave to me: 3 Dried Squid. Which sets Tutu back $36!

And, I swam over to check on Carlton. 

Everything is going fine for me here in the middle of the Pacific. 

Unexpected pleasure finding friends when I went to breakfast.

Expected displeasure when I confirmed that Quinn’s Almost By the Sea is  indeed closed – so no grilled cheese sandwich and beer for my Christmas Day feast.

Feast Plan B – Picked up some nice fresh yellowfin tuna and I will slice that up, cut up an avocado, set out the wasabi and shoyu.  Open my own beer. Hard to beat that! (Not to worry Carol – if I feed you – I will cook the fish.)

(something is wrong this year ahi aka yellowfin tuna was only $14 a pound today. I was expecting it to be $20+ not complaining just an observation)

As a photographer, I love this audio of the “photo shoot”.

Note that the image is 1/250 @ f11. 

We did not see this image on that Christmas Eve long long ago. It had to return to earth. And go off to be developed and printed.

But we did huddle around our TVs and radios and heard:

In the spirit of that Christmas Eve, once again, no politics until Dec 26. Or is just remembering this time (which was not all that great – Vietnam comes to mind) is not just remembering this time a political act. 

Fiat Lux.

A very lazy day for me today. Well, except for my jackrabbit brain bouncing all over the place trying to figure out an Aurora Adventure Before Alzheimer’s.  I did find a train that goes from Anchorage to Fairbanks a couple of days a month – even in winter. And, you know how much I like trains.

A problem arose this morning. I need a Secret Santa uni-sex gift $30-$50 by 3PM tomorrow.  No. Not. Happening. But, origami to the rescue.

And, I put it in a recycled box.

Along with a recycled bow and a couple of origami “ballons” – instant Secret Santa. Everybody likes money. Even people that have lots of it. I may even pop in a couple of pieces of dark chocolate.

I am not sure how Rudolph feels about using a real deer skull attached to a truck grill for a Christmas decoration. No problem Keeping Kona Country!

. . . 

On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron. H.L. Menchen,  Baltimore Sun, July 26, 1920.

I really miss Carlton, who would point out that the Republic survived The Know-Nothing Party, Civil War, Warren G Harding, Father Coughlin, Joe McCarthy, a host of other self-inflicted problems. So, we will survive the current president.

But, I am not so sure. It feels to me that some vital underpinning of the Republic gave way earlier this week. 

Normally I am with the rest of the world and the week starts with Monday. But, I am so glad for this week to be over that for this week only I join the Americans and Sunday is the start of a new week. Next week has Christmas in it, so, we might make it through one more week before total meltdown. 

But enough of this negativity. I cooked myself a great dinner. Yellowfin tuna with pineapple and a little salsa and sour cream, rice, and papaya. Plus a frou-frou yogurt for dessert. 

A big fat red starfish is hanging out in my snorkeling zone. These are usually in deeper water. I am thinking that maybe a diver picked it up and moved it. Or maybe it just moved. 

This starfish is about the size of a dinner plate. Very Festive.

. . . 

On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron. H.L. Menchen,  Baltimore Sun, July 26, 1920.

And here, once again is the traditional Solstice greeting that Carlton and I used for years. Even decades.

Wishing everyone the best of the festive season – no matter what it’s called at your house. In pagan traditions, the solstice is a time to put away the things of the old year and look forward to the new. One observance of the solstice involves extinguishing all the fires in your home before midnight on the eve of the solstice and lighting a new fire the next day. This probably won’t be quite as symbolic if you have central heating. Or if you are in Hawai’i.

The winter solstice falls on December 21 – the word solstice means “sun stopping.” The winter solstice is the day on which the sun reaches as far south of the equator as it gets, and is as such the shortest and darkest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. The solstice marks the rebirth of light for the coming spring.

The winter solstice also marks, among other things, the druid festival of Alban Arthuan – a time for bestowing gifts upon those less fortunate than ourselves. Out of this observance has grown the more popular tradition of gift-giving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, maxed-out credit cards and 70% off sales. May the goddess be with you during this season – but don’t blame her if you get fruitcake again.

I am grateful for that which I have.
I am not sorrowful for that which I do not.
I have more than others, less than some,
I am blessed with what is mine.

Carlton and I did not celebrate Xmas. But, we did observe the solstice. Summer and Winter.

And, no political commentary or other complaints on the solstice. 

Choices. A week ago I decided to take my chances with heart attacks and GI bleeds in exchange for less leg pain and more sleep. A friend suggested going gluten free. Well, I’ll not dismiss this without a test drive. But, not during the holiday eating season! Not to mention beer. 

For the last week, I have been using ibuprofen and turmeric.  My legs are better. Well, they feel better. There is a difference. For the coming week, I will try cutting the ibuprofen in half. 

And I have been tweaking my exercise routine. I fear that I will have to add swimming to my daily routine back at The Asylum. We have an old, highly chlorinated indoor pool. I dislike indoor pools. But, I’ll just have to deal with it. 

 A man called “Mad Dog” felt compelled to resign as SecDef. The government is headed for a shutdown. The market has tanked. Party like it is 1929.

PS. It is really one of the strangest day’s in the history of the republic. 

. . . 

On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron. H.L. Menchen,  Baltimore Sun, July 26, 1920.

It is chilly. But no snow.

Starting to think about where to go for my next Adventure Before Alzheimers. I totally enjoyed Australia. Every part of Australia. And, several cities great huge bats. I love bats. Especially big bats. 

My floor here in the hotel is still closed. They did more carpet cleaning today. The village usually starts filling up late Christmas afternoon. And, I suppose occupancy at the hotel will also increase next week. 

. . . 

On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron. H.L. Menchen,  Baltimore Sun, July 26, 1920.

Happy to have a day off. No events, parties, meetings or greetings. Went over to get some supplies at Target – will not go to any store except the grocery until Dec 27. 

“My” floor of the hotel is closed today. For carpet cleaning and some routine maintenance in the bathrooms. The water was off for about 4 hours. My bathroom got the maintenance – but – they agreed not to clean my carpet. The water is back on. But, I don’t think there is anybody except me on the floor tonight. The place reeks of carpet shampoo. The hotel asked if I wanted another room tonight. No thanks. My room smells fine.

It is really hard to protest anything in Kona. Because there is no place to at.  Guess the pier is as good as any place. The Coast Guard does pull up from time to pick up pizzas. And Customs also shows up every now and again to clear the occasional yacht. 

Yesterday’s most interesting fish was a 4-foot eel. Today’s most interesting fish was a tiny little flounder. It is smaller than the palm of my hand.

. . . 

On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron. H.L. Menchen,  Baltimore Sun, July 26, 1920.

My hotel really knows how to party. The Xmas party was last night. There was lots of food. (See yesterday’s piggy.) And, I have left over prime rib and some veggies. I will turn that into some sort of steak salad for dinner. Maybe a couple of dinners. 

There are also a lot of presents and door prizes. Flat screen TV’s are the favorite door prizes. And, so are cases of toilet paper. In fact, when management realized a couple of years ago how popular cases of toilet paper actually were – now – everyone (well except me) gets a case of toilet paper. 

Yesterday also included a walk, the monthly craft fair, Xmas concert at Carlton’s Palace and a boat parade. That’s why I was too tired (and over stuffed) to do much blog-wise last night.

And, today was Xmas Tea. After the tea, I was glad to jump in the ocean. Where I found a nice big old eel.

After the eel got all curled up under a rock – we just stared at each other. I am very easily amused. He/she was about 4 foot long. So, there was lots of eel to hide!

. . . 

On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron. H.L. Menchen,  Baltimore Sun, July 26, 1920.

Tired tonight. More tomorrow.

. . . 

On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron. H.L. Menchen,  Baltimore Sun, July 26, 1920.

High School Canoe racing season is underway. It was pretty windy – which made for some rough water.

The boys hopped on to hold the canoe for the next set of paddlers. 

Just another lazy day. I didn’t go swimming. The wind made it too choppy to be fun. Made a stack of origami fish instead.

. . . 

On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron. H.L. Menchen,  Baltimore Sun, July 26, 1920.