life in the old lane

For me, photography is all about capturing the light. There is lots of lovely interesting light right off my lanai. 

Google just up graded the Pixel camera software to include a “Nightsight” option which is really super – if you can stabilize the phone. Young folk might not have to worry – but I am a little old and shaky. 

Moving right along to this morning. 

Had a great Thanksgiving with the hotel night auditor and a friend of hers today at noon. Since she doesn’t have an oven – our turkey was really a Costco chicken – and since Costco chickens are bestest as soon as you get them home – and since we are wise old women – we had Thanksgiving a day early.

Tomorrow morning is “Decorate the Christmas Tree Auntie” time. And, I have plenty of leftovers for another feast. (Including Costco Chocolate Mousse Tuxedo Cake!)

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. 

 

Had Thanksgiving with the hotel staff today.  All kinds of good stuff on that plate. Including some stuffing. But no turkey. Seems that when they went to Safeway at 11AM to pick up the roasted turkey that was ordered – they were given a raw turkey. But still plenty of food. And, everyone got at least one overflowing plate to take home. In Hawai’i – you gotta get a take home plate. 

I did go for a swim. Before lunch. Knew that after lunch I would be ready for a nap. It is 5:20 and I am not hungry.  Which is good, because after that lunch a container of plain yogurt is about all that I need. 

Origami is a great way to turn expensive little pieces of paper into expensive paper for recycling. At lunch, I said that I would write a check to help with the Xmas party. And, everyone said no way – they wanted Origami Money. So, guess I visit the bank and try for some nice crispy bills. 

About that unfocused image at the top of the page. Shamu 2 has a killer camera. But, it doesn’t always autofocus correctly. And, I sometimes forget to give it a little nudge. But, it really is a splendid camera. Actually no need to lug the “real” camera around except for telephoto.

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. 

Another glorious day on our lovely vog-free for the first time in 35 years island. 

Started my busy day with a walk to the hardware store for some origami paper. Hey, this is Kona.  The hardware store has a limited selection of origami paper. 

Then – off to Tea at Hulihe’e Palace. Wonderful good time. Everybody at my table could claim lineage back on this island to before the overthrow in 1893. Much talk of the old days. The only woman I knew at the table  is a rancher and horsewoman. What amazes me about her is that she can not only ride sidesaddle. But she does it barefooted. Check it out.  She says it is safer. For me, it is safer to just watch.

This is Kona and tea is at 10AM. Which is just in time for my second breakfast.

Tottle back home and head back out for a swim.

The turtle looks different, but it is the same one. Today, I went looking for him/her and found him/her along the edge of the pier where the sand was stirred up. Makes the cute little turtle look a little sinister. 

Back home and I settled in for a nice long nap.

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, I did laundry. That is about it.

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. 

Book sale at the library this morning – I invested 52cents in two dreadful little “feel good” books. You know books of the “chicken soup for the Chihuahua’s soul” ilk. I don’t feel bad about destroying a book. Not these books at least. 

Main/only task today was to make sure I don’t need to step foot into a grocery store until next Friday. I’ll be fine as long as I don’t get too fussy. I never came to Kona for the food. Carlton, on the other hand, I think the Spam Musubi was a prime attraction for him.  Wonder if I have a picture of his favorite on the blog. Yes, I do. Check it out.

Today’s Fish – Sail Fin Tang.

These are nice size fish and they usually hang out in pairs.

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. 

The weekly breakfast special this week at The Asylum is Eggs Benedict. And next week it is breakfast tacos. I wasn’t up for another breakfast of microwaved oatmeal or a granola bar. So, I went to Fish Hopper for breakfast. 

Afterwards – I got to wondering about the wetsuit. Last time I tried it on – I looked like an anaconda who just had a small water buffalo for lunch. And I could barely move. But, two weeks of dietary moderation is starting to kick in:

With that settled. I retired to the pool for a little reading.

It is cloudy today – so, I didn’t take the snorkel stuff out today. I just took myself over to the ocean (which is warmer than the hotel pool) for a nice leisurely swim.

Thanks to all for basically reminding me that things were just fine between Carlton and me. Honestly, if he had been all hearts and flowers and “caring”, I would have wondered WTF had he been up to? Or did he know that I had some fatal illness that I didn’t know about? We did the best we could. And, it was good.

Black seems to be the new favorite computer/phone/device screen color. So, I think I’ll switch the blog to black – like I did for Halloween. 

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.  

When I came back from my walk and provisioning chores this morning – I saw the dolphin chase boats off the end of the pier. So, I grab my camera and rush down. Just in time to see one last splash and then the dolphins were gone. But, I did get a nice picture of “where the dolphins were”.

Back up to the room for second breakfast – I am a fat little old hobbit – and then back to the pier for a little swim.

Decided to take pictures of parrotfish. I was cruising around with this guy

When – what was that?

A cute little turtle swam right under me. Glad it wasn’t anything dangerous, because I had no clue it was there. 

Parrotfish – they start out as female and then transition to males. Wonder what the fundamentalists have to say about that? 

I was thinking about Carlton. Did we love each other “enough”? Or did we just stay together for rainy afternoons and cold nights? I decided that Carlton was always there when I needed him. And, I believe that I was always there when he needed me. And, that will have to pass for love.  We were not grand romantic characters.  

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.  

 

Well, I started the day by going to oceanfront yoga with the millennials again. When the class was over the millennials bounced up and were on their way like nothing had happened. I spent a good 5 minutes gathering myself before I could take on four steps with no hand rail. (Yoga is on a platform – hence 4 stairsteps.) 

Since I lugged my heaviest camera body and my heaviest lens over here this winter for no apparent reason – I figure I should at least take a few pictures with it. The a’ama crab is a worthy subject – these critters are sneaky fast and aways black on black.

And cheers for me. I actually cooked dinner last night. The only thing that was pre-cooked was the deli turkey. I nuked a potato, and carrots and squash. And assembled a salad from baby lettuce, avocado and pineapple.  I will not let this happen too often. 

And, what should show up on Shamu the Phone:

A winter weather warning from home. That is one of the reasons that I am here. 

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.  

Feeling sore after Sunday’s yoga class. The body is too used to yoga at a hospital or at an old folk’s home. Not used to real yoga classes. But, I think I’ll go back for more tomorrow. Maybe I’ll just do every other chaturanga dandasana. 

But, I did go for a nice little swim. 

Lots of hawfish today. They perch on top of the coral heads and just wait for lunch to swim by. The whitish spots on the coral are parrot fish nibbles. 

This is the only parrotfish that I got today – and you can sort of see her teeth. Parrotfish cruise lazily around taking little bites out of coral. Coral is their entire diet. They process whatever nutrients that are available and poop out the rest as sand.  A UH study some years ago found that a large Hawaiian parrotfish would poop out about 850 pounds of sand per year. Pretty impressive. This is a smallish parrotfish so maybe 100 pounds? If you like your nice sandy beach – thank a parrotfish.

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. 

Another fine day in exciting downtown Kailua-Kona. The sun came up. The tides came and went. No worries.

I logged about 3.5 miles on the fitbit, 30 minutes in the ocean and 45 minutes napping. No pictures from the snorkel run. Not the fishes fault. Mine I think. I tried some new settings on my camera. Back to the old settings tomorrow. 

My friends sent me some advertising – just in case I wanted to go shopping.

BUT WAIT THERE IS MORE! 

“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 love the ocean. Today, I was feeling confident enough to swim out to the little coral reefs. And, it was totally wonderful. Well, except for this creature.

The crown of thorns starfish is native to Hawai’i and most of the time aren’t a real problem. But they are still big, ugly and menacing looking. (they are problems in other oceans)

I had a fine day today. Went to a “hard for me” yoga class at 7:30 this morning. Then I went for that nice swim. And, I made pineapple, avocado and tuna salad for lunch. Spent the afternoon reading, Nightmare in Pink,  a 1965 novel in John D. McDonald’s Travis McGee series. Carlton had a lot of Travis McGee books in our Amazon account. 

And, here is Carlton in all of his butter bars glory with hot air in hand. Carlton didn’t consider himself a veteran. His active duty Army career was only so-so. Apparently one of his CO’s wasn’t too pleased with Lt Combs. So, as soon as possible Carlton became a civilian. Carlton called himself a Sunshine Soldier – he was on active duty after Korea and before Vietnam. He spent most of his time in the wilds of Oklahoma – Fort Still. 

“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. 

No martial law yet. Damn, that pusillanimous creature.  

It really isn’t funny – business is seriously down at my little hotel. This is Saturday of a 3 day weekend and the joint should be busier. Well, I am doing my part. 

I hate it when that happens! When my Fitbit battery dies and I didn’t get credit for 2 miles of walking. Half of it, seriously uphill. Well, I had my phone in my back pocket.

But, I don’t always trust Shamu II.

Yesterday, Shamu had me walking on water. Trust me. I didn’t take it swimming and I don’t walk on water. 

Technology is pretty insane. Hard to imagine that my TELEPHONE did all that. And took both the pictures on this page. 

The Orange Lord was a no-show at a military cemetery outside of Paris at a ceremony to honor 11/11/18. It was raining. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron all made it. Well… Enough said.

“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.