life in the old lane

Not the greatest photo. I don’t see them in great numbers where I usually swim.

But, the prize fish today is the Saddle Butterfly. Don’t see them very often – anywhere.

We had the whole beach/ocean to ourselves. Which is good, because we made less than elegant egress. But, no skin was lost.

About time to think about gratitude.
Grateful for my wetsuit that protected my okole during my ocean dismount this AM.

Another cheese sandwich and salad for dinner – not missing tonight’s New York strip steak at the asylum one bit.

PS – Ended up with less than 400 images today. I am not loving the GoPro. Having fun with it. But not loving it enough to actually buy one. Part of it is my new “simplified” lifestyle. But mostly, my little old lady life just isn’t GoPro material.

Note to self: If you decide to snorkel around for 50 minutes or so… and have the GoPro set on 30 shots per second – you end up with 1260 images. And, you have to spend the rest of the day tagging and deleting images. Not to mention a couple of videos. I have about 150 images left on the Airness.

(Gee – I’d best reformat my little micro sd card.)

Well, you guys have to see some more GoPro photos. Because – those are the only pictures I took today.

Over 50 cases of dengue fever on our island.

One of the entrees at the asylum tonight is “apple glazed duck breast”. The entree here in winter quarters will be cheese sandwich with a little salad. And, I’d rather be here eating a cheese sandwich here. Than at the old bat cave eating glazed duck – never mind that it is “free wine night” as well.

It really is a “Palace” – and there really are members of the royal family still alive. And, they came to the party.

These people would be called King, Queen, Prince, Princess – if it wasn’t for the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy – by “big sugar” and the US. But, we needn’t feel but so sorry for them – they are very wealthy. And active in politics – Republican of course.

As for the party. It was good.

Now, for something really curious…

Found these at the Kona Market in the “tourist trinket section” this morning. There is a reason that they call us “dumb haoles”…

Still lots of concern about dengue fever. Big public service ads in the local paper… Advising us to “wear long pants and shoes” – like that is going to happen. And telling us to cover ourselves with bug repellant – but it is completely sold out on the island.

This old guy is huge. At least I think it is a yellow eel. Could be a viper eel. But, I think not. Viper eels are sort of evil looking and this guy just looks big.

And for something totally bad – a video of the big eel.

The video illustrates total lack of skill as an underwater videographer.

But, now, I must get ready to go to a fundraising event. I was told to wear a dress. I actually went to the thrift shop and acquired a dress, a pair of shoes, and a purse. Got change back from a twenty. No expense was spared! No,

Vive la France Malama Pono. Paix.

 

Went swimming out by the harbor today. You can see a fishing boat going out when we were swimming out to see the fishes.

Lots and lots of fish – but they were too far away for the GoPro.

My wetsuit (and bodyfat) makes me too floaty to get down much past 10 feet. So, I couldn’t get down to where fishes were. But, they were there.

There is a boat that goes out to feed the fish in the fish farm. It came by. I did wonder about sharks. I mean, wouldn’t a shark follow the food truck? Not to worry, my swimming buddy is armed and dangerous – he always takes a butter knife out.

It was a fine swim. We were out for about 50 minutes.

I took a few videos. And, edited one using GoPro Studio.

It isn’t worth looking at. Trust me. I’ll do better. Maybe.

Note to Carlton: I am starting to get used to you not being here at meal time. I was in the grocery store this afternoon and my hand instantly went to the small bottle of salad dressing. And, I must tell you – I have sort of given up cooking. I am still a killer hunter-gatherer – but, I hunt and gather stuff that is ready to eat. Fruit, salad, veggies, cheese, hardboiled eggs, oatmeal, granola bars, tuna.. I figure I fixed at least 25,000 meals for us over the years. 50,000 if you count it as 25,000 meals per person. And, that doesn’t include breakfast. Or snacks. So, I don’t cook any more.

I still seem to accidently set the creature off while I am swimming around. And, it happily snaps away.

Now for a few fish.

and finally,

Dengue fever cases: 33 now. But, no new shark problems.

Note to Carlton: Kona is the same. Other than dengue fever and sharks – the most serious problem seems to be the coral bleaching. At least 1/3 of the coral has turned pure white. The ocean was so warm this summer that the coral sort of ejected its friendly alge. Only time will tell if the coral recovers or dies.

Sort of laid back time here. The social season is starting to crank up. And, I try to remember your “Misery is optional” guidance.

Trying to figure out how to get the damn thing started – it decided to take 30 unflattering pictures of me.

Then, while I am swimming out – must have accidently fired off another 30 shots of me. I had the thing tethered to my left arm.

But, in less than an hour 345 photos were taken – either accidently or on purpose. Nothing fantastic or even very good – but a couple that are OK.

and

And when swimming in – saw a fine big eagle ray. Nope, no photo of it. Too far away.

And no, this wasn’t the GoPro – it was the google telephone.

The day was spent puttering around with a GoPro. I think I am too old to understand the GoPro concept. But, I don’t like that line of thinking. That is old person thinking. Don’t mind being an old person – since there doesn’t seem to be any good alternatives to being an old person – but – I don’t want to think like an old person. Might take some real pictures (stills) with it tomorrow. We all know I don’t do video.

That being said – the GoPro is just a strange camera. I even tried reading the fine manual.

And now – a little Kona

Nice day. Finished up some chores. Played with my Nexus “camera”. Even the video.

But the car was with the real camera – my photographic weapon of choice.

Plan was to do some serious experimenting with the Nexus camera. But, I wasn’t focused enough to patiently change settings etc. Maybe tomorrow.

Today… Mostly walking, snapping pictures of signs, little swim, tweaked a friend’s computer (windows10),  grocery shopping, nap, read. Watching football on tv and sort of pretending that Mr C was watching it too.

Carlton was quirky, fussy and a tad high maintenance, but he was damn good company.

Remember all that deacquisitioning that I did since Carlton died? I figure I got rid of 150 years worth of “stuff”. About 70 years of my stuff and 80 years of Carlton’s stuff. NOW, how do I keep from starting a new collection of stuff. More stuff will not make my life better. But, acquiring stuff is what Americans do.

 

An all around fine day. Saw Saddle Butterflyfish and Reticulated Butterflyfish on this morning’s snorkel run. Made the fitbit happy.

Spring rolls for lunch. I haven’t felt the need to do any “cooking” yet. Veggies and cheese on tap for dinner.

Dengue Fever count up to 23 cases on our island. But, no shark bites.

Thinking about Erma Bombeck’s oft repeated quote:

Seize the moment. Think of all those women on the ‘Titanic’ who waved off the dessert cart.