life in the old lane

This absolutely HUGE bee is completely harmless. At least as far as stinging goes. It is common in Polynesia and was first recognized in Hawai’i around 1874. It does munch it’s way thru wood, but earns it’s keep as a pollinator.

These guys have taken “umbrella” drinks to a whole new level. No, I did not have one (or two). I had good coffee and French toast. I would never have such a silly drink. But, I have seen people order them. And they cost $25. Each.

The waves have receded from “life threatening” to “fun size”. And, once again, the dolphins dropped in to the frame.

Watching the weather forecast for back home way. Lucky I resisted the temptation to leave early.

Got lots of various fruit – fruit salad is on tap for dinner.

Up at the Old Hilton – I found the luau fire dancer practicing. But, no fire.

AND

But, it was still fun to watch. And the guy got a good workout in the mid-day sun. I don’t think it will catch on as an exercise regime.

The ocean is much calmer today. The waves are what our weatherman calls “funsize”.

I am hungry. Avocado and cheese sandwich is on tap. With a hard boiled egg and some pineapple. Which is what is in the fridge. But, it sounds like a fine dinner to me. Made fish, rice and pineapple for lunch. Planning on going out to get French toast tomorrow. Enough. Time to go make dinner.

 

Well, Carlton, I think you moved on to the next level about 16 weeks ago. It is a lovely evening here in exciting downtown Kailua-Kona. There are about 4 whales out in the bay. Two swimming north and another 2 heading south. And, from the nice puffy clouds – you can see that a nice sunset is on tap – at least over the mountain.

Neither of us believed “He/she is in a better place now” or in any kind of afterlife – but – if we were wrong – I hope it is all good where you ended up.

As for me, I am doing as you would say “just like I am supposed to be doing”. I must confess that I ended up paying $10 a month for 3 months in fees to one of your banks. When they stopped getting your social security check they started charging me $10 bucks a month. But, I figured it out and have stopped that little problem. That is my only mistake that cost any money – that I know about – so far. I think I mentioned that I got the Social Security sorted out.

I stopped writing this to have a beer and visit with my neighbors  and in the while I was doing that 1/2 the lights in my room went out. Craig just came up and said “Hey, do you think this is a 5 star hotel?” I told him to not worry and come back tomorrow. Half the lights don’t work – but 1/2 of them do work.

Just now finishing up an avocado and cheese sandwich for dinner – in the 1/2 lighted room. It has been a little challenging – figuring out what to eat. I think I finally figured out that I can eat whatever, whenever and wherever I want. As long as I don’t get fat. Being not-fat still matters to me. I hope it always matters.

So, Carlton 16 weeks into my new diminished life – I am doing OK and hope that you are too – if we were wrong about the whole afterlife thing. But, I am thinking that dead is dead. Just like we figured.

PS – I love you.

Don’t think words are required.

The spotted dove is our “big” dove. According to the Bishop Museum:

Spotted Doves, native to India, China, s.e. Asia, the Philippine Is,and Indonesia,
has been successfully introduced to Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, s. California, and the Southeastern Hawaiian Islands (Ali and Ripley 1981, Long 1981, Lever 1987, Higgins and Davies 1996, AOU 1998). Birds of subspecies S. c. chinensis (AOU 1957; PP examination), presumably from China, were brought to Hawaii sometime prior to 1855 (Walker 1967) probably as captives being raised for food by Chinese immigrants. Escapes became established and by 1879-1900 the species was found commonly in the wild throughout most Southeastern Islands (Finsch 1880; Wilson 1890a; Slivers 1892; Henshaw 1900b, 1902a; Rothschild 1900; McGregor 1902, Shauinsland 1906; Caum 1933; Bryan 1937). Despite this, the spotted dove continued to be imported through the 1920s.

We had big but not very photogenic surf today. And clouds. My exciting life included making origami hearts and curating my shoreline “treasures”.

Curation. An interesting word/concept. If you are the curator of a museum – your best friend is your museum’s “Statement of Collections”. Without a tightly written Statement of Collections your museum becomes a dumping ground for everyone’s old “stuff”.

What I need is a Statement of Collections for all my stuff for the rest of my life. I must think about this. Anything that doesn’t fit – well, it would have to go. And, I could use it to keep me from getting more stuff.

Really hard yoga class today. Forced myself to do my walking. Then I thought about making 1,000 cranes. It’s a Japanese thing. Figured I should make one crane before starting. My crane looks more like a pterodactyl. I don’t know if 1,000 pterodactyls get me a wish!

Had tuna salad for lunch. Sushi grade ahi, avocado, pineapple. Excellent.

The girl is lovely. The swimsuit is killer good. But…

The girl has way too much technology on board for our little village.

Had a nice day today. I am finally making a real dent in understanding the capabilities of my new camera. The one I bought last July as retail therapy. When I couldn’t concentrate well enough to read the manual.

About the proposed old ladies asylum. I get there weekly newsletter. This cheery notice was the leadoff article.

It pleases me greatly that the old ladies still drink wine. Wine from bottles. With corks. Very promising.

Dinner will be salad tonight. Had lunch out. Making up for 36 restaurant free years with Carlton.

Started the day with a new origami. Just in time – because I needed tip money. Weighed myself and took BP. BP is OK and I gained a pound. Had breakfast out. Then spent the rest of the day taking pictures and relaxing. Mentally, I am OK today.

 

 

Yesterday was a fun day – with a little bit of guilt that I was enjoying myself on the 14th Friday after Carlton died. Not serious guilt. Just a little “twinge” of guilt.

But today, I suffered from major “discontent”. I ended up setting around the pool. Dipping in and out of the chilly pool from time to time. Reading a book. A Kindle book. Was happier after two hours chilling in the sun.

Then I went to the store and got some ahi. Going to have ahi (cooked or not-depends on how yummy the fish is) and avocado for dinner. I think there will be some left over for tomorrow too.

Went on a little field trip today. Up Hawi way.

Had a fine time. Ride around in an old truck. Then lunch in Hawi. Next ice cream in Waimea. At this rate, I’ll regain the missing weight in no time.

Feeling a little subpar today. Yesterday, I figured it was because of Tuesday’s yoga class. Today, I am blaming it on the VOG. (That is Volcano smOG) We haven’t had much VOG this winter.

Going on a little road trip tomorrow. Up north way to look a whales and have lunch. At least that is the plan.

The naupaka kahakai s found on almost every beach in Hawai’i. Actually, on almost every beach in Polynesia and much of Australia. It is very salt resistant. There is another version, Naupaka hiwa which is found in the mountains. And, in Hawai’i these flowers have a sweet story line. Here is one of the versions of the story (From Kamehameha Schools):

It is said that two lovers, greatly devoted to each other, came to the attention of the Goddess Pele. Pele found the young man desirable and appeared before him as a beautiful stranger. But no matter what Pele did the lovers had always remained devoted to each other.

Angered, Pele chased the young man into the mountains, throwing molten lava at him. Pele’s sisters witnessed this and to save the young man from a certain death they changed him into the mountain Naupaka.

Pele immediately went after the young woman and chased her towards the sea – but again Pele’s sisters stepped in and changed the young lover into beach Naupaka. It is said that if the mountain Naupaka and beach Naupaka flowers are reunited, the two young lovers will be together again.

There are many variations on this legend.

Yoga yesterday was very hard on my elderly body. Yoga was cancelled this morning – which might have saved my life. Went to the old airport for a little whale watching with my friend, Billy and then had breakfast. Billy went off to work at “Carlton’s Palace” and I logged 6 miles on the FitBit. (Hey, Carlton – you are the only one who would care about this – according to FitBit I walked 1,237 miles since mid-April when I got the gizmo.)

REAL Food. Yogurt for lunch – after eating a big breakfast. (couple of eggs, toast with butter and jelly, rice, bacon, fruit) Salad is on tap for dinner.

I think I have managed to get back into yoga after a 20 year yoga lapse. Decided this afternoon that I’ll try to put Zen meditation back in my life.  10 minutes was a long time to sit fixedly, thinking of not thinking. Why you might ask. Well, last year – the only time that I wasn’t worrying about Carlton was those few seconds when I was looking through the view finder of my camera. (Looking at the LCD screen don’t work – it had to be through the view finder.) I realized that those few seconds were a few seconds of pure “mindfulness”. Mindfulness is sort of meditation lite, I think.