life in the old lane

We would like to wish 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.

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 druidic 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, last minute shopping, 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 socks again.

We had a violent but brief and welcome tropical squall – the wind drove the rain horizontal. And, the rain did that wonderful tropical trick of raining as hard as possible – and then kicking it up a notch. Mr C and I knew the storm was coming – so we were safely up in our room. And, I unplugged all my toys from the wall sockets.

The rain was welcome because a grass fire has been burning for the last few days – making lots of unwelcome smoke. When the rain and wind stopped – Paul Allen’s boat had moved to slightly safer deeper waters up the coast. I do hope it comes back.

Upgraded to WP 2.9 – Don’t see any changes – but I haven’t looked for any either.

Had a magical experience last evening. I was asked over to the Palace to “take some pictures”. High school  kids were coming in the sing for Ke Ali’i Bernice Pauahi Bishop, founder of the Kamehameha Schools. Sure. Sounds like fun.

Well, it was a mind blowing experience. Or as we say in the island – give me chicken skin. Hawai’i is not like America. The kids who go to Kamehameha School consider singing as important as football and scholarship. The class “song leader” is as big a hero as is the captain of the football team. And, strange to say the acoustics of the Palace just worked. But, since some of the songs were written by people who lived in the Palace – maybe I should have been surprised. 40 kids and a couple of ukelele turned this cynical old woman to mush. I knew that kids from Kamehameha could sing – I had forgotten how good.

The Meduse, Paul Allen’s #3 yacht arrived yesterday.

The Meduse, number 90 in the list of top 100 superyachts is apparently still a favorite within Paul Allen’s fleet. Built in 1996, and named rather ominously after the opera Le Naufrage de la Méduse (“The Wreck of the Medusa,” written in 1839 by the German-born French composer Baron von Friedrich Flotow), the yacht has served the Microsoft cofounder on cruises up the Amazon River and many other undisturbed areas of the globe. I believe it has an “ice breaker” hull – like his big yacht – the Octopus. (BTW, meduse means jellyfish in french.)

A keen student of music who has broken his share of Fender Stratocasters, Allen had her fitted out with a full digital recording studio with the reported assistance of Peter Gabriel, who has cut tracks on board, as have other stars, including the Eurythmics. The vessel also boasts a 12-seater acoustically optimized cinema. This 200 foot Feadship has the owner’s and principal guest suites on the main deck and four other staterooms below, together with a gymnasium for guests to work off the five-star a la carte fare.

Essential toys include a helicopter and a garage full of tenders, jet skis and scuba equipment. Meduse has a maximum speed of only 16 knots, but a range of more than 5,000 miles. When the helicopter lands on the boat – everyone on land watches. It is a good show.

Are the people on the yacht happier than I am in the cheap hotel on land – I doubt it. After all – they don’t have a Macbook Air. And maybe it is an iPod free zone?

The newspaper listed the Xmas parade winners. Two guys from the Knights of Columbus won the “marching” category. I am guessing they won based on style. These two guys are most likely the only men in Kona who own suits – much less – tuxedos.

They did look good and were damn jolly.

I got another bag of meatballs from the food fairy this morning.

And, a sure sign of the season – one of Paul Allen’s “small” yachts showed up in our bay.

Man eats shark today. Well, Carlton eats shark. I was careful not to tell him it was shark until he had scarfed it down. And a little Thai peanut sauce was added to spice it up.

Actually shark is a mild (flavorless?) firm white fish. Shark is much cheaper than tuna at this time of year. And, Thai peanut sauce takes care of the flavor problem.

Another Pagan entry in the Xmas Parade – Marching Cockroaches. The Marching Roaches  handed out candy. Not roach holders. I told you Xmas was different here in exciting downtown Kona.

Still loving my wetsuit. Toasty warm and extra floaty.

Also starting to really like Lightroom. I am trying to get my existing image catalog converted and to sort of keep up with entering the new images.

Just started listening to Anna Karenina on the iPod. I snagged a copy (35 hours) for 95 cents from iTunes last fall. I am petty sure I couldn’t read my way thru it. We’ll see if I can listen my way thru.

Lack of progress in the health care area is depressing. It will be another 20 years before anyone has the guts to try again.

I’ll not live long enough to see it happen.

I’ll also not live long enough to see how all the tattoos that the young people are getting turn out when they get old, fatter, and saggy. There is bound to be money to be made in 2030 on this. If I knew how to play it I could invest $1,000 now and make my granddaughters very rich old women.

Our annual wacky Xmas Parade. It is sort of a Pagans vs Christians contest. But, it is all good fun. There were 78 entries. From marching Cub Scouts to decorated concrete mixers.

Unexpected consequences. Consequences of losing 20 pounds that is.

1. I don’t float so good anymore.
2. And, I get cold in the water faster. So blubber must be a good thing for marine mammals.
3. I spend more time taking care of the old equipment. Waxing, buffing, oiling, polishing etc. Am I a car or a woman? Is there yet another bikini wax in my future? I think not.
4. Been spending a little more on clothes too.

Note to Jane Fonda – Sorry that you find sex better in your 70’s than ever before. You must have had some sorry-ass sex earlier. No complaints on the sex front from me. But, it isn’t “better than ever”.

I always wanted to see the May Day Parade in the Soviet Union. On May 9, 2010 the “New Improved” Russia will have a parade to mark the 65th anniversary on the end of WWII. Thinking it might be a good substitute. Question is can I get it together enough to go. It isn’t like deciding to go to the Rose Parade. (Which was never on my Bucket List)

Suffered from lack of internet last night. Oh well, I should be glad that we have any internet. Thank you St. Syncronious. (What you never heard of St Syncronious – patron saint of communications?)

One of Kona’s most popular bumper stickers is “Keep Kona Country”. Seems to me that as long as the paper has a help wanted for a shepherd they got no worries on that front.

We also have our serious nut cases. And where else would the band’s uniforms fall out of a pickup truck?

Kona is not like the rest of America. It is like Kona. About as far away as you can get.