Category: The DayBook

Once again, it is the traditional Bethany/Combs Solstice greeting.

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. 

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

GRATITUDE

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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.

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May we survive another trip around the sun.  

There should be nice waves for me to enjoy at least through Sunday.

I took some video. Maybe I’ll mess with it during the cold dark days of January.

Nice morning out. There were waves. There were dolphins.  There were cactus flowers.

And there was breakfast.

I gave some consideration to the almost sure to happen government shut down. And how it will impact my trip back to The Asylum. The TSA folks and the ATCs will be working without pay. BUT, they will not have missed a paycheck. YET. So, I am going to operate on the happy assumption that they will not all be calling in sick on Dec 24 & 25. I have 3 flights. But only have to do TSA once. In Kona. Where TSA is usually easy.

My backup for total airline melt down (after I get to the mainland) is Amtrak, GreyHound or just wait it out. But I honestly think I’ll make it home fine. Everyday it will get worse. But Tuesday will only be day four.

I didn’t expect the Orange Lord to disrupt my universe until January. I was wrong. Let the adventure begin.

Stopped off at the Pier last evening to enjoy the sunset. And unlike most folks – I like people in my sunset photos.

I like the Dogs of Sunset too.

Thought there might be a green flash and that I might capture it…

You have to watch it to see if there was a green flash. And if I if I captured it. Just like in person.

Not looking forward to returning to The Asylum.

Maybe it’s because I might not make it back to Kona? I don’t think that’s the reason leaving seems to be much harder this year. I suspect it’s the A/C. Last year there was no A/C.  It was kinda miserable, especially trying to sleep. It’s hard enough to sleep when you are old. Sleeping when it’s over 85° in the bedroom – not good.  Last year I was looking forward to a chill train ride through snowy mountains. 

And then there is The Asylum Food. I can more or less tune out the worst aspects of “institutional living”. But I haven’t trained myself to ignore the food. I like good food too much. 

Same guy, same dog, same hat, same pier – December 2, 2023. Cool. Well, I think so.

It was another fine morning for a walk.

Gratitude

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It is a wonderful life!
It is filled with friends who are family and family who are friends.

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Great time last night. Good food and what Carlton called “fellowship”. Also animals.

The Xmas tree at the Kona Surf AKA Old Hilton Hotel. 

I made a tactical error. I had a nice pre-Kona adventure, which allowed me to escape The Asylum a week earlier. That was good. But now there is nothing between me and The Asylum except one car, three planes, one subway, and one bus. I don’t even have any travel scheduled until June. This is unacceptable. 

Missed seeing the full moon last night. But, it was still up this morning.

Totally completely lazy day. A little walk, a large brekkie, a small float around the ocean, a tiny lunch, and soon a sunset and taco party. Not too shabby.

10 days until I hit the east coast. And the 10 day forecast looks OK for DC on Xmas day. Maybe cloudy and 40° if the forecast holds. About the same for Chicago too. I am supposed to go Kona – LA 30 minute layover – LA – Chicago 38 minute layover Chicago – National Airport. Not much chance of making those connections. BUT. American wrote the ticket. It might work. It might not work. No worries.

My parking space welcomed parade guests (human and canine). The guests came with chairs. One for me too. First time I ever had a chair. Very posh, having a chair.

This was the 40th Annual (except for 2 Covid years) Parade. The same person organized the first 39 parades. Last year they were begging someone to volunteer to take over the parade. Apparently they found someone. This one was a little different. But excellent. A little tamer than some.

In recent years, I have enjoyed the decorated Jeeps. And you can too. I didn’t even edit out my hideous voice. So you might want to turn the audio off. But, then you would miss the announcer. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

It’s dinner time! The last of the wonderful green beans from the farm market, the last shrimp, pineapple, avocado and spicy mayo dressing. With the last of the sweet potato pie for dessert. I hate wasting food. So, I am in use it up mode. I have already used up the beer.

I dedicated this morning’s serious uphill walk to Carlton. Hualālai was Carlton’s “favorite” volcano. It’s all nice and green. Just looks like a nice “hill”. Nothing special. Except it’s an active volcano. Just up the street. It last erupted about 200 years ago and last had serious earthquake action about 100 years ago. But that’s like yesterday and the day before yesterday for volcanoes.

The village will be in big trouble when Hualālai next goes off. I think that’s why Carlton liked it. Danger.

Xmas Parade tonight. And I have a desirable commodity. A free parking space. Expecting visitors. I hope everything works out. The village is  packed for the Xmas Parade.

Why don’t I just stay here? Oh, I know… It’s not a good plan. But.

Before I forget. I shared a table at dinner on Tuesday with a very nice 101-year-old woman. Her large family was eating at another table in the restaurant. She shared my table because she couldn’t understand what anyone was saying at her table. I understand that. Many of my 80-something friends have that same problem when eating with a crowd. At the end of dinner, she wanted to introduce me to her son. Apparently, he is 80-something and she thinks he needs a girlfriend! I gave her my line about age-appropriate men looking for nurses or purses. She understood that.

So, I could live another 20 years. But, I doubt that very seriously. And what would I do differently if I knew I would live another 20 years? Absolutely nothing. Nobody is promised tomorrow.

By the way Joe. How about pardoning Leonard Peltier?

I did my nice little 2-mile lap down to Honls and back first thing this morning. I’ll miss that walk when I get back to The Asylum. A friend suggested maybe I needed a virtual reality headset for my walk so I could have the ocean running. I don’t think VR is advanced enough to do that safely yet, especially for “the elderly.”

And I told you it was windy at South Point yesterday. We almost didn’t go because it might be “too windy”. As it turned out “too windy” was what made it fun.

I know I should be concerned about the Orange Lord’s return in less than six weeks. I wish it wasn’t going to happen. I voted. I donated money. The world changed and I didn’t. All of the Billionaire Boys Club members kissed the ring. I don’t have a chicken in this fight.  

And a fine market it was. I got green beans, bananas, and papayas, earrings, and a shirt supporting the Kau wrestling team. And a “cupcake” manapua. Billy got a bunch of smoked meat from an old friend and Monique got Xmas gifts.

Gotta stop at Punaluu Black Sand Beach on the way home.

The Punaluu Bakery is a mandatory stop.

We pass the cut-off to South Point heading home.

And we drive past Ama’s Food Truck.
Oops, Turn around a second time.
Scored some awesome fish tacos.
An excellent road trip.

Just another day in paradise. You’ll have to take my word about the dolphins. They were too far away for cell phone photography.

But, it’s not all sunshine and marine mammals.

There is this intersection that I hate. The wait to cross is hours. Before I was old and decrepit, I jay-walked like any normal person. My newly timid self has decided that the risk-reward ratio doesn’t favor jaywalking at my age except for early Sunday mornings.

An expedition is planned to the Naalehu Farmers Market tomorrow. The actually have farmers in Naalehu. Back in the day that was were our milk came from. I think it comes from California now.