Kona – Day 31

A little swell today. Nothing very exiting here.

Took a little walk along the shoreline.

A favorite sign.

I love this sign. NO TRESSPASSING. But, if you do tresspass. Follow the rules. And NO SPAM.

Honls.

Honls is where the boogie board was invented way back in 1971 by Tom Morely.


And today was a fine day for boogie boarding at Honls.

Kona – Day 30

0822am. Today. The Morning After. I didn’t make it out as early as usual.

I was right. After I got home all I wanted was to have a nice cuppa coffee and head off to sleep. I had a fantastic Thanksgiving. And, I know that it was all the sweeter because of my age.

Billy and Monique – 1st dinner.
Think there is going to be enough food!
Does it get anymore Thanksgiving than this? Good food, good friends, good times.

Time to move on up the mountain to Monique and Billy’s house where 2nd Dinner is cooking.

Almost time for 2nd dinner.
Guess who came to dinner? Pearl the Grey Parrot.
And Bella the Dog came to dinner too. It was a family dinner. So, why not. Candles were lighted for all who were not there. And a place was set for them.
While the young people cleaned up the old women folded paper.

Life is good. Even now.

thanksgiving 2024 – header

Kona – Day 29

0656am – out on a Thanksgiving Day Walk

By the time I get back home this evening after not one but two Thanksgiving parties, I may be too tired to do anything more than crash into bed.

So, come along with me on a little walk along the ocean early this morning.

Kona – Day 28

0902am – Boat Day

It was just another lazy day. Yesterday evening, I finished one of my “just for me” projects—my Kindle/AudioBook spreadsheet is now updated and complete with prices. That will remind me that I have more to read and hear than I have time left to read and hear.

I got a nice brisk walk this morning and some extra yoga. I am under no illusions about this exercise regime of mine. It will not give me one extra day of life, but it might give me a few extra days of quality life. Or, I might get hit by a bus when I am out walking. Nobody is promised tomorrow, and nobody gets out alive.

Not my best photo of Hawaiian Garden Spiders.

But I wasn’t about to tramp through the bushes to get closer. These big spiders were accidentally introduced but are appreciated because they catch many bugs. Their webs are very impressive. 

Bauhinia x blakeana. Hong Kong Orchid Tree.

This lovely tree is another introduction. This time intentionally. It’s one of my favorite local street trees. It is sterile and isn’t a threat to the native trees. And, the large purple flowers sometimes have a nice fragrance. These are along the other side of the condo building. 

Think I’ll have shrimp, avocado and tomatoes for dinner tonight. 

Kona – Day 27

You will never find a $70 lei in the Falls Church Safeway.

However, you might find plastic ones. You never know.

The Twilight Zone

I can no longer multiprocess. You know, things like walking and chewing gum at the same time. This morning,  I empirically determined that I can no longer carry my breakfast and open a screen door at the same time. I used to be able to do that. 


I cherish my friendship with Barbara Nobriga. A woman, tough as nails but soft as silk. Years ago I took a picture of her, riding her horse in a Parade. (Kona loves parades.)

Barbara Nobriga – Grand Marshall of Parade. December 2012.

She is riding sidesaddle and barefoot as well. That is the traditional way. The pa’u rider way.

A few years ago, a lovely short film was produced about Auntie Barbara and her ohana. I think you might enjoy it at this friends and family time of year.

Kona Day 26

0734am. Out on my morning walk.

One month from now, I will be back at the Asylum. Unless I come up with a good Plan B. At this instant, I am thinking Plan B should be to just go back home. Do taxes. Visit Dentist. Escape. Thinking about going to look for northern lights again. I got lucky last time. But will we even be able to leave the country after January 20. Or will any other country let us in?

“May you live in interesting times” really isn’t an ancient Chinese curse. But it’s still a curse.

This is damn hard to accept. But these days I am happy to be AT the ocean. I no longer have to be IN the ocean seeing how far and fast I can go.

This year, I have had to push myself to go for a swim in the ocean. I don’t think I have gotten lazier. I have been walking about 3 miles a day, and at least one of the miles is either as fast as I can walk or seriously uphill. I think my serious ocean swimming days are over.  Accept and adapt.

I didn’t have to use Photoshop to remove people from the image. There were no people.

It’s not busy in the Village. Yesterday, the Trump Campaign HQ cleaned out its storefront. They offered me a free T-shirt. I said No, Thank You, very nicely.

elephants – Sapporo Zoo. The baby was 11 months old.

Today I cataloged and culled my Sapporo images. 

Crocs – Sapporo Zoo.  Actually some sort of Gharial. I rather like them. 

Kona Day 25

Peg and Billy – Monique was the photographer

Today I have been working on the 1043+ photos that I took in Japan. And nothing diminishes my desire to take pictures more than a giant cull and catalog job.

But Photoshop has gotten scary good at removing crap from photos.



 
I could do this myself, but it would take forever and wouldn’t be worth the effort. Photoshop AI did it in less than two minutes. How easy it is to remove undesirable people from the family albums! Maybe too easy. We need to remember some of those men who didn’t meet requirements. 

Kona – Day 24

0745am Waiting on Monique and Billy. Plan is to go to the farmers market.
In my case it was more like the bakers market. 

After all that, we are hungry. BREAKFAST! Monique wants poke. And fortunately it’s almost 9am. 

Best Poke on westside of Hawai’i Island.
Outstanding breakfast. Rice, raw fish, seaweed. To die for.
This is one of my all time favorite bathroom signs and it’s a damn fine bathroom for a poke shack.
Then on to another market in quest of tomatoes.

But wait. We need tomatoes. Stop at another market. This one is more crafts and less food. But, they have tomatoes.

In addition to tomatoes, the resident rooster has truly impressive spurs.

Kona – Day 23

Between Iron Man in October and Christmas, the village is very quiet.

Quiet, that’s how I like things these days.The older I get the quieter I like it. But, my hearing isn’t what it used to be. So, maybe that’s why things seem quiet.

Christmas starts to sneak in.

Which reminds me, I need to fold some stars.

The Baldwin locomotive on Lāna’i is named “Waiahole” and was manufactured in 1882 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works. It was originally used on Maui at the Spreckels Plantation before being brought to Lāna’i in 1899.

The Lana’i sugar plantation was a complete and speedy failure. 500 Japanese workers arrived. A village was constructed. This would be in 1899. In 1900 plague struck in Honolulu and it made its way to Lana’i. And the plantation’s source of fresh water turned brackish in 1901. The train was blamed for all the problems since a heiau (temple) was destroyed when the tracks were laid for the train. The sugar plantation closed in 1901. 

Cat picture below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is our resident mouser.

She is small. But good at her job.

Kona – Day 22

Molokai. A walk along the road.

One evening, I went for a walk along the road to get some exercise. This was the only time I had ever taken a walk in an “urban area” and encountered a deer skeleton and a deer in the process of becoming a skeleton. Guess no needed deer meat.

I did grownup stuff today. Stuff like going to the store for breakfast foods. 

Other grown up stuff was checking to be sure I had the “best” medicare coverage.

And, I thought “would I like to take a last lap around the planet?” And if so, how? It’s common among my neighbors at the home to take a world cruise. That’s not for me.

Kona – Day 21

0738am It’s Boat Day.

Out doing my aerobic exercise this sort of early this morning. In the afternoon I went for a little swim. The bathrooms and shower were closed. I am sure that made many of the cruisers very unhappy. It made me unhappy. Had to walk home with sandy feet. Anyhow, public bathrooms are scarce in Kona.

Did I tell you this story about Molokai? We were out in the car and decided that we needed a pitstop. SO. We went to the airport. It was nearby. Parking was easy and about 100 feet away from the terminal. And there were no guards or TSA. Just nice clean bathrooms. Can you imagine going to Dulles Airport just to use the restroom?

Just Science Fiction? I am re-reading Robert Heinlein’s 1982 classic Friday.  Two quotes:

    • It is a bad sign when the people of a country stop identifying themselves with the country and start identifying with a group. A racial group. Or a religion. Or a language. Anything, as long as it isn’t the whole population.

    • Sick cultures show a complex of symptoms such as you have named…but a dying culture invariably exhibits personal rudeness. Bad manners. Lack of consideration for others in minor matters. A loss of politeness, of gentle manners, is more significant than is a riot.

Just Science Fiction?

Kona – Day 20

Old Airport.

Went out to Old Airport with Billy to welcome the sun this morning. We also did breakfast and cruised around doing errands and visiting.

One stop was at the hardware store. It doesn’t sell origami paper anymore. That was a bummer. I’ll make my holiday origami out of an old calendar as planned.

Ruddy Turnstone, Akekeke, comes from the Arctic in the winter. How does a bird that’s smaller than a robin do that?

This was the end of cruising around in Billy’s truck.

Keahou Bay.