My love blog to West Cliff (and Angela)

When I retired a couple of years ago, I made a list of 50 things I wanted to do in retirement. Number 15 was to bike to West Cliff daily to enjoy our magnificent coastline while getting some exercise. I envisioned riding up and down the coast, stopping to watch my beloved pelicans or the surfers or the breaking waves whenever the mood struck. Lots of people walk up and down, but that just seemed like too much work. I am a bit on the lazy side, but realized I needed to do something in retirement to stay fit. The bike-on-West Cliff idea was bare minimum, I knew, but it was, at least, something.

Well, it didn’t really happen as I envisioned because I met a remarkable woman, Angela, who coaxed me to give the walk on West Cliff a whirl. Her speed is just shy of the road runner, but she glides as if this is a normal speed. She walked as I jogged alongside her. With more encouragement on Angela’s part, I continued doing it until I got to my present condition: I can almost keep up with her by walking, throwing in a skip here and there. However, she does takes pity on me and slows down a bit, though she pretends that is not the case. (And, I think she hopes I will continue to improve to her road runner speed...not likely!)

Nonetheless, now I am totally hooked. Sometimes I walk with Angela at maximum speed; sometimes I walk by myself at a rapid – but slower – speed while listening to Leslie’s iPod (inevitably Wagner); sometimes I walk with Leslie at a relatively slower pace. (She rides her bike for exercise so she enjoys a more leisurely stroll.) But, always, I have this feeling of peace and, on many days, almost perfection.

I am pretty sure that if I continue this I will be healthier, happier and, most likely, live longer. All because of Angela's coaxing! May you have someone like Angela in your life.

So, let’s take a stroll with Angela, shall we??

We meet at her daughter’s school, Gateway, after she drops her off.
(Note the Obama sticker – Angela and I met working on the Obama campaign.)

This is located right by our iconic surfer’s statue.
From this point to Natural Bridges, it is about 2 miles, so our round trip will be about 4 miles.

I ride over on my bike to meet her.

We head off past the Lighthouse, catching a view of the surfers of the day. November has been a great month – most of the days, the surf has been up; the weather has been warm; everybody has been so damn happy along West Cliff.

We run into Angela’s friends every time we walk. She seems to know everyone! Always, she has some plan she needs to confirm or a reminder to deliver to whoever it is we have randomly bumped into. “Don’t forget the hospice benefit on Thursday!” or “You'll be at the State Parks fundraiser Saturday, right?” or “See you at the Board meeting tomorrow”.

Occasionally, I will run into someone I know – for instance, that is Janet on the right. She is in Leslie’s chorus.

Sometimes, it is a Leslie-bike day and she swings by.

I love looking at the beautiful, peaceful small beaches along the way.

And, of course, the crashing surf.

With the exception of some warm weekends, the path is not too full.
Somehow bikes, dogs, baby strollers, walkers, runners and the occasional rollerblader all fit.

Here is a picture of my favorite dog/person couple who walks everyday. That is Peter and Arrow. Arrow is a great dog – just walks along minding its own business. But, if you say hi to him, he immediately jumps with joy. Peter doesn't jump, but he is very nice, too. Arrow is so lucky to have Peter and, I am quite sure, visa versa.

This dog used to love the walk on West Cliff, but now is too arthritic for the effort.
So, her mom takes her in the wagon now.

Along the way, you will see the inevitable hippie with a guitar on one of the cliffs.

This is the parking lot in which the stoner /drumming families lived for years out of their beat-up vehicles. They are painting the curb to change it to 20-minute parking, preventing the group from planting there. I don’t know where they all went...So, it worked. I feel mixed about it.

Love to see all the birds along the way. Particularly the pelicans. I can’t get enough of pelicans!

When we reach the end at Natural Bridges, there is the ceremonial touching of the sign before the return trip.

Sometimes, we start at this end. If so, this is the spot I warm up.

After our stroll, I sometimes bike back up West Cliff and down Swift so that I can stop by my old job to say hi to whomever is working that day. I don’t miss the job; do miss the people.

Here are Orin and Adrian hard at work. Kinda...

And, then, back home...

My aloha dream

I think other people’s dreams are pretty boring. If they show up in a book, I skim the passage. If someone tells me his or her dream, I usually don’t listen closely (sorry, I’m an ass!) If it is a dream sequence in a movie, I am usually annoyed.

So, let me tell you my dream last night. It started as a general anxiety dream – I was running down a road to my parent’s house, as I had no car. I had to get to the airport to fly to Hawai’i but it looked like I would be late. I barely made the plane and I realized that I hadn’t brought luggage; I hadn’t arranged a place to sleep; no one knew I was coming. As I entered the plane, the stewardess said that if I wanted a drink, I had to give her cash right then. I didn’t have any cash, though I had a credit card. She wouldn’t take it.

So, yep, I was in a full-blown anxiety dream.

But, then, I said to myself – well I have a lot of clothes at our house on Alae. I could buy a bag at the Salvation Army for next to nothing. John and Jessica, our tenants, would surely let me take the car back early. Bud would put me up. Or Dick and Carol. Or Casey and Bill. (Edit - learn about these wonderful folks here.) When I arrived in Hilo, I called Bud and he said come on over. He fed me a cocktail and said I could stay as long as I liked. I called Jessica (who I had never met) and she insisted that I come over for breakfast the next morning and said I was welcome to stay with them, too. I let all my other friends know I was in town and they all said that I simply must stay at their respective homes sometime. All my anxiety melted away.

So, turns out that anxiety is just no match for aloha.

A few words about Dean

I went to a BBQ to celebrate the life of my buddy, Dean, today.

Dean was the kind of guy who could be dropped at any party in America – blue state or red state – and everybody would be totally comfortable with him. He just fit it. He was such a charmer –with a twinkle in his eye along with a winning grin and chuckle that promised gentle mischief. He was just so easy to be around.

But, through forces beyond his ability to control, several years ago the sparkle left his eyes; he no longer really laughed. He died much too young, in way too much pain. He lost the ability to really be what he most desperately wanted to be: a loving husband to his wife and a secure and devoted father to his two wonderful daughters. The biggest tragedy is that his descent happened before his daughters were really old enough to know the man he was underneath, and before, his pain and sorrow; the man that we were celebrating today.

All I can say to his daughters is that the Dean that I knew was a very good man bursting with true zest for life. And, he loved you two so much. I hope that the celebration today gave you a sense of how much he was loved and appreciated by everybody who knew him. He was one of a kind, very special and very, very good company.

The Death of The Guiding Light

Keeping with my current death blog theme, I thought it would be a good idea to say farewell to the longest running broadcast (radio and TV combined) in history: The Guiding Light - dead of obsolescence at age 72.

This was the soap my grandmother watched when I was a kid, so it was the first one I ever watched. A CBS staple, it had a conservative, religious theme that appealed to her. Later on in my childhood I started watching soaps regularly, but I went for the more cutting edge ABC soaps. As a ritual for many years, I would race home from school, move my TV into my bathroom, draw a bath and spend the next 1 ½ hours transfixed watching General Hospital, One Life to Live and Dark Shadows. (Does it surprise anyone that my single favorite thing at our house is my beloved spa? Just wish I had a TV out there….) There is something just really cool about having these fictional families and towns go on forever – always available to drop in on and see what strange, tragic thing has befallen the people and place. (So, just how is Victoria Lord doing anyway? I haven't watched One Life to Live since the early 1970s – but she is still there, right?)

I never picked up the soap habit again until very recently. And, yes, dammit, I got hooked on the Guiding Light! I had read in Entertainment Weekly (EW) that they had a great lesbian storyline about two straight women, Olivia and Natalia (aka Otalia), falling in love. Now, “great lesbian storyline” is generally a non sequitur. With very, very rare exceptions, lesbians have just been royally screwed in mainstream film, TV and books for as long as those things have existed. But, given the EW recommendation, I decided to check it out. (For the record – I think the editors of EW have great taste in popular culture.)

And, indeed, they seemed like they were really doing this one right. It was a stealth storyline for many months as the two straight women were turned from enemies to friends grappling with intense feelings for each other that, for both, were unexpected and scary. The process of the women coming to terms with these feelings was done really beautifully and realistically. Of course, the plot went through many soapy twists and turns, full of angst and heartbreak, on the road to declaring and embracing their love. Olivia, played by the very talented Crystal Chappell, was particularly moving during the full arc of the storyline. Here she is in one of the most pivotal scenes on their soapy journey.

Through the miracle of Youtube, I was able to see the Otalia back-story before I started watching. Then I moved on to Olivia's back-story for the ten years she had been on the show. She was the town seductresses – outrageous, sassy, sarcastic and just a whole heap of sexy trouble. Deep down, of course, she just wanted to be loved for who she was and could never really make it happen. She always sabotaged it one way or another. And, the truth is that I feel in love with Olivia. I mean anyone who tries to commit suicide listening to Tosca has my heart!

The story of Otalia was really the story of Olivia's redemption. I was really looking forward to Olivia finally getting it right in love and getting her happy ending sealed with an epic kiss. Well, guess what? They did get their happily-ever-after, sealed - not with a kiss - but with a sweet head touch. Seriously! Here it is - the most anti-climatic denouement in the history of television.


Yep, curses, foiled again! Not one damn romantic kiss! Another lesbian story botched. GL deserves to die, if for nothing else, for blowing what would have and could have been the first truly great mainstream lesbian love story.

But, nonetheless, I had grown fond of the town of Springfield and am very happy that they reunited their most iconic couple – Josh and Reva – and that every other damn couple got to kiss a whole lot. Yep, very happy.

So, why are the soaps losing audience? Why are they becoming obsolete? I will give the last word to a man who played Buzz on the Guiding Light for 16 years, Justin Deas:

If the soaps all go off the air, some smart person is going to figure out the right way to do it and bring ’em back. But they’ll have to rethink the form and make it bolder. I mean, we in America still haven’t gotten over our sex hang-ups! The lesbians on our show can’t kiss? What’s wrong with us? There’s a greater chance that GL would have brought in a donkey for Buzz to have sex with.

Mary Travers

My first crush died yesterday: Mary (as in Peter, Paul and...) I didn’t even know she was my first crush until I was an adult and watched her sing and realized my third grade reaction to her was to be turned-on. At that age, you don’t have the knowledge to know exactly what those feelings are, right? But, now, I know that she was so hot! She had that trademark hair style with those bangs which she used continually to great effect – a little head snap and those bangs would fly up. The more intense her singing, the better the hair effect. Now, I am not a bangs lover in general. But, her use of bangs was something else. But, it was a lot more than her use of hair. She had a great, expressive voice, great lips and lots of passion in her voice and in her life. And her voice blended beautifully with Peter and Paul's voices.

Here is a link to a song, Jane Jane, that only PP&M fans will know – but it shows what I am talking about. I just found it hard to take my eyes off of her. (You Tube took down the best hair-flipping when her bangs were most involved, but this works well enough to give the idea.)

I have seen P,P&M in concert – what – 5 times? 10 times? Many times. They always put on a great show, even if Mary really didn't have the voice in her later years. The first time I saw them (with my parents, who were also big fans) was particularly memorable because I got to meet her. They would come out after a concert and sign autographs until any fans who wanted them had gone home. It was one of the big thrills of my lifetime when Mary turned to my mom while she was signing the picture below and said: “Don’t I know you?” Oh, that made my year.

She dedicated her life to song and social justice. Her passion for the music, for people and for hopes for a better world always came through.

Being weird and a control freak, I have already recorded my “death music” along with notes explaining my choices for the memorial service I assume someone will throw for me. (I know that I am just a tad audacious at times.) One of the choices is And When I Die

To quote my notes (and I hope you don't see these notes again for many a year).

This song by Laura Nyro (who died of ovarian cancer at age 50) reflects my own view of death. Really death is just a chance to celebrate the life cycle, so party down! (But, I swear there ain't no heaven or hell.) Peter, Paul and Mary, who were my first musical passion, sing the song.

So, as Laura Nyro wrote: there's a world to carry on – but let’s do it with some of the love and passion and hope that Mary had for the world.

I love Sarah Palin

Seriously. No snark. I mean it. I’m not kidding. Now, I have written about her before. In fact, for easy reference, I have put all my blogs about or related to her in a Palin folder. I love her because she surprises me all the time! What politician in her right mind would have done what she did??! The answer is: no politician would have done it. Therefore, she either isn’t a politician, isn’t in her right mind or both.

She may – just may – have a screw loose. Todd Purdum wrote in his recent Vanity Fair profile of Palin:

Several told me, independently of one another, that they had consulted the definition of “narcissistic personality disorder” [NPD] in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders—“a pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy”—and thought it fit her perfectly.

Now, due to my future “blagner” (a blog about Richard Wagner), I happen to always keep a copy of the DSM-R around with a dog-ear on NPD and, indeed, she seems to meet all 9 criteria. (You only have to meet 5 to qualify for the diagnosis.) So, let’s just say that this is the screw she might have a tiny bit loose. That said, many, many very successful politicians do meet the NPD criteria. For instance, Bill Clinton easily does too. And, he certainly is a politician.

So, really, I have come to the conclusion that she isn’t a politician. Or, at least, a recognizable version of a politician. I should have seen this coming because of the turkey thing! What politician in her right mind would have had a turkey slaughtered in the background after “pardoning” a turkey? The answer is: no politician would have done it. I actually really liked that she did it – because, come on, I eat turkey. Those turkeys were clearly raised humanely, killed humanely and I appreciated seeing it. But, it was the most bizarre thing I had ever seen a "politician" do.

In her little farewell speech (required viewing), she said this isn't "politics as usual" several times. I agree. It is not at all. So, I recognize, acknowledge and celebrate her for this true insight. Anyway, now that she has recognized that she isn’t a politician, she can now move on to what God (and America!) really had planned for her all along: To get really, really wealthy! You go, girl, and get that loot. Ah, God Bless America.

By the way, I wanted to give a plug to my friend Brian’s “news cycle management” insight. He noticed that Palin made her announcement after Jon Stewart left for a two-week vacation. And, that Larry Craig did the same thing. And, that Bush did the same thing when he commuted Liddy’s sentence. Pretty sly, aye?

Beat it? Sadly, no.

It's impossible to beat it. As Hank Williams sang: No matter how I struggle and strive, I’ll never get out of this world alive.

Two icons died today. One was a real shock. One was expected. But, in both cases, fame took a heavy toll long before the heart attack or the anal cancer. Poor Michael. Poor Farrah. I hope that in between the very public bad times, they had some private good times.

To commemorate, we listened to our vinyl copies of Off the Wall and Thriller. I danced. Leslie watched me dance. He was still so attractive when he made those albums. He only had a little surgery by the time Thriller was released. Kids that I cared about loved him so much. (And, yes, he loved kids - I am not trying to be cute or condemn him here, trust me.) Fame is such an attractive trap.

We watched the pilot of Charlie’s Angels, too. That sucked. But, TV did then – not her fault. She had a nice smile. Too much hair. Not my type. I liked Kate Jackson. But, still - I wish her life had been easier.

Anyway, so long to both of you.

Departures and my right-brain

I saw the film Departures last night, which won this year’s Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. It is the story of a newly unemployed cellist who returns to his hometown in need of a job. He takes the job of a Nokanshi, which is a profession to prepare the dead for the coffin (and cremation) – while the grieving family watches – through a ritual of cleansing, meticulously dressing and applying make-up to a corpse. Now, it sounded intriguing. Hey, I liked Six Feet Under and Only the Lonely, which both had their share of preparing the dead. Plus, in winning the Academy Award, the film beat out the stiff competition from The Class (from France) and Waltz with Bashir (from Israel). So, I figured there must be something to it. But, that said, I never expected the effect it actually had on me, which was simply astounding. But before you read more – have you seen the video of Jill Bolte Taylor, a Harvard brain researcher, talk about her own stroke? If not please watch it before reading the rest of this blog. It's great. So, what happened as I watched the film at the beginning was this left-brain commentary in my head: “Gee, this ritual takes a long time. It is sort of weird. The Japanese sure are meticulous. We certainly do death differently. I wonder what is going to happen to make this movie special. It is so slow...” But then, while watching another one of the rituals with cello music providing the soundtrack, the film just captured me and my internal commentary silenced. I went all right-brain, shifting to pure emotion of a surprising profundity. Big tears were streaming down my face for much of the rest of the movie. I felt this almost primal connection to everybody and elephants (because they, too, ritualize their dead). I felt empathy to all who have ever grieved and realized my tears – and the tears of the mourners - were bittersweet. That somehow this ritual was truly creating a feeling of peace and acceptance of death. And, in that way, it was incredibly life-affirming. So, like Jill Bolte Taylor, I must say that silencing the left-brain from time to time is a wonderful experience. And, this film did it for me. Opera does too - but that is a different blog...

Ah, peanut butter

Leslie's wrote yesterday about her daily peanut butter sandwich habit when working. However, sometimes, one must just go directly to the jar. The French just do not know what they are missing!

The "Obama Chill"

I was just watching the news and Obama came down some red carpet and I got a chill as he did it. Hey, Obama is the President! I've had this chill many times. Wow, it feels great! Others have told me that they feel the same. Thus, if the phrase isn't coined, I wanted credit. Therefore, let us go forth and feel the great "Obama chill". (Even when he screws up...)

Favorite movies by genre

I have decided to become a real facebooker and fill out my profile. They ask for favorite movies. I have a list of all my favorite movies by genre that really doesn't fit. So, I am dumping that list here and then linking people to it. Not really resuming the blog....

Every movie I listed above I have seen at least twice and usually more, so they are fully-tested all-time favorites.

comedy (general): Groundhog Day, Heaven Can Wait, Defending Your Life
romantic comedy: Modern Romance, House Calls, Notting Hill
screwball comedy: His Girl Friday, Easy Living
slapstick/ silly comedy: Airplane, Take and Money and Run
black humor: Harold and Maude, Fargo
mockumentary: Best in Show, Waiting for Guffman
cult/quirky: Night of the Comet, Nashville, Kill Bill (both)
children: Parent Trap (original), Wizard of Oz
animal: Babe, Old Yeller
sports: Hoop Dreams, Damn Yankees
animation: Finding Nemo, South Park, Waking Life
teen: Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Adventures in Babysitting, Valley Girl
romance: Casablanca, To Have and Have Not, The Graduate
tearjerker: Terms of Endearment, Bambi
musical: West Side Story, King and I, Cindrella (from TV)
drama (general): All About Eve, Caine Mutiny
buddy film: Midnight Run, Shanghai Noon, Trading Places
crime: Gauntlet, Pulp Fiction, Roaring 20s
westerns: Butch Cassidy, Zandy's Bride
gambling: Big Hand for a Little Lady, The Sting
prison: Bad Boys (w/ Sean Penn), I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
war: M*A*S*H, Schindler’s List
disaster: Titanic, Poseidon Adventure
action/adventure: Terminator 2, Under Seige, Bourne Ultimatum
suspense: Coma, Misery
mystery: Last of Sheila, Usual Suspects, Memento
film noir: Double Indemnity, Sunset Blvd, Body Heat
horror: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (with Donald Sutherland)
slasher: Scream, Wes Craven’s New Nightmare
science fiction: Total Recall, Empire Strikes Back
politics: The Candidate, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, American President
fish out of water: Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (original), Starman
journalism: Teacher's Pet, Broadcast News
documentary: The 7-up series, anything from Errol Morris
foreign language: Fire; State of Seige
filmed monologue: God Said, Ha, Letting Go of God (both Julia Sweeney)
series: Lord of the Ring, the Bourne series
made for TV: Special Bulletin, The Positively True Story of the Texas Cheerleader Murdering Mom
made for web: Dr Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, Chad Vader series
TV mini-series: Elizabeth R
historical/biography: Amadeus, Reds

As should be clear, my favorite genre is romantic comedies or romances with comic elements.

Some movies I really like but I didn’t find a good slot for:

• I love romantic comedies so I could have gone on and on with that. Some more of my favorites are: Hearts of the West, Pillow Talk, Move Over Darling (the last two Doris Day films), Dave and Annie Hall.
• And yet more romantic comedies: I love Jean Arthur movies (she was a romantic comedy star in the 30s). Best known for Mr. Deeds Goes to Town and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (listed above). My other favorites of hers are Easy Living (listed above), The Devil and Miss Jones, You Can’t Take It With You, The More the Merrier and Talk of the Town.
• I love movies written/directed by Albert Brooks. Think of him as the west coast Woody Allen. Being from the west coast, I like him better than Allen. Defending Your Life (on the list) is probably his best. If you like it, though, then see Lost in America, Modern Romance and Real Life (which is a mockumentary)
• I think Bill Murray is a great comic actor and often has great material. Groundhog Day is my favorite but I also like What About Bob?, Stripes and Ghostbusters.
• There is no gay male movie that I particularly love, but I do have four favorite films with lesbian themes: Fire (mentioned above in foreign film), Desert Hearts, Bound and Kissing Jessica Stein.

What's missing. Look, the truth is I admire Hitchcock far more than I like him. If I don't want to see a film again, it isn't on this list. There isn't a film of his I want to watch again. Hence, zippo. And, while I really enjoyed watching the Godfather series and Goodfellas at the time, Tony Soprano has blown them out of the water for me. When I recently rewatched Goodfellas, I realized it was missing something: a sense of humor. The same is true for the Godfather series (to a lesser degree). To me, if there is no humor in a drama - it isn't real life.

Hello Santa Cruz

Well, we are settling back into our home. But first, the final shot of our beloved Big Island out our plane window.


As I have mentioned before, I love lists. So let me give a brief list of some of the things that make it so great to return to Santa Cruz, much as we loved Hilo.

1. The boardwalk. It is so sweet and such a well-maintained relic of an earlier time in America. And, the Giant Dipper is awesome.

2. Brown pelicans in flight. They are just my favorite thing in the sky by far. I missed them in Hilo.

3. Walking or riding down West Cliff. I just love this stretch of the ocean. Partly because it is beautiful and can be - during a storm - incredibly powerful. Partly because I see my beloved pelicans as I walk or ride. Partly because I run into friends as I go. Partly because I just feel that it is mine in a way that no other part of the ocean is.

4. Our movie theaters. What other town of 55,000 has 7 arthouse screens within 2 blocks of each other (plus another 9 screens for Hollywood fare also a few steps away)? The answer is no place on earth! (Hilo has art films on one screen on the weekends sometimes.)

5. The barking sea lions. They are the closest thing to coqui frogs! Well, they are the sound you can hear in the night even though they are more than a mile away. (Though, I admit, only when there is a fog blanket to reflect the sound, but then they do sound like they are only a few blocks away.)

6. The colors on my fireplace. This one is unique to our home. We have a leaded glass window in our door and it refracts colors into our house. It is just spectacular when the colors are on the rocks of our fireplace. I love to sit in my la-z-boy watching the ever-changing show.

7. The people of Santa Cruz. I just like being in a place that I will always run into someone I know where ever I go. I don't even have to like the person that much. I just like having a community small enough to constantly bump into people and say "hey". And, of course, it has been great to see my friends - coffee with Darien, Ian, Karen, Mindy, Mary, John, Joao, Brian; walking with Angela; running into Lynne on West Cliff; making plans to get together with Mike and Lynne, Larry and Elena; dropping by and saying hi to Claudia, Pam, Jesse, Jim, Adrian and Orin at their offices; waving to Luigi as I was riding my bike; getting yelled at by Geo for not wearing a bike helmet; Chris dropping by to welcome us back; Daphne - our mail carrier - knocking on the door to welcome us home; greeting our neighbors, and on it goes....

8. The Miramar hill. I live on Miramar (which means view of the ocean in Spanish). We don't have a view at our house. But, there is a spectacular view three blocks up. But, that last block is a doozy - very steep. Great exercise; great view.

9. My hot tub. Now, I hate cold but when I am cold, I love my hot tub. The feeling of jumping into hot water when I am chilled is probably my favorite sensual experience. (Ok, maybe rolling in warm sheets out of the dryer is equally great.) Though we have returned to spectacular warm winter weather in the daytime - it gets chilly at night. So, I have enjoyed this one a few times. (In Hilo, no chill = no hot tub experience.)

10. Downtown Santa Cruz. Just a great place to hang out.

I am now going to go on blog hiatus. (Judith - "hiatus" veut dire une interruption en français. And thanks for the comment on the last blog!) I have many things I must do now that I am back in Santa Cruz - classes to take, jobs to do, people to see - so I want the blog time for other things. If I know you read this thing, I will tell you when I begin it again. (Hey, Yemindra told me that John Shay reads it. John - is it true?)

Bye for now.

Bye Hilo....

Well, we head back to Santa Cruz tomorrow. Last night we had a lanai-warming and goodbye party. We thought it might rain, so we put up a canopy (thanks John and Adam!). It didn't rain but it did give the lanai the proper feel. (Without a roof, it is really just a deck).

Today we woke up to a glorious, sunny day. It was nice to see Mauna Kea one more time in all her glory.

One thing I haven't mentioned is the sound at night. Please listen to this 17 second video I took yesterday night. This is what we hear every night, all the night. It is the sound of the invasive coqui frog. There is a war on these little, horny guys (the sound is a nightly mating cry of the male coqui). They came in 1988 from Puerto Rico and completely changed the soundscape. Leslie and I like the sound, but others cannot stand it. Just a little warning for those who might want to visit us next time we come.

The last lanai post

It's essentially done. At least as done as I am going to do it this trip. Next trip, I will put a roof over it and build another section (that will not have a roof). But, it is now ready for use. Too bad we won't be the ones using it. (Well, there is our "lanai warming" party on Sunday.) But I am very happy that our tenants, John and Jessica, will be able to use it. Anyway, here is a last construction picture from Hawaii:


And, a little video surveying the new lanai:

Adam blogs on enlightenment and us...

Our newest guest blogger is Adam. Voici:


He submits this blog post: (colon supplied by Leslie; I'm drunk but can do semi-colons.)

I am reading a book while I am Hawaii called Awakening The Buddha Within by Lama Surya Das. This reading is helping me look at Robin and Leslie in a new way. According to what this book explains I believe that these two have already become aware of their inner nature and are enlightened. They are Buddha (not Buddhists, but have found their Buddha within) whether they know it or not, but in western more modern sense. How do I know this you may ask? Well first of all, Leslie tells her friends when introducing me that, I am possibly the most talented artist alive. Since any Buddha (one who is enlightened to their inner nature and the way of things) should realize this if they really are enlightened. Second, after obsessively reading over “Robin’s Blog” last night after the two had already gone to sleep, I realized how aware of their surroundings they are and what they need to enjoy life to the fullest. Of course I am trying to attain a similar sense of myself, but it doesn’t happen overnight. It will take a while before I can utilize thrift stores to their full potential, and learn to enjoy and think it is cool to have a syndrome like ASPS. Be capable of making good found art, like how they converted a cheap rectangle of cloth into a beautiful piece of artwork worthy of their living room.

Leslie with the cloth:

So I am on a journey to attain a similar sense of my true nature. The first task will be about making something from nothing. I will start by making a sculpture for the yard that doesn’t cost anything. Might I add that Leslie and Robin have wanted me to erect a sculpture for their Santa Cruz home for years. Sorry but by agreeing to have me stay in “The Hella Cool Hilo House” the sculpture will be in Hilo. OK my mind is rolling off to find and utilize some of the free things this island offers for this project. Eventually I will enter Buddha hood just like them, happy without excesses.

(Note: One shouldn't drink and blog, I believe...)

I'm all wet

With only five days left here, I have to work in the rain when it comes. It came. I took the following picture after of about 15 minutes of rain... But, I am making progress with the lanai. Really. I think I will finish the thing tomorrow. So, please await the final pictures. And, yes, I will be getting my hair cut when I am back in Santa Cruz.

Here is what my hair looked like 3 1/2 months earlier (with a slightly fuzzy photo ...) I think shorter is better. (Update: Adam says I look like Bill Clinton here.)

Banana face fireworks

Well, it's different.

95% of the lanai is done

Voici:


I just have to install rails for the stairs and and trim out the railing on the lanai. I am so glad that the rain held off long enough to get this, essentially, done.

Leslie is on the deck with our friend, Adam, who just flew in today. Yesterday and this morning, we had a great time with two other friends, Jill and Dave. And, later in the week, our friend Enda and his dad are coming for a night. Just a whirlwind of activity for our last week.

So, where is the damn lanai?

I know I keep saying things like, "time to work on the lanai." But, I have shown no proof that progress is being made. I am sorry. I have had to work around a lot of rain - which has finally abated. Also, I really have no secure idea of what I am doing. I sort of feel my way along. You know that old adage "measure twice, cut once"? My variation is "measure six times, cut two or, at very worst, three times". So, I am very slow. But, I have made progress! Leslie is doing the painting while I do everything else necessary to prepare for the steps and railings. I promise they will magically be on the lanai soon (rain notwithstanding) and I will be really done. I better be as we only have a week left on the island. Plus, we are having a "lanai warming" party on the 11th. That is more motivation, don't you think?

Voici the bulk of the railing parts.

Voici the stringers for the stairs. (I didn't know the word stringer before I started working on this thing which proves, I believe, that I have no idea what I am doing.)

Voici some holes in the ground for railing posts.


And, I do have a long list of other tasks that I continue to work on. In this case, I caught an hour between rain to re-glaze the basement windows. (I do know what I am doing here, by the way.)

I have ASPS!

I just found out (while reading a book review) that something I "have" and rather enjoy is a condition, a syndrome, a medical problem but, lucky me, can be treated. It is called Advanced Sleep-Phase Syndrome (ASPS). To wit, people who tend to go to bed around 7:30 pm and rise around 3:30 am. While I was an early riser in Santa Cruz - usually around 5:30 am or so - since I have been in Hawaii, I have fairly closely followed the ASPS model. Cool! I love having a syndrome - particularly one that I enjoy so much. (I am pretty sure that I have enough "symptoms" to also fit on the obsessive-compulsive syndrome spectrum. That, too, is quite enjoyable for me if not so much for Leslie and my friends.)

Apparently, it has a genetic link and is common in post-menopausal women (C'est moi!) and the elderly (I don't think I count yet, though certainly the evil folks at AARP keep pleading with me to join.) And, yes, there is another syndrome for night owls. It is called - you guessed it - Delayed Sleep-Phase Syndrome (DSPS).

I personally think the world has TMDS (Too many damn syndromes)

The oldest living person died (again)

Did you hear that Marie de Jesus of Portugal just died? She was the world's oldest person at 115. Now, she obtained that title on November 28th when Edna Parker (115; from Indiana) died. I am thinking all the stress of the title might have led to Marie's premature death. The oldest person title has been passed back to the USA. Her name is Gertrude Baines (114; from LA). Good luck to her. I hope the publicity doesn't kill her.

However they are all youngsters compared to my favorite title holder, Jeanne Calment of France. She died at 122, living longer than anyone before or since. She believed the secret to her long life was lots of olive oil, wine and chocolate. Sounds about right to me. She didn't credit cigarettes, though she didn't give them up until she was 117.

Ok, off to eat a candy bar…

The year-end web (and tripping down memory lane)

The on-line magazine Salon offered their take on the viral videos of the year. They embedded multiple videos in an article analyzing the changing web video scene.

The website BuzzFeed, which is dedicated to tracking "viral web in real time" offered a list of the 12 biggest web stories of 2008 (through the Huffington Post.) I myself included some of these obsessions in my blog. But, I had missed some of these phenomena as they happened and I, for one, am happy to have caught up on things such as disaster girl. Who knew?

Speaking of the Huffington Post, they also have a "Big News Page" of lists for 2008. Now, I love lists. Their best youtube video list isn't my favorite. But, I did enjoy #5, "Star Wars according to a 3-year old".

And about Huffington, do you remember Strange Bedfellows? This is when Arianna was still conservative. She and Al Franken did commentary for the election of 1996 as a feature on Bill Maher's old show Politically Incorrect. She wasn't able to get her ex husband Michael to be Senator or herself to be Governor. But, her old buddy, Al, is on the edge of becoming a Senator and she finally has a real home with her very cool on-line news site. They really have come a long way, baby. What a long strange trip it has been. (Sorry for going to one ad cliche to one song lyric cliche....)

(But speaking of a strange trip), the link to Bill's old show was to my favorite episode on Timothy Leary and LSD. He gathered up three psychedelic users (plus a token non-druggie) who are non-repentant fans of the drug. It was this sort of show that led to him getting the ax from mainstream TV and landing on HBO. And, yes, Maher can be obnoxious but he can be wonderful, too.

Happy New Year!

Voici the finished snowman

Aren't those girls with their slippahs so cute? (Slippahs = thongs, flip-flops, go-aheads, zories, rubber sandals - what word did you use growing up? I used thongs.)

This morning, this is what was left. Note the firecrackers surrounding our melted man.

Last night was a semi-bust at Coconut Island as the rain came back when we got there. I held on outside with Valerie for a bit.

But, I headed under cover soon after. I am talking here to our tenant, John. He and his wife, Jessica, are moving in for a year as soon as we leave. Actually, John is moving in today. We thought a period of overlap was a good idea since we are leaving him a furnished house, the car and other things. He is a swell guy and the co-head brewer for a local brewery. But, his wife doesn't come in until January 13th, the day we leave. So, we won't get to meet her - at least in 2009.

I couldn't hang on for the big fireworks spectacular that is the Hilo New Year. I just conked out at about 9:00 pm - late for me. I was semi-roused at midnight as the sound did penetrate my deep sleep, but really I missed the whole thing. Leslie, however, was forced to tend to Rosie. We had given her a chill pill that the doctor prescribed but it didn't work. Leslie then tried to get her a bit drunk with a concoction of vodka, milk and honey. It did work, eventually, but Leslie had to spend about a hour on the floor with our traumatized dog. Sorry, Leslie, that I am such a bum, sleeping through it all.

The storm seems to have finally passed and we are back to normal here on January 1, 2009. From the back yard, looking toward Mauna Kea's snow. Yes I am in my shorts and tank top and knee pads and heading off to work on the lanai....