December 25, 2021

December 25, 2021   

 

  I woke up before the alarm went off. I expected to hear it ring while I was out walking. It never went off. I thought, "Wow! It's set so it doesn't go off on Christmas morning!" then I realized it was Saturday. It's not set to go off on the weekends. 

   Worked on the blog daily entry and the updates. I had the 21 and 22 pretty well finished yesterday. I ran them through Grammarly and posted them to my email recipients. These recipients get the current versions. The bloggers get everything one year to the day late.   I have started recording the stats. Either later today, or more likely sometime tomorrow, I will hit 20,000 views. Unlike Facebook and YouTube, which only counts a viewer once no matter how many times they view the video, Blogger.com counts each visit. I have been expecting the number of viewers to drop, but no. There were 136 visitors, and it was Christmas. I never expected that. 

      The first large viewership came from Egypt. Tommy and I both assumed someone teacher assigned my blog to his class. My Egyptian readers disappeared as suddenly as they appeared. Not a single Egyptian is viewing my blog now. I was expecting the same from my German and Indonesian viewers. So far, not. I don't know if they have a heavy assignment over the vacation or have picked up the habit for themselves. 

     I check my numbers on my YouTube videos regularly. I wind up watching other videos. I've been feasting on videos with Fosse's choreography and those about the Durrells, Lawrence, and Gerald particularly. I love Lawrence's use of language. I may try to reread him. 

   I also check my numbers on my YouTube The Phonics Discovery System videos. Those numbers have remained steady for days. On the other hand, on my Blogger.com site, the number of visitors passed 20,000 today.

     On Thursday, Yvette announced in the yoga class that she would be at Kua Bay on Christmas day and invited people to join her. I decided I wanted to go. Judy doesn't think we should limit our activity because of Covid. I'm not quite so glib. I'm not glib at all. I don't see a reason to dismiss Covid as a trivial illness and not worry about it. I'm not willing to go to church, Bikram, or someone's house, but the beach sounded doable.

    Yvette said she would be at Kua Bay by 7 am. at the far north end and hold a space for others. She would only stay for a few hours, but others could use her space. Kua Bay. doesn't have a large beach area; on Christmas, it gets as crowded as Jones Beach at the height of the summer. You can't take a step without putting your feet on someone's ground cover. It's bad.   I decided this was a must-do.

    By 7 am it was still cold. Yvette's car was still in the driveway. She left shortly before 8 am. At that point, I got myself together. I texted Yvette to let her know I was on my way shortly after 8 am.   When I went through the entrance to the beach area, I texted her to let her know I was about to pull up. The plan was for her to meet me at the drop-off circle and grab my stuff to carry it a few tenths of a mile to the north end of the beach. I would park my car and walk over the rocky path with my walking sticks. She was just arriving as I pulled up. She grabbed the chair and bag loaded with my stuff from the car's trunk. I hopped into the driver's seat. I pushed the starter button and got the message, 'Key not detected."  "Yvette!!!! Yvette!!!" She heard my distress call and headed back to me. I got my key out of the bag I had given her.

    I went to park the car. The paved area is quite small. The spill-over parks at the edge of the roadway. I anticipated a hike. But no. I found a spot right next to Yvette's, on the paved area near to the beach. It was an unpaved area the size of a parking spot initially reserved for a tree. I don't know if they cut them down or were run down by desperate drivers. I didn't know if someone had already left or if no one had parked there. Either way, it was a gift. 

    My first stop was the bathroom to get my bladder as empty as I could. Then I did the walk. It was easy. I took videos along the way to send to the Damons. Damon and August love Kua Bay. I think they come here more to see it than me. When I arrived, Yvette was sitting in her tent and had my chair already set up. 

    I sat, enjoyed the view and the breeze, read, and napped a bit. Then Yvette walked me into the water. The water here is so clear; you have a crystal clear view right through a wave. That's both good and bad. It's that clear because seaweed doesn't grow here. That makes the water clear, but it means there's no food for the whales. Those animals come to our shores to breed, but they don't eat while they're here. Amazing.   

   When I first got here, I was struck by the smell- or lack of smell of the ocean. It's nothing like the coasts of the mainland. I associate the scent with the salt. As it winds up, it's the smell of the rotting seaweed. I still miss it.

    Yvette commented the water was so calm today it would make Cylin happy. She doesn't love watching her husband and son taking on the big waves at Kua. Hawaiian waves are more dangerous than the waves on the west coast of the mainland. We have bad shore breaks. People get injured and killed regularly in our waves. 

    When we went into the water, I wore a hat and my glasses. Fortunately, Yvette ran my glasses back to our spot. The waves were large enough to challenge my balance when we got out a bit deeper. I was able to hang on to Yvette. She proposed going out a bit further to get beyond the point where the waves broke. The water stayed shallow enough for me to remain standing. Then a set of large waves came in that broke where we were standing. These babies were over my head. I dove into a few of them. I hadn't done that in years. Yvette proposed that we start heading in once the set of waves was complete. While the water was shallow enough for me to stand, I couldn't get my legs under me. Yvette saw that I was concerned but thought it was because of the waves. It's scary not to have control over my own body. I called out to two ladies who were swimming nearby to ask for help. 'we had had a brief conversation with them a few minutes before. They rushed over. Just by holding my other hand, I gained the leverage I needed to get my legs under me. 

  I sat a bit more and then decided to head home. I left my chair, the weights, and my heavy sweatshirt, wrapping the towel around me and packing the shopping bag with my phone, car key, Kindle, and food I brought with me. I slipped the handles of the shopping bag over each shoulder like a backpack. The walk back was great. On the way out, I had removed the trekking pole rubber tips so I could dig the bare points of the poles into the gravel and rocks. I had both of them with me. When I walk in the neighborhood, I only use one. 

    When I got to the car, the person next to me was also packing up to leave. We were giving someone a great Christmas present of these surprise parking spaces. I asked the other driver if he could help me get out. I explained I was an absolute hazard on the road at speeds of 5 mph or less. He guided me out of the space. He said the people coming down the road would wait for me. When I came in, cars were parked along the roadway just beyond the dedicated paved area. Now, the nearest parking was a good half mile up the road. It was going to be busy. 

  When I got home, I called Jean, my hanai sister. I had spoken to her briefly while driving to Kua. I had to get off and text Yvette. She is doing so well. Each time I talk to her, she tells me how happy she and John are living in this retirement community. I am somewhat jealous. I don't think I would be as happy. Being in an enclosed space is a deal-breaker for me. My home cannot be closed off. I can close off my bedroom, Mike's library, the guest room, and my study, but the common living area literally cannot be closed off. I love that element of living here.  

   While I walked out to the beach this morning, I took pictures of the area and the bay and sent them to Damon, Cylin, and August. It was now 5 pm, and no one in the family had responded. That was unusual and concerning, particularly since Damon promised me they would call me every day. I tried the house phone, only to discover it had been disconnected. I tried Cylin's and August's phones too. Nothing. I thought they might have gone on a hike and been in a no reception area, but it was after six pm in LA already. I was concerned. I search for the email address of one of Damon's good friends from Vassar. I asked him if he had any information. I got a call from Damon in a matter of minutes. Eddie had been sitting in their living room when he got the email. They had taken a vacation from the phones, a nophocation. Problem: they had promised they would call me daily over the holiday, and then they didn't call on Christmas Day. Oh, well.

    I got a bunch of texts from friends wishing me a Merry Christmas. I hadn't heard from Darby for a while. I was somewhat concerned.   As I passed their house, I heard her voice in the yard. I called out Merry Christmas. She apologized for not reaching out to me. She explained she had been swamped. Since Patrick's surgery, she had to take over his chores. They both do a lot of work on their property daily. Besides being a lot of work, Darby isn't used to doing it. She's in the figuring out phase. 

   Mowgli texted me to ask if I would be available for a phone call. I called immediately. We talked for a while. We have overlapping interests; we're both of a philosophical bent. 

   The plan was for Judy to drop off Christmas dinner. I didn't join them because they were eating indoors, and none were vaccinated. Earlier in the evening, I got a text from her saying she was tired; could she drop the food off tomorrow? Of course. While I was on the phone with Mowg, I heard her voice at the door. She decided to drop off dinner. I hadn't had anything to eat yet because I wasn't that hungry. Besides a few slices of rib roast, a few tablespoons of mashed potatoes, and some broccoli, Judy had made individual lava cakes. She told me one of the wrapped containers held Haagen Daas vanilla ice cream. I haven't had any ice cream since Mike died. I couldn't think of a better brand to break this fast with than Haagen Daas. It was all delicious.

    I watched the end of The Ricardos.  Kidman did an amazing job. While she impersonates a real person, it always feels real. There are scenes from the TV show where I thought it was old footage. I was convinced otherwise when I saw Bardem in the scene. Was he born yet when the original was made?