Sunday Morning 3/28/2021: Sunny Days

Good morning! Aloha kakahiaka!

I was dropped into Blogging Hell this past week. When I opened up the blog on Wednesday morning to do some writing, I discovered that WordPress had done away with the classic editor once again, and this time there seemed to be no easy way to get back to it – absolutely nothing worked, even the little classic editor button they provided. Also, everything I had been working on and saved was gone except for the first paragraph of each post and could not be restored (including backups). I eventually figured out that preview mode actually worked this time around so I was able to copy and paste from there and eventually got things recreated into the new editor. This took a l-o-n-g time though as I had been working on several posts. There is a classic editor button, but it’s connected to the new editor in a weird way that I haven’t quite figured out how to use it yet. Anyway, if pictures are out of alignment or there’s weird spacing for a while, that’s what’s going on. And, thanks for nothing, WordPress.

After weeks of depressing rain, high winds, and generally lousy weather, we have had some very nice days this past week, enough to renew my hopes for better days ahead. Monday and Tuesday’s weather was absolutely perfect, and although we were supposed to see the return of rain and wind on Wednesday it never appeared, and we had another nice day before gloomy weather returned on Thursday. The warm weather apparently stirred things up though and I was laid low on Wednesday by allergies (sore throat, stuffy head, runny nose, watery eyes). Also, when I went to bed on Tuesday night I kept hearing water running outside and it took me a while to realize that because wind wasn’t roaring through the yard I could once again hear the water moving through the koi pond that sits outside our bedroom window. It had been so long since I heard it that I’d forgotten it was there.

While spring brings new blossoms to our yard . . .

My new/old doctor was very happy with my overall general health, weight, and all when I saw him last week, but is still a bit concerned about my ongoing stomach issues so I’ve been scheduled for a consult with a gastroenterologist in early May. The issues are nowhere near as bad as they were earlier, but the fact that they continue to linger is something he feels needs to be looked at. All that may be needed is doing something as simple as changing my medication, but he wants to hear from the gastroenterologist before going forward. Otherwise all is very, very well!

This morning I am:

• Reading: I downloaded and read Kate Atkinson’s Case Histories and finished it this past week. I’m now reading (and almost done with) the second book in the series, One Good Turn. I will be ending March four books ahead (maybe five) of where I need to be to reach my goal of reading 52 books this year.

• Listening to: I can’t really hear anything outside right now because Brett is making so much noise in the kitchen as he puts away the dishes (I had to use quite a few to make last night’s dinner)! It’s very windy outside once again, and all the trees being blown around, but at least it’s not raining like it was last night and earlier this morning. The coffee will soon be ready though, and Brett will be done putting away the dishes, and quiet will return, at least inside anyway.

• Watching: We finished watching The Sinner last Monday evening, and started watching Wandavision the next day. It took us a few days to get into it, but now we’re hooked. I’m still watching the Olympic year episodes on Great British Menu, and have gotten through the teams from Scotland, Central Region, Northern Island, and the NW, and just got started with London and the SE, with Wales and the SW regions still to go before the finals. Some of the cooking this season hasn’t been as good as it seemed to be (in my opinion) during the first season I watched although some of it has been amazing. There was a bit of drama when a chef walked off the set and swore at the judge when he got a low score, and I’m also finding myself getting emotional from time to time when my preferred chef doesn’t win.

• Happy I accomplished this past week: Brett and I drove up to Kilauea on Thursday for back-to-back appointments with our former physician and got prescriptions renewed and other things taken care of. We liked seeing him when we were here before, and decided the occasional drive up to the north side every few months was worth it to have him as our doctor again. We got started on a possible itinerary for the next Big Adventure by creating a list of places we haven’t visited yet and places we’d like to see again, but it’s going to be a while before that is firmed up. Otherwise I spent way too much time getting up to speed with the new blog editor.

• Looking forward to next week: Brett and I will celebrate our 42nd anniversary this coming week and we have planned an affordable “day of no cooking” to celebrate the occasion. Brett also will get his second dose of the vaccine this week, and will have his pre-op meetings with the surgeon and anesthesiologist. We will also do another food shop following that appointment.

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• Thinking of good things that happened: After our visits with the doctor on Thursday, we drove over to the Kilauea National Wildlife Preserve and walked out to see the lighthouse and views. We spotted two small whales frolicking right off the point, very exciting because we definitely were not expecting to see any whales this time of year. We had a couple of days of absolutely perfect weather at the beginning of the week, absolutely glorious and much appreciated. Because we walked on Monday, our usual day off, we were able to see a fellow walker and friend that hadn’t been up at the park in a while. She has changed to swimming at the YMCA everyday instead of walking but had decided to go back to the park that day, and we had a great time catching up. We (and all the other regular walkers that know and love her) asked her not to stay away so long again! The State Department finally cashed my check this week so they are now officially processing my passport – yeah! I rearranged a few things in the living room yesterday and can’t believe how less cluttered the room looks, especially since all that got taken out of the room were two houseplants that weren’t doing very well.

• Thinking of frugal things we did: We used our National Park Senior Pass to get into the Wildlife Refuge at no cost. I bought two pairs of cropped denim pants from L.L. Bean this week – my old ones are completely too big now – because the L.L. Bean ones finally went on sale. My purchase earned $10 off a future purchase, which I plan to use to get something for Brett that he can use on our travels. Other than that purchase, and a trip to the farmers’ market, it was another no-spend week. We put $3.50 into the change/$1 bill bag, left over from the farmers’ market. I earned 1,934 Swagbucks and I am now over halfway toward earning another $500 Delta gift card. We also did all the other frugal, no waste things we usually do.

• Grateful for: I’m very thankful for the better weather that showed up this week. All the rain, wind, and gloom was starting to get to me.

• Bonus question: Do you have other allergies besides hay fever? Yes, although hay fever (can I call it hay fever here when there’s no hay?) only recently showed up – I was never bothered by plants, pollen, etc. at all when I was younger. I have always thought of myself as allergy free, but I am allergic to sulfa drugs. I have also had allergic reactions to red wine, but it’s never been consistent, and I drank red wine in France with no problems. Same with perfumes – I’ve had a reaction (rash and hives) to some but not others. Those reactions have caused me to go to the emergency room a couple of times with fast-spreading, full-body rashes but I’ve never figured out what actually caused the reactions. With wine, doctors think it might have something to do with the level of tannins in the wine. At first it was assumed to be sulfites that were causing the problem, but there are sulfites in white wines and I’ve never had a reaction when I drink them. Anyway, I only drink white wine these days (except in France) and don’t wear perfume just to be safe. Finally, I am not actually allergic to most lettuces, but I do have an intolerance to many of them and get a bad gastric reaction whenever I’ve tried to eat them. Romaine, endive, and arugula are the worst, butter lettuce at the other end of bad with everything else in the middle. Iceberg lettuce is OK though, and a wedge salad is my favorite for good reason!

You may have noticed there are now ads popping up on the blog. For the past couple of weeks I had been thinking about whether or not the time had come to monetize this blog and allow ads to appear in order to earn some income for our travel savings. The number of daily viewers coming to the blog has grown quite a bit over the past year, and I decided this was finally the time to take the leap and allow some ads. I don’t think I’m going to earn any great amount of money, but every little bit adds up.

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During his solo walk on Wednesday, Brett snapped some pictures of some of the flowers he encountered in the woods. He is always entranced with the tiny ones.

What a week this has been, with everything it seems from the sublime to the ridiculous. Still, there was good weather, good books, several good things happened, and we have another week to look forward to. Here’s to it being a good one!