Today's random thought

I don't think I'll ever get used to seeing the seeing the fire truck go grocery shopping, Yet today wasn't the first time I've seen it.

 

The grocery store we use in place of a convenience store is just one block from the fire station. It's a pretty long block, but not too long to walk. Except that when firemen are on call, the truck goes where they do, in case they get a call while they're out, so they can't just walk. If one of them needs a blood test, they take the fire engine to the medical lab. If they need groceries, they take the fire engine to the grocery store. If you're the grocery store just a long block from the fire station, you leave a spot next to the container trucks for the fire engine to park, especially if they're all out front because a hill is in behind. The firemen just have to walk the length of the store to reach the front door, and it's not a long store. {wink, Smile}

 

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

 

Checking in

{peek in} Sorry I’ve still been quiet. The weather decided to heat up to heat wave levels in August, and continued right thru September into October. It might have broken today. It was finally cooler, but only time will tell if today was a fluke or a real change. {smile}

I’m afraid I’ve never been good at either cooling off when I get hot, or warming up when I get cold. So the hot weather really got to me. It even had me convinced a few times that a heart condition I’ve recently been diagnosed with was a lot more serious than the doctor implied. Hopefully it was just the heat, which hopefully has passed the worst. {cross fingers, Smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

{indescribable look}

Remind me that I don't want a chimpanzee. {wry smile}

Tonight, we had flying termites in the dining room and kitchen. Not a whole lot – it seems to be the first termite swarm of spring – but Dad and I were busy trying to kill them. Not that either of us are particularly good at catching termites, but the flying ones are the breeders, so we really want to kill them before they start new colonies in our house and our furniture. {wry look}

A few days ago, Dad got a magazine with a picture of a chimp catching flying termites. (Apparently termites are a chimp delicacy.) She was having a grand time, and far more success than Dad and I had tonight. However, chimps are strong enough, I'm sure one would do more damage to our furniture, house, etc. than even the termites. {wry chuckle, half-smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Again?

I just found myself in an... Odd conversation for the second time. Well, they're almost identical conversations, which seems unusual when I really don't think the gals involved have ever met. I mean, they live on different islands here in Hawai'i when one isn't off on the mainland. I don't think they go to the same states on the mainland much, either. {look Up}

Anyway, both friends know I bind books. So when I mention doing more with some story I've written, they both suggested that I self-publish by printing and hand-binding books myself.

Ah... ignoring the problems of distribution, I couldn't even recoup the cost of materials without out-charging a Print-On-Demand publisher, because even they work on a larger economy of scale than any hand binder could reasonably hope to. Charging for labor too would just make the price ridiculous. {look Up}

{Chuckle-snort} Oh, I know it sounds neat, but trust me, the economics just do not add up here! {AMUSED GRIN}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Am I back?

Hello. {Smile}

Well, after some slow research and much deliberation, I have an account with Bloglines. {smile}

I did look into Feedly, and it does look like it has some nice advantages. Unfortunately, you have to download stuff to use it. On my own computer, this woudln't be a serious problem. However, Dad's computer is complaining about "insufficent memory" enough, he asked me not to download anything new into it. So I looked elsewhere, and ended up deciding that Bloglines looked as good as anything with a web-based browsing option. {Smile, spread hands}

I don't know how long it will take me to catch up with the blogs I often follow. I've fallen terribly behind with them. I did start today, and I think I've made siginificant inroads, However, this may take some time. {apologetic smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

November

First, Happy Halloween, since it is Halloween for a few more hours. {Smile}

Second, November is coming up. A few of my friends are doing NaNo (which is short for NaNoWriMo, itself short for National Novel Writers’ Month).  That’s when a surprising number of folks in many countries try to write a novel or at least 50,000 words of one in a month. (It went international very quickly, despite the name.)

If you’re one, I salute and encourage you. I watch somewhat wistfully. It does look like fun. Unfortunately, cramming 50,000 words of writing with no editing into a single month doesn’t go well with way I’ve been learning how write for slightly over three decades now. {Smile}

It does look like fun, but you want me to change how I approach this NOW?!? {SMILE}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

{peek in}

Hello. Sorry I've been quiet. I did try to keep up during the Olympics. Honest. At first it was mostly working, but some time in the second week, keeping up on TV and online simultaneously got to be too much. So now I'm trying to catch up again. {Smile}

I did like the Olympics, except for the closing ceremonies. I'm really not fond of rock concerts, and that's really what the closing ceremonies were. But I enjoyed the pageantry of the opening ceremonies, and the diving, artistic gymnastics, synchronized swimming, and rhythmic gymnastics I caught. I'm debating trying to watch some of the last two online. I think I missed most of their semifinals, and I do love the artistry of those two sports. {Smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Computer and such

I know I've been quiet this past week. I blame computer trouble for that. If I continue to be quiet for the next couple of weeks or so, blame continued computer trouble, plus the Olympics. {Smile}

My computer has been in the shop for a week and a half. They did try to return it because they couldn't find anything wrong, but it still didn't work, so we took it back. They couldn't get it to work either at that point. Now they've decided that since they've replaced the video card twice this year already, it might be the motherboard. They've sent that to the manufacturer, and hope for a replacement in 2 to 2 1/2 weeks.

{sigh} That's a long time to wait. They can give us an old loaner if we can just got to them while they're open... maybe Monday. It won't be like having my own computer, but at least I won't be depriving Dad of his computer so much. {small smile}

Beyond that, the Olympics have begun. I usually get distracted trying to watch the gymnastics and such. I'm sure I will this year, too. At least my computer trouble shouldn't mess up that at all. {Smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

general update

My computer decided to not turn on over half the time starting on Sunday. Since it was intermittent, I tried to live with it for a while, but I only got it to turn on once on Sunday, twice on Monday, and once on Tuesday. I need a more reliable computer than that. So Dad and I took it in on Wednesday, and I'm borrowing Dad's computer to keep up on the net until they get mine back to me. I sure hope they fix it this time. This is the fourth time we've taken it in this year. {frustrated look}
Otherwise things are going nicely. My writing might be doing better, the orange and cream lei turned out nicely, and the next lei has begun nicely, too. So life is mixed fun and frustration until they fix my computer. {resigned smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

A new lei in progress

Here’s a picture of the new lei. I wanted to share it for two reasons. It uses the other pattern that’s easy to make with two colors. It’s kind of a checkerboard, or maybe a lazy spiral. Also, the last of the darned spots are just braided in here. I’m happy with how it turned out. The darning made the ribbon quite stiff, so I was afraid those patches wouldn’t bend or hold their folds right. But they’re fine; I can’ spot the darning unless I look carefully.

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

{SIGH}

Whoever decided that “darn it” is a mild curse never had to darn four separate chewed spots on a quarter inch ribbon. I’m suspicious they didn’t have to darn socks, either, but they certainly didn’t have to darn such a narrow ribbon. {wry look}

Valentine found an orange-and-cream ribbon lei I’d just started a couple of nights ago. I didn’t realize how much he was chewing it, and I certainly didn’t realize how much damage he’d done before I got it away from him. He actually chewed six places, but two are by the end, and don’t really affect the strength of the ribbon. The other four are more central, and torn up badly enough, I had to darn them to make sure they didn’t break during or after braiding. I did most of the darning last night… Boy, does that take patience! {Lop-sided smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Ribbon Leis

One hobby I’ve gotten back to recently is braiding ribbon leis. It doesn’t take a lot of thought, so it’s great for keeping my hands busy while I think. I do prefer to have something to do, so I’m not just staring off into space while I’m working something out. {Smile}

Since some of you haven’t seen my ribbon leis, I took a couple of pictures. Besides, it was a way to try out my new camera on something easily repeatable if I messed up. {Smile}

Here are the leis I’ve finished more-or-less recently. Two are blue and gold, because my Dad and I needed new ones in our high school colors; our old ones went to visiting aunts who also went to Hilo High School:

Here is the lei I’m working on now:

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Camera update

I’ve been slowly figuring out my digital camera. Early this week, Dad looked it over, installed batteries, set the date, and showed me how to turn it on and take a picture. Today, I figured out how to copy the picture from the camera to my computer. It would have been easier if the manufacturer’s directions mentioned you need to turn it on before you copy from it. I suppose that’s supposed to be obvious, but it’s a lot more obvious in hindsight than ahead of time. {rueful chuckle, Smile}

Anyway, I have a picture of the ribbon leis I’ve worked on recently, and another of the one I’m currently working on. I’ll share it… when I feel more like figuring out how I’ve shared photos before. There’s enough looking up of stuff I’ve forgotten involved, this it isn’t going to get done today. {Smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

"Sorry for the Excitement"

"Sorry for the excitement." That is what the lady who lives mauka (uphill) of us said as a greeting to me, then to Dad.

Their dog had chased one of their piglets under our house. One of the boys crawled under, and chased their piglet out. Their dog chased their piglet back under the house. The boy chased their piglet back out. Then their dog chased their piglet under the makai (seaward) neighbor's large bush/small tree. The dog kept trying to chase the piglet as the woman tried to catch the piglet. The boy came out, and tried to hold the dog. The boy didn't succeed, nor did the dog, but the woman did manage to grab the piglet after a few tries. The piglet squealed VERY LOUDLY! It stopped after a bit... I guess it didn't mind being held; it just didn't like being picked up. When the woman was sure she had a good grip, she started back mauka to return the piglet. She muttered about getting rid of the pig.

Actually, I kind of hope she does. That pig a rather spoiled pet, and a very large one. She was a nuisance even before she had piglets. (We think a wild boar from the swamp across the street is the father; certainly the humans didn't arrange to have piglets. Or puppies. Or kittens. Their pig, dog, and cats made the arrangements all by themselves this year. All of them. {Amused Smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

A smile and a wince

Dad and I just got to listen to an unusually long "concert" by a Chinese thrush in our Surinam cherry tree. He went on particularly long, maybe because he was competing with another bird further away. {Smile}

I think his concert just about made up for canceling Advanced Dungeons and Dragons tonight because I re-strained my back at church this morning. {rueful smile, Smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Merrie Monarch Hula Festival

It's that time again. I plan to be glued to the TV tonight, tomorrow night, and Saturday night, watching the Merrie Monarch Hula Festival. As always, this will cut into my computer time. {SMILE}

As usual, if you want to see what I'm so excited about, it's here on the web. They broadcast the three nights of competition on the web as streaming video, so people outside of our state can see it too. They should have Thursday night (Miss Aloha Hula, the young women's solo competition) up on the web from when it starts tonight until Hula Kahiko (old-style hula) starts tomorrow night. Hula Kahiko should be up from when it starts tomorrow night until Hula 'Auana (Modern secular hula) starts Saturday night. Hula 'Auana will be up from when it starts until indefinitely in the future. One year a friend caught it a week or so afterwards, so they don't take that one down quickly. {Smile}

I'll certainly be watching. It's nice to live in-state, where it's also broadcast on TV. {SMILE}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Happy Girls' Day!

Happy Girls' Day! That is what the third day of third month is by the Japanese calendar. {REALLY BIG GRIN}

My family is celebrating with mochi (rice flour cakes). That is traditional. However, it would be more traditional if we were celebrating with steamed pink, white and green mochi, instead of baked pineapple-coconut mochi. {lick lips} Not that I'm complaining. Traditions are nice, but Mom's latest mochi experiment is delicious! {REALLY BIG GRIN, HUMONGOUS GRIN}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Turning 40

The age of 40 has such a terrible reputation, I guess I expected to feel a little different somehow. Never mind that I never felt different on previous birthdays. Never mind that I regularly forget how old I am, so I often have to stop and calculate if somebody actually asks. I still expected to feel different. {Smile}

(Yes, I forget my age. Do you realize how infrequently a woman gets asked her age in modern American culture? At most, I get to answer this a few times a years, and sometimes that's because I brought up the subject. {look UP Giggle, BIG GRIN})

Anyway, I expected to feel a little different somehow. I don't. 40 feels a awful lot like 39 did to me. {BIG SMILE}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Birthday weekend

This past weekend was my birthday weekend. My birthday was actually on Sunday. However, we celebrated it on Saturday, with presents at breakfast and a nice dinner with cake that evening. Sunday just looked to be too busy to squeeze anything else into. {Smile}

Of course, once Sunday came around, every single event that made it looked busy fell thru. So my actual birthday ended up very relaxing indeed. {REALLY BIG GRIN}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

chit chat

Hi Tia! It's good to see you here. {wave, REALLY BIG GRIN}

It's good to see you, too Monkey. You've been AWOL quite a while. {Smile}

I haven't mentioned it much, but I've been working on a story to share with my on-line friends. {Smile} I finished it last week, and just finished copying it into the computer (with initial revisions) tonight. Well, I sort of finished it. It ground to a halt right where I expected it to... with nothing resembling a satisfying ending in the vicinity. So it's now officially looking for further revisions and a decent ending. I'm suspicious that I'm going to end up sharing it with a warning about the lack of an ending. Of course, if it's really a fragment of something longer that I need to work up some day, I'll feel freer to post it in the open. So maybe it works out this way. {Smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin