Porthole

24th week of year 179

4 september

56 degrees at 08:30. Smoky-haze. Getting hard to breathe. AQI 126 = unhealthy. 138, 147, 154 on the zoomed in map... very unhealthy.



YCC: arnldziffel > SoonerShawn "Earl the nekkid Swirl"

Getting nothing done. I don't want to risk going out and I don't want to exert myself. Some sun has broken through the haze. Will temp soar?

Ate spicy-mustard porkburger. Coffee... need more. I should buy sugar, but that means walking to the store.

10 pounds of sugar secured in 7 containers. Sweet...

Apparently Hinnamnor is Lao ຮິນນາມນໍ. Still want to know what it means. (rock/water/horn)

Got boxes to Alishka and made mac&cheese. Paid rent.

82 degrees at 7 pm. Bearable. 72 degrees and AQI of 121 at 9 pm.

3 september

62 degrees at 09:23. Chatter in the alley; haze over the valley. 77 at 12:30, the haze lifting.

White peaches gone. Bought oyster mushrooms, cherry pastry, bacon brownie, one white corn cob. Now at Butterfly Herbs recovering from a chocolate-toffee milkshake.

Saw Charlie! Lives in No Cal now. Picture from 2008!



91 degrees at 3 pm. I'm feeling weak so I'm going home.

Sat with Lundy for awhile. Very good for me.

"Remimagined Voyages" Portugal Reimagined. A Reimagined Me. All our yesterdays are fiction.

At home: Ate but ttok a nap = fuzzy-headed. When I got up: Great chat with Birgit. Goodbye to Alishka who is moving out. Her sister Brianna is moving in.

Montana won 47-0 over NorthWestern Louisiana. Orioles won, now 70 wins, 10 games over .500 and a couple games out of the wildcard position.

69 degrees at 23:30. Still smoky.

2 september

The college freshman were off to kindergarten when I moved here 14 years ago. I arrived in July 2008 and on September 13th moved into this building.

61 degrees at 09:30. They are working on the bridge, perhaps ready to pour concrete. Soon? UM plays its first football game tomorrow; could be toasty. Gasoline: 3.99/gal. 91 at 16:13. 93 degrees at 6-ish. No 100 But haze or smoke? Air quality is listed as 'moderate'. I picked up a couple masks today, wore one home just in case.

Said good morning to Billie Jo and John. Door ajar to move the morning air through here. The industrial fan in the front landing's window is blowing in. That helps but no breeze; the flag hangs limp.

Stroganoff for lunch; nearly choked on the meat, so I cut it up into smaller pieces. Size matters.

Willie and Bill sat with me. Chatted with Jamie in the office.

Cleaned off the table in case Julian visits!

Maybe should put on some clothes?

Short comment to tah2o: "I'm on hiatus but... glad to read this. I'm neither happy nor healthy so I'm trying to reach for the reset button. I want my joy back."

Starting putting my blog notes in my journal. Short chat with Jay who wants to know more about my travels.

71 degrees at 11 pm.

1 september

65 degrees at 09:49. Will be warm today. Gasoline dropped to $3.99/gallon.

Goals:

Transfer on-line notes from May 18 onward to my journal. [started 9/2]
Seriously make notes about Thailand flights and book a.s.a.p. [started 9/1]
Check prices for 2-3-week trips to Europe and elsewhere. [started 9/1]
Buy replacement Chromebook before trip. This one works but has a crack.
Transcribe and assign numbers to jottings in my notepad.
Stay off-line as much as possible.

88 degrees at 4:20. Not too bad.

Spent much of the afternoon in the a/c of the Senior Center. I sat at the computer figuring out flights from here to Bangkok. We have no train and there's only one bus to Seattle that arrives in the early afternoon. Which would only be good if there's a late evening flight. otherwise I'm stuck in a city that's expensive to fly out of.

There are cheap flights to Athens around $800 but if I want to fly Delta Comfort it's $1400.

I shouldn't stress over costs.

Lunch was 'gyro' with bok choy and grapes. The lemon-blueberry cupcakes were wonderful. Sat alone but joined Charles, then Laxmi joined us.

Earlier, sat with Angie and Billie Jo and shared my Sinful melon.

6036 - 5973 = 63 views in August. 4 comments in this blog. A few elsewhere. One reason why I'm withdrawing from WDC. I need serious connections and this place only wants to party.

88 degrees at 6:06 pm.

Tried to listen to Biden's speech but internet is iffy at this time in the evening. The major networks didn't carry it... so who cares? We'll see whether anyone is paying attention. Personally? I think he needs to be more direct, less wordy, and show fire when needed. But... I'm not a speech writer. Later: reading the text he appears much more direct than I thought. But... still not focused. He needs to give a direct address on women's rights, focused only on that one issue instead of diluting the message with anything else.

Supper: ate a pork-burger with smoked Dutch cheese, melon and cottage cheese.

Orioles shut out Cleveland today. They're doing okay.

66 degrees at 23:30.

31 august

59°F at 9:03. 100 forecast.

Worn out from yesterday's hysteria. Still not resolved. Coffee.

Today is Market Day.

My response to RitaEvacuee at YCC re riots should Trump be indicted: "I don't think it has anything to do with 'law abiding'. That's law-and-order speak for oppression. It's only a riot when certain folks take to the streets. Drunk college kids 'celebrating' isn't considered a riot no matter how much they trash the town. In this specific case? Possible but not predictable. In the past, Trump has stoked the anger of his followers for his own personal means. Yes, like any uncontrolled flame, it could get out of control. How he handles this situation is key. So far? Not looking good."

Travis sent a message. Reminds me how disconnected I am. Part of going on hiatus to reset and reconnect.

On hiatus... kinda... I need to wrap up August; but, I'm pulling back in September.

Sat with Kay at lunch. I may start sitting alone, waiting until someone approaches me. I don't always feel welcome... and I bore people. Yes, I can tell at times. Same here.

Bought cottage cheese. Splurged on cinnamon bread. Prices on many basic items have gone up 50% from 2020. Food is a basic, not a luxury. Dining out is a luxury. Going to the fancy organic store is a luxury. Driving an SUV is a luxury.

A few minutes to 3 and only 87°F. Gasoline is $4.09/gallon. Now 96 degrees at 6. I don't think we topped 100.

Moved two unloved items to my p-log and deleted the items.

Submitted "Strawberry Shortstop"  [GC] to Kit'z contest.
Submitted "Full moon falling"  [13+] to Lighthouse.

70°F at midnight. How cool will it get? Will I cool off?

30 august

62 degrees after midnight. Now 56 at 9 till 9. 90s forecast.

I've decided that I should go on hiatus for September. Find other stuff to do. Will a shift of focus help? I dunno.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/tripideas/young-and-broke-10-cheap-places-world...
         Laos+, Viet Nam+, Romania*, Indonesia, Poland*, Mexico*, Nicaragua*, Colombia+, India+, Greek Islands. *been +on-my-list
https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/article/how-not-to-be-an-%e2%80%9cugly%e2%80%9d...
         Interview with Mark Wolters. On Youtube. Pack: patience and kindness; only a carry-on to tavel light; timing to prevent missing connections. Recommends Rwanda+ and Brasil+. Advice: don't be a jerk.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/tripideas/tpgs-top-destinations-for-every-decad...
         My advice: do crazy while young; cruise or package when old; exotic when you can; cheap when you're outta money.
         The list: 20s Colombia+, Interrail, Viet Nam=; 30s French Polynesia, Slovenia*, Australia*; 40s Kenya+, Machu Picchu*, Costa Rica; 50s South Africa*, Montana, Japan*; 60s Santa Fe, European Rivers, Galapagos; 70s Alaska cruise+, USVI, Italy*.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/lifestyletravel/15-travel-safety-tips-for-th...
         Don't totally agree. But: plan and tell folks where you're going. I strongly disagree with gps and tracking, rely upon kindness instead. Be AWARE and try to blend in.

Bry came by and we went looking for camera, tablet charger, shaver charger ... to no avail.

Then went to market and bought white peaches and Sinful (melon). Saw Kat and her family. Temp at 6-ish: 92°F.

Contests... Reread and decide! Lighthouse "Full moon falling [63]"  Shadow&Light "Well-worn copper [43]"  Think... but no response "Gingerbread Man [39]"  dialog drabble "One beat [47]"  ??? "Boomerang [62]"  GC "A worker mends the church's eaves [164.396] a poem"  dialog "he must've left his leg somewhere else [56]"  ??? "Strawberry shortcake (383 words)"  Kitt GC "Strawberry shortstop" 

66 degrees just before midnight.

29 august

55 degrees at 10. AQ of 18 (excellent). A bright crispy morning.

Ten 100 degree days for 2022:

100 July 16
100 July 28
102 July 29
102 July 30
104 July 31

103 Aug 1
103 Aug 9
100 Aug 17
100 Aug 18
101 Aug 19

We may get there once more this week.

I haven't been feeling well. Not ill enough to see a doctor but not up to snuff.

On the Newsfeed: "I'm a news junky... but that's problematic these days. Scandalous headlines and opinion posing as news makes it difficult to sort out the chaff. Plus, algorithms promote nonsensical empty calories that UStatians prefer to consume. Worse than potatoes.

As for research. Google anything and a commercial company will come up first. Back-in-the-day 'peach, pear, apple, banana' were fruits. Not now! Products are promoted over information.

Plus, folks here and elsewhere want 100% truth and eshew the ambiguity of science for the certainty of ancient self-righteous traditions and the what-ifs and what-abouts of conspiracy. Drama wears me out. Ignorance leaves me frustrated. Intolerance (born of hatred and fear) gasping for breath."

Chicken cordon bleu for lunch with steamed vegetables was very good. Sat with Doug and later with other friends.

Now I need to slog through stuff at home. So much to do that it doesn't seem like progress. But... even a sloth or a snail gets to where they are going.

On the Newsfeed: "Quirky in speech, thought, deed can work. Severus Snape was interesting because of his story, the way he viewed the world, his known strengths, his hidden strengths, his deep distrust, dislikes and his one-true-love. Most Potter fans can visualize him even without the movies (great casting by-the-way) as he's one of the best developed characters. In contrast, the 4 Houses are not equally developed. We get the Story-Told-By-A-Griffindor with Slytherins cast as the villains and Ravenclaw too self-absorbed and above the fray. We Hufflepuffs (like me and Sonali) are forgotton except for Cedric who is developed a bit in the book but sidelined in the movie. Thankfully, there's Scamander. Characters are best when we 'know' them and care for them, even if they are the hero or villain."

83 degrees at 6 pm. Very tranquil day. Hopefully gets down to 50 and then not as warm as forecast tomorrow.

Accomplishing so little. Put underwear in a drawyer, socks in a wicker basket. Cleaned some dusty bowls. Made bowties (pasta) with chopped egg, celery seed, paprika and mayo. Very quiet right now. Too quiet.

I came across old writings and wrote "Down in the dumps" 

This cheered me up a bit:

Complexity

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