Hau’oli Makahiki Hou, Gung Hee Fat Choy, and Happy New Year!
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| Sm shark moving thru feeder fish |
December was so full of ukulele gigs that thoughts of getting my annual letter done swirled away in a whirl of activity. I hope your Holidays were grand and the New Year joyous.
My 2019 in recap:
I journeyed to India with friends in February and spent my 63rd birthday in the Maldives. What an interesting trip. India is both puzzling and unique. The food was fantastic and, unlike in northern Europe, vegetarian food was more common than not. Pictures do not do the Taj Mahal justice. Gandhi’s grave is gorgeous. Shopping for Indian clothes is an event! (We westerners have NO idea…)
But India is not for those with respiratory illness. Seven of the world’s ten most air-polluted cities reside in India. I returned sick, on steroids, and with an appointment to meet my new Pulmonologist. (YIKES). Sadly, I will not return to India in my lifetime; I doubt they can clean their air sufficiently in the next three decades.
The Maldives are predicted to be the first island nation to submerge secondary to climate change - so we put it on our list. Each island desalinizes its own water and generates its power. The island sandbar we visited, Coco Bodu Hithi, could not have been six inches above sea level.
I attended yoga school for 1-week during the summer. THAT WAS FUN. I’ve been working toward a “full lotus” position for many years and at the end of the week, I felt particularly flexible.
In early October (brrr), I coerced my hiking buddy Bill to fly out from Tampa and volunteer with me in Yosemite. We worked on various projects in Yosemite Valley until fire broke out about 10-miles west of the main (middle) park entrance. Smoke poured into the Valley, carried by the prevailing winds. Some volunteers left; I foolishly stayed. They moved our work to Tuolumne Meadows (LOVE meadow restoration projects) but we returned to the Valley each night to sleep. And while air quality improved steadily, I returned home to another protracted course of steroid and antibiotic therapy for asthma. This second, severe asthma exacerbation (finally) confirmed that when air quality drops, I must skedaddle. (duh!)
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| Part of our Chun Clan |
Of course, I returned home to Honolulu for New Years. Mom requires lots of help now for bathing and dressing. She has profound hearing loss and that affects her interest in participating. Her memory is declining, as it is wont to do when hearing loss affects one’s ability to even process words. She toddles with her cane around the public spaces of her building and attends some of their bigger events like movies and performances. I’ll return in April for her 95th birthday.
Aunt San and Aunt Corny are doing well. Still living independently in their home, attending Sunday night, Ohana (family) dinners, and shopping weekly in Chinatown with devoted nieces. (The Energizer bunny’s got nothing on this family.)
My band, KaBang (Kaneko, Bacon, & Yang, get it? KaBang!) played a few paying gigs this year. We added a bass player, Wade. So now we are KaBang and the Boy. We rehearse weekly, though sometimes less so as we are avid travelers.
See and hear us perform at the winter kanikapila here:
How’s work? Work is fabulous. I work with a wonderful group of doctors, nurses, medical assistants, clerks, housekeepers, etc. My office mate Royal, is an exceptional nurse practitioner whom I call Dr. Gee (he knows everything). I am a mere 14-months from retirement and look forward to it more with each passing day.
My 2019 recommended reads:
Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis. A hillbilly makes it to Harvard and takes a look back at the barriers in Appalachia that keep people stuck.
Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right. Do you know an angry, white, disenfranchised person? Most of the world’s denizens would trade places with any American in a hot nano-second. I’ve often wondered what angry, white men are angry about. This book lends some insight into their world - one so different from my own.
Warmth or Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration. I didn’t know there was a great migration in the US; did you? This book follows several families who flee north and west from the Jim Crow South. It is a heart wrenching and moving recount of US history, not taught in schools.
The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft and the Golden Age of Journalism. Teddy Roosevelt is the father of our National Parks; to him we owe a great debt. And he was a bully, overly confident, braggadocio, and egotistical. Despite his failings, he accomplished grand works because the gracious workhorse Taft, was at his side. These men exchanged beautifully supportive, affectionate, even sweet letters - all archived in the presidential library. This is a worthy, Pulitzer-Prize-winning tomb for those who love history.
The National Parks: America’s Best Idea. You’ve seen the Ken Burns documentary (and if you have not: STOP, do not pass go, do not collect $200 until you see the documentary!) The book contains a few more juicy details. If you are, as I, a lover of our National Parks. The movie and book bring them to life in living color when you cannot be immersed in their holy environs.
Michael Crichton from Andromeda Strain to Sphere. I believe I read or re-read every MC novel this year. He was one of our most riveting authors and died much too young. I love his body of work - you have seen many on the big screen. As usual, the books are better!
What’s on tap for 2020?
I have reservations for the Spring Gathering in Yosemite Valley at the end of March. My volunteering friends say it is a wonderful event that updates volunteers on the progress of our multi-year projects and our focus for the coming season. I plan to camp in my van though winter may linger.
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| Camel rides in Dubai |
Planning a possible fall trip to the UK. I believe that Brexit offers a uniquely beneficial, financial opportunity to visit the UK, as I expect the pound to plummet. We’ll see if I’m right. Tentative itinerary: 1 week in London, a day or two in Liverpool for proper homage to the Beatles, then on to Scotland and Ireland.
My traveling companion is John, of course. John and I became the best of friends on the first day of Nurse Practitioner training. I call him my adopted little brother; he is family. We find we travel well together, sharing small spaces w/o struggle. Lucky us. We’ve been all over the world together and this year will be no exception.
I do hope that you and yours are well and thriving. I would love to hear from you.
I’m a firm believer in blooming where you’re planted. Git yer flower on!
Much love and aloha ~ Lorin
