Golf To Go, Anniversary, Swelling Volcano

[Note: This is another blog based on my weekly emails to my family on the mainland.]

8/26/23

Aloha Guys--

The world seems to get crazier by the hour.  I'll leave the analysis to the talking heads but it certainly feels like as a species we're regressing, not moving forward.

This week we have been in full prep mode for our trip to the Balkans with a stop first in Ohio to see our

friends there.  The pile of trimmings for our gardener to haul to the green waste facility is getting pretty large as we whack and weed.  Also, we've been cleaning, arranging to stop the mail & paper, scheduling house visits by our handyman, lining up someone to take us to the airport and pick us up at the end, etc. We have to-do lists to help us with this -- increasingly helpful memory aids, provided we remember where we put them......

On Monday we got in a partial round of golf that went pretty well.  We each got two pars and I also got a bogey.  As usual, some of my shots were amazingly good.  Others, well, not so much.  Yesterday we celebrated our Wedding Anniversary by making a visit to Planet Fitness (!?).  We decided to keep it low-key this year because of all the travel preparations. We'll make our trip the real celebration.  However, we did have our neighbors over for dinner on Thursday, and we were joined by the niece of one of them who is visiting from the mainland.  A very pleasant evening.  We may do more celebrating in Ohio.

The depth and complexity of the Maui tragedy are becoming clearer and clearer.  One example is the fact that while 115 are confirmed dead, less than half of them have been specifically identified and over 800 people are still unaccounted for.  Such ambiguity and uncertainty must be very difficult for the survivors to deal with.

Kilauea is still showing signs of stirring.  Here's what the volcanologists said in a recent update: "The earthquake activity and tiltmeter data indicate that Kīlauea summit is becoming increasingly pressurized. Similar episodes of earthquake and ground deformation activity occurred in November 2020 and August 2021, prior to eruptions in December 2020 and September 2021. The activity is currently confined within Kīlauea summit region and if it continues, could escalate to an eruption in the coming days, weeks, or months."  In other words, nature may be about to give us yet another lesson in who is really the boss.  Stay tuned.....

Ok, that's all for this week and probably until we get back. Stay cool and healthy, both physically and mentally.  Do yourself a favor by turning down the volume on those talking heads.  Aloha.