Me and My Guitar Part 1: A Refrigerator & A Horizontal Landing

[Note:  This is the first in a 3-part series of autobiographical blogs about my unusual encounter with a guitar. The other installments will be available over irregular intervals.]

 

Let me tell you about my accordion, an instrument whose only commonality with a guitar is that they both make sounds. I know, this blog is about guitars and we'll get there eventually, trust me.  But first some context and background.

My parents lived through the Great Depression and WWII.  Their experiences of sacrifice and struggle led them to want the best for their children, particularly those things they themselves had been denied. They did everything within their modest means to enrich my childhood and those of my two sisters. This included the decision that we each should learn to play a musical instrument.

They might have chosen any number of things for me to play:  piano, violin, flute, guitar, drums, alto sax.  I'm not sure how they made the decision, but it wasn't any of those.

LOTS of buttons

The instrument selected for me was a concert-style accordion the size of a refrigerator.  I think I was about 10 at the time, and small for my age, so when I wrestled this thing onto my chest I pretty much disappeared except for my scrawny little arms poking out from the sides, and the top of my head sticking out over the top. You've probably seen examples of this kind of accordion -- a keyboard like a grand piano on the right front, and a grid of about 10,000 tiny buttons on the left which are played blind.  It was so heavy for me I had to play it sitting down, and my practice sessions were as much physical workouts as they were musical experiences.

As you can perhaps tell, I wasn't wildly enthusiastic about learning to play the accordion.  Definitely the best part was that I had a crush on my teacher, Miss Dardano, who gave me lessons each week at the music store where my parents had purchased the accordion.  Every Saturday I would board a bus a few blocks from my house for the 45-minute journey to the store.  I didn't take the accordion because it was way too heavy for me to transport, so I borrowed one at the store for my lesson. Miss Dardano was young and gorgeous, at least to my pre-pubescent eyes.  We were in a tiny recital room that brought us breathtakingly close together, though we were separated by the refrigerator in my lap. I felt uncomfortable in her presence but also thrilled.  I tried hard to live up to her expectations, and felt devastated when I didn't -- which was often the case.  Most lessons ended with her admonition to "practice harder next week."

The pinnacle of my musical prowess was learning to play the wonderfully catchy tune "Turkey in the Straw," which I played as part of a group performance with about 20 other budding accordion artists one Saturday.

My accordion-playing career came to a sudden and welcome-though-painful end one summer when I broke my left wrist while playing with neighborhood kids.  I had been trying a simple trick on a high bar and my dismount ended with a horizontal landing. The wrist had to be reset halfway through the healing process, resulting in it being in a cast nearly the entire summer and becoming extremely atrophied.  It became clear to my parents that this ruled out wrestling with a heavy musical instrument for a long time.  The accordion was sold sometime that fall and no more mention of music lessons was made.

I was relieved. Although I certainly had positive feelings for Miss Dardano,  I never developed much fondness for my refrigerator, and playing Turkey in the Straw for my friends didn't exactly put me on the fast track to popularity.  As I look back on it now, however, there were several very positive aspects of my experience.  First, I learned to read music, an exercise that has made me appreciate that written music is a remarkable human development that enables us to transform the wonders of sound into squiggles of ink.  I also gained a deep appreciation for what good musicians are able to do, and I marvel at the level of mastery some of them have achieved with their instruments. My hours of practice to reach even the pitiful level that I managed to achieve makes me profoundly in awe of those who have combined hard work with natural talent to enable them to produce sounds that evoke emotional and cognitive states that can enrich our lives in unquestionably profound ways.  Finally, I think I unconsciously acquired something hard to put into words -- a seed of intuition about how harmonic structure and progression can be combined creatively to produce music that can be entertaining, as perhaps in the case of "Turkey in the Straw,"  but also music that is intensely personal, as I've recently discovered with my guitar.

Next:  Dick meets guitar.

Suggested Reading:
Robert Persig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, first published in 1974. 

Mountain Saviors, Gecko Survivors

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

3/13/21

Aloha Everyone –

I see from the weather reports that some of you are experiencing a thaw. I remember those days, when finally it feels like Spring is coming.  Then we’d get an Ohio ice storm.

Speaking of weather, it’s very likely you’ve seen news reports of the terrible flooding in Hawaii. Nothing makes for a good video than a torrent of rushing water and a flooded street scene.  It is true that this last week brought some real dumpers to the main islands, including us here on Hawai’i.  However, there are important details the reports usually leave out for our island, particularly which side is getting the flooding.  The real downpours and flooding have been almost entirely on the east side, where Hilo is located.  Here in Kona we’ve gotten almost no rain at all.  This is because the storms are coming from the east/southeast, which is the usual trade wind direction, and we’re on the other side of two 13k ft. volcanoes and under the shadow of another that is 8k.  The moisture is usually dumped on the eastern (windward) side and the western (leeward) side is spared.  This is the case for hurricanes, too.  The typical rainfall on the Hilo side is 180-200 inches per year, but on our side it is about 40 inches, depending on exactly where you are.  Bottom line: no rivers flowing through our streets.  Boring video, but reality is actually often boring.  We certainly can get heavy rainfall at times, as I’ve reported, and in fact this morning starting at about 5 am we’ve had about ½ inch. We may have to adjust our usual beach breakfast outing, but this is nothing in comparison to the windward side.

Typical Trade Wind Pattern

Btw, I recently came across a fascinating website that shows a graphical depiction of the current wind patterns in any location, called Windy.com.  It is very useful for seeing the way our islands influence the stream of air passing by. Take a look.

Speaking of boring, we’re almost back to normal after our tenting. Empty food shelves made a good opportunity to clean the cabinets before putting stuff back and before replacing the long-lost-and-forgotten treasures that were discovered and trashed when we bagged everything. That has taken a lot of time and effort, but it’s a nice feeling to know that the house hasn’t been this clean and organized since we moved in.  It won’t last, of course, and a trip to Costco on Wednesday for a big re-provisioning load was certainly a start.  Outside, nearly all the plants are now back to their normal locations around the house and pool, and I’ve fixed my irrigation lines that I had to move out of harm’s way or that got damaged anyway. And after one week I’m pleased to say that some of our favorite outside geckos have started to reappear.  They are slow and look stunned, but they seem to be recovering.  Unfortunately the two geckos above our kitchen sink also survived and so now we’re on the hunt again.  Recall that we don’t tolerate them inside the house, and we catch them and take them far down the street.  This can take time and effort, though, because there are lots of places for them to hide.  (See More Than You Ever Wanted To Know About Geckos for a refresher about our little green friends.)

This week we booked flights for our mainland trip, so everything is all set.  It’s definitely exhilarating to once again look forward to traveling!

Ok, that’s it for the week.  Take care and enjoy your Spring.

Tenting, Vegging, and Re-Combobulating

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

3/7/21

Aloha Everybody –

On Thursday morning about 11:30 the tenting crew showed up and immediately began preliminary work.  We had finally bagged all the food in the refrigerator and chest freezer just before they arrived, opened all the windows, cabinet doors and drawers, hidden our valuables, turned off the propane tank, and packed a few things for our two-nights away from home.  During the week we prepared the outdoors by moving a LOT of potted plants to a gas-free location, making sure bushes were trimmed back, and moving anything else that might be in the way of the tent.  After consulting with the foreman and giving him our keys, we left and went for a workout at Planet Fitness, then had lunch of fried chicken at our local Willies.

The Termite Tent of Doom

On the way to check into the seaside Sheraton we stopped by the house and took some photos.  They were getting close to having the tent on and it looked very weird to see it wrapped like a Christmas present, though the color was appropriately grey/blue.

The Sheraton was very nice.  It’s just four miles from our house, close to where we go to Farmers Market each Saturday. They gave us a room with a beautiful view of Keauhou Bay, with a large lanai where we had a sunset beer. They seem to be making the best of the pandemic situation by catering to locals like us who want a few days away from home, though there were also a fair number of tourists. We made a bee-line for the pool and hot tub, which is also where we spent the next morning and afternoon.  Both nights I slept like a rock, plus took some long naps by the pool. It was very nice, and turned out to be a good preparation for the work of re-combobulation starting with a brief visit home Friday afternoon when the house was cleared to enter (the tent comes off after 12-16 hours, then the house is aired out for another 8 hours). We stopped by just to secure things again and to make sure all was ok.

Saturday we returned about 10:30 am and began the real work of reversing all the preparations we had taken, and this is continuing today as well.  We figure by Wednesday we might be back to normal.  I did find a few things that need  to be fixed, understandable when you consider four guys were hefting big heavy tarps all around the house.  No real complaints so far.

We’re certainly glad to have this behind us, and hope not to ever do it again.  The treatment should be effective in stopping the termites, though it doesn’t prevent them from returning eventually. The proof will be in a few months, which is the time that the termite eggs hatch and emerge as flying insects.  This was really bad last year, but there shouldn’t be any this time.  We’ll see.

Stay warm and healthy. Remember "Spring?"  It's just around the corner, I promise.

Travel Plans and Tent Preps

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

2/27/21

Aloha All –

Well, after more than a year here at home – the longest we’ve spent in one place in many, many years – we’re making plans for a spring trip to the mainland.  One of our bucket list items has been to see Biltmore Estate in North Carolina and to explore that general area, and this seemed like the time to finally do it since international travel would be exceedingly difficult and risky.  The timing will hopefully coincide with the annual blooming of the dogwoods and azaleas and include a heavy dose of some of the highly regarded gardens in that area, including the Biltmore itself. Our plan so far is to fly to Cincinnati, then travel by car to Knoxville for a few days to enjoy the dogwood bloom and some great barbeque.  This part of the itinerary we’ve done before when we lived in Ohio, but it was a quick visit on our way further south.  We will then head for Asheville North Carolina, Charlotte, Boone, and the Smoky Mountain National Park before returning to Asheville and staying for several nights at the Biltmore Estate.  Hopefully the experience will include great scenery, flowers and gardens, and LOTS of really good barbecue. We’ll then return to Ohio for a visit to old friends.  It’s kind of fun making these arrangements again – we’ve really missed it!

The other main focus this week was been our preparations for our termite tenting that is scheduled for next Thursday and Friday.  It turns out there is a fair amount of effort required on our part to get ready.  On Thursday the company dropped off a stack of special plastic bags that are for food items that will be remaining in the house during the fumigation, like stuff in our freezer and refrigerator, plus anything else that the gas might get into, like pasta and cereals.  This is just a precaution – the gas dissipates completely and leaves no residue except for a small amount of fluoride, which I guess might be harmful if ingested in large quantities.  Anyway, for weeks we have been trying to reduce our freezer inventory and thin out the other food so that we won’t have to bag as much.

The other preparations involve the house itself, including cutting back plants from around the house so that the tarps will be close to the foundation and form a tight seal.  Also, the gas is deadly for many kinds of plants, so we’re moving anything we want to keep safe.  Right before the tenting we will turn off our gas supply to the house and also our pool equipment, open all the cabinet doors and windows so the gas can circulate more freely.  Once the gas is introduced nobody can be inside, of course, and since it stays sealed for 12-14 hours, we’ve made arrangements to check into a nearby hotel for the night.  The next day (Friday) the gas is cleared out and the tent is removed, and the house is aired out until it is deemed safe to re-enter. It all sounds a bit scary, but this is done all the time here and it hasn’t led to any casualties that I’m aware of.  The gas breaks down when it mixes with air and this lessens – but doesn’t eliminaste – the negative environmental impact of the fumigation. Companies are not allowed to do this treatment unless there is clear evidence of termite activity, which we have.  Our house was last tented 20 years ago when we bought it.  These are drywood termites, which are much slower than the subterranean type.  In our climate and region it isn’t a matter of IF you get termites, but rather WHEN and How Bad.  Another cost of living in paradise...
 

I didn’t hike this week, but Karen and I did go to Planet Fitness on Thursday.  She also played golf on Monday. Our new Covid 19 cases remained in the single digits again this week, with a couple of 0's and 1's.  The highest I think was 7.  Sure makes things more relaxed.

Ok, that’s it.  Next week’s missive may be a day late because of our tenting discombobulation.
Stay well and hang in there....

Zork Recalled, Earth Mission Aborted

Special Statement from the Intergalactic Expeditionary Council, Galactic Date 143009.6388:

The previous transmission from Agent Zork Zynt was the last the Council received, except for an automated distress message shortly afterward.  The Emergency Extraction protocol was initiated, and Agent Zynt was transported to the nearest galactic base.  His poor neurological condition prompted the Council to consign him to the Rehabilitation Facility on Xyborg 6, where he has made excellent progress toward a recovery, but still has a long way to go.

When he became more coherent he was able to report more fully on the cultural conditions of planet Xv406.98, known locally as "Earth."  It seems the cultural maturity of humans had been significantly overestimated by earlier reconnaissance assessments. According to Zynt, the true situation at this time is an unacceptable level of planet-wide violence, authoritarian tendencies, tribalism, intolerance, and extremism. These characteristics make human progress in science and technology quite dangerous, and have subsequently led Council analysts to estimate the odds of the species surviving an existential crisis over the next 500 solar cycles at roughly 50/50. However, Zynt suggested that there may be some hope that human capacity for compassion, altruism, and social responsibility will yet prevail in the future.

All agents from the planet have been recalled and a No Contact proclamation has been issued for the next 3,000 solar cycles.  Periodic brief observational missions will be conducted as remote monitoring seems to warrant. Agent Zynt has bravely volunteered for those missions, but he must recover more fully and be cleared by the medical unit before being assigned to such a stressful experience.  His lack of a full recovery at this time is suggested by his muttering during regenerative cycles about the merits of something called "Krispy Kremes."

 

Eyeball Shot, Splashy Hike, 0's & 1's

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

2/20/21

Aloha Everybody –

How’s that snow shoveling going?
    
I mentioned last week that I thought I might need an eyeball injection.  Sure enough, the scans of my retina showed considerable build-up of fluid since the time before, so I had a shot.  My retina guy seems to think I may need one every 2 to 2 ½ months and that this last interval (3 + months) was just a little too long.  Ok by me, as long as he’s the one giving me the injections. Anyway, I also had a visual field test that tracks my glaucoma, which has nothing to do with my retina problem.  It showed no change, and along with low internal eyeball pressures, is good news.  BTW, the visual field test is the most unpleasant *painless* exam there is — trying to decide whether you’ve seen about a million dots of light when you’re almost never sure.  Give me an injection any day.  I did have a little reaction to the shot this time because the doc tried a different technique of numbing the injection site.  Next time I’ll make sure he goes back to the way we’ve found works best.  This is the reaction that started about 1 ½ years ago when I developed a sensitivity in my right eye to the numbing fluid.  The symptoms begin about 4 hours after the injection, and last for another 8 hours – a sensation like ground glass in the eye, with pretty disgusting blood-shot look for a day afterwards.  This time was much more mild, so it wasn’t agonizing, but I’d rather not experience it.  The shot itself hurts a little more, but it’s well-worth it.
     

On Monday Karen played golf and I went on a short shoreline hike just south of our airport.  This is a

special area that is a natural preserve and is an important source of plants that sustain a kind of bee that is found only in Hawai’i.  It is also a place where surf really crashes during the winter, when storms far to our northwest churn up the ocean.  (In the summer the higher surf occurs on the east shores, because the storms that produce it form to the southeast.)  Anyway, it was a pretty good hike and it was interesting that directly up the slopes of Hualalai was where Karen was playing golf – I was nearly at sea level and she was at about 3k feet.

We worked out at PF on Thursday, a week after our 2nd Covid 19 vaccination.  This was "MI-Day," the day we hit maximum immunity to the original virus strain, a very good feeling!  The variants that are developing from mutations in the original virus so far haven’t made inroads here, and if we can get most people vaccinated before they become prevalent we’ll be ok.  I’ve done a lot of research on this, and my conclusion so far is that we need more data from real-world cases where vaccinated people are reinfected before we declare that all is lost.  We should keep in mind that “effective” in medical jargon when talking about a vaccine means *no* symptoms whatsoever.  The laboratory studies that have been reported show a reduced effectiveness of the current vaccines, but it is very likely the cases that vaccinated people might get will be much less severe.  Nothing I have seen would warrant not getting the vaccine if you have a chance.  In the meantime, we aren’t altering our precautionary behavior, but we do feel a lot more relaxed.  Adding to the relaxation is that this past week our island had several days with either just 1 new case or 0 cases, definitely making us feel even more fortunate to be right here, right now....

I am, of course, fascinated and awed by the successful landing of our new rover on Mars this week. What a technological feat! And how awesome would it be if they can get that drone flying! At last, some good news instead of a steady bombardment of political, cultural, medical, meteorological and economic crapola.

Take care.  Stay warm, safe, and sane.

A Toast to Double Shots, Higher Sodium Happiness

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

2/13/21

Well, the BIG event here this week was on Thursday, when Karen and I got our second Covid vaccinations.  Whoopie!  Went like clockwork, even more efficient and smooth than the first time.  They already had our info and after filling out a brief questionnaire about reactions to the first one (nil for us), we went to the injection station, this time with several more people giving them so it went very fast.  Even though it was quick, everyone was Hawai’i friendly, helpful, and upbeat.  Many of the injectees were people returning from three weeks ago, but there were also quite a few first-timers, and the pace was definitely much quicker and more streamlined.  We celebrated with a seafood lunch at an open-air restaurant (poke nachos and coconut shrimp), and then later with a sunset champagne toast.

Both of us had somewhat stronger reactions to the second shot than the first. Sore arms, a bit tired, and for me a brief round of body aches, chills, and joint pain beginning about 12 hours after the shot but going away in about 4-5 hours. Friday I was still pooped until things started to turn around about 4pm, Oh, and my appetite for a nice tender leg of toddler returned, along with my urge to give Bill Gates all my money. Not too bad today, though.  I think I'll be able to resist both.

Our island is doing very well in terms of the virus, in part because of the vaccination program and also because of our pre-arrival testing requirement for travelers and the fact that most people are being responsible regarding mask wearing and distancing.  Twice this week we had only one new case reported.

Also on Thursday I had another blood test, exactly 2 weeks since I quit taking the diuretic. According to my online results, my sodium level has risen well into the normal range. BP is holding steady so far, and acceptable.  All is good.  I will close out the week with yet another medical event, with a eyeball exam later today.  I may need a shot of Eylea, and I’m going to keep a low threshold for getting one, because the temporary coverage my insurance has granted runs out later this month. I’ll update you next week.

Karen played golf on Monday and we went to PF on Wednesday.  The weather was gorgeous for Karen’s golf game, and our workout was good in terms of few people in the facility.  Our reward this week was a lemon grass sandwich from our usual Vietnamese restaurant, which we ate on a beach picnic.

Ok, watch out for frostbite and stay healthy.