tikini

days gone by too numerous to count
have left gouges deeper than initials carved in trees

you’ve seen them the poster people for old age
game face body shaped as if by an artist
old age is like that in the way your local laundromat is like Tahiti

It is truer to say this about people of long years
skin flakes drop like fish scales
TV turned up so loud the roof shakes
teeth that clack around in the mouth like pieces of a skeleton

what goes in must be taken out
there are voiced sounds like a machine that needs a part fixed
how to use a knife and fork becomes obscure like someone else’s dream

not knowing what they want resisting necessity
bargaining about whether to let water run over their skin
not wanting to leave the shower after all

seeing the ocean all day makes them hungry
if they could make the fish jump up into their laps like the dogs
they would do that

I wonder if I too will cling to my skin while it lays upon my bones like old newspaper and music is something only in my mind

My kuleana now is to make it all better for the old parents. It has been like jumping off a cliff into deep water. (I would not dive…)

I didn’t really really want to do it. But bringing them into our house was the best solution. And we could do it.

It has meant giving up our bedroom. I do not miss it terribly. It is still there. But occupado. They mostly live in the bedroom and on the attached lanai. We have the downstairs bedroom. It’s fine.

It means someone has to be with them, that is, home. 24/7. Maybe it’s OK to run out to the post office or the local store. And run right back. Not all the way to the beach. We still have to line up someone who can come in and do respite care so Mr Tiki and I can get out together, alone, a couple of times a month.

Papa is on hospice care. This means the nurse can always come if needed, and a caregiver comes every couple of days and looks after him. Mama cannot take care of herself, but despite the Alzheimer’s is accepting care from me. We have them on coconut oil and that is seeming to make a marked improvement in their ability to stay conversational and engaged.

Dinner time is the family all together, as it has always been for us. We have friends and family already slotted in to come visit, and everyone is totally cool with the changed arrangements here. I love the support coming from my daughter especially.

Things are different, and that is fine. Mr Tiki has wanted his parents to be a part of his life for years and they have always declined to visit. Now they are here for good. Interesting how that worked out.

I can nearly imagine you in this creation.

Aloha!

Aloha

My goal here today is to spread the word about my new Etsy shop.

This shop was born of an altruistic wish to help address world hunger in a meaningful way and to fund my jewelry making supply stash. Part of the profits from each sale go to Heifer in the form of purchase of geese, ducks, goats and bees. The rest pay for the costs of collecting sea glass from local beaches (gasoline prices here cna get up to $5 plus a gallon) and the cost of the associated materials in making the pieces.

MahinuiByTheSea is the name of my shop.

Besides what you see there, I make custom necklaces. I have in mind a mermaid crown – next project.

Feel free to stop by.

large changes of late… we have some new members of our household and as a result the time I have available for lounging about and making posts is severely cut back.

This is likely to persist for some time to come.

If anyone is trying to get in touch, best to send message… aloha!

Have you ever noticed that there are Pinterest boards with millions of followers? Literally, millions. Yowsa. Would you like to have that many people paying attention to you and what you like and perhaps what you do?

It is a clouded thing for me.

So today I did a little study on this Pinterest phenomenon, because I wondered what it means to have 2 million people following your boards.

I discovered it means there is a big number by your name, but when it comes to liking your pins and repinning them, it all plays out pretty much the same as if you have a few hundred followers. Isn’t that odd?

I do like Pinterest quite a bit, for several different reasons, most of which seem to be peculiar to me. Today I lingered some on one of my boards, just looking at the images. I wonder if all these images have sharpened my perception or my skills any. I find I am more conscious of color and light, especially intrusive light. And texture can be overwhelming.

This is a time of heightened everything in my corner of the world.

There is a lot of change, most of it good, some difficult. And some ugly stuff too. So, the good, the bad, and the ugly.

There may be something about living on an island, the isolation and tight boundaries, that causes some people to forget to shake loose the dust of times gone by. And others seem to respect the dust that clings to the others, as if that is their hallowed right. The grudges people hold onto here are sad. And of course there are the sickos who keep their ire alive by re-igniting the fuse every chance they get.

So the sad.

Those who insist on their grudges and enmities manage to worm their way into open social circles and unilaterally declare their nemesis persona non grata. This poisoning of the well is the fate I am trying to untwist. It becomes extra hard because the people who are the grudge bearers manage to rather frighten everyone into not wanting to cross them.

What that does to me is make me dislike them and then where am I in the picture? On a side. How to change this?

It is true. Today, September 15, is free money day. Everywhere in the world. Or it was as long as it was September 15.

If you would like to know the story of the day, try this website.

To participate in the day, you take two of the same money. Like two dollar bills. You hand them to a stranger, and tell the stranger to pass one along and keep one.

If you were to do this ten times with $20 in all in your town, or twenty of your comparable kinds of money if $ is not your money, what do you think you would experience?

What do you think of this as something to do? It is an annual event, and this is the second one.

When I moved to Hawaii I simply assumed that getting away from my desk job and working hard physically would make a vast improvement in my health. My health was not all that bad, just mildly slipping.

Instead it got a whole lot worse. What had been random weird things became regular weird things. I began browsing the internet with the composite list of bodily irregularities, half expecting to see that I had some bizarre tropics related malady, half thinking I would simply get over it.

When I moved out of the rainforest, I thought getting a more regular dose of sun, and swimming daily would help. Also the acupuncture seemed a likely cure. But whatever was dragging me down a path of not so much wellness seemed to be prevailing.

Summer has brought a better all around outlook. I attribute this to two changes, as that is what there have been.

One – I bought Orthoheel flipflops. We do not call them flipflops however, they are slippahs. They look very dressy. And since I have worn them and broken them in, my leg pain (terrible sleep depriving unwavering pain) has gone away.

Two – we are eating from the garden at every meal. Avocado, banana, papaya, lilikoi, pineapple. I thought earlier that maybe the tropical fruits were not good for me. But it seems they are just fine. Better even than just fine. Because except for some skin issues, none of my other bad news symptoms have plagued me either.

Good news, eh?

Mr Tiki’s parents are getting to be really old, and they live alone. He wants to invite them to come live with us. There are so very many reasons why this is unlikely to work out. But most of them have to do with the old folks wanting to stay put. Insisting on staying where they are.

Today I realized I just had to say yes.

I finished this book awhile back, but it for sure bears mentioning here.

This is a crime book, but is heavily focused on what goes on in a parent’s head when faced with the unthinkable regarding their own children.

I found it astonishingly good.

but sometimes things just go haywire. And that is what happened today.

Oh well.

Korbel heard it was your birthday … so this came in today. Will you join me?

Aloha! much aloha!

Happy birthday my poetic friend. May this day be the beginning of your best year ever, with many a celebration of life and love. Cheers! More cheers! A hui hou!

May you stumble across the most surreal literature often in the year ahead, and perhaps see fit to share your finds with us.

This plethora of orchids comes to you in the hopes you will find multiple kitty playthings amidst the blooms.

Aloha.

Aloha my name is tikini and I am addicted to reading.

Cover here is one I started this morning. I do not know what prompted me to order a sample through kindle, but most likely it was something someone said here on a fairly random goal that I do not know how to find again.

So I am beginning this goal in the hopes you my fellow readers will adopt it as well, and we all will have someplace to visit to see what amazing reads may be lurking out there in less well advertised positions.

aloha!

Tiki is wearing a crown of flowers. In this case, pale yellow green orchids. The better to celebrate your birthday. Rest up and get ready to party tikini style! Aloha!

all better involves:

taking vitamins, especially B

playing with the dogs

arranging a ridiculously complicated journey involving what looks to be 7 people one or more of whom seem to be en route to Burning Man.

I think it will all be as wonderful as fireworks on a cloudless night over still water with ice cream

You must have seen it – the US Anti-Doping agency has declared they are stripping Lance Armstrong of his Tour de France titles and his Olympic gold.

What do you think of Travis Tygart’s pursuit of Armstrong? Do you think the USADA has the authority to rescind Armstrong’s titles?

If you believe Lance Armstrong did use performance enhancing drugs, what has convinced you of that?

Overall, what are your thoughts on the 13 year string of accusations that have followed Lance Armstrong through and past his retirement from the Tour de France?

• my thoughts: the disingenuousness of this statement makes me think Travis Tygart is just another bully: “It is a sad day for all of us who love sport and athletes,” Tygart said. “It’s a heartbreaking example of win at all costs overtaking the fair and safe option. There’s no success in cheating to win.” It looks to me like the person in the limelight who wants to win at all costs is Tygart. If he was so sad, why did he not express sadness that Armstrong did not have the courage to see the matter to its conclusion…?

sigh

It is very nearly your birthday where you are… maybe you will stay up to see it in, like a new year celebration.

Here are some koi to bring you joy. The dogs you already have.

Have a spectacular birthday, and happiness and more happiness in the year ahead.

aloha!