🏃♂️ Heading out for the second run of my personal Watch to 5K challenge.
Accountability and Running
Saturday, January 20, 2024
Towards the end of last year the iOS/Apple Watch app, Watch to 5K, was offered at a discount and it got me thinking. I wanted some easy accountability to get me exercising. This app essentially puts a Couch to 5K program onto an Apple Watch, with a companion iPhone app holding all the data from each run. What I found compelling about the app was that all I needed was my Apple Watch when I was out running.
🐳 I saw my first whale of the season this evening. Way out to sea, a few water spouts and the cresting back of the whale.
🐳 I saw my first whale of the season this evening. Way out to sea, a few water spouts and the cresting back of the whale.
The Story Behind the Mt Everest Photograph
Friday, January 19, 2024
Yesterday I posted a photograph showing the last rays of sunlight catching the summit of Mt Everest at the end of a day. After putting it up online, I was reflecting on the story behind the image, and thought that I would share it. The year was 1989, the month September. I found myself in Nepal at what turned out to be a little under halfway through a journey that would take me through Pakistan, China, Nepal and India.
The summit of Mt Everest, peeking out from behind surrounding mountains, coloured orange as it catches the last rays of sunlight at the end of the day. This image was captured during a month long trek to the Solo/Khumbu region of Nepal around September 1989. Photo of slide projected onto a wall.
This winter feels like a struggle.
If not that, a season that is bringing its fair share of obstacles.
One blessing is that the weather is not one of them. At least, yet.
Those times when I talk to a delivery person, just making conversation, and they are unsure what to say. I feel that I have done something that they are just not use to, and so are stuck for words?
😩 A frustrating day. I fix one thing (or update it), and something else breaks. I’m calling tech support tomorrow morning.
Despite the sound of it, this was not computer related, rather the front gate.
😩 A frustrating day. I fix one thing (or update it), and something else breaks. I’m calling tech support tomorrow morning.
Despite the sound of it, this was not computer related, rather the front gate.
Sitting in silence.
This morning’s rainbow 🌈
Cold weather
Friday, January 12, 2024
Yesterday felt cold here, this evening there is a real icy blast…for a home only about 640 ft above sea level, in the Hawaiian islands. Of course it is not the sub-freezing temperatures that parts of the North American continent are facing, but the wind has a cold punch to it. Coming from England, I finding the colder weather strangely comforting, taking me back to dark winter nights, warm and comfortable at home or wrapped up against the cold as I go out for the evening.
Wednesday was exhausting for me. Being preceded by the busyness of the Christmas and New Year holidays probably didn’t help. I’m an introvert and at times just need time to myself to wind down. Too much external activity and noise and I’m working on reserve tank, my body becoming stressed, my mind tired and at worse struggling to think straight. I find myself almost becoming robotic, just doing what needs to be done, while loosing the perspective, fun or joy.
I spent Wednesday with my grandson.The school holidays meant that he and his brother had spent more time together than they usually do. They love each other and at times brotherly tensions can overspill. They needed some time apart. I was asked if I could entertain him for part of the day.
There was nothing overly exhausting about our day together. Perhaps we visited some places which I prefer not to visit. However, when I am already tired I find that even the smallest effort, the smallest call for my attention or focus, can feel like a struggle.
I was there for my grandson through the day, and feel as though I gave him a good time, but I was happy to jump in the truck after a late lunch and start on the road back home…telling the final “scary story” of the day.
Once he was dropped off, I headed home. I cleaned out the truck, put things away, grabbed a cold glass of water and went to lie down. No one else was at home, I had the evening to myself. I allowed the silence to envelop me, it was what I needed. That was my evening. Quiet, a small bite to eat, sitting in silence and reading.
This place is called the Fun Factory and is a favorite of my grandson’s. I’m not in agreement with him on this. I call it soul destroying and a money burner. I wouldn’t tell him this and such, of course, is lost on him anyway.
Home alone, listening to and reading the poems of Han-Shan, Cold Mountain. Thank you Gary Snyder, Red Pine and others.
Men ask the way to Cold Mountain
Cold Mountain: there’s no through trail.
In summer, ice doesn’t melt
The rising sun blurs in swirling fog.
How did I make it?
My heart’s not the same as yours.
If your heart was like mine
You’d get it and be right here.
Year in books for 2023
Wednesday, January 3, 2024
Here are the books I finished reading in 2023. I’m a slow reader, not living in a family of readers (which slows me down more), but I love reading and am happy with this achievement.
🤦 How to not make a cup of coffee…omit the ground coffee. Happy New Year!
🤦 How to not make a cup of coffee…omit the ground coffee. Happy New Year!
Well, I’m heading to bed after seeing in 2024 here in Maui. It’s been a while since I have stayed up to welcome in a New Year. Good company and a lovely fire to sit around, helped.
Good night all, and see you in 2024.