The Weather Is Not Getting Me Down

I'm thankful for rainy weather, honest I am. Snow, at this point, I could do without. Mild depression, any depression, is a stranger to me...but, I am ready for the command to "Play Ball!"

Politics, floundering economies, climate change, gun control, gas prices, bankrupt state governments and school districts...these are all issues I am letting go of for the next seven months. I will not be investing any energy...that should read; Wasting Any Energy, on these and related issues until November...make that December, 2012. Yes, I will vote but, I don't want to talk about it.

I'll be concentrating on: Love of family, all things to do with Bicycling, Major League Baseball, exercising the dog, eating healthy and skinny dipping with friends. Focusing on these activities will keep me excited about life and looking forward to good times as a sixty-something character. We've all got our minds made up about religion and politics anyway, I think our days are better spent appreciating the sensations that come with living each day as it comes...being spontaneous, flexible and somewhat impulsive...and giving thanks for all that we have.

I've drifted away from being a preachy reformer, believe it or not, and I've given up on thinking that Education is the answer. The information is out there, has been out there for a half a Century, and still folks cling to their self-destructive behaviors with the tenacity of an Octopus.

This is one of the great things about surviving for more than six decades...you gain an ounce of "Wisdom" and a ton of "I don't give a hoot if I'm embarrassing you" attitude...this helps you see the humor in most circumstances and situations...the same ones that a decade earlier drove your blood pressure through the roof. It really is simple: just keep your nose clean, drink lots of liquids and don't waste so much time sitting on your ass....and never hold back a laugh (or a fart) when something strikes your funny bone.

Since my recent Hawaiian vacation my dreams have been full of playful people and joyful situations. I wake up with a big grin on my face and a lightness of step that feels spiritual and ridiculous at the same time. The first thing I do is step to the pot and pee...but, why am I giggling...maybe it's the Ginkgo biloba!

Trouble ahead, trouble behind...just crossed my mind

We landed in Lihue on March 9, greeted by twin tornados and a hail storm. The gals at the car rental shed were amazed, they'd never seen either on Kaua'i. Thirty inches of rain fell during the week leading up to our arrival. The roads and the hillsides were in bad shape, the highlands visible from the North Shore were curtained with hundreds of waterfalls. Our rental house was not accessible due to mudslides and submerged bridges. We squeezed through on the second day, only to hear that the road washed out behind us.

The vacation house was exceptional, perched on stilts and surrounded by exotic upper tree foliage that was harboring a choir of tropical birds. No problem...No worries, even though the rain came down in sheets, this was a welcome change. Northern California was having the driest Winter in the last hundred years. We flew out of Reno, which was even drier, so the warm/lush/humid air of Hawai'i was just what we needed.

The sun came out a couple days later, the ocean calmed down and the beaches heated up.... we absorbed all that solar energy like pink-bodied sponges. By the end of the next week we had newly arriving tourists from the mainland asking us if we were "locals". We hiked, we biked, we swam and we sunned.... ten days flew by like an Osprey diving out of a treetop for a Trout. We're back and we are refreshed. Adventuring never placates the travel bug. I'm already checking the Web for tickets to Europe. Which airline flies bicycles for free? Yes, it is always money well spent.

Look Out America, We Are Leaving The Mainland.

This is not a prediction, however, we have an uncanny record of flying away from North America the day before a very large event shocks the country. Yes, you remember, it was Sept. 10, 2001 when we flew to Paris. It was also early Sept. 2008 when we flew to Barcelona...the first headline we read when we landed was about a financial collapse....Goodbye Lehman and AIG. In 2010 we flew to Toronto first and then to Frankfurt, that worked out better but, a month later we flew out of Marseilles on the same morning that French authorities stormed a motel next to the Marseilles airport and arrested 13 terrorists who were planning to raise havoc that very day!

Now I'm reading about extraordinary Solar Flares affecting the upper atmosphere and messing with radio communications...don't pilots still communicate by radio waves? Oh Jesus, it's enough to get me down on my knees. All I want is a balmy, relaxing ten days in Kauai.

We are spending a chunk of our retirement/savings on travel. This is largely due to the prediction, on my part, that we will have to be happy living out our lives tending to a garden and goats while living in a Pacific Yurt at a lower elevation, while our fellow middle class Americans accept the fact that here is no "trickle down" from the 1% that'll keep gas in their tanks and food on the grocery store shelves. These are "tough times"...about to get a lot tougher. Google Clusterfuck Nation or Club Orlov or Crazy Eddie at The Motie, to see where I'm coming from.

Our necks are so far out there...might as well concentrate on enjoying each day...and each adventure. No, you don't have to travel far to find awesome adventure. We explore remote corners of California and the West every week, month and year. We test our bodies to their physical limit often and we stretch our minds daily with conversation and varied research...not wasting the hours that remain...unless you classify watching Baseball and drinking a Torpedo Ale as a waste of time.

Well, here goes, our bags are packed, our son and our dog are in charge of "the ranch"...traveling laptopless, just a good book, some letter writing supplies and a swimsuit.