🤫 It has suddenly become very quiet, and I am sitting in gratitude of that. As Skoobs said on his blog recently,
…the chaos of this world, to be able to sit or lay in a room with no chaos to speak of is a luxury that can’t be overestimated.
Now
🍃 We appear to be experiencing weather of extremes right now. After a dry spell (grass starting to turn yellow), we have moved to very windy weather (with intermittent rain).
🤕 I’ve been offline for a couple of days now. A bad migraine has taken me down. I haven’t had one this bad for a long time. I’m waking up on day 4 still feeling a throbbing, albeit a lessening to what it was. A humbling reminder of how quickly things can change - good heath, bad health.
🌧️ We have woken up to wind and rain this morning. I am singing! 🎶
🤞 The wind is just beginning to pick up. I hope that this means that the VOG will be gone soon. Being outside is not pleasant. The VOG is just hanging in the air. It has been like this for two days now. Sometimes the wind dies down to nothing at night, but I hope that this increased breeze is the beginning of change in the weather and clearer days ahead.
😶🌫️ The VOG is intense this morning. No wind is not helping. Kīlauea has been busy.
⛵ I have not seen rain like this here for a long time. I find it fascinating and scary at the same time. I hope that everyone is safe out there. The grading of the land appears to be redirecting the water around our house with small rivers appearing. If not, I think that we might sail away.
⛈️ Well the winter storm that was heading for Hawaii has finally landed on Maui, and we are getting a drenching right now. The power went out here for a couple hours today. Fingers crossed it stays with us over night. Upcountry Maui has not been so lucky - trees down and power outages since early this morning.
🐳 I went out for a walk at the cliffs again this lunchtime, checked on The Bunker...no new murals..., but the whales were jumping. I saw three water spouts, and then a big splash as one breached. This was followed by a fluke slapping in the water. Elsewhere I caught sight of a couple more breaches. This is all a long ways out, but clearly visible at the same time.
🤔 I feel as though I have missed a day somewhere. I could have sworn that today was Tuesday, but Wednesday it is. I guess that the week is moving faster than I thought?!
🧙♂️ There’s a magic in the air this morning. There is not a breath of wind. The air is cool, with the rising sun making little difference as it sits behind whispy, mist like clouds. All is still. A distant hum of a lawn mower accompanies the bird song. Nothing else. Just the magic.
🤔 It’s Monday morning but feels like Sunday to me. I think because it is that week. The stretch from Christmas to New Year always feels like the longest week of the year to me, and I get completely disoriented. I can’t decide whether I just want it to be over, or to simply wallow in the holiday feel of it all?
☔ It’s raining outside. I didn’t see that coming. We have had such a long dry spell. Still it is welcome and I’m grateful for it.
🤕 After four days, the migraine that I have been nursing finally appears to be dissipating. I’ve been getting them for almost fifty years. In that time their intensity and frequency has varied. What has remained constant is that they come out of nowhere, start with with an aura around my eye until I can hardly see anything, that goes and then a thud of varying strength makes it presence felt. Nausea is probably present as well, perhaps a weak feeling through my body. The best treatment is usually silence, rest and no strong light. I have never had any luck with medication, both allopathic or alternative.
🫰 Things change. After a few days of beautiful, still weather, Maui winter weather at its best, we now have wind and horizontal rain.
Wednesday, November 27, 2024 →
🔪 Sharpening knives ready for tomorrow…and it was an overdue job anyway.
🥶 Brrrhhh! Upcountry Maui is windy and cold right now, though those in more northerly latitudes might question my use of the emoji I chose here?!
☕ Something's up, I don’t know what, but I’ve just made my third early morning coffee.
😒 “Oh the joys of jet lag,” he says typing away in the early hours of the morning while wide awake.
🛌 My bed had an iron grip on me this morning. It was quite a fight to get out. I gave into the struggle a couple of times, but eventually won through. Coffee is now being made.
🏁 A first this morning. I drove from Alcácer do Sal to where we usually park in Lisbon without using GPS (Apple Maps). I’ll need it to get out this evening, but I’ll chalk that up as a win for familiarity and knowing my way round.
📰 I came across a British Sunday newspaper while out today, the FT Weekend for the curious. I love a Sunday newspaper but rarely see one these days (living in Hawaii, the weekend is almost over for most of the world by the time that we wake up). Being here in Portugal increases my chances of finding one, and today I found a source.
So this evening I’m sitting under a light with the paper spread around me. I’ll probably still be dipping into it at week’s end.
I’m a happy chap tonight.
🥱 Almost without fail, I wake up later in Portugal, sleep longer.
🚿 Well I didn’t ask for that, but I got a proper drenching getting out of the car. It was like being in a car wash. Water from all sides and a river rushing down the road to clean my shoes!
🌧️ There has been a Severe Weather Warning hovering over us since this morning, and now it appears to have arrived. With that said, the severity of that warning is changing rapidly. The forecast thunderstorms have currently disappeared and it now looks as though we’ll have moderate rainfall into the night. Though even there it is now no longer lasting until the early hours.
I’ll take my weather app as a guide, and my gazing to the skies as the more accurate assessment of current conditions, and what might be coming.
👋 Olá Lisboa. Olá Príncipe Real.
In Lisbon for the day with Maui friends. Saying goodbye to them tonight as they head home.
🐦 There’s barely any light in the sky, but I can hear the first birds of the morning singing the early notes of the dawn chorus.
😵💫 Well jet lag did its bit last night. I’m up before six having a cup oof coffee having managed probably less than two hours sleep.
At least I can enjoy the quiet early hours…it’s beautifully quiet.
🧟 Jet lag sucks. Last night, pill aided, I slept for 12 hours, after a day of feeling delirious as I tried to stay awake following my early morning arrival.
Today (or yesterday, Tuesday, as I write this) fresh air, a massage and a good meal helped me relax and feel more back in my body. I went to bed feeling tired, but a little fearful that I was not tired enough…
Sure enough tonight, although pill aided again, I am typing this wide awake after maybe one hour’s sleep. I slept better on the airplane. I can feel the call to sleep knocking on my eyes. I feel a little lightheaded. However, so far no luck. I fear morning will bring a discombobulated day.
🥱 Waking up at LAX, or rather an airport hotel nearby. Heading to the UK to help see my mother and hopefully help with some water leaks in her apartment.