Today appears to be a big laundry day chez moi. I’m tripping over clothes, towels, sheets and a big duvet cover.

Well Tropical Storm Calvin left its calling card for us. This morning I noticed water seeping out from behind the drier. The rain had come down the drier’s vent and out onto the floor. I had to pull out the washing machine and drier to get behind there this morning. An unexpected change of plans.

Thankfully the drier appears to be OK. The cover that I put over the vent outside to prevent such things happening, obviously isn’t sufficient. Back to the drawing board.

As I write this, it is grey and misty outside and sheets of rain are being blown across the my field of vision. It has been a wet morning, off and on with the occasional break. Calvin is making its presence felt, even if the storm is pulling westwards away from the islands. A flood watch is in effect until this evening.

Tropical Storm Calvin, which started out as a hurricane in the Pacific, is arriving in Hawai’i tonight, impacting the Big Island of Hawai’i first. With that said, I feel as though its effects are starting to make themselves felt even now - sustained wind, more cloud, and more frequent rain.

As I try our Obsidian, of course I go looking for a plugin to post to Micro.blog. Thank you @otaviocc, I’m testing your plugin out now.

This morning I’m keeping an eagle eye on the live text stream on the BBC website - my only option - in order to follow the Wimbledon Men’s final. It almost ups the tension, waiting for the next message to drop.

Clean up done. Sitting quietly now.

Yesterday evening a collection of friends - kids, parents, grandparents - came over to play on the water slide that my son-in-law had constructed in a large natural bowl that sits on our property. There were a few collisions, but no injuries. My wife barbecued a delicious meal. Conversation continued into the night, while the kids (and adults) played in my step-daughter’s swimming pool next door.

Finished reading: The Cybernetic Tea Shop by Meredith Katz 📚

📝 I'm grateful for journalling.

📝 I'm grateful for journalling.

🥱 Waking from an afternoon nap.

🥱 Waking from an afternoon nap.

This afternoon my wife and I took a two and a half mile walk in Upcountry Maui. The cloudy weather created just the right conditions for walking.

A lot of the land that we were walking by belongs to Oprah. Indeed most (all?) that is in this photograph belongs to her.

Upcountry Maui. A single track, twisty road winds between hilly fields with low lava rock walls

I stopped on the return leg to take a photograph looking across to West Maui, the Pacific Ocean and the island of Lana’i.

Looking across Maui to West Maui, the Pacific Ocean and the island of Lana’i

After all the praise for The Bear that I have read on Micro.blog, I took out a subscription for Hulu. I don’t regret doing so. I’m, we are thoroughly enjoying it.

On a clear night, we are blessed with a wonderful view of a star filled sky. Tonight, just before turning in, I stopped to stair up at the glittering patterns above me, and the vastness of heavens that our tiny planet sits in. I find something quite calming and humbling viewing that site.

Reupholstering a couch today. Learning as I go. Patience is one of those lessons!

Strips of cloth and the side of a couch. The strips of cloth will go to replace the current cloth in couch’s side. It is weaves into place

Some days I wonder what I have achieved from my meditation practice? Sleepy, wandering mind, replaying that incident from yesterday.

Providing this does not become a habit as in, “great, it’s rest time,” I believe that what is gained is just showing up. There are so many other things that I (you) could be doing, and I decided to meditate. I am building a habit, building a muscle. So don’t become disillusioned if some sessions didn’t go as well as you hoped. You showed up.

Going in…looking to retrieve some images off of my step-daughter’s old computer. 🫣

Dismantling an old white Apple laptop on the floor. The keyboard is off, the hard drive out, the keyboard lies at an angle. Screws, screwdrivers and other bits and pieces lie around

When I am unwell, I quite often find that I loose my taste for coffee. It comes back in its own time as I heal. As I recover from pneumonia I had started making myself a cup of coffee in the morning, but wasn’t really enjoying it. So when my acupuncturist suggested that I stay away from coffee for now and instead have some green tea, I thought, “I can do that.” For a while, all has been good.

Now in the morning, as I make my wife’s coffee alongside my green tea, I am starting to warm to the aroma of the coffee. My mouth is starting to search for the coffee taste. I sense some challenges ahead.

The upside of this is that if I am wanting coffee, I take that as a positive sign of improvement.

🕳️ I am slowly surfacing, climbing out of the hole. I have not written on my blog for about a month. Much has happened, but I have simply not had the bandwidth to post. I've been unwell since May 20th, but did not get a diagnosis, of pneumonia, until June 7th - traveling saw to that delay. I've lost a lot of weight, and energy is up and down. But although I won't be exerting myself too much anytime soon, pneumonia can have a slow recovery time, I am sensing a slow improvement.