Still Tired: Here, Have a Tree Story

I don't know that I'm actually jet-lagged; I think of that as feeling that your body is on a different time zone than you're currently in, and I'm back on Eastern Time without that sort of difficulty. (Getting home Saturday evening, after a practically sleepless night of travel, helped, as I was far too tired to quibble over whether it was bedtime or not.) But wow, I'm still very much tired, and I do attribute that to the travel.

At least my arms are feeling better; after each travel day, they were exhausted to the point of feeling shaky for a day or two (or three), but that's done. My back still isn't so happy with me, but that's a recurring thing and I have to deal with the situation as it is.

Anyway, point being: I realized just now that I was feeling a bit of pressure/stress that I "should be" writing the next post about Hawaii, but you know what? Not tonight. I'm going off to knitting without sorting out any photos, links, or stories for you. Hopefully tomorrow!

In the meantime, enjoy this nice little snippet about two special old trees on Boston Common (that I read about via Universal Hub). Trees that, oh, happen to have been planted by John Hancock, is all.

A Randomness of Hawaii (Thursday 1/16)

Work so gets in the way of doing other things! Quite tiresome. Which is another way of saying that I still haven't gone through my Hawaii photos at any length. So here's what I'm going to do: throw you some more pictures as I talk about last Thursday week*, in addition to the visit-the-beach ones I already put up.
*As Jane Austen would describe a week ago Thursday

So Thursday was mostly a day to unpack and settle in. But even when you're just walking up to the office to sign in for the time-share, there are tropical signs.

And driving out to the airport to add me to the rental car led to this view:

This rooster would turn out to be a frequent visitor to our patio.

Not pictured: the farmers market, where we bought papayas and limes to have for breakfasts. Delicious!

I was much taken with this sign. Not at our place, but at a resort where we went to have dinner. Are the unpleasant activities handled elsewhere?

Also not pictured: the rain that came while we were eating dinner, that was bad enough we ducked into a nearby store and bought umbrellas. And still got damp walking home, which wasn't the best way to end Thursday, but overall, not a bad day at all.

Brought a Few Things Home

I'm very glad that I decided to take today off work for another recovery day, because boy howdy, did I need it. Still tired and sore from the trip home, and kind of unsure which way is up and what time it is where.

I very much have not gotten through all my photos yet, but right at the top are photos of some of the things I bought in Hawaii, so I thought I'd throw those up here for now. I'll probably mention more details of things as I get to trip content, but if you have any questions now, ask away.

Not pictured are a few gifts, except for these, given to my mother already. Fun socks:

And cocktail napkins that say Shut the Duck Up.

What else? Well...

A coaster (I wanted an absorbent one to use there).

Knitting project bag, a few magnets. 

A hat.

A lava print, a book, a decorative gecko (decko?).

A Hawaii can holder, a bunch of Kliban things.

A little jewelry from the farmers market (total cost: $16).

And lots of edibles! (The Hamakua toffee is almost gone already; it's fantastic.)

Including a little Kona coffee to try.

...just a few things...

Home!

I'm back! I had a great trip, but was ready to come home, to my own bed and pillow, and not living out of a suitcase.

Oh, and the cat. I guess.

She's delighted I'm back, and I missed her terribly, so it's working out well, being back.

I got home last night, and I am majorly zonked, what with the length of travel, the red-eye, the time change, and all the lifting and carrying (my arms are almost more sore than my back; almost). I'm so glad I took another vacation day tomorrow, to recover.

Much more to come!

Glimpse of Beach

Yes, More Cat Pictures

Listen, I don't know why Maggie is being so very, very photogenic lately*, but I just can't stop myself from doing it again.
*I had my phone in at the store to look into something, and the woman helping me asked what the cat's name was, and said she's really cute. Yes, she is.

The other night, snuggling up on the couch.

She looks like she's about to bite, but it was a solid few minutes of dozing in that position.

And then next morning on the lanai.

On the lanai again today, she first did the "I'm so calm and serene" thing:

So casual.

And then grabbed for my leg.

She's also helping me pack.

Speaking of which, I'd better get back to that. I'll try to post tomorrow night, but I leave Wednesday morning, so there may be enough headless-chickening happening Tuesday night that I won't get to it. In which case, I'll try to throw up pictures here and there on the trip, before I get back and drown you in trip stories.

A Lovely Day For It

Yesterday I joined a few new friends at the regularly held beach clean-up. I'm not usually up and out so early on a weekend, but it was a beautiful morning.

With pelicans.

And distant views.

And close-ups of water and sand.

And this oddball bird, doing a version of the cat-loaf.

(Thanks, Mary Ellen!I wanted to zoom in on him, but I'm trying to use Google Photos and editing won't work for me. It says I can edit it, and lets me zoom in, but when I hit Done, it reverts to the original. Any ideas on getting that to work?)

Beach clean-ups give me mixed emotions. It's nice that there are people willing to clean up after others, but it's sad that there are so many people who don't clean up after themselves. One can charitably imagine the wind grabbing that string-cheese wrapper, the child burying a toy, or a hair tie jumping away and not being found again. It's also entirely possible that people just didn't bother to pick up after themselves, or just don't care, which is aggravating.

But at least it might not have been intentional. I can't come up with a single charitable possibility for cigarette butts. You don't leave those behind unawares. Come on, smokers: this is a beach, not an ashtray.