Anne Elizabeth Baldwin's Journal

My current circumstances

aeb — Sat, 07 Jan 2017 20:58:51 GMT

I'm sorry I've been quiet.

My father got very sick in early December, with a terrible infection on his leg. He's recovering from that, but now his heart disease... looks like it's killing him. He's in a nursing home across town, where I can visit most days, and call at other times, but I miss him so.

Meanwhile, my mother has gotten so forgetful, I have to take care of her. Which means I'm suddenly thrown into being the head of a household where whoever was the head of the household, it wasn't me. {bite lips}

So... I have a steep learning curve, and lots of problems at once. {Sigh}

I've been good at keeping in touch on Facebook, okay on email... I'm sorry LJ slid. I'll try to get back when I can, but... I don't know when that will be.

Valentine Comes Back

aeb — Sun, 06 Nov 2016 03:08:33 GMT

Valentine, my cat, got out last Sunday. We didn't know immediately, and mostly couldn't find him even when we did know.

Last night, he finally returned, coming inside, where he and we feel he really belongs, and really is safe. {Smile}

Yesterday, around dinner, which was around 9:30 or 10:00 because we’ve been having dinner unfashionably late this year, Dad heard meowing outside in the carport. He rushed to the door as fast as his crutch would let him, but couldn’t spot the cat. He came away discouraged, saying it was too low pitched for Valentine anyway. (Valentine has a surprisingly high-pitched voice, considering he’s a big cat. He’s two feet long from nose to rump, with another 14 inches of tail… and he’s a tenor by cat standards. {wink})

Then, while he was getting ready for bed, Dad heard the same low-pitched meowing at the carport door. “Wait a moment, kitty, and I’ll open the door for you!” he called. He popped out of the new bathroom and into the playroom, where I was waiting for him to come out and go to bed. “Open the door! I heard a cat!” he told me.

“This door?” I asked, gesturing towards the carport door as I started to walk towards it.

“Yes,” Dad said, hurrying as fast as his crutch lets him.

I opened the wooden door, then opened the screen door. I had work slowly at the latter because something was pushing on the screen door…

…Until there was enough space for Valentine to walk around it and right into the house.

“It’s Valentine! He’s home!” I cried, half choked up with tears of happiness. He was walking with a slight limp, and had a dark crease in the white fur of his chest, but it was Valentine, walking into the house and across the playroom.
“Yes, it’s Valentine,” Dad agreed in a very similar tone of voice, “Welcome home kitty.”

We paused to stare at Valentine to reassure ourselves he was really home.

Then Dad said “Feed him.” I strode to the kitchen, and got out one bowl of his that hadn’t gone outside, and put a full scoop of the dry cat food he loves in the bowl. (We use an old coffee scoop, and usually only fill it ¾, but after a bit over 5 ½ days, I figured a full scoop was a good welcome home. I soon noticed he’d visibly lost weight in that time, so he’ll probably do well with a couple of days with extra food.

At Dad’s suggestion, I woke up Mom and told her the happy news. Then I stopped. Let me see, he needs food… and his scratch box, both of which were outside. I bustled around, and getting a cane and shoes, and called Dad over to guard the door. That took a few tries, because he was busy sharing the good news with Mom. {Smile}

I went out, and got the used scratch-box, which fortunately I had moved to the old garage, whose lights work, unlike the laundry. I’m glad I didn’t have to go in there; that would have been quite the challenge, since I really cannot walk in the dark. I grabbed the scratch-box, leaving the carrier and everything in the laundry until morning. I did grab a bowl I’d left on the porch on the way in. I kicked the scratch box inside as Dad stood between the door and Valentine, who was entirely too busy eating to worry about a door. I kicked the scratch box to the playroom, and dumped the dish in the sink, washing the ants and sole nibble out, but letting the soap wait.

Then I remembered I’d meant to put up signs to make sure Mom didn’t forget Val is supposed to be an inside-only cat. She’d approved the warning, “KEEP DOOR CLOSED TO KEEP CAT IN!!”

While I was working on that, Valentine limped into the living room and lay down on the floor beside me. He looked up at me expectantly, the dark line on his white fur obvious. With less struggle than usual, I knelt down to see what was up. His collar had gotten messed up. It went around his neck on the right, but then dipped back and went under his left front armpit. No wonder the poor little fellow was limping! That couldn’t be comfortable! I reached down to undo the buckle, glad it was simple squeeze to release like some of our luggage straps. The first thing I tried didn’t have the push buttons to release. I felt further. The second thing I found didn’t either. Then I reached the tag, then nothing more before it dipped under Valentine. I checked where it came out. Nothing until the first buckle-without-buttons. I checked all around a second time. No buckle with push buttons. Pulling it off over the leg… meant getting his elbow out of the way. Pulling it off over his head didn’t look good either. I went to get a scissors from the kitchen. I could figure this out eventually, but I’d rather get Valentine comfortable now.

Dad wanted to know what I was doing. I tried to show him only to have Valentine get up and walk out in the middle of the explanation. Fortunately, it was only to go to Dad’s room, jump up on Dad’s bed, and lie down on the fuzzy green blanket on the foot of his bed. This made it easier to show Dad.

“Just unbuckle it,” Dad said.

“I can’t. I can’t find the buckle. I think we should cut it.” I looked down at the kitchen shears… which are great for cutting meat and bone, but act more than a little dull around paper… and that collar was a heavy woven strap. I spotted my sewing kit, opened it up, and spotted one of the child’s sewing scissors in there. Not the sharpest, but hands down better than the kitchen shears, and they were certainly heavy enough for the strap. I set down the shears, grabbed the scissors, and went to Valentine. I bent over him, and slipped the scissors under his collar where there was only a single layer of strap to cut. It took a few snips to cut thru because it was thick and tough. When we got it off, we spotted the problem quickly: the pushbuttons were right next to the tag, so we dismissed that plastic as just part of the tag attachment.

Next, Dad called for water, so I got the water bowl from the kitchen, and dumped the water and ants out (Hilo is currently swarming with Little Yellow Fire Ants, and we’re no exception). I washed it, filled it with water, and took it to the playroom for Valentine. I thought he still wasn’t walking quite normally, but Dad said he was. In any case, he has been this morning, so maybe it was just walking out a cramp, or waiting for a bruise to subside. I hope so. {SMILE}

Then Dad and I got the signs posted, and he finished getting ready for bed while I let folks online know as best I could in my excitement. Sorry I didn’t make it clear he was inside last night. I guess I was just too excited that Valentine was finally home! {REALLY BIG GRIN, HUMONGOUS GRIN}

He’s been very quiet since he came back. He’s gotten up to eat a few times, and went to the living room twice – once to look out the front window at the yard and street, and once to see what I was doing while I was checking doors to make sure they were all completely closed and locked. The rest of the time, he’s been lying on that green fuzzy blanket on the foot of Dad’s bed. I think it must be the most comforting thing in the house, since he barely leaves it now. {BIG SMILE, REALLY BIG GRIN, HUMONGOUS GRIN}

P.S. With the low meows at the beginning, they raised about an octave as soon as Dad said he was coming. {wink, SMILE}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

The Great White Lion

aeb — Sat, 29 Oct 2016 02:17:28 GMT

I found an old "silly kitty story" about Alban, Valentine's predecessor. I thought I might as well share it. {Smile}

The Great White Lion

Back when we used to play AD&D regularly, we had a particularly... INTERESTING AD&D game. {wink}

In getting ready for the first encounter, Dad arrayed a bunch of monster counters on the table. The monsters were promptly attacked by a humongous white lion: Alban decided to sit on them.

We chuckled over Alban's "attack", and chatted and such for a while, partly because we weren't ready to start, and partly because we couldn't see the monsters for the first battle. {grin}

Eventually, Alban decided to get up and go visit some of the nice people who were obviously sitting around the table just to admire him. With the monsters free, we got out some of the figures for our characters, and started to arrange them to show our marching order.

The party was promptly attacked by a large white lion. I cannot understand how Alban can stand sitting on a bunch of lead lumps with poky parts sticking out in various places. Alban insists there is no problem. Now what? We couldn't see our figures to see where we were or who we were fighting. Not with Alban on top of most of them. I started pulling out the ones I could see, and Gabe got a couple further underneath. We had to endure dirty looks and dodge a few bites, but we got them. {BIG GRIN}

Since we had two sets of characters that night but were only really using one, Alban still had lots of nice figures to sit on, but not the ones we were using. Of course, since they weren't the ones we were using, Alban lost interest in sitting on them part way through the battle. He wandered over to sit on Mom's stuff, so he'd be really convenient for petting.

We heaved a sigh of relief. Now we could see the battlefield much better without Alban in the middle of it. Mom decided to bribe Alban to stay with her by giving him lots of nice "fishy treats" while we continued the battle. Alban obligingly ate up his favorite snack. Then he got up, and strolled back to the figures, which he sat on again.

Gabe carefully arranged THE CHAIR to be even more enticing than usual. Not only did it have that nice cushion, now it had kitty toys and fishy treats on it, and was right next to Gabe, and pulled out to be ever-so-easy to jump down onto.
Alban gave it a disdainful look.

Gabe smiled, patted it encouragingly, pointing to the fishy treats and the toys. He even took a fishy treat, held it so Alban could sniff it, and put it back on THE CHAIR.

Alban was not going to be bribed.

Pulling one or two figures farther from him so people could see their characters and opponents, we continued the battle. The rest of that battle, several days' march, and a few minor encounters later, Alban finally decided to get up and stroll over to claim Leonora's chair. Amid much laughter, which Alban did not condescend to notice, we moved his chosen chair and got Leonora another. Gabe also brought the fishy treats and toys from THE CHAIR. Alban did eat the fishy treats no that they were convenient.
Luckily, Alban had finally settled down for the rest of the night. The rest of our game proceeded without any more encounters with the Great White Lion. {sigh of relief, REALLY BIG GRIN}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

The Great White Lion

aeb — Sat, 29 Oct 2016 02:16:55 GMT

I found an old "silly kitty story" about Alban, Valentine's predecessor. I thought I might as well share it. {Smile}

The Great White Lion

Back when we used to play AD&D regularly, we had a particularly... INTERESTING AD&D game. {wink}

In getting ready for the first encounter, Dad arrayed a bunch of monster counters on the table. The monsters were promptly attacked by a humongous white lion: Alban decided to sit on them.

We chuckled over Alban's "attack", and chatted and such for a while, partly because we weren't ready to start, and partly because we couldn't see the monsters for the first battle. {grin}

Eventually, Alban decided to get up and go visit some of the nice people who were obviously sitting around the table just to admire him. With the monsters free, we got out some of the figures for our characters, and started to arrange them to show our marching order.

The party was promptly attacked by a large white lion. I cannot understand how Alban can stand sitting on a bunch of lead lumps with poky parts sticking out in various places. Alban insists there is no problem. Now what? We couldn't see our figures to see where we were or who we were fighting. Not with Alban on top of most of them. I started pulling out the ones I could see, and Gabe got a couple further underneath. We had to endure dirty looks and dodge a few bites, but we got them. {BIG GRIN}

Since we had two sets of characters that night but were only really using one, Alban still had lots of nice figures to sit on, but not the ones we were using. Of course, since they weren't the ones we were using, Alban lost interest in sitting on them part way through the battle. He wandered over to sit on Mom's stuff, so he'd be really convenient for petting.

We heaved a sigh of relief. Now we could see the battlefield much better without Alban in the middle of it. Mom decided to bribe Alban to stay with her by giving him lots of nice "fishy treats" while we continued the battle. Alban obligingly ate up his favorite snack. Then he got up, and strolled back to the figures, which he sat on again.

Gabe carefully arranged THE CHAIR to be even more enticing than usual. Not only did it have that nice cushion, now it had kitty toys and fishy treats on it, and was right next to Gabe, and pulled out to be ever-so-easy to jump down onto.
Alban gave it a disdainful look.

Gabe smiled, patted it encouragingly, pointing to the fishy treats and the toys. He even took a fishy treat, held it so Alban could sniff it, and put it back on THE CHAIR.

Alban was not going to be bribed.

Pulling one or two figures farther from him so people could see their characters and opponents, we continued the battle. The rest of that battle, several days' march, and a few minor encounters later, Alban finally decided to get up and stroll over to claim Leonora's chair. Amid much laughter, which Alban did not condescend to notice, we moved his chosen chair and got Leonora another. Gabe also brought the fishy treats and toys from THE CHAIR. Alban did eat the fishy treats no that they were convenient.
Luckily, Alban had finally settled down for the rest of the night. The rest of our game proceeded without any more encounters with the Great White Lion. {sigh of relief, REALLY BIG GRIN}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

The Woman in the Moon and Rainbow Falls

aeb — Sat, 10 Sep 2016 06:12:48 GMT

The Goddess Hina was very upset. Her husband was so lazy! Not only did he expect her to make him fine kapa to wear, but he expected her to fish, and keep the garden, and even do all the cooking! She loved making kapa, and was very good at it, but cooking was a man’s prerogative, and fishing and gardening were normally shared. Yet her husband demanded she do it all while he napped.

She decided to run away, but how?

One day, she spotted one of the many rainbows the falls by the cave she made her home in were named for. It looked solid, and she was goddess enough to go up to it and start to climb. However, as she climbed, it got hotter and hotter, for she was getting closer to the hot sun. It got so hot, she had to turn around and go back.

Back to her husband, who was as lazy as ever. He still demanded he do his work as well as her own. Running away looked better and better, but she had to make sure she escaped this time.

One night she spotted a moonbow by the falls. With no sun out, it shouldn’t get as hot, she mused. She went over to it, and started to climb.

Her husband came out of the cave, and ran towards her, demanding she come back. He leap ed towards her, and caught her foot before she’d climbed out of reach. She struggled to get away. With a great kick, she pulled free, making him fall back to earth… but wrenched her ankle in the process. She wasted no time, hobbling high out of reach before he could recover and try again.

She climbed right to the moon, and there she stayed. You can see her when you look up at the moon, sitting with her wrenched ankle in front of her as she pounds her kapa. When she spreads it out to dry, it forms white clouds, complete with the original emphasis on her husband’s laziness. (No, that wasn’t my idea.)

That’s the way I first heard this legend as a little girl, complete with the original emphasis on her husband’s laziness. (No, that wasn’t my idea. {Smile}) I don’t know many legends by heart, but I know this one well enough to tell it from memory. It’s stuck with me ever since I heard it at a storytelling at Kea’au library when I was a kid. This was one of the stories, illustrated on a felt board.

The Goddess Hina was known as the mother Maui. The Hilo area said she lived in a cave behind Waianuenue, or Rainbow Falls.

So here’s Rainbow Falls courtesy of Google Street view: https://goo.gl/maps/pqvnSmU2CiR2

And here’s another view from them: https://goo.gl/maps/ZL9WP3RGZy62

Do you see what I see?

Or rather… do you not see what I don’t see?

I don’t see any cave. Well, unless you count the backwash beach behind the actual falls, but that’s subject to continual spray from the falls. Besides, that kapa she made was a paper-cloth; the fibers were literally pounded together with beaters until it formed a flat, somewhat stiff sheet that people would wrap around themselves. If you got it wet, it went to mush that couldn’t be worn. So a backwash beach home is one you can’t get dressed in, or even keep your clothes in.

Now this is a spot on the Wailuku River. There are enough caves with underwater entrances, a known way to drown is to get caught in one, and not be able to surface for air. Having one with an air pocket would be unusual, but far from impossible… but you’d still have to store your clothes outside to keep them from going to mush.

No, the cave needs a dry entrance for Hina’s kapa.

It’s a very well hidden entrance indeed, isn’t it? ;)

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

A legend of Kahuna Falls

aeb — Fri, 19 Aug 2016 22:52:18 GMT

Kahuna Falls is the other large falls in Akaka Falls State Park; the one you also see if you take the entire loop, and don’t just go down to Akaka Falls and back. One of the reasons it was called Kahuna Falls (The Priest’s Falls) is that there’s a pool right at the top of the falls that’s supposed to heal ills if you bathe in it. People were supposed to take their sick family members to it in stretchers and everything so they could bathe in the pool and be healed.

Sounds a lot like a lot of healing springs and pools around the globe, right? There’s just one little difference. They won’t let me embed from Google Maps, so here’s a link to the best picture Google Maps seems to have of it.

https://goo.gl/maps/idoMmmvNako

If you’re have trouble figuring out the picture, the falls comes from about 5/6ths the way up that cliff, where slightly gentler cliffs up to the top of the ridge from there. I think most healing pools and springs are a little more accessible, especially since you really were supposed to climb up from the bottom of the falls. {pause}

My first impression is that anyone who can climb up there didn’t need much healing, but it’s not that simple. Especially not with stretchers and lots of relatives with good, strong backs to make that climb, and help pull their sick relative up it. Because in Lilo and Stitch, Disney understated the importance of family in Hawaiian culture. If Auntie is sick, they’ll get her there. It may take a lot of amicable bickering while arranging the ropes and the stretcher and all, but they’ll do it for Auntie.

P.S. I’m sorry this one doesn’t have more of a story, but this is what I had time for after making the last chair cover and fighting a suddenly difficult mouse (unsuccessfully so far). {half-smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Lili'uokalani Park and Gardens

aeb — Fri, 22 Jul 2016 23:45:28 GMT

I just discovered that Google Earth has many of the walking paths of my favorite park in their street view. A friend just taught me how to link there, so here’s a link.

https://goo.gl/maps/YUuTd7U8Pyw

That should take you to the street in front of the park. You can go around the streets of course, but I hope this is pointed at a torii, a sort of doorless gate arch. (If I’d linked to the sidewalk, you’d be too close to admire the torii. {wink, Smile}) If not, turn around you find it. Then head straight towards the torii, then thru it into the park itself. I think you’ll pretty much be stuck to the handicapped accessible walkways, like I am in real life, but do it anyway. This is supposed to be the biggest Japanese-style garden outside of Japan. So you can only see the tide pools, bridges and many of the stone lanterns from a distance. There’s still a lot to see here. {Smile, BIG SMILE}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

A Pleasant Encounter

aeb — Tue, 12 Jul 2016 03:01:28 GMT

Something nice happened while Dad was picking up dinner at Maui Taco's the other night. (He was alone because my balance was too unsteady for me to go in with him.)

Dad was struggling with trying to carry dinner while walking with the crutch these days, when a boy about ten came up to him, and said he'd like to carry the bag for Dad. Then a woman came up as the boy's grandmother, and repeated that they'd like to help by carrying his bag.

Dad thanked them, and accepted their help. They walked with him out to the car. The boy carried our dinners, and put them in the trunk of our car when Dad opened it up.

As they left, the grandmother said "God bless you."

Dad replied in kind.

Dad says where else would that happen besides Hilo? I don’t know, but it happened here, and it lightened a difficult day when it did. 

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Visiting Dad's Cousin, Part 2

aeb — Sat, 18 Jun 2016 10:26:21 GMT

The next morning after dealing with the skunks at Dad's cousin's place, I went down to have breakfast in the main house. Getting there, I walked in on an interesting conversation. Dad’s cousin was beginning to lecture her husband’s granddaughter. Apparently she was here for the summer in part to work for her Grandpa and Dad’s cousin. {pause} You see, Dad’s cousin was such a great animal lover, she not only fed skunks, she raised animals for a living. Specifically, she and her husband raised epileptic mice in a home laboratory they ran. They ran their own experiments on them, and also sold them to other researchers. Apparently their mice were somewhat prized because their epilepsy was closer to human epilepsy in several key measures than most epileptic lab mice at that time (mid-1980’s).

The lab was actually pretty interesting, as I learned later, when the granddaughter gave me a tour later. The mice were kept in drawer-like cages on one wall. To get in, you simply pulled out the cage and reached in from above. There was also a large table in the middle, where they could work with the mice, and a counter off to one side with a fish tank set up as an observation tank complete with a video camera, so you could put a mouse in, start the video camera, and get about two hours of observation on tape.

Anyway, the granddaughter was staying with them so she could work as a lab assistant for them for her summer job. There had been a problem in the lab the previous day. The granddaughter had put a mouse in the observation tank and set the video camera to record. You could see her leave thru the door at the beginning of the tape. A short while later, the door opened again, and one of Dad’s cousin’s four Siamese cats jumped up on the counter. It was “Ghirry,” which was short for Ghiradelli, one of my cousin’s favorite chocolate companies. Ghirry wasted no time at all on the wall full of cat-proof cages. He went straight to the fish tank with it’s open top. He checked inside, found the mouse, picked it up in his mouth, and left. That mouse, of course, was never seen again. {Smile, wink}

“Well, if you’re upset as Ghirry,” the granddaughter started to say.

“No. We are not upset at Ghirry,” Dad’s cousin corrected, “Ghirry was just behaving like a cat. He was just following his instincts. He didn’t do anything wrong. You left the door open,” and Dad’s cousin began describing the extra chores the granddaughter needed to do because of this oversight.

I was really impressed with her attitude. So was Dad. It’s nice to see that someone understands that are some things you just don’t train some animals not to do; you don’t train a cat not to hunt mice. {REALLY BIG GRIN}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Visiting Dad’s Cousin, Part 1

aeb — Sat, 21 May 2016 08:49:35 GMT

Dad’s Aunt, Wilmar Shiras, wrote a book called “Children of the Atom” that’s a bit of a science fiction classic. Dad claims that it was inspired in part by watching her children struggle to fit in at school. The eldest of her children was very close to Dad’s age. That’s the one Dad is close to, so that’s the one I know.

As I said before, this cousin and her husband used to live in a residential neighborhood with an unusual number of wild animals right in the neighborhood. At least it seemed that way to me when Dad and I visited when I was a teenager. {Smile}

I also mentioned that she started leaving dogfood out for the raccoons, because she is a great animal lover. Then the skunks found out and took over. Most people I know would stop leaving out dogfood at this point. Not Dad’s cousin. She continued to leave dogfood out for the skunks for years. I always did wonder what the neighbors thought of this. {wink, Smile}

That was all before I got there. By the time I did, Dad had visited twice without me: once when she was leaving out dogfood for the raccoons, and once when she was leaving it out for the skunks already. By the time I got to visit, too, the skunks were Very Well Settled In. When I visited, one of the first things I was told that I would be sharing a small apartment with Dad’s cousin’s husband’s granddaughter by his first marriage, who was staying with them all summer, and working for them in their laboratory as a summer job.

After dinner and whatever we did afterwards, I was ready to go up tot he apartment to get ready for bed. The route from the main house to the apartment went right past the skunk’s food bowls, but I was told not to worry. Just walk firmly, and they shouldn’t bother me. Well, I found the bowls... and skunk planted right in the middle of the pathway I was supposed to use.

I froze, startled.

The skunk stared at me, showing no fear.

Remembering they’d said the skunks shouldn’t bother me, I started forward hesitantly.

The skunk went thump-thump-thump-thump-thump with his front paws.
I froze.

I’d recently read or heard (I remembered which back then) that skunks did a kind of stamping gesture as a warning before spraying, because they didn’t like the odor any more than anyone else did. This must be what they meant.

I turned around and walked briskly back to the main house. There I found Dad’s cousin’s husband. I told him about the skunk.

“What? Don’t worry about the skunks,” he said.

“But he stamped at me, and that’s supposed to be warning.”

“Just shoo them off. They won’t bother you.”

“You know how to do that. I don’t!” I told him, “Please help me. You said you would.”

“Oh, for crying out... come on, and keep up.”

He stormed out of the house and up the walk, shooing away the skunks very firmly when he reached the bowls.

I did follow him... at least 20 paces behind him. I hoped that was enough distance if he was wrong about the skunks...

He wasn’t. They left promptly for him, and he escorted me right up to the door of the apartment. I thanked him profusely, of course. {BRIGHT SMILE}

Then he left. I actually didn’t have trouble with the skunks after that. Maybe my escort that first night put me on their approved list or something. But I didn’t get sprayed, and that was the important thing as far as I was concerned. {wink, BIG GRIN}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Visiting Dad’s Cousin, Part 1

aeb — Sat, 21 May 2016 08:48:42 GMT

Dad's Frog

aeb — Thu, 19 May 2016 00:04:02 GMT

I wrote this up to swap with a friend for a frog story of hers. I thought I'd share it here, too. {Smile}

A few years ago, Dad was sitting on the patio in back of church for “This isn’t tea, it’s Lunch!” (as Father Moki re-named it). Anyway, he was just sitting there when he felt something land on his shoulder. Before he could turn to try to see what it was, it lifted...

...and a frog appeared on the table in front of him. It was a bright rusty orange, which was a extra surprise. It didn’t stay long before it jumped off to goodness knows where next, but he left quite a strong impression on my father. Dad did not expect to see a frog at church. He did not expect a frog to land on his shoulder. He certainly didn’t expect to see an orange frog. Yet this frog did all of that at once. It was a coquui, the frog from Puerto Rico that’s taken over the nighttime soundscape unless it’s too cool. The coquui who came here are all rust colored, somewhere between orange rust and brown rust. Dad’s coquui was definitely at the bright orange end of the spectrum. {wink, Smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Dad's cousin

aeb — Sat, 07 May 2016 10:32:08 GMT

An email a friend sent me reminded me of a cousin of Dad's. His cousin and her husband used to live in a residential neighborhood with an unusual number of wild animals right in the neighborhood. At least it seemed that way to me when Dad and I visited when I was a teenager. {Smile}

She started leaving dog food out for the raccoons. Then the skunks found out and took over. Most people I know would stop leaving out dog food at this point. Not Dad’s cousin. She continued to leave dog food out for the skunks for years. I always did wonder what the neighbors thought of this. {wink, Smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Palm Sunday Video (second try)

aeb — Fri, 25 Mar 2016 21:54:42 GMT

Since I managed to forget to attach the video before, I'm trying again. {Smile}

This is a video my church made for the Palm Sunday Gospel Reading. Various people read parts, including my parents and I. Mom is a ways in, Then I'm a couple of folks after her. Dad is several folk after me. So yes, you get to see all three of us. I hope you recognize me, at least, even if you have trouble figuring out which are my parents. {wink, Smile}

https://youtu.be/v1KRoRp-uAU

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

P.S. It still feels funny tagging Palm Sunday "Easter," but it is the start of Easter Week. I think starting a new tag would be more confusing than not. {Smile}

A.E.B.

Church {relieved look}

aeb — Mon, 07 Mar 2016 22:48:45 GMT

Well, we just had the senior warden and a lay minister come by our house for home communion. Mom, Dad, and I all have enough handicaps/disabilities and chronic diseases to make getting to church to attend a regular service more than a little difficult. Dad and I eventually gave up trying, and asked for home visitation. Into the beginning of this year, that meant getting it maybe once a month. If we were lucky, and nothing messed up the schedule of the lay Eucharistic ministers. If anything messed up their schedule, well, there was always next month. If it messed things up a few months in a row, well, tough. It wasn't like we'd been getting communion every month or two when we asked to be added to the list anyway.

Then maybe late January, Father Moki called on a Sunday, and asked it he could come up after church. Of course. (We could always finish the last week's grocery shopping on Monday instead of Sunday.) The next week he called again. And the next. (Fortunately most shopping can wait until another day.) Then he said he'd be out of town on Sunday, but he might be able to come by on Saturday. He did. (Some good laughs were had by all, including the senior warden, who drove because Father Moki's car had trouble. Since Dad's good friend had just died, and he was also our finally-really-retired Deacon, we all needed those laughs badly.) He was back to Sunday last week, and warned us he probably wouldn't come this week, because he'd be off-island. We thought that meant skipping a week. We told ourselves we didn't mind, with all the months we'd missed before.

Around noon, the senior warden turned up in our driveway with a lay Eucharistic minister instead. I finished breakfast afterwards. We'll cram in the shopping that can't be delayed this time. I'm not complaining. I'm so, so relieved. Finally we're a priority. Finally I feel like a member of the congregation again. One dealing with some rough circumstances that totally mess up attendance, but a member none-the-less. {PAUSE}

I can't describe how much of a relief that is. Especially not after all the trouble of the heart disease and heart failure last year and the fall before. Feeling forgotten by my church didn't really help there. Not that they could have helped much, but... it was just one more piece of life I had to do without. Now I don't again. Thank you, God.

Happy New Year (an Toad Hula)

aeb — Fri, 01 Jan 2016 09:49:13 GMT

Happy New Year! I do hope it's a good one! {SMILE}

I hope you had a Merry Christmas if you celebrate it. I also hope you are still having a good Christmas if you celebrate it until January 6th like my church does. {Smile}

I have a video to share, too, or a link to one, at least. I found my favorite hula. The video is old, so it's not the best quality. It's unusual, and very kid-friendly. It's also unique. I've never seen anything else like it. It's about a toad who finds true love. I did say it was unique. This might be why it's my personal favorite, when I normally can't pick a favorite. {wink, Smile}

https://youtu.be/3IDTGuesHVI

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Anne's New Project

aeb — Wed, 11 Nov 2015 10:13:32 GMT

Sorry I've been distracted and at times slow to respond to new posts. I somehow started a new project weekend before last. I'm working up a directory for a couple of internet social groups I belong to: the Usenet newsgroup alt.books.m-lackey - the original one ostensibly dedicated to Mercedes Lackey - and the Facebook group alt.books.m-lackey Refugees - Fans of Mercedes Lackey. It started as a simple attempt to connect the two groups to each other and to the FAQ they share with links to all three, because a search may find one or two, but rarely finds all three. So connect the groups with links in common, so folks who find one can find all three, even if they copy the link list and forget to note the address they got it from. {bite lips}

Some how this has turned into a tiny but serviceable directory, with not just the names and addresses, but a list of popular interests of the two groups (yes, Live-Journal style interests; I got that idea from them,), a short description of what's on the FAQ, the beginnings of a list of websites of individual members with their own brief descriptions, and minimal listings of some Mercedes Lackey Official Sites. It doesn't feel complete. This directory needs it's own web home... and I wouldn't mind seeing another sister group or few, especially if they're also more-or-less dedicated to Mercedes Lackey and her fans. {thoughtful look}

I could tell the solutions I've found and am considering, but... my ideas are barely half-formed, and very tenuous. Plus, it's getting late. So I'll share this as-is so far. I'd love to know what you, my friends, think of this. {hopeful Smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Binding the book

aeb — Wed, 28 Oct 2015 09:27:53 GMT

Okay, I finished a blog post about how I bound the book of short stories in the Secret World Chronicles series by Mercedes Lackey, Steve Libbey, Veronica Giguere, Cody Martin, and Dennis Lee. {Smile}

http://aeb-anne.blogspot.com/2015/10/binding-book.html

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Today's doctor appointment

aeb — Tue, 29 Sep 2015 07:05:35 GMT

Well, I saw the doctor today. He said I'm officially not in heart failure any more. I said I didn't think I was in it. He said not technically, but I was pretty close.

{pause}

This past spring must have been scarier than I thought at the time. {pause} I think I'm glad. I think. {faint smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Today's Random Thought

aeb — Sat, 26 Sep 2015 05:07:17 GMT

I don't think I'll ever get used to seeing the seeing the fire truck go grocery shopping, Yet today wasn't the first time I've seen it.

The grocery store we use in place of a convenience store is just one block from the fire station. It's a pretty long block, but not too long to walk. Except that when firemen are on call, the truck goes where they do, in case they get a call while they're out, so they can't just walk. If one of them needs a blood test, they take the fire engine to the medical lab. If they need groceries, they take the fire engine to the grocery store. If you're the grocery store just a long block from the fire station, you leave a spot next to the container trucks for the fire engine to park, especially if they're all out front because a hill is in behind. The firemen just have to walk the length of the store to reach the front door, and it's not a long store. {wink, Smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

I was sick, but I'm better now. {Sigh}

aeb — Mon, 10 Aug 2015 09:19:39 GMT

I fell sick... Wednesday, July 29th. By Thursday, July 30th, I was running a low fever. Dad took me to the emergency room, where the main good was learning how to use Tylenol to bring down a fever, and learning what to elaborate next time I have breathing difficulties while there. They thought the air passages were blocked, so administered drugs to open those up; really, air went in and out just fine, it just didn't do much good. At least the oxygen helped; I think that's all I really needed. {smile}

Anyway, I started getting better the next day, and have been gradually getting better each day since. I've caught up on Facebook, and am now tackling LJ. I missed LJ more, but Facebook requires less brainpower to come up with responses, and I really wasn't up to thinking deeply at first. I hope I'm better now. {cross fingers hopefully, Smile}

So if you wondered where I'd gone, I was sick. And if you wondered why you're suddenly get a flood of comments from me, I'm better again. Hopefully I'll be able to stick around for a while. {Smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Another Bound Book

aeb — Fri, 24 Oct 2014 22:24:24 GMT

Well, I bound another book. I know one of the authors, so I got permission to show it off. Well, she gave her permission, and assured me her co-author would like it, too. So I now have a hand-bound, print version of Broken by Cedric Johnson and Veronica Giguere.

I can show it off pretty well at Blogger, but LJ still doesn't like Pinterest pins. So here's the link to my entry at Blogger: http://aeb-anne.blogspot.com/2014/10/another-bound-book.html

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Checking in

aeb — Mon, 13 Oct 2014 09:24:53 GMT

{peek in} Sorry I’ve still been quiet. The weather decided to heat up to heat wave levels in August, and continued right thru September into October. It might have broken today. It was finally cooler, but only time will tell if today was a fluke or a real change. {smile}

I’m afraid I’ve never been good at either cooling off when I get hot, or warming up when I get cold. So the hot weather really got to me. It even had me convinced a few times that a heart condition I’ve recently been diagnosed with was a lot more serious than the doctor implied. Hopefully it was just the heat, which hopefully has passed the worst. {cross fingers, Smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

General update

aeb — Wed, 11 Jun 2014 09:27:25 GMT

Maybe three weekends ago, my computer suddenly started having a lot of trouble turning on. I took it into The Computer Store in the middle of the next week. They took over a week to get back to me. It turns out that my computer is expensive enough to fix, it felt like a toss-up between repairing and replacing. I decided to replace it. I placed the order with The Computer Store yesterday. Carol, one of the owners, estimates it will be ready in a week to a week and a half as of yesterday. {cross fingers, Smile}

In other news, she has a family bible her daughter wants to have re-bound. I told her I'm not in good enough practice to rebind something with as much sentimental value as a family bible, but I offered to look it over and tell her what could be safely done, and how satisfactory it might be. After I hung up, I realized there are a few mends I could do even on a family bible... but if it really needs rebinding, it needs a far more practiced binder. Alternately, if the paper is going fragile with acid, binding will actually shorten it's life; she'd be better off wrapping it in acid free paper or cardboard, and using it on special occasions. So we'll see what happens. {Smile}

In the meantime, I'm borrowing Dad's computer. A lot. I'm sure he'll be extremely happy when I get my new one, so he can have more access to his again. {Smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Merrie Monarch Hula Festival 2014

aeb — Fri, 25 Apr 2014 21:00:54 GMT

I am now officially distracted. Expect this distraction to continue for the rest of the weekend. The Merrie Monarch Hula Festival's first night of competition was last night. Competition will continue tonight and tomorrow. All three night are on local TV; I was glued to it last night, and expect tonight and tomorrow to be no different on that count. I expect Sunday to be filled with trying to catch up on everything that got sidelined by all the pretty hula. {SMILE}

If you want to see what I'm talking about, here's the official website: http://www.merriemonarch.com/ , and here's the TV broadcast: http://www.k5thehometeam.com/category/281345/2014-merrie-monarch-festival . It's supposed to have a way to view at least the previous night's competition. {Smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin