State of Away

Happy Thanksgiving weekend! I thought I'd made the slow return from the Land of Too Much Travel and was pretty much Back, but perhaps not completely. It's entirely possible, I've found, for my body to occupy one space and my head (or whatever it is that dreams up and posts blog posts) another. For example, almost post-factum I was reminded by Carole's self-care post that for many bloggers November is NaBloPoMo, the goal being to blogpost (at least) once a day for a month. Gentle readers, aside from the meta-ness of a reminder in a self-care post, in a previous life I knew that, yet in this life it's the last day of November and this is "only" my second post of the month. Sigh. No, not really Sigh. Even in a previous life I've never participated in NaBloPoMo; for me the task is shedding NaBloPoMo FOMO. Er, by posting a confessional of sorts... on the last day.

Let me atone move along with "Everything to Lose," a powerful spoken word poem by Wyn Wylie (he/him) as Pattie Gonia (she/her) about the plastic crisis, a particularly dreadful part of our climate emergency.



(For gentle readers interested in more, there's also a compelling companion documentary that shows Wyn Wylie doing the research in Hawai'i, a beach clean up with Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii, and how designer Angela Luna made the dresses from found objects – plastic fishing nets hung up on the reef, single-use plastic bags floating in the ocean, and bright, brittle bits of plastic found on the beach.)

Plastic reduction has been a public goal of my knitblogging life pretty much since Year One, more than 10 years ago. Not tremendously successfully, despite concern, intermittent effort, and occasional blogposts. It would seem I'm in good company: the township is finally banning single-use plastic bags, although with many reasonable exceptions for small businesses. Even that small step has been difficult, not least because of the perceived imbalance between the many immediate benefits of plastic and its dreadful long-term impacts. A throw-away culture depends upon an Away to throw on, but it turns out there is no Away, not really, just different headspace.



So this Thanksgiving weekend I'm here, if not quite Back, and pondering the state of Away, and knitting a bit (and marveling at how frequently I used to blogpost). I have a singleton sock, Simple Skyp, to show off. While it's DNF on time for SKA, that's OK. I've been Away, and am still coming home.

Lei Aloha

It will not have escaped the notice of gentle readers that lately much of the traveling done from casa Jersey Knitter has been hurried and for reasons that go unblogged. Sad to relate, those reasons include serious illnesses and deaths in my family. There have been long blank patches of blog disruption corresponding to long sad watches as health and life ebb away. There has been sickroom knitting of variable gauge and other imperfections (sigh). There has been funereal crafting as well, such as these Basic One Straw Round Lei (the plural of lei is lei).



These simple yarn lei emulate the appearance of lei hulu, Hawaiian featherwork lei. They were made by weaving a weft of novelty yarns around a warp of grosgrain ribbons on a straw loom. The original feather lei were symbols of wealth and power and were reserved for royalty. Nowadays their yarn counterparts are given as gifts of aloha on both happy and sad occasions – alas! the latter for these.

As an eco-conscious blogger I must add: While the image of casting lei into the ocean as a sign of farewell or mourning is a popular one, the custom originated with tourists of the steamship era and was not part of old Hawaiian culture. The practice is discouraged, because non-biodegradable lei strings pose a threat to sealife.

Piries, Not Peeries

I'm travelling at the moment. As a result, I missed the conclusion of the Tour de Fleece and also blogging time is scarce. There are compensations, though. Here's my current view.



Which occasionally is obstructed.



It may be a little hard to tell from these photos, but ordinarily the view would not be quite so misty – the normally placid South Shore surf was unusually rough for July. Inexperienced beach-goers on sheltered beaches were knocked down, and even experienced swimmers got into trouble in the rougher spots. The old adage is so true: Never turn your back on the sea.

Meanwhile, my landlady keeps giving me mangoes. Perhaps appropriate for a knitter, they're golden Pirie mangoes rather than the more usual purple-green-skinned Haden mangoes.



Although I'm working on yet another pair of socks, alas, I have no Peeries to show off. That will have to wait until I get back to Casa Jersey Knitter.

Post Factum: August

While others were off frolicking at Rhinebeck this weekend, I spent my time catching up!



In August, I made an unplanned visit to Hawai'i. It was a very stressful time, not least because while I was there Hurricane Iselle and Hurricane Julio roared by the islands only a few days apart. It wasn't a pleasure trip for me, so the rough weather merely added to the stress and didn't spoil my trip, but I felt bad for vacationers who rushed to the airport in advance of the storms to try to book flights home. (Among other inconveniences, the beaches were all closed, so my Hanauma Bay singleton couldn't visit Hanauma Bay. It posed with the newspaper instead, which was not very satisfactory at all.)



In Hawai'i, full emergency preparations means rushing out and stocking up on necessities like Spam, bottled water, batteries, prescription medication, toilet paper, and gasoline. The stores were stripped! But... notice that preposition. The hurricanes roared by. Except for a rural section on the Big Island of Hawai'i that sustained some heavy damage (and now is threatened by lava), everyone else was fine. Apparently the five tall summits on the Big Island sheared off the bottom of the first storm, causing it to become disorganized, and the second storm missed the islands altogether. It rained a bit more than usual. After days of urgent exhortations to prepare, the anti-climax led to a proliferation of memes mocking a local weatherman, Guy Hagi.

There's new Guy Hagi memes now that Hurricane Ana was another near-miss. It's been an exceptionally busy hurricane season in the Pacific; by contrast, after starting with a bang, the Atlantic season has been relatively quiet. Thankfully so!

Also in August, DH and I went to the U.S. Open. It was perhaps the nicest weather and the most interesting tennis I've ever been privileged to experience. We made a point of watching Caroline Wozniacki again.



Wozniacki has been having a tumultuous year off the courts, so it was great to see her playing so well – winning this match against Andrea Petkovic, and going on to upset Maria Sharapova, to defeat Sara Errani, and advancing to the final when Peng Shuai collapsed. In the final she lost to Serena Williams. Next month she's running in the NYC Marathon to raise money for Team for Kids. Some experts say tennis players shouldn't do marathons, it messes up their primary conditioning or somesuch. However that may be, I'm looking forward to seeing Wozniacki run.

Honolulu Century 2013

This weekend many fibery friends are away at Rhinebeck. No doubt they'll have thrilling tales to relate upon their return, so here's a narrative of my time away. Most was spent on family business, which was mostly serious and unbloggable. Although while in Honolulu I did take some time to participate in the Honolulu Century Ride. I had a grand time, particularly as I rode only a third of the 100-mile route at a leisurely, jet-lagged pace on a rental bike. (The bike's front brake kept failing (!!!), necessitating frequent stops to try to fix it, so no love to the rental place.) Even so, I managed to catch Rider No. 1, the governor's chief of staff Bruce Coppa, and his escort – my big achievement, apart from reaching my stretch goal, finishing, and not being sore the next day.

The century ride began at the crack o' dawn in Kapiolani Park, which is at the eastern end of Waikiki Beach in the shadow of Diamond Head. The day started clear, but became overcast, which was nice for bicyclists, more difficult for photographers. In Hawai'i it's imperative to respect the sun.



Pretty as the sunrise over Waikiki is, I'm not a fan of getting up at the crack o' dawn. Neither is the photographer who took this picture of me (accidentally headless) in my cycling polo, skort, and colorful armcoolers, which wick perspiration and provide sun protection. Some very serious riders were wearing legcoolers too, which made the usual very serious bicyclist outfit look even weirder. Alas, as the very serious riders were hammering much faster than me, I don't have any pix of them and their legcoolers.



The route climbed around Diamond Head Crater and past Diamond Head Lighthouse, the finishing line of the Transpacific Yacht Race. The concrete tower replicates an older structure made of coral stone. (Notice the size of its third-order Fresnel lens relative to the railings.)



From the lookouts on Diamond Head, one could spot Koko Crater, aka Heartbreak Hill. My goal was Sandy Beach, on the far side of Koko Crater; my stretch goal was Makapu'u Beach.



Thanks to Honolulu's finest, the ride was easy and fun until Heartbreak Hill. (I was perturbed to notice how few riders thanked the many HPD officers directing traffic and keeping everyone safe. Not enough aloha!) The topography around Casa Jersey Knitter includes hills of similar volcanic origin and steepness, so getting up and over seemed drearily familiar.



Once past Koko Crater, I arrived at Sandy Beach much faster than anticipated. The beach is beautiful, with good, accessible changing, shower, and restroom facilities. However, the surf is notoriously rough, the currents are difficult to read, and the undertow is dangerous, so watersports are best left to strong, experienced swimmers and bodyboarders.



After a breather and some delightfully welcome cool water and snacks of delicious local fruit at the rest stop, I continued on into the wind to Makapu'u. I hate headwinds. There was a long climb, too. It was the toughest part of the ride. DIIIIIIIIEEEEEEE.



The reward was the glorious views from the Makapu'u Summit lookout, which actually is perched on a saddle point. It's as high as the auto road goes, but the true summit is even higher.



(The paved trail out to the Makapu'u Point Lighthouse includes some of the best places to spot the humpback whales that quite sensibly spend the winter in Hawaiian waters. The lighthouse has a hyperradiant Fresnel lens, the largest in the U.S. – notice how huge it is in relation to the railing. In the days before GPS, this beacon was a major aid to navigation.)



This photo is from a different outing, when the sky and ocean looked prettier.)

From the summit saddle down to Makapu'u Beach the road is steep, narrow, winding with precipitous dropoffs, and heavily trafficked by cars and busses. That last makes it especially not fun on a bicycle with a dodgy front brake. Once at the famed bodysurfing beach, my stretch goal, I thought about going further. I felt pretty good (and the next rest stop in Kailua had free shave ice (!)), but more prudent thoughts prevailed. So I took a picture of the lighthouse from the beach and turned back to Waikiki.



The ride back for me was uneventful. Meanwhile, back in Waikiki the finish line had deflated.



Such things happen, but they don't deter intrepid cyclists.



Overall, the ride was outstandingly well organized – the volunteers were knowledgeable and helpful, the route was well-marked and well-policed, the rest areas well-stocked with refreshments and had nice facilities. Kudos to the Hawai'i Bicycling League!



There wasn't a whole lot of knitting while I was away, nor now that I'm back and trying to catch up, but at least Hanauma Bay is now a singleton. And the white balance of the new digicam is better – the photo was taken on an cloudy day. So, progress!

Snapshots

I'm back. Along with the usual backlog of stuff to deal with, other oddities have accumulated. For example, parts of the blog have been misbehaving. So annoying, will try to fix. Then there's the mess in Washington, more on this in a bit. That situation has me feeling rant-y, so if gentle readers prefer to avoid un-pleasantries, read down to the birdie, then skip to the (nonviolent) sock.

While I was away I acquired a new digicam, a Nikon, pictured with my old digicam, a Canon. It's 12 years and several generations more advanced, with faster electronics, more megapixels, and more zoom, all of which are very nice. I've never had strong feelings about Nikon versus Canon, but I can see why some people do. (Obviously, I fail at rampant consumerism.)

Wait, if both digicams are in the photo, what's taking the picture???

One review indicates the new digicam excels at photos of birds and buildings in bright light. That would seem to be true. Here's a pic of a kolea, or Pacific golden plover. Gotta love the zoom. The bird is supposed to be a shorebird, but I've never seen any at the beach, only on lawns and driveways.



And here's a pic of the entrance to the Pearl Harbor Historic Sites (it says so on the blue sign in the middle distance), including the USS Arizona Memorial, which was closed due to the federal government shutdown. The last time the memorial was closed was because of terrorism. I can't begin to express how angry the Republican-manufactured fiscal crisis makes me. (Or, as Jon Stewart says to Republicans who pretend innocence, "Own it. Don't fart and point at the dog.") It's estimated the shutdown, which started October 1, costs USD $160 million per day, so the cumulative total is almost USD $2 billion as of today.



This Halloween there is nothing scarier than the prospect of continued Republican ignorance, intransigence, and complacency as the U.S. slides closer to default, a separate crisis from the shutdown. The first effects are already happening; the big shocks will start next week in anticipation of Default Day, October 17, and will worsen as the month goes on. What could happen if there's a default? I earnestly pray we don't find out. Thus endeth the rant.



Back to the digicam and Actual Knitting Content: In less than bright light, the new digicam tends to take pix that are very blue, as my sock in progress (the background is white, but looks blue). With all its fancy electronics, the camera oughta be able to compensate, but I haven't read that far in the manual yet.

Whilst I read the manual, head over to Heather's blog and sign up for her SHAWLoween Mystery KAL. I'm too much of a control freak to enjoy mystery KALs, but I'd never spoil others' fun – it looks to be a good one!

Oh, the Places I've Been

Still a bit busy IRL, but I hope to be back to cyberspace shortly. Here's one of the places I've been.



That's Heartbreak Hill. More about that soon!