November 2020: Isolation Month 9

By: Paul S. Cilwa	Viewed: 12/5/2023	Page Views: 700
Topics: #Coronavirus #Maui
I spent half the month waiting for my grandchildren to visit, and the other half enjoying their visit.

This was the month Donald Trump lost the election—not just once, but nearly 50 times, as one frivolous lawsuit after another was ridiculed out of court. And, often by judges Trump himself had appointed!—which made it all the more delicious.

In Hawaii, tourism was back in style. However, virtually every tourist (that I saw) were masked. And, of course, anyone flying in was tested and pre-quarrantined and, as long as they were truthful (and had the appropriate papers signed by doctors), we shouldn't have gotten many cases from them.

But we already have cases. Oahu with Hawaii's biggest city, Honolulu, isn't as bad as any of the Red states of course; but there are cases and have been deaths. And, in every case, the cases were traced to have spread from family get-togethers.

On the home front, we do, indeed, plan a (small) family get-together for Thanksgiving. My daughter and her kids were all tested and quarrantined and masked and have been careful all along, so I feel my exposure to any nasty bugs was minimal. Even so, both Keith and I caught a cold from little Dominic that had already run through his family in Arizona—he was just getting over it himself. But it wasn't COVID-19; it was just a nasty cold and we both shook it off quickly.

I notice on Facebook the personal (non-political) posts are becoming more bleak. Even for me, who is exactly where I want to be, things seem kind of blocked. And of course there's always the latest in things to worry about, like the asteroid known as 2018VP1 projected to come close to Earth on November 2nd, according to the Center for Near Earth Objects Studies at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Although the same announcement included the postscript that 2018VP1 posed no threat to Earth (at least, not on this orbit), that didn't stop the same people who voted for Trump (twice!) from worrying about it, because although they do not believe in science when it tries to help them, they quickly believe the worst of any phenomenon scientists meantion.

November

By: Paul S. Cilwa	Occurred: 11/1/2020	Page Views: 587
Topics: #Coronavirus #Maui
You may find yourself in a shotgun shack…

So, here it is: November, 2020. my husband,Keith, our two dogs and I moved to this shed on Maui from an apartment in Arizona 7½ months ago, at the very start of the Coronavirus shutdown. In many ways, it seems as if we moved here a few weeks ago. Yet, it also feels like a lifetime ago.

Roots

By: Paul S. Cilwa	Occurred: 11/2/2020	Page Views: 612
Topics: #Coronavirus #Maui
Eventually what is hidden becomes exposed.

Maui is such a biologically and geologically active place that some things die even as they flourish. Many trees have exposed roots, and in some cases those roots have been exposed for so long they have become weathered and beautiful in their own right.

Election

By: Paul S. Cilwa	Occurred: 11/3/2020	Page Views: 599
Topics: #Coronavirus #Maui
The people send a message to Emperor Palpatine…by mail.

Today was Election Day and I, to my everlasting sorrow, was unable to vote.

Koki's Many Moods

By: Paul S. Cilwa	Occurred: 11/7/2020	Page Views: 567
Topics: #Coronavirus #Maui
Videos of my favorite beach.

When one goes to the same beach every day, one discovers it isn't the same beach any day. The sky each day is unique, with varying amounds of sun and cloud. Even the position of the sun and the height of the tides rarely repeat a combination. So it always looks different, always beautiful, always unique.

Maui's Westside Beaches

By: Paul S. Cilwa	Occurred: 11/10/2020	Page Views: 365
Topics: #Coronavirus #Maui
A collection of my best shots from various visits to the beaches of West Maui.

Now that they've opened Maui up to tourism, Doordashing had been much more lucrative. I do expect cases in the United States, even here, to go up two weeks after Thanksgiving; perhaps to the point of triggering another shutdown. But I can't shut tourism back down by myself, and I wear my mask always and am careful; so I continue to Doordash while I can. That means I make several trips to Lahaina, on Maui's West side, a week, mostly for Doordashing but also on days off so Keith and the dogs can enjoy the sunshine and beaches as well. And, no matter the weather (it's generally clear, but not always), it's beautiful and I can't help but take pictures, mostly of the many beaches and beach parks that dot the shoreline.

Kamana

By: Paul S. Cilwa	Occurred: 11/15/2020	Page Views: 602
Topics: #Coronavirus #Maui
Long before white people came to Hawaii, Kamana's ancestors were already here.

When I first arrived on the property, I was surprised to find a herd of cows on it. At first, I thought they had come with the land. But it turned out they were being ranched here by a native Hawaiian and his family, under an agreement made a decade earlier with the previous owner.

The Shower Dies

By: Paul S. Cilwa	Occurred: 11/15/2020	Page Views: 601
Topics: #Coronavirus #Maui
We never really got much of a hot shower out of it, anyway.

Well, we have…had…an outdoor camp shower inherited from my grandson, that was supposed to hold a column of water, to be heated by the sun, thus providing a nice, civilized-style, hot shower. That never really happened.

Babies Enroute

By: Paul S. Cilwa	Occurred: 11/16/2020	Page Views: 588
Topics: #Coronavirus #Maui
My youngest grandchildren (and my daughter) join us on the island.

My two youngest grandchildren, Gianna and Dominic, are amazing travelers. Although they are not slaves to their iPads, they do use them as diversions at appropriate times, like the hours spent waiting in airport terminals, as well as those endured in the air.

Maui's Westside Beaches

By: Paul S. Cilwa	Occurred: 11/17/2020	Page Views: 598
Topics: #Coronavirus #Maui
A collection of my best shots from various visits to the beaches of West Maui.

Kiddies At Koki

By: Paul S. Cilwa	Occurred: 11/20/2020	Page Views: 574
Topics: #Coronavirus #Maui
No one can enjoy the beach like kiddies and doggies.

The past few days have been a joy, with three of my grandchildren here with me! There hasn't been much time for blogging, what with hanging out with the kiddies (who came by to visit about 7 AM on the morning after their arrival) and taking them to Koki, our favorite beach.

Consolidating Two Solar Arrays

By: Paul S. Cilwa	Occurred: 11/23/2020	Page Views: 598
Topics: #Coronavirus #Maui
Sometimes one is better than two.

As you may recall, we've been working off a second solar array while the first one we used sat idle in back of our shed. The plan was to consolodate them, and today the physical work to make that happen, happened.

Rainy Season

By: Paul S. Cilwa	Occurred: 11/25/2020	Page Views: 592
Topics: #Coronavirus #Maui
Other places have summer and winter.

I see posts from friends on the East Coast bragging (or complaining) about snow and ice storms and shoveling. Meanwhile, here in Maui, we don't have four seasons. We have two: Mostly Sunny, and Mostly Rainy. America's "winter" more-or-less dovetails with Maui's Mostly Rainy Season.

Thanksgiving, 2020

By: Paul S. Cilwa	Occurred: 11/26/2020	Page Views: 584
Topics: #Coronavirus #Maui
We have a LOT to be thankful for.

How does one celebrate Thanskgiving during a pandemic? Apparently many people, who post on Facebook, are going all out with visiting far-flung relatives, germs and all. I fear that these same families will regret this before Christmas, given than COVID-19 is now up to a 2% fatality rate. (If you knew a random two Skittles in a bag of 100 were poisoned, would you eat any?)

Family Beach Day

By: Paul S. Cilwa	Occurred: 11/28/2020	Page Views: 390
Topics: #Coronavirus #Maui
So much fun to be had when you have toddlers.

Today was spent at Koki Beach Park, which once again we had almost to ourselves.

Family Home Day

By: Paul S. Cilwa	Occurred: 11/30/2020	Page Views: 500
Topics: #Coronavirus #Maui
Thanksgiving week continues.

We hung out around the house today. It was pleasant as always—except moreso, because we had our visiting family about. And it began with an exquisite island dawn.