Many a SlipTwixt Cup and Lip

So, I was keeping this secret from you but I am buying a boat. I found it on the amazing Okinawa Yard Sale site.

http://www.okinawayardsales.com/

Perfect boat for me, 14 ft, light enough to pull up onto the beach in front of the house. I could put a tiny outboard on it and chug very slowly out through the golden road of the sunset. It is all settled and this weekend I start a new life of seafaring. I have spent hours dreaming of casting the anchor beyond the reef, fishing in the clear morning air. When it gets a little hot I cast myself over the thwart and plunge down to the coral through the vodka water with my black Polynesian hair streaming behind me. Brightly colored fish skitter away whilst the turtles and white-tailed sharks continue to cruise, looking up to grin  “Hi Neil, nice boat.”

My boat's road

My boat’s road

I phone, hardly able to contain my joy, to fix delivery.

” Oh sorry, some guy just passed with cash. The boat has gone.”

Why should I sit and cry,
Puin’ bracken, Puin’ bracken
Why should I sit and sigh,
On the hillside dreary?

When I see the plover rising
Or the curlew wheeling,
Then I trow  my mortal lover,
Back to me is stealing.

Why should I sit and cry,
Puin’ bracken, Puin’ bracken
Why should I sit and sigh,
On the hillside dreary?

Hillside dreary

Hillside dreary

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Remember Me and You

She`s back!

I go for my early morning stroll along the beach and there are more turtle tracks. The word tracks does n`t do justice. It is a kinda trench thing. I do not know if she was here last night or the night before as I was in Tokyo yesterday. I suspect the latter as the trench looks as if entropy has set in.

Much kerfuffle at the sea end of the trench.

Much kerfuffle at the sea end of the trench.

Looks like she did a lot of digging at the sea end of the trench. I hope she did n`t lay there as the tide might break in and corrupt. Learned Naoko says the sand is too shallow on this beach anyway. However I follow with interest.

By the way it looks like Summer is here. I wake up with the dawn around 5:30 and watch the butterflies on the undergrowth between me and the sea.

random beach stuff

random beach stuff

By 8:00 it is 30 degrees with 80% humidity.

Will it stay like this until October?

Will it stay like this until October?

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Farniente

I have had a very busy time recently, lots of travel, lots of  visitors, lots of stuff. This is all good but I love to do nothing. I love to ramble, to look, to listen. This is what I did today and frankly I would trade all the rest.

Linkedin

Linkedin

3:00 on Tuesday?

3:00 on Tuesday?

Comments by close of business Wednesday please

Comments by close of business Wednesday please

Flight AF 256 to Rio is now boarding

Flight AF 256 to Rio is now boarding

Dinner at 7:00. You host.

Dinner at 7:00. You host.

Neil, I have not heard back from you.

Neil, I have not heard back from you.

Could you approve please

Could you approve please

Can we reschedule?

Can we reschedule?

Final FY2014 budget request by Friday please.

Final FY2014 budget request by Friday please.

Can we expect your text soon?

Can we expect your text soon?

 

Don`t get me wrong. I love my job but it is delicious to slow down now and again. Okinawa in the butterfly season is a good place to do it.

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Turtles

We go out for a night-time stroll along the beach. We stumble across trenches in the sand with parallel lines of scoop marks on each side. This must be some animal. I take out my boy-scout-animal-track-booklet. Not an otter, nor a dog, nor a weasel, nor even a badger, at last I come to sea turtle. No doubt about it, these are the tracks of mummy sea turtles dragging themselves up the beach to lay their eggs. I am very excited.

I rush back the next morning to photograph but alas it has rained in the night and the clarity of the tracks has been washed away.

You get the idea

You get the idea

Come back mummy turtles.

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61

This is how old I am as of yesterday. I have had a string of excellent birthdays recently and this one was a classic.

Here,

Magnificent Frigate Bird

Magnificent Frigate Bird

is some wildlife.

Tim

Tim

Bittern thing

Bittern thing

Politician Hawk

Politician Hawk

Tiny Dove

Little Tiny Dove

Anyway that’s enough of that. It is the conference dinner. These Brazilians really know how to throw a party for an old man’s birthday.  It is by the sea, the food is meat, the drink is :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caipirinha

Brazilian salad

Brazilian salad

Vegetables ain't food. Vegetables is what food eats.

First course – the other five were much the same. Vegetables ain’t food.
Vegetables is what food eats.

Assault with a deadly weapon

Assault with a deadly weapon

Caipirinha has an instantly numbing effect

Caipirinha has an instantly numbing effect

Things get wilder with very loud music and not shy women dressed in costume.

She loves the web

She loves the web

She was very impressed by my stomach.

She was very impressed by my stomach.

Anyway after a bit of dancing around with scantily dressed women, the main band came on. They were incredible. They played exclusively Beatles songs but rearranged to include a full Brazilian drum corps and brass section. Energy, drive, fun, these Brazilians have really got something.  There was a 3 second gap between songs and the drums just beat it. Everyone danced and drank and sweated.

Well, my heart went "boom",  When I crossed that room,  And I held her hand in mine...

Well, my heart went “boom”,
When I crossed that room,
And I held her hand in mine…

Amazing to be dancing to exactly the same songs at 61 as I did at 16.

More wildlife.

Bebo and Nancy

Bebo and Nancy – Summer plumage.

Catherine McEvoy

http://vimeo.com/62389575

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Clubbing

Bit of a misunderstanding last night when some young people, after we had some drink taken, said, “Do you want to go clubbing?”

“Baby seals?!!”

Anyway whatever the activity, the answer was going to be No as I find myself in a time place that suits me very well. Because of the travel around the world I wake up at 4:00 and fall asleep at 7:00. This is the perfect excuse not to go clubbing but also allows me to have breakfast at 6:00 and then explore. The conference organizers have done a really good job by starting the day at 1:00 and finishing at 8:00. So I ramble all morning feeling bushy-tailed and then curl up in my nest just after the end of sessions.

Monkey

Monkey

Brazil's Minister of Science Stuff

Brazil’s Minister of Science Stuff

A squirrel

A squirrel

Luis Von Ahn Very funny and smart man.

Luis Von Ahn
Very funny and smart man.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_von_Ahn

check out:

http://duolingo.com/

Black and white Brazilian bird

Black and white Brazilian bird
Mummy and baby monkey

Mummy and baby monkey

Some kind of waterhen.

Some kind of waterhen.

A flycatcher with a lot of yellow on it. I wish I had a field guide.

A fly-catcher with a lot of yellow on it. I wish I had a field guide.

There are lots more but I am probably boring you by now. Sorry.

Coffee break

Coffee break

 

 

 

 

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Is Anyone Listening?

So I start the conference. I attend two sessions before lunch, which are strange affairs. First because frankly I do not understand much of what is being said. Nice cozy web stuff that I feel at home with, soon develops into mathematical algorithm. Also no one is listening. Everyone except me has a computer or pad going and display complete disinterest in the talk. I find this disrespectful. Occasionally one speaker would ask the audience for comments – total silence. There was only one question at the end of a 3 hour session.

However I went for another astounding bird ramble at lunchtime.

Not a bird

Not a bird

This is

This is

Black Vultures. I have seen these in Mexico

Black Vultures.
I have seen these in Mexico

Black Brazilian Bad-ass Bird

Black Brazilian Bad-ass Bird

This bird looks a bit mad

This bird looks a bit mad

Sunset from Hotel roof

Sunset from hotel roof

I am also still pretty comatose from the trip over here. Perhaps tomorrow I will go samba- dancing with long- thighed, dusky Brazilian ladies in louche bars, wearing the shabby linen suit that I bought for just that. Or there again I might go birdwatching.

 

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Birds on the Beach

So the greatest thing about going to foreign parts is that you see new birds. One of the tedious factors of advancing age is that you have been there seen that before. New experience becomes rarer. A colonoscopy is fun because you have never done it before. This is why birdwatching is glorious. You go to a different country,  you walk out of the hotel door to a bombardment of new experience. I get up at dawn this morning and see 6 new species before breakfast.

I am here to make you happy

I am here to make you happy

Context

Context

Grey finch thing

Grey finch thing

This is a Tropical Mockingbird

This is a Tropical Mockingbird

Way down among Brazilians  Coffee beans grow by the billions  So they've got to find those extra cups to fill  They've got an awful lot of coffee in Brazil

Way down among Brazilians
Coffee beans grow by the billions
So they’ve got to find those extra cups to fill
They’ve got an awful lot of coffee in Brazil

I wish I had bought a Brazilian Bird Book before boarding.

I wish I had bought a Brazilian Bird Book before boarding.

Frigate Bird, of which there are lots

Frigate Bird, of which there are lots

More context - it is now about 7:30. The birds live in the trees.

More context – it is now about 7:30. The birds live in the trees.

I am in Brazil by the way.

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How the Brownies Cried!

Last night, after a long week of Governors meetings, I was at a piano recital by Etsuko Hirose. She is right, dead, good, her. Buy her stuff.

Spot 4 Nobel Prize winners. I am not one nor is the lady in the blue frock

Spot 4 Nobel Prize winners. I am not one nor is the lady in the blue frock

This morning I got up at 5:30 to fly down to Rio.

Reno? Why Reno?
Not Reno, dummy.
Rio, Rio de Janeiro.

I am now in a bistro beside the Place de l’Etoile in Paris. It is 6:30 Paris time.

I have been Naha – Kansai-2 hours, Kansai- Paris-12 hours, next is Paris-Reno er Rio-12 hours.

Anyway I have a 5 hour wait at Charles de Gaulle and I remember the excellent cars Air France that whip you into the center of town in next to no time.

I eat symbolically. I am in Paris. When will I be here again?
Kind friends and companions, together combine
And raise up your voices in chorus with mine
We will drink and be merry, all grief to refrain
For we may and might never all meet here again

We watch Olympique Marseille play Bordeaux. 2-1 at the moment. A couple come in who have been to a wedding and so are all dressed up. They have a beautiful little girl who runs around charming all the red-nosed footballer watchers.

David's Triumph was heard throughout the land

David’s Triumph was heard throughout the land

Faux Filet Frites

Faux Filet Frites

Cantal,Camembert,Chevre. This is an alliterative meal.

Cantal,Camembert,Chevre. This is an alliterative meal.

Paris, Printemps

Paris, Printemps

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The Sun Goes Around the Earth

I have always thought that Galileo or was it Copernicus must have been very clever to work out that the Earth goes around the Sun because it clearly does not. I mean it rises in the morning goes around the sky and the sets again only to reappear again in more or less the same place the next morning. What is more, the Sun sort of moves around as it goes around us. For example the Sun in the winter months sets behind my house and I saw not the sunset. This has all changed and now the Sun sets gloriously into Cape Zampa and I can watch it from my deck. I suppose this has something to do with tilting of the Earth`s axis as it hurtles through space but frankly I find this difficult to come to terms with. Anyway whatever causes it, it is great to watch the sunset from the deck. Very good one tonight.

Coo

Coo

Little boat

Little boat

Boulevard

Boulevard

This what a nuked squid looks like

This what a nuked squid looks like

 

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