It’s just that mine is large, occupiying the right side of my world. I have been on the eye drops for a week without significant improvement. This limits what I can do more than I had imagined. I can however tootle around in the backyard.
the backyard was heavily shelled during the hostilities
The house has now been fully restored and the other 3 apartments have been sold off to young, wealthy and very nice folks.
Beautiful house in the most sought after part of San Francisco.. What’s more I live here.
James has very skilfully negotiated full access to the back yard, indeed the others living in the house are very happy to let us take control of the garden.
BigJames in a bowerSofa with cat.Foil to keep birds off the beans
We are given about 70 pansy bedding plants!
I start to plant them out in pots.MoreWith another 20 or so pots the back fence will be a blaze of pansies.
James take me for a vacation in the Mission. Always a blast.
So much vitalityJames knows the best Tacoria. Delicious food.Streets lined with Brugsmansia.
This time it is not so bad when I get to San Francisco but my condition rapidly deteriorates. Strangely enough, no pain nor swelling but badly impaired vision.
I set off for a Goose watching adventure that necessitates blasting up Highway 80 for a while. After 30 mins or so I realise that my vision in the right eye is not just impaired but I am in fact blind in my right eye. Not blind as in deep blackness but more the London Pea Souper Fog variety. I turn around.
Don’t worry sir, I’ll find a nurse to see you now.”
They were wonderful! 3 different nurses put me through lots of tests and finally a doctor tells me that it is my old buddy Uveitis but with an special New Year Offer of a membrane growing over the iris thus causing blindness. Thanks everyone. Not exactly the gleeful party of most Okinawa medical visits but very efficient and above all free! Medi-Cal covers all treatment and medication. Hooray!
No partying here.
I am told to take lots of eye drops but that if they don’t work I will need some sort of cataract type surgery, which means a ticket to Okinawa!
Anyway thanks to everyone at the hospital, thanks to Medi-Cal and big shout out to Marc Zuckerberg who provided the money.
I would like to see a King Charles 3 Dental Hospital or a Prince William Cancer Clinic in the UK. They should give some of their incredible wealth back to the people.
My eye drops!
Anyway, I hope it goes away soon as I can’t, drive, read, watch YouTube etc.
Good news, my Medi-Cal has been extended for another year!
Free Healthcare!
They also offer me free food but I will not apply as I have plenty of money.
Thanks San FranciscoChestnut Backed Chickadee.Townsend’s Warbler
James and I take the truck North to see what mischief is ongoing at Point Reyes.
Always a winner!
Across the bridge, through Fairfax into the dense Redwood forest to emerge at Point Reyes only 1hr 15 mins after leaving.
The weather is what would normally be referred to as appalling or gey driech in Scots. Rain, wind and deep fog makes for very poor visibility. I love it!
We head off for Drake’s Bay to see if there are any Elephant Seals recovering from Xmas excess. There are: many seem to be very hungover.
I will never drink again
Strong wind, driving rain, huge seas pounding onto the beach and lots of Elephant Seals recovering. Wonderful sight!
HeadacheFrolicking in a stream. Let’s keep this party going.Teetotal next year
So exciting to get so close to these huge creatures in suitably viking conditions.
We go looking for Elk. The weather is against us as visibility is very poor.
This is an ElkThe fog blows off for a second.
We have a wonderful time and feel much better than the seals, not having had any alcohol over the festive period. Feels strange.
Xmas day! We, Eileen, housemate, James and I go to Corona Heights Park https://sfrecpark.org/facilities/facility/details/coronaheightspark-328. while the huge duck is cooking.It is close to our place and famous for wonderful views over the city and, as only James knows, lots of Cepes, French, or Bolets, English.
Eileen, James and San Francisco.
We find lots!
James at work
James is wonderfully skilled at finding mushrooms. He finds many large cepes of which we plunder 3 big ones.
Xmas mushroomsXmas SanFrancisco
The duck is perfectly done when we get back.
Crispy Christmas duckSlashStill lifeDuck, cepes frying in duck grease, steamed cabbage and carrots, chestnuts, baked sweet potatoes off screen.Happy Xmas everyone!Xmas Pygmy Nuthatch
Sorry for silence but not much happened in Okinawa over the last weeks.
Nice moonBoat all tucked up
Let’s go to San Francisco!
Apple Store on Chestnut
I go down to The Apple Store on Chestnut St to get James an iPad. It is Xmas Eve and I expected the place to be packed. Not so, I am seen to immediately and leave the place 10 minutes later with the gift and lots of Californian festive greetings.
I cross the the road to get some breakfast.
Burrito with wedges! Delicious.
I WaytogoMo back to the house!
WaytogoMo!
James has decided on roast Duck for the celebratory meal so we go down to Chinatown to get a good duck.
Streets of San Francisco. in a a WaytogoMo with another in front and a Cybertruck on the right!
Chinatown is fantastic! James of course knows a shop down some tiny alley that only sells duck. Incredible place – so Chinese! We buy a massive MuscovyDuck complete with head, neck and feet.
Our duck.
We go for big Dim Sum lunch.
Dim Yum SumChicken feet on the rightJames contemplates foodChinatown with the Transamerica building in background.
I love Chinatown! I would take weeks to get to know all the different streets, alleys and incredible shops.
I had noticed for some time that water bowsers stopped there to fill up with water. I finally go to have a look. The shrine is very well hidden behind a scruffy wire fence. Inside there is a clear spring pool and an ancient piece of stone. I assume that this is a holy pool where people have worshipped for hundreds of years but has been reduced to providing water for bowsers.
Notice pipe and predatory bowser driver.
More holy stuff. The wind finally drops and I asked Harry if he can help me bend on the mainsail. Harry is a very experienced boat person and he comes down immediately. Lucky me as I am ptetty immobile at the moment because of a bad back.
Mainsail sees light of day after a year of storage.
Amazing weather
Harry does everything. He skips around the boat like a mountain goat whilst I lament my lost youth. I occasionally hold a rope but that is about it.
Quite a lot of trial and error. It is up! Nasty looking crease from throat to clew but I now have time to adjust and fiddle.
My mother RIP used to sing this as we battered against the waves in unseaworthy boats in Scotland.
Anyway, as Jigen san, his son and I were finally bending on the jib the song suddenly comes back to me. I wonder why?
New sail!It’s finally up!Not sure the son wanted to be in a selfie with old man
You will remember that I have been waiting for months for the Japanese sailmaker to finish cutting the sail. They plead the difficulty in getting tan colored sail cloth. I do not really mind as I have a vision of ancient Japanese sailmaker cutting my new sail with exquisite care in softly lit ancient sail loft. He then hand sews the luff bead with tiny stitches. It is worth the wait.
I notice that the sail bag has Hyde written on it. I know Hyde, they are a reputed English sailmaker. https://www.hydesails.com
I realize that the Japanese sailmaker https://www.yuukoumarine.jp had simply contacted Hyde and asked them to send over a Norfolk Gypsy jib. Hmmm, I could have done that months ago.
Now I have to bend on the mainsail. I have done this before but I am sure there will be lots of missteps and stupidity.
Off to Yanbaru for a classical guitar recital at https://ada-hotel.net. The musician is Noel Billingsley whom I have known for several years. The recital is organized by my old buddies Teruya san and Rieko san, a professional harpsichordist.
Rieko san, Yana, Tara, me and Teruya san a few years ago.
Noel plays in Ichiro san’s studio.
Great place for a guitar recital. Noel, Reiko, meIchiro san gives a great talk about his art. I don’t understand but the audience is moaning and gurgling.
At 7:00 the next morning we go birdwatching. Stupidly I had let the battery in my camera run down, so no photos. In fact it was wonderful just looking rather than staring through a viewfinder. Lots of Okinawa Rails, Grey faced Buzzards, Sandpipers, Wagtails. We hear many Ryuku Robins but see none. It it always worth getting up early.
I have lived in the USA on and off for 23 years. I am so dismayed by the election result. It does not reflect the States that I know and love. Admittedly, all my time there has been in California. All my friends, except one, are staunch democrats. This result shows how little I understand about the country.
Anyway, misery and pain.
Boo
On a brighter note, I unload washing from the washing machine whereupon I find my iPhone. I suppose it must have been in an obscure trouser pocket. Astonishingly. it works perfectly!
Soon, soon will my jib be raised, or unrolled. I can then bend on the mainsail and off we go into the wild blue yonder. Wait a second, I also need an engine. I have, in denial, not touched the engine. When I finally press the starter button, I hear the death rattle click, click indicating jammed starter motor. It is a sound I know well!
This is my 3rd starter motor
I think what happens is this. High heat, high humidity, always a bit of bilge water at the bottom, the ,pretty much sealed, engine compartment becomes a Turkish bath. Left for six months in a Turkish bath, the starter motor absorbs the moisture and rots. No Turkish bath conditions in Norfolk but a permanent fixture here.
Who you gonna call? Kiyuna san!
” No problem Neil san, I have a spare starter motor in my pocket!”
Saturday morning, he bounces up. Five minutes later the new starter more is fitted!
Thunka, thunka
The engine starts immediately but we are a bit worried by the trickle of cooling water coming out of the exhaust. Kiyuna san demands a complete flush out of the cooling circuit. This he does in about 30 seconds with the help of a magic wand and incantations.
All Ok now
Kiyuna san – what hero!
Sunday morning, I go to the The Moon Beach Hotel for an Ikebana extravaganza. The Moon Beach is the oldest of Okinawa’s beach resorts and has an aura. https://www.moonbeach.co.jp/en/
Big Ikebana Tomomi san preparesThere are dozens of pieces. Of course, Tomomi san’s is the best!Ichiro san and Tomomi san revel in glory.Notice severe sunburn after a morning with the engine.
We have an amazing lunch.
Amazing lunchFrom the restaurant.New wave ikebanaThings ain’t wot thy used to beThere are lots of amazing displays.Okinawa in November
After that, I wander off to Onna son where the annual community concert is happening. Onna son is a relatively small town on the West coast of Okinawa. The range, diversity, inclusivity and quality of the presentations is astonishing!
Thes people live around herSo graceful. Kids do Karate demonstration. They are all grinning and having lots of fun.Sanchin and percussion. All localA lady’s only zither band. So good!Incredible choir!
Unfortunately the battery in my iPhone ran out of power thus preventing me from recording subsequent performances.
I meet lots of old friends who remarkably remember and cherish me.
The other countries in which I have lived do not have this underlying sense of community.
I drive South with an explosive Okinawa sunset to my right.
I have been waiting for my new jib to arrive for months. It had to be specially cut by a sailmaker on the mainland. Boats in Japan have white sails and it has been very difficult for them to source the tan sail material so emblematic of the Norfolk Gypsy.
You have to have tan sails for sunsets
The sail arrived yesterday! Hooray!
It’s in the bag!
I now have to attach the sail to the new furling system. I fear this will be difficult.
To make things more tricky, a typhoon is blasting its way up the Chinese coast.
Won’t hit us but it is windy.
Trying to control a loose sail in a high wind is more or less impossible It flaps around like crazy. I will have to wait until things calm down before I can bend on the jib. How frustrating!
Tim gave me a baby tree about 4 years ago. It did not do very well mainly because I abandoned it regularly to go to California.
Last yearToday!
It is doing so well! Just likes having me around I suppose.
The Quiet Ripple Defines The Pond 