The literal meaning of aloha is "the presence of breath" or "the breath of life." It comes from

"Alo," meaning presence, front and face, and

"ha," meaning breath.

Aloha is a way of living and treating each other with love and respect

Aloha is living in harmony

“Akahai," meaning kindness, to be expressed with tenderness;

"Lokahi," meaning unity, to be expressed with harmony;

"Oluolu," meaning agreeable, to be expressed with pleasantness;

"Haahaa," meaning humility, to be expressed with modesty;

“Ahonui," meaning patience, to be expressed with perseverance.

These are traits of character that express the charm, warmth and sincerity of Hawaii's people

 *

after appreciating ten weeks in relative covid safety on the island of maui over the winter of 2020/2021, we returned home to life in the country and a heartbreaking job: taking another step in simplifying our lives … the emotionally difficult task of removing the vineyard. the grapevines and the rootstock, the stakes, the guide wires (all 3700 feet!), the irrigation tubing, the stabilizing poles at both ends of every row; returning one third of an acre to its original habitat of flowering weeds! we bottled the last harvest, and celebrated with a vertical wine tasting of almost all the vintages from the first (1999) to the last (2020). even with the slurping participation of a few friends:

yes, there were many half bottles left over!

 

it’s now been ten months since patti had a shoulder stabilization and rotator cuff repair surgery. partially repairing damage from a bicycle accident 18 years ago! the surgeon called it a partial repair since three of the four rotator cuff tendons had full thickness tears, and there just wasn’t a lot left to work with. it’s been a very long rehab, and she is still working on strengthening.

the shoulder is definitely in better shape than the year before when she dislocated it about ten times in ten months! (ten seems to be a recurring theme…)

 

2021 was generally a quiet and peaceful year. a nice change from the uncertainty of 2020. the prevailing feeling of slowly emerging from a cocoon, the pendulum slowly swinging as we made those first tentative steps to integrate into the larger world ~ venturing to outdoor luncheons with friends whose faces were no longer hidden behind a mask ~ sitting outside at a restaurant in the makeshift sidewalk tables set up to allow the business to keep feeding their customers ~ taking a road trip to the oregon coast and negotiating a completely different set of covid guidelines ~ patti's appointments with physical therapists in person instead of via zoom ~ BIM’s volunteer job as a food delivery angel for the ceres project came back as the state eased up on the covid guidelines during the summer ~ a summer of seeing smiling faces while walking at the beach ~ the pendulum swinging the other way as california entered a very early start to another catastrophic fire season ~ buying air purifiers for inside the house ~ staying inside because the outside air was so dense with toxic smoke ~ the air clearing bringing a slight shift towards normalcy ~ four weeks warming up on the island of maui ~ until the holiday season omicron arrived bringing the uncertainty roaring back ~ juggling and rearranging as we pass yet another arc on this ‘long & winding road’~~

 

may your upcoming year have many moments of peace, joy and harmony ~~~

 

you ever hear the saying 'the third time's the charm'? it isn't.

it's just a way of saying that you've tried something twice and failed and you're too stubborn or stupid to quit and move on.

i’m feeling very fortunate that (except for the stubborn part) this traditional phrase didn’t apply to the third major surgery, that i had this summer. after two and a half years of limping around in constant pain, and not feeling up to traveling… we both knew that something wasn’t quite right… after being referred to a surgeon who specialized in ankle joint replacement surgery, and after strenuous contemplation and letting go of my resistance to having yet another surgery… off i went to the most expensive overnight in a hotel, oops, hospital,  where the surgical team sawed and drilled to replace the bone and cartilage with cobalt chromium, titanium and ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene that is now comprising my ankle joint. and, it worked like a ‘charm’! 

it has now been five months since the surgery, and although i am not dancing – yet – i AM moving around pain free, and making plans for a few trips next year! watch out, we might be coming your way!

at the time of the initial interview with the surgeon, he suggested we get travel cancellation insurance for our november trip to maui. shortly after that purchase, we got the opportunity to rent a condo in january, which we immediately signed up for! the surgery and healing went so well, that the doc agreed to our november trip, and bim and i made the easy decision to go in both november, and again in january. 

(find some more pix here: https://bim.smugmug.com/Hawaii/Maui-2019 )

we are feeling very grateful that we still have a house to live in. some of our neighbors in sonoma county were not so lucky during another extreme fire season. i think most of us are still in disbelief that these extraordinary weather events will become the new normal.

we spent an entire day packing up things from our house, using a list that we compiled during the fires two years ago. at the top of the list was - a case of wine! we learned a lot about what was important in our lives (not our ‘stuff’). we got the mandatory evacuation order at 4am, after a sleepless night; said goodbye to our house, left lots of cat food around the house, finished packing the car and were driving through the very dark roads ( no power, no lights) of western sonoma county by 5:30 in the morning, arriving in san francisco about 7:30 am. 

 we made our way to our favorite french café, feeling as if we had returned to civilization; lights, heat, power, flush toilets, and only a hint of fire-smoke.

 sonoma county evacuated 190,000 people over the course of 2-3 days.  and PG&E shut off the power to thousands more.

the evacuation order for our area was lifted after four days. we packed up the car, and joined the masses driving on 101 north to repopulate sonoma county! we were so happy to return home, and to share that appreciation with all of our wonderful neighbors.

 we wish you a holiday season 

filled with laughter and friends and lots of love.

and a healthy, joyful new year!

december 2017:

…we’re looking forward to celebrating the joys of the holiday season with friends, before patti visits the operating room on december 27^th , 2017, to have the three steel plates and 23 screws removed from her lower leg and ankle… … … …

december 2018: did i blink? more than once? where did that year go?

oh, now i remember – the surgeon said it would take at least one year (12-18 months, in all truth and honesty) to  heal from the ‘hardware’ removal surgery, that was performed/executed (the surgeons do use power tools, after all) almost exactly one year ago.

i know everyone laughs and grumbles about senior moments, however, i have to admit, there is a positive side to not remembering the goings-on in an operating room, and the aftermath to whatever went on in that sterile room… what i have been told is that the surgeon booked the OR for 1.5 hours, that staff and patient occupied the OR for over three hours, and that the surgeon had to chisel the bone away from the steel plates, so that he could remove them.

patti's leg with screw holes  :-)

in the beginning, B!M and i were quite proud that all the efforts we had made to enhance and feed bone growth and bone strengthening had paid off, substantially, if i do say so myself. in reality, the surgery to remove the ‘hardware’ was much more serious and invasive than i had originally allowed myself to believe.

thinking that three months was plenty of time to heal from a ‘simple’ surgery, we took advantage of an unexpected opportunity to spend two weeks on the island of maui during the month of march, for the very special treat of visiting during whale watching season. we had a delightful time enjoying our favorite activities of snorkeling, watching sunsets, 

seeing whales frolicking, 

and patti’s favorite activity of walking barefoot in the sand on a beautiful hawaiian beach. 

all the while, thinking i was returning to the enjoyment of ‘normal’ activities. the reality included B!M having to rescue patti, numerous times, during a beach walk, because the pain in my ankle was so extreme, i absolutely couldn’t walk one more step.

i simply didn’t process the surgeon telling me to take it slow and easy! i was under the impression that walking barefoot in the sand was slow and easy (and, good exercise to strengthen my ankle). well, i have been paying for that misguided thinking for the past nine months! finally, taking to heart the advice of ‘slow and easy’, daily life has revolved around not overdoing it, lots and lots of physical therapy, and softer therapies to balance the PT, allowing B!M to be my chauffeur, getting lots more help for the garden work, 

and poor B!M having to take over more of the maintenance chores.

on this december day, having just returned from “a month of days” on the island of maui… 

where snorkeling in the warm waters was a relaxing tonic to our bodies and souls.

we got a kick out of the role reversal of B!M taking walks on the beach, while patti sat and enjoyed the view! we have never ‘done’ so little on a maui visit! maybe we have finally aged enough to allow ourselves to take it slow and easy! all the hard work of the last nine months is beginning to pay off, with less pain, which i am now confident will be even less, especially if i give it the essential six more months of healing!

 

we hope that your holidays are filled with joy and love, 

shared with family and friends.

and that 2019 brings peace and health for us all.