My Seventy-Fifth Year

Yesterday I wrote about getting older. Today I'm going to ignore that unpleasant truth and concentrate on recalling a happy year. Every year we wish each other a "Happy New Year" and then move on to the grim reality of work or just plain daily living with the occasional glimpse of happiness during the ensuing year.

But first, a short digression. In the first line above I mentioned the "unpleasant truth" of getting older and I want to clarify that. When you think about it the fact that we grow older is a pleasant truth since the alternative is an earlier death. So, actually I should say that getting older is a pleasant thing which I should appreciate.

Back to a Happy Year, my seventy-fifth year on this old planet. To regular readers of this blog it's old news but this year started with our fiftieth wedding celebration when we took a cruise from San Diego across the Pacific to and around the Hawaiian Islands. It was a timely respite from the cold winter weather of Seattle and a good way to celebrate fifty years worth of more or less happy years.

I say "more or less" because our marriage, like most I have observed (at least those that survive) are "more or less" happy. As with most things in life marital bliss is not guaranteed and a couple needs to work at it for a marriage to prosper. In our "give me," "victim" and "throw away" society I think too many couples don't want to make that (or sometimes any) effort and throw away their chances of marital success by worrying too much about who is the victim and who doesn't get their share. Both poor ways of running a marriage, or any endeavor in life.

In March we made a couple visits to a local Indian Tribal facility near Anacortes to admire the view of Mt Baker across the tidelands and salt water fishing grounds. Oh, and we also donated a few dollars to the welfare of the tribe via their casino. Another object lesson reflecting the basic truth that, despite the free room and glossy adverts there is no free lunch. Those few highly touted "winners" are paid for by the thousands of others who drop their money into the machines or onto the tables. But it's fun as long as a person exercises restraint.

April brought a nice visit to younger son and wife in North Carolina and a short trip to Japan for me.

Also in April I was reelected to the office of Quartermaster in my local Veterans of Foreign Wars Post. Some might say that wasn't such a happy thing but I enjoy putting in the hours as a volunteer and the responsibility of managing the day-to-day activities of a thriving VFW Post. And, as Ikuko says, it gives me something to do with my time since I retired.

In June and July I spent three weeks in Vietnam and Lao experiencing a down-to-earth vacation visiting the regular people halfway around the world.

Back to America I barely had time to adjust to Seattle time when, two days later, I went to Pittsburgh for our National VFW Convention.

In August we enjoyed a week at Birch Bay catching, cooking, cleaning and putting away crab for future crab cakes and crab salads. Oh, and we also had a few tasty morsels for dinner and snacks.

In September I turned seventy-six but that seventy-fifth calendar year continued to roll. We enjoyed fruits from our backyard nashii (Japanese pear apple) trees and although our prune tree had succumbed to old age we snagged a few tasty fruits from its seedlings just across the back fence.

October saw us spending three weeks in Japan visiting hot springs and attending the observance of Ikuko's parents fiftieth year memorial.

November with Thanksgiving and December with Christmas bring us to today, on the verge of another new year. This one brings new opportunities for travel, the comforts of home and the pleasures of being with family and friends.

Of course, not everything came up roses this year. All five of my siblings suffered from cancer of one kind or other but all with good outcomes so far. And two good, old friends passed on leaving a void in their places on my email list and in my heart.

As I said near the beginning, these events are no news to regular readers of this blog for I've tried to bring you along with me on my travels, seeing the spring flowers, enjoying good food and just living.

Oh, yes, that's another pleasure I enjoyed this year. My blog was started just this year. Seems like longer than that, maybe because a lot has happened this year. I'm glad I was able to share some of those good times with you.

Yes, this year was a good one, but aren't they all? Or at least they have the potential for being good years. Sometimes it's up to us to grab the opportunity and turn these years from hum-drum to fantastic.

As for me, I'm eager to see what the Year of the Monkey will bring to me and my family. Meanwhile, Happy New Year to all of you. May this year bring peace, happiness and the opportunity to grow.

Old Age

A couple days ago I woke in the night tossing and turning and thinking about things. After half an hour of restlessness I decided to move downstairs and sleep in my recliner. I like the recliner for two reasons. First it is cooler than our bedroom and second my little dog likes to sleep with me and he helps me get back to sleep almost immediately.

I have an old Army wool blanket (with a few moth-eaten spots) that I pull up, Kuro hops up and snuggles in, I pull a beanie down over my eyes and before I know it I'm back in dreamland. Much better than the over-warm bedroom upstairs.

But, back to the subject. After the tossing and turning I got up, put on some clothes and while pulling on a sock while standing on one leg I realized I was a little tipsy and not from alcohol. I realized I just don't have the balance I once had and it hit me that I was getting older. Note I didn't say I'm getting old. Still have a while before that time kicks in, but I'm getting older.

Yes, Balance isn't as good as it used to be and memory isn't as good as it used to be. Well, my memory was always a little spacey, as the young people say but in the not too distant past I never had to stop on the landing while going to the basement and think to myself, "Now what is it that I'm headed downstairs to get?"

The landing is a good spot to do this because it's not all the way downstairs so I don't end up looking around blankly wondering, "What was it? Laundry room? Freezer? Dog food? Or maybe something from the back store room? Stew pot or pressure cooker, or?" It's embarrassing to get all the way downstairs and have to retrace my steps back up to the kitchen with the hope the elusive goal will come back. No, better to stop on the landing and try to refresh my mind.

A friend sent me a link to Tom Rush's takeoff on this subject. It's a classic you can copy and paste:  https://youtu.be/tJh5o2ogeC8

So, yes, getting older. Not so long ago I wasn't bothered by such things but now I notice hairs erupting full grown on my ears. Left ear more so than right, But how does an ear-hair grow an inch in one night? And nose hair? I'm not even going there. As the Donald might say, "That's disgusting." But I trim one day and the next there's a new crop. Amazing, isn't it.

And night time trips to the bathroom. When I was younger I'd sleep through the night and hit the bathroom in the morning with a full bladder. Now, no, a trip or trips, depending on volume of water the night before. Sometimes I think I'll just wait and the urge will fade but no such luck, once the thought is there it doesn't go away, just gets stronger so I might as well get up and get it over with.

Well, I'll grant that I'm getting older. Not old yet, mind you, but getting older. Why just the other night as I was pulling on my socks in the middle of the night I found myself a little tipsy, and not from alcohol. Wait, I already covered that subject. Not old yet, though. Maybe when I reach eighty-five I can think about being old.

And that's another thing. We just celebrated Christmas and I swear it was only a couple months ago we were celebrating last Christmas. The time is going by faster and faster. Soon I'll meet myself coming back from the bathroom at midnight tomorrow night.

For a New Year's resolution I think I'll find a memory school to rejuvenate mine that's fading. Meanwhile I'm carrying a notepad. It might even help me on that stairway landing.

Merry Christmas

We took advantage of a break in the weather tonight to get our walk, Kuro and I did.

The rain stopped, the wind died down to a lazy zephyr and soon our December clouds parted to reveal the full moon rising in the east. When I first looked I did a double take because there was a silhouette of a reindeer's head and antlers crossing that moon. The second look disillusioned me because it turned out the silhouette was nothing more that an artful crossing of a cottonwood's branches.

I've never seen Santa's sleigh and reindeer, with or without Rudolf, so I'm always on the lookout this time of year. Thought I hit pay-dirt tonight but, no, it was a product of an active imagination confused by some tree branches.

One reason I keep a weather eye out for Rudolph is he and I are the same age. He was dreamed up by Robert May and first appeared in 1939 in a coloring book put out by Montgomery Ward, or Monkey Ward as we knew it when I was young.

For those of you too young to remember, Montgomery Ward, J. C. Penney and Sears and Sawbuck's (Roebuck) were the most popular mail order (and brick and mortar) department stores of the day. Their four pound and heavier catalogs would make the puny catalogs of today's mail order companies turn green with envy.

But back to Rudolph. I hadn't heard the name, as another reindeer in Santa's barn, until 1949 when Gene Autry's famous Christmas recording made the story known around the world. I've heard it every Christmas for sixty-six years since as it was the second most best-selling recording of all time until the 1980's.

As a matter of possible interest to the historically minded, Monkey Ward's catalogs were the preferred catalog in the outhouses of the day. Of course they made good reading but there was no dearth of mail order catalogs back then. No, the main reason was the low ratio of color pages (with their shiny surfaces) to pages in plain black and white with their greater functional effectiveness.

It's a good thing Ikuko isn't looking over my shoulder as she would have admonished me that the preceding paragraph had no place in a Christmas post. So please remember that it's strictly for those with an interest in things historic.

Speaking of my wife, around her home near Fukuoka this is the peak season of the strawberry harvest. Christmas has grown more popular in Japan since I was first there in 1960 and strawberries play an important part in the celebration. Strawberry cake with whipped cream and fried chicken (from KFC) are two of the modern Christmas traditions in Japan. If you search for "Traditional Japanese Christmas cake" it will bring up endless photos of strawberry and whipped cream decorated cakes and many photos of Kentucky Fried Chicken as well.

Well, our friends and relatives in Japan are already celebrating Christmas day and by the time readers in Europe and the Americas read this it will be Christmas Day on this side of our planet too so here's wishing a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you.

The Dark Cozy Days of Winter

This morning when I finished my morning routine I looked out the window and it was still dark here in Seattle. It's a cloudy day so that makes it darker but when I checked I found the sun rises today at 0749 and sets at 1619 or 4:19 PM for Americans who, for the most part, don't use world time. For myself, I find the twenty-four hour time system much less cumbersome so I use it when I can.

But back to the dark morning. Since I retired from my second career some five years ago I find myself getting up in the morning between 0530 and 0630 which gives me plenty of time to catch up on email, read the morning paper (gotta have my "hard copy" fix except while traveling when I read the digital "virtual edition" which is available as part of my subscription), and have breakfast before my Sweetie makes it downstairs.

She is enjoying retirement as much as I but her internal clock runs a couple hours offset from mine, which is fine because it gives us both plenty of overlap to spend together yet allows her her time in the evening to watch her shows and me to have my morning time. Of course, I have the company of my little dog, Kuro, to keep me company and share a little of my breakfast so all in all it's a pretty good arrangement.

Some people will wonder at "cozy" in the title of this post. It may seem strange but somehow I enjoy the fifteen hours (and more on the usual cloudy days) of darkness we have in mid-December at this latitude. Something about sitting at the kitchen table in artificial light, looking across Elliott Bay at the lights but seeing nothing but darkness elsewhere feels a little like a warm blanket wrapped around my shoulders.

Another feature of the December darkness is the bright spots of Christmas lights. When we walk in the evening Kuro is more interested in new smells and strange dogs but I like to watch the houses light up, one after another, with lights. They range from simple yet artistic to those lighting up the neighborhood with flamboyant displays of the new LED lights. Here are a few samples from our part of town.

This last one was so bright it almost overpowered my phone camera.

There are some downsides of the dark winter nights but even the onset of cabin fever just sets me to scanning the internet for vacation bargains.

It won't be long now before it's time for the postman to deliver the first of the seed catalogs. Looking at those revives my appreciation for the lengthening days of spring and the approach of warmer weather.

Happy winter solstice to you all.