I’m not talking about the Blue Light Specials they used to have at K-Mart. I’m not talking about TV and computer “blue light” that supposedly keeps one from falling asleep. (It doesn’t ever keep me up.) I’m talking about a Blue Light medical treatment.

I went to my dermatologist. She I have a lot of small skin cancers on my face, and I should get a Blue Light treatment ASAP. I scheduled it for first thing Friday morning. They put a medicine on my face and let it set for an hour. Then they give me special goggles to protect my eyes and roll up a huge curved UV lamp that wraps from one ear to the other. When they turn it on, you feel painful prickles. It continues for 15 minutes. After that, you have to avoid sunlight, because the UV will activate the chemical again and you can get a very painful sunburn. It was my third treatment, so I knew what to expect. That didn’t make it any easier.

After I got the treatment, I realized we have Grill and Chill Friday evening. I couldn’t miss that! I started with SPF 100 sunblock. I put on my balaclava (which I use to cover my face when riding in the winter) and scrunched it up to cover everything buy my eyes. I topped it off with a pair of sun glasses. Danita said I looked like I planned to rob a bank. It was 6:00 on a rainy cool day, and it worked just fine. We had a great time talking with neighbors and eating hamburgers.

Today we had a brunch event at the Baltimore Museum of Art. I couldn’t miss that either. My bank robber outfit did fine going to the BMA early in the morning. (With Danita driving, naturally.) We enjoyed the brunch. But coming home the sun was out and was extremely bright. I had my rain coat with me. I put it over my body backwards and used the hood to cover my face and to provide another barrier to the light. That almost worked fine. When it was time to come home, I was touching up my sun block and got it too close to my eye. It didn’t bother me going home, but after I got home my eye started stinging. A full shower and a cold compress helped, but it looks like I’ll be using Kleenex most of the day.

Insult to injury: the medical technician told me she was making up a goody bag for me. I told her I liked dark chocolate and red wine. She gave me skin creams and sun block. I didn’t get even a lollypop.

I hope this finds everybody doing well.

Stay with me on this story. I will circle back. I use my phone as my GPS when I’m on the bike. My phone is a 2 years old Google Pixel 5a. The battery was not lasting as long as my ride. I was eligible for an upgrade, so I took it. The new phone (a Pixel 7a) came in today. Google did a fantastic job of making it easy to switch phones. Every thing was up and running in less than half an hour. One of the nicest features is that I can stream audio from the phone directly to my hearing aids. Way cool.

We took Mom out for a belated birthday treat. We started out with a fabulous concert at the Charlestown chapel. We heard an 11-peson brass group called the “Barclay Brass”. What a great concert. The group is composed of very good brass players, mostly retired from an armed forces band. The chapel’s acoustics did a great job of making an excellent group sound even better.

Just before the concert started, they asked that everybody turn their phones off — not quiet mode, off. I punched the “off” button. My phone did not turn off. I tried push and hold. No joy. I tried double-pressing. The phone changed to camera mode. The concert was starting. The only thing I could do was to put the phone away. During intermission, I connected to the guest WiFi and looked up how to turn off the phone. When I want to turn thge phone off, I now have to press two keys at the same time. How embarrassing. With the phone safely off, I enjoyed the second half of the concert even more than the first.

I didn’t get caught. We had a great time. After the concert, we went to Catonsville Gourmet restaurant for a very nice dinner. There’s no need to switch to the website. I managed a quick snap of most of the group. It’s right here.

I hope this finds everyone doing well.

We gave ourselves a wonderful cruise for our 50th anniversary. But the kinds decided that wasn’t enough. They organized a wonderful party. Festivities started Thursday when JaMM came for a visit.

The party was Saturday. Great parties begin with great food. We had all we wanted.

We old folks party in our particular way. Bryon volunteered to take snaps, he and Elizabeth aren’t in any of them.

It wouldn’t be a party without a little silliness. (Mark is wearing Wiki stick glasses).

A great time was had by all. We all enjoyed catching up with each other.

I hope this finds everybody doing well.

We’re still going through doctor appointments, house appointments (furnace man, bug man) and catching up on all the little stuff. I have two computers — a 12″ Dell for working at my desk and a 10″ Surface for travel. Both computers are over 5 years old. Neither will accept Windows 11. Windows 10 will expire later on this year. I can’t make myself buy two new computers. I decided the Surface does everything I need to do. The only major issue is the screen is too small for extended work. I decided to get a new 10″ Surface and a desktop display. Here’s the new setup. It’s still a little messy because I’m waiting for some Velcro stickems. Other than that — and the actual computer itself — it’s all done! The computer will arrive June 1. In the mean time, the old computer continues to serve adequately.

Our condo association had the street redone. It was sorely needed after all the heavy construction traffic we’ve had over the last couple of years. Here’s what I saw from my front door. I wish I had taken the better picture. I walked by the window and saw the construction crew doing the final cleanup. A circle of 8 guys were wearing full safety gear, staring at a spot that needed cleaning. One guy sprayed cleaning solution. Then he stood up and two other guys scrubbed with brushes. All the while, the remaining 3 guys stared at the spot that needed cleaning. Actually, they did a wonderful job. They ground, paved, and painted the entire street in two days — and went home early the second day.

I don’t normally write about the future, but there’s a cool opportunity that might not last long. There’s a new Imax movie based on images from the Webb telescope. It’s gotten very good reviews. The article I read said it would run only for a week. I don’t know abut that, but Danita and I decided to go Tuesday. Jeff and Carmel will join us. (Jeff is interested in astronomy.) Here’s a couple of links. If you are interested, make sure you don’t miss this opportunity. The second link has a trailer.

https://science.slashdot.org/story/24/04/20/203254/jwst-gets-an-imax-documentary-deep-sky

https://www.mdsci.org/event/deep-sky/2024-04-21

The taxes are done! I had only a few days before the deadline. I was actually done Saturday afternoon. I thought about waiting until Monday and getting into the line at the post office at Midnight. Then I came to my senses. We didn’t have any “extra ounce” stamps, so I used two regular stamps. Spend, spend, spend.

Danita and I have been working on catching up. Much of the stuff is done, be we have a large number of appointments to get through. My latest crisis is white zip ties. While we were away, we had our driveway redone. They took down the little white fence near the gas pipe. Of course I have to put it back up. It’s something that is “non-sanctioned”. It’s my little rebellion. The problem is, the fence needs support. I get that with a couple of 18″ zip ties. But I am out of white zip ties. I have black zip ties, but if I used those they would drum me out of the condo for sure.

Of course all our catching up doesn’t prevent me from riding the bike. I’m just starting to build myself back up. We’ve had plenty of good biking weather. I’ve done four 12-mile rides. Woo Hoo!!!!!

We stopped on our way home at Dallas to watch the solar eclipse. Jul, Bryon, and Elizabeth joined us from Charlotte. Rick and Suzy drove up from their house. We had a good time visiting, and of course the solar eclipse was amazing. We fly home late tomorrow.

Bryon got the best eclipse pic.

Our last stop is the French Polynesian city of Taiohae on the island of Nuku Hiva. I am starting today’s blog with yesterday’s sunset, which was dramatic.

It’s hard to realize the size of these volcanic islands. Here’s a “sail in” shot. Those tiny white dots on the extreme right are Taiohae, which is a respectably large town of 3,000 people.

Before going ashore, it’s important to have a good breakfast. When we got to the dining room, we found amazing Indonesian decorations, all ready for an Indonesian dinner. Danita is still working on her bug eyes, but she got her tongue out there pretty darn good.

Taiohae has a way cool Tiki Tuhiva. Here you see her back and front. That gentleman has his finger in a hole in Tuhiva’s belly. The story is that if you write your wish on a piece of paper and put it in the hole, Tuhiva might grant your wish. I hear that she prefers to grant the wish of more children.

The Catholic Cathedral wouldn’t have a Tiki of course. But they do have some carvings that give a similar vibe. Here you see Danita with “Tiki” Moses (with 10 commandments) and Abraham (ready to sacrifice a goat).

When we leave, there will be a sailing out party with wine and cheese. Danita and I might enjoy the party so much we might not bother with that Indonesian dinner.

We have 5 sea days, disembarking on April 5. There’s not likely to be a anything newsworthy. It will just be 5 days of interesting lectures, movies, evening entertainment, and endless food. We will take the shuttle to the San Diego airport, arriving 5 hours before our flight to Texas. Even I feel comfortable with that much time to get to our plane. I hope this finds everybody doing well.

Fakarava is an atoll. It looks quite precarious from our ship. It’s about 35 miles long, in the shape of a boomerang. The inside of the atoll provides a bay with beautiful white and pink sand beaches. The outside provides access to the ocean with stronger waves and less protection. There are about 600 residents. There is world class snorkeling and diving. Pearl farming, tourism, and French subsidies keep the economy afloat. You can see very nice expensive houses in close proximity to extremely simple houses.

The island itself is quite attractive. There are ample palm trees, coconut trees, flowering bushes, etc. The primary school and post office are both new and in excellent repair. The view of the bay is beautiful.

It’s a very short walk to the ocean.

We spent the morning walking around the small town. Here’s a picture of our ship.

Tomorrow is a sea day. I hope this finds everybody doing well.

We had quite a disruption of our WiFi service. But it’s back up and working reasonably well. Our excursion today was a ride in a 4 x 4 vehicle up a dirt road to the top of the volcano on Tahiti. Here’s the vehicle. We sat 4 people on each side. Our conveniences included everything from fresh air to seatbelts.

According to our guide there are anywhere from 100 to 500 waterfalls, depending on the rain. We saw plenty of waterfalls, and you’ve seen them also. They have an interesting belief that the water from rain runoff is not safe for drinking. Water that penetrates the mountain is filtered by the basalt and is safe for drinking. Danita and I followed Holland America’s advice and drink only bottled water.

This pic tries to show how rugged the country side is. In spite of this, locals find a way to harvest the pine trees from the top of the mountain. They also hunt wild pigs and lower pigs weighing 100 pounds or more down to the valley where they have a pig feast. But there is also a story. At the end of the valley, we see what appears to be a wall. Actually, it is just a bump you have to get over to get to the top. Before Columbus, another island wanted to get control of Tahiti by climbing to the top of the volcano. They saw that wall and decided they couldn’t get to the top that way. They tried some other routes and finally gave up and went home. The Tahiti gave this ledge a name that means “The place where those who are not brave turn around”.

Whenever entering an area that your family doesn’t control, you should make a conch call. This lets them know you aren’t trying to sneak up on them — you are coming in peace. Then you wait until they reply with their conch call, giving you permission to proceed.

While on the mountain, you might have an emergency. Perhaps a group of warriors from another island is trying to take you over. You can “call 911” by pounding this tree with a rock. Our tour guide made a sound that reverberates throughout the valley. I tried it with much less success.

Tahiti has a cool system to help with electrical generation. They have a large pond near the top of the volcano, and a second one closer to the bottom. During the day they pump water from the lower pond to the upper. At night, they release the water back to the bottom pond so they have electricity at night. These concrete bumps are on the upper pond. If the water level gets up to the red level, there is danger of serious flooding and all people should evacuate the mountain. These stones were painted two months ago. Already, trees and debris have worn the paint off the first bump.

At the end of our ride, we were given an opportunity to play in the river. Danita and I decided not to bring swim gear and towels, but some others on our tour swam. While we were waiting, our tour guide played a couple of songs on the ever ubiquitous ukulele.

That’s it for today. I hope this finds everybody doing well.

This worked out very well. Yesterday, we climbed up a muddy, slippery hill to see actual ruins of a sacred site (Marae) where it was actually used. Today we visited a reconstructed Marae located close to the road where we could easily walk to it. Visiting both added depth to our understanding of the Marae — not that we understand very much. We don’t understand very much because the Polynesians had a verbal culture which was suppressed for a long time. Nobody knows thee details of how the chiefs or kings ruled. One thing that seem to be true is that every Marae had a cool Tiki I think this Tiki looks pleased to be near Danita. That can’t be a bad thing.

Maraes had several stone platforms. One was much larger and more impressive than the rest. You can see the large platform below. This is all there was. There was not a structure or thatched roof. The written descriptions of the early European explorers were written by men who didn’t understand what they were seeing. But we know that the ruling class was on the platform. Whatever happened, happened on a platform that looked exactly like this.

We visited the Tahiti museum. This is a small but very modern museum, with lots of video and lots of air conditioning. When an important chief died, he would be laid out until his body had dried. He would be guarded by a mourner wearing a costume like this. This is an actual mourner costume. It lived in the British Museum from the 1800s to 2023. It is on a 3-year loan to the Tahiti Museum. Whatever you think of the English keeping important artifacts from other cultures, the fact is that this costume would not exist today if the English hadn’t stored it.

We also visited the Jardins D’eau de Vaipahi botanical garden. Here are a couple of pics.

We stay here we are overnight. We will take another excursion tomorrow. I hope this finds everyone doing well.