Friday, February 2
Feb. 3rd, 2024 01:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gottawonderToday I am grateful for:
Beautiful weather still, for this time of year.
The cats allowed me to sleep, and no one came to do work on the plumbing so I was able to rest.
I talked with Sister S on the phone. She has had a lot of health challenges lately, and is the one who recently sold her tax/accounting business. Talking with her often focuses on the losses we will soon face in our family (we have several frail people who will likely not be here in five years).
While I can appreciate this as truth, sometimes she almost makes it sound like she's telling me this for the first time; "we're going to have some sad years ahead" and things to that effect. It's a bit weird, but I've been aware MY ENTIRE LIFE that my Mom is an "older mom", and that my sisters were a lot older and didn't take care of themselves, and so on.
I actually feel that my whole life, since maybe even childhood, I've been made aware constantly that a lot of my family was a lot older than I was.
Sister S in particular, I can recall when I was a child and she was MAYBE 30, was already sitting in the kitchen with her feet up on a chair, smoking and drinking coffee, acting like she was near death with being old and exhausted. This is how I have always thought of her, even though she also ran her own business for many years.
Any time I saw her or talked to her, no matter how old she was, she would always say how tired she was, and no she didn't want to go for a walk, she needed to sit down somewhere and rest and put her feet up.
I mean, you look at old pictures of her and she didn't look that old, but the cigarettes aged her prematurely.
Then I mention that Sister E is doing well with moving to town, finding things to do. Sister S says "yeah, her and Sister L are those tough old birds that will live forever".
Yeah, they also the ones who quit smoking and maintained healthy weights and go outside. Coincidence?
It did make me think: I am the only one of my siblings who never smoked. Undoubtedly as a kid I was subjected to a lot of second-hand smoke, shame on them all, but I never smoked. About half of my siblings have smoked since they were kids, and it shows. Some of them quit a long time ago. Some quit at some point in the last few years, I don't know whether they do or not still.
Sister E quit way back in her 20's or early 30's, and Sister L did maybe a little later, but a long time ago.
Anyhow, somehow Sister S thinks she's giving me my much needed dose of sober reality every time I talk to her, when I've been getting it all my life.
I know things are getting pretty real for her now. She's had a lot of back problems and mobility issues, and this year she can no longer go get groceries on her own. She's just not strong enough to do it. For now, her younger partner is doing things like that, but I know she's going to have to make some decisions, but I bet her younger partner is likely not wanting to sell their house to move to an apartment/condo.
What's also weird, is you can tell she's kind of hoping I'm having health issues too, just to be social I guess. Well, I'm 20 years younger and in decent shape and overall I'm doing okay.
I really don't like being lumped into the "we're all going to die soon" group just yet.
Anyhow.
I went to see River, and it was nice not to be focused on a pattern or anything in particular. R was there, and we chatted about the upcoming "Love of Liberty" event (intended to be an annual thing) that showcases her horses and some of the students to promote Liberty. She's going to do a freestyle demo with her horse, so we talked about elements she could use, fun decorations, and so on.
We did work on the quality of our Liberty circles, and part way through my Sweetie dropped in on his way home. He did take the afternoon off and went to the climbing gym, since he worked through the weekend by going to that conference.
Our ridden work was brief, but good. He did some nice cantering, we did some smaller circles, and nice halts.
Then the girl with challenges came for her lesson. I went through the ASL alphabet with her to show that I'm trying to learn.
I worked with Quidley, mainly on getting him to stand on a pedestal. He's not too sure about it yet, he's okay once he gets his two front feet on there, but he's leery about getting up there at first.
My Sweetie went home before I did and started supper. I got home and we ate and chatted and watched more of "The Expanse".
We hope to go to the city tomorrow to buy tiles, or at least look for them, to go around the wood stove. I hope he doesn't force me to go to six different stores like last time when we were looking for tile for the bathroom.
Today's geographic subject: The Solomon Islands.
Around 735 thousand people.
Former British colony that gained independence in 1978, but is still a Constitutional Monarchy, meaning that it still technically has Charles III as King, but with their own constitution and a governor-general.
So, a lot of similarities to other island nations in Oceania. Lots of struggle for independence, lots of racial groups, as well as some more isolated tribes. Concerns about global climate change, the fishing, and having little resources for export so not much of an economy.
A little different in that this area has few native mammals, just bats, a type of possum, and sugar gliders.
They do have a huge number of orchids, birds, reptiles, as do many of the other Oceania island countries.
Also issues with human rights (violence against women and LGBTQ folks), fresh drinking water, sanitation, hygiene. Volcanic activity leading to earthquakes. Main export used to be exotic hardwoods, but that is now mostly depleted, and remaining stands are in dispute as people try to protect the forests.
Like pretty much this entire region, rising ocean levels and increasingly worse storms are making them all seek literal higher ground, and at some point entire communities will have to relocate. Rising sea levels and inundation mean that the soil is increasingly more salty, and supports less and less food, and they can no longer grow enough to feed themselves.
This area was the arena for many sea battles in the World Wars, and there are many sunken ships and air planes that can be explored by divers, and have become havens for coral and the accompanying ocean life.
I guess this stands out, no mention of this for other Oceania nations:
Recently,[when?] Solomon Islands courts have re-approved the export of live dolphins for profit, most recently to Dubai, United Arab Emirates. This practice was originally stopped by the government in 2004 after international uproar over a shipment of 28 live dolphins to Mexico. The move resulted in criticism from both Australia and New Zealand as well as several conservation organisations. As of 2019, rough wood still makes up two-thirds of export[citation needed].
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon_Islands
A bit more research, and they do have imported mammals like dogs and cats and probably some pigs etc. This is not mentioned in Wikepedia.
Beautiful weather still, for this time of year.
The cats allowed me to sleep, and no one came to do work on the plumbing so I was able to rest.
I talked with Sister S on the phone. She has had a lot of health challenges lately, and is the one who recently sold her tax/accounting business. Talking with her often focuses on the losses we will soon face in our family (we have several frail people who will likely not be here in five years).
While I can appreciate this as truth, sometimes she almost makes it sound like she's telling me this for the first time; "we're going to have some sad years ahead" and things to that effect. It's a bit weird, but I've been aware MY ENTIRE LIFE that my Mom is an "older mom", and that my sisters were a lot older and didn't take care of themselves, and so on.
I actually feel that my whole life, since maybe even childhood, I've been made aware constantly that a lot of my family was a lot older than I was.
Sister S in particular, I can recall when I was a child and she was MAYBE 30, was already sitting in the kitchen with her feet up on a chair, smoking and drinking coffee, acting like she was near death with being old and exhausted. This is how I have always thought of her, even though she also ran her own business for many years.
Any time I saw her or talked to her, no matter how old she was, she would always say how tired she was, and no she didn't want to go for a walk, she needed to sit down somewhere and rest and put her feet up.
I mean, you look at old pictures of her and she didn't look that old, but the cigarettes aged her prematurely.
Then I mention that Sister E is doing well with moving to town, finding things to do. Sister S says "yeah, her and Sister L are those tough old birds that will live forever".
Yeah, they also the ones who quit smoking and maintained healthy weights and go outside. Coincidence?
It did make me think: I am the only one of my siblings who never smoked. Undoubtedly as a kid I was subjected to a lot of second-hand smoke, shame on them all, but I never smoked. About half of my siblings have smoked since they were kids, and it shows. Some of them quit a long time ago. Some quit at some point in the last few years, I don't know whether they do or not still.
Sister E quit way back in her 20's or early 30's, and Sister L did maybe a little later, but a long time ago.
Anyhow, somehow Sister S thinks she's giving me my much needed dose of sober reality every time I talk to her, when I've been getting it all my life.
I know things are getting pretty real for her now. She's had a lot of back problems and mobility issues, and this year she can no longer go get groceries on her own. She's just not strong enough to do it. For now, her younger partner is doing things like that, but I know she's going to have to make some decisions, but I bet her younger partner is likely not wanting to sell their house to move to an apartment/condo.
What's also weird, is you can tell she's kind of hoping I'm having health issues too, just to be social I guess. Well, I'm 20 years younger and in decent shape and overall I'm doing okay.
I really don't like being lumped into the "we're all going to die soon" group just yet.
Anyhow.
I went to see River, and it was nice not to be focused on a pattern or anything in particular. R was there, and we chatted about the upcoming "Love of Liberty" event (intended to be an annual thing) that showcases her horses and some of the students to promote Liberty. She's going to do a freestyle demo with her horse, so we talked about elements she could use, fun decorations, and so on.
We did work on the quality of our Liberty circles, and part way through my Sweetie dropped in on his way home. He did take the afternoon off and went to the climbing gym, since he worked through the weekend by going to that conference.
Our ridden work was brief, but good. He did some nice cantering, we did some smaller circles, and nice halts.
Then the girl with challenges came for her lesson. I went through the ASL alphabet with her to show that I'm trying to learn.
I worked with Quidley, mainly on getting him to stand on a pedestal. He's not too sure about it yet, he's okay once he gets his two front feet on there, but he's leery about getting up there at first.
My Sweetie went home before I did and started supper. I got home and we ate and chatted and watched more of "The Expanse".
We hope to go to the city tomorrow to buy tiles, or at least look for them, to go around the wood stove. I hope he doesn't force me to go to six different stores like last time when we were looking for tile for the bathroom.
Today's geographic subject: The Solomon Islands.
Around 735 thousand people.
Former British colony that gained independence in 1978, but is still a Constitutional Monarchy, meaning that it still technically has Charles III as King, but with their own constitution and a governor-general.
So, a lot of similarities to other island nations in Oceania. Lots of struggle for independence, lots of racial groups, as well as some more isolated tribes. Concerns about global climate change, the fishing, and having little resources for export so not much of an economy.
A little different in that this area has few native mammals, just bats, a type of possum, and sugar gliders.
They do have a huge number of orchids, birds, reptiles, as do many of the other Oceania island countries.
Also issues with human rights (violence against women and LGBTQ folks), fresh drinking water, sanitation, hygiene. Volcanic activity leading to earthquakes. Main export used to be exotic hardwoods, but that is now mostly depleted, and remaining stands are in dispute as people try to protect the forests.
Like pretty much this entire region, rising ocean levels and increasingly worse storms are making them all seek literal higher ground, and at some point entire communities will have to relocate. Rising sea levels and inundation mean that the soil is increasingly more salty, and supports less and less food, and they can no longer grow enough to feed themselves.
This area was the arena for many sea battles in the World Wars, and there are many sunken ships and air planes that can be explored by divers, and have become havens for coral and the accompanying ocean life.
I guess this stands out, no mention of this for other Oceania nations:
Recently,[when?] Solomon Islands courts have re-approved the export of live dolphins for profit, most recently to Dubai, United Arab Emirates. This practice was originally stopped by the government in 2004 after international uproar over a shipment of 28 live dolphins to Mexico. The move resulted in criticism from both Australia and New Zealand as well as several conservation organisations. As of 2019, rough wood still makes up two-thirds of export[citation needed].
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon_Islands
A bit more research, and they do have imported mammals like dogs and cats and probably some pigs etc. This is not mentioned in Wikepedia.
