Friday, July 25th - Kihei, Maui, Hawaii
We're roughly through two thirds of the experiment in family togetherness known as the Duxbury clans en masse descent on Maui, courtesy of my father who picked up the condos, the rental cars and the airfare. As Tommy and I are not really in the position to vacation much at the moment, we jumped at the chance to spend a gratis week in the islands.
The last time the whole family vacationed together was in 1979 and I was 17 and it was a trip to Hawaii. After that, I went off to college and work and ended up moving thousands of miles away and there was never a full family vacation with all of us after. Holidays, of course, and the occasional family wedding or something but nothing with the goal of just relaxing and being together. It's been relatively successful. No one has gotten on each others nerves too much and we have a decent balance of together and separate stuff. The cast of characters include my parents, me and Tommy, my sister, (her current boyfriend in a supporting role - he popped up for a couple of days and then went away again), my brother, his wife and their two daughters.
Tommy and I turned up in Seattle a couple of days before we left. We must have dragged the Alabama heat with us as it was over 90 both days and no one in Seattle has central air so we spent a bunch of time at the mall and the movies. (Catching the latest Harry Potter). Uneventful flight direct to Maui on Sunday. Have been there ever since. Much time at the beach, doing a certain amount of shopping, running around the rainforest, snorkeling, taking a dive in a submarine and all the other things one does in the tropics. Everything has worked out pretty well other than Tommy's skin - he likes the sun but it does not like him and he's been nursing some bad suburn on his legs that has put a damper on some things.
We've got two and a half more days before we return for a few more days in Seattle. I hope to get up to the top of Haleakala but it's been pretty socked in the last few days and I'm smart enough not to go up there if you can't see the summit from the valley. If that doesn't work out, a bit more beach time I think.
It's been nice spending some time with the nieces and seeing it all through their eyes. I've been to Maui a number of times before and it's nice to catch a sense of wonder through them. I'm also having some fond reminisces of my old life and Steve as we spent a lot of time here together in the 90s.
Tuesday, July 14th - Pikeville, Kentucky
Happy Bastille Day everyone. I should think the erection of a couple of guillotines, one on the Ellipse and one somewhere around Wall Street would be a good way of celebrating. They don't have to be used, just serve as a reminder to the aristocrats of today that they can't walk on the people for too long without certain consequences.
I'm off in Appalachia with my mineworker nurses for a few days. Spent yesterday in West Virginia at a marathon 8 + hour meeting that fried my brain and am here in Kentucky today at a, fortunately, shorter one. I'll be driving home tomorrow, just in time to pack before heading off to Seattle for a few days and then on to Maui with the family. I so need a week of doing next to nothing on the beach.
Being stuck in Appalachia, I am unable to go to the midnight screening of the new Harry Potter movie tonight. I'll have to wait for a reasonable hour. Perhaps I'll be able to take the nieces when we are in Seattle.
I've had to step down from 'Taming of the Shrew' in August due to schedule changes. Pisses me off somewhat but what can you do? Life should hopefully get easier after September or so and there will hopefully be a theatrical project I'll be able to stick with later in the year. There's always 'Aida' for the opera in January.
Tuesday, July 7th
The heat has finally broken somewhat with a few cooling showers and highs of 80 or so rather than 100. While that is a major improvment, I am still feeling quite washed out and extremely uninterested in doing all the things I need to do around the house. The basement flood has been cleaned up. Dickering continues with the insurance company. The next step is to empty the basement so the contractors can come in, rip everything out and seal, sheetrock and refloor. That should happen in August/Septemeber and shouldn't take too long.
In the meantime, I have four more days at work before getting away for three weeks. Next week, I have a quick WV/KY trip for the mineworkers. After that, Tommy and I depart for Seattle to visit the family and then the whole Duxbury clan jets off to Maui for a week. I am so looking forward to beach time with no agenda.
Not a whole lot else going on. I'm preparing some new lectures on the health care system and finance for the fall and have a bunch of new interns and fellows to teach. The University seems to have quieted down some in recent weeks. It'll probably become more crazy again after Labor Day when all the powers that be are back from their summer vacations.
There appears to be no national or international news other than the death of Michael Jackson. "Oh what a circus, oh what a show..." Like Elvis, death seems to have been the best possible career move.
