I’ve not been online much. Blogging and even journaling has almost come to a complete stop. Instead, I’ve been posting every now and then in a forum I’ve been a part of for many years because I get more feedback and support there than I tend to get here on WordPress. Most of what I post is very mundane compared to the typical posts on this blog. If you are interested in following along with me there (and meeting some amazing people), please send me a message and I will send you the info/link for the consciousness exploration forum I frequent.

Travel

So, what have I been up to? Well, I recently returned from almost two weeks overseas. I returned on July 4th around midnight and it took me all the way until Monday to start to feel normal again. I swear I must have slept 10-14hrs a day and still felt tired. lol My friend jetlag did not disappoint! And this time it made sure to leave me completely disoriented whenever I woke. One time I woke up not knowing where I was and wandered all over my room looking for doors that weren’t there. It took me about 5 minutes to recognize my own bedroom again. Ha!

Where did I go? Seoul, South Korea, Tokyo and other parts of Japan, and finally Oahu, Hawaii. I spent about four days in each place, not near enough to get over the initial jetlag I had in Korea BTW.

The first and last places (S. Korea and Hawaii) were work related. Japan was a birthday present to my husband from his family. I wasn’t very keen on S. Korea but Japan peaked my interest, especially the Sea of Trees forest.

In S. Korea we visited a palace, Gyeongbokgung, the main royal palace of the Joseon Daynasty. We also went to a Buddhist temple but I can’t recall its name now. Then we visited Seoul Tower and later learned how to make Kimchi and got dressed in traditional dress. I found Koreans to be very friendly and welcoming. The city of Seoul was so clean, so well planned, that it almost felt like an entirely different dimension. It was very different from the U.S.! Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy the food too much, at least not until I tried the street food. Now that was yummy!

My first impression of Tokyo was similar – clean, welcoming and like a completely different world. Where Koreans mostly don’t know English, almost everyone in Japan seemed to. Everything was in both Japanese and English in most places and everywhere I went (mostly on subways, trains and buses) everything was in English. I spent the first day in the hotel sleeping but the second day we traveled to the Sea of Trees and Mt. Fuji. It took us 4hrs by subway and train and then when we returned by bus and subway it was a bit faster. I suggest if you fly into Tokyo that you do not try to do Mt. Fuji in one day. All the transportation in the park stops at 5pm. I wish we had gotten a hotel and stayed there the entirety of our trip, but we didn’t. Even so, we got to visit two ice caves and the Sea of Trees, which was enough for me.

I’d been to Hawaii before so I mostly slept and worked from the hotel while we were there. I did visit Pearl Harbor (our company has a contract to repair the dry docks) and lingered on the beach or worked during the days. In the evenings it was lots of fine dining and shopping.

Overall, I think the trip would’ve been more enjoyable had we given ourselves more time in each location to get over the jetlag. IDK if it is my age or what but my body was just not adjusting as fast as I wanted. Thus, the sleeping away one day in Tokyo and Hawaii and then three days of exhaustion when I returned to the states.

Here are some pictures which are in order of Hawaii, then Tokyo and finally S. Korea:

Land and Cabin Progress

The day we left for South Korea the old mobile home on the new property was moved. It is gone forever. Donated to a family in need. I feel good about donating it. I hope it’s new family turned it into a loving home. I do not know where or who it went to, just that it is close by (within 1hr).

The little turkey vulture grew up and has feathers. I did not get a picture of him after my most recent trip but the last time I saw him he was bigger than a chicken, though still mostly covered in his white down with some feathers sprouting on his wings.

The cabin foundation was completed before we left. It is now ready for a roof and windows. We are hoping to have it complete by the end of summer or early Fall. We are still waiting on the county to tell us how much it will cost to have county water. The water well works but it will be costly to get running (around $15K). We suspect the county water will be similar but would prefer it since maintaining a water well can be costly over time and county water will be around $50/mo. There is still a lot of work to do on the land such as clearing junk and finishing some of the out buildings. We will tackle those issues once it gets a bit cooler this fall. The temps we’ve had in the high 90’s are not ideal for working outside.

Below is progress of the cabin starting with most recent (as of this past Wednesday):

Critters we’ve encountered on the land to include baby turkey vulture:

Other pics of the land. The first is where the mobile home use to sit. The second is of the shed we are fixing up and the last is what is left of a junk pile: