VOG--weird stuff

This is really strange stuff. It is called "vog" by the local weather people, and is a mixture of regular fog (the "marine layer" to politically correct San Franciscans) and volcanic ash. It appears whenever there is a southerly wind flow that comes up from the Big Island where Kilauea continues to erupt (think temple creation videos). Some days the ash content is really high, and visitors are often affected by respiratory irritation, Having grown up in the LA basin, we have lungs of steel (or at least well coated already) and nothing bothers us. This will last a couple of days, but no big deal to me.

Dad called this morning from Dubai. He left Friday night, flew to LA, sat for two hours, flew to Dulles, sat for five hours, flew 13 hours to Dubai, and landed at 7:30 pm Sunday. His internal clock is really scrambled. He is now 14 hours ahead of me. (I am 3 hours ahead of the West coast people and 6 hours ahead of the East coast group.) He planned to go to bed soon to be up for his two hour presentation on Monday afternoon. Then he turns around and flies back the same route Tuesday morning, arriving here Tuesday afternoon--Yes, you read that right. He arrives a short time after he left.

Yesterday we ended our first week here, so I switched rooms to the other half of the lockout. Even though this is the bedroom only half, it still has a small refrigerator, microwave, dishes, flatware, and a beautiful corner and covered lanai looking straight out at the beach. Very comfortable and pleasant.

Reading update:

• On Friday I finished Comfort Food by Kate Jacobs, author of The Friday Night Knitting Club series -- a nice, women friendship story, especially if you like cooking shows.

• On Saturday I read one of the best books! Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier, author of Girl With a Pearl Earring. I have not loved everything she has written, but this story is amazing. It is also based on real people with real historical impact, and I would recommend it to any one who has a passion about strong women from history. It is a great followup to Simon Winchester's The Map That Changed the World." It will be one of my all-time favorites!

Aloha.