Winter Solstice 2024

"This must my comfort be, That sun that warms you here shall shine on me."                                                         — Richard II; i. iii,144

Beloved Family and Friends!

I haven't written one of these since 2019, so I thought it was time.

Yet another day in Paradise. And I never stop appreciating it!

2024 has been remarkable for me. My neck is about 98% back to normal, which is extraordinarily enabling. It took three years of rest, and discovering some gentle stretches that let me turn my head right about 25 degrees and bend it right a tiny bit. If I can maintain this I'll be happy. My neck and voice are stronger than they've been in years and I'm going out for some meals and talking quite a bit. Unfortunately, the time I can pace sitting up has gotten much shorter recently. Three years ago I could go six or seven hours a day, in pieces. Six months ago, I could do an hour at a time, maybe twice a day. Starting a couple of months ago, I've been down to 20 minutes, barely enough for a job interview. Since I seem to be the long-pacing person still alive, no one knows whether the equipment is wearing out, or it's just aging. The equipment inside me is about at its life expectancy. The only way to know for sure is to replace it. Fortunately, this surgery would be much less invasive than last time. A surgeon would only need to replace the parts in my chest, and not deal with the phrenic nerve itself. But neither of the thoracic surgeons on Oahu are interested in doing it. I just found another lead. We'll see where it goes. My last resort is flying to Sacramento, once for each side, where there are experienced surgeons ready to act.

JANUARY–MARCH

Can you tell which one is Micaela, and which is Valentina? Took me a while.

My staff is the strongest it's been in many years! My veterans—Eve, Grace, Brandon, Cass and Heavenly—have all been with me for two to ten years. They provide a solid base of reliability, continuity and institutional knowledge. I hired my first twins late last year. It's been fun having them here. Nursing students, 21 years old. It's also very comforting to find some good people who don't have lots of personal problems that I have to deal with, like rotten kids, needy parents, unreliable cars, substance addictions, money issues, negative attitudes and the other charms many of my staff have brought to work with them in the past. They're reliable, punctual, bright, observant, curious, happy, gentle, and they look for ways to help, both with me and around the house! So refreshing! A few months after they started, they travelled to their parents' homelands of Peru and Chile for four weeks. I requested a photo with a llama. None to be found, except at the airport, and stuffed.

Made with genuine llama wool! Boy, is it soft.

I also hired Justine and her sister San Zai, who have been equally good. They are always happy, love to work, and make me smile a lot.

Very close sisters. Hard to say who takes better care of whom.

A new gal, Tanya, had been doing very well until she broke her foot a month ago. And Eva returned from eight months of family business to rejoin the team, adding her unique sense of humor to the mix. Such a large group is a little tricky, but they all get along, and cover for each other wonderfully, minimizing my managerial duties.

I have given up trying to get anything climate-related to happen in Hawaii, but maybe I can still help to make our corrupt local government better. In March I commissioned a Clean Elections poll to support the bill we've been trying to pass. Guess what? 73% of voters supported it. It was killed off in a laughably staged committee hearing, but we're trying again next year. We have a Clean Elections call every Tuesday on Zoom.

Made in China, sold from London, installed in Hawaii. I wonder where it shipped from?

After years of bungled repair attempts, my butterfly chandelier is at last intact and hanging in my living room. And it only cost as much to repair correctly as the entire original piece!

APRIL–JUNE
In April, I got tickets to the Big West Men's Volleyball Championship at UH. Since the pacer only let me sit up for about 20 minutes comfortably, I decided to hang a portable vent on the back of the chair, and run it from the chair batteries via a little black box. I'd never used the little black box, but I have it for exactly one reason: to run a portable vent from wheelchair batteries.

We hooked up the vent and batteries to the black box the week before, and it worked fine. We put everything away. We put it all back together in the afternoon, and half an hour before my helper Heavenly arrived, we switched it on just to make sure it was still working.

Nothing. The vent wouldn't turn on. The black box's lone light was on, showing that it was getting power from the batteries. We switched cables. No go. We plugged the vent into the wall. Worked fine. We unplugged all the cables and started over. Zippo. It appeared the little black box was too shy to perform in public.

I got into the van anyway, hoping that maybe Heavenly would stumble on a solution. She did not stumble. I decided to go anyway. This would be my first live entertainment in four years. I figured I could watch most of the game in a semi-recline, pacing the whole time. If I got exhausted, we'd just leave.

We reached the parking garage 20 minutes after the game was to start. We somehow missed the third floor, where the wheelchair parking is, but did find two spaces together on the floor we found ourselves on, the fourth. We snagged them and set off to find the elevator, heading for the corner where I thought the elevators had been the last time I'd be there, about nine years before.

And lo! They were there. With tape and signs informing us that they had water damage and were temporarily closed. Undeterred, we sought a working elevator. elsewhere After traipsing about a quarter mile, we found ourselves back at the original elevators. In our defense, it's a very large garage—the arena holds 10,300 fans.

I suggested Heav take the adjacent stairs down one floor and seek access for us. She reported back immediately that the pedestrian bridge we sought was directly below us. So we hoofed it toward the pedestrian ramp.

We traipsed down the sloping aisles. And traipsed. And traipsed. Eventually, we realized that we had somehow traipsed right past the third floor, again, and were now on the second floor.

Off again in search of another elevator. We finally found a working one in a distant corner. We took it, and groped our way to the pedestrian ramp.

It was a great game, neither team leading by more than a few points until the third set. UH won.

When we returned to the van, much more directly, I waited for Heav to open the electric door. And as I watched the van lower its right side, as these vans do, I saw the door slide over a curb behind us, signaling trouble. The door lowered onto the curb, putting it out of alignment.

I was able to get in, but Heavenly had to wrassle with the door for half an hour, turning the electric part off and tugging, turning it back on, watching the door's safety sensors open the door after she had it shut, and so on. She got it nearly shut, but then the van wouldn't let her shift out of park with the door ajar. Finally she was able to slam it hard enough that we could drive home.

We had the same enjoyments when we got home, and had to leave it parked halfway in the garage overnight. The next morning the van shop found that two parts were bent or ripped, sending us home with the door aligned, at least—or so we thought. Once home, I couldn't get out for an hour as Valentina yanked and tugged and switched things on and off. We eventually called another helper, who appeared right when Valentina's dad arrived—and he opened it on the first pull.

Thoroughly enjoyed the Olympic opening ceremony, especially the horse on the Seine and the torch lighting. I watched as much Olympics as I could fit in, between emails and bills and whatnot. I always watch the gymnastics and volleyball but this year I discovered handball. It's quite exciting and the fastest sport I've ever seen, except for ping-pong. These people run and throw and jump nonstop for an hour. No one may keep the ball for more than three seconds, and you're penalized for "passive play"—not trying to score.

Went to the opening performance of the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra, a free outdoor concert in Kailua District Park, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Also watched the twins play Mozart in a small church with great acoustics and a standing room only crowd.

Can you tell yet?

Old gymnasts never die. They just can't remount in 30 seconds.

In June, my old gym teammates gathered at Shep's in Costa Rica. No one got the bends or malaria. I joined via Zoom, but sadly couldn't hear Annamarie's gongs, because, as Steve pointed out, their sound wouldn't traverse the Web—it has no spiritual core. I wanted to participate in some way and decided to design, print and send commemorative t-shirts. Everyone seemed to like them, and Linda Sue composed and sent a lovely photo collage to thank me. There are rumors of a 2026 reunion in Hawaii! Maybe I'll go to that one.

When Shep saw this, he said, "How the hell did you know what plants are in my yard? Every one of these is there!"

Samoa drew the biggest crowds.

Later that month I visited the Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture in Honolulu, with 28(!) countries represented. I caught the dance troupes from Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands. And I had a wonderful sugar cookie for just $5.

Northern Mariana Islands had the coolest instruments.

It's actually clear, but maybe I can request a purple one!

Also in June, Jeff sent me a story about the MouthPad, a sort of retainer that fits in the roof of your mouth and lets you run tablets and phones with your tongue via a tiny trackpad. You can click, double-click, drag and right-click with it. For two-finger gestures you have to get one of those surgeries to split your tongue down the middle. Just kidding. I signed up for their "Early Access" program, though from the look of their site, they are very far along. I'm excited to be able to access other devices for the first time. I'm looking for a dentist who can do an intraoral 3D scan so the MouthPad people can make the device to fit exactly in my palette.

JULY-SEPTEMBER
During my Olympics withdrawal I spent many hours watching Ultimate Frisbee videos on YouTube. I was amazed to see that there is now a professional Ultimate Frisbee Association! Two teams in Canada and 22 in the US. The season is from April to August and I will have to catch the games live (or at least nearly) next year. I've always loved this game because it's so simple. There are only about five rules. The only equipment is the Frisbee, and some way to mark borders. These pro games have referees, but almost all Ultimate is self-refereed, following The Spirit of the Game, as they call it. Players call their own fouls and are expected to respect other players and resolve differences quickly. I don't know how they are paying 24 teams of players, but the UFA has been around since 2011.

Subtle, but it goes well with the new curtains.

I painted my room Lavender Mist, and my guest room Jamaican Aqua with Totally Teal closet doors and doorframe.

A touch of the Caribbean! Twenty-three years of gray walls was enough. Come and stay!

And I found some very fun curtains on TEMU for $25.

They change the whole room.

OCTOBER-DECEMBER
My helpers wrote 2725 Vote Forward letters to Georgia. I decided that the best response I could have to the election was to cover my entire roof with solar panels. I have 20 now, and will be adding 20-25 more in a few months. It's more power than I can ever use, but the excess goes back to the grid and helps to lower the whole community's carbon footprint. It's a practical donation to combat climate change, which Trump still thinks is a hoax—or at least that's what he says. It's impossible to know whether he actually believes anything that comes out of his mouth. One unusual aspect about fighting climate change is that reducing emissions anywhere on the planet benefits the entire planet. So these panels will do as much good here as anywhere else. I covered my Redwood City house with panels last year.

The election results seemed to shock everyone. Certainly all of us starry-eyed liberals. They say a lot about our fellow citizens, and all of it bad. I am pretty sure Ken is correct about Trump's appeal: people are scared of THEM—the murdering, insane asylum escapees who are stealing our jobs and eating our pets. The oldest appeal in the book. Don't think about all these other glaringly horrible reasons not to vote for him—THEY are coming for us, and only he can save us from them. It seems people cannot see through lies at all, if they're scared often enough. I don't understand the thinking very much, but the left had better figure it out if we're ever going to return to a less fascist society. I already saw in November that black people across the US have already reported receiving text messages telling them that they had been "selected" to pick cotton and needed to report to "the nearest plantation." It's going to be an awful four years.

Hungry?

I put off Waikiki for another Halloween and stayed home to witness the two groups of two kids each who came to my door. But my staff and their younger relations made the rounds in their respective neighborhoods, including Micaela, her seven-year-old sister Becca and Pati, Becca's guinea pig. "Pati" is short for "hamburger patty," because in Peru, guinea pigs are a delicacy. Now, really—is a guinea pig that different from a "regular" pig?

Speaking of good food, Melody, David and Allen came over for Thanksgiving and brought their usual delicious feast. I bought sparkling cider and made Mom's dressing. We had a long, relaxed chat. No board games this year.

I discovered that Toyota has begun making the first hybrid minivan that can be converted for wheelchair access! I'm investigating. Apparently pure electric convertible minivans are still years away, but maybe I can finally do my part to reduce transportation emissions.

Our oldest family recipe. Kids always love decorating them. These two showed admirable restraint, only uncapping one jar of red sugar and dumping half of it onto a single cookie.

Nancy came in early December and we had a great week. We went out to lunch three times, watched a movie, played our Sherlock Holmes game, and had a party for my staff and some friends, making the butter cookies my Mom made for 60-odd years, and decorating a grand fir Christmas tree.

In our reach for the stars, everyone needs an occasional boost.

Ambitious.

In a Lockard family holiday tradition, we constructed a 2000-piece jigsaw puzzle last year. But I've always wanted to make an even bigger one. So this year, just before Nancy left, we started a 5000-piecer! The border has taken us 10 days so far. I think jigsaw puzzles are wonderful: they're a very complex task, exercising spatial, organizational and planning skills, and visual memory. Yet a human can see one for the first time and understand immediately what it is, what needs to be done and how to do it, without a single written or spoken instruction.

Outrageous!

Watch out for recently-emboldened racists and misogynists. May you and yours have a wonderful 2025!

Love, Brod