I'm still working to get back on Chelsea hours. This week was a struggle even with taking Tuesday off. Usually I'd zip home and lay down by 5pm--lectured Friday so the end of the week's schedule included laying down with lecture notes. Still planning for a change in teaching schedule next week.
Had a lovely time in Hawaii. Kids were good and entertaining. I enjoy traveling with other people--you can bounce things off of them. Also, traveling on an arranged trip is easier for me--they have already checked out the digs, the events, the restaurants--and then with the free time factored in can continue to do my own "fun" things.
Uncle Eloy died yesterday. He was a Marine at Pearl Harbor when it was bombed. That seems so ironic since I was just there and thinking of him immensely. Seems unimaginable the odds those young men faced. He was just coming off KP duty at 7pm and was in the fight. He grabbed a machine gun and shot down a Japanese plane. His CO gave him a box of cigarettes as a reward. Of course they spent many hours fighting and then cleaning up the disaster. Uncle Eloy was accepted into the Marine Band (baritone) but chose to take the duty of guarding a code talker instead. He was sent to the South Pacific, Midway, Iwo Jima, Marianne Islands, and dropped into Guadacanal. Due to the Japanese returning abruptly, the Navy pulled out, leaving the Marines behind to fend for themselves. He lived in trees, guarding his code talker for 4 months--surviving on eating monkey meat. Later in the war he contracted malaria and ended up back in Walter Reed Hospital--but by then it was Spring 1945. I knew Uncle Eloy as the keeper of the family stories. As quiet as my father is/was--Uncle Eloy was boisterous. He is the one who told me about the Conquestidor's sword and silver in the cave in NM. His funeral is Tuesday--full military honors.
My sister Emily, husband Jasper and perhaps Larrainey are flying in for the funeral.
I'll post some Hawaii pics for your amusement. We had a wonderful time!
Aloha!
