Our big project for this trip was to attempt to complete the process to have our marriage legalized here in Thailand. When we were first married here in 2007, we didn't register it, as we were planning to get married in the US. That turns out to have been a mistake, as it is much more difficult to register a marriage here when you are married somewhere else.



You'd think it would be a simple matter of taking your California marriage certificate to the local amphur (regional government office) here and have it registered. That's what we thought, and we were incorrect.

We had to go back to the US and get a certified copy of the marriage certificate from the county. We then had to send it to the California Secretary of State office for a stamp to show it was legal--a certified copy not being enough.

INTERMISSION



Next, we had to send it to to the US Department of State for their approval. It languished there for about three months before mysteriously appearing in our mail one day.

After that we had to send it to the Royal Thai Consulate in Los Angeles so they could authenticate it and certify that Malida was an actual Thai citizen. We got it back in a week!

So we brought the entire package to Thailand, where we had to have the whole mess translated into Thai and sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We paid the translators to take care of the whole thing for us. Paying people here gets stuff done a lot faster.

We stopped by the post office yesterday, and the package from the translators had just arrived. So we took it to the amphur, hopeful that we had everything we needed.



Turns out that we were missing one thing--after all those certifications and stamps from every possible agency both here and in the US, we needed a witness. Malida offered the clerk 100 Baht "for coffee" to witness it herself. The clerk took the money, but kind of just sat there. Malida inquired, and the clerk replied, " I drink a lot of coffee." Another 100 Baht took care of her coffee needs, and some time later we were officially registered in Thailand.

We needed to do this in order for me to be added to the house papers and other little legal matters, which will be our next project.

Once we were done, we went for coffee ourselves, to a very cool coffee place across the river in an old building that used to be some sort of mill.



Then we had lunch with some friends and watched the rain fall.

...of three months.

Not much has been going on in my life, which is a good thing. By this point, I have learned to appreciate the lulls in life where it seems like nothing is happening. Something always happens soon enough, and not always something good. I can think back to any number of stressful times and wishing there was not much going on. So I am savoring it.



As I mentioned toward the end of last year, back in July I started walking every day. At first I could only go about a quarter mile without having to take a rest. Eventually I increased the distance, and am now walking 9-10 miles a day, divided up into a morning and afternoon walk. I mostly walk in the light industrial area behind our neighborhood and listen to audiobooks. I have lost a little less than 70 pounds since I started walking, and feel a lot better. None of my clothes fit anymore. I'll buy some new clothes before I go to Thailand in May.

Hopefully we go to Thailand. At the present, there are no quarantine restrictions, but that has changed in the past and could change again. We are hopeful. We have still not seen our completed house on the rice farm, and are anxious to do so, as well as see the family.

I have not taken very many photographs in the past few months. I had been planning a photography trip to Death Valley next week, but decided not to go because of gas prices (and Malida grumbling a bit about not being able to go with me because of work). I am not in a photography mood lately. I'm not sure why. For some reason I just feel the need to stay close to home. Much different than I thought it would be after I retired. I imagined myself out there every day.

Instead, I am spending a lot of time in my yard, cleaning things up and getting ready to do some planting when the weather gets a bit nicer. I like being out there, and find myself with enough energy to do all sorts of things I couldn't do before.

Back in January we took a trip up to the Mendocino area. Rather than stay at the place we normally stay, we got an airbnb outside of Fort Bragg. It was lovely, and had a nice kitchen, so we could prepare our own food.



A waterfall along a nice trail at Russian Gulch State Park.

I guess that's it for now. I am expecting my LJ to disappear any day now as the war continues to rage in Ukraine and the Russian government continues to act like barbarians. I made a separate entry over on LJ letting people know I am over here, so hopefully we don't all lose touch.

...well it's my birthday too, yeah!

I'll be turning 65 in about 40 minutes. I got my Medicare card in the mail last week. I feel great--at least 10 years younger than I did this time a year ago. Not that I actually am 10 years younger--that would be an interesting accomplishment. I do feel good though, and am looking forward to the coming year. My plan is to keep being retired, enjoy life, and walk a lot. I bought myself a bicycle for a present, and will ride that as well.



We got up early yesterday and drove down to Point Reyes for a hike in the fog. It was cold, but invigorating. It is among my favorite places in the world. We had some butternut squash soup before we headed out, and walked about 3.5 miles out, and then back.

I walk a lot these days. That's what I have been doing to feel better after such a shitty year last year. I walk 3-4 miles every morning, and about 2 miles every evening. I've done that every day since about the middle of July, except for the one day where it rained for 24 hours straight. I've shed about 45 pounds in the interval. That's been my focus for the past six months. I plan to keep doing that, and want to walk at least 1500 miles in the coming year.



Some elk in the mist. We saw these guys and some coyotes, as well as lots of birds. After we got off the trail we drove down to visit my grandfather's grave--yesterday was the anniversary of his birth back in 1884. When I was little, the family celebrated our birthdays together. I only remember one--the year I turned 8 and he turned 80. We went to a place called Sabella's, which was a great seafood restaurant. Back then, abalone was on the menu.

Sabella's is long gone, so we went to San Rafael Joes for lunch--the other place I remember eating at as a kid. After a delicious lunch we walked around the town, and gathered a bunch of bay leaves from the tree near where my other grandparents lived. Then we drove home and I finished watching the new Beatles documentary.

It was a lovely day.

I'm sitting outside this morning, as the temperature is pleasant for the moment. We are expecting a heat wave this week, so I'm enjoying it while I can. It's supposed to get up to 109 on Thursday.

I'm also on jury duty this week, but don't have to do anything until later this afternoon. Most of the time I am happy to go in and be a prospective juror, but this week, in addition to the heat wave, one of our major freeways is closed down for repairs. It's the freeway I would take to get to the courthouse downtown, so I'm hoping they will just let me stay down here, where the birds are singing and the coffee is strong and plentiful.



Ol' 97, out near Michigan Bar.

I spent a good part of last week working on estate stuff, particularly the sale of my dad's car and the sale of my step-sister's house. The car sale should have been easy, but my dad, when he bought the car from the leasing agency, never filed the sale paperwork. That was 10 years ago. So I had to clear that up, and then transfer the title from the estate to my sister.

The California DMV is perpetually screwed-up, and I desperately wanted to avoid having to go in, but I had to. I will say that everyone I talked to was pretty helpful and nice, other than the unnecessarily gruff security guard at the door. Maybe he's seen things.

In any case, I took in every possible form the could ask for (they asked for every one), and after a series of checkpoints and waits, I made it to the counter, where I was able to get it done.

I turned the car over to my sister and she took off for home, even though we had invited the family over for dinner and I had barbecued all sorts of stuff she liked. That's my sister.



A hazy morning in Yosemite Valley.

My step-sister's house got put on the market last week, and sold almost immediately for a lot more than the asking price. I am involved mostly because half the house was in my dad's name, though he had no financial interest in it. So I sign a bunch of documents, and hold on to the money for a while, until it goes to its rightful owners. Everything is done electronically, so not much to it, other than taking the time to read the documents.

I've been retired for almost a month. It feels like I have been as busy as I was when I was working. I think this week will be less busy, provided I don't have to go to the courthouse. I haven't had much time to go out and practice with my drone, and want to do that.

We did go up to the Sierras yesterday for a picnic with our friends, and I flew around a bit, but forgot how to access the manual camera controls, so a lot of the pictures were overexposed. I have since downloaded the somewhat unhelpful manual to my phone, and watched a bunch of videos about how the settings work.



I think this one was taken by Tanika, our delightful houseguest. We're all there somewhere. Once I figure it all out, I have all sorts of ideas about how to use it.

We are home after our little trip to Yosemite. Our next adventure is a trip to Costco later this morning. I'm looking forward to it. I' be sure to post pictures.

After seeing a photograph that someone else made of a sunrise over Yosemite Valley, I decided I would try and get something similar. I got up at 4:15 and drove the hour or so up to the Tunnel View, where I could see most of the valley.



I was not alone. I arrived there at about 5:45, and there were lots and lots of people with the same idea. I managed to wedge myself into a spot and waited. It wasn't super cold, and I had a thermos of coffee, so I was all set.



The sunrise, when it arrived at about 06:20, was much less spectacular than I had hoped for. The low smoke pretty much obscured everything, and the lack of clouds didn't help. That's ok. I learned something from this, and will be back next year, a week earlier, when the sun should be rising right over Half Dome.

When we were walking around in Mariposa the other day, we stopped into a little shop that sold all sorts of blank journals. I found one I liked, and decided it would be the journal where I write down what is going on at different points in the year, so I can remember to go out and take pictures of whatever it is. Sunrise over Half Dome in mid May is my first entry.



I drove down and made a loop around the valley before I headed back to Mariposa. The fires are still smoldering, and there was a crew setting up to do some more burning. I took some pictures, then headed back to have breakfast before we headed for home.

Ok, I am now officially retired, as of Thursday. It was a busy week up until then with final exams, graduation, and cleaning things up. Friday morning I slept in until 7, which was a real treat. I woke up thinking I had stuff to do, but I didn't.



Yesterday's to-do list. I did a lot more than that, but it was nice not to have a whole list of things that had to be done. I fixed the drip irrigation in the front, went to the hardware store, prepped some bread dough for baking this morning (I can smell it baking now), and watched half a movie.



At some point, I started posting a photo countdown. Not for every day--pretty much just random odd days. I started with this old one from 2013, which is my avatar here. Twenty-nine has been a special number for me since way back.

On my last day of work, we had a faculty meeting--a real in-person meeting at the house of our program director. It was the first time we had all seen each other in person since March 15, 2020. We have all been vaccinated. I gave my final presentation as the medical-surgical content expert, and then we had a retirement party for me and my colleague, who was also retiring. I'm not generally one for parties, but I really enjoyed this. I received lots and lots of well-wishes from former students. It felt good.



Photographically speaking, this was my favorite of the countdown pictures. Everything came from our garden, which is doing really great this year. I have all sorts of roses blooming out front, and there are a trio of little old ladies who walk by every day and comment on them. They stop and smell the roses. I can see them from my office window. I came out and said hi one day, and they told me how much they like our front yard.



The photo for my final day. All my favorite little characters from my desk and my Hello Kitty lecture box. A lot of this stuff was given to me by students over the years, so it has special meaning. The Hello Kitty rock was a gift from my boss after we successfully gained national accreditation for our nursing program.

What's next? Who knows.

I spent most of last week out in the desert by myself, thinking about things.

When day comes we ask ourselves,
where can we find light in this never-ending shade?
The loss we carry,
a sea we must wade
We've braved the belly of the beast
We've learned that quiet isn't always peace
And the norms and notions
of what just is
Isn't always just-ice
And yet the dawn is ours

--Amanda Gorman, Poet

Yesterday was the actual first day of the semester, filled with meetings. We started with a district meeting, then on to a college meeting, followed by a division meeting, and ending with a department meeting. All on Zoom, all pretty boring. One thing I won't miss.

We finished up at about 4 pm. Too late to take a nap, though I thought about it. I am really going to miss my afternoon nap when I start my 12-hour clinical shifts next week. One good thing is that they are allowing us to park at the hospital again, since they are restricting visitors. For the past couple of years, we had to park on campus and take Lyft over. These two things (naps and parking) may seem unrelated, but I have a plan brewing.



An oak tree, sans leaves, in the fog.

We took a walk in the park the other day when it was really foggy. I love these foggy days, and I love bare trees. They remind me of a vascular system.

I have a cat sitting on the desk next to me, purring loudly for no particular reason.

The first thing I did this morning after I woke up was to go outside and look up at the sky. Visibility is pretty good, and I could see quite a few stars. I would like to be up somewhere where there is no light pollution.



There are five Ingress portals in this picture. I don't really play Ingress anymore, but I still see portals wherever I go. Even in the fog.