Metal, Flesh and Blood

Before we went to the Union Fair, we stopped at Nathan Nicholls phantasmagoric world of recycled art. Laurie had it on her list of 'things MJ must see before she leaves' as we are scraping the most out of these last days. This was definitely one of the most. Fun, whimsy, vision and skill combined to amuse, delight, make you laugh out loud works to pieces leading one to sit on the grass and feel the wonder. We didn't have much time to sit on the grass, but  wonder and laughter were both strong.

All Nate's work is for sale (except for the pieces he just can't stand to sell, but you have to ask to find out) and I wanted to take a few home with me...however, I'm not going home yet and that saved me! Well, that and a few other things. But I did get to enjoy the work and the man, and that's enough for now. I'll put up some of Nate's sculptures tomorrow.

On to the fair!

The Union Fair felt like a fair from a long time ago. I kept being transported back to fairs I went to when I was a kid. Well, we didn't have canned moose meat at the fairs in Florida...
Really, it wasn't the same at all. Granted, it was a Tuesday in the middle of the day, not Friday night, but only ONE carny tried to get our attention! We got more of a come on from the See 3 Things God Can't Do people (Phil happened to notice that one of them is God Can't Lie, just so you know). They tried to offer me a Free Smile a few times...however, I already have my own, so I declined.
 
The other carnies looked healthy, and bored.  Not that wonderfully scary, hatchet faced, cynical boredom (the kind that made you know that the only reason you weren't being kidnapped and dragged away to those trucks and wagons and trains is because YOU were too boring). No, this was absolutely more of the 'around the water cooler' brand of boredom.Were they missing soursop too?

The cattle looked bored, but that was as it should be. They looked beautiful too. There were sheep and chickens and ducks. There were jams and jellies and quilts. There was all of that but it wasn't working for me, I was not quite feeling the magic. And then we went to what I thought I'd enjoy, the oxen pull, where they pull a stone boat (a metal sled covered with stone blocks of a certain weight). And I did enjoy it...for the first guy, who tapped his oxen with a flicky switich...and then there was the second guy, who shouted and heaved and whipped while they slobbered and hauled. I'm not a PETA person by any stretch of the imagination, but after seeing these oxen so mellow only moments earlier, it just felt like a bad thing to be watching and taking photos of, like ogling a car accident. With a camera. So that wasn't much fun.

 

 I left to wander the fair; it's pretty small so I wandered it a few times.

My favorite color for cattle...blue

Harness racing is some good racing

Best dancing couple

Phil and Laurie caught up with me and after some food sampling, we headed over to see the Flying Wallendas, another thing I thought I was really going to enjoy, and just felt sad instead. I read a lot more about them this morning, realizing (because I'd forgotten and confused them with some other act) they never flew trapeze but were ONLY a high wire act.

And I realized I'd only seen them at a big circus, with handlers and helpers and major spangle bangle, never at a fair. So the somewhat simpler appearance is understandable, and good on the courage in keeping the family name going.

Tino, the head of this branch of the family, is a grandson of Karl Wallenda (THE Karl Wallenda, who died in 1973 in San Juan, when he fell off the wire stretched between the Condado towers). Tino's son, daughter and a troupe member from outside the family performed, along with J.P. the Clown. The clown just depressed me more. It wasn't a good clown and when clowns aren't good they are either scary as hell or depressing. At least...that's my opinion...The acts, once the clown was gone, were good enough, the daughter on the swing, the men and her on the wire. Not unimpressive at all, but by then it was too late for me.

Would a bag of cashews help? They did, but this cool truck helped more

All in all, , I wasn't unhappy to leave the fair and sort of wanted to go back to Nate's outdoor gallery and see all the happy faces, even if they were only in metal. Instead, I fell asleep in the back seat on the way home and woke up hoping I wasn't too old to enjoy a fair. Could it just be me? Nahhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Embracing your Old Man

"The sun is up! The sky is blue! It's beautiful and so are you.." The Beatles

We are off to the Union Fair, a combination of agriculture, animals and art. I'm looking forward to the oxen pull! One thing you might not know about me (and there can't be much left) is that I really, really like cattle. And the only thing better than going to a fair with big, beautiful cattle is going with Phil, who used to own and work with oxen. We have the incredibly beautiful yoke to prove it! It's always fun to be with someone who can teach me something new and he's been the go to guy all summer for all things marine and land. Well, not all things, but I'll take a straight 'I have no idea, MJ' over guesswork bs anytime. So yes, get ready for some oxen photos...

I got a check in email from my wandering friend Chuck yesterday that seemed to be applicable to a few guys I know...and if not, it should be! I figure we're all photo'd out for a while, so I'm letting Chuck take over today's post.

Yakwe and Greetings Crew!

 

It's been a while since I last sent out a crew letter. The last one was about my friend Bwiji's housewarming celebration in Majuro. Since then I have fought off a serious antibiotic resistant infection, had some minor skin cancer removal, been called a “stubborn old man”, I have traveled over 5,000 miles by air to a very big island and I have been a “desperado on the run” for nearly 2,000 miles with my automobile! I've also seen some amazingly beautiful scenery, camped out at some spectacular sites and met up with several old friends.

With my new computer now online (many thanks to the Past Commodore of the Orcas Island Yacht Club, Bob Brunius) I will fill you in on the details.

Part I: A Stubborn Old Man...

Before flying off to the very big island of America I decided to have a small skin lesion removed from my shoulder. The Doctor in the Majuro Hospital, a very good Filipino surgeon, looked at me and said yes he would do it and scheduled me for out patient surgery. “Oh, by the way Doctor, would you look at this small infection on my leg for me? I think I may need a dose of antibiotics to kill it”, I said.

The Doc looked at it, shook his head, and said, “I don't like the looks of that one. We've been seeing some very bad infections lately that are resistant to antibiotics. I'll start you with a series of oral antibiotics and we'll see what happens”.

To make a long story short, when I returned a couple of days later my calf was the size of a rugby ball, I could barely walk and I was delirious with fever.“We better try something else”, the Doc said , and he put me on a 10 day run of intravenous third generation antibiotics that made me want to pass out or throw up depending on their whim. But they did the trick. For 10 days, at 6 in the morning and at 6 in the evening I got my fix and the horrible, ugly infection was exorcised.

After the infection was cleared up the Doc removed the offending skin lesion that I had originally stopped in to see him about. It was small, only about the size of a nickel. It was removed, biopsied, I was given more antibiotics and told to return in a week to have the stitches out.

The total medical bill for the surgery, the doctors visits, the antibiotics and the biopsy was $5.00. That's right, five bucks. While I was in the medical complex I also had a damaged filling replaced by the dentist. That cost another five bucks.

I have no insurance, no one in the Marshall Islands does. They do take a sizable chunk out of your paycheck for health care. Let me point out that there are no medical malpractice lawsuits either so doctors do not have to have millions of dollars in insurance. I don't think that I would want to have any brain surgery or highly specialized stuff done here but for the run of the mill medical treatment that makes up the bulk of doctors visits this place seems just fine.

Everything had gone so well that I decided to celebrate with a bowl of ice cream! While savoring a combination of mint chocolate chip and espresso almond fudge a friend of mine walked by...

“Hi!” I said.

“Oh, Hi Chuck” she replied. “What are you up to?”

“Well, my infection is gone. See.” I pointed to my leg. “And surgery is complete on my skin cancer so I thought that I would celebrate with ice cream.”

“Chuck, don't you realize that is one of the worst that you can be doing to your body right now? Sugar just feeds the all the bad things in your body and your immune system has been severely compromised by the antibiotics.”

“No”, I replied. “Ice cream is one of the best things I can do for my body right now. I can tell. It's making me feel very, very good!”

Her lips kind of squeezed together at my response, she shook her head a couple of times, looked my in the eye and stammered “You, you stubborn old man. You will never learn to eat properly!”

I might add that she is pretty much vegan and of course I will eat just about anything that walks, crawls, flies or swims. Such is life....

I feel very proud to finally have been called a stubborn old man. I have been aspiring to this all my life. I have also noticed that I have been referred to as “Sir” (as in “Excuse me, sir, would you like some help with that?”) more often of late. I have also been offered “senior discounts” more often at many venues. This is all good. I am hoping soon to become referred to as “that old codger”. It's about time!

That's enough for now, crew. Stand by for Part II of this series, “Desperado On The Run”....

Cheers and Carry On!

Chuck Handy

You might be called an old codger one day, Chuck, but never a boring old codger!

Have a tangy Tuesday! Do something translucent.