A Homer's Travels Look Back At 2022

2022 … This was a year of ups and downs. The Wife retired (Yay!) and I didn't finish the Appalachian Trail (AT) (Boo!). We left the country for our longest trip to date and it was amazing! It was a good year, not a great year, but a good enough year if you ignore the pandemic of stupidity that still simmers in our nation (though the results of the midterm elections shows some glimmer of hope) .

Let's look back at 2022, shall we:

• January: I started the month with a new idea of documenting my life with weekly summary posts.  This was to counter my too small for blog but too unimportant for Twitter issue.  I lost and found my wedding ring.  Our windows, ordered eleven months earlier, were finally installed.  Music returned when I started booking concert after concert.
• February: I got a new phone and was impressed by the 5G speed.  Medical issues were addressed including getting a colonoscopy.  We had a late family Christmas get together and a long overdue get together with the other side of the family.  Ukraine began dominating the news and my doom scrolling.
• March: Went to the Oscar Animated Shorts nominees. Celebrated Pi day.  Our windows were finally finished.  Spring Sprung.
• April: The first week of the month, especially the first weekend, was very full with concerts and a family wedding in Minneapolis.  We got our house painted Evergreen Fog.  My numbers improved a bit after I changed my diet and exercise routines.
• May: The Wife's last month of work started with her student going to finals of Poetry Out Loud.  My 11^th Caminoverary came and went.  I started preparing for my return to the Appalachian Trail by defining my stages, purchasing and repairing my gear, and planned my resupply strategy.  The Wife officially retired and had the school mascot named after her.  I stopped playing another game.
• June: The Wife's student, unfortunately, did not place in the top three of Poetry Out Loud.  I planned my AT food.  We went to a Notre Dame college world series baseball game.  I got sick a few weeks before leaving for the AT (I should have tested for COVID but didn't).  I mailed off my AT resupply boxes.
• July: The Wife and I enjoyed the Van Gogh exhibit.  We celebrated a somewhat tarnished 4th of July early at the Brother-in-Law's lake house.  I traveled to the start of my AT adventure.  I celebrated our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary by hiking into Maine.  My AT adventure ended prematurely.  I underestimated the trail and overestimated my capabilities and my last attempt to finish the AT came to an end.  What a waste of time, money, and effort on my part.  I celebrated my fifty-ninth birthday at home instead of on the trail as I'd hoped.
• August: This was a transition month.  I had little planned for this month since I was supposed to be on the AT for half of it.  Coming home early left a month full of mundane weekly ephemera.  The most important thing that happened this month were preparations for our big travels starting in September.
• September: This was a big travelling month for us as we visited Israel, Turkey, and Egypt.
• October: The trip we started in September continued through the middle of October with a visit to Ethiopia.  We celebrated the Wife's sixtieth birthday not having our faces eaten by hyenas.  I commemorated the end of my second Camino in 2013.  Mom had vertigo issues that sent her to the hospital.  We voted early.  I got a not-so-good blood results due to the out of control food I ate on our travels.
• November: Started off the month with a prostate biopsy - no cancer found.  I started moving from Twitter to Mastodon.  I got my COVID bivalent vaccine.  The midterm elections were mixed but better than expected.  Hot water now flows at our house.  We celebrated Thanksgiving at my Mom's house.  I bought myself a new tablet.  I put up the Christmas decorations early which felt very right.  I remembered the passing of a friend.
• December: We went to the Late Night Catechism Christmas Show with the Brother-in-Law and his Wife.  The balls were put in the tree again.  We met the MoH and BM at a Frank Lloyd Wright Hotel in Mason City, IA.  A Christmas cactus finally bloomed but from a gifted plant.  The solstice ushered in a very cold start to winter.
• Hiking: My walking this years was a bit mixed this year.  I started off doing longer hikes preparing for my attempt to finish the AT but after that ended in utter crappitude (that should be a word).  I had trouble doing anything over ten miles.  I ended strong, doing three hikes during the last week of December, hiking a total of 604 miles (972 km) for the year spread over seventy hikes.  This places 2022 in sixth place since I started keeping records in 2007.  A mediocre hiking year.
• Biking: This year I didn't ride my bike at all.  I should just remove this category since I am not motivated to ride anymore.
• Books: I set a goal to read twenty books this year.  I did well (for me) reading nineteen books.  I'd hoped I would exceed my goal but I found it difficult to read while we were traveling.  I was either very tired at the end of the day or there were too many movies to watch on the plane.  Here are my Goodreads Stats for 2022.
• Concerts, Shows & Music :  Live music returned this year.  It started with the Tedeschi Trucks Band and continued with the Marshall Tucker Band, Enter the Haggis, Bon Jovi, Alice Cooper, Santana, and America.  The only non-music show we went to this year was Sister's Christmas Catechism.  Despite seeing live music again I still listened to a lot of music on Spotify.  Here is my Spotify 2022 Wrapped if you want to explore what the shuffle button did music-wise this year.  A lot of the music it lists is stuff I added before/after going to the concerts.

• I posted 127 times this year.  This is the most I've posted since 2017 and twice as many as last year.  I think adding the Weekly Ephemera posts got me writing more, not to mention the AT interruptus and the Fall travels giving me a lot of inspiration as well.  Now I just have to keep it up or maybe even write more next year.

What will 2023 bring?  We have a few trips in the planning stages - a domestic roadtrip, an Asian adventure, and a hike along the Camino de Santiago.  Some friends will be visiting in the Spring to see the sandhill crane migration. I'm sure more things will pop up along the way. The key to 2023, and most other years frankly, is to be flexible and accept what comes your way.

Here's to a Happy, Prosperous, and Healthy New Year for all.  May all your dreams come true in 2023.

Book: M. R. Carey's "The Boy On The Bridge"

The last book of 2022 was the sequel to 'The Girl With All the Gifts" which I read back in December 2015.  M.R. Carey's "The Boy on the Bridge" follows a group of scientists and soldiers trying to find a cure for the fungal infection that turns people into mindless 'hungries' (i.e. zombies).

I came close to giving "The Girl With All the Gifts" five stars.  This second book was not as good, mainly because it lacked the originality of the first - the curse of being a sequel.  It was not as good but it was okay.  The main character, an autistic boy savant, irritated me which brought the whole story down for me.

While it had its faults, it wasn't bad, so I gave it four stars out of five on Goodreads.  The ending was interesting and full of hope which we all need these days.

Merry Christmas To All

 

Weekly Ephemera #40

We will be busy on Christmas day so I'm posting the Weekly Ephemera post a day early.

• The weather turned cold this week as we rang in the winter season.  The forecast of cold temperatures was pretty much spot on.
  
  The forecast for snow was a bit off.  I'm not sure how much we actually got since when I looked out at the snow it was falling sideways.  Sideways falling snow, blown by blizzard winds, is a bit unpredictable and hard to measure.  I can say we had just over an inch on the sidewalks.  I'd picked up the neighbor's snow blower a few days before the snow and I decided to use it despite there being so little snow.  This made it a little faster which was good as it was -11℉ (-24℃) and windy and I wanted to finish as soon as I could so I could go back inside for a hot shower.
• Despite the very hard wind we had, only one ball fell out of the oak tree.  Of course, more may have blown off and simply went down the street.  It's hard to keep track of them sometimes.
• I walked twice this week for a total of 17 miles (27.4 km).  It was cold on my second walk and there was a thin sheet of ice on the sidewalks.  I walked a lot on the grass so I wouldn't fall on my butt.  I hope to get in a few more walks before the new year.
• On Christmas Eve the Wife and I went over to Mom's for food and presents with her and her step son's families.  We will be spending Christmas day at Mom's  for more food.

I hope you all are having a great Christmas weekend surrounded by family and friends.

2022 Fall Travels, Part Four - Ethiopia - The Karo, The Hamer, The Dassanech, And The Mursi Tribes

A man of the Karo tribe.

The Buska Lodge was … interesting.  The huts were similar to the Paradise Lodge's bungalows but they were definitely more primitive.  There were two single beds opposite of each other.  The one thing missing here was electricity.  Power was only available for a few hours in the morning and a few hours at night.  After 11:00PM it was lights out.  It was also warmer in southern Ethiopia and we kept cool in our huts with floor fans.  Unfortunately no electricity = no fans.  So when you woke up in the middle of the night it was hot and a bit sweaty.  Fortunately we were out and about most of the day, the food was good, and there was beer for the Wife.

Over the next three days we visited four tribes.  The first was the Karo.  Their village was on a highlands overlooking the Omo River.  Our guide lined up the women and then the men so we could take pictures (another awkward moment for me).  They demonstrated their face painting art.  As we left we passed a raucous group dividing up the grain harvest.

The next was the Dassanech tribe.  We visited their village of domed homes that are made of wood and mud but are more commonly built with tin now.  We saw the differences between the tribes and how their customs vary.  I purchased a handmade crocodile tooth necklace here.

Karo women distributing the harvest.

Whip scars proving
their devotion.

The third was the Hamer tribe.  This one  was very interesting but a bit disturbing.  First, when a couple marries the woman is kept in a hut for three months never venturing outside.  Food and drink are brought to her during this period and she does not have to work for her tribe.  With encouragement from our guide, and permission from the tribal elder, she was brought out where we could see her.  She did not look happy or comfortable at all as we took pictures.  It was like a reluctant sideshow act and the Wife and I felt this was very wrong.  Also disturbing was the custom of some young women to allow themselves to be whipped to prove their devotion to their families.

At the Hamer village I learned my name in their language was "Hello Photo".

A Hamer girl.

We ended up at the Eco-Omo Safari Lodge which was a step above the Buska Lodge (but not even close to the Paradise Lodge).  We could have slept in tents but they put us in newer lodge rooms which was probably for the better.

The last tribe visited was the Mursi.  The Mursi women wear the plates in their lower lips and large disks in their earlobes.  It is believed they started doing this to make themselves ugly and undesirable to slave traders.  We learned how the clay disks are made, how the lower lip is cut and stretched, and how the bottom front four teeth are knocked out so the disk fits.  The Wife left the village with twelve of the lip disks.

A Mursi woman with her lip plate.

We returned to Addis Ababa the next day.  We spent the last day  visiting the places that we couldn't visit way back on our first day.  We drove up to Mount Entoto to take in the sweeping view of Addis Ababa.  We then visited the National Museum.  Here we saw art and history including the bones of Lucy (replicas actually ... they are too precious to have the real ones out in public).  The newly renovated wing of the museum is very well done.

In the afternoon we visited an awesome store for some last minute shopping.  We ended up with a lot of treasures this trip, many from Ethiopia.  Our only rule is that we have to be able to carry them.  I will write about them in a future post.

Artwork at the National Museum.

In the evening we had a goodbye dinner at a traditional restaurant that offered live local music on stage. The food was a bit too traditional (i.e. spicy hot) for my taste but they did add some less spicy options that were to my liking.

Ethiopia was an unexpected place for me.  I'd come here with zero expectations and was surprised every day by the things I saw and experienced.

Our adventure was over.  I never really felt like I was ready to come home until the last week.  I think it is not the length of time you travel that makes you homesick but the shortening of the time left at the end that ignites those feelings.

I still have a few more 2022 Fall Travels posts in me but they will have to wait until the new year.

Pictures can be found in my Ethiopia 2022-10 Google Photos album.

Book: Martha Wells' "Rogue Protocol"

The third installment of the Murderbot Diaries was my next read.  Martha Wells' "Rogue Protocol" like the other two books I've read from the series is a fun read whose only fault, really, is that it is too short.

This novella continues where the last ended with our rogue security unit doing good, killing bad guys, and trying to find peace and quiet to watch his media.  Peace is often elusive.  Instead he finds himself always defending the underdogs.

I gave this novella four stars out of five on Goodreads.  I don't consider the Murderbot Diaries great but they are good.  Good enough that I'm looking forward to reading the remaining two novellas and the full length novel.

The Cold Arrival Of Winter

Today is the winter solstice and, as of the time of this post, astronomical winter has arrived.  It is arriving here with a bang this year with temperatures dropping rapidly after its arrival.  The forecast high temperature for Thursday and Friday is around -3℉ (-19℃).  The low temperature for those days is around -10℉ (-23℃).  There is a chance for snow.

Oh, and did I mention the wind?  Wind chills are forecast to be between -35℉ and -40℉ (-37℃ and -40℃).

HAPPY WINTER SOLSTICE EVERYONE !!!

BRRRRR !!!

Book: Rana Foroohar's "Homecoming: The Path To Prosperity In A Post-Global World"

I'm a little behind in my reading reviews.  I'll try to catch up this week. 

My latest non-fiction read was Rana Foroohar's "Homecoming".  The book is basically calling the end of globalization and suggesting it will be replaced by regionalism, diversified sourcing, and shortening the supply chain in general.

I have been positive on globalization for a while but I do have my doubts.  I think the almighty dollar has gotten in the way of pragmatism and long term planning.  Do I think globalization is dead?  No.  Do I think it is being replaced by regionalism?  No.  I think we will eventually settle on a hybrid between the two.  So, I do disagree a little bit with Foroohar but the differences between her and my positions are minor.

The book is written well enough.  It was a slow read for me but I think it was more the subject matter than the writing style.  Foroohar uses many examples.  Some I could relate to.  Others I couldn't.

I almost gave this book four stars but, while writing this review, I changed my rating to three stars out of five on Goodreads.  The fact I disagree somewhat with the author's conclusions is what dropped the rating down a bit. 

2022 Fall Travels, Part Four - Ethiopia - Paradise Lodge, Lake Chamo, The Dorze, And The Konso

We left Harar and flew to Arba Minch.  This was a travel day and we ended our day at the Paradise Lodge.  This place came close to living up to its name.  The lodge is located on the edge of a ridge with spectacular views of lake Abaya, lake Chamo, and the jungle parkland in between.

Lake Abaya and the forest view of the Paradise Lodge. 

A few days before arriving at the lodge our guide mentioned a great masseuse at the Paradise lodge.  The Wife and I, another of our tour group, and our guide all booked massages the day of our arrival.  I'd expected the usual Swedish massage.  Instead it was a deep tissue massage … my first.  A deep tissue massage is aggressive and this masseuse knew exactly where  the knots in my muscles were and she aggressively went after them.  I cringed a few times at just how aggressive she was.  As I left the spa I warned the Wife and suggested she ask for a less aggressive massage.  I returned to our 'hut' (our hut had a real floor, plastered walls, windows and sliding doors, a king size bed, electricity, and running water … more a hotel room than a traditional hut) and sat out on our back veranda admiring the view.  All of a sudden I felt the delayed reaction of the massage (I think the adrenaline wore off) and my body just relaxed.  I have never felt so relaxed.  The Wife returned an hour later.  This was her first real massage and she loved it.

A goliath heron.

While I was waiting for the Wife to return our hut was visited first by Momma warthog and her two young'uns and later by Poppa warthog.  I was so relaxed it took me a while to get my camera and take a picture of Poppa.

Poppa warthog.

The next day we went to lake Chamo and boarded a motor boat.  The level of the lake was very high and the dock and concession stands were underwater.  We had to walk on a narrow log to get to the boat.  The boat took us out on the lake (This was boat ride number five if I'm counting right) where we saw fisherman fishing from small rafts, birds, hippopotami lounging in the shallows of the lake, and crocodile sunning themselves on an island.  The crocodiles leave their mouths open so birds will come in and clean out any parasites in their mouths.

A crocodile sunning himself with his mouth open.

After lunch at the lodge we drove to Chencha to visit the Dorze people.  These people live in domed houses that look like elephant's head.  The tribe once hunted elephants but over the years the elephants had moved to other locations.  We learned how the homes are built, how termites erode the base of the house slowly shrinking the house, and how the smaller eroded houses are used as kitchens or storage huts.

Dorze "elephant" house.

We then learned how the tribe cultivates the false banana and how they use all parts of the plant for weaving, food, and drink. 

This was followed by a dance and singing demonstration.  This is the part of visiting tribes that bothers me.  It feels like we are watching circus animals performing instead of people actually celebrating their culture.  The only consolation is our tour company pays the tribe for the our visit and this helps them continue their way of life.

On the way out of town we visited the town market where I learned that my name was apparently "Hello Money".  At least that is what all the kids called me.

The next day we reluctantly left the Paradise lodge and drove into the highlands to visit the Konso tribe.  This tribe build their villages on hillsides and surround them with walls.  The location and walls make it easier for them to defend their village from enemies or at least it used to.  As the village grows new walls are built. The village we visited had three concentric walls. The inner walls are hundreds of years old as are the stone terrasses the Konzo people farm on. In the village we learned how they grew coffee, how they built generation poles (a new pole is added for each generation living in the village), and about the stones used to test if you had reached manhood (I was not a man as I could not lift it at all and to be a man you had to lift it and toss it over your shoulder).

Older Konzo men play games and take care of the children as the younger adults work.

At the end of the day we ended up at the Buska lodge in Turmi.  Our adventure in southwestern Ethiopia would continue.

Pictures can be found in my Ethiopia 2022-10 Google Photos album.

Weekly Ephemera #39

• On Monday we had a call with our healthcare broker.  By keeping our taxable income low next year our monthly health insurance will drop from $555 to $144.  We did not expect this at all.  A side effect of keeping out taxable income so low is the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services is contacting me by email and text asking if I'm interested in getting food stamps and other poverty relief assistance.
• I took Mom to her last doctor's appointments of the year.  She's passed all her tests with flying colors. Yay!
• The weather will be changing later this week.  More about this in a later post I suspect.  If the forecasts pan out it's going to be chilly.
• I walked only once this week.  One of my walks was drizzled (and lazy-ed) out.  Since I felt a little guilty for that I pushed myself a bit on Friday and walked 10.5 miles (16.9 km).  When I got home my left thigh was killing me.  I was hobbling around even after I took pain pills.  It took a couple days to totally recover.  I once thought that ten miles was an easy hike. I think this is just another sign that I have become too sedentary (and older).  I am planning to walk twice this coming week - Monday and Wednesday - before the real cold arrives.