Healing, Goodbye to Baliem Valley and Onto A Futuristic World

7 October 2012
9:55 PM

Sunrise at	8:21 AM	in direction	102°	East-southeast
Sunset at	6:55 PM	in direction	258°	West-southwest

Duration of day: 10 hours, 33 minutes (6 minutes, 39 seconds shorter than yesterday)

I am better.  Each day I make progress although mornings are still given over to clearing out congestion that accumulated over night; it just doesn't go on all day.  I will return to work tomorrow.

The forecast is interesting.   I mentioned yesterday that snow was in the forecast for those who lived above 2500 feet.  Here is the report for tomorrow:

Columbus Day: Rain. Snow level lowering to 2000 feet elevation in the afternoon. Areas of fog. Highs in the upper 30s to mid 40s. Light winds.

Monday Night: Cloudy. Rain and snow ending in the evening. Above 1000 feet elevation...less than an inch snow accumulation. Lows in the upper 20s to lower 30s. Light winds.

I don't recall the forecast being so precise in suggesting where the snow line will be, but the message is clear.  It is getting colder and be prepared for slippery roads as the weather slides toward winter.  The days are darkening, as evidenced by the length of the day.  We are already well behind those further to south.  I am just glad I don't live in Barrow!

I finished reading the tale of survival and rescue from the Baliem Valley in what is now called Papua.  It was Dutch Guinea at war time.  Confusing is the fact that the country is divided in half and to the east is Papua New Guinea. The settlement where the army air corps base, Hollandia, is now Jayapura.  The Baliem Valley had been charted by Richardd Archbold, but not recorded on maps that the Army had access to.  So when reconnaissance planes unexpectedly flew into the valley, it was considered a new discovery.  Google Map shows the outline of the valley clearly now and the lives of its inhabitants changed forever with the war and it becoming known to the "civilized" world.

Nearly 20% of the book was footnotes and references, which strangely, I read through page by page.   The historian in me, I am sure, loved seeing where each scrap of information he provided us came from.  At the end was a compendium of books that I can read to continue my pursuit of knowledge about that region.  Living in Honiara for a month impressed me deeply.  It is a part of my life I will never forget.

Now I am reading a futuristic novel, Ship Breaker.  When the one of the main characters was referred to as "Boss Girl", I felt shock - were these children working in the bowels of scrapped ships of a bygone era?  That fact was confirmed soon after.

While summer is a time of constant movement, celebration, outdoor get-togethers, and travel, winter is a time to pull inside for quiet absorption through reading, watching movies and TV series, and in my case writing.  The house becomes a safe haven, out of the elements - warm, comfortable, and inviting.  The dark days are lit by Blue Max lamps rated at 96 CRI.  I read the most, write the most, and watch the most HULU programs through winter.  I may even invest in more memory for my computer and buy a few games for my disc.

My illness catalyzed activities that foreshadow many evenings at home in the next few months.