spooksie 👻The rainy season has arrived here in East Hawai'i. The plants are happy, and although I can't spend much time in the garden, I'm happy because we were in such a severe drought before the rainy season started. Things were crispy every day (and this is in an environment where we like it to rain most nights).
Anyway, with the rainy season come new patterns of living, with a focus on keeping stuff dry: taking advantage of scraps of sun to hang the towels up and then bringing them back in immediately when it starts to rain. Also: keeping a closer eye on energy use and solar power. But especially: keeping feet dry. I basically wear slippers (flip-flops) all day every day, so just walking to the outhouse or to the garden gets my feet and slippers wet. I'm trying to dry both of them off afterwards.
Why the focus on dry feet? Well, I got a foot fungus a few years ago and I hated it. I didn't even realize what it was at first ... It was just peeling skin on my toes that never healed. It didn't hurt or anything, and it wasn't particularly gross (just peeling skin), but I hated how it never fixed itself the way a cut would (even with liberal application of aloe). Eventually I figured out it was a fungus, got an anti-fungal cream, and started focusing on keeping my feet dry. But even with that, it took a few weeks of applying the fungal cream for it to heal. Which is like...kind of creepy! The organism (which I never directly saw...all I saw was peeling skin) needed to have death cream applied every day for two weeks before it died! So basically that experience made me want to not get The Fungus again.
Slipper type affects this as well! "Fancier" sandals stay wet for longer, meaning that your feet are always in contact with wet shoes. Meanwhile, good ole' plastic Locals brand slippers can be dried with a towel immediately (yes, i have a special foot towel). So if you see people wearing "simple" flip flops, don't assume they're too poor to afford fancier ones.
So friends in tropical wet climates (especially going into the rainy season): May your roofs never leak, may your wood beams remain intact, may your batteries not empty, and may your toesies stay dry!
(And yes, I know I can just wear rain boots, but my feet hate being all cooped up! 🤣)
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