OUR BEST DAY EVER

        From Worldometer (new  COVID-19 deaths yesterday):

          DAY  USA  WORLD    Brazil    India    South Africa

June     9     1093     4732         1185        246       82

July    22      1205     7128         1293      1120     572

Aug    12      1504     6556         1242        835     130

Sept     9      1208      6222       1136       1168       82

Oct     21      1225      6849         571        703       85

Nov    25       2304    12025        620        518      118

Dec    30       3880    14748       1224       299      465

Jan     14       4142    15512       1151      189       712

Feb      3       4005    14265       1209       107      398

Mar     2        1989     9490        1726       110      194

April   6         906     11787         4211       631       37

May    4         853    13667        3025       3786      59 

June   1         287    10637         2346      3205      95

 July   7          251      8440        1595        817     411

Aug    4          656    10120        1118         532     423 

Sept  22       2228      9326          839        279     124

Oct    6         2102      8255          543        315       59

Nov   3         1436      7830         186         458       23

Dec    1        1633      8475          266        477       28

Jan    7         2025      6729         148        285      140

       28          2732   10,516         779        862      133

Feb  2           2990   12,012         946        991      175

        24         1823     9,809         996        304        40

Mar    2        1778      7,756         335        173        28

         11        1022      6002         465           88       28

         16         982      5579          354           59       40

         18         721       5214         380           69       39

         23         771       4695         294           67         6 

         24         649      5008          300           82       33

         31          676      4287         276           28       44

Apr     1          439     4056          290           52       12 

           7          409      3554         253           44         5 

          14         331      3383         158           21       16

          21         299      3347           86           54       65 

          28         247      2783          124          60         4 

May    4          305      2020            51          55       30 

           5          225      2404          151            ?       64

Summary:

• Most new cases yesterday (in new cases/million population):
• #1  Germany  87,201 (1034)
• #2  UA  66,611 (199)
• #3  Australia  54,868 (2110)
•  
• #7  Taiwan  30,060 (1253)
• #8  Finland  29,754 (5313)
• The U.S. is doing quite well.
• However, we were #2 in deaths yesterday with 225, which is 0.67 deaths/million.
• #1 was the UK with 438 deaths yesterday, which is 6.39 deaths/million, or nearly ten times higher than the U.S.
• Finland had 211 deaths yesterday, which calculate to 37.67 deaths/million, or 56 times higher than the U.S.

I have a companion who now lives at 15 Craigside.  Before the pandemic we had extraordinary trips  to France (for Chateau Lafite Rothschild), Japan (using Japan Rail Pass for the spring sakura and fall color changes), a cruise in the Orient, and Tiger encounter in Thailand.

For 27 months now we haven't traveled.  However, remember the home I posted on last month?  Well, it sold in two days, and after a month of escrow, the funds were wired to her bank yesterday, so we celebrated, perhaps, her greatest day ever.  I told you this would be a great week.  One of our stops was to Marukai to purchase her dream trio of Japanese whiskies.  

Cheaper versions of Kurayoshi (name of distillery) have won Whisky of the Year awards.  For example, The Whisky Bible this year selected their 18-year old as Malt Whisky of 2022.  In 2020 the Kurayoshi Pure Malt 12-year old won a gold medal in the International Whiskey Competition. This is their standard "cheap" brew.  I will later report on this competitor to Suntory and Nikka.

We then drove to COSTCO to buy bottles of Remy Martin Louis XIV Cognac and Johnny Walker Blue Label.  Alas, they ran out of the cognac, and as COSTCO is $500 cheaper than at other liquor stores here, she decided to wait.  She loves roast duck and pork, so got them from Market City, plus a chunk of chutoro from Marukai.  We had an incredibly fabulous very late lunch in the mid-afternoon yesterday.

Note those two mochi looking desserts.  Those came as gifts from 15 Craigside for Boy's Day.  Our best lunch ever.    My only contributions were the roses and carps.

We also had the Blue Label over rocks.

We ate so much that my Mexican tacos dinner for Cinco de Mayo will come later today, with Mint Julep Margarita, as a transition to the Kentucky Derby tomorrow.  

The timing was such that the Hawaii versus Ball State volleyball game would come on at 4:30PM, which was not scheduled on Hawaii TV.  

• However, 15 Craigside sometimes finds a way to get the game for viewing on our special channel.  No luck this time.  
• So I went to my computer and tried to link with NCAA+, something I've never tried before.  After a lot of fiddling around, I somehow connected, except the clarity was poor and the picture turned black or screwy a lot.  I re-tried and did not realize that still active was another you tube link that I could not see, which played the graduation at Texas Tech, where the names of the graduates were boringly name, and loudly.  
• 
  So was stuck with watching the fuzzy volleyball game listening to the Texas Tech graduation ceremony.
• In a very close match, Hawaii prevailed, and we will play Long Beach State on Saturday for the NCAA Volleyball Championship, which will be televised on ESPN2.

Yes, our best day ever.  Tomorrow, the 148th Kentucky Derby (the longest running sporting event) and variations of Mint Julep.  There will be 20 horses at Churchill Downs running 1.25 miles, said to be The Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports.  This year there is no clear-cut favorite

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