Natatorium

Here's another favorite spot of mine.

The old Natatorium was built to honor the 101 soldiers lost from Hawai'i and the veterans of WWI. It reminds me of the ruins of the Sutro Baths out at Cliff House in San Francisco. The filigree gate and the neoclassical arches are lovely; vaguely Parisian in a way that's difficult to describe. I keep trying to get a good photo that really captures that faded yet rather determined elegance quietly enduring amidst the usually bustling backdrop of Waikiki. Haven't quite accomplished it yet, but these are two that I like so far:


Along with many other spots on this island, it's one that's stolen a piece of my heart. <3

Aloha pumehana...

Vacation Time

We have tickets for our trip!

Finally! After a year and a half, I truly need this vacation.

Three weeks at the holidays with my boy, surrounded by the people we love in one of the prettiest places on Earth, the lovely Valley of the Moon. Twinkling lights on the Plaza, Christmas dinner with all the fixins, Murphy's!, Mary's!, Rin's!, a hike or two to precious places, a trip to SF, and best of all, visiting with family and friends who are sorely missed. I can honestly say there is no place on the planet I'd rather be for the holidays! :)

Aloha pumehana...

Emma's Here!!

Emma Ann

6 lbs., 11 oz.

Welcome to the world, sweet baby girl!

Images of Favorite Haunts

I realize I've been lax with posting photos lately. So here a few from Malaekahana Beach up toward North Shore and then a couple from walking down around Diamond Head, which is very close to home and a favorite place to walk.

Malaekahana is a good beach for privacy or solitude. It's gorgeous and always empty. When I took these, there were some taiko drummers up on the hill in the trees, but the beach was empty. It was very primal, with the drum rythms wafting down from the hill. This is also the beach where I saw R5AY, my first Hawaiian Monk Seal about a year ago. The island in close off the beach is Goat Island, which you can swim to or walk to out over the reef at low tide.





And some glimpses of a little beach below Diamond Head and the house perched there over the sea. The bougainvilla above this post belongs to the same house and adorns their gate streetside.





Aloha pumehana...

Kahala Beach to IHS

Phew, we're pooped!

But in a good way. We had a busy day today.

First, there was the semiannual monk seal count this morning. That involved wandering the beaches from Black Point to Wailupe in search of wayward monk seals. Wayward because the seals almost never haul out in this area, one fronted by the exclusive Kahala Resort and multi-million dollar homes, but it still needs to be searched for the official count. Since walking on the beach is one of my favorite pasttimes anyway, it was a pleasure for me, and Kevin enjoyed it, and we met a new volunteer. So that was fun.

Then this afternoon, we met up with other youth and parents from the U-U Church of Honolulu at the Institute for Human Services downtown. This is the local homeless shelter, with two facilities, one for men and one for women and children. Together we all cooked a lasagna dinner for 300 people. Kevin with a butcher knife chopping onions...it took all my will to detach and let that happen, lemme tell ya. Then we split up, and the gals went to the women's shelter, and the fellas stayed at the men's shelter, and we all served up yummy hot meals to people in need.

The irony of societal extremes was not lost on me. As a silent reminder from the windows of the dining hall on the 2nd floor of the women's shelter, a docked luxury cruise ship dominated the view.

But all in all, we do what we can. Good works in good company. It was a very full and satisfying day for both of us.

Aloha pumehana...

L'Ennui d'Henri

Merci, Kelley...Trop Drole!




Reminds me of your suicidal dog song, Alan P. :)

Virtual Photograph

Aloooooha!

Busy week and weekend. Very busy with work, busy with Kevin, busy laughing (it's that tickle spot, dadgummit), and awaiting little Emma's arrival. :)

Too many malasadas (warm doughy, cinnamon covered dollops of heaven, my favorite being the almost-as-good-as-sex haupia filled numbers from Leonard's Bakery) make a woman pretty tubby, so among other activities, I took a hike out to the Makapu'u cliffs on the lighthouse trail, where I like to walk. Of course, I don't bring the camera every time, but I'm learning that...um...perhaps I should.

I started my walk before sunset. The sky was strewn with high clouds and I could see the misty rain clinging to the Pali in the distance, so there were only a sprinkling of intrepid humans and canines out for a constitutional. The wind up there was quite strong, but warm and invigorating. As I reached the top, I looked down over the lighthouse, and caught my breath. The water was so beautiful, not just pretty blue as it normally is, but something about the light gave it a depth of color that was intense. It was cobalt blue, just the color of that deep blue glass that I've always loved. Deep deep cobalt, with the whitecaps and the lighthouse with its bright red top...lovely.

So I was happy tripping back down the path when I turned a crook and gasped a little. There was the almost full moon, large and bright white against the sky over the water. One of those reach-out-and-touch-me moons...lovely.

So my heart was full and content as I moseyed on down the path between the rocky hills, when I turned another corner on the other side, and took in a true gasp, loud enough to stop a man and his hound behind me. The sun was setting over the whole valley from the Ka'Iwi shoreline on one side, up and over the rich green Pali shrouded in the deepest glowing pinks and purples and oranges, all the way over to the turquoise waters of the Windward shore. Every hue of every color of the rainbow was painted clear across that sky. Nowhere have I seen such depth and softness of color all at once. It was breathtaking...literally. I turned to the man and his dog, and he smiled and said, "Didn't bring mine either, happens to me all the time." Then he winked and turned back as he walked on. He tapped the side of his head and yelled over the wind, "Take it in and store it up here".

So I did. :)

Cuteness

This is just the most adorable child...

Rest In Peace

Okay, this is the capper to a pretty crappy week. One of our volunteers found a monk seal deceased on the beach in Waimanalo this morning, and it's the pup we were watching up in Kahuku all summer. He was tagged and given the permanent name of Hoku when he was moved to Rabbit Island and was doing quite well there with a number of others, still kinda roly poly and easy-going like he was as a pup.

But Hoku is gone now. The NOAA scientists will be doing a necropsy to figure out why. I'm so sad today...need to go sit on a beach somewhere and cry.

Rest in peace, sweet Hoku...

Living Things...

...in the kitchen...



Yes, it was time for the 7th grade science experiment, proving that yeast is a living thing. Big bowl, water, sugar and Baker's Yeast. Yum!

Kevin observed the percentage of surface area bubble coverage every fifteen minutes while I wondered if I'd ever get that Guinness-y smell out of my baking bowl.

It's funny, I never did any experiments all through school in science. Somehow, I missed it all. We were always doing plate tectonics or genetics or something from the book, never any hands-on lab science. I'm so glad Kevin is apparently getting a better education than I did. I even taught him how to do a time-concentration plot to graph his data for his report, since I do these for work all the time. That was fun.

Unfortunately, this science project came due the same day (today) as two English papers for Kevin, which created a twee bit of stress at our home this week. It's been a looooooong week, with lots of other things and people on my mind, too, including a three-day migraine and three friends I'm concerned about (if you're reading this, hang in there and know you're on my mind :).

But the weekend is here, Kevin is practicing ZZ Top's 'La Grange' and I'm more than ready to go out somewhere for a nice meal with my boy. Okay, time to get out of the house.

Aloha...