Monday, October 28, 2013

Sophie Standing Tall

She just keeps getting taller and taller.


Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Kona Ironman

The Kona Ironman was this past Saturday. The cycling part of the race was a 100-mile round trip from Kailua to Hawi (on the northern tip of the island). They closed the Queen Ka'ahumanu highway for the riders. All week I'd seen signs at the bottom of Ka'iminani (my main access road) warning that the highway would be closed at that junction.
So on Saturday morning, I drove to where Ka'iminani was barricaded and watched the cyclists as they went by.
I arrived early enough to see the last of the riders heading north and then stayed long enough to see the first of the riders as they came back. The leaders were at least 3 hours ahead of the tail-end riders.

Other locals watching the leading riders returning from Hawi:



The last rider as he headed north - several hours behind the leaders. He's probably old enough to be the grandfather of the lead rider:



The lead rider returning from the 100 mile trek - and he STILL has to run a marathon after this:



Aloha y'all!



Thursday, October 10, 2013

Here Come the Holidays!

Although the weather hasn't changed much here, summer is gone and Halloween is just around the corner. I'll have to learn to get myself into holiday mode without autumn leaves and cold nights to prompt me.  

My calendar shows expected visitors in November (2 groups), December (2 groups), January, and February. I look forward to seeing all of you! You can expect warm weather and sunshine but, if you are lucky, we'll spend at least one afternoon sitting on the lanai and watching a tropical downpour. I LOVE it when it rains here!

Sophie and I both survived my trip to Austin in September. After non-stop playing for five days at Paws, Sophie slept for 72 hours when she returned home. She usually spends one day a week playing with all her dog friends, but I think five days was just too much fun for her. The best news is that she didn't seem to pine away for me that week, nor did she pretend not to know me when I picked her up at 7AM on Saturday (the moment they opened). 

Sophie is now about 65 pounds, long enough to stretch most of the distance across a king-sized bed, and tall enough to stand with her paws on the lanai railing to finish off the breadcrumbs I put out for the birds.

Sophie supervises my ironing on a rainy Sunday...



Aloha y'all!