Hawaiian Thanksgiving

Sophie and I have these traditions:

We watch the Macy's Parade.

Sophie watches the National Dog Show while I cook.

We stuff ourselves with the usual Roast Beast:

Then we go for a swim:

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!!!!!!!!!!

Night Blooming Cereus

I have this weird plant that blooms only once a year and only at night.
Last night was THE night, so I watched the plant as the softball-sized blooms opened around 10PM. I've named her Audrey II.

4PM

6PM

8PM

10PM

Debbie and Colleen Visit

Debbie and Colleen come to visit about this time every year. This was the second year that we've done the Kona Village Stroll together.

Every third Sunday of the month, they close Ali'i Drive and local vendors show their wares. And there's food and entertainment. But mostly, it's about the shopping. We got there just as it opened and stayed until it started to rain. And we had a wonderful lunch at Kona Village Inn too!!!!!!!!!!!

Last year at the Stroll, I got new artwork for my remodeled bathroom and kitchen.

This year, I loaded up on Lilikoi Butter and scented soaps and Christmas presents. We were all charmed by these - made by a Pahoa artist:

They are kinda like snow globes. You shake or just flip them over to create an entirely new shell scene. 

Debbie and Colleen go home tomorrow but I hope I'll see them next year.

And even MORE Lava

My neighbor Steve spent the night at the lava sight two nights ago to get these pictures of lava at sunrise...

Barbara, Steve, and Jeff Visit

Megan is back in school at Purdue, so Barbara and Steve came without her this year. Barbara's brother, Jeff, joined us this time.

Here's how we began every morning...

And here's how we ended every evening...

Sophie had her share of fun at the dog beach...

More Lava

Steve's friend, Jack Jeffrey, is a local professional wildlife photographer. He was recently down at the lavafall. He got really up close and personal where the lava hits the water.

Madame Pele

I know you've all heard about the recent volcano activity (even the BBC gives almost daily reports). I finally went over to see what all the fuss was about. It was a bit of a commitment -- a 2-hour drive followed by a 4-mile hike. The parks department had people checking you out before you started the hike. Did you have enough water? Were you wearing the right shoes? And did you have a flashlight?--Most of us would be making the return hike in TOTAL DARKNESS.

The summary of the hike is this: It was long. It was hot. The recently laid (and now totally cooled) lava that we crossed was gorgeous. And then we got to the new, hot lava. There it was, just minding its own business and slowly trickling down the hill and into the ocean.

Now I'll just show pictures...
(Keep in mind that anything red is in motion and usually coming right at you! We could get 5-10 feet from the moving lava before it got too too hot and we had to back up!!!))

The surface of the hellish hot lava was constantly cooling and blackening
and curling itself into gorgeous ripples.

This blob was about a foot thick and putting out SO much heat!
Even from 10 feet, it felt as if I were sticking my face right into a campfire.

 Everyone was getting as close as they dared
with their cameras, phones, and selfie sticks.

Yes, that's flame inside this glob.

I would estimate that the lava on a slope like this was
moving at about 6 inches per second. Every now and then, it would suddenly surge
and people would scramble like cucarachas.

And all the while, Mother Nature was smiling on us with this rainbow.

My videos are too large to upload to this blog, so here they are on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/YiMNnfI69oI

https://youtu.be/bKxucca-MEM

Building a Raised Garden

Physical labor is REALLY laborious in the tropics. There's never a cool season for doing garden work... There's never a cool time of day...

I had to just suck it up and do as much as I could when I could. I've accepted that everything takes me a long, long time, but eventually it all gets done. 

Here's a progressive photo of the new raised garden bed.

(Sorry for the small size. The scale was a blogspot limitation. You can zoom the page if you really need to see more.)

If you care about the actual scale, the straight walls are each 12 feet long and it's about 18 inches deep. The total area is ~110 sq feet.

The soil you see there now is native garden soil and prone to root knot nematodes. I've planted mustard to "kill" the nematodes. When it matures, I'll till the mustard into the soil, fill it to the top with bagged, sterile soil, and plant my new garden. I'll alternate garden/mustard/garden/mustard for the rest of my life.

I actually kept track of all the hauling I did from the driveway -- down several sets of stairs -- to this garden at the far, lower end of the yard. 1000 pounds of soil ... 1500 pounds of stacking stones ... 350 pounds of post piers. The straight walls are reclaimed Trex from the previous owner's playground.

Whew!

More Sophie Pictures

In case any of you are in need of Sophie updates, here you go!

She LOVES to snuggle in bed on Sunday mornings.

Top Half

Bottom Half

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She's helping me build a big, raised garden bed:

May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii Nei

Not that Hawaiians need an excuse to wear lei, but Lei Day is when the crazy leis come out everywhere! There's a Lei Day parade, and a Lei Day Queen, and all sorts of festivals. 

This week was also the annual SPAMJAM, which needs no explanation. Along with the Gilroy Garlic Festival, the SPAMJAM is listed among the world's most bizarre food events. Check it out -  Bizarre Food

You'd be surprised how many people turn out to celebrate SPAM.

And now.... pretty pictures of lei....

No faux flower lei on Lei Day. The assortment of fresh flowers is magnificent!

Nothing cuter than keiki dressed up in traditional garb

And all around the state, statues of King Kamehameha are strung with The World's Longest Lei...

Before:

After:

How:

Happy May to everyone! In my mind, May is the beginning of summer. Check your summer schedule, make your vacation plans, come visit us!!!!

Aloha y'all!

The Things That Wash Ashore

We've had some massive wave action lately. The waves bring up all sorts of interesting things from the ocean depths...

Sophie and I stumbled upon this Kraken at our favorite shell beach last weekend.

It's actually a sea star with way more than the usual 5 legs. I wasn't sure if it was alive or dead, and I sure wasn't going to touch it to find out! I was almost afraid to put my poor shoe that close to it. 
And these unusually large shells were just sitting on the sand waiting for me:

The white one is about 3 inches long, but I don't know its name. The brown one is a Snakeskin Cowrie. We find lots of small ones, but this is the largest and prettiest Cowrie we've found.

Aloha y'all!

Winter Weather

It's a misnomer that it's always summer here.  We have four seasons like everyone else - but they are all warm and sunny. 

Winter is only slightly cooler than summer, and the beaches are less crowded. Now that Sophie is officially a swimmer, she can't wait to go to the beach, so we've been going 2-3 times a week since Christmas. I don't always let her swim, but she seems happy just to walk along the beach and lie down in the surf when she gets hot and tired.

Winters here are gorgeous, but we do sometimes get winter thunderstorms. Which is what happened last weekend. Big, banging thunder that sent Sophie into a frenzy (thank Dog for Benadryl), and rain that pounded so hard it was deafening!

The very next day, the ocean was gorgeous and there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

San Jose Visit Postmortem

Thank you to everyone who made time to visit with me when I was in San Jose. You kept me busy with lunches and dinners, and Jen and I even had our normal movie night! I got to visit many of my favorite restaurants and enjoyed a few new ones! (I highly recommend DishDash at McCarthy Ranch.)

And special thanks to Barbara, who put me up for the week while she was sick with a nasty Bay Area Sickness. And she was kind enough not to give it to me!

My suitcase was full of edible Hawaiian goodies on the way TO San Jose, and on the way back home, it was full of birthday presents. 

It was a very busy week, and I loved seeing all of you, but I was happy to come home to Sophie and our quiet island life. Sophie spent the week at Paws playing with all her friends from dawn to dusk, and she was one tired puppy when I got her home. She and I both took lots of naps those first couple of days.

Now we're looking forward to visits from YOU!

Aloha y'all!

Dengue Fever Update

We're almost out of the woods with the Dengue Fever outbreak on the Big Island. Kona and Hilo are no longer considered "hot spots," and, in another week or so with no new infections, they will give the entire island a clean bill of health. It takes 4 weeks of no new cases for the CDC to declare the outbreak officially over.

This outbreak started in October, and, according to Dr. Barbara, five months is typical for the life of an outbreak.

As ominous as the name "Dengue Fever" sounds, it really wasn't that bad. Apparently Dengue is nothing compared to the Zika virus that we're hearing about now. THERE IS NO ZIKA ON THE BIG ISLAND!!

The Big Island is safe - plan your vacations!

Aloha y'all!

Visiting San Jose in February

I'll be in San Jose for work from February 13th-18th.
Let's try to get together for lunch or dinner!

Here's my current schedule:
I arrive late in the evening on Friday the 12th.

13th Saturday        Lunch: Beth               Dinner: Barbara L

14th Sunday           Lunch: Carol & Gary   Dinner: Patsy

15th Monday          Lunch: in Training      Dinner: Daniela

16th Tuesday         Lunch: in Training      Dinner: Anita & Jacquelyn

17th Wednesday    Lunch: Barbara G        Dinner: Pride+Prejudice+Zombies

18th Thursday       Lunch: Jana                Dinner: Jen & Emma

I leave early Friday morning.

Hope to see you soon!

Typical Sunday at the Beach

Winter time here is excellent beach time. And nobody loves the beach more than Sophie. I got a little carried away with videos this weekend...

((Duke is Sophie's boyfriend du jour.))

Sophie demands that somebody throw her toy!
Duke's dad comes to the rescue.

Sophie and Duke do NOT eat the babies

Don't blink or you'll miss Duke and Sophie streaking by