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!