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