Hawaii, up and around

You know how they call them 'red-eye' flights? Yeah, well, so much for just the 'red-eye' part. It took us a good 36 hours to recover from the sleep-deprived fog that followed our red-eye flight from Honolulu to LAX.


Kicking back, waiting for our 11pm flight.

We've finished doing laundry, restocked our fridge, reacquainting ourselves with English/European soccer (football) standings, are getting in a huge fix of football (U.S. variety) bowl games, and are checking, editing and uploading photos. Here are some of the 'up and around' snapshots:

Lots of opportunities for great photos at my parents' place.



And orchids, from my aunt/uncle's place, next door.





I joined the 'From Where I Stand' group on Flickr a few months back, in case you're wondering about all the photos with me and my hiking sandals/feet.


At the North Shore, checking out what I think are really small opihi

and cooling off our toes. Like my hiking tan lines?



After driving further north around the island, chips and margaritas at Cholos in Haleiwa, Oahu. Nom!


During our stay, I managed to get in a couple good runs, plus a few walks, for about 17 miles total. Since we normally walk – but NEVER run – I consider this to be quite the accomplishment. I went for runs right out the front door, which pretty much left my parents speechless. Seriously. They were thinking, “Who knew?!”.

Kahalu'u fishpond, from my last run there.

 

Out and About / Hawaii, Part 2

No, we didn't to Hawaii again. I'm just a little slow in posting.

So, this trip, J took along his tripod, to spend more serious time taking photos.
Here he is taking a shot at Mokoliʻi , aka 'Chinaman's Hat':


(Why yes, the horizon DOES dip to the right in Hawaii. Didn't you know?)

and world famous Diamond Head



He set up the tripod at took posed family photos at the Christmas potluck as well. There were lots of nice photos of everyone with their families and I sent copies of CDs with the pics back to the gang in Hawaii.

So my mom and dad said they looked at the images on the CD.  I asked if they liked the video.

They go, "Video? You mean the slide show? Yeah, we saw the slide show".
And I go, "No, the video. Of the imu. Like a Movie".
And they go, "Hemm. Moo-oovie. Like a slideshow of all the pictures from the imu? Pictures that move?Yeah. We saw the slideshow".

I think, "Mmmf, that's a 'No' on the video".

My dad gets on the phone: "Yeah, lots of nice pics that Jan took. The upside-down orchid. The anthuriums with raindrops. The coconut. The mosquito punk..."
I go, "Hey, those were my pictures."
Dad: "No, I saw J taking the pictures out in the front with his camera."
Me: "I was taking pictures, too. I have a camera. I'm just more sneaky. Those pictures were in a folder labelled 'Wendees pics'".
Dad, the newfangled computerese thought not processing: "Heh."

I think, "Yeah, that's a 'No', too. I am SO chopped liver".

Dad: "Yeah. Fantastic pics that J took. Whoooo, and lots of 'em. Fantastic."

Me, thinking, "Swell".

Out and About / Hawaii, Part 1

Hawaii for the holidays means:

- Hundreds of roosters crowing well before dawn. You get used to sleeping through the cacophony. You know when you have to study new words for standardized college tests and you learn them but don't really think about what they'd actually mean, in practice? The ruckus at 3 AM was my SAT moment for 'cacophony'. 


- Lots of food! Here's the potluck for New Year's Day. There was plenty more for Christmas and New Year's Eve. See the plate of futomaki sushi at around the center of the table? I would have been content to eat the whole plate. [sigh] Sharing... pfeh.


- Lots of mosquitos! Lots of mosquito punk coils!


- Exploring the plants growing ...




... everywhere!


More later

And ... we're back!

We just got back from spending the holidays with my family in Hawaii. I'll be writing more about our adventures out and about, but if you're feeling impatient, you can see the whole set of photos right now by clicking [here!]

I'm testing posting a video from Flickr, below. Does it work here in Blogger? Can you see it in your rss feed? Does it work better viewed directly at Flickr? (click [here!] to go to Flickr!) 

Birdsongs
Originally uploaded by hiWendee

More notes: I panned pretty quickly, but wanted to capture the songs of the birds. So if you don't want to get dizzy, click the 'Play' button and close your eyes! And don't mind the mess!

More from Hawaii

The two of us at Mokolii Click to see this photo's flickr page

I was up late last night and thought to look through J's photos from Hawaii again. He didn't want to use this photo for our Christmas cards, but I like it. We're a bit pudgy, but very content. It's all that good living, I s'pose. Dunno why it's so hard to get a nice photo of us, that we're both willing to share. [sigh]

I've added some of his photos to the existing Flickr set

Meandering Here and There

Remember, now:
No matter how warm it is, wherever you spend the holidays, what matters is that your heart is warm and full.

Click here for a few photos from the Hawaii Trip

The short of it: There are no drawings from Hawaii. I would have had to stay still for too long, and the mosquitos were just having a feast on me, as it was. The 'Scritch, Scritch, Scritching' would not have been of my pencils. Feh!

Notable: Shave Ice at Matsumoto's, Waimea Valley, University of Hawaii Warrior football, banyan trees at Kapiolani park, more burgers and fantastic shakes from Teddy's, roosters starting their crowing at 3 am in Kahaluu and that six-hour delay for our 5-1/2 hr flight back home.

And then, back home:
Did I mention that I love The Rose Parade? We went on Jan 2nd to see the floats on display in Pasadena. What a great chance to see them up-close and at a way more leisurely pace. Check out all the creative ways to use the natural materials.

Click here for a few photos from the Post-Parade Float Viewing

How can I get a job doing this?

Merry and Bright

Mele Kalikimaka!
Merry Christmas to you all! xox, -w

Woo Hoo!

The faithful stay up late to watch the games!

Hawaii pics

Here are the pictures from Hawaii.
I know, you've been waiting so patiently.

One thing I was reminded of while looking at the photos again was how many rainbows we saw. It was rainy, actually, so that helped. J commented that that's not something you see much of in Southern California; not so much rain, you know? I hadn't really thought about it, but it sure made experience even more special - getting to see a good rainbow pretty much every day that we were there.

We got to see the sunset off Waikiki beach. Palm trees silhouetted by the colors of sunset and the ocean. Guess that shot isn't quite all that original, but it sure felt great to be there in person. Don't you love that fluorescent pink inflatable raft in the photos? It adds that extra something, don't you think?

We really enjoyed the Kapiolani end of Waikiki; less people, less crazy. We walked past the Zoo Art Fence - - local artists will hang their paintings (this is organized, not random) on the fence that surrounds the grounds of the zoo on the weekends. Made for a nice and lazy walk, getting to see original paintings, prints and photos. We'd cut across Kapiolani Park and to the very edge of Waikiki, find a spot to sit for a while and take pictures, just enjoy the tradewinds. All the families with their snorkle gear, their fluorescent pink inflatable rafts, bamboo beach mats and deepening sunburns... We walked out along this, um, wall (I'm sure there's a more correct term) that stuck out further into the surf. The water was calm and we could see all the little fish, including the humuhumunukunukuapua'a! The state fish! Well! How cool is that? Next time, maybe we ought to snorkle and get up close and personal to the fishies.

I think the colors turned out better in J's photos. I think his compact camera is better than mine (oh, gadget envy ...). You can also identify mine because perhaps in some photos you'll think that the horizon isn't quite, well, horizontal. I'm too focused on the snapping-and-clicking part. Or, perhaps you've had a bit too much to drink and your head is leaning over to one side. That's it ... (or, maybe it's just me).

But, hey, it's Hawaii, and it's all so amazingly beautiful.
Mmmmm-mm.