Where I'm At

Wilf has been wanting to catch a fish on a fly line in Hawaii. Neither Kauai nor the Big Island presented appropriate conditions for fly fishing from shore. But Wilf had heard rumour that on Oahu there were flats where bonefish could be found. In fact, he got talking to Lester at the Lakestream Fly Fishing shop in Whitefish,Montana, and discovered that there were bonefish to be caught right in Honolulu.

Armed with advice from Lester we set out to find the beach on the back side of Diamond Head. It turns out that the main beach bus from Waikiki delivered us to the beach we were looking for. It is not a swimming beach, but there were spear fishers and divers poking around in the shallows. Out near the surf break we could see a man casting – was it Lester? A few exchanges of phone calls and we had a date with Lester, who spends his winters here in Hawaii.

Yesterday we went for a test – it was a lovely calm day and Wilf got himself ready to go:

He spent several hours wading and casting, but no fish put in an appearance.

And not to worry about me- I’ve got a great spot to watch from, along with my book and my knitting!

This morning Lester met us at the park and the guys set out to see what they could find:

Notice Diamond Head in the background!

Wilf had a bonefish on the line but lost it in the coral – but he did catch a mongoose fish. All in all it was a fun introduction to Hawaiian bonefishig.

Its Chinese New Year! We only realized this last night. We were walking back from dinner and saw a large group of people in matching red t-shirts in front of a Chinese restaurant. They were standing around a pickup truck, and as we passed we saw that they had the head pieces of two lion dance costumes in the truck – they were there to bless the restaurant.

Back at our hotel I was talking to the desk clerk and saw a red envelope on the counter. I asked and he confirmed that not only was it New Year’s but that the lion would be coming to the hotel presently. He would come to the three hotels on our block. Soon we could hear the drums next door, so we settled into the lobby. People with red t-shirts began to arrive and discussions with the front desk ensued. Soon they began to head upstairs, which led the guy sitting next to me to say ‘Oh, they’re going to do Hula’s. We should go up there.’

And here is where I have to interrupt my story to tell you about Hula’s. We knew there was a bar on the second floor of our hotel – when we walk on the street we can hear people talking upstairs – but we hadn’t been up. We walked up – the doors were wide open, so in we went. A pool table by the front. Television screens all over, all tuned to the same station, sound off, commercial running. I figured it would be some sports event, but when the program came back it was ‘American Idol’. The volume came up and people were actually paying attention. Looking around – the clientele was mostly very fit, perfectly groomed young men. Yes, it turns out that the anonymous bar in our hotel is the gay friendly bar in Waikiki. So – what the heck, we ordered a drink and settled in to wait for the lion.

The lions are gorgeous with crazy LED lit eyes. They can blink their eyes and open and close the mouth, which is convenient because one must, of course, feed the lion for good luck in the coming year:

Yeah – like that!

Hah – that lion looks like he’s about to drink my gin and tonic!

There were two lions and they were very thorough – all through the bar, the kitchen, the office, everywhere.

So – that was an interesting way to bring in the Chinese New Year! Tonight we met up with another crew working their way through the Royal Hawaiian Hotel Shopping concourse – they were very busy in the food court, shaking their heads and winking their eyes and ‘eating’ red envelopes presented by the proprietors . In some cases a red envelope was taped above the door- to attract the lion’s attention?  Presented a bit of a challenge for the guy wearing the head, but he managed to pluck it down!

So – Gong Xi Fa Cai! and all the best for the Year of the Rabbit!

After two weeks on the Big Island we’ve moved over to Honolulu. And things are different here – this is the big city. But before we turn to Waikiki, a few more pictures from Waikoloa. Our family friends Mike and Betty arrived in Kona last week – here we are all at the Island Lava Java on Ali’i drive in Kona, enjoying the coffee and the ocean view:

The night before we left we joined a group of the folks from Vista Waikoloa for a sunset party on A Bay. We took our beach chairs, wine and beer and joined the gang:

But this is what we were there for:

A little cloud, so no dramatic drop into the ocean.

We were last in Waikiki two years ago. And frankly, things were not great. There were some tourists, but clearly not nearly the numbers as usual and not much shopping was going on. Lets just say – things are different this time around! The day before we arrived the first charter flight direct from mainland China had arrived (previous tour groups had come via South Korea or Japan), which had the local tourist board pretty excited.

On our first night we noticed the difference – it wasn’t just that there were more people on the street. After dinner we walked up the street and there was lots going on- the Waikiki Shopping Center had a show going on:

In addition to the guys blowing on shells there were musicians and lady dancers. Huge crowd. Out on the street there were musicians on every block. And it seemed like every hotel we went by had music and dancers. I don’t remember any of that  from two years ago.

The high end stores are all still here – the only people I see carrying Louis Vuitton shopping bags, though,  are pretty young  Japanese ladies. The western crowd is mainly carrying bags from the ABC Store.

Just up the road from us is Hapuna Beach State Park. It is a classic beach – big wide curve of sand, great waves. In fact the waves can be a bit much – the beach was closed last week due to bigness of waves. We learned to body surf a couple of years back at Hapuna, and a day at the beach is part of our routine here.

On our last visit to Hawaii we pulled into the parking lot at Hapuna and we could see the rescue helicopter hovering over the beach. That didn’t bode well – kind of hard to have a fun day at the beach if someone was in distress. It turned out to be quite something else – it was training day for the local rescue people. Lots of superfit supertanned young fellows in black swim trunks were jumping out of the helicopter, running up and down the beach, diving into the surf, jumping in and out of boats. It was quite a show.

Yesterday at the beach we had quite a different show. It was tree trimming day! A group of four men were climbing the coconut palms to trim the fronds back, cut off the coconuts and flowers and other stuff. When I say climbing I mean just that – they had spiked shoes  and would grab the tree and start climbing. Once they got to a certain point they’d fling a rope around the tree and clip it to themselves so they could then lean against the rope and use their machete to hack at the tree.

This guy was way up there and the tree was really swaying in wind. Took him a long time to get settled and start cutting.

In some jurisdictions there would have been traffic cones and a safety marshall and keeping people away. Not so much here – people were gawking right underneath the trees being worked on. We were out of the line of direct fire where we were sitting, but enough stuff was flying around that we retreated to the picnic tables.  After the cutting was done another crew came along to pick all the stuff – the usual story. A few minutes of cutting leads to hours of picking up.

That’s business part of the coconut plant – those are coconuts to be – only a few grow up to be coconuts.

Earlier in the week we were at the golf club for breakfast, and the trees were being trimmed there – one of the gardeners took a fallen coconut and cut the end off so we could drink the contents – doesn’t really taste like much- and then he cut it open so we could taste the inside. He scraped out a mild tasting jelly – didn’t taste like coconut, really.

So – it seems to be all about the coconuts this time around!

And here’s a gratuitous fish picture for you:

 

The most beautiful lemon coloured koi at the King’s Shops pond.

There are lots of beautiful birds here on Hawaii. Little rosy finch things, several types of cardinals, a form of dove that calls ‘woo-hoo-hoo’ all through the day. In the lagoon on the golf course are fish hunters that sit on the rocks all hunched up, looking, looking, waiting. Sitting there they look like old men in gray raincoats – shoulders hunched against the cold. And then they move and unfurl a great long neck – it is always a surprise.

The other morning, in my pre-caffeinated state I heard a bird call. My first thought was ‘Rooster’? Well, Kauai is over run by chickens, but no. Turkey? Surely not! And then, while we were having breakfast:

  

Not a great picture, taken from the third floor balcony, but trust me –those are a pair of Thanksgiving turkeys, on the hoof. Now I hear them most mornings, gobbling in the distance. Word is that they’ve always been around. Somehow we just managed to miss them for the past several years….

And here we are on Big Island of Hawaii. We’re staying on the Kona side – the dry side, north on the Kohala coast in the Waikoloa Resort Area. Being made of lava, and a lot of that lava recently arrived, what rain that does fall on this side vanishes pretty fast. The lava sucks it up and it runs down toward the ocean, where, at certain areas, fresh water re-appears in ponds and springs. Waikoloa is one of those places. The ancient Hawaiians used and expanded the fresh and brackish ponds to farm fish, as well as access the water for their own use. So, even though we are out in the Kohala Lava Desert, we have a lovely leafy green oasis to enjoy.

The bay here is usually called A Bay.  I think even the locals get tired of folding their tongue around the full name ‘Anaehoomalu Bay’. The sign on the highway for the turn-off to the beach is about 18” high and 7’ long! But, it is a nice beach – a big curving crescent of golden sand. The south end  is rockier and more treed. And there are a couple of places where you are almost guaranteed to see these guys:

Just a snoozin’ in the sun!

Since we’ve been here the weather has generally been hot and sunny, especially here in the north. Windy, which is not uncommon (some call the resort area WaikaBlowa, after all!) But just before we arrived there had been a long stretch of very high winds, which had warnings and beach closings in place. The beach at A Bay backs onto a series of fresh water fish ponds that are an historic sight. When we were there there was evidence of just how high the waves have been:

The white stuff in the above picture is a pile of sandbags. The picture is looking towards land from the beach, across the pond to the houses on the far side. The sandbags are to keep the sand (and the salt water) out of the ponds. Even though it was late afternoon the sand was, in places, still very wet where the high tide had passed over it. Of course, where there’s a will, there’s a way:

If there’s a scrap of shade – I’ll find it!

All in all, a lovely afternoon at the beach.

 

                                                                  “Azure Window”, Dwerja Bay, Gozo Island, Malta

Another eventful year draws to a close and we are considering what highlights to share with our friends and family. As always we have been traveling – two trips to Winnipeg to visit Wilf’s Mom as well as the usual Stoneman get together in Bigfork, Montana during the summer. This was the centennial year for the Department of Geological Sciences at the University of Manitoba, which provided Wilf with a chance to meet up with former professors and fellow students for some reminiscing. They also had a chance to marvel at all the attractive young women in the current program – some things have changed since way back when!

This fall we made a return trip to Europe, meeting up with our friends Nan and Greg in Germany, then moving on to Malta. We spent a week exploring Malta and the neighbouring island of Gozo, before flying to Sicily. A few more days with Nan and Greg, after which we continued our explorations on our own. This meant the added adventure of driving, which was, indeed, an adventure. Fortunately we had our GPS with us, otherwise we might still be wandering the back roads of Sicily. Sharon had an opportunity to unleash her inner Italian and learned to be more aggressive in her driving.

Back here in staid slow Victoria she has had some unlearning to do. Sicily was quite different from the other parts of Italy that we have visited. We enjoyed the food, the wine, the sights – it was great. We finished off with a few days in Milan for a Northern Italian perspective.

We continue to be well – Wilf flyfishes and gardens. He also completed renovations to our second bathroom this summer. Sharon is still quilting and knitting and attended several retreats and seminars. We’ve been on the West Coast now for 10 years – a fact that rather astonishes us – how the time flies.

We both wish you all much happiness in the coming year.

So I don’t do the texting thing. Mostly because I don’t have anyone to send texts to. The people I know (and this includes me) either don’t have their phone with them, or don’t have it turned on. The only texts we get are from our phone service providers and the response is usually ‘Why is my phone making that funny noise?’

That said, this summer I got an IPod Touch (oh, IPod how do I love thee? Let me count the ways….), which has been my introduction to the world of autocorrect. I have learned to double check before hitting send or save because of that feature. In the speedy give and take of texting, however, people don’t always check before sending.

The phenomenon of autocorrect errors is beginning to creep into popular culture, too. We were watching an episode of Sherlock  and he received a text message – the sender called him a cork stuffer. He read that out – they all thought about it, then nodded and agreed ‘Autocorrect’.

If that is an example of autocorrect in Britain I must say that the British software seems to differ from the American. How do I know this? Today I stumbled across www.damnyouautocorrect.com, a site that captures hilarious examples of autocorrect gone horribly, hilariously wrong.  It seems that given the option autocorrect will substitute the most profane, ridiculous or embarrassing words possible. I don’t know what’s funnier – the horrified sender or the bemused recipients of the message.

And you know how they it is difficult to express tone in electronic communications? I’d say that frustration comes through loud and clear in the text world…..

Its been three weeks since we got home – how’d that happen? I’m sitting here, looking at pictures, reading about Picasa web albums. And when I look at our pictures, especially those from Malta it is hard to believe that it was so hot there. Back here in the northern rain forest it is a festival of damp drippy foggy grey. Not so much with the rain. But wet, nontheless. In fact, look what I saw growing out of the gravel at the top of our driveway:

Nope – not a pinecone. A mushroom of some sort, about 4” tall. And don’t even get me started on the moss situation around here.

So – a quiet Sunday afternoon with a hot drink and a several hundred photos. Let’s see what I have to say about them.

It appears that Grappa is an acquired taste.