Thoughts on Hawaii

We spent a lovely 10 days viewing whales from our 2nd floor balcony. You'd think we would have slept in, but most days found us on the balcony at 6:00 a.m. having our coffee and looking through the binoculars at the whales and the people who were having a morning swim. The day before we left we went on an early morning boat ride with the Whale Foundation and saw a competition of whales. Never thought whales bellowed at one another. The following photos didn't show as much as I wanted. I think I need lessons in picture taking with my new camera. CLICK ON EACH PICTURE TO GET A BIGGER VERSION.

We also explored the Upcountry of Maui - Gail our hostess and guide knows this island very well.
Ate strawberry papaya, ripe star fruit and apple bananas every day. Also bought fish from Suda's market on the days we ate at home. It was a lovely restful vacation.
A special sidetrip to the big island to visit friends in Kamuela was the icing on the cake. We were in Paniolo country and my picture taking doesn't do it justice. So I'll just post some highlights.


These ladies greeted us at the Kona Airport. The weather felt much more humid and warm than Maui. We enjoyed the open kiosks of the airport.


The stories of the cowboys of Hawaii came alive when I saw the statue of the famous cowboy of the Parker Ranch with the brands of the island below him. This statue is in a prominent park in Kamuela.
Just had to share some of the flora. There are so many flowers.
Visited a lavender farm that had all kinds of plants & statues on the farm.

More later on the food aspect of our vacation....

One minute speech for Fri. night Japanese class

一分スピーチは落とし物について話します

去年のクリスマスの時、　アーニーは図書館でけいたいを落としました。けいたいを落としたことをしらなかったです。けいたいを拾った女性は私達を電話しました。私はしめいと住所と電話番ごを質問しましたでも女性は私の住所と電話番ごを質問していました。拾った女性は家にけいたいを持ってきてくれました。一割のお礼があげました。アーニーと女性がうれしかったです。

Well, and so it goes. Still write like a pre-schooler but that's where I am.

Lunar New Year Celebration

What a day this has been! There was an emergency trip to the Genius Bar at Apple to solve a problem of connection to the internet through Ernie's iPod. Got that squared away and thought we were packed and had all in order when we got a phone call asking us if we were coming to the Chinese New Year celebration dinner. We were a quick ten minutes away so made this wonderful gathering of friends.
After that I watched a beautiful DVD movie by Miyazaki called Ponyo by the Sea. Cute story but extraordinary seascapes and landscapes. But I guess no movie so far has passed Miyazaki's Tonari no Totoro in my estimation. It was not only the story of the family but a story of the country-side, the people, the customs and beliefs set in gorgeous landscapes.
Will leave the last of the roses to be pruned when I return.

Calligraphy Archive - Ukiyoe and Dec. lesson

I'm saving these two examples of my classwork of brushwriting because come April, I will change to Pen Shuji. I belong to ShoSui Shodokai and we meet every Tues. & Thurs at 12:30-3:00. Since I am also studying Kanji at Sakura Gakuen, the Pen Shuji fits with the Kanji class. More later as I am going to try to upload the Dec. assignment.

読み方：渓山永く光くを仰ぐ、
意味：　山や谷あいに永く陽が当たっている

So the meaning of the latest is something like this:
Between the mountains and the valley, the sun has been striking for a long time.

Wed. evening: I finally broke down & got a camera. This time it has an optical zoom instead of a digital one. I will be able to capture the grandkids as they cross the line in track meets and also get the judo holds as they win a match. Not only that the camera can do a burst of pictures so that when they catch a ball or football, I'll be sure to catch it on the camera.
This afternoon I finished trying on summer clothes & deciding what to take to Hawaii. I'm all but packed up. Wish me luck in capturing pictures of whales as they pass through the bay in front of Maalea.

Comentario de reuniones

Today has been filled with reunions both of friends and of family. More poignant because friends of our elementary school years are our same age and also because some of our family are going through a rough, rough patch health- wise. You know each one of us has opinions and such about how friends and family should be handling each of their problems but we ourselves are personally not going through each of these crisises so we should just keep our silence. To amend that, we are going through it second hand which is not the same. Sorry to sound confusing but suffering second hand is not the same as first hand.
Still have not found my camera but today a friend offered her camera to us for the trip we are going to take to visit friends in Hawaii in Feb. I sure appreciate that because I hope to record the visit with photographs. Still cannot believe that I lost my camera.
Tonight one of the dishes we shared with friends was a recipe from Bitten of the New York Times,Beets With Garlic-Walnut Sauce, It was a fine accompaniment to Exclusively Food's Prawn and Tomato Pasta Recipe.
Well, enough for tonight. The delicious red wine is wearing me down. Thank heavens that I printed up Bitten's Beet recipe because I can't find the link now. Anyone interested write me and I'll copy it out.
Bueno, el vino me hace querer contar mucho. La emoción me conmueve decir demasiado. El sufrimiento de otros es difícil de aguantar. Siempre les deseo que les vaya bien.
ダイアナ

Chicken Soup Weather

Since I wrote last, I have been desperately searching the house and car for my camera. I've also involved anyone I have ever visited. Which means I'm being a real pest. Because just recently I had done a search of pockets and the house for the missing front door keys that we always leave on the entry table, I had a pretty good idea that I wouldn't come across my little camera but I did an exhaustive search anyway.

So that will explain why there is no photograph of this new recipe I tried. With all the wind and rain and cold temperatures, Chicken soup sounded good to me. I got the idea in San Francisco last week. I was in a restaurant that has Kotosoupa Avgolemono (Chicken and Rice Soup with Egg and Lemon) every day. Heavenly!

When you click on the colored word recipe, you'll see that the recipe calls for one whole chicken.
I used two chicken breasts from the freezer which I didn't defrost first. Just washed them and cup them up a bit and put them in the hot water. Before I put the egg/lemon juice mixture in the soup, I did add one can of prepared chicken broth. I was a little unsure of myself. But the result of this recipe was very satisfying.

I don't make New Years Resolutions but I'm going to make my life a little less busy real soon.

Happy New Year-明けましておめでとうございます

This has been a very happy but busy time. My hands have been busy knitting projects for Christmas & birthdays. For that reason I haven't spent much time on the computer. Just basic checking mail and looking at the postings of family and friends on Facebook. I'm especially happy with how Ernie's vest turned out and I see that he is wearing it quite a bit. I made two mini-vests and a ribbon scarf. With these projects completed, I can begin another project for my self without feeling guility.
Tomorrow a new box of fruits & veggies arrive from Farm Fresh Farms, so I'll have a new round of cooking to share. Since we went to our daughter's for Christmas, we didn't have leftovers after Christmas and I missed that. To make up for that, we bought a nine pound turkey breast and roasted it. So that filled the turkey, mashed potatoes & gravy craving - today I'm going to fix a lentil stew with jalapeno sauce and cutup turkey in it and turn it into tortillas filled with the mixture. Avocados are fairly inexpensive now and I'll add that to the tortillas. By the way I froze turkey slices from over half of the turkey. It sure beats lunchmeat.
Speaking of avocados, I've been mashing a quarter of an avocado on my toast instead of butter or peanut butter. Then I add a thin slice of provolone on top. Makes a perfect breakfast.
Anyone out there have interesting and different ideas for breakfast?