Elmo keeps it real ya'll.

street artists

big beautiful banyan trees that grow all over hawaii. 

view from our lanai on the 11th floor.  
This is taken from the doorway because like Richard Gere in Pretty Woman I don't care for heights.  Unlike Richard Gere in Pretty Woman I was not in a penthouse suite.  

this was quite possibly the most depressing condo I have ever stayed in.  It didn't have a separate room  for the shower and bathroom sink.  Just a shower curtain... 
but really who cares.  I was in Waikiki ya'll!!!! and I lived it up!!  
I ate amazing food in inexpensive restaurants and drank cocktails in a bar. A BAR!!!! Do you know how long it's been since I've been to a bar? (I'll tell you, it's been almost 2 months!) (Hilo is a tiny city with not a lot of nightlife to speak of) 

So honolulu, you and your food, your insane nightlife and your ultra chic japanese tourist women are in my heart.  I love you. 

I took these photos of a mural at the zoo in waikiki...

Considering all the fun around him and the fact that he's doing the hula that sure is some sad monkey.  

See? This would be the fun happening around him.

Poor sad monkey...

This doesn't soften the dislike in my heart for birds.  Anything that flies at my face is automatically on my dislike list. By default.

Despite my dislike I was kind of obsessed with this mangy pigeon.  I followed him around waikiki beach and he was gracious enough to let me take his picture. 

Then he found his little dirty birdie companion.  Seriously, what is up with these guys?  

In Maui I met a homing pigeon (he was tagged) and he sat next to me on the beach for at least 15 minutes waiting for me to do something.  When I didn't do anything he went and sat next to Ernie for the better part of an hour.  Then I watched a man dump a bottle of water in a bucket top and that pigeon drank out of it like a dog.  

That was a big pretty pigeon.  Nothing like the hoodlum pigeons of Waikiki... 

not a bad place to stop for a a lunch break...

whoa! weird little guy. Those two darker dots on the right are his eyes.

This little guy was totally see through. Not sure how Dan the intern was able to catch this little guy along the sandy bottom.

nature has some neat lil' things going on...

that I might have a little too much time on my hands.

We spent the last 2 weeks travelling.  It was nice to kick around on some of the other islands.  I LOVED Kauai but Maui didn't find a home in my heart. It was crowded and I felt a little choked.

I loved the laid back and quiet vibe of Kauai.  Our last night there Ernie and I ate at a Saimin restaurant. (Saimin is traditional noodle dish native to Hawaii. It's a fusion dish of Japanese, Chinese, and mainland cuisine.) DELISH!!  It was a little hole in the wall locale in Kauai and on the register of historic places.  I really enjoyed it and eating Saimin can now be crossed off my Hawaii to-do list.

(interesting side note- Saimin was the first ethnic food EVER introduced at a McDonalds. It's the number one selling item on the menu here in Hawaii)  

Went to the car to call my mom on mother's day and these happened... 

(see? too much time...) 

Hey guys! 

I took this picture last week and on the same day I was flipping through a photography magazine and saw the same lighthouse in an advertisement for posters.  neat.

It's not against the law to abandon cars in Hawaii.  As a result there's a lot of old cars floating around...

I believe this is the island of Ni'ihau.  It's a privately owned island and not generally opened to the public.  According to wikipedia it has approximatively 130 permanent residents, nearly all of whom are native Hawaiians. They support themselves through fishing, farming and welfare.  The residents lead a rural, low tech lifestyle.  There are not telephones, radios, cars, or televisions and visitors are not allowed to bring them on the island- even for personal use.  Horses and bicycles are the main form of transportation and all electricity is provided via solar panels. 
There are no hotels or general stores and groceries are often shipped by family members. 

I can understand why you'd be inspired here.

The Lanyard by Billy Collins

The other day as I was riocheting slowly
off the pale blue walls of this room,
bouncing from typewriter to piano,
from bookshelf to an envelope lying on the floor,
I found myself in the L section of the dictionary
where my eyes fell upon the word lanyard.

No cookie nibbled by a French novelist
could send one more suddenly into the past--
a past where I sat at a workbench at a camp
by a deep Adirondack lake
learning how to braid thin plastic strips
into a lanyard, a gift for my mother.

I had never seen anyone use a lanyard
or wear one, if that's what you did with them,
but that did not keep me from crossing
strand over strand again and again
until I had made a boxy
red and white lanyard for my mother.

She gave me life and milk from her breasts,
and I gave her a lanyard.
She nursed me in many a sickroom,
lifted teaspoons of medicine to my lips,
set cold face-cloths on my forehead,
and then led me out into the airy light
and taught me to walk and swim,
and I, in turn, presented her with a lanyard.
Here are thousands of meals, she said,
and here is clothing and a good education.
And here is your lanyard, I replied,
which I made with a little help from a counselor.
Here is a breathing body and a beating heart,
strong legs, bones and teeth,
and two clear eyes to read the world, she whispered,
and here, I said, is the lanyard I made at camp.
And here, I wish to say to her now,

is a smaller gift--not the archaic truth
that you can never repay your mother,
but the rueful admission that when she took
the two-tone lanyard from my hands,
I was as sure as a boy could be
that this useless, worthless thing I wove
out of boredom would be enough to make us even.

Me and my Momma at my wedding last year.

She managed to make that week even more remarkable with her ability to host even the biggest function with grace and flair.  (not to mention her uncanny ability to fend off a drunken drove of people by producing a spaghetti feast out of thin air) 

So Happy Mother's Day to a mom who always has the right answer, a kind word, a witty com back and who will always stay up past 2 am for the sake of good conversation. 

I love you! 

photo by Lauren Mann Photography

We're on a journey north- staying in the town of Kapaa Kauai.  We went from the southern most inhabited island to the northernmost. It's real pretty.  Thus far I've hung close by the hotel so I don't have a lot to show for in photos but I'll bring the goods this week.  I promise. 

view from our hotel street.

this is the beach across the street from our hotel.  The beach is not terribly appealing but the view is certainly worth soaking in.  
What I like about Kauai is how different the geology is here vs the big island.  Mountains break out of the earth in a immediate and jagged fashion and go straight up instead of the more rolling hills of the big island. 

Hey, that's not a palm tree!

and it's not.

It's an Ironwood Pine.  It grows along the coast of Hawaii. 
It was introduced in the late 1800's as a means of reforestation.   It's invasive (of course), depletes the soil of moisture and out competes anything trying to grow in it's canopy.

And it's kind of ug.  Just my personal opinion. (I've always held a strong prejudice to the coniferous trees, much to my husbands chagrin) 

anyway... it just feels kind of wrong to see these gnarled pines grow along the shore of this beautiful tropical island.
to each his own...

field next to our hotel. (this feels like hawaii- not some busted pine trees)

dang, Ernie eats a lot of raisins...

This lil guy came to visit me while I was reading on the deck today.

Isn't he handsome?