A Little Viking's Fan

What do you suppose my grandson is up to? Is he trying out a new exercise to get blood to rush to his head? Maybe he is using Mom's knees as ear muffs to protect his ears from all the New Year's fireworks in Hawaii. No, his mother says he is sneaking a peek at the Vikings' game last Sunday. Mack is not supposed to watch TV but he figured out a way to take a look while sitting on his Mom's lap. Let me tell you Mack, you better grab all the peeks of the Vikes you can because if past years are any predictor of this year, they won't be around much longer. Go Vikes!

It's not too late!

Hurry, hurry. It isn't too late to order the latest and greatest of Christmas gift traditions which only comes around this time of year: this year's version of the Chia Pet. Order this year's version directly from Hawaii: "The Sleepy Mack Chia Pet." Just add fluids and in a very short time his hair will grow into the beautiful green locks that you see in the picture. And if you hurry we will send an additional Sleepy Mack Chia Pet all for the low, low, price of $19.99 plus shipping and handling.When he arrives remember to occasionally trim his green locks or else you will unfortunately find yourself with the "Grumpy Mack Chia Pet." Hurry!

Sunday Quiz

Here is a pop quiz for you. Where would you rather be today? In picture one with balmy breezes and temperatures in the mid eighties? Or in video clip # 2 with negative 12 degrees and 40 mph gusts? (Tell me again why we live in ND?) If your answer was #2, you are a true North Dakotan. May both of you be blessed.

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas...

December can be kind of bleak in North Dakota. The snow has been coming...just about everyday and a blizzard is heading our way tomorrow.
How nice to have some singing carolers from Faith Evangelical Free stop by. They said that they were trying to sing to all the "old people and shut-ins" from the church.

They are muscians from the church so they were mostly on key as they sang some
beautiful songs of Christmas. Thank you, carolers, for sharing

the joy of the season with us! Merry Christmas!! (Click on the picture to see their smiling faces).

A Rare Sighting

Most of you who have looked at my blog know I like to get rare pictures. Pictures of wild life and birds and things that are unusual. It is a challenge to try to get that picture because things in nature do not pose and smile for you. Well, this morning I caught sight of a rare sighting which may never occur again so I thought that it was worth maybe getting a face full of snow to take the picture. Look closely, you may never see this again....

Thankful for... a new tooth!

When Marilyn asked me what I was thankful for this year I said:"For my new tooth." You see I broke a molar in Hawaii and Dr. J. fixed it yesterday before we came to Iowa to brother Norm and Sister-in-law Jan's for Thanksgiving. (Cousin Pat, Jani, and Eldon joined us)Well, come on... I surely was thankful for a good tooth when we had turkey...
and all the fixin's...

and pumpkin-pecan and buttermilk pies.

I have so much for which to be thankful... not the least was for my new tooth. Thanks Doc!

Fond Farewell to the Beautiful Islands of Hawaii

Soon we will be leaving the beautiful islands of Hawaii. Here are a few pictures I took below Diamond Head Crater today so you see why it is hard to leave and go back to cold ND.This cruise ship was passing through the arch at the right time.
Surf was up on the east side of Oahu today.
This fisherman was getting wet when the waves came crashing in at her feet. Rabbit Island is in the distance.

A lonely little sailboat on the big Pacific Ocean.

A surfer heads down the beach in pursuit of the big wave.

Flowers and the ocean... what more could a photographer want?

I never get tired of the color of the Pacific as it nears the shore.

Diamond Head lighthouse sits just below the crater.

It wasn't easy to get close to the lighthouse as the gate was locked.

I would love to have a home with a view like this.

Two of my favorite Hawaiians below Diamond Head after our picnic lunch.

A little surfer invited us to return... and Lord willing we shall! Aloha!!

A Walk to Lanikai Beach

Sunday after church I walked to Lanikai Beach...In the background is the peninsula where the Marine Base is located and where Carrie grocery shops.This is Kailua Beach in the late afternoon.
Lanikai Beach always has something interesting... like this pooch pillow.
This beach is so beautiful with the islands off shore and the colorful watercraft.

Coming home I spotted this bee making a stop on a bougainvillea.

A little shower generated a little rainbow.

The skies over the mountains looked worse than they were though I got caught in the rain.

I stopped for awhile to watch this determined net fisherman.

His technique looked good to me... though I didn't see any fish.

A hearty crop of bananas is on its way... look how they grow upward.

This family has quite a collection of glass floats from Japanese fishermen's nets that wash up on shore.

Doxology - Hawaiian Style

Six weeks old and going to church

Mack is six weeks old as of yesterday and has been in church four of those Sundays... good boy, Mack. (OK, so he has slept through the messages but who of us hasn't?)

Birds, Christmas, and Sushi

Rob got home from his trip and Mack is filling him in on everything that has been going on.There are some berry trees right behind the Slangers place so the birds literally sing us awake each morning (well, they would if we weren't already awake which we are with a four hour time difference still stuck in our brains). Some of these birds are not like the ones at home. Like this pair of Lace-necked or Chinese Doves sitting in an umbrella tree (also known as an octopus tree), known locally as Mountain Doves (You'll have to click on the picture to see the lace).
One noisy and very common bird in the berry trees is the Red-vented Bulbul. You can see a bit of the red under the tail feathers. It was released in the fifties and is notorious for eating orchid buds so isn't a favorite with the local agricultural community. It's cousin is the...
Red-whiskered Bulbul which like its cousin had an unauthorized cage-release around 1965. It is native to Asia and is harder to see and catch on film (I mean on a digital card...sorry). But as you see, I caught this one with full whiskers showing sneaking a berry and also...

this one, which is my favorite. As I mentioned in an earlier blog so many birds were released from other places and are not native to the islands. One of the things the Hawaiians fear is that the tree snake will come to the islands as it has to Guam where it wiped out the the bird population.

Lest you think it was a slow day in Hawaii, we went to the Slangers' Church for their annual country fair and on the way spotted these Christmas decorations being put up in "an evergreen tree????"

Something other than certain kinds of birds you won't see in North Dakota would be a Hawaiian Santa.

The Country Fair is similar to our area's Bazaars. One of the "bazaar" things for sale was...

Spam Musubi... spam sushi which my dear Son-in-law tried to pass off to me as a "bar" of some kind. Spam is a favorite over here, but let's just say that I really couldn't taste it because the seaweed wrap was over powering. What did I think of Spam Musubi? Mack's facial expression...

says it all!!!