"Sammy" the Monk

It was a windy, cloudy day in Oahu, so what to do?  Mommy and Daddy were gone for the morning so Tutu and I were in charge.  We went for a long walk, had some play time at a park, and then walked by the canal leading into Pearl Harbor.  The wind was blowing the waves into the sea wall so we were keeping our distance when Grandson says he saw something... a Seal.  I didn't even go look because sometimes his imagination is as big as he is, and whoever sees a Seal in the Canal in Pearl Harbor?  But his persistence made us go back and look and sure enough, there was a Monk Seal.

Monk Seals are endangered, indigenous to Hawaii and I have never seen one in our many visits to Hawaii.  But this one was close!  He was playing with his food... a beautiful yellow fish that had met his match in the much bigger and faster Seal.

There was much squealing and excitement... from the kids and us, not the Seal, as he played around for several minutes releasing and recapturing his lunch.

If I didn't know better I would have said he was hamming it up for us as he poked his head up through the water and then dove down after his yellow friend.

Mack said he saw some red on his back flippers and when I got the pictures on the computer I saw the red too.  It was a tag with the number N37 on it.  I found a website where you can register your sighting of Monk seals so I did just that with the picture of the flipper number on it. 

If you are related to N37 please let me know so we can try to get you together.  I know in the grand scheme of things a Seal sighting isn't that big a deal but that it happened when we had the kids with us, was spotted by them, and I had cameras along made it pretty special for the photographer in me.

When we got home we decided that he needed a name so we named him "Sammy the Seal."  We thought it a fine name for such a beautiful critter.  He could also be called "Sammy the Monk" in honor of the kind of Seal he is, not his religion.

Of course the way he was hamming it up for us I guess "Sammy" might really be "Samantha."

What do you think?  Does this look like a face only a Mother could love of a male Seal or is "Samantha" really trying to charm us with her smile?

A quick wave from "his/her" front flipper and she turned and headed toward the deep water of the canal.

What a fun experience to share with the Grand kids and how special that Mack persisted in our coming back to look into the canal.

If we hadn't, we would have never met "Sammy/Samantha the Monk."
Update: The Monk Seal web site wrote: "Thank you for the photos and monk seal report.  It's great that you were able to get a photo of the tag.  The tag on the seal indicates that this is a young seal born earlier this year.  Her ID is RN36 (flipper tags N36 and N37), but volunteers have nicknamed her U'ilani.  We have been getting reports of her in Pearl Harbor lately.  Not the place I would pick to hang out, but looks like she is finding plenty of food.  Best regards, Tracy."

Macy's Parade versus Papa's Camera

Seldom do these two sit next to each other for a picture.  The kids are together watching Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  What a great opportunity to get a picture of them together.  OK kids, look at Papa.

Sit up and look at Papa for a picture.

Please put your foot down and LOOK AT ME!

Hey you two... Look at ME!

Good job, Ellie... Mack, look at ME!

Maybe a different angle would help.  Ellie, put your foot DOWN.  Look at me and smile, PALEASE!

OH, THAT WAS A GREAAAT SMILE!  Another reason Papa takes pictures of flowers and trees.

A Late Afternoon Walk to the Canal

A friend wrote this morning that it is winter at home... not much snow but temps and winds that make it feel like winter even if it doesn't say so on the calendar.

Hearing that news almost makes me feel guilty about putting these pictures from my late afternoon walk on the blog.  Almost, but not quite.

I learned many years ago that there is true guilt and false guilt.  This must be false guilt.

Flags are still at half-staff because of the Kennedy memorial.

Happy Thanksgiving from those who live in short sleeves in Hawaii.  These little ones don't know anything different about the weather elsewhere and hopefully they won't have to find out too soon how Papa and Tutu live in North Dakota!

Thank You, George!

Veterans' Day just recently is past and I wanted to acknowledge a friend who retired from 29 years of active duty with the National Guard.  He served our country faithfully and well with repeated tours in those places that are far away and in harm's way.

This was his last day in his uniform and he shared his memories with the Men's Fellowship at church.  Now he will open a new chapter in his life after his many years in the Guard.

Having our son-in-law in the military I have come to know about some of the sacrifices that they make as part of defending our freedom.

The servicemen make the largest sacrifice, but so do their families as they carry on at home without them when they are deployed.  So we salute you George and Bonnie for your faithful service for our country and pray that this new chapter in your lives will be all that you want it to be.

Silly Question

Every once in awhile you get a silly question from someone.  At least I do.

Someone asked me recently: "Other than seeing your family what do you do and why do you like going to Hawaii so much?"

Was that a silly question or not?

If you are struggling with the answer, this might help.

Tonight the temperature is to be -6 at home.  And yesterday they got their first snow which probably will be there in March.

I know it is hard to understand for some folks why we keep wanting to come to Hawaii.

Hopefully these few pictures taken on my walk near dusk will help.

But even if the weather wasn't 80+ degrees warmer this time of year, there are two other very special reasons we like coming here.

Enough already with silly questions!