Thankful Thursday

37/365

This is pretty surprising.  I'm actually posting my Thankful Thursday post on a Thursday.  I wonder if I'm setting a precedent???

Anyway, when I was walking on the treadmill at the Y today, I daringly ramped up the speed a wee little bit and attempted a very wimpy jog for a few minutes.  It was a little scary, and pretty uncomfortable, but my doctor's words were echoing in my ears.  "You can do anything you want to do".  So I thought I'd try the jogging.  (yesterday was 13 weeks post-surgery)

I'll be returning to NY by the middle of May, and wouldn't be surprised if my hiking group begins the hiking season by the end of May.  I figure I should begin increasing the exercise routine now. 

After  my treadmill and stationary bike workout, I hit the pool--my favorite part of the workout.

Random Opportunities

36/365

I've been out shooting two different times this week.  I seldom have an agenda when I go out.  Or maybe a better way to put it is, I might have an agenda but I seldom come home with what I had in mind.  

For example, one day my friend Jackie and I went to the International Market Place.  I was thinking that it was a great venue for street photography.  Well, it was pretty much a bust even though we had a nice time walking around and talking.  I made a few images on the street as we walked from the parking lot to the Market Place but I'll probably delete them.

We went for lunch and then decided to go to Magic Island.  It was the middle of the day and I didn't have high hopes of seeing anything interesting--most of the photo ops there happen late in the day and just before dusk.  We were walking through the parking lot when we both knew we hit pay dirt.

An original VW Bug with a surfboard on it no less.  It was the icing on the cake for the day!!

The next day I went out with another friend to the leeward side of the island and we managed to get some interesting photos in between spurts of heavy rain.

On the way up the coast we both spotted a grouping of abandoned, dilapidated sugar-cane or pineapple-plantation worker's houses.  

If we had done no more that day I would have been happy with what we got right there.

But, we continued up the coast and found more photo ops in spite of the intermittent rain and wind.

Orchid Show

35/365

I know nothing about flowers except that they're beautiful and some of them smell wonderful.  Today I attended an Orchid Show at one of the local schools.  I had no idea there were so many varieties of Orchids.  

I did the best I could photographing them.  They can't be moved and I had to be careful where and how I set up my tripod.  Under the circumstances I think you can still see how beautiful they are.  

 

Ford Island Again

34/365

Another field trip to Ford Island/Pearl Harbor.  Some more practice with HDR.

Some Time at the Beach

33/365

Spent a few hours at the beach at Aulani yesterday.  A little sunbathing, a little photography, a little walk around the resort grounds.  Great morning.

Thankful Thursday (on Saturday)

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Yikes!  One of these weeks I'm going to astound myself and my readers and get the Thankful Thursday post posted on Thursday.

This one is pretty self-explanatory.

A Good Read

31/365

These images are just random.  My post today is about a book I just started yesterday, but as I've mentioned, I hate to post on my blog without images.  

The first two images were taken when my friend and I took the chance to visit a small beach that neither of us had ever been to.  It was pretty unproductive.  Her mission was to collect sea shells and mine was to collect good images.  It was a bust for both of us, although the day was beautiful, we had a great time together and we ended the "adventure" by stopping at Hilo Hatties for a Dole Whip. (pineapple soft-serve--I had mine as a twist with vanilla soft-serve)

The last image was taken on another day, with other friends, in Waialua.  There was a business with beautiful mosaic pictures decorating the sides of the building.

So....about the book.  The title is "Back When We Were Grownups" by Anne Tyler.  She's one of my favorite authors.  Her writing is quirky and funny and winsome and touching.  

The book begins with a family picnic in progress.  The picnic is in celebration for a recent engagement.  The family members are dysfunctional quirky and you're quickly introduced to them and all their weirdness.

The mom is trying to keep the joy going against great odds.  A situation occurs.  The author writes:

"And that is when the first intimation came to Rebecca from nowhere, brushing across her mind like the most delicate of moth wings.

How on earth did I get like this?  How?  How did I ever become this person who's not really me?"

I always wonder how the author knows my thoughts.  The book is a good read.

(My favorite book by Anne Tyler is "Ladder of Years")

Macadamia Nut Farm

30/365

Yesterday my friend and I took a trip around the island.  Our first stop was the Hukilau Cafe (made famous in the movie "Fifty First Dates").  Several years ago I went on a mission to locate this place, only to sadly discover that the cafe in the movie was a screen set, not the actual cafe.  The rumor I heard was that they paid for the name, but once the movie was done, they demolished the building.

Hmmmm, I'm thinking that if I owned the Hukilau, I would have made a deal to take over the movie-set cafe, but what do I know.  I'm sure there were all kinds of legal hoops to jump through.

Anyway....after breakfast, we continued our drive around the north shore to get to the Macadamia Nut Farm.  Not only does it specialize in, yup, you've got it, Macadamia Nuts of varying varieties and Hawaiian coffees, but they conduct "tours" through the property, ending with a little adventure on a flat-bottomed boat and a small performance at the amphitheater.

Unfortunately, two days a week they only conduct one tour a day.  You probably can guess where this is going.  We arrived on one of those two days and an hour too late.  Sigh.  Well, we'll just have to make another trip there.

But in the meantime, we tried to make lemonade of the lemons, and we managed to get a few shots of this "chief" conversing with a customer, and hamming it up with the ladies.

My Dream Job

29/365

The other day my friend and I were wandering around Aulani (the Disney Resort on Oahu), when we saw this going on.  Various "characters" come out at specific times of the day and the guests can have their photos taken with them.  

This is just too much fun to watch, and being a photographer at Aulani is my dream job.  I don't think it will ever happen and there are many reasons why--reasons I can't discuss.  But every time we go there and I watch the photographers working with the "guests", my heart breaks a little more at the lost opportunity.

Imagine going to work every day and having so much fun!!  

There's a saying:  "Find something you love to do and you'll never work a day in your life".

Anyway, before we were asked to stop taking pics, I managed to get a few.

Thankful Thursday

28/365

One Tuesday afternoon my daughter called me to see what I was doing.  She got off work early because there wasn't very much business and she wanted to meet me for dinner.  We went to a fairly new restaurant called Monkey Pod.  Very pricey and upscale, and I'll probably never go there again, but it was a nice experience. 

I'm thankful that I have children that still like to spend time with me once in a while.

The best part of the meal was the yummy strawberry cream pie.

Today Jackie and I made another visit to China Town.  We were both pretty happy with the images we got.  It was a beautiful day and it was great to be outside.

I don't know what it is about graffiti , but it's irresistible.

And then...the other face of Hawaii.

Scavenger Hunt--"Look Out"

27/365

When I got this assignment last week, I was having a difficult time trying to envision what kind of an image to make.    When I took this shot, I wasn't even thinking about the assignment, but I think it fits perfectly.

This is a boogie-board competition.

A Beach Day

26/365

I had plans today to head to the North Shore with a friend.  At the last minute, another friend joined us. The forecast was for high surf, so we thought there might be some competition at the beach.

First, though, we stopped to see if there were any turtles basking on the beach.  We hit the jackpot, there were three.

We continued on to Shark's Cove where there's a lot of reef, so when the surf is high, the waves crash against the reef and make great displays of pluming water.  This is one of my favorite places to photograph--even when it's calm it's very beautiful.

Our last stop was Sunset Beach where they hold surfing competitions when the surf is good.  We were lucky to find a parking space within walking distance of the beach, and we saw many of these lining the shore.  

In progress was a boogie-board competition.  There are no people in this scene because I'm going to use the one and only good shot I got tomorrow for my scavenger hunt photo.  Stay tuned.