Super Heroes

9/365

Ray and Joan Kroc.  McDonald's.  Super Heroes.  5K.  Philanthropy. Families.

What do all these have in common?  Well, Ray and Joan Kroc were the founders of McDonald's.  They were great philanthropists and they felt strongly about promoting families.  In addition to starting and supporting the Ronald McDonald houses, they contributed funds to several other charities, one of which is the Salvation Army.

Ray died in the 1980s and Joan died in 2003.  When Joan died she bequeathed a huge sum of money to the Salvation Army.  The Army disbursed the funds throughout their four regions in the United States with the intent to build family-oriented community/sports centers.

Following is a quote from one of the Salvation Army sites.

"From the very beginning, The Salvation Army envisioned this as a long-term project – that it could take up to 10 or 15 years to have all of the centers open and operational   No other U.S. charity – faith-based or otherwise – has ever undertaken such a sweeping fundraising or construction effort with the potential to impact millions of people".

There's a Kroc Center in Oahu. This past Saturday they hosted their first Super-Hero Run. There were two categories: a 5K for adults or anyone wishing to participate, and a much shorter run for keiki (children), divided into age groups.

Leah and her friend from church registered to participate. I, of course, went to take photos.

It was easy to be at the finish line because at the beginning of the race it was also the starting line.  While waiting for Leah and her friend, I got some shots of other people going through the finish line. I saw this couple running together, took some pics, and then they impetuously kissed.  How great is that!!!

This little guy ran in the 5K portion of the race.  I don't remember where he placed, but it doesn't matter.  The only problem I had was that I couldn't  clap/cheer and take photos at the same time.  The photos won out, but I was cheering in my mind.

Now, this little guy...he ran in the keiki portion.  I had to crop this image but his mom is in the original, just to the right.  She was smiling big-time.  And look at his expression!  This is just too cute, I'm getting goose-bumps just posting this.

Anyway, it was a sweet morning.  There were about 300 registered participants, and I'm guessing the event will be at least twice as large next year.

People Watching at Pipeline

8/365

I cancelled all the plans I had for this morning and went to the beach instead.

My photo buddy isn't available this week.

Even though I miss our time together, it was such fun to just change my plans on the spur of the moment and do something spontaneous.

The waves were almost non-existent but there were a few now-and-then right near the shore and there was some boogey-boarding going on.

But....as I mentioned in a previous post, I have more fun people-watching/photographing the people on the beach. 

A Day in Haleiwa

7/365

I don't know what's going on...my get-up-and-go-let's-write-for-my-blog has gotten-up-and-left.  It's day 70-something of the year and this is only my 7th post.  What's up with that?

I don't know.

Today my friend and I spent most of the day in Haleiwa.  We started out at Pipeline beach but boy-o-boy was it cold.  And windy.  And deserted.  No surfers.  I managed to take a few shots of the beach.  The water was beautiful and the waves were coming in one right after the other.  Did I mention that it was cold?!

We then spent some time in Haleiwa.

The Season Finale

6/365

The Great British Baking Show is coming to an end this Sunday (Mar 1) in its Season Finale.  I feel like my best friend is leaving town for good.

For the past nine weeks, PBS has been hosting this show on Sunday evening.  The contestants are made up of a variety of homebakers who are passionate about and skilled in the art of baking.  The youngest member of the group this season was only 17 and still in school.  The oldest~~not sure but maybe in his mid-60s.  Each week the contestants are given 3 baking assignments.  Each week one contestant is eliminated.  Each week we sigh for the loss.

Each week I think I should get myself into the kitchen and do some baking.

Sunday night we're celebrating~~well....not exactly celebrating.  More like honoring the finale by having snacks that are little more out-of-the-ordinary than cheese and crackers.

So each one of us declared our intention for our contribution.

I said I would make petit fours.

I looked up the recipe...I laughed!

My friend to the rescue.  She has a mold for something that I can only describe as fancy cupcakes.  She purchased the mold from Williams & Sonoma several years ago and said they would make something called Ladycakes.  hmmmm

They aren't fancy/complicated petit fours, but they aren't plain/boring cupcakes either.  Done!!

So this morning I got going on the project.

I really wanted the cakes to be a little more fancy than just plain cake.  When I went to the store to buy the ingredients I had intentions of using some strawberry jam for the center, but instead I found...be still my heart...a jar of lilikoi jelly.  Done!!

I think I might have overfilled the molds just a wee bit.

I was pleasantly surprised by how they turned out.  You can see where the jelly seeped out a little.  It was a good learning experience so that next time I'll know better how to fill the batter then the jelly then the remainder of the batter.  It was only a near-disaster, not a total one.

Once they were cooled, I put another dollop of lilikoi jelly in the center.

I also tasted a wee bit of the cake~~on my goodness!  (I found a pound cake recipe online that will now be my go-to pound cake recipe)  There was enough batter to make the ladycakes and an actual pound cake, so next week we'll have strawberry short-cake & whipped cream.

I certainly wouldn't win any awards on the Great British Baking Show, but I think we'll all be happy with the results of my efforts.

Photoshop Practice

5/365

When I was visiting a friend on Maui last week, we took a drive along some country roads and came across this cute little church.  There was no way to capture the entire structure without including the dull, boring sky, so I just shot away anyway.  I did get a few close-ups, but the charm of the building is really evident when you see the entire structure including the steeple.

Today I decided to open my photoshop manual (what a concept!!) and learn some technique I've never done before.  This is what I came up with.  I'm so psyched.  

I'm not normally a fan of "fake" photos, but when you think about it it's very likely that this could be a real scene.  A rainbow in the sky following a rain or during very cloudy conditions is something  you're likely to see almost every other day in Hawaii.

One of the photographers I admire most is ?????????--yup, his name is just not coming to my memory.  He passed away many years ago in a tragic accident, but he had a great philosophy.  He was a minimalist when it came to post-processing. One of his statements has stuck with me all these years. I wish I could quote him exactly, but basically what he said regarding post-processing is that he only processed a photo to make the image look like his eye saw it when he pressed the shutter button.

Now I know the sky was just plain blah and I didn't see the rainbow that day, but in learning this process I discovered what a joy it can be to enhance a scene with realistic improvements.

Okay, okay, my friends.  Stop gloating!!

Visiting With the Characters

4/365

The second day of our stay at Aulani was just as pleasant as the first.  It was a little overcast which made for a comfortable time while sitting in the lounge chairs.

Micaela came for the morning with her son.  He spent most of his time playing in the kiddie pond, but then we got news of the schedule for the characters to be out and about, so we headed over to the location to grab a few images of the boy hanging with them.  There's always a long line, and you don't get much time to pose, but whatever you get is fun.

Here's the boy with Stitch

Then mom jumped in for a photo.

A little later Mickey and Minnie showed up.  It was so cute~~as the couple were walking from the hotel to their photo spot, they were holding hands.  I was totally in the wrong place to get that photo, but all I could say was, awwwwww.

There were probably just as many adults without children in line as there were families with children.

Then, as we were walking back to out lounge chairs, I saw Goofy posing with folks and managed to get this shot of him just before someone stepped close to him.  

It was a good day.  We treated ourselves to another lilikoi pina colada, spent some time in the pools and just basically vegged the afternoon away. 

Then we went back to Betty's house for dinner, watched some tv and then I headed home.  Occasional days like that are so good for the soul.  And what great fodder for my memory bank.

Thank God for His blessings.

A Night at Aulani

3/365

My daughter presented me with the opportunity to stay at Aulani for a night.  Be still my heart!  Aulani (the Disney Resort) is one of my favorite places on the island.  I've mentioned many times how much I'd like to work there.  That will probably never happen, but it's such a kick to spend time there and now....to have the chance to spend two days and a night....well, there are just no words!

We arrived Wed morning and were greeted with lei.

We went directly to our room to unload and change into our bathing suits.  I had to grab a photo of the view from the balcony.

This is the infinity pool looking out over the ocean.  There are mega-waves on the North Shore and apparently they're wrapping around to the south-west.  In the winter the ocean is usually very calm, but not today.

We decided to treat ourselves to Pina Coladas in the mid-afternoon.

We ended the day with a pizza dinner and the movie, Saving Mr. Banks.

Getting in the Swing of Things

2/365

Well, I landed in Hawaii last Tuesday (today is Sunday), after a delayed departure, a missed connection, a re-routing, a long, long trip and many plane changes which unexpectedly included having to go through security again with very little time to spare.  I did a lot of jogging in between flights and managed to get to one of my connections just as the passengers were half boarded.

Because of the change in itinerary, my luggage didn't arrive until two days after I did.

  It all worked out though, and the flights themselves were uneventful...

I woke up the next day with a cold.  No warning, just, BAM, there it was!  

It could have been worse though, it could have been the flu.  

But between: 

1)  wearing the same clothes for 3 days straight, 

2)  jet lag, 

3)  the stinkin' head cold, 

 4)  the atmosphere loaded with oppressive VOG, 

and 

5)  discovering that my car wouldn't start and having to take it to 

the shop to find the cause, it was a miserable few days.

I'm finally on the mend.  I feel a little better each day and I took my camera out of the bag for the first time yesterday.  That's always a pick-me-upper!

Today I took a short walk with my camera.  There isn't too much to photograph here in the development, but I got a few images of some foliage.

So just for the sake of posting something, here ya go.

It's a New Year and I'm Late Already

1/365

My last post was on Dec 30. It's been 5 days.  My goal for the new year is to post twice a week on specific days~~the days for this month being Thursday and Saturday.

Well, here it is Tuesday, so not only has it been a long time, but I'm late and it's the wrong day.  Hmmmm, is any day really the "wrong" day?  I guess not, but if one makes a schedule and then breaks it immediately by stalling and not following the schedule, does that constitute "wrongness".

Volumes could be written about that, so let's just move on.

By my sloppy calculations we've only had between 12-18 hours of total sunlight since before Thanksgiving.  That's about 40 days....  That's a lot of dreary weather.  I'm taking Vit D and have considered upping the dose.  So the other day (Sunday to be exact) I looked out the window and saw even drearier, foggier, cloudier and depressing-er (I know that's not a word, but it fit well with the sentence) conditions than previously.  I sighed and went about the business of getting ready for church. Then the lightbulb went on and I realized I should get some photos of it.

With very little time left, I stepped outside my door and made a few images.  I'm glad I did, I got a few keepers, even if they're just for the record.

Then yesterday, while I was in the midst of about 4 chores I decided to make myself a bagel with cream cheese and then I got the urge to photograph food.  It's ridiculous, I'm really bad not very good at it, mostly because I don't cook anything exotic enough to make a good image, but there's just something in me that wants to pursue food photography.

So I decided to photograph the bagel.  I dropped all the other half-finished chores I was working on, set up the table, ironed the placemat, made a cup of coffee, grabbed the tripod, camera, reflectors, toasted the bagel and attempted to Work-The-Subject.

The bagel and coffee tasted better than the picture turned out.  I once read the book "Art & Fear" that stated many times over that an artist's good work is born out of the artist's bad work.  I often feel like I should be creating some R.E.A.L.L.Y. good work pretty soon considering how much bad work I've done in my photographic career, hahaha

I guess I should cut myself some slack though.  If I had taken this picture 15 years ago it would have been truly pathetic.  Anyway, I will persevere!~!

On Being an Introvert

40/365

I'm an only child.

I am an introvert.

When I began kindergarten my mom went back to work.  I would go to a neighbor's house after school, but as I got older I was able to stay in our apartment by myself after school.  I remember loving it~~being alone in my apartment.  Is that weird??

When I was in high school and my parents felt comfortable leaving me home alone at night, I would just about be giddy when they went out for the evening.  I never said so to them, I'm not really sure I recognized the feelings myself at the time, but I didn't feel lonely or abandoned or scared.  I felt at peace.

I was painfully shy as a child and I never really got over my discomfort of being in a large group of people, especially if I didn't know them.  I didn't know and still don't know how to do "small talk".     I was, and still am, always glad when the event is over.

During my college years (living in a dorm with other girls) and during my years of raising children (with all the chaos connected to that) I didn't get much alone time.  But I missed it.  Desperately!

One occasion stands out in my mind.  When my last two children were young we were eating dinner one night.  I was physically tired and mentally weary.  I looked at my husband and said something like, "I really need some alone time, could you take the kids out this Sat and let me stay home alone".

As I was speaking I could see his eyes begin to glaze over.  He had absolutely no comprehension of what I was saying and he obviously couldn't wrap his brain around the idea of me wanting to be home "alone".

Having said all of that, there are times when I want to be in large chaotic groups, I'm happy to be on the clean-up committee at church, I can joke around with the person behind me on line at the supermarket, etc.  I come away from those experiences refreshed.  But then I want need my solitude.

I used to think there was something wrong with me~~one minute I wanted to be in the center of the experience and then almost the next minute (it was never really that extreme of course) I would be craving solitude and silence.  I often wondered if I had a split personality...

The other day I read a post on facebook that I wished I had read, oh, so many years ago. It comes from the Huffington Post, written by Alena Hall and published in Nov 2014, entitled,

"10 Ways Introverts Interact Differently With the World".  

Each one of the following points has a paragraph or two explaining exactly what is meant:

1)  They withdraw in crowds~~guilty

2) Small talk stresses them, while deeper conversations make them feel alive~~guilty

3) They succeed on stage--just not in the chit-chat afterwards~~not sure about the stage part, but guilty about the chit-chat

4)They get distracted easily, but rarely feel bored~~guilty

5)They are naturally drawn to more creative, detail-oriented & solitary careers~~guilty

6)  When surrounded by people, they locate themselves close to an exit (in the paragraph that follows she states that they go so far as to only sit in aisle seats on planes)~~guilty

7)  They think before they speak~~not so guilty

8)  They don't take on the mood of their environment like extraverts do~~so/so

9)  They physically can't stand talking on the phone~~guilty now, not so much when younger

10)  They literally shut down when it's time to be alone~~guilty

And the piece de resistance of the entire article is the following quote:

"Solitude matters, and for some people, it is the air that they breathe"

Vs 13-14 of Psalm 139 say, "For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb.  I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made..." 

I  need to think on that more often.

The Gingerbread House Project

39/365

For years and years I used to think, "awww look how cute those Gingerbread Houses are, I should really do that project with my grandkids".  Well, the truth of it is I HATE don't really enjoy doing crafts and every time I thought of doing the project I quickly put it out of my mind.  And it was easy to do that because I never mentioned it to the kids, so they weren't expecting it.  

Then last year (2013) I took the plunge.  I didn't make the gingerbread but I did make the goop to hold the house together.  It was my first time and it was almost a FAIL.  I purchased the graham crackers and all the candy to use for decorations.  The kids were great even though the crackers kept breaking and the goop was almost too thick & stiff to use well.  The results:  pretty good.  And they had a great time.

This year I mentioned to the kids that we could do the houses again, but I kept putting it off hoping they had forgotten.  Well....no such luck.  I found out that at least one of them kept wondering when we would do the houses.  So I was convicted and humbled.  I had made a promise, of sorts, so I had to keep it.

I certainly didn't want to go through the effort of making the goop again, so I set out to look for kits.  They're so stinkin' expensive, but I managed to find a place that was running a sale.  Throwing financial caution to the wind, I bought three kits.  There!  That was done.

I made a date with the kids (no easy feat considering their busy social lives) and we got to the job of putting the gingerbread houses together yesterday, a mere 4 days before Christmas.  They were so good about it.  So creative.  Each one was different from the others.  It's such a blessing to see that they have their own minds/opinions/creativity and that they don't need to depend on each other for ideas.  They inspire each other, but they march to their own drummers.

The final results.  

I'm free for about 363 days!

The Basketball Game (#3,782, or so it seems)

38/365

I had the pleasure of taking the grandson to his BB game this afternoon.  We got there in plenty of time...actually we got there pretty early and the other game was still only in the 3rd quarter.  I pro-actively remembered to pack my kindle in my camera bag, so I sat in the bleachers and read for a while.

But then I noticed this beautiful mural that covered one entire wall at one end of the court, depicting all kinds of sports.  It is really quite the mural so I had to take a couple of photos.

For some reason I'm having a difficult time of photographing this guy's games.  I don't remember struggling so much with the other grandson.  I had to really bump up the ISO and I think I was being too conservative.  Also, the kids are often clumped together, so it's tricky trying to get a shot of any individual player, or it could be that I'm just bad at photographing sports.  Hmmmm, maybe it's a combination of all 3 things.

Anyway, I was able to get only a few images of the boy and the one below might just be the best of the lot.  The others are good "for the record" images, but that's about it.  I wonder how the newspaper photogs do it--wish I knew someone to ask.

I changed the image into bw to see how I'd like it.  I definitely like it.

BTW, below is the final score...  (we were the guests) The grandson made two baskets.  He was happy!

Special Christmas Service and High ISO

37/365

 Every December my church holds a special pre-Christmas Sunday evening service.  That service took place two days ago. We sing many Christmas Carols from the hymnal, there is a lot of other music and Scripture is read chronicling the prophecy of and the birth of Christ.  Following the service there is always a food reception, the reputation of which precedes the event and spreads far and wide.  

I always go about an hour early. That way I can photograph to my heart's content without interfering with the somber but joyous nature of the event.  I refuse to use flash though and because the service takes place at night when there's no ambient light from outside, I have to bump the ISO up pretty high.  Even after all these years of using a digital camera and experimenting with high ISO and knowing how good the cameras of today are, I still almost hyperventilate when going past 800 or so.

But I had to go high in spite of my stubborn innate resistance. So I tried 1200--no good.  Then 1600--no good.  Then 2000--still no good but getting close.  Finally up to 2500 and knew I didn't have to go any higher.  Whew, I was getting nervous.  My camera is excellent at those ISOs, I need to learn to relax and just go with what's necessary to get the images.

It was a great evening and I'm pretty happy with the images.  They'll be a nice addition to the church history scrapbooks.

Cranberry Cream-cheesy Bars 

(otherwise known at Starbuck's as Cranberry Bliss Bars)

36/365

I have been waiting FOR.    EV.    ER.   to make these things.  Well, maybe not that long, but definitely for a long time.  I discovered them about 5 years ago when I first began frequenting Starbuck's on a fairly regular basis, especially when in Hawaii where there's a Starbuck's on every other corner.  They only sell them during the winter a little before and a little after Christmas.

They are Amazing!!!  Like, over-the-top it's a good thing these are so expensive or I'd buy and eat many more amazing.

Then a friend of mind, actually a friend of my daughter's who used to come to the house when they were in high school, began posting that she was making and selling these scrumptious bars along with other goodies, as a fund raiser for their adoption efforts.  

Of course I purchased some and oh, my goodness, fell in love with them again.  I'm not sure it's the exact recipe that Starbuck's uses, but it's close enough to call it a SCORE!!!

Over the years I've thought of contacting the girl to see if she'd be willing to share the recipe and finally put feet on my dreams this year.  Last night I made them.  Now....I don't usually cook, bake or do anything else constructive/productive at night because, well, I'm a morning person as I mentioned in a recent post, and once noon comes & goes I'm pretty much off the clock.

But I really wanted to try these bars.  Really wanted to as in "I'm going to make them now even though it's 7 pm and I'd rather be sitting on the couch editing photos".

And really....they are as scrumptious as I thought they'd be.  So now the struggle begins:  do I eat one every time I get the notion?  do I eat just half at a time?  do I resist 3 out of 4 times?  or do I just eat them and not make them again for a long time?

Well, the verdict is out on that.  I'll get back to you about it sometime, or maybe not.

Victorian Stroll

35/365

The rumor is true.  Winter is here.  

If you couldn't tell by the weather, you'd know by the fact that the Troy Victorian Stroll took place this past Sunday.  It's always the first Sunday of December and it's the only Stroll in the area that takes place during daylight hours, a fact that makes it pretty enticing to go to take photos in spite of the cold.  

No matter how many times I've been there, I still get confused about exactly how to get there and where to park.  But....as I was driving into the Stroll area, there, right in front of me, was a car pulling out of its parking spot.  Voila, I parked and we were on our way.  

There weren't as many people in period dress as in past years, but it was still fun.

These photos were taken in color and they are great that way.  Santa's in his bright red fluffy suit and his elf is in bright green with red accents.  But for some reason I thought I'd convert these two images into bw just to see how I'd like them.  The verdict:  I like them!