St. P's Day

March 17, 2006

A couple of drinks, St. Patrick's Day regalia and four tipsy guys wearing blinking green rings and what have you got . . . Power Ranger wannabes! Or more like four drunken sods.

Bruce is on the far right, wishing we'd stop, but we couldn't. We were caught up in the moment.

Jessie, the Sand Bar waitress, took this picture of us cutting up. I love it!

April Fools' Day

I coulda' sworn that there'd be rain today, but lo and bold . . . sunshine!!! At long last!!!!

I can finally get rid of the Spanish moss hanging from my armpits!!!

Joy joy joy!!! Merci mon dieu du soleil!

What to do on a day like today? I know, I'll vacuum the water off the lanai. I'm tired of the pond outside. It wouldn't drain properly and I'm sure mosquitos have been eyeing it potential for a breeding ground.

40 Days of Rain

I've got mold growing under my armpits . . . ugh.

The Rains

It's been raining for a total of 34 days now more. Diamond Head won't be brown this summer. A sure thing. Hate to see the possibility of brush fires when it warms up later during the summer, though.

Several days into spring, having rains and even flood watches are quite unusual here on the island. We've had some sad news of flash floods on the island of Kauai. Seven people were washed away when a reservoir burst, sending a 20 foot mountain of water through a valley on Kauai's northern side. The scramble to rescue and find them proved futile.

I hear there's sunshine on the horizon!! Uh, huh. Yeah, right.

Waikiki Sand Villa (The Sand Bar)

Shari put her heart and soul into the preparations for a final salute to our good friend Grundy that was held at the Sand Bar. Try as she might, there was no telling how many people would show up. Those people we did not expect to attend showed up and those we thought would be easy shows ended up not being able to make it for whatever reason. Tom was still at work when it started so he missed out.

We would have had Grundy's ashes to set on his honorary stool, but his family had other plans. That was disappointing since it went against Grundy's wishes to be scattered onto the ocean from a catamaran off Waikiki and from there have his friends gather at the Sand Bar to celebrate his life. Oh well, in the end, it's always the families that have the final say, hiki no?

Odd thing about a memorial like Grundy's. Dwane and I were not feeling well, but we wanted to be at the Sand Bar to pay our respects to our friend. It was the right thing to do, you know? After getting there, we knew we did the right thing. Many of his friends showed up; some flew over from Canada just for this gathering. You gotta admit these are real friends. A good tribute to a person's life.

Athena gathered some pictures of Grundy's past visits, all of them showing how much fun he had being here. They were arranged in a collage.

Picture Grundy in shorts. I'd never seen him in shorts.

My favorite of Grundy hangs over by the bar clock with him sticking out his tongue (reminded everyone of the Einstein photo doing the same thing) loads of laughs. Maybe I can get it scanned and post it to this site sometime.

Happy memories. Thanks, Grundy, for the good years. Thanks for sharing a friendship I shall miss terribly, but appreciate and cherish immensely!

Aloha Ka'u Aikane.

Farewell, Good Friend

Coming home from work, I bumped into a good friend, Linda, who was on her way to work. We kissed and embraced and she asked if I'd heard anything about Grundy.

For some reason, I knew Linda was going to tell me that he was dead. She didn't have to speak it. The moment it was out, I cried unabashedly on the street in front of passersby. I didn't care. I'd just lost a good friend.

No need for details as to how he died. Grundy had a feeling, I think, that his last visit to the island was indeed his last. The hints were there as he gave precious items of his away to people he really cared about. Brennen got some of his prized coins. Some of his rare postage stamps. I hope Brennen appreciates such gifts. Grundy put in a lot of thought as he passed them on. He enjoyed Brennen so much and couldn't say enough good things about him.

People Grundy had known far longer than he knew Dwane, Tom and I are terribly broken over his passing. Poor Sheri and Joe. They really liked Grundy. You could tell they were close.

You'll be missed good friend. The world won't be the same now. Enjoy that Pearl Bar up in the sky with the nifty cushioned bar stools and free flowing beer. I'll see you when you see me.

F F Freeeezzzing!

The office is cold. Waikiki is cold. Frost threatens to develop on window panes!!! Somebody turn up the heat!!!

Happy Birthday Sister Mine

Jeez, are you 50 already??? Can't be. I still remember you in your little flouncey skirt, with your new shoes skipping down the sidewalk and your curly hear bouncing as you come to a screeching halt to witness the slug zooming along the sidewalk in old Aliamanu.

I still remember you skating on your plastic skates that Christmas day back in . . . 1962? . . . over at the Kaukani's and Carpio's carport going round and round and round until you wanted to kick them off because the skates were ungainly and made you look like you were about to fall over onto your face. You envied me my metal skates that day and broke down in a squalling fit. It sucked to be you. I felt for you that day.

Now you're a granny. My gawd . . . wanna skate?

Island Political Scene

Okay, I'm veering from the norm, as far as this blog is concerned, but I feel I must. I don't expect much readership of this blog anyway. I'd be surprised if anyone actually made a pertinent comment regarding this post.

Our islands are governed by well intentioned individuals. As to their being qualified when making law changes, I wonder however. What would qualify a person to be a member of the state houses, i.e. state senators and state representatives? I wish I knew. I'm sure there are prerequisites to be met in order to obtain an office at our state capitol. I still tend to doubt it, though. Some of the people we have in the state houses are real losers. Statesmen? Do they know what the word means? We have none. It reflects at the Federal level as well. I mean, look at all the in-fighting!

Hawai`i is in a bad way and I see no end to it. There are no viable candidates out here. We don't need carpetbaggers. Okay, ramble over.

Friday the 13th & Family Visitors

It's not an unlucky day, like some people might suggest. When I lived in California, it was in the news, explained in documentaries, newspapers and the topic of conversation by both believers and non-believers. I, personally, don't understand the "unlucky" aspect of the number 13. I like the number, actually.

It's amusing when you check into a hotel and assigned to the fourteenth floor. In the back of your mind, you know it's the thirteenth floor. Does it mean you're really safe? Would you still be placed in a very compromising situation? Why, it boggles the mind! What's Homeland Security doing about this???

Dwane and I are going to meet my cousin, Joyce and her friend at the Moana Sheraton for some drinks. Should be a lot of fun. The last time I saw her, it was in the last century! Funny, we don't even know what the other looks like. We could have sent pics to each other, but we didn't. A last minute email to her address with my picture attached was sent today. I doubt she has any means of retrieving it in time. They're going to shop before meeting us at the Banyan Bar, get a couple of tattoos . . . you know, girl stuff.