Lunar eclipse

We stayed up last night to watch this beauty. Copper moon. It was so cool. Image from the Honolulu Advertiser.

TBBB and lots of other things

Lots of exciting adventures have occurred since Flossie failed to come for dinner. Meg ended her wonderful visit, and it was so AWESOME having her here. I hope she will send along some of the pictures of her time here since we still don't have a camera.

And then, last weekend was the Tweedle Beetle Beach Battle (TBBB). I was co-director of the tournament, which essentially means that I had to make sure the keg arrived on time. K and I also made mixed cds for the event; if anyone wants one, let me know as there are leftovers...

Here are some pics from the tourney. The beach where we play is right next to a military base, and they were having "maneuvers" that weekend, so Kim awoke to a lovely scene of 20 National Guardsmen/women in uniform above her hammock. Classic.



Gaffers always looks miserable at the beach. Especially while I am eating hot dogs..



We played afternoon ultimate, but everyone got tired, so it regressed into Double Disc Court (DDC) to allow people to practice for the Hawaii State Overalls this weekend:



The players:



Enjoy the pictures. I am off to work, where I have to cram in a day and a half's worth of time into one half day. I started teaching this week at Leeward Community college (Anat & Physio), so I am now working two jobs (and likely getting paid less in the process...oh silly me.) The good news is that K and I are going sailing this afternoon with one of his students he met this summer at a workshop. I'm really looking foward to being out on the water at sunset. I am going to try to take pictures with our broken camera and hope for the best....

Pathetic

WORST. HURRICANE. EVER.



And, to top it off, the tsunami warning from the earthquake in Peru has been canceled.

The "weather" here. Pathetic. Absolutely abysmal.

updated weather

it's getting windy!!!


FYI: The hurricane is hitting the Big Island currently and they're expecting 10" of rain, 50mph winds, and 30' waves. Oahu (where we live, 2nd of the larger islands from the top) is not supposed to get more than 3" of rain, >15-30mph wind gusts, and 6-8' waves.

Just in case you were worried...

Look who's coming for dinner!

Flossie Friday?

Hurricane Flossie is fast-approaching the islands of Hawaii. It probably will end up going south of us, but it is exciting to think that we may actually get some weather around here.

Meg is coming this weekend and we are planning to go to Ka'ena point Saturday night to watch the Perseids meteor shower. Gaffney is very pumped to see her friend, Meg, who is the only person ever to send the poor thing any mail.

Last Sunday, K and I finally ventured to the Maunawili trail and then to Lani Kai beach. It was a wonderful afternoon, especially since K and I discovered wild mountain apples were ripe and ready for picking. Here is a picture of a mountain apple:




Mountain apples have a texture a lot like pears, and taste sort of rose-watery; it's a nice, light flavor, perfect for a summer treat. "Picking" the apples involves shaking the tree and trying to catch the fragile little pears before they hit the ground and explode into a million pieces. So, you can imagine my excitement, when K grabbed a tree full of very ripe fruit, shook it vigorously and then, and then, got COVERED with fermented fruit shards. The best part? He actually caught one despite the deluge. Too funny.

And finally, happy 28th birthday to my lil' sister KK. Party hard, KK!!

RIP LaCretia

Yesterday, Kyle discovered our pet gold algae eater, LaCretia (similar fish shown, our camera has been broken since March), at the bottom of our fish tank sucking on what appeared to be not algae at all, rather one of our larger snails. That was certainly surprising.

"Oh", he says, "LaCretia is not eating the snail; the snail is eating LaCretia. She's dead."

And so ends the tragic life of our little one, leaving us with a mere 13 fish, forever destined to the same fate as our little algae imbiber. LaCretia was a good fish, although I did find her skills of late to be dropping considerably. But she lived probably a good 2.5 years or so (I have had her only a year; I inherited the fish from a friend leaving the island).

Which begs the question: do I get a new algae eater if I, myself, plan on leaving?

and, inevitably,

Should I really be keeping fish in an aquarium anyway?

I like my fish. I like coming home from work and watching them dance around in the water, with ol' Blacky, the shark, chasing the striped ones whom we haven't bothered naming. I like taking care of something too, which I'm sure is some kind of deep mothering affectation I can't completely satisfy by having a dog or a boyfriend. The fish just seem to be there for me, which is why the loss of one is not entirely ignorable (although, admittedly, the small tetris disappeared a long time ago, and I have no recollection of when it died or got devoured at all...)

In any case, I am sad to see the little one go. This loss comes at the end of a summer of many changes: friends leaving the island, my grandfather's passing and subsequent cleaning of his entire house full of memories, and the end of me playing around as a student, and starting a job as a teacher. The inevitable progression of life. I guess I will have to embrace it; I'll go to the pet store tonight and pick out a new algae eater. I hope it will live up to the legacy that was LaCretia.