How sneaky!

I don't get many responses to my blog posts and it's kinda exciting when I get an alert letting me know that someone has something to say.

This morning was no different.

Anonymous wrote "Thanks for sharing.." on one of my DIY posts.

And I thought, someone didn't have an account and didn't want to post their name....and that's ok.

As I was clicking to publish a little blue line under the period caught my eye and my next thought was uh-oh.

I quickly went to my blog and discovered that Mr. or Ms Anonymous put a link to a web site in their comment. Sneaky......

I copied the link and googled it. Mostly I found other blogs where this person posted flattering posts like nice blog, thanks for sharing anonymously....with the same hidden link in the site.

I wasn't brave dumb enough to get suckered into clicking the link and maybe getting hacked or worse.

Just thought I'd share, so you don't get suckered in.

Aloha A Hui Hou!

Back in 1979

After I graduated from grade school I went to visit my grandmother in Germany. While I was there I spent some time at my uncles Bed and Breakfast. It was in a small little town called Ludwigswinkel.

Now Ludwigswinkel was far away from everything and was known for the clean and healthy air. There was a clinic, for people with lung ailments right there on the lake.

One of the patients staying there would come to the B&B for cake and coffee with her daughter. We were the same age and got along splendidly.

The day came that she went back home and I went back to the US and we remained pen pals for years.

When my family moved to Germany she came to visit and it was the same. She was a friend for life.

Over the years we visited each other, called and kept writing.

Just before I moved to Hawaii she had a bit of a melt down, divorced her hubby and I lost track of her. Letters came back, parents changed their number. Not a trace.

I remember her last words...Don't leave Germany with out letting me know....but I just couldn't find her.

Every year on her birthday I send out a prayer and a birthday wish, hoping that she was happy and well.

I didn't give up looking...I googled her name didn't find anything. I joined forums from her home town and asked around, if anyone knew her or her family....no responses.

As I was packing up "stuff" on Friday I came across my old address book and I had her parents old address in there and I thought what the heck...google the address.

To my great surprise her family name popped up...with a phone number.  I was a bit nervous....but this was the best luck I had in years.

I gave it a shot and a man picked up the phone..I asked for my friend, told him who I was....and he remembered, he was her brother! He took down my phone # and promised to forward it to my friend.

This morning she gave me a quick call (from her cell=very expensive), updated me that she has become a mother and remarried her ex husband (I really liked him and am soo happy they are back together).....She said that they don't have a computer and don't go online, but she will write me a nice long letter. Like so long ago....

We've been friends for almost 35 years....I'd say she's my oldest friend...and I'm happy to have found her again.

Aloha a Hui Hou

Back in 1999....

When I traveled to Hawaii for the first time, I rented a Sebring Convertible.

And I fell in love....

But I knew it would be a love that couldn't be...because they didn't sell Chrysler Sebrings in Germany.  

At that point in time I never....ever....thought I would end up in Hawaii.

But Life happened and I wound up in Hawaii and after a few years my car dream came true and I bought my first Sebring

and I named her Gracie. She was cheap and wasn't perfect. She had some many flaws. The hood wouldn't close all the way, not all the windows worked, the top had to be closed by hand.....and, and, and but she was a Sebring and sitting in that driver seat, I felt at home. We had wonderful, topless times together. 

Then, a little more than a year later, October was coming around and the time for her to get the annual safety check getting close. One thing was sure, she wasn't going to pass and the money needed to fix her - the math just didn't add up - so I had to let her go...and missed her every day.

Since we had a 2nd car and we didn't really NEED to have two cars, we opted to be frugal and not to get a replacement.

Fast forward to January 2011 - I was unhappy, always stuck in the apartments, bored out of my gourd and  it was time to get another car. I was lucky and oh so blessed that I was able to get another dream car - A newer model, much better condition

Enter stage left, Dolores, Dolly for short...

Actually won a photo contest with this picture and it landed in a Sebring Convertible Calendar

Daily morning drives to the beach, cruising the Island with the top down - I was me again! Loving Island life, still in love with a Sebring.

Last November hubby had his right of way taken and the accident totaled our other car. Here is the post about that mess.

Hawaii is a no fault state - no fun.

My tip for you, if you are ever here, never, ever have an accident in Hawaii.

Anyway, this time the decision was different. We had other things to take into consideration. We bought the ranch, we might be moving...maybe...having two cars, it was complicated. I didn't want to load a 2nd car if we were going to move...and who knows when that could happen? Sooner? later?.  So No 2nd car for us.

Dolly was our one and only and this time I took it in stride. If I needed a car, I'd drive Hubby to work and pick him up again. On the weekends I got to go for my beach walks and be the driver when we went shopping and such. It was a part time love affair.

Last week I had a friend visiting the Island and I drove Roger to work so I could have the car. We had a great time driving around the Island. Visiting some beautiful places - enjoying topless views. 

This week Wednesday hubby arrived home from work, much later than usual. He said that Dolly over heated and he had to stop several times on the way home. Said she kept dying on him.

So he called in and stayed home from work yesterday to take the car to the shop. They called and said that as far as they can tell there is a part that is broken. It might solve the problem - it might not. they won't be sure until they fix the part they see is broken. I was feeling a bad case of deja vu.

We sunk a lot of money in our Astro van and it wound up dying anyway - losing all the money we put into it.

We weren't about to let that happen again.

So unhappily we went to the dealership and traded Dolly in for a new car. Not a convertible, but for an economical 2011 Hyundai Accent. We don't have a name for her yet.....but that'll come, once we get to know each other better...

Aloha A Hui Hou!

On a Clear Day

You can see clear over to Maui 

and Molokai

and Lanai'i

This pic was taken at Lanai'i Look Out, just past Hanauma Bay.
We don't often drive around this way anymore and the visibility isn't always as great as you see here. But when we do and it is....it's a beautiful day.

Also wanted to share this ham with you.

When we pulled up there were a bunch of doves sitting on the rock wall of the look out. As we got out of the car they flew away...all except this guy. He totally hammed it up for the camera and let me get a bit closer than most birds.

Look at those Red/Pink eyes!

Usually I take pics of things that don't move, that is unless the wind moves it...So I'm very pleased to have gotten this fairly sharp portrait of a live object.

Aloha A Hui Hou!

Darwin Awards

Living in Hawaii you often hear how tourist get themselves in bad situations by not following paths, not heeding signs. Some people get lost for days. Search parties are sent out and helicopters have to fly in to get them because of the location and situation they got themselves in.

I remember a few years back, crews working in the jungle below the Pali lookout and found the skeleton of a backpacker that slipped off the trail years ago - still wearing their backpack. So sad...

Knowing this, it never ceases to amaze me that people think they are above the safety rules put in place by people that know the area. Know how crumbly our rock/ mountain sides are. How slippery it is in the jungle and how unexpected nature can be.

They don't have the proper foot ware for this environment and have no idea that waves HAVE swept people off the rocks into the ocean.

Sad to think that if something happened to them they expect someone else to put their lives in jeopardy to save them.


Aloha a Hui Hou and stay safe!!

Biology Lesson

When walking on the beach as often as I do, you notice things. Things that change. Something is different.

On this day I noticed a dark wavy line, stretching across the beach.

Looking more closely I noticed that it was much courser sand, pieces of shell, little bits of vegetation, sea glass (haven't found glass in a long, long time). This was all tone in tone, browns, beiges and creams.

As I walk along I start seeing tiny spots of purple and wonder what the heck is that? 

I bend down and see that it's little purple shells and they were all over a small stretch of the beach. Hundreds of them.

So tiny and yet so much detail!

Love the warm glow of the morning sun.

Now wait a minute,  here was something different. This one seemed to have a float, just like a Portuguese Man of War jellyfish.

Let me blow this up for you

Got me thinking of an acquaintance of mine, John Hoover. 

John wrote "The Books" on Hawaii sea life.  Tirelessly gathering information on fish and invertebrates. So I dropped John a quick note, with photos, asking what this might be. Here is his response. 

"The purple shells are called "Violet Snails" - Janthina janthina and they eat Portuguese Man of War jellyfish." 

And just as I thought, he goes on to say that if the wind changes they get swept on shore.

Now that I had a name I researched a bit more and found this here:

The violet snail is a marine gastropod that spends its whole life drifting on the ocean surface in warm seas, floating on a bubble raft of its own making. It feeds on jellyfish, such as the By-the-wind-sailor, Velalla velalla, or the Portuguese man-o-war, Physalia physalis. It starts life as a male and becomes female over time. The violet snail, Janthina janthina, also known as the violet shell snail and purple bubble raft snail, is holopelagic, meaning it spends its entire life cycle on the open sea. It secrets mucus from its foot which binds bubbles together in a raft, on which it floats freely on the ocean, in equatorial and temperate waters. Its shell is 3-4 cm in size, light and fragile, and is a dark purple at the widest part, fading to a light purple at the narrow top. Its body ranges from dark purple to black. Violet snails are protandric hermaphrodites, meaning they are born male and develop into females over time. Fertilization is internal, but males lack a penis, so there is no direct mating. Instead, the males release their sperm into a case that drifts to a female, where the sperm fertilizes the eggs. The eggs develop internally and are born live, with the tiny purple snails immediately able to build their own rafts. They use their feet to agitate the water, creating bubbles, which they bind together with mucus. If the bubble raft ever breaks apart, the snail will sink into the ocean and die."

Lastly, I took a pic of one of the shells next to a pin. Just so you get a feel for the size.

And that, was your biology lesson of the day!

Aloha a Hui Hou! 

Guilty Pleasure

Ok, confession time.

For as long as I can remember I have HATED sweet potatoes and no, I don't think in this case that hate is too strong a word. I've tried, really I tried...and my taste buds just tell me to spit them out.

When I moved to Hawaii I even tried the famous Okinawa purple sweet potatoes - Yuck!

Two Thanksgivings ago I made a Rachel Ray recipe that used fingerling potatoes, including tiny sweet potatoes (recipe I've posted before). I thought with all the cream and cheese I might be able to get them down, but sadly I was mistaken.

Known on the mainland as Black Angus

A while back, Roger and I enjoyed lunch at The Cattle Company. They had something new on the menu - sweet potato fries with maple dipping sauce.

(side note - Sweet Potato fried seem to be popping up all over the place. You can even get them in the freezer section of the grocery store)

Roger put in his order

Our meals were served PDQ (pretty darn quick). The sauce looked interesting and Roger jumped right in and said that they were good, but the sauce was a bit sweet.

I think it was the sauce.

It was calling me.

Taunting me.

"I know you want to try me, I dare you. Try me!"

Of course I did and I liked them...really really liked them. The dipping sauce - Although at first I thought it was too sweet, I am now addicted to it.  

So addicted I have got to figure out how to make it.

I found this recipe today...will have to try it:

Ingredients:
All you need:

1 (22-oz) pkg frozen sweet potato fries (Seem to be very popular right now - you see them everywhere)
¼ cup plain Greek yogurt OR light sour cream
¼ cup Hy-Vee low-fat plain yogurt
2 tsp Grand Selections maple syrup
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
Directions:
All you do:

1. Cook sweet potato fries according to package directions.
2. Meanwhile, for sauce, in a small bowl combine sour cream, yogurt, maple syrup and cinnamon.
3. Serve fries with dipping sauce.

Nutrition facts per serving:
205 calories, 8g fat, 1g saturated fat, 5mg cholesterol, 200mg sodium, 33g carbohydrate, 4g fiber, 3g protein

Source: Hy-Vee recipe of month

Bon Appetite and Aloha a Hui Hou!

Stuh-pid Birds

One of the things we got to enjoy last summer was all the nesting birds and watching them feed their babies. This year the birds were just starting to nest.

I was surprised that on one of the first mornings I found a piece of egg shell.

A few days later while Roger was mowing/weedwhacking the tall grass he came across this nest.

We think they are quail eggs. After he cut the grass, we think the "parents" abandoned the nest.

A few days later Roger told me to get my camera and come outside. He lead me to this

Now let me zoom out so you see where it is

Yup, you're seeing right. The stuh-pd birds build a nest under the hood of the TRUCK.Why would they ever build a nest in a moving vehicle?

Naturally we couldn't leave them there. Wearing a pair of gloves I gently lifted the nest out of the engine and put them under the lilac bush (where the parents were hiding)

I included a few of the feathers so they might recognize their nest, but after a few days, the nest was still untouched. So sad :o(

Totally unrelated, one of the blogs I follow, Thrifty Decor Chick, is hosting a link page this week where you can share your yard. I'm looking forward to lots of ideas for our hole in the yard.

Aloha a Hui Hou!

Which is it?

OK, totally unrelated....but I was writing someone about the color I plan to paint the light bedroom and was stumped. Every time I write it I think I'm spelling it wrong. The color is Grey...or is it Gray?

Something in my says it's G-R-E-Y....but G-R-A-Y looks good too....oh I don't know! 

Like I said I was writing someone and didn't want to look like a fool so what did I do, I googled it and came across this page.

This one tells me that they're BOTH correct and a cute little spelling rule that went something like this:

In England they write GrEy and in America they write it GrAy. 

I don't think I'll ever spell it "wrong" again! The site also shows other common misspellings and cute ways to remember how to spell it right, like:

abundance - Often spelled -ence Mnemonic: A hot dog can make a-bun-dance

Is that cute or what? I've had my giggle for the day - hope you have too.

Aloha a Hui Hou!