even more Hawaii

Are you bored of hearing about Hawaii? I'm going to condense the rest of the trip into this one post just to get it over with and then I can move onto the knitting.

Day 2 in Hawaii saw us driving all over Oahu in our rental car. Starting from Honolulu, we went counter-clockwise.

First stop was at the surf shop so that hubby could register and pay for his surfing lesson. We stopped at the Diamond Head Marketplace & Grill for breakfast:


We stopped at pretty much all the lookouts along the coastal route. We made one detour to have a quick look at the Koko Head Botanical Gardens where I promptly got numerous mosquito bites (whoever told me there are no mosquitoes in Hawaii lied).


We spent part of the afternoon soaking up the rays on Sunset Beach which is at the north end of Oahu. Lemme tell you that the waves can really sneak up on ya:


On Fri, hubby went off to his surfing lesson and I sat on the beach knitting and taking pictures/videos of him falling off. Overall, he did pretty well (for a tall guy according to the photographer sitting next to me).


The vacation went a little downhill after the surf lesson. When we stopped for shaved ice on Waikiki, hubby wasn't feeling so well and got really sick. We grabbed a cab at the nearest hotel and went back to our hotel. Hubby got much sicker. Poor thing spent the next 2 days in bed (or in the bathroom). He had to miss out on his bicycle ride. I walked to the bike store and bought him a store jersey to make him feel better. I also went to the Ala Moana mall - it's huge! I finished the walk along Waikiki beach by myself and found a farmer's market where I bought the most amazing supper - Kahlua pork, chicken, rice, fresh pineapple, and other mysterious & tasty goodies. Yum!

We took it easy for the rest of the trip. I did some shopping without hubby (found a quilt store!) and when he felt better, we went to the Bishop museum and drove out to the Pali Highway lookout (more mosquitoes). On the last day, we hiked up to the top of Diamond Head Crater (even more mosquitoes):


We spent our very last afternoon on the beach and in the water at Ala Moana:



We are definitely going back to Hawaii!!!

more Hawaii

Sorry to disappear like that. The week seems to have whipped past me without me noticing. Here's a continuation of our Hawaii adventures...

After spending half a day stomping around Pearl Harbour (and it is a fantastic historical site. We ran out of time so we didn't get to tour the USS Missouri or the submarine. Next time, we'll allot a entire day), we waited, and waited for the shuttle (which never arrived) to take us to the Aloha Stadium swap meet. We ended up hopping in the car and driving over. It's massive. Imagine walking around an entire football stadium full of stalls selling stuff. So. Much. Stuff. And it's all so cheap. Hubby and I bought some Hawaiian hats. We got a couple of Hawaiian shirts. You could buy quilts:


I bought a small cushion cover from this vendor. We also found a bakery stall and I bought some haupia flavoured Hawaiian Pretzels (OMG - deep fried crispy goodness) and hubby picked a coffee cake.

We drove over to Aiea for a little more shopping - hubby went to a bike store and I went to Fabric Mart. Wow. That place is amazing. So many fabrics! I mostly bought Hawaiian prints (for skirts & tops). I think my jaw dropped when I walked in the door.

We headed back to the hotel for their cocktail & entertainment hour (music, shiatsu, drinkies). The drive back took forever. Traffic is a nightmare. The highway is 6 lanes across in each direction and it's jam packed. Even after we got off the H1, it was crazy busy on the side roads all the way back to the hotel. I'll never complain about traffic at home again.

We eventually wandered over to the Hilton across the street in search of some supper. Hubby had a tip about a pizza place that was half decent. We found it and hubby ordered a Hawaiian pizza (ham & pineapple). Only he would eat a Hawaiian pizza in Hawaii. We wandered around the shops after supper and imagine my surprise when I saw this:


It's mounted on the outside of a hotel. The outside. That is completely unheard of out here. In fact, the hotel lobby was completely open to the elements. Don't they worry about critters getting into the building?

That's it - our first full day in Hawaii and it was spectacular.

Pearl Harbour

Our first stop was a very sobering visit to Pearl Harbour. Almost 70 years later, the impact of the Japanese attack is still very much apparent. I could feel every one of the 1000+ lives lost while standing on the USS Arizona memorial.


The moment of silence that I observe every Remembrance Day will have new meaning to me.


ETA: You can click on the pics for a bigger image. But here's what the above plaque says:

Dear Lord / Lest I continue / My complacent way / Help me to remember
Somehow out there / A man died for me today. / As long as there be war
I then must / Ask and answer / Am I worth dying for?

Poem Eleanor Roosevelt kept in her wallet during World War II

aloha

We're back from a week in Hawaii. We had a great time but it's good to be back home with our kitties. The day after we got home, I got hit by the flu. Hubby got sick in Hawaii so it was just a matter of time before I got sick, too. I've been flat on my back for three whole days. Today is the first time I've felt vaguely human.

We picked the perfect week to go. Our area experienced record breaking low temps plus a huge dump of snow. Lucky for us, the snow melted and it warmed up before we came home.

I'll be posting more pics and stories about our vacation shortly. Mahalo!

is it a bird? or a plane?

No, it's paragliders!!!! All pics are clickable if you want to see more detail.


We stopped for a few days to visit hubby's parents and there was a big paragliding competition in town.

We drove out to the landing fields and watched the action from the ground.


This is Peter (already landed) and Hugo (still hovering). They're part of a group that takes the general public out for tandem paragliding flights. They take off from the top of Mount 7 - the leftmost pointy peak just under the rightmost wispy cloud. Each ride lasts about 20 mins long. It's pretty neat to see them floating around for so long.

You can't really see it in the picture but my in-laws live about halfway up Mount 7. If you can spot the 20ft high white cross, that's their place.

While we were waiting to see the pictures & videos from the tandem flights, the competitors took off from the launch site.


I'm not entirely sure how many were in the air simultaneously but each of us counted at least 17 paragliders.

Before we left the landing fields, I couldn't resist taking a picture of the gophers. They were everywhere. My FIL said that someone broke her ankle when her foot got stuck in one of the gopher holes.


We drove up to the top of Mount 7 for a different view of the paragliders. I took this picture the minute we stepped out of the SUV.


I couldn't believe how high up they were after they were in the air for over 15 mins. They were way above our heads and we parked almost at the top. See:


The competitors are given their flight specifics (i.e. gravel pit, then airport, and back to the gravel pit) before take-off. The gliders use GPS to mark their positions and times and the judges use that information when awarding points.

We watched lots of people take off. The landing field is the green/brown patch nearest the Kicking Horse River and directly below the paraglider. Speaking of the river, we went into town the following day and visited our favourite timber-framed pedestrian bridge.


A plaza, garden, and water feature had been added since we'd last been there.


I really liked the ironwork around the plaza. In a few years, the climbing roses will make it look truly spectacular.


A trip through the Rocky Mountains means wildlife sightings. One morning, I was sitting at the kitchen table eating breakfast and a movement just past the flower bed caught my eye. I thought maybe it was a deer or maybe the dog, Jemima. Noooooo! It was a massive black bear. I pointed and shouted, "Bear! Bear! Bear!". Hubby came running followed closely by my MIL. The bear looked at us (probably because I'd been yelling) and then continued up the mountain. My MIL was very impressed and she thinks it's the largest bear she's seen on their property. It's the closest that I've ever been to a wild bear. Of course, there were gophers everywhere. We even saw a gopher sitting on the concrete barricade by the side of the highway on our drive home. Hubby saw a coyote in the slough.

I picked up the cats from the boarders. Phoebe was perched on a shelf way above my head and I couldn't grab her so I had to bribe her down with treats. Ricky was on the shelf above the window and when he saw me wave the cat carrier around, he zoomed down the cat condo and hid in the bottom. When I pulled him out, his tail was all poofed out. Both of them cried the whole way home - one very long hour.

When we got home, Phoebe gave us the usual cold shoulder. Ricky is usually fairly clingy but this time he was super clingy. Followed us everywhere. Both of us were outside doing stuff and he sat at whatever window he could see us from and yelled at the top of his lungs. When we came inside, he'd rush over to us and meow his relief that we came back. I couldn't go anywhere without him driving me nuts. I finally lay down on the bed for a few minutes to see if I could get Ricky to sleep. He jumped up and settled on his blanket and was asleep in seconds. I quietly got up and went downstairs into my sewing room. Less than a minute later, he was crying and pawing at the door. And when I was doing dishes, he head butted the back of my leg and made my knee buckle. I almost fell over. By 10pm, he was exhausted but happy that everyone was in bed. He slept like the dead all night long. I am happy to report that Phoebe is back to loving us and Ricky is sleeping solo on the washing machine.

didya miss me?

Ah - it's good to be back and sleeping in my nice soft bed instead of the cold hard lumpy ground. I may need to invest in a softer mattress for next year. My body can't take it anymore.

Except for the first day of thundershowers, the rest of our trip was pretty perfect. The nieces had a blast in the water. We had to keep a close eye on the youngest one because she has no fear and would float out into the middle of the lake if we let her.


The adults certainly had fun on (and in) the water. My sister is rescuing my BIL - the dumpee:


Hubby had his usual stick-straight-up-in-the-air hairdo:


Because he was doing a lot of this:


My water experience was a little more sedate:


We spent a lot of quality time with the nieces and we know who their favourite is (hint - it's not me):


Poor Uncle was constantly being harassed by them - "Can you take us to the potty?", "Can you show me where you shower?", "I want to go with Uncle!" (even if it's only across the road to get water).

That's ok - Uncle got his revenge:


The campsite was pretty buggy. I was armed with DEET & an ultra sonic emitter and I still got skeeter bites on my ass. And both of us came home with a little extra souvenir of our trip:


Yep, that's swimmer's itch. Please pass the calamine...

belated bloggiversary & birthday plus a contest

Hey Gladys! I just realized that our 3rd bloggiversary (last month) flew by without acknowledgement. So happy bloggiversary - 3 years and counting! And I forgot to wish you a happy birthday on your birthday so Happy Birthday!!!! Question: does the Perwoll smell like WM?

To celebrate our bloggiversary, I'd like to hold a contest. Guess where I am and you can win a sock yarny prize.


Hubby is up there somewhere.


Another shot of the mountain.


And those trees up at the top - it's as if the snow falls sideways and sticks to them so that you can't even tell they're trees anymore. The spooky white shapes are called snow ghosts (this is a big hint).

Contest is open to everyone on planet Earth. Leave a comment on this post with your guess (be as specific as you can). One guess per person please. I will randomly draw a winner from all correct answers. Contest closes midnight PST Wed March 3rd.

Contest closed.

Sunshine Coast or Bust!

Well, the 'bust' part happened. We had a great day planned - take the ferry from Horseshoe Bay to Langdale, wander around Gibsons (i.e. I go to Carola's quilt shop while hubby amuses himself), head north and visit Madeira Park (home of a yarn store in a yurt), and maybe catch the tidal surge at Skookumchuck Narrows. We were all ready to go, I was shutting down the computer for the night and heading to bed early in order to catch an early morning ferry, and that's when I heard it - ::drip:: ::drip:: ::drip::. Hmmm... what could be dripping? Well, there was water coming out the top of the hot water tank and dripping down the sides. I yelled for hubby and we set about shutting the tank down - turn off the gas and water supply. The water supply was a bit of a problem. The shutoff was broken so we ended up turning off the water to the whole house. Yep, no running water so no toilet flushing, brushing teeth, etc. Wasn't it just a few months ago that I was peeing at the local gas station?

Anyways, I called the plumber who said he'd send someone the next day since we'd managed to turn the water off and it was no longer an emergency. I was up til 1:30am draining the tank. Luckily, the tank sits on concrete and there's a drain right beside it. There's a bit of damage to the edge of one of the floor boards but it's not too bad. It's still summer weather so I'm sure things will dry out quickly.

Since there are no Sunshine Coast pictures, I'll show you what I bought in Victoria:


Some books from Munro's, Shi Bui sock from Button & Needlework Boutique, Fleece Artist Merino and Angel Hair combo from Beehive Wool Shop, a sheepy water bottle (hubby actually saw this while I was shopping at Beehive and bought it for me :), bicycle fabric and a cute birdie quilt pattern both from Satin Moon Quilt Shop.

And the sheepy water bottle isn't just any old water bottle. Some of the sheep are having a little extra 'fun':


And here's the fabric that I bought for the birdie quilt:


It's not quite enough but I probably have bits in my stash that I can use. I want to downsize the quilt for a baby so I'll probably only make 4 blocks.

I photographed my Mondo Cable Cardi and I realized that I made a boo boo. There are 20 rows between the first and second twists and 18 rows (the correct number) between the second and third twists.


So the cardi is in limbo until I decide what to do. I will not be frogging it back because this yarn doesn't frog well. One option is to ignore it and keep going. Another option is alternate - 20, 18, 20, 18, 20. What do you think I should do?

another grand day out

Less than 12 hours after our previous adventure, we were out the door again. This time, we drove south to Washington State. Our first stop was the lovely town of Anacortes. As we were driving, we noticed the signs pointing to the ferry that takes you to Victoria (where we were the day before) and I commented that we should've just taken the ferry from Victoria to Anacortes instead of driving the long way around.


After lunch we headed south to Whidbey Island and our ultimate destination - Deception Pass State Park. One of the first things I noticed when we stopped at the viewpoint was the scent of the arbutus trees. This tree only grows right on the coastline and the bark is rusty coloured, thin, and peels off the branches. A very unusual sight.


And this is the path to the Pacific Ocean. If you head west and skip over the southern tip of Vancouver Island and the northwest tip of the Olympic Peninsula, it's land-free until Japan.


The weather was perfect for a stroll down the beach. Even the fighter jets were zooming around. The noise did not bother the fish (who were jumping) or the sea lions. And there must've been lots of fish judging by the number of fisherpeople on the shore and in the boats just offshore. I wonder what they were trying to catch.

When we got tired of walking, we amused ourselves by skipping rocks and trying to stack them.


(Click on the above picture to see the 4 skips)



We brought our kite but after it got stuck in a tree, we decided that it wasn't windy enough for kite flying. We eventually got hungry and headed south to Oak Harbour for supper before turning around and heading home.

I didn't visit any yarn stores (can't buy yarn everywhere I go!) but I did pick up some lovely fabrics for a baby quilt. Again, this post is pretty much done so I'll save loot pics for another day.

the big wide world

Hubby took this week off from work so we've scheduled a bunch of adventures. First up is a trip to Vancouver Island and more specifically Victoria - the capitol of BC. We got up super early to catch the ferry over to the island. This is the boat that we will be boarding.


The weather was awesome for the ferry ride and I convinced hubby to sit outside but it was pretty windy/chilly so we didn't last out there for very long.


Our first stop was Craigdarroch Castle - very 1890s. It was full of oak wood panelling imported from Arkansas. Sadly, the owner (net worth of $20M) died shortly before the house was completed.



For the longest time, the castle was the highest point in Victoria as it stands 4 stories tall. These are views up and down the main staircase. Very impressive.


On our way into town, we stopped for a late lunch. We randomly picked Floyd's Diner (the building is painted pink) while driving down the street. It was a great place. Hubby ordered a burger and the patty was handmade and huge. I ordered the Mahoney which translates into "whatever the kitchen feels like cooking" and they'll charge you whatever they think is fair for it. You have the option of paying that price or flipping the waitress for it - double or nothing (i.e. if you win, the meal is free and if you lose, you pay double the price). I was served the largest omlette ever. It tasted as good as it looked. And no, I didn't flip for it. Afterwards, we stomped around downtown Victoria and visited some lovely shops. A yarn store, Knotty by Nature had a bike out front sporting some fine knitwear.


We splurged and spent a lovely night at the Empress hotel. It sits right on Victoria's Inner Harbour.


The hotel is huge and you can't see our room in this picture but it's one of the ones with the window (with the green caps) sticking out of the steeply pitched roof.


Our room was gorgeous with a spectacular view. The weather turned nasty on the second day which was fine because we spent most of it inside the Royal BC Museum enjoying the Treasures exhibit. Wow! It was quite interesting to see all these artifacts from so many civilizations.

The cats were very happy to see us when we got home. It was the first time that we'd left them home alone for so long (36 hours) and we were a little worried that Ricky would eat all the food, Phoebe would starve and try to kill him. Normally, if we're gone for a short amount of time, we'll seperate them so that they each have their own food, water, litter box.


Ricky sez, "I missed you sooooo much!!!!"

Phoebe left us a 'welcome home' hairball. Ick!

I took some knitting with me but I didn't get much done. There was just too many things to see. Oh and I did buy some yarn and fabric but I think this post is done so I'll hit publish and save the rest for another day.