Lauren

Yesterday, Traci took this little girl to the drs. to check on a possible problem. In the course of checking out that the dr. discovered she had sugar in her urine and blood. This was a sign of Type 1 diabetes.

After a sleepless night by many people, I just got the call that her morning urine test and a fasting blood sugar were both normal! This really an answer to prayer.

J

Waialua, part 2

Wai'alua is one of the oldest settlements in the Hawaiian Islands (15th century). All of the north shore area was called Wai'alua until the early 19th century when people started coming out this way to stay at the Haleiwa Hotel (now Haleiwa Joes). Haleiwa means "home of the iwa bird", and it didn't become it's own city until much later.

There is a story about King Kamehameha I stayed in Wai'alua before leaving to conquer Kauai and Niihau. When Captain Cook's ships sailed past Waialua, the wrote about the green fields and large plantations.

The name Wai'alua means two rivers or water. These two rivers are the ones that crested and overflowed in December. It was amazing to see how fast the water came up and then how fast it went back down.

People still fish for blue crab and maybe some type of smaller fish from these rivers.One of the few places to eat in Wai'alua town


One of the locations where they film LOSTa very old cemetary in Wai'alua


driving on the by-pass road towards home

Wai'alua is unique in so many other ways. It really is country. We only have 1 flashing stop light. Town is "all the way over there". Hot in the summer, not so wet in the winter. Beautiful beaches, beautiful views. There is so little light at night out here that we can see the Milky Way on a regular basis during the summer. Green, green and more green. Red from the red dirt. Blue from the blue skies. White from the clouds and full moon.

he nani o wai'alua

Gung Hay Fat Choy

2009 Year of the Ox Red envelopes that you put "lucky money" in. You can pass these out or feed to the lion.

Lantern from a New Years party I went to last week. This was a 10 course dinner that included things like steamed fish, duck, shrimp and ending with noodles that signify "long life".

The lion dancers at Millilani shopping center. I didn't even have to go to Chinatown to see and hear them.

"Best wishes and Congratulations. Have a prosperous and good year."

Happy 16th DUKES

I was invited to DUKES Waikiki for their 16th anniversay party. I almost didn't go because "all the way into town, it's so far". I'm so glad I went. It's always good to see old friends and some people I didn't expect to see. Bernie, Gary & Lou were greeting people as they came in.

Friends from New York

That smile! Uncle Tommy. I got to try some of my limited knowledge of Samoan on him...he laughs!

Good food and so many people!

I was thinking on the way home. WOW, 16 years!

I still remember:

it being "Smorgeys" (yuck)

Asking the beachboys for their input on the design

Meeting Brett

Funerals

Weddings

partys on the lower patio

Breakfast buffet

Lunch buffet

not so much for dinner

putting lei on the pictures on the wall

kanakapila at the round table

dancing hula more than once there

Hula Pie yellow plates *hehehehe

Traci & Susanne stools

Tommy cooking ulu in the kitchen

loud football

Hula Pie (the real one) melting on the beach

Lois & Stacey first timers

Sunday afternoon watching the people dance to Kapono

Dancing on the beach with Tommy to Kapono

Love to take friends there for the first time, just to see how special it is

just too much fun and too many memories.

Thanks Dukes!

L-O-S-T tonight

Okay, loved it tonight. See those of us who thought there was some "time travel" goin' on were right!!! Thought they kept the flash forwards and flash backs pretty straight, I was worried about that.

As always, there were some questions: who were those "army looking" guys towards the end?
who was that lady in the church? Was it Fairadays (sp?) mother?

We were laughing...Rainbow Drive-In (didn't even change the name), a sign that said "Windward Auto". So fun.

Can't wait for next week.

check out the LOST blog on my sidebar from the Honolulu Advertiser...it's got some great stuff.

LOST

Not going to this tonight (it's in Waikiki), but getting together with some friends to watch it. All of us can't wait and understand that there won't be any talking during the show :)

Todays Honolulu Advertiser had a great small piece on the show. They also said that there will only be 2 seasons left, so we'll start getting some answers tonight! The excitment is almost too much. Need to make sure I dvr it, so we can go back and spot the local places that they change to make it look like somewhere else.

Inaugural Morning

A group of friends (Rickey, Marisa, Travis & Karen) all came over to watch the Inauguration coverage. It actually started here at 2am, but I didn't get up until about 4:30. It was a chilly morning, so we all had blankets and long sleeves. It was still dark as President Obama took his oath of office, but the house was bright with the hope of my young friends for a better future. This was something I didn't think I'd ever see in my lifetime, that's for sure.

We feasted on fresh orange juice, and Hawaiian Sweet Bread baked french toast with three berry compote...yum!

can't wait to see the Hawaii groups in the parade.

Caught Up

I've just done 5 posts all in a row. I'm trying to get caught up. I even did a video, which is something I'd never done before.

Enjoy

aloha,
Jane

6 weeks

This is coming to Kapolei in 6 weeks!!! Can't wait!

BBQ

We had the first BBQ in celebration of Rickey the other night. Good food, good friends, good times.

It was really fun to finally get everyone together. If you notice, a lot of us had on long sleeves. It got cold! Don't laugh, anything below 70, we are chilled. That night it got down to 55 degrees!

Rickey

Our very good friend, Rickey, came back to Hawaii last week. He used to live on the other side of the crazies and went to every court date with us. He's been such a good friend to both of us and also the whole neighborhood, that everyone was very, very excited to see him. He's such a nice guy and we were all very, very sad when he moved to Big Sur almost a year ago.

He's staying with our other friends Travis and Marisa. The three of us went to the airport to pick him up in all the wind. Strange there wasn't any wind on that side (go figure). He couldn't wait to get his "hard shoes" off and slippers on.

He said that he really felt like he's "home".

Welcome home Rickey!

Wind

Severe Weather Bulletin


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HIGH WIND WARNING
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WIND ADVISORY
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Get complete forecast details at kitv: Current conditionsLocal RadarRegional Radar

Last week we started getting news of high winds coming. Hubby took down our tarp and we brought in anything that we thought might blow away. In December 2007, there were also high wind warnings...those turned out to be 75 mph! Those are hurricane force gusts, so no one was taking any chances.

On Thursday afternoon we got the announcement that ALL schools, courts, public works were going to be closed on Friday because of the winds. They were taking this very seriously. We brought in our emerengency kit and got ready.

Even though the winds were strong, they weren't as bad as expected. We were lucky that's for sure. One thing we've learned here is that, if it has to do with the unstable weather, pay attention.

J

"Local Boy"

As you can imagine, Hawaii is taking pride in our very own "First Local Boy". Since the election it's been building for tomorrow. Not often that someone from the most distant group of islands in the world can be called "Leader of the Free World".

Here, it really doesn't seem to matter who you voted for, now it comes down to...local boy makes good!

A couple of the shirts that Crazy Shirts has put out to celebrate.

65!!!

Today is this guy's 65th birthday! Hard to believe isn't it? I searched through some very, very old photos and came up with these. I really don't think he's changed all that much!

Terry a few months old in Vancouver, BC, Canada. A lot of people don't know he's Canadian

Even in Canada he liked working in the yard 3 years old
At a beach in Vancouver with his school uniform on...looks like he's trying to take off his shoes.

Passport photo
The "grill master" even in high school. Is that the same outfit he had on today?High school graduation picture (hair has never changed)

His first car, a "bug eyed Sprite"

College days, even then very dapper in a suit

Today, the same smile, laughing eyes, dapper look in a suit (except for church here he never wears a coat).

Love you Terry. Happy, Happy Birthday. Here's to 65 more!

Waialua Town

I was trying to organize photos on my computer and came across a folder "Waialua Town". I had gone around and taken tons of photos just of Waialua for a scrapbook I made for a friend who was moving. So I thought I'd put together a couple of post just about Waialua.

Waialua sits at the base of the Waianae Mtn. range. Mt. Kaala is the highest peak on Oahu. Waialua is bordered on the north by Kaena Point, the northern most point on Oahu, Haleiwa on the east and through the open fields is Scholfield Barracks and Wahiawa.

This actually shows our street, at the top of this, in the middle surrounded by the green. The housing tracks that you see are the Paalakai homes.
This is the Waianae Range, on the other side of this would be the "West Side"...Waianae, Makaha, Nanakuli.

Ka'ena is the northern most point on Oahu. It's actually in Waialua District, what this whole side was called many years ago.

This is AweoAweo Beach Park in Waialua. The point you see is Waimea.

Waialua had a sugar mill that was still operational until the late 90's. This photos shows the mill in the background with the Waialua Bandstand in the forground. This area was the "center" of town. There are still concerts held at the bandstand every month.

Waialua Library. This little library was named "Best Small Town Library" not only in the state, but also the nation! It's across the street from the bandstand.

Waialua is still an active farming community, so it's not uncommon to see a tractor used as transportation. I read something that said it is believed that because of the land being so good in this area, it may have been one of the first large areas of settlement.

At the end of our street, sits "The Market". Amazing stuff inside there!

And next to it is "The Bakery"...step through those doors and your stepping back into time. Butter rolls, yum!

Next to "The Market" and "The Bakery" is the Oils of Aloha building. As I understand it, this was a movie theater at one time. It's good to see that this great building is still being used for something.
To be continued...