Haleiwa Car Wash...

most Saturdays there is a car wash going on

in Haleiwa.  Different groups can use the space at the 

Waialua Community Center to hold them.  Not sure if they have

to rent the use of the parking lot or what. It really is perfect.  On the main road,

lots of room for the line, and an area for washing and drying.

We've had so much rain lately, there haven't been many washes on a

regular basis.  Last Saturday

the sun was out, it was warm and there was a car wash.  

This group was great. They had long brushes/ sponges. The lady that took my money said they

were earning money for their family reunion.  

There have been sports teams, hula groups, church groups,

cheerleaders and now families.

nice to have a clean car...

it lasted until late that night, when it rained.

Aoki's & Iwa...

On May 31st, both of these long-time Haleiwa businesses will close their doors.

Kamehameha Schools (the land owner)  has given them the final date.

Aoki's has been in that location for 30+ years and their building is 90+

years old.  Iwa Gallery's building I would't be surprised is probably older.

This is all part of Kamehameha Schools Master Plan for the North Shore

and Haleiwa.  This will include a parking garage, new buildings,

side walks, trams to shuttle the tourist, etc.  Our friend owns

Iwa Gallery and can't afford the rent in the new buildings.

Kamehameha Schools plan
for Haleiwa will bring huge change to our sleepy town.  As it is now,
the traffic on the weekends is especially bad...tourist don't want to stay
in Waikiki anymore. They want to experience the "real Hawaii" and our
beautiful beaches.
I understand that in an economy that is tourism driven, must attract those
dollars...

but isn't taking away the charm and replacing it with new
taking away the "real Hawaii" that so many come to see?
Is the North Shore going to become the next Waikiki?

I hope not.

Adds To The Craziness...

last Saturday, I didn't go into town for hula.  I had church function

that I wanted to attend, and couldn't be two places at once.

The day started pretty mellow, breakfast at Konos, car wash, no rain, 

etc.

I got to the church and was told that the electricity was out.  I texted 

some of my neighbors and sure enough it was out at our house too.

The Bishop was stuck trying to get to the church but was caught in a

massive traffic jam because of the accident that caused the

power outage that led to the road being closed.  On top

of that it was the day of the "Warrior Dash" out in Mokuleia

and the only road out there was not closed and everyone was 

routed onto Crozier which is 1 1/2 lanes (maybe).  

So the 10+ people trying to get out there now were sitting in stopped traffic 

on both Kam Hiway and Kaukonahua!

Add all the tourist traffic because it was beautiful and Saturday everything

stopped.  I tried to get out Waialua Beach Road to a luncheon, but

after sitting in traffic not moving I turned around and came into Haleiwa.

That's where I came across this...

the big covered bus stop in front of the Post Office and across

from Cafe Haleiwa had come down.  It looked like it

had just fallen over.  Some guys said that no one had been there

so no one was hurt.

today someone told me that a truck had actually hit it and it went over.

After seeing that, needless to say I came home and stayed home

for the rest of the day.  The power finally came on about 2 1/2 hours later,

but I figured it was just a good idea to stay home.

Nico's...

Had dinner Friday night at Nico's down on the pier in Honolulu.

It's so darn good. The fish is so fresh, since it comes right off the boats/fish auction.

We both had the special which was swordfish with a watercress aioli.  Swordfish

sometimes can be "fishy", but this wasn't.

Arlette had never been there before, so I'm so glad that she enjoyed it.  

Another One Gone...

Haleiwa Pizza Hut has closed.

It's gone the same way that Kentucky Fried Chicken and Subway did...

One less place to get food from.  Pizza hut was a great place to

get pizzas for school or block parties.  

I heard that the reason they closed was because the big Corp. Offices

wanted things done and the local landlord didn't want to do them...

so another one gone.

Interesting fact, Subway and Pizza Hut were in the same shops,

same landlord.

Jamie Swim Art...

(Jamie Swim photo)

Our sweet friend, Jamie, is a wonderful artist and recently
she got a HUGE break.
Her art hangs in Waialua Bakery, Haleiwa, which is owned by her
husband's family, and she even works there.
One of their customers, Alan Pflueger, owner of a Honda dealership
loves her art.

Recently Pflueger moved into a brand-new building in down town
Honolulu and he commissioned a special piece of Jamie's art to
hang in their showroom.  He wanted "happy" art and that's
exactly what Jamie's art is...happy.
So glad that now other people get to see Jamie's
"Happy Art"
Congratulations Jamie!


This is our piece of Jamie's art...Waialua Sugar Mill with Mt Kaala in the
background.  We wanted something that would remind us of
our view and the mill in our little piece of country,

(sorry about the flash glare...took a quick pic in the dark with my phone)

You can see more of Jamie's art here:
http://www.jamieswimart.com

Downton Finale...

I think I've recovered and can finally talk about it.

I was one of those (few) people that actually didn't have any idea

about what was going to happen.  I resisted buying the UK dvd when it

came out.  I skipped over any mention of the finale on FB, or Internet sites.

So I really was shocked!

When people would ask me who my favorite character was, I always

said "Matthew".  Not only did I love his looks, but I loved they way he was

with Mary.  I cried when he was wounded in the war during season 2.  The guilt he

he felt for poor Lavinia.  Then as in pure "Mr. Darcy" fashion, giving

into his love and desire for Lady Mary.

I won't say that Matthew was the only reason that I love Downton, but

his story line really was an integral part of my love affair with Downton .

Fast forward to Sunday night at approx. 1:55 minutes into the finale...the shock,

the horror, the disbelief !  I think my words to my friends (after I found my voice)

"maybe he's not dead".  We sat in my little living room in silence.  Kirsten already 

knew, but she said actually seeing it was hard.  She thought maybe it was another

Internet hoax.  

There was no rewinding it to see it again...just couldn't .  Those eyes, that smile, the wit...

gone

When the girls left, I laid in bed thinking about it.  I went to the computer to see

what other people were feeling.  Glad to see I wasn't alone in my sorrow.

Then I started reading about why the Matthew character was written out of the

show.  It's true Downton views would NEVER accept another actor taking

his place.  Matthew would NEVER leave Mary or their new son, he's not like that.

So what choice did the writers have? None.  The shock of Lady Sybil dying

was unexpected (another case of an actor wanting out).

I'm still very sad, but understand the reason.  

This finale will probably go down as one of the most memorable

in television history.  

Curse you Dan Stevens!!!!

Finale Party...

being told by Kirsten that she'd had a dream that I'd had a

"Downton Abby" viewing party led to a spur of the moment 

party.  A lot of friends I heard from after posting on FB said they weren't

caught up, so they didn't want to spoil it by asking a lot of questions.

So right after church I ran to Safeway (because I figured they had the

most "imported" food that I knew of).  So I cut crust off bread, had gherkins

that hubby said were British, ginger cookies, water biscuits, salt & vinegar chips, ginger ale, sparkling water with lime and a sort of

trifle thing. Not to bad for a quick party!

I even brought out Terry's Scottish granny's sweet tablecloth

(little did I know that part of the episode would take place in Scotland)

yummy open-faced sandwiches with creamy horseradish...

lemon bars and chocolate cupcakes were added to the mix

These two sweets came and we swooned, laughed, re-wound, and finally

cried together in disbelief.

Glad that I got to spend this special night with two such good friends.

I'm going to do a post on the finale when I've recovered a bit.

President's Day...

Her Majesty...

the Queen Elizabeth.

Last week coming home from hula I came across

this sight.  The cruise ship, Queen Elizabeth was berthed at

Aloha Tower.  So I took a quick left turn to see exactly how big she is...

HUGE.

That's the only word to describe her.  

There were a lot of passengers getting off (the tour buses in the photo below)

I found out that they were on their way to New Zealand and Samoa.

Hubby says she comes from Britain...so there is that "all things British"

obsession I have!

BTW, thats Aloha Tower in the foreground in this photo.  If the tower 

had been next to her, she would have towered over Aloha Tower!

the bow actually stuck out over the sidewalk below.

Aloha from beautiful Hawaii, Your Majesty!

Happy Valentine's Day...

Aloha

History Day....

So proud of Lauren and her friend, Janey.  Their History Day

project, "The Golden Age of Surfing" has moved on one more

level in Orange County.  

They put in hours on this project with the research and interviews that

were involved .

Lauren called me one day and wanted to know if they could use one of my

photos of surf in their project.  As you can see they used

it in the background.

Good job girls and good luck !

Pupus For Charlotte...

 Charlotte was here for a long weekend, leaving last night to

go back to cold DC.

Molly, Billy, Char, hubby and I all met up at 

Haleiwa Joe's for some early lupus before her flight.

I love ordering a bunch of different things and then sharing them...

mushrooms, Joe's ceviche, wings, blackened ahi,

edemame, a Wedge salad...yum

just the right amount of lots of different things!

(hubby trying to hide from us taking his picture)

and the final delicious treat...Love Cake, the perfect ending.

so once again, a hui you Charlotte.

We'll miss you, sorry the license thing didn't work out. 

Gung Hay Fat Choy....

Laura and Molly took a little trip into Chinatown 

for New Years celebration

fed some dragons and

bought some Gau ( thanks for mine)

nice way to celebrate Year of the Snake!

mahalo Laura for the photos.

A Deeper Shade of Blue...

hubby and I have seen a lot of Jack Mc Coy movies

over the years....

this one is by far the best.

Hubby says that as you get older you have a greater

appreciation of surfing and the ocean.

It shows in this movie.

Sunrise...

it's true, Hawaii does have beautiful sunsets...

but I love the sunrises!

I think it's the calm that's usually

part of it.  

A Few Hours Difference...

 Early morning, Haleiwa...

seven hours later...

I think I like the early morning better!

Strange...

the other morning I was leaving and noticed the strangest thing...

at first I thought it was smoke from a fire, but I couldn't see, smell 

or hear anything burning.  

When I noticed how foggy (yes, fog in Hawaii) it was around

Mt. Kaala, I realized what it was...very, very low clouds.

The fog here is different from Mainland fog, it's probably

not really fog at all but something to do with the moisture in the 

air, ground temp, etc.  Maybe the dew point????

We've seen this in the early mornings on snake road before.  

It doesn't take too long before it's gone.

I know that on this piece of property, the Kaiaawaawas, there is

a small stream where the underground water comes out.  Francis

has a taro patch down there.  So this was probably the fog, or low clouds

or whatever it is and was gone in just a few minutes.

do you see the dog laying on top of his dog house?  Out of 

the picture are the geese he's got his eye on.

Only In Hawaii...

getting on the freeway the norm is NOT  to merge into the traffic, 

but to wait for an break  and go in.  

In this photo, on the right the sign says "No Merge Area", 

but more often than not people don't merge, they just stop and

wait.

It took a little bit to get used to this.  I know it drives

some people crazy and they think it's very dangerous.

Just used to it now, no it doesn't bother us now.  

(there are two cars stopped in front of me)

I know that the tourist have a hard time with it.  

Maybe just another way to "drive with Aloha"

and is so unique to Hawaii.  Since we're the only

island that has freeways, it's unique to Oahu.

Another Huge Swell and a Moon Set...

another swell building tonight, 20-25 feet they say

the weather has been beautiful from the very start of each day

so glad hubby got home last night.