Sunday, November 29, 2009

Kauai Views

For my last post from Kauai, I thought I'd post some beautiful views.  Not hard to do on Kauai!  There are several that would have been absolutely typical, but I  have posted most of them in past years.




One of the things we like to do when somewhere new on vacation is to take little side roads to see where they lead and find unusual things off the beaten track.  These two views are the result of this adventuring.  The red, green and yellow
foliage are so bright and beautiful, especially the bright yellow which seemed to radiate sunshine even when there was none.

 

And the mountains are so tall and steep, often with very high, thin waterfalls spiralling down.


This is one more shot from Gaylords.  If I had been on my old computer at home, I could have cropped this and made it even more beautiful.



 
This is the waterfall at  the pool at the condos.  I didn't go in the pool this year, mainly because of my dizzyness and balance problems.  In addition the wind was somewhat cool.  It has to be really warm for me to enjoy going in the pool!

The perfect umbrella tree for Kauai's rainy days!



 These red and green shrubs are in many, many places all over the island.


Finally, Hawaii's State Bird, the Nene.



Friday, November 27, 2009

Thanksgiving on Kauai

We woke up Thanksgiving Day morning to the sound of torrential rain, but by mid morning it was all over.  Later we discovered that our area had had six inches of rain overnight and a flash flood warning. It certainly wasn't any problem to us, but Kauai is known for its large amounts of rain.  It was still a bit breezy because the trade winds have been blowing since we arrived.  Anyway we gathered ourselves together and mosied off down to Gaylord's Plantation.  This is a large area of gardens, grass, a museum, some art galleries and gift shops.  More importantly, it has a great restaurant. This is now our third year of having Thanksgiving Dinner there.  Lots of turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, stuffing and savory gravy!!  Look at that plateful!  I am sorry to say I could only eat half of it!  Dessert was pumpkin crumble but I passed on that -- not too fond of pumpkin.  But I took home a slice of chocolate lover's delight.  That way I could appreciate it when I ate it later.

The dining area is on a u-shaped covered patio with flowering bushes all around, a nice sized  lawn in the center and a small wall with more flowering bushes and a small waterfall and a lily pond, across the top of the 'u'.  If the wind blows too hard or it starts to rain, they have canvas blinds with windows in them to pull down for your protection.  We did not need the blinds.  It was beautifully warm.

After we had eaten we looked around the art galleries and gift shops and then went to find our friendly cat who for the past two years has always been sleeping on the warm steps in the sunshine,  the same place every year.  Sure enough she was there again.  Her name is April.  I took a couple of photos to go with those from other years.  I am going to try to attempt to up load them on blogger, but since my lap top now refuses to resize any more photos until we buy microsoft word with picture manager, I might not be successful.  So here goes...

That took seven minutes.  Now for one more...

Another seven minutes! 

I have two more photos I would like to post today:

This is the view from our balcony. (Took about two minutes to upload because it is a smaller file size.  I have no idea why it is any different from the size of the others.)  Oh well...



This is what we do many days on the balcony...



Moth is writing an article for the next issue of the WECF magazine or preparing lessons for classes in Micronesia in January, and I do some painting.  I have completed three and a half ATC's and have one more half done.


Well, I won't push my luck trying to post more photos today and will try to post another blog on Monday. 

Hope you didn't spend all your money on the sales!  Have a good weekend!

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Another Lazy Day

We decided to take our books, camera, binoculars etc. to sit by the beach in front of the condo.


This was our view to the left, looking almost into the sun.



This was the view directly infront of us.






This was the view behind us.


Of course we hadn't been there too long before the chickens came to check us out. for food




I love this shot!
Someone asked us, "You know why there are so many chickens on Kauai?"
"No", we answered.
"Because there is only one KFC!"  came the reply.

Of course the real answer is because most of the islanders owned chickens, and then came Hurricane Iniki.  They were all blown all over the island and now roam everwhere, as free as sparrows.

******

While we were sitting there, along came two islanders ready to do some surf fishing.



First they studied the waves.

Then they cast their nets.


But we didn't see them catch anything.

As they afternoon faded, a few clouds gathered and a beautiful rainbow spread from the mountains to the sea.



A few sprinkles fell and we scuttled inside -- but we were hungry anyway by that time.

A Great day on Kaua!

Saturday, November 21, 2009

We spent our first day just vegging.  Did a little grocery shopping -- too expensive to eat out every night.  Temperature is perfect.  The wind was a little cool to try out the pool, but very good for sitting on our lanai.  Today we were a little more energetic.  There is a Hawaian Handcraft Fair just down the road, so we went down to take a look.

                              
Lots of colorful fabrics and pretty jewellery.  Just looking -- no buying.  Got to see what else there is first.



Such beautiful colors!



Then we took a drive to one of our favorite places, up near some waterfalls and a river that runs over the road.  We passed two fields of goats.  They weren't there last year. I guess goat's milk and goat's cheese must be popular.  I do like goat's cheese.  The goats were a little timid but I did manage to get a couple of shots.

                              

Everything was so green and lush and many trees and bushes were in bloom.  I somehow think my posts from here will be of many flowers and trees.  This was just one of the many we passed today.  But that is why this island is called the Garden Island.
                                 
                                                 
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A special thank you to my sister for her tip about how to load my photos on to the lap top.  Very simple really, but we seem to have no way to resize the photos so they take FOREVER to load on the blog.
                          

Friday, November 20, 2009

Old Photo


We have had this photo on this laptop for several years -- actually the only photo of our own that is on this laptop.  We are quite limited with what we can actually do because we don't have Ms Word Office on it yet.  But I did manage to resize it so that I can post it on my blog.  It will serve as a representative of all the photos I hope to be taking soon and once I check on my sister's suggestion on the previous post, may be I will be able to post new photos soon.  We have hardly used this laptop until now.  We got it for MOTH so that he could send e-mails while overseas -- thus no extra programs and inexperienced users.  But we're learning!

I'm Watching You!!

Well, I have managed to enter the world of blogdom!  The hours I spent the other evening figuring out how and if I could visit my blogs from here have produced great results!  The only problem is that my lap top has no photographs from which to draw to post on my blog and I can't get any from my camera to the laptop because we dont have the necessary 'stuff' to do it.

So I shall have to content myself with an occasional piece of prose -- which is not very interesting.  But I CAN comment on all your blogs.  So photos will have to wait until we get home.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Well Google seems to have made a change in the formatting of a blog.  At least the first picture goes in first, now.  That's an improvement, but I would have liked this first picture to appear a little larger even though it is an ATC.  It is a Gulf Fritilliary butterfly and the large white spots on the wings are actually shiny, metallic silver in real life.  This is an original painting (prisma colors and water colors) from one of my own original photographs, so I have to invoke copyright here, in case I start to sell on eBay.


Gulf Fritilliary Butterfly

Copyright ChrisJ.  
All rights reserved.


Heerman's Seagulls at Carlsbad Beach last week.  They come up to us from Mexico in the winter. They will be my next attempt for an ATC.

We leave this week and I will not be back on this blog until December 6th, unless I miraculously learn how to use Moth's lap top.  I am taking all my paints etc with me -- not to mention my camera -- and plan to do much painting in the evening, hopefully.  I will continue to leave (and accept!) comments until Thursday,  and I hope to be able to visit you all via lap top.  But if all you get is silence from me, be sure I have not forgotten  you. I WILL be back.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

New ATC's and Making a Decision

I have been thinking about what to do with all the ATC cards I have been making. I must have about a hundred of them. Last week I took a look at eBay at what they call ACEO's. They are art trading cards that instead of trading, they are sold. I never tried to trade any of mine because I have more than enough of my own paintings. So I am wondering....shall I try it or not??? At the moment they are mounted in two little note books, one to a page. I don't think my 'boys' (aged 41 and 43) will be interested in keeping them when I am gone, so I shall have to give it some serious thought.

These little cards are a very pleasant hobby for me. I can do them while watching the TV. I can use paint, colored pencils, pen and ink and ordinary pencil. I don't want to turn my pleasant, relaxing hobby into something stressful. I will continue to do them whether I sell them on eBay or not, just because I like doing them.
If I do it, I will start in the new year and give myself a trial run of 6 months to see what happens and will probably do most of them in the style of the one below. The other two are just fun pieces, but not any that I think will appeal to others. One thing I won't do is use this blog as an advertisement or offers for sale. My blog is my blog and it's fun. But as MOTH has pointed out, at least if I sell any it will keep up with the cost of bird seed and cat food!!

The Red Barn



Flowers and ribbons



Crystal Colors.


WEDNESDAY'S WORDS
"Open my eyes that I may see wondrous things from your law". Psalm 119:18

The Bible talks a lot about meditation and some religions make it of prime importance. Sometimes we as Christians feel stressed about the idea of meditating and wonder how to do it. I discovered that it is very simple. We just need to sit somewhere quietly and think about the Lord, our lives and what we have been hearing or reading about God. The Holy Spirit will guide our thinking without us having to do anything but just give God our full attention. If one of your children or your husband says "I want to talk to you about something, " you would find a spot to listen and talk back and forth. That's all we are doing when we are meditating.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

What Good Hubbies Do...

... they pick up oddments they think their wife would like, such as these star fish which were used as decorations at a wedding he performed. He knew I would like them but didn't know what I would do with them -- neither do I actually, at the moment, but as he said, "Oh, you'll find something to do with them." And I will.




...grab the camera when he sees something he thinks I would like to post on my blog, as he did with this spider's web. I was still in bed!





...and then he saw the hawk on our water fountain. (I always keep a camera on the bookshelves by the patio window).




...took me out for dinner at Fidel's for Mexican food, where I saw these flowers in the restaurant, and he waited around without being embarrassed while I took a couple of shots. Yes they're artificial, but I'm always looking for something colorful to draw and paint. I'll get to this picture soon, but my painting "To do" list is getting longer.


And best of all, he puts up with my eccentric ways which includes staying up LATE (to do my blogs and comments) and getting up LATE -- and he brings me a cup of tea in bed every morning, as well! Actually, I think he is afraid I will never get up if he doesn't!


If I told you the other things he does for me you would think I was a very lazy wife -- no -- just spoiled!

******


I did promise I would post some photos of Bailey doing something interesting, but the truth is, he just hasn't done anything interesting yet! (For those of you who are new to my blog, Bailey is my cat, NOT my husband).


Tuesday, November 3, 2009

JOSE'S CAR - My Painting

This is the painting I promised to Jose. I usually pass this car parked on a nearby street once or twice a week. So one day I stopped and took a photo of it, so I could paint it for Jose. See joecoolsblog . He is getting quite a collection of paintings from his blogging friends. If you visit his blog you will see a beautiful one a friend did for him of his father. This car was hard to do because of the perspective on it. It's not quite as good as I would have liked, but then I'm never satisfied. I'm one of those painters who always has to do just a little bit more to finish it off.


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WEDNESDAY'S WORDS
"Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors" Matt. 6:12. " Familiar words from the Lord's prayer. Actually that is a bit misleading, for this prayer was not prayed by Jesus, but given to the disciples for them to pray. After all, since Jesus had no sin, why would He pray to be forgiven? The Beatles sang "All you Need is Love" but today love has become almost synonymous with sexuality -- or it has become just commonplace, such as when we unthinkingly respond, "Luv you!" as we wave goodbye or as we hang up the phone. In the past year or so, the Lord has been teaching me that God's love is all bound up with forgiveness. If I want the Lord to forgive me, I must learn how to forgive others. I can't love someone I don't forgive. This means being willing to restore a relationship which has been broken even if the other person is not willing to be forgiven. We learn to love, because He first loved us and forgave us.