Another untitled post

source: daily timewaster

When is Sunday not a day of rest

Y'all know that yesterday was Easter . . .   right?

So, MB and I are in the church choir [leave it alone, okay?].
Easter is a huge feast, with all kinds of special music and three services starting at 6am.
MB was singing in the womens ensemble at the early service.
I observed.
Then the full choir sang, accompanied by organ, piano, brass, string and woodwind at 8:30 and 11.
The church youth served breakfast between the services.
There were activities for the small fry.

We hosted family dinner at 4pm . . .   grilled marinated leg of lamb, roasted sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green beans, salad, and side stuff.
The kids checked out the pool temperature before dinner and decided it wasn't the Arctic.
After dinner there was some athletic endeavor in the street involving, whiffle balls and a bat.

Then we had dessert.

Monday morning some of us slept until 8.

This is the day . . .

Holy Saturday

Good Friday

Friday cat

I could be resentful

There's another's blog post whose title was just a little irritating.
That is until I read it.
I considered the source, too.

I was perturbed because:

1. Some consider me old
2. I wear glasses
3. The post assumes there is something wrong with asses

Then I found the author was writing about occasional wearers of glasses.
Mine go on first thing in the morning and are only changed when I need protection from sunlight  . . . unless I can't find my sunglasses.

My daughter texted me the other morning . . . 
She was on a local tv station, interviewed because of a medical invention [sic] from a UC Davis Doctor.
It's an FDA approved drug for treating postpartum depression.
My daughter was interviewed because her field of psychology works with mothers, of whom about 1 in 9 deal with some degree of this ailment.

just bragging

That's a lotta bull

. . . and I can't stop watching

stolen from daily timewaster

No rest for the . . .

So we're a little weary, but it is our own doing.
We didn't have to travel to Maui and stay for a week.
Then come home and repack and travel to a convention.

We were home for one day, long enough to do laundry, prepare chicken wings for a food fair, pack our bags again, and load up the car with paraphernalia to heat up the wings and decorate the food fair booth and those manning it.
Then we drove north, to Redding.

We'd been conned recruited to be hosts for the first niters dinner held at a local restaurant.
There were about 26 folks in attendance.
It's always nice to catch up with people you know after a year's time.

Since we were already going to be in town we were also conned coaxed into arranging a tour for those who were not participating in the golf tourney [nobody asked me if I wanted to play golf].
We led the folks to Shasta Dam, where the Bureau of Reclamation gives an excellent guided tour.
Participants are allowed to bring a cell phone, camera, car keys and wallet.
Security is quite tight.

Then we all went to lunch at another Redding Restaurant that has a view of the city from the bluffs overlooking the Sacramento River.

Back to the hotel for the official opening of the convention.
Then prepare for the food fair Food Faire.
There were very few leftovers because it was the Friday night meal for the convention.

Then up early Saturday because there's a meeting in Anderson that I almost refuse to miss when I am in town.
It was a little more special than usual because of an anniversary and a few extra folks were going to be there.

We then hustled back to the convention because . . .   lunch, oh, and speakers, seminars, presentations, and, after lunch, the district Student Speaker Contest to choose who will represent the district at the Area One contest, where that winner will speak at the State contest and, ultimately win $21,000 in scholarships.

Saturday night was the awards banquet honoring the District Governor and the Past District Governors.
It's a dressy affair, but we have fun.

This year there was live entertainment [in more ways than one].
An 18 piece swing band played until 10pm.
The other entertainment was posted on koobecaf.

Sunday started early, too.
It was vote, pack, load the car, eat breakfast, attend the final session to hear the election results and  find out who won raffle prizes.

Then we drove home, where were changed clothes to go to church, where we were hosting a table at the seder dinner.

This morning we slept in.

Friday cat

source: dailytimewaster

It's the season

Convention season, that is.

MB and I are members of two different Lions Clubs in two different districts.
Each district holds an annual convention.
This week is my district convention.
We are traveling again.

We'll be home Easter week

We travel again the following week for her district convention.

Lions have lots of conventions.
Fortunately attendance isn't mandatory.
It's a volunteer organization.

I forgot something

Imagine that.

I like maps (clicking on them will enlarge.
These kinda give you an idea of our sojourns while on Maui.

In order of the days and lacking the walking parts:

th... th... that's all folks

Sadly

We depart for home today after seven fun filled, yet relaxing, days.
Yesterday was a trip to Lahaina for lunch at Bubba Gumps and some souvenir shopping for stuff you just can't find at swap meets.

Once more we slipped out the back door, so to speak  and watched our last sunset here.
 Clouds prevented a good sight, but presented a different perspective.

My brother and sister in law came down the mountain and we went to dinner.
Ihad jambalaya, island style.

What day is this?

Somehow the count is screwed up.
Doesn't really matter.
Today is day seven, but thepictures are from day six.

We knew we were going to either drive up to the top of Haleakala or around to the east end of the island on the Road to Hana.
The determining factor being if we could see the mountaintop when we stopped for gasoline.
The clouds were already beginning to cloak so it was tne low road for about fifty miles along the coast.

Now, I gotta tell ya, the highlight of this road is that there are more places on it than I could count where it isn't wide enough for a linedown the middle.
Also, it is not a lightly traveled road and there are tour buses.

We pretty drove straight through.
It only took about an hour and a half.

Yeah Hana harbor has a beach.
But there are lots of beaches on Maui.
The next stop was as we returned.

The black sand beach at Waianapapa [sounds a lot like whiney pineapple] State Park.

Yes, it is scenic.

A little further down the road we saw evidence that some folks have difficulty sharing the road.

There are almost as many waterfalls along the road as places wbere it's only one lane.
It was a worthwhile drive that we can now tell others they shouldmake.

We arrived back at our accommodations in time to view the sunset   . . . again!
I turned around in time to observe that the mountain, Haleakala, was no longer entirely encased in clouds.

We observed a large number of Green Sea Turtles passing by the beach, in the water.
They poke their beads out of the waves, kinda like a submarine snorkeling.
Somewhere in the following picture, near the bottom, there is one doing exactly that.

Then four of us had dinner.

I gotta tell ya

Apple doesn’t like blogger . . .
. . . and I’m not finding a browser that works well on the Android, either.

Today, MB and I are off to who knows where.

Day six

Saturday mornings are when the Maui Swap Meet happens.
As we left the condo I noticed there werd no clouds obscuring the mountain.

That's relatively unusual.

A lot of it is more like a craft fair than a typical swap meet or flea market.
It's a grand place to get souvenirs and other knickknacks.
Parking can be an issue.

After strolling through the swap meet we returned to the place we ate lunch tbe first day.
It was that good.

I had a huge bowl of saimin (noodles).

From there we found ourway to the historical and, also, beautiful Iao Valley which was nearby.
There was a famous battle fought here in the late 18th century, the result of which helped unify the Hawaiian Islands under one ruler.
It also has ann unusual geological feature known as the needle.

Ther6also a stream flowing.

Then back to the condo, and the beach for another sunset.

Day five

It seems like there are more things to do than days available to us.
It also seems we are eating way more meals than usual.
Go figure.
Life's short.

I can't remember what we did the day before yesterday.
Oh, well. . .

Yesterday was crammed with action.

It has started with a walk on the beach each morning.
We are dedicating the walks to the me ory of a really good friend who recently died from Parkinson's disease.
There is a Lions sponsored fundraising walk today which will be unable to attend.

This tree is just at the entry to the beach.

There are all manner of objects to photograph on the beach.

. . . like the second turtle in three days, so cool.

We rested a few moments before the return trip.

The walks are not without the occasional mishap.

Yep, it hurts a little.

Then it was a quick shower and lunch before a trip Upcountry [what they call the area between the beach where we are and the Haleakala National Park].

MB is making new friends before we sample some goat cheese and some chocolate truffles. 

We also met one of the friendliest cats ever.

The toe wasn't any better at the end of the day.

Friday cat

source: dailytimewaster

Day four

I'm not doing much photography this trip.
But I thought, maybe, som of you would like to see where we're staying?
This is looking back at it from the beach.

MB is more into taking pictures.
She shot the video yesterday on her phone.
Here she thinks she is getting a candid shot of yours truly taking a picture of this sunset

The tablet does take some decent photos.

No words (day three)

MB and her friend were walking on ther beach yesterday afternoon.
This ol' gal had hauled out to catch some rays.

Day Two

The view from our accommodations.

So, it turned out we were on live TV i  Sacramento yesterday.
The plane on which we flew was THE inaugural flight from SMF to OGG.
(yeah, code for Sacramento and Kahului)
When MB posted to koobecaf a number of folks commented they saw us on the local morning show.

Once more Air B&B has done right.
Well, except for the three flights of stairs outside and the one flight up to our bedroom inside [I accumulated 15 flights yesterday].

We are with another couple, shopped Costco for groceries leaving the airport, then went to Da Kitchen for a late lunch.
Only blocks from the airport, it's worth the stop.

It was breezy yesterday with the Tradewinds, we'll see about today.
It's a lot nicer here than at home, where it is also three hours later.

Day one

We made it.
That's the Sun droppings behind the island of Lanai.

Kihei or bust

It appears we picked a good week to get away.
It started to precipitate lightly at around 1pm.
The weather bureau [does anybody call it that any more?] forecasts more of the same until next Monday, with a little break Wednesday.
We're looking forward to sunshine and 80°F temps for the next seven days.

There may be some posts if the electronics I am taking cooperate.
There may even be pictures, too, but this is not a photo adventure.

the other island in the

 image isn't nearly as scenic