North Shore Slow Sunday

Sunday March 27th.  This week we had a guest join us for North Shore Sunday.  Josh is a colleague from LA who is out here working for a little while.  He needed to get out of Waikiki  so we brought him along with us to Waimea Bay and then to Ted's for plate lunch.

A perfect place to camp out for the day on the cliffs by Waimea

Lemmings, or the re-creation of the battle of Nu'uanu (Josh is the one that looks like a ninja)

I had watermelon shaved ice alone.  Yep, thats right, shaved, not good enough to be shave

Been Here Before

Thursday March 24th - Saturday March 26th.  Two years ago we came to Oahu, not knowing that we would someday be living here.  Though there is so much to do, especially if you are a tourist, we skipped a lot of it to spend whole days lounging on the beach.  When we lived in Utah, nowhere near the coast, we swore that we would spend all of our time at the beach when we moved back to San Diego but I'm sure that in the last three months of living in Hawaii we've spent more time on the sand then in the last three years in San Diego.  In all the years that I lived in San Diego, I don't think that I ever owned a beach chair and now there is a matching set in the trunk of our car at all times, complete with beach towels and reading material.  Today I was looking through some old pictures and came across these ones from two years ago, both taken at Diamond Head.  Perhaps I will share more as we revisit some other spots.

Today, we went back to Diamond Head.  I left my globe in San Diego but from up here looking South I'm pretty sure that if you had a super power of the best eyesight ever and could see for thousands of miles, Antarctica would be the thing that you saw from here. 

This week, we had shave ice from Shimazu Store (peach, watermelon, raspberry and cherry, cream soda), visited the cat house at the Hawaiian Humane Society which is a beautiful place, visited some seedy convenience stores, did a little baking and did a little hiking.  We are now taking applications for friends, so, if you live within fifty miles, like to hike, enjoy shave ice, and preferably have a sail boat or kayak, lets hang out.  Also, we are opening up our futon to guests as of now so if you are already a friend or family member, please come and visit.

Work on North Shore Sunday

Sunday March 20th.  We both worked a lot this week, and most of the hours were accumulated Thursday through Sunday making for a not too eventful week.  We did manage to fit in some fun though.  On Thursday we went to Surg's, which is supposed to be the best Mexican food out here.  Overall review: we will keep looking.

Surg's Mexican Kitchen

While eating dinner on Friday some kids handed us a flier for a Japan benefit show at a nearby venue, so despite being exhausted and needing to get up early the next morning, we went.  The dingy room was filled with bikers in their leather, pirate ninjas, Meat Loaf look-a-likes and urban cowboys.  After a couple of angsty acoustic songs by people in attendance, a Chuck-Ragan-Alkaline-Trioish band composed of a violin, banjo and acoustic guitar played an enjoyable set.  Just to throw off the bikers the remaining line up included a just formed pop punk band with a repertoire of Japanese covers followed by a ska band.  Saturday we worked most of the day with Sunday to look forward to.  After working short shifts on Sunday we went to Mac 24/7 for breakfast, napped at home, then headed off to the North Shore for some shave ice and plate lunch.  It was a good end to a busy week.

Watermelon pineapple and mango raspberry

This week marks the beginning of my new bento obsession

North Shore Sunday The Long Way

Sunday March 13th.  

Today we went the long way and stopped to swing on some vines

Admired a famous hat

Spent time at a beach park before having plate lunch

Went to Waimea Bay

Where we enjoyed a lazy Sunday

And finished it all off with shave ice (lime with raspberry and lemon with watermelon)

We Survived

Thursday March 10th - Saturday March 12th.  We went to the swap meet today, not expecting that it was simply a tourist mecca teaming with sunburns and plastic leis, which is fine if that's what you are looking for.

I might have picked something up for a tiny friend of mine

Found at Aloha Swap Meet 

And then we saw these.  I'm not real sure that we survived the tsunami.  Survival denotes that there was adversity.  We may have sailed blissfully unaware of any tsunami at all if not for caring text messages and hourly tsunami sirens.  Living half way up the side of an ancient dormant volcano in a cinder block building has its advantages.  While those in lower lying areas stocked up on toilet paper, bottled water, gasoline and generators we sat quietly, hoping for the best for all of those who actually have some surviving to do.  

This isn't surviving, this is everyday life

Up until Thursday we had a bike, a couch and a modem in the living room.  Now there is a TV (on a TV stand now, not a computer box) and it actually looks a little bit like a living room.  In middle school, I got science tracked, which has followed me for life and means that in high school I had to take the extra science classes and in sixth grade I missed out on the crochet lessons.  Many of my design sensibilities (or insensibilities) come from my family's cottage in Sutton.  My aunt would sit on the verandah and switch between hand quilting beautiful quilts and crocheting dish cloths.  If only we had a verandah. 

Sick Study Sunday

Sunday March 6th.  This was a super rainy day, a rainy week all together.  I've been sick and Joe has midterms that require studying.  No North Shore Sunday for us.  I did beg and plead that we could get shave ice though.  This photo, I'm not trying to look cool, I'm just sick and leaning against a street sign in the middle of a sidewalk.

Lilikoi cherry and ginger ale, raspberry pineapple