View to the east.
View to the southeast.
View to the north.
View to the south.
Andrea had to stay home and meet Glenda so I went to the beach alone on Friday, July 1st.
View to the southeast.
View to the north.
View to the south.
Saturday morning, July 2nd, we went to the Kapiolani Community College Farmers' Market to buy some vegetables.
These are some tomatoes Andrea picked from our garden when we got home.
Saturday evening, July 2nd, we went to Paul and Faye's 30th anniversary party. It was also to celebrate Madeline's bon voyage to Paris later this summer, and two birthdays in July.
Wine and conversation.
Paul hangs out with the pretty girls.
Jerry with the abstract tikis.
Paul and Faye with company.
Closeup of Paul and Faye.
Jerry autographs a copy of his book, The Most Excellent Way, for me while Lynn and Andrea look on.
We started the celebration on Sunday, July 3rd, by flying the flag, testing a new dessert for the party on the 4th at the Murphy's house, and having our first barbecue with our new Kamado.
The brand new kamado (big green egg). The steaks were yummy.
We start the day of July 4th by putting up the flag.
My high maintenance wife: she's doing maintenance and she's up high on a ladder. July 4th.
Andrea has many talents.
In the evening we went to Estelle's house for a party.
Estelle's son Drew did the cooking.
We had lots of good food.
Estelle is beaming at the success of her Fourth of July party.
Doug and Bob enjoying the conversation.
The sun went down and we talked.
The next day we unwound at the beach in the afternoon.
I attended the Aina Haina Community Association (AHCA) board meeting in the evening.
Wednesday morning, July 6th, we went to the Lyon Arboretum in Manoa Valley and had lunch at the Treetops Restaurant at Paradise Park, satisfying an item on our 2011 to do list.
We passed by this beautiful bronze statue of Buddha.
No seed pods in the koa trees.
The top of the trail is "inspiration point."
A hale under construction.
A bridge over the road is the entrance to Treetops Restaurant.
Back at the visitor center.
A tiki and other items inside the restaurant.
We sat at a window table and had a great lunch.
Good food.
I attended the twice monthly bonsai group, this time at Chuck's house in Pupukea (north shore), on Thursday, July 7th.
Dawn and Jim were there. Jim said they really liked the mangoes we gave them at the anniversary party.
Jan works on her Chinese elm that we had defoliated a month ago at her and Jerry's house.
Jerry works on this great mock orange.
A view of Chuck's house from the driveway. We worked inside his two car garage.
A view down the steep driveway up to the house.
This is the bench Chuck made from ironwood. Beautiful.
Bob brought this nice old banyan to work on.
Meanwhile, Andrea went shopping for remodeling hardware. She found this at Re-Use Hawaii.
Later that evening I attended a meeting of the Neighborhood Board, an official organization of the City
and County of Honolulu. City Councilmembers Barbara Matsumoto and Stanley Chang were also in attendance.
Here Wayson Chow, President of the AHCA, presents his case for the Board's rescinding a unanimous approval for
a conditional use permit (CUP) for the development of a beachfront property for use for wedding ceremonies.
It turned out that the applying local religious organization was a front for the largest wedding mill in Japan.
The team is training teachers in Lego programming so they can start their own Lego teams.
We had six Lego robots and plenty of computers for the instruction.
Teaching the teachers.
Andrea expanded the garden to better align it with the house and to make room for more blueberries and papaya trees. It took her several days and it was completed on Wednesday, July 13th.
View north from behind the garden.
Andrea letting loose with the water.
We went to the Aquarium concert series again on Thursday, July 14th.
After eating Hula Grill food, waiting for the concert to start.
Andrea took this photo of a new exhibit at the Aquarium, a frog fish.
Amy and band take the stage. She can really belt them out in her size 11 high heels. She has a great
repertoir, ranging from old school hula to jazz.
Andrea hiked by herself up Koko Crater while I played Tennis with Bob McGlone on Friday, July 15th.
Saturday: Nearly finished with the granite top table (upside down in this photo).
The table in use next to the green egg.
Relaxing with Tigger before dinner.
Andrea and I returned with Lenore to Mariana Sailing Club after a morning of shopping for a door and bathroom fixtures on Wednesday, July 20th.
Andrea and Lenore.
Andrea and I went to the La Tahitienne apartments to photograph the Tahitian girl statue on the way to the beach on Wednesday, July 20th. The statue is featured in the book Waikiki Tiki. Very lovely.
Decorated with a lei.
No indication of the artist.
Andrea and I went to Chuck's house on the North Shore for the twice-monthly workshop on Thursday, July 21st. I drove up the steep driveway and turned the car around. Andrea drove home. We stopped at Hilo Hattie's and Home Depot on the way back and got board shorts for Tom and five more Koa saplings.
Helping Larry saw a branch off.
Working on my bougainvillia.
Andrea observes and photographs while Chuck, Larry, and Jim work on Bob's banyan.
Removing dead wood.
Jim reduces the banyan while Dawn, Bob, and Larry look on.
Bob, Rick, Jim, Chuck, and Larry with the strangler fig (banyan).
Afterwards we enjoy lunch and the view upstairs.
Later that day I went to the beach by myself.
It was quite nice and massively uncrowded.
Andrea and I went to check again on the unpermitted earth moving work at the end of Hao Street on Saturday, July 23rd.
The implement of destruction is parked at the trail head.
Andrea documenting the dozer blade.
Inspecting the damage to the stream bank. Soil errosion is a great concern for Maunalua Bay.
Andrea photographs the "stop work" order from the Department of Planning and Permitting. In typical
Hawaiian style, it's a set of post-it notes and a business card.
On Sunday, July 24th, Andrea and I went to Waikiki and visited the Zoo for the first time in many years. That evening we went to see Hairspray at the Diamond Head Theater and had dinner at Kit's Kitchen afterward with Carol (who drove), Lenore, Flo, and Lynn. Estelle and her son Drew and daughter Laurel also dined at Kit's.
We went up to the Top of Waikiki Restaurant to have a look and Andrea took this photo of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel
from a window on the way up.
We went into the International Market Place to look for some of the tikis described in Waikiki Tiki.
Here's an interesting carving.
Pineapple, coconut, tiki.
An interesting multi-panel ceramic sculpture at the Zoo.
The flamingos are among my favorites.
After seeing Hairspray we go to Kit'n Kitchen on University Avenue. Here are Lenore, Flo, Lynn, Carol, and Andrea
before Estelle arrives with Drew and Laurel to take the table in the background.
After my lemonade is served, but before the bottle of Pinot Grigio is ordered by Carol and shared with Lenore and Flo.
Drew, Estelle, and Laurel.
The place was busy and service was unusually slow. Kit came by our table later to help serve and make conversation.
Altogether it was a nice dinner. I had the roast lamb with rice and vegetables.
The next evening (Monday the 25th), Andrea and I attended the AHCA board meeting to discuss the unpermitted
devastation on the 8-acre property at the end of Hao Street.
This is the painted silk fan I bought at the International Market Place for twelve bucks. I varnished it and put it
up in the carport.
The Waikiki Aquarium concert series hosted Mailani and Na Palapalai on Thursday, July 28th.
We took our plate lunches to eat at the park on Waialae Avenue.
I tested the outrigger sailing canoe I assembled for the grandchildren.
After eating but before the concert.
Mailani, the first act, getting ready.
Billy V, morning DJ for KINE radio, introduces Mailani with her ukulele player and basist.
Mailani with hula dancer.
Na Palapalai on stage.
I started playing tennis again after five years off. For the fourth week, on Friday, July 29th, I met Prof. Bob McGlone (History Department, UH) at the Koko Head tennis courts.
Serving.
After the set (6-3).
Cooling down.
An orchid show was held at Aina Haina Elementary School on Sunday, July 31st.
Paphiopedelum.
Andrea enjoys the show.
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