Andrea and I went to the going away pot luck party for the Paris halau at the Church of the Crossroads on Friday evening, November 1. The
visiting halau had been here for two weeks, involved in a great number of activities.
The sanctuary of the Church of the Crossroads from University Avenue in Mōʻiliʻili.
Another view of the sanctuary. My mom and her husband Mits Aoki were parishioners of Church of the Crossroads and their ashes are stored inside.
View of the sanctuary from the Church of the Crossroads courtyard. Beautiful Hawaiian architecture.
A toast with champagne. From a Kilohana Facebook post.
Eiko examines a rose wine while people get food in the buffet line.
Lots of good food and and conversation.
I showed Lusana my science fiction book on my phone. She bought one on the spot.
We had seating for 32 and every chair was filled.
Andrea and Jo at our table.
Everybody danced.
Kilohana led this hula.
A Maori dance.
We all stood in a circle holding hands and sang "Hawaii Aloha." Then we got on stage for a final group photo. From a Kilohana Facebook post.
Common Grace Vision Dinner
Andrea and I went to the annual Vision Dinner for the mentoring group Common Grace at the Honolulu Country Club in Salt Lake on Saturday night,
November 2.
Saturday morning Andrea cleaned and oiled the large coffee table that Duane and Tina gave us.
When we arrived, we were given a raffle ticket and asked to pose for a photograph.
I also asked a young bystander to take our photo while waiting for the event to begin.
A jazz pianist began to play when the reception formally started.
We were at table 23, a prime number. Attendance was about 300.
Our friend and neighbor Aries gave an inspiring speech about the importance of mentoring of school children.
Kahala Mall
Andrea and I went to Kahala Mall to shop for birthday presents for Malia and Lenora on Sunday morning, November 3.
Andrea photographed our maiapilo blossom on our morning walk.
Shopping at The Refinery.
The mall was quite busy. We also went into Coco Nene and So Ha.
On the way home we drove up to the debris basin to take a look and some photographs.
Metaphotography: Andrea photographing.
Monday morning I photographed my blooming poinciana bonsai-in-training.
Sign Waving for Kamala Harris
Andrea went out the Monday evening before the election to sign wave for Democrats on Kalaniʻanaole Highway at Ainakoa/Waikui. We were joined
by United States Senator Mazie Hirono.
Andrea waves at passing cars.
Getting a selfie with Mazie. I'm at the end. Photo by Andrea.
Security leans against the wall while Mazie and husband wave.
Every smile, wave, and toot back gets a shaka.
There was a great turnout. Photo by Andrea.
Walking back after the time was up (a full hour).
Mazie was interested in Andrea's Kamala shirt spelled with cat outlines.
She graciously offered to pose with Andrea.
Election
Tuesday, November 5: I read three pages today, trying to figure out why a small fraction of people like Ulysses by James Joyce. Now back to
my Azimov's guide to Shakespeare.
Having voted many days ago, we went for a walk before breakfast. Andrea photographed a maiapilo blossom. It was drizzling
so we turned around and went home before getting half way to Hind Iuka. I made coffee, as usual. We both had papaya and
toast as I read the paper and Andrea did the crossword. The Jumble was and easy one today. It was too wet to exercise outdoors.
Bonsai Work
Wednesday, November 6, I worked on my autograph tree forest. I did not take a before shot. I also photographed the juniper that was left over
from the ABCs of Bonsai class that I bought and worked on last week.
I turned the left over juniper (nobody else wanted to buy it) into an informal upright bonsai. Nobefore shot, but it was a stick in a plastic pot.
The autograph tree forest was defoliated and moved from its growing pot into a shallow Japanese forest tray with significant rootage removal.
On Thursday morning I photographed the orchids growing on our macadamia tree.
I downloaded my HiVoted sticker from the government website.
On Friday morning I drove Andrea to Straub Hospital for a routine colonoscopy. Everything fine.
Bonsai Kiawe
Saturday, November 9: I decided on a radical treatment for my kiawe in a growing box. It had grown a long, skinny, serpentine trunk and I wanted
to start fresh utilizing the awesome lower trunk.
This is the before shot. The tree has been growing from seed for many years, several in this box.
I made some major cuts with my large bonsai tool.
I put the tree into a plastic "bonsai" pot. "Bonsai" is in quote marks because a pot is not a bonsai pot unless it is ceramic.
Rainbow Bonsai Club Meeting
Andrea and I went to the monthly meeting of the Rainbow Bonsai Club at the Ahuimanu Homeowners Association clubhouse in Kaneohe.
The clubhouse from the parking lot.
We finalized plans for the show coming up on Decmeber 14, a Saturday, at Koko Head Elementary School. Photo by Andrea.
I came across this from my post on LinkedIn six months ago:
Scientific American has an article about Paul Erdős. Makes me wonder if I have an Erdős (AKA Erdos) number, so I asked Ken Goldberg
for his. He replied:
My Erdős Number = 3. (Source: MathSciNet)
Boris Aronov, Paul Erdoő, et al. Crossing families. Combinatorica v14. no. 2, pp. 127-134. 1994.
Boris Aronov, Mark de Berg, Frank van der Stappen, et al. Motion planning for multiple robots. Discrete Computational Geometry. v22. no. 4,
pp. 505-525. 1999.
R-P. Berretty, Ken Goldberg, Mark Overmars, and Frank van der Stappen. Trap Design for Vibratory Part Feeders. Int'l Jour. of Robotics Research.
v20. no. 11. 2001.
So that makes my Erdős number four because I have co-authored several papers with Ken, and everyone else who has co-authored a paper with me
has an Erdős number of at most five.
Veterans Day
November 11, formerly Armistice Day, fell on a Monday this year. The stock market was open, and the S&P 500 closed above 6,000 for the first time,
in the Biden economy. The bond markets were closed and there was no mail delivery.
Putting out the flag at first light on Veterans Day. Photo by Andrea. My sons Timothy and Rawbert are veterans, too, as were my dad and older
brother John and his son John III, father of Lisa..
The flag at sunrise.
Later I brought together five candidate trees for my demonstration at the Rainbow Bonsai Club show coming up in December. Andrea and I agreed
that the best for the demo would be the fifteen-year-old kiawe from seed by my right knee. Photo by Andrea.
Now that we will have a vaccine denier in the "government," perhaps we should review the global lives saved by vaccines.
Click the image to see the full resolution version. From Scientific American, November 2024. Fair use for educational purposes.
Our macadamia tree had been slowling dying for the last few years and Wednesday morning, November 13,
the larger portion finally fell. No damage done. We will see if Carl or somebody wants firewood. Photo by Andrea.
Email Richard dot J dot Wagner at gmail dot com