Andrea took this photo of our first maiapilo blossom (Hawaiian native plant) of the year on our morning walk, New Year's Day.
I noticed my sandalwood (ʻiliahi) was blooming so I photographed it after lunch on Thursday.
Monday morning ResearchGate notified me of a milestone for an international conference paper.
Here's a
Web version of the paper.
Kedge next door gave us an Axis deer antler from Maui and I made a stand for Andrea's souvenir glass ball from the Kaʻiwi coast run-walk.
The canoe (Kaʻahaʻaina) garden. There was a snack break after the third shift of five. Photo by Andrea
Laura teaches a group about the canoe (Polynesian introduced) plants.
In case you're wondering about the cause of the fires in Lahaina, Malibu, Pacific Palisades, and Pasadena, all within a year.
On our after-dinner walk Thursday evening, Andrea photographed a glowing sky.
Becky took a photo at Christmastime of Eric's dad and nieces with the pineapple Andrea and I sent them for Christmas in New York.
I first read a Le Guin novel in the 1960s, and have read several more since. I hadn't read The Dispossessed until Damien Walter,
Facebook's Science Fiction group moderator, recommened it. It may be Le Guin's best, and is certainly in the top 100 SF novels. It hits
the mark in both politics and psychology.
Lots of food vendors at the Japanese Cultural Center.
We went in through the big gate.
We went to the dojo and watched an introduction for a few minutes.
Back at the Church of the Crossroads, Andrea photographed me returning to the table after greeting my friend former governor
Neil Abercrombie.
The ceremony is about to begin.
Foundation President Alan Gamble introduced the honoree for the year, Hob Osterlund, receiving the Mitsuo Aoki 2024 Community Service Award.
There was then a wonderful buffet lunch. Photo by Andrea.
A closer view of my Chinese ficus. This bonsai was in a HBA show at the Okinawa Festival one year.
Treasurer, President, and Secretary ready to begin.
Loraine asked me to help her with her jade bonsai, so I did a demonstration of the weeping style after the business meeting.
Closeup of the completed weeping jade.
It's a popular lunch place that serves dinner, too.
I photographed our table after we ordered lunch.
Our waitress took a photo with Andrea's phone after we had eaten.
The pink trumpet flower tree bonsai has leafed out after defoliation and wiring a month ago (11 December 2024).
My chocolate orchid growing on a stone wall has bloomed again. Smells like hot chocolate!
My orange bougainvillea bonsai is blooming again.
Becky and Eric got the anniversary card we sent.
“The mind is sharper and keener in seclusion and uninterrupted solitude.”I reproduced my favorite nine here.“There is something within me that might be an illusion as it is often the case with young delighted people.”
“In the twenty-first century, the robot will take the place which slave labor occupied in ancient civilization.”
“The scientific man does not aim at an immediate result. He does not expect that his advanced ideas will be readily taken up.”
“We are all one. Only egos, beliefs, and fears separate us.”
“There is no conflict between the ideal of religion and the ideal of science, but science is opposed to theological dogmas because science is founded on fact.”
“What one man calls God, another calls the laws of physics.”
“Peace can only come as a natural consequence of universal enlightenment and merging of races, and we are still far from this blissful realization.”
“I do not think there is any thrill that can go through the human heart like that felt by the inventor as he sees some creation of the brain unfolding to success.”
Leaving the heiau.
Good coffee. The dealer's building is beyond the window, a short walk.
The service took about 1.5 hour and we stopped at Whole Foods on the way home.
I photographed the shohin bonsai jade tree I had brought into the house a few days ago.
We had a nice table at the side of the room.
It was a buffet night with lots of good food.
A plumeria tree mural behind the musician.
Beginning to walk Ewa on Hind Drive. Photo by Andrea.
Walking Ewa on Hind Drive.
Walking into the sun on Kalaniʻanaʻole Highway. Photo by Andrea.
Home again and pleased to see kuahine rain coming down the valley. Photo by Andrea.
We arrived at five but food service had ended.
It was a lovely evening. Photo by Andrea.
Andrea connected afterward with the two speakers from the UN Sustainability team.
A beautiful sunset.
The Plumeria Beach House restaurant was closed so we went to Asagio in Kahala on Waialae. Photo by Andrea.
We started with bread and cocktails. Photo by Andrea.
Andrea enjoyed her Manhattan.
On our pre-breakfast walk Wednesday morning we saw some beautiful plumeria flowers at a neighbor's house. Photo by Andrea.
After breakfast I photographed my jade cascade in training.
It rained Wednesday morning, and again in the afternoon.
Andrea went to hula up in Paradise Park and took this photo of their art exhibits room.
Lisa giving the talk about the results of the process to define a future for MHC.
The attentive audience. Snacks were available before and after.
Andrea photographed this explanation of Chinese years on Friday morning. Click the image to see the full resolution version.
Mala held the light while Nicole used her 120 mm Yashica camera. Nicole got down low to the perferred viewpoing.
Posing for a portrait afterward.
Screen shot of Zoom session Spies and Intelligence in Global Affairs on Friday afternoon.
Andrea got me a Chinese New Year box of chocolates!
I moved that HBA go forward with administration and the Okinawa Festival, but with no individual members except the board consisting of president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, and the separate club presidents. The motion was seconded and approved unanimously. Lawrence was elected vice president, Eddie was elected secretary, Kathy will be secretary, and I was elected president. We will have future meetings on an as needed basis. Alvin and Nelson are invited to the Mel Ikeda workshop the day before the public demo. The fate of the ABC classes will be decided later with the possibility that they will be subsumed by others.
Sunday morning I photographed my copy of Nēnē Goose Learns to Share, with illustrations by my artist friend Devin Oishi.
Sunday afternoon I participated in the Zoom Philosophy Meetup held by Brian Gould. This one was on the subject of utilitarianism.
The ʻilima in training. Wire was removed several months ago.
Nicole sent me this image of the bonsai ironwood that she took with her 120 mm film camera.
Members rapidly set up benches and the tarp covered tables for the annual bonsai raffle When the doors opened at 6:25 PM.
After the business meeting the raffle began. I brought two plants and won several pots and plants.
Red sky on our morning walk Wednesday. Photo by Andrea.
Wednesday the 29th I photographed my blooming Phalaenopsis orchid.
Wednesday evening I attended the Aina Haina Prepared Zoom meeting.
Thursday morning it began to rain and Andrea continued party preparations.
Cooking up a storm just before lunch Thursday.
The stream was running about four feet deep around noon on Thursday. The wall opposite is six feet.
I made a 12 second video of the stream.
Friday morning was sunny and calm. After hosing off the sidewalk, I photographed my bonsai monstera.
They're selling postcards of the hanging
They're painting the passports brown
The beauty parlor is filled with sailors
The circus is in town
Here comes the blind commissioner
They've got him in a trance
One hand is tied to the tight-rope walker
The other is in his pants
And the riot squad they're restless
They need somewhere to go
As Lady and I look out tonight
From Desolation Row.Cinderella, she seems so easy
‘It takes one to know one,’ she smiles
And puts her hands in her back pockets
Bette Davis style
And in comes Romeo, he's moaning,
‘You belong to me I believe.’
And someone says, ‘You're in the wrong place, my friend
You'd better leave.’
And the only sound that's left
After the ambulances go
Is Cinderella sweeping up
On Desolation Row.Now the moon is almost hidden
The stars are beginning to hide
The fortune-telling lady
Has even taken all her things inside
All except for Cain and Abel
And the hunchback of Notre Dame
Everybody is making love
Or else expecting rain
And the Good Samaritan, he's dressing
He's getting ready for the show
He's going to the carnival tonight
On Desolation Row.Ophelia, she's 'neath the window
For her I feel so afraid
On her twenty-second birthday
She already is an old maid
To her, death is quite romantic
She wears an iron vest
Her profession's her religion
Her sin is her lifelessness
And though her eyes are fixed upon
Noah's great rainbow
She spends her time peeking
Into Desolation Row.Einstein, disguised as Robin Hood
With his memories in a trunk
Passed this way an hour ago
With his friend, a jealous monk
Now, he looked so immaculately frightful
As he bummed a cigarette
Then he went off sniffing drainpipes
And reciting the alphabet
You would not think to look at him
But he was famous long ago
For playing the electric violin
On Desolation Row.Dr. Filth, he keeps his world
Inside of a leather cup
But all his sexless patients
They are trying to blow it up
Now his nurse, some local loser
She's in charge of the cyanide hole
And she also keeps the cards that read
‘Have Mercy on His Soul’
They all play on the penny whistle
You can hear them blow
If you lean your head out far enough
From Desolation Row.Across the street they've nailed the curtains
They're getting ready for the feast
The Phantom of the Opera
In a perfect image of a priest
They are spoon-feeding Casanova
To get him to feel more assured
Then they'll kill him with self-confidence
After poisoning him with words
And the Phantom's shouting to skinny girls
‘Get outta here if you don't know’
Casanova is just being punished for going
To Desolation Row.At midnight all the agents
And the superhuman crew
Come out and round up everyone
That knows more than they do
Then they bring them to the factory
Where the heart-attack machine
Is strapped across their shoulders
And then the kerosene
Is brought down from the castles
By insurance men who go
Check to see that nobody is escaping
To Desolation Row.Praise be to Nero's Neptune
The Titanic sails at dawn
Everybody's shouting
‘Which side are you on?’
And Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot
Fighting in the captain's tower
While calypso singers laugh at them
And fishermen hold flowers
Between the windows of the sea
Where lovely mermaids flow
And nobody has to think too much
About Desolation Row.Yes, I received your letter yesterday
About the time the door knob broke
When you asked me how I was doing
Was that some kind of joke?
All these people that you mention
Yes, I know them, they're all quite lame
I had to rearrange their faces
And give them all another name
Right now I can't read too good
Don't send me no more letters no
Not unless you mail them
From Desolation Row.
I put in Dylan's lyrics because they seem appropriate to the times, once again.
Email Richard dot J dot Wagner at gmail dot com