ALOHA Hawai'i Ne

Last day before I jet outta here. I make this last post with a couple of final pictures. Next stop...England. First however, I have to go to the place that can only be found by those who already know where it is, aye the place where the Black Pearl makes berth. Rumor has it that she is here. Later.

It just keeps getting better

First things first: Happy Father's Day to all the great fathers in my life, especially MY DAD. By the way, I published this post on Father's Day but I can figure out how to make my post reflect that...whatever, I am in Hawai'i so it's really no big deal.

So where did I leave off? Oh yeah, I like Hawai'i. I think there are legitimate reasons for people thinking of it as paradise. I have met some great local folks, made some cool new friends, and eaten some amazing food. I think there is too much; let me sum up. Green sea turtles (honu), peacocks, wild pigs, hula shows, Lanikai Beach, Shark's Cove swimming and snorkeling with honu and humuhumunukunukuapua'a, King Kamehameha Day, oil still bubbling up from the USS Arizona, Koko Crater (1207 ft and 1048 steps up and then back down), pineapple plants as far as the eye can see near the Dole Plantation, and the ever present anuenue. Hard to believ in 2 weeks I will be pau here and flying back to Pcola for a day of rest before jetting off the England again. Hopefully this time the Queen will have a few minutes in her busy schedule to have cream tea with me. First however, I have to continue to work here in paradise (mostly on my tan) so until my next blog entry...Aloha.

Beaches & Rainforests

Amazing to go from the beach to a rainforest so easily. I did get to the USS Arizona Memorial. It is a pretty moving place when I consider the magnitude of the loss there, still under my feet. A drive around the south and east end of Oahu cleared my head then I cut across the island up and over the Pali Hwy. Saturday I went to Diamond Head and hiked up the 200 and something steps (a short and simple climb for those of us who have climbed to the Petra Monastery and Masada) and then back down to Waikiki Beach for sun, swim and a $40 lunch of 3 fish tacos and 2 beers. People who come here with pocket change won't get very far. Today I celebrated Memorial day with a hike up to and beyond Manoa Falls and the evening Memorial Day Lantern Launch and ceremony at Ala Moana Beach. A very busy and very cool weekend. Now back to work to recover for next weekend.

Aloha

Three days on Oahu and already I have driven around 2/3 of the island. The pictures I will post here cannot quite capture the brilliant colors of Flamboyan and Bouganvillas, the staggering odor of Plumeria/Frangi Pani, the noise of waves, birds, and ukeleles, the taste of fresh mangoes or the feel of a light and cool mist coming from a sky with no clouds. So far, yeah, I can see why people like Hawaii. I snorkelled this morning in Hanauma Bay (and got a little burnt) and drove up this afternoon through the mountains above Honolulu. Yesterday after work in Wahiawa, I cruised past North Shore and on around the north of the island. I am learning some new words for things but not ready to use them on my blog yet, but stand by, I will. More to come This is my view from my bedroom, me at some roadside park, Hanauma Bay and a view of Waikiki and Diamond Head.

Just say no to volcanoes

Since my last post a volcano blew its top in Iceland grounding all air traffic in England for alost a week. I was only left in London for 3 days of that so I took advantage of the unplanned holiday. I met some great people and managed to use my time well with good company (thanks Brenda, Maree and Bill). I wrapped it up and left room for more exploring when I return to England this summer after having to do a little hard time in Hawaii. But for now, I am home again and recuperated. Things to do and a quick trip to Tennessee and I will hit the road again in a few weeks. Here are a few pics of my last days in England. I went to see a play, went to Windsor Castle (again the queen refused to see me), the palace guard wouldn't talk to me, I interpretted the Rosetta Stone, and marveled with people in town at the sight of the first planes as we all stared up in awe. Here's a pic of me outside of my hotel in London...this explains how I got out on one of the first planes. Don't ask

The Easter weekend

Here are a couple more photos of England. I went to Nottingham and Sherwood Forest and roamed around the shire on Saturday. I didnt see Robin Hood but they say his spirit is still the guardian of Sherwood. I did however see a few statues of him, et al. The tree pictured here is about 1000 year old, so it would have been in the forest in 1190 when RH was hanging out. My hunch is that it was the merry men's Party Tree although there is no evidence to support my theory.. On Sunday I went to the Ely Cathedral which is only about 800 years old...a baby church compared to Canterbury, but lovely nonetheless. I attended the C of E services, took communion, then went out in true Brit fashion and had a couple of pints and a sunday roast at a local pub. I also went to the Cambridge American Cemetery which is the final resting place for some 5800 service members from WWII; mostly Air Force, many Sailors and some Soldiers, Marines and Coast Guard. Less than two weeks left in this rotation, so I am either going to London this weekend again or to Edinburgh, Scotland. I would really like to get a kilt to wear most of the time because they look comfortable and I have the legs for it. So many decisions. Aside: at this time, Andy is in Iraq, Mark and Blake are in Afghanistan; we are all in another country! huh...

now for a couple of pictures...I actually have internet this morning so I gotta act fast. this is inside the Canterbury Cathedral; Big Ben and Parliament from the London Eye; me at Dover. I will post more after I return from Nottingham / Sherwood Forest this weekend. later

England week 3

I've been in England 3 weeks going on 4 now and I have gotten out a couple of times. The weather is slowly warming up, but you can't count on the weather at all. warm and beautiful on Saturday and cold and blustery on Sunday and rainy again today. I went to London last week and thoroughly toured the Tower of London and "flew" the London Eye (giant ferris wheel with amazing views next to the Thames. I went by Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Parliament and Buckingham Palace, but they wouldnt let me in to have tea with the Queen - that may prove to be harder than crashing the White House. This weekend I went to Cambridge to try and get smarter in the halls that nurtured Isaac Newton, Lord Byron and so many others. I dont know if it worked but I felt smarter. I also went to Dover to see the White Cliffs and ended the day at the Palm Sunday Evensong Service at Canterbury Cathedral. The quire was unbelievable and the idea of being in a worship sevice in the midst of the many Archbishops of Caterbury, let alone a 1400 year old Cathedral was moving. Big sigh...
yeah...on a typical note, I dont have a strong enough connection to upload pix. Maybe another day I will play catchup on the photos. Really though I am in England!

In England now

I guess all the snow in DC threw off any intent to blog. We got a lot of snow...record snow in fact and although it was fun, I did miss a week of work and was kind of limited in what I could do. I guess I could have blogged on and on, but it would have been pretty boring stuff. Anyway I finished up in DC and went home for 3 days before departing for England to RAF base Alconbury. It was cold and rainy at first, then warmed up to above freezing and then got cold again and rainy and then back to cold and windy. I'm gonna treasure the summer this year. I have been around a little bit driving on the left side of the road in the right side of my car. I never really thot much about the fact that EVERYTHING in the car is reversed as well. I have been to Huntingdon (small town near the base), Peterboro which is a nearby city and this weekend to Ely, St Ives, and Hunstanton. There are ancient castles and cathedrals at every turn. I am posting a few pics, but I have to wait to get others from my travel partner because my camera crapped out at the 1000 year old church, which has been added on to and is still functioning. It is freakin spectacular with gargoyles, hand carved stones and graves going back to very olden days. I will do more as my travels allow and plan to update this more often, partly because England is so cool! these pics are Me in St Ives, followed by the cathedral at Peterboro, and the inside of the Cathedral at Ely (Eelee).

Okay, now I have been in DC for 2 1/2 weeks and have seen cold, rain and snow. There have abeen a few days without those three but not many. Today it is snowing heavily as this big snow and ice storm crawls across the country. I was planning to go help my friend Debbie whose house burned last week, but the snowing put the brakes on that idea. That's the house I lived in with her for 4 years. Pretty sad. I will post the rsults of todays snow later because it has been going for a couple of hours and although it is still going strong, I want to wait til it's over. It's 16 degrees right now, so the snow is gonna stick. other than that not much to write about. Maybe I will get a weekend to day trip a little. Blake is doing fine except for the rocket attacks and seeing fellow Marines go down. That's is bothersome, but I know he is in G-d's hands, and not much I can do to fix it but pray, pray, pray.

With Hanukkah season ending and Christmas getting into full swing, I fill my days with home repairs and upkeep stuff. Not much for the Christmas decorations this year, with Blake gone, and no cats to fight with over climbing the tree, I just decided to put up some garland and decorate my living room window. Here are a few pictures from the Hanukkah party earlier this week and my trip to Israel. That's me and mom in the Dead Sea and on top of Mt Carmel with the Jezreel Valley behind us. After Christmas in Tennessee, I have to set about getting ready for assignments in D.C. and England which are back to back. I am sure I will enjoy both of them greatly.

back home...for now

Well, Oklahoma is in the past and I just got back from Israel with mom. Now I am just down to the business of getting the house up to snuff and then to decide what to do about it. Israel was great again and it was a lot of fun to see mom's expressions as she took in the magnitude of where we were. we worked in a few homes and did some painting and plaster repair work. It was a great expereince as it has been each time I have gone. This time it was kind of wierd because Blake was not with me, in fact he left for Afghanistan the same day I left for Israel. He is settling in there and apparently he and Mark and Mike Johnson are all doing well. Will remains in Iraq as I write this. Remember to keep all our troops and those who support them in your prayers and thoughts, especially while our government cant decide whether to support them or not. This would be a good time of year to think about sending a care package. I will post some pix soon.

There are these cool red rose shaped barite sandstone rocks, the State Rock, the Cherokee Rose with a very cool legend behind them and they are everywhere in this certain narrow gash through the state. So I went to the gash and spent a good part of the day, but NO ROCKS! Maybe it is just the way that Oklahomans have fun with tourists, then watch 'em through binoculars, looking for "the Cherokee Rose". I guess I will have to just buy a sackful instead of finding my own...what a disappointment. So I followed that up with the Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, then a visit to the Oklahoma City National Memorial, site of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah building in 1995. After that, I stopped for a glass of wine and a visit with Ann and David. Ann is another consultant who is assigned with me at Vance AFB. Hopefully next weekend I will either go to the Cherokee Heritage Center (3 hours away) or a couple of state parks (1-1/2 hours away).

The wind does come sweepin down the plain!

Yes it does get kind of windy. I went out last weekend and dug for Selenite crystals on the Salt Plains. They have a cool horseshoe formed inside and this only occurs in this one spot on earth. I went with a plan to stay a little while but got addicted and rubbed a nasty blister on my palm. Yesterday I went to the Standing Bear Pow-wow with several tribes represented. That was interesting and very cool. I was wowed by the honor they placed on service members. There was an Air Force guy and a Marine who is about to deploy. They honored them greatly. They honored veterans and spent a lot of time focusing on the Flag, Military Service and when they prayed it was to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Go figure. The sunsets are beautiful and the skies are big. I think I will enjoy OK. Next week I am going to OKCity and look forward to that.

oklahoma

Now I am in Oklahoma. nothing new going on. A 30 yr HS class reuniuon was interesting and nicely put together. Spending time with Blake and jumping off a bridge (much to the dismay of my old neck) was a good time. But now, it has been rainy and damp for the 3 days I have been here. I know there is good stuff to do and things I dont see a lot of in Pensacola. The Great Plains, buffalo ranges, cowboys and indians, etc. I look forward to the next 6 weeks, but will be kind of glad to get home again and, except for the trip to Israel in November, focus on my homestead and relax. I am sure more will come over the next weeks.

Valdosta and turning 48

As I wrap up my final days in Valdosta, I realize that I have not posted but once. I also have no pictures as I have really been more obsessed with running and getting in shape than in seeing the sights of this area. Maybe because after Europe, I am kind of unimpressed, altho Valdosta is a nice town and the people at Moody AFB and the community have been great. Today I enter my 49th year on this planet and still have so much to do. My bro Mark is now safely in Bagram, Afghanistan sweating it out serving our country by supporting the troops on the ground there. As a Marine he would much rather be walking a post or rooting out the bad guys but his job is no less important to the mission. Here's his pic taken last summer. Lance Corporal Blake is in Mojave Viper (29 Palms, California) training for two more weeks for deployment to Afghanistan. Remember to pray for our troops and those who support them at this incredible point in history.