A Mānoa Girl's Bloggie

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Today I needed to drive out to Sandy, Oregon…it’s only about ten miles from our house, but with gas prices so high, I always try to combine errands when I go there.

My first stop was at the dentist’s office. Nothing too exciting there.

My next stop was at the Sandy City Hall; this is the mural that is on the exterior wall. Very definitely photo-worthy, don’t you think? It depicts all the logging that has gone on in the area, with the Sandy River in the background.

I stopped by Designer Yarn to pick up some yarn for a hat for a friend. Sherri was having a yarn-tasting sale! The special yarns were on plates on the table, each one supplied with needles so that people could see how they liked the different ones by knitting with them. Pretty clever, yes? And no calories! I sat down with several of them and had fun seeing which ones I liked the best.

The yarn “bowls” were so neat; each ball of yarn was inside a teapot, with the working end of the yarn coming out the spout. What a great way to keep the balls of yarn from leaping all over the table!

Right now, I know, AFK, you’re studying your monitor, saying to yourself, “Is that what I think it is?” and hoping for a closer look. Yep. It is what you think it is. I knew you’d love this teapot, so I took a photo of it just for you!

I wondered if I could kakaroach it and send it to you, but in the long run decided that Sherri might notice, so I left it there. But inside I was smiling, knowing that you’d love even the photo. Hugs, tita!

I woke up tired today. I did.not.want.to.go.to.the.gym. I could think of all kinds of reasons why I could just stay home. I could update my Montana Road Trip posts. I could answer a bunch of emails. I could knit on the second chemo cap for my friend.

But in the end, I did vacuum therapy. Sucked it up and went. I did my full workout; 35 mins cardio here:

…and then two sets of upper body training here:

When I was pau I was really glad that I went. I felt better, I had more energy, and I burned a bunch of calories. Felt dem endorphins rolling around inside me.

I could’ve stayed home. But I didn’t. Yay me.

This is a bittersweet photo day; a friend of mine is starting chemo next week; she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer last month. I am praying diligently for her, but I wanted to do more. So I got some really soft yarn and knit her a chemo hat.

I didn’t want it to be plain, so I used a pattern that I’d used for a chemo hat for another friend of mine over five years ago that has a little bit of pizzazz to it.

I love knitting and I love creating. I love being able to do this for a friend in need. But I do not love that she has to go through what she’s going through.

I pray that this hat will help my friend feel a little more feminine during chemo and while her hair is growing back. Most of all, I pray for her complete recovery.

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I love my kitties. Just in case you hadn’t guessed. I especially love it when I wake up in the morning and find myself in the middle of a three-kitty pileup. Good thing I had my tablet right there so I could take a photo of them all curled up with me.

I love three-kitty pile-ups! They don’t happen every morning, but when they do, I wake up happy! Even though I’m mostly unable to move.

Kalakoa in front, Noelani on the left on one leg, and Keola on the other one.

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Today when I was coming home from the gym I decided to take a photo of the signs at the bottom of our driveway, with the heather just starting to bloom. The “E Komo Mai” sign was custom made for me by a woodworker friend of mine, and I just love it. I gave him the design and he handcrafted the rest of it.

The smaller sign is from the National Wildlife Federation. In order for our place to be a certified Wildlife Habitat, I had to fill out a number of pages to make sure we qualified for a registry number.

I had to document what plants, shrubs, and trees were available for food and shelter, the kinds and number of feeders we have (think LOTS!), whether or not we provided water, and what our land was made up of (forest, pasture, etc.).

I’ve done this for every place we’ve lived during the past twenty+ years, and to me it’s pretty exciting to get the document officially recognizing our place on the National Registry, which I put in a frame. They also send me the outdoor sign you see in the photo.

Most of all, I love providing food, water, and shelter for my feathered friends. In return, they come visit my garden and allow me to take some pretty wonderful photos of them.

First, let me say that I’m not a football fan. I had absolutely no interest in watching the Super Bowl today. What I was really looking forward to was some spinning time, so while Nolemana watched the game in another room (I did not banish him; it was his choice… just wanna make that clear!), I spun some lovely fiber from Lisa Souza Dyeworks called “Sky Drama” while watching several chapters of Downton Abbey on DVD. My friend Jenny got me hooked. It’s her fault!

Anyway, Kalakoa decided to supervise me while I spun, and the two of us had a grand time together.

Earlier in the day I’d gone out to run an errand, and when I got home I saw Ricky standing by the gate and decided to take his photo for the photo of the day. So I snapped the picture, planning to crop it to just show his cute face, so focused on Ricky that I was completely unaware till I downloaded the photo that Puakea, Titus, and Paul were also in the photo! I was pretty pleased about that.

Can you see everyone? I love the way that Titus is framed in the gate!

This evening Nolemana and I were driving west on Sunshine Valley Road and saw this nani sunset. I stopped the car along the road and snapped this photo. I love the contrast of the dark trees against the beautiful sky. I love living out in a semi-rural area where I can get shots like this without buildings being in the way.

It slowly faded as we were driving, but we gloried in it as long as it lasted. Mahalo ke Akua for the glorious colors in your paintbrush tonight!

Hootaw!!! What a way to start the next month of photos!!

I went to the post office today to pick up our mail, and just as I was leaving, I spotted a really cute elderly couple walking out…and she was wearing a fresh lei! Inside my heart leaped high with joy at the sight!

No shame, me. I walked up to her and asked if I could smell it… and she said, “Of course!” and I bent my head and drew in a deep breath of plumeria, tears coming to my eyes at the sight and scent of home.

The two of them were so cute; they asked me what kind of flowers they were, and I told them the purple ones were orchid and the yellow, plumeria. They told me that they’d bought it just before they boarded the plane from Honolulu to here. I thanked them and told them that I was born and raised there, and how much I miss the fragrances of home.

They were just getting into their pickup when I walked out of the building; he holding her car door open, the perfect gentleman. I then asked if it would be okay if I took a photo of the wahine’s lei, and she smiled broadly and said, “Absolutely!”

I’d just gotten a new phone yesterday and wasn’t even sure I knew how to take photos with it, but did manage to get a couple of photos of the lovely lei.

Then the husband asked me again where I was from, and began to tell me a story, of how, during the Korean War, he was in the Navy, and had the job of getting battleships out of their mothball status and ready for service, and that in all, he’d made seven trips across the Pacific Ocean during that time. It was fascinating to listen to him. I told him how during WWII my folks had watched the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and how, during my trips to California to visit my mother, I’d always see the Mothball Fleet in the Carquinez Strait.

What made this so special is that we used to have two lovely plumeria trees growing right outside my folks’ bedroom window. One was pink, and the other, yellow, and when they were blooming, their fragrance wafted in through the open windows.

So there we were, out in the Boring Post Office’s parking lot, sharing all kine stuff about Hawai’i and battleships and plumeria lei. As they got into their old blue pickup, I watched them drive away, and thanked ke Akua for allowing me to be there at that time and place, inhaling the fragrance of home and meeting those two wonderful people.

If I concentrate really hard, I can still smell the aroma of the lei, and my heart is happy.

Today I went into downtown Portland to Angelika’s Yarn Store to get some yarn for a chemo cap that I’m knitting for a friend. On my way back to the highway on my way home, I spotted the tram going up to OHSU.

“Cool!” I thought. “I know what I’m going to do for my photo of the day!” So I drove up and around a couple of streets in order to get a fairly good vantage point near where the tram went by overhead.

It took a few tries to get a photo I was satisfied with, and I absolutely loved that all the pigeons were part of it!

Today my Gathering group met out in daboonies of Beavercreek, in a cozy log home heated only by a woodstove. We girls gathered in the warm family room and were glad to be together.

Outside was a huge pile of logs that will eventually be cut up for firewood. This is often how wood is delivered here in Oregon; a log truck delivers the logs and eventually the homeowner will get out a log splitter and chainsaw and cut them up into firewood, giving the wood a year to cure.

I wish I’d been here to see the logs delivered!