shave ice & gelato

I took these pictures a couple of years ago one evening at sunset while down at the Ala Wai boat harbor, which is considered to be the beginning of Waikiki. I hope you like them.

I took this photo yesterday evening at Ala Moana from the balcony of the restaurant, Mariposa, in Neiman Marcus. We stopped to use the bathroom in the store before heading out to our cars. When I saw the view from the restaurant, I decided to take a couple of quick photos (since many were staring at me as I was not a customer eating dinner there). The photo is not one of my best - just a view from the mall.

I thought more about Nordstrom last night and have come to the conclusion that the store in Hawaii must not be a complete Nordstrom store. Each department was very limited in their selection. Even the underwear/bra department had only 1/3 of the selection that Macy's has. I think the owners decided to only sell the more expensive items in each department, which I believe is a major mistake. The store was not that much busier than Neiman Marcus (which is always empty) and this was during spring break, a very busy time of year when teachers flock to the mall to shop.

After waking up early this morning with another massive migraine, I slept most of the day. I don't have the energy to hunt for a scary photo and so I have decided to skip PhotoHunt this week. Instead, I have decided to post the following...
(I will be back next week for another PhotoHunt entry.)

After a stressful day at work many months ago, I spontaneously drove up to the North Shore (with an older digital camera). I hung out on the beach for a while. I packed up and started heading home when the the sun was about to set because I don't like driving home in the dark from the North Shore. I didn't get far though. After driving only a few minutes, I could not resist stopping at Haleiwa Beach Park to take a few photos of this beautiful view. I ended up driving home in the dark after all, but it was worth it. Although a little blurry, this is one of my favorite photos.

Views from my lanai this morning:

*will continue with Bologna tomorrow...

There was a murder at the shopping center near my house yesterday afternoon. I left work early after feeling sick all day and stopped at the shopping center to pick up a prescription right when the ambulance arrived. Police were everywhere. A woman was stabbed while sitting on a bench eating saimin after getting her hair cut. She later died at the hospital. She was a teacher, a wife, and a mother of two young children. The man who killed her was found sitting on the grass smoking a cigarette across the street from the shopping center. As of right now, most think it was a random murder. The woman was murdered about 15 minutes before I arrived at the shopping center. The man bought the knife in the store I was in probably a few minutes before she was stabbed. I often walk to this shopping center, and walk right by the bench where she was sitting. I still feel very safe where I live and I will continue to walk to this shopping center but I won't forget about this horrible and senseless murder for a long time.

I am thankful so many things, my family and friends, a job, a roof over my head,
my health, my travels, but mostly today I am thankful for my life, my life in this beautiful place.

After hitting my snooze alarm for the 4th or 5th time this morning, I did my usual grumbling and swearing, not wanting to get out of bed. I am NOT a morning person.

BUT...

As I looked out my window...

I just knew it was going to be a beautiful day :)

The sun rises and the sun sets daily. Here are some photos of a sunset I took in August, 2007 up on the North Shore of Oahu.

Sorry I have been missing in action lately leaving comments on blogs. Will try to catch up with everyone soon. Happy Saturday!

The photos are posted in the order that they were taken as the sun began to set.

My favorite thing about these photos is how they almost look like I I had the sepia setting set on my camera. I'm not sure how the color worked out this way but I think they come out pretty cool. These are some of my favorite photos that I have taken recently.

I took these photos on the same day and at the same beach as the photos I posted here. I will try to post a few more photos of the sun setting from this beach and day on Sunday or Monday.

On Saturday, I posted some photos as the sun began to set at a beautiful beach up on the North Shore of Oahu. Here are some more photos of that sunset...

I have not been a very good blogger lately. I have been pretty busy working out (back at PRO after screwing up my other shoulder), going for acupuncture treatments, getting stuck in two hour traffic jams, and planning my trip on the nights I have been home early. Too tired to do much more than peek at everyone's blogs.

I did search for some silhouette photos last week but wasn't able to find any that I liked. Tonight when I opened up my iPhoto program, the first thing I saw was silhouette photos! I guess I did not do a very good job searching last week. As they say, "When it rains it pours". Once I found the first couple of silhouette photos, it seemed all I could find was more silhouette photos when looking for mostly black photos. I figure since silhouette photos also fall under the category of mostly black, I would combine the two weeks. I realize I have posted some of these photos before but I thought they looked pretty cool all in one place.

The first two photos are sunrise photos. I took these a year ago right outside my window.

I took this next photo last April as the sun was setting, again right outside my window.

This next photo was taken last July with my new camera. I remember being home watching a Red Sox game when at one point, I glanced outside my window and noticed this amazing sunset. I was torn because I did not want to miss any of the game but I also could not ignore the amazing colors in the sky. I grabbed my camera and went outside as soon as the inning was over and took a few photos. This was my favorite.

This last photo was taken in the evening up on the North Shore in August 2007 when Katia and Guido were here visiting. As you can probably tell by now, I love palm trees.

We have had a lot of vog here in Hawaii since I have returned from Colorado. The one bright side of vog is beautiful sunrises and sunsets.

Last Friday when I was driving home, I could not keep my eyes off of the sky. I was mesmerized and so grateful to have witnessed such beauty. I knew it would be too late to capture the sun setting by the beach, so I pulled off and took these photos of the sky as the sun was beginning to set.

vog • air pollution caused by volcanic emissions

From Wikipedia: Vog is a form of air pollution that results when sulfur dioxide and other gases and particles emitted by an erupting volcano react with oxygen and moisture in the presence of sunlight. The word is a portmanteau of the words "volcanic" and "smog".

The U.S. Geological Survey defines vog as: Noxious sulfur dioxide gas and other pollutants emitted from Kilauea Volcano on the Island of Hawai`i react with oxygen and atmospheric moisture to produce volcanic smog (vog) and acid rain.

Common symptoms related to vog:
• Headaches
• Breathing difficulties
• Increased susceptibility to respiratory ailments
• Watery eyes
• Sore throat
• General lack of energy

We are told to stay inside, drink lots of water, and avoid strenuous outdoor exercise.

October for most means cooler temperatures. For some, downright chilly temperatures. For us in Hawaii, it means hot, muggy days. October is almost always one of the hottest months of our year partly because the trade winds for some reason usually die during October. Sometimes we also have more voggy days when the trade winds die and southerly winds take over, as we have been experiencing for the past few days.

Today has been one of the worst days of vog that we have experienced in the past few years. This morning the vog was so thick that it was as if the mountains had disappeared. They were barely visable.

My eyes feel like there are tiny pieces of glass in them. My throat hurts. It is hard to breathe. They say the vog should end soon. Fingers are crossed!

Still, there is a blessing we are given whenever we experience a voggy day. Beautiful sunrises & sunsets.

I happened to be on the road this evening when I noticed the bright orange sun starting to set in the sky. By the time I was able to get to a beach, the sun had disappeared, but I was still able to capture the beauty in the sky.

At one point, the blurry icon started to appear on my little compact camera because it was getting darker outside. I set my camera down on top of one of a group of four round stone garbage cans to steady it so my photos would not come out as blurry. After taking a couple of photos, I heard a noise that made me jump and freaked me out a little bit. There was some sort of creature inside one of the trash cans making a noise. Not sure if it was a rat or some other critter. I did not stay to find out.

For more on the vog, you can check out two of my previous posts here and here.

And by the way, the people who are in charge of Words With Friends should update their database. Vog IS an official word in the Merriam-Webster dictionary.

*I know I have not been around much lately. Life is good for me. I hope it is for you also. I am just trying to be more in the moment and spend less time on the internet. I do continue to follow everyone's blogs. I just have not been commenting much.