New Enthusiasm for a New Year

As I see this picture, with a Mom holding up her child to get a better view of the huge sea bass that is slowly gliding by the window pane, I am reminded of the sense of wonder at the world and the wide-eyed, open minded hunger for new knowledge and experiences that we possess as youth. Some of us lose that curiosity and hunger along the way, having substituted neat labels and stereotypes for how we perceive the world and conveniently ignoring all the things that do not fit into that all too tidy world. For 2007, perhaps we can all try a little harder to re-kindle the fires of open minded curiosity from our youth and rediscover the world each day with wide eyes full of excitement and enthusiasm.

Out Shopping...

Shopping is luckily not on my New Year Resolution list (to avoid). Hmm. Well, okay, I don't have a resolution list. Perhaps I should (grin). In either case, when the S.O.'s away, the Wayward Hawaiian can shop, shop, shop. Not really anything serious. A small CD player for the office. Some ham and fixings for my latest soup creation. New socks to replace the old, overstretched athletic socks in the drawer and a really warm pair of plaid jammies (hmmm, a fashion statement if ever I saw one). I'd actually meant to replace more than the socks but, for some silly reason, mens underwear has gotten really expensive and I'm still too thrifty to spot for the stylish stuff so...tube socks are going to have to do for tonight. New socks and new jammies to ring in the new year, grin. Happy New Year!

Picture: Underwear ad from the Frankfurt Airport. For some reason, the airport was just full of underwear ads. Obviously, the Europeans are not as puritanical as many Americans are about body image. I've never seen underwear ads in an American airport although you still see them in the stores.

Happy New Years and Best Wishes!

Happy New Year! Here's to wishing you all the very finest of times and lots of success for 2007. May all your dreams and goals come true.

Photo: Fireworks over Lahaina, Maui (wishing I was there right now but San Diego's not too bad either...).

Lady Bug on Glass

Every now and then it's fun to take a picture that is spontaneous and off the cuff. This one is of a lady bug from the bottom up as it crawled across my windshield. As with people, animals also often look different when you see the "non-public" side of them.

Eye to Eye

Sometimes, when taking pictures, the bloopers are almost more precious than the pictures that came out. This tourist popped his head up right in front of my camera and I ended up with an ear shot instead of walrus. However, if you look closely, you can see them staring at each other leading you to wonder what would happen if that thick plexi-glass pane wasn't there.

Are you a Boar?

Are you a boar? 2007 is a year of the Boar as was 1923, 1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983 and 1995. People born in the year of the boar are pure of heart, generous and kind. They are strong and courageous as well as sensitive, sincere and passionate friends. They are also said to be fond of luxurious surroundings and like to pamper themselves or be pampered. They are also intellectual and voracious readers.

Ah you say, what a wonderful Boar picture! Well, more precisely, I suspect it is a pecary, but who's counting anyhow? The Chinese New Year is celebrated at the second new moon after the winter solstice and falls between January 21 and February 19. This year of the Boar lines up with the Chinese Calendar year 4704 (they've been doing this for a long time...).

Hippo-mania

You can see the hippo bounding off into the distance with it's hind legs kicking up into the air as everyone watches with rapt attention. You can almost hear the groan of the camera people as it bounds off only to be captured on camera(s) again as it loops around the tank for another pass by the window.

Mr. & Mrs. Mallard

Rumor is ducks pair for life. At least in Korea, they say that. They give newly wed couples a pair of carved wood ducks as a symbol of a lasting relationship. These two ducks, however, were part of a huge flock that were out lounging on the pond in what has turned into some cold, windy and rainy San Diego weather.

Gull Frenzy

The child in the picture was feeding the gulls. As you can tell, gulls are not at all shy about taking handouts. In fact, they're downright aggressive, swarming around the little guy begging for food. Yet another fine way to spend a warm Christmas afternoon.

Where's Santa?

While the guys were out decorating the beer tree, where was Santa? Well, Santa was out playing a quick game of baseball (with a rubber playground ball instead of a baseball)! Santa was having fun and I hope you all are too. He's earned the day off, grin. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

Beer Tree

Every guys dream. A christmas tree decorated with beer! I figured I check out Mission Beach to see what craziness was going on for Christmas day and ran into this beer tree. Santa hats were pretty popular too.

Christmas Cheer and A Little Grilling

Here's a little mug of me with the grilled portabella mushrooms. It's that Christmas party time of year which means that it's time for me to cook up some grilled terriyaki veggies and some of my famous Wayward mystery bread (zuchinni, carrot, bannana...this time anyhow) for the annual Christmas potluck. It was really nice to see the friends.

We open presents tomorrow (grin). Dog has a nice new furry pillow to rest those aging doggie joints on and some tasty treats. She's been sniffing around the tree for days now (and I think she hasn't found them yet this time -- although I probably ought to peek to make sure they're still there!). Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas as well.

A Little Christmas Poetry

I found this guy with his dog driving the "Star-Trike", a motorcycle spiffed up to look like the Star Trek Enterprise! The dog was pretty occupied looking at the passing people but Santa was very happy to pose! Merry Christmas to you all! Here's a little California poetry for the season!

Twas the night before Christmas,

When all through the beach,

Not a creature was sunning,

With lotion at hands reach.

When out from the waves,

Surfboard in tow,

Came Santa a-swimming,

Merry Christmas to all!

Good surf and good cheer.

A Mission Beach Christmas Tree

I ran across this happy little tree along Mission Bay. While there are more stately trees out there, there are few in a more lovely setting along the bay in warm San Diego. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!

Slow Day at the Beach

It was actually fairly nice out today although there was a light cold breeze. The weather man claims that the cold air has taken a vacation until just past Christmas day. We shall soon find out I suppose. Nevertheless, I took that as an excuse to go roller blading for a little bit as well as to work in the yard for a bit. I'm guessing everyone else was at the mall as the beach parking lot was about 80% empty. Wow. Wish it was like that all the time!

Happy Holidays!

Awesome Christmas Trees

Sometimes you see amazing trees at stores and malls and you wonder how long it takes to put them up. It turns out, my neighbor, a florist put up this totally amazing tree. The answer, 5 hours of going up and down a ladder to deck out this very large tree. I was totally impressed (although not impressed enough to spend 5 hours on a ladder to do it myself, grin).

Now, I like my tree (shown a few days ago) with perhaps about an hour of two of us popping up ornaments and shell garlands but wow, this is something else. Admittedly the doggy pillow/treats and big pile of presents under our tree add a little something warm and special that a big formal tree doesn't necessarily have but for wow factor, the neighbors have it!

Denver Snowstorm

My friends in Denver sent me this picture. Their neighborhood wasn't plowed yet and, with two feet of snow, it's looking like canned goods for Christmas dinner but there's still hope. The airport was finally opening back up today after being closed for two days! This is an airport that was specifically designed to handle snow and bad weather as well!

I used to live in Denver and still have fond memories of living there. However, the fondness stops when it comes to shoveling snow. Yechhhh. Bleah. Hate shoveling snow, especially the wet, heavy Springtime stuff. Happy Holidays!

Dog Days of Winter?

Okay so dog days are normally in the summer... However, this African dog was definitely enjoying a nap in the Sun at the Honolulu Zoo. I particularly liked how the sun glistened off of his fur hence the picture.

For those of you buried under two feet of snow in Denver, perhaps you're overdue for a little time in Hawaii! Check out the Mele Kohola link on the right.

Large Orange Sulphur Butterfly

I suspect that this is a Large Orange Sulphur Butterfly, Phoebis agarithe. They were flitting around in profusion on the wet side of Oahu but almost never landed anywhere where I could get a good snapshot of them. I finally found one that was willing to stay still long enough to get a photo outside the Honolulu Zoo, half an island away. As opposed to their name, these butterflies are a wonderful lemon yellow. Of course, I might have misidentified them as well.

Two-Master

They frequently have notable sailing ships in San Diego Bay including the Star and Stripes which we saw on a recent sailing trip. This ship, an unidentified two-master was just leaving the dock on a windy, overcast day.