Run Westie Run

With the cooler weather our westie is preparing for marathons. He is into some serious running. While we watch him he runs in large circles around us laughing with his tongue hanging out. He is chasing some imaginary friends and some real ones, us. The thing is we fall over laughing and he keeps running like he is the coach. "Get up and keep running. It's good for you," I think he is saying.

Kailua Beach Canoeing/Kayaking Hawaii

Kailua Beach has lots of white sand and calmer waters because it is protected by a living barrier reef. Now the fun part is that you can kayak out to some small islands, Mokulua Islands and Flat Island, that are bird sanctuaries to snorkel and enjoy the privacy of your own little island. Your companions will be a few swimming sea turtles, fish and birds.

There is also a canal where you can test out your kayaking ability if you are new at it.

Halloween Spiderman Hat Westie Dog

Spiders on halloween help you see in the dark. Our westie doesn't need any help seeing, but the huge spider was a little scary. He was a real trooper and didn't mind wearing this for a short time. I did give him a pinch of peanut butter as a treat.

Elsewhere around town First Lady Michelle was dressed as a catwoman. And the first dog? Was he dressed up?

Hawaiian Flowers-Tropical Bouquets

Floral designers are so inventive. This bouquet has a palm frond woven to look like a sail to me it looked like the Hokulea outrigger. At the tip of the frond it is tied with rafia. I thought this was beautiful and to me the palm fronds lying flat rather depicted the ocean.

I talked a bit to the florist that provides the flowers and she said that the arrangements are changed once a week. Believe me they still look good after a week. She had the flowers and leaves from the previous week in her basket and I was thinking, "She is not going to throw those away: Is she?"

Bamboo is used sparingly in each arrangement in most bouquets. Below is our favorite purple (burgundy, maroon) foliage in the form of ti leaves. There are so many different types of heliconias. I found a tropical flower blog in North Queensland (maybe I can find a Hawaiian heliconia blog soon) and it has many pictures depicting the different varieties and colors. Scroll to the bottom of the first page and there is a fast slide show of many rare ones with their proper names. I found it very helpful.

The reds of the anthuriums and heliconias are a rich red and look striking against the ti leaves. I saw orange bird of paradise flowers against the red (purple) ti leaves at one place.

Pussy willows in Waikiki? Yes, here is proof. This little arrangement made a nice contrast against the dark wood. So simple yet stylish.

Hawaii Red Dirt Shirts

Not everyone gardens with soil or the bad word "dirt". A business was born from soiled shirts from Hurricane Iniki that hit kauai harsh in 1992. A mom and pop had a screen print business whose white shirts were stained red from all the rain and mud. They could not get the red out no matter how hard they tried. A friend suggested they finish them by adding more red mud so they would be evenly colored. The idea was a business success that all started on the beautiful island of Kauai!

There are stores in Arizona and on the islands of Hawaii. We visited their shop in Waikiki on Oahu. If you would like to order a shirt or cap of your own visit their website.

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Breakfast at Mac 24-7 Waikiki Hawaii

Someone suggested we eat breakfast at this sleek, modern, minimalist restaurant called
Mac 24-7 located in the lobby of the Hilton Waikiki Prince Kuhio Hotel. It is a very clean, stylish restaurant with great service. After being in restaurants where the walls are covered with trinkets,etc. this one was refreshing. We were impressed before we ordered.

Sometimes menus are worded in such a way that you are disappointed when you get your plate, but not so here! Can you believe these pancakes with macadamia nuts, pineapple and banana? For a moment I thought we were in Texas where things are bigger, or so they say. (Maybe just the stories are bigger?) The pancake order came with 3 pancakes that each measured 1 1/2-inches by 14-inches! Pancake pies. One order of these could have fed all of us.

We also ordered the candied pecan french toast which was delicious and the serving size fit more one's eating capacity.

The breakfast fruit plate was beautiful and each morsel at it's peak ripeness! Yay!

It doesn't matter what time of day or night you are hungry. Mac 24-7 is true to it's name and is open around the clock. Which ever clock you are on. We were still on east coast time which is 6 hours ahead of Hawaii so we were the early birds every morning wherever we went.

Recycled Aluminum Cans Halloween Sculpture

Back in Maryland our town put up halloween scarecrows from various groups. This one has a painted balloon eye against an aluminum pie tin. The tonque is an umbrella cover! How fun to recycle these cans into sculptures for halloween. Is this a sea horse or a dragon?