UPDATE: I own a kalimba, a small African musical instrument played on metal keys braced on a soundboard or soundbox. These musicians are playing mbira, larger versions of the same instrument that are attached to calabash gourd sounding bowls. This makes it difficult to see how the artists’ thumbs play the repetitive patterns and melodies. I took more pictures with the big camera trying to lock in an image of how the woman on the right was playing, but the singer’s butt kept getting in the way. These folks were very good, very traditional. Ginny I can has iPhone?…
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Looks like we arrive about two ours late. UPDATE: Sure, we paid for Economy Plus, and we had more legroom, but I need more buttroom and hipbone room these days. At least the flight was smooth, in spite of the air traffic control audio that warned the pilots about wind shear at 1300 feet. During the flight, David slept and I watched “Paul Blart: Mall Cop,” which turned out to be not brainless, rather sweet, and quite funny. Ginny I can has iPhone? Via: Flickr Title: Our ride is finally here By: GinnyRED57 Originally uploaded: 22 May ’09, 9.26pm CDT…
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Spicy tofu… Is spicy. It’s become a tradition for me to photograph food via my iPhone and update to Flickr and the blog, especially when traveling. We’re on the road again, this time traveling to Seattle for Memorial Day Weekend and the big Folk Life Festival, and this is what I ordered at the Manchu Wok in the O’Hare Airport Food Court. It was okay, actually. Not too bad, although the noodles were mushy from behind held on the steam table too long. Our flight to Seattle was delayed 2 hours, and we arrived after midnight, local time. While at…
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FlyteComm is a pretty cool way to check flight schedules. Plug in an airline and flight number, and you get a display with a graphic showing the plane’s current estimated position, overlaid on a weather map (in this case of the US). Why am I checking on a Saturday? Oh, well, never mind. I’m a geek that way. Here’s another example, we flew on American’s “daylighter” flight from Chicago to London last August. It departs in the morning, and arrives that night, so you go straight to your hotel and to bed rather than trying to stay awake all day…
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We lead such an exciting, glamorous life. My husband David and I planned a few weeks ago to take last Friday off and drive down to visit a niece of ours that lives in south-central Illinois. We visit her periodically because she lives a long way from home, and we don’t get to see her very often if we wait for her occasional visits “home” for birthdays and holidays. We think these visits are important for emotional well-being, both hers, and ours. She’s always happy to see us, and we feel happy and sad for her at the same time.…
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I’ve been to…. probably 6 or 7 luau (feasts) in the more than 20 years that I’ve been going to Hawaii. The first time I ever went was in 86 or so… it was a travel agent fam and amongst all the salesy-markety stuff events that were arranged for us was at least one luau. I’ve always had a good time and had a good experience, although some luau productions and settings are better than others. I’ve never walked out of a luau feeling depressed and sad for the performers until now. David and I just got back from an…
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Yesterday, the day after Bobby Jindal’s woefully inadequate “response to the Presidential Address,” we decided to go visit a volcano to see how our tax dollars are being spent in research. This is one of the things Jindal derided in his prepared remarks. HVO Kilauea Status Page Activity Summary for past 24 hours: The ongoing DI event began the inflation phase yesterday, which continues this morning. Sulfur dioxide emission rates remain elevated from the Halema`uma`u vent. Sulfur dioxide emissions continue to be elevated from the Pu`u `O`o vent. Lava from east rift zone vents appears to have resumed flow through…
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Yesterday we went on a snorkel trip from Keauhou Harbor, which is within walking distance of our condo here at Kanaloa, with an outfit called Sea Paradise. It was a really, really nice day for it, sunny and calm. Keauhou Harbor is famous as the birthplace of Kamehameha III, and there’s a heiau down there. Two roads lead in, one from each side, and we stumbled on the closer one by dumb luck, as the driving directions actually indicated the other access road. When we got there, we found the storm-battered hut that several adventure companies work out of; most…
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Trouble in paradise: Cash-strapped tourists avoid Hawaii – USATODAY.com LAHAINA, Maui — Every winter, scores of humpback whales trade the Gulf of Alaska for a few months of breeding, birthing and basking in Hawaii — a follow-the-sun migration that fuels much of the tourism industry in this former 19th-century whaling town. But while the marine giants are returning right on schedule this year, their cash-strapped human admirers are not. And the effect of that absence is, “in a four-letter word, ugly,” says Bill Seidl, a boat captain who peddles whale-watch trips on the Lahaina waterfront. We seem to have fallen…
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We went on Captain Andy’s Na Pali Adventure cruise yesterday – billed as a snorkel trip, but too rough to actually go in. But we were happy to see all the dolphins (spinner and bottlenose) and whales. I didn’t get very many good fluke shots, but I’m happy with this one. I have another one that’s more suitable for researchers who identify individual whales by the unique patterns on the undersides of their tails. The day started VERY early, but not horribly early. We just had to be about 30 minutes down the road before 7:15 am, which is not…