I made a quick run to a local market on Sunday.
What did I find on my way to the back of the store?
Halloween already set up with decorations and candy.
Including this guy...the last thing you would think of, in regard to Halloween.
Baby Yoda, really?
It is still over 100 degrees out here, with 2 1/2 months to go to the big day.
Sigh.
My Water Post For Today.
This was our departure from Los Angeles, back in 2019.
We were looking around the ship, and managed to get a kind of cool shot of not only of the port, but one of the many pools on the ship.
Cruising is interesting, but lots of time on the water with no land in sight, is a bit of a drag.
Enjoy.
Back on August 4th, I posted about my crepe myrtle. You can see it HERE.
Since that day the tree has exploded with huge blooms.
So many that I have had to cut some off, because they are falling toward the ground.
No matter what, it is at the height of its blooming, and I am enjoying it while I can.
Fall will be here before you know it, and the blooms will start to fall off.
Love that tree.
We visited Hawai'i back in February of 2020.
Our cruise ship stop in Maui, was Lahaina.
We walked Front Street all the way to Baby Beach, and then returned the way we came.
As we walked, we stopped for lunch at Kimo's (picture 1) and had fish and chips.
We then met a former work friend under the banyan tree (picture 3) that is so famous. He used to work at the Seamen's Hospital Building (picture 2), when he worked for Maui TV.
It was a pleasant day. Not too hot, and not too cold at that time of year.
As I look back at my photos of the area around Lahaina, I see that it is a small town surrounded by dead grasses and that is what caused the fire the other day that burnt the entire town.
I am just heartbroken for the island, and for my good friend, Dan (who thankfully lives in Kihei).
I don't know if Lahaina will be able to recover, with so much lost in the fire.
We tried this recipe the other day, Hawaiian Huli Huli Chicken.
It was not a hard recipe to make, but mine came out very dry. So consumer beware.
Oh, and make more sauce than they recommend. We definitely could have used more.
Sauce:
2 tbl ketchup
2 tbl light soy sauce
2 tbl honey
2 tsp orange juice
1 tsp garlic
1 tsp ginger
Mix all ingredients together and split into two bowls, one for basting the chicken, and one for using at the very end, before serving.
Soak 8 wooden skewers in water, for about 15 minutes.
Cut up 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts into 1 inch cubes
Cut up pineapple into 24 pieces
Thread chicken, and pineapple, three times onto each skewer.
Bring out to preheated BBQ and baste each skewer. Turn after 3 minutes and baste again, each time.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and bring the skewers inside to finish cooking. This is to keep them from drying out. (HA!)
Finish cooking in the oven, until the chicken is 165 degrees.
Use the second bowl of sauce to coat the finished chicken and pineapple.
Enjoy.
It was International Cat Day on August 8th, and in honor of that fact, I took Makenna's photo on her throne.
Yes, she seems to be holding her own, currently, health wise.
Though things are day by day.
Thanks Makenna for bringing light to our lives. We love you.
Remember that full dance card I was talking about for the month of September?
This one is currently being added to the schedule, as we speak.
My Husband's class missed their 60th reunion during the height of the Pandemic, and for some strange reason they want to try for it this year.
Thus, the 62nd Fresno High School Reunion is happening on the last day of September.
Yes, I have made a pact never to go to a reunion again...but it is for my Husband, and it is only 3 hours away.
So I am booking a hotel for a night. Definitely not the most expensive town to visit.
Wish us luck for that too, and a healthy cat.
Photo is from the 2016 55th reunion.
I am still thinking of a quick trip over to Winslow, Arizona in the Fall.
My dance card is full for September, but maybe by late October, I might be able to swing it.
It is 1 hour further East than Flagstaff, but still in the high elevation area of Arizona (4869 feet, to be exact).
Much better than Flagstaff, and The Grand Canyon. (I don't do well in high elevation areas).
So we shall see. If I have enough points, the trip would be free and I will only have to deal with a car rental and hotel for a day or so.
Wish me luck.
My Water Post For Today.
A return to Lake Champlain, just south of Plattsburgh.
It was not a sunny day, but the birds on the water made it interesting to see.
It was nice to finally see the town that is my school's arch rival in hockey.
I would love to go back someday...but yeah, lots of things one misses on a train trip.
95% of the Blue Line Subway is over ground.
Just the 7th St/Metro Center Station was below ground (before the Regional Connector was built).
It was connected to the Red Line Subway which is below ground for its entire run to North Hollywood, so it needed to be down there, too.
A remnant of those long ago days, is the tunnel ending just before Pico Station, which is right outside Crypto.com Center (formally Staples).
As we crossed the street, to walk to Figueroa Street, there was the tunnel entrance.
Pretty cool to see it.
I have mentioned this orchard before, back in 2021.
Spicer Orchards is a must visit place for us, every time we go to my Son in Michigan.
They make a dynamite barbeque sauce, that I use when I am grilling.
My Son, of course gets more cider for his housemates.
I love the fact that at the parking lot, you can see some of the many fruit trees growing in the distance.
A working farm, just so wonderful to experience.
See you next time, Spicer.
I have a crepe myrtle tree in front, right by my door.
This time of year it is blooming, and so I wake up at about 6 or 7 and that is what I see in the window.
This exact branch, as a matter of fact.
It is quite stunning, and I am so glad it is blooming.
As so much is dying in the summer heat, it is giving us beauty.
Here is the first of 2 full moons in the month of August.
I got the photo at about 11PM on Tuesday August 1st.
It was beautiful, and high up enough for me to take a photo.
It is a supermoon, because it is closer to the earth, then normal.
It is the sturgeon moon, because there should be abundant fish up north.
See you again, at the end of August, when you will be a Blue Super Moon.
We changed trash providers in July and one of the things that they needed to incorporate into their routine, is having each customer separate out food waste from the trash container.
The solution is this small container, which needs to be available for ease of use.
The directions state that you need to place a plastic bag in it, and tie it up When full.
You bring the plastic bag out to the green waste trash can outside.
I have no idea how I am going to keep ants from finding it and attacking it.
We shall see if I can make that happen.
Back in January we traveled to the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum.
At that time we saw some beautiful butterflies, which I documented HERE.
I did take another photo of one of the butterflies, and decided to show it off to you.
Unfortunately, I did not see any of the others, and consider that a loss.
Especially since they are very lovely.
Probably the best part of our visit to the museum.
