Clematis Gone Wild!

Aren't they a nice garden sight???

A Visit to Acacia

The keeper missed my breakfast this morning.  She finally woke up at 12:30, and I had felt sorry for her and didn't want to wake her up.  Once she got out of bed and fed me, she finally decided to go out walking.  Her lungs hurt so she didn't want to go too far.  She decided to check out Acacia Cemetery.  Besides, she figured if she dropped dead there, she would save time.

The cemetery was abuzz with people placing flowers and flags in the little vases, with staff in golf carts helping people find their loved ones' graves.   The veterans' sections were filled with touching scenes...older women placing flowers on a recently deceased husband's plot, children placing flags on grandfathers' graves.

But capitalism was not  taking a holiday.  As she was leaving, she noticed a new section had been opened up, Plum Garden, and they had the Memorial Day special going! 

Trinity Sunday

So, the keeper didn't do much church today because she kept coughing too much.  She sat in the sacristy and drank water when she got to work.  SO she missed the Trinitarian First Communions. But she took a group of young adults out to lunch.  She came home able to talk a little bit more because she poured habanero chiles all over her shrimp ceviche.  She may have burned the rest of her digestive system to cinders, but her lungs felt better.

Meanwhile, I stayed inside. My new tunnel is on the bed now and I like it there.  I look pretty good in orange, I think.

Last night the keeper finished the biography of Flannery O'Connor. Who knows what she'll be lost in next.  She likes that Kindle!

Chicken Soup and Chiles

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I have become fascinated with the Rossini Cat Duet.  The keeper played it for me on YouTube and I kept pawing at those little boys.  They were cute, but they sound so much like me and my friends!

Please note my comments above the photo.  They express my joy to hear this piece. 

Meanwhile the keeper dealt with her bronchial issues---chicken soup and pizza loaded with chile peppers and every flavor of cough syrup imaginable.  I think she is a little loopy.  She actually went to her office for awhile for appointments but was grateful that two of them cancelled for reasons not related to her illness. Her voice is coming back.  She may not go to the cathedral and only go to work tomorrow.  She needs the rest.  She may even let me play the You Tube Song again in the morning.  She reminds me that it was one week ago that I was lost.

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Keeper at ( Sick) Bay II

Well, the keeper kept coughing all night.  About 3 AM we both decided this was not an allergy.

This morning she went into her office to get work for home and, after stopping to get cough syrup, chicken soup and Popsicles--the perfect food for sick people, she came home to be with me.  If course she didn't focus much on me.  She coughed a lot.  And sat at the computer a lot, and worked while she coughed. She says she got a lot of work done because she couldn't talk, and no one could understand her or hear her on the phone. She seems to be getting better. But we had watermelon and Popsicles for dinner with pizza.  What a switch!

As It Is in Heaven

 We think fondly of our dear departed Stassi tonight.  He so loved the moon!  We hope he is doing his little cat dance tonight in the heavens with the moon.  He used to insist on going out on nights when the moon was full.  Of course the keeper didn't oblige him his whim, but he stayed put at the door or the window and stood watch.

Tonight the keeper should have been preparing a small talk, but instead she began to watch As It Is In Heaven, a Swedish film about a famous conductor who has near heart failure and returns to his childhood village to recover.  He had a dream to make music that opens the hearts of people, and ended up on a crazy concert circuit.  But in his village he ends up leading a little choir, and a major transformation of lives. A little trite at the end, but lovely.

Flight

We have a lavender garden in front and are doing our best to bring the honeybees back.  They seem to be very happy, and we have a enough for a whole hive!  But, the keeper wanted you to know about two incredible works of art----on Friday night she went to the opera--Amelia--about flight--loss, birth, life, -- commissioned by the Seattle Opera--incredible, haunting, stunning! Then last night we watched a Japanese film, Departures, about a young cellist who leaves his career and finds new work as a "coffiner" or funeral director.  We proclaim it a beautifully sensitive film with room for some hilarious moments.  Go to Netflix and order it!

Bench Building

The keeper brought other things home from Ikea--a new blanket for me, and a bench in a box.  She had to build it.  And so she worked away in the garage matching screws and nuts and bolts and holes, and following the pictograms in the instruction sheet.  We now have a new bench on our front porch.  She didn't know what to do with the flower pots, so they are sitting on the bench for now.

Back at Home with a Tunnel

I am back blogging again.  But I am not talking about where I went when I was missing.  I went
"out" like the keeper does regularly, although my outing was a little more traumatic. But it's my secret! I am happy to be back.  The keeper went to Ikea on Monday and brought me home a cat tunnel.  It's a nice diversion, but I quickly figured how to find the bird in the tunnel.  SO the keeper will have to find some more tricks.   But I appreciate her kindness to me.

Absence, then Presence

Following the amazing Immigration Clinic, in which 3 immigration attorneys provided Q?A consultation for 30 people in several hours,  I made 100 more flyers to pass out in the neighborhood and came home.  Alice was sitting, looking a little stunned on the green blanket I had left out for her.  No wounds, no broken bones, but she was very quiet.  She was dusty and smelled like a very musty old building.  She was hungry and thirsty and very sleepy.  But she isn't telling what she really did.  I am saving the 100 copies of the flyer for future emergencies.  She won't be going out any time soon, though. I then hiked through the neighborhood and tore down the signs. I spoke to several neighbors who said they have seen her in their garages on prior occasions.  Hmmm.

Where's Alice? Pentecost Dawn

At 6:30 I got up and took a staple gun, all of the flyers I had made last night, and headed out to search the streets and post the notice on telephone poles, a bulletin board.  I noticed lots of storage sheds and garages.  But because it was early, I couldn't make too much noise and I didn't want to get shot at while I checked out garages.  By 8 am, lots of flyers were posted, but NO  CAT. I headed to the Cathedral for a spectacular celebration of Pentecost---it blazed! And headed to the Eastside afterward for Mass and the Immigration Clinic.

Where Is Alice? III

Last night was the first night in eleven years in which no cat lived in the house.  A cat has always lived in this house. I went out several more times in the rain with flashlight, keys, to search for Alice.  I kept the mudroom door open. I kept the porch lights on.  I left out food, and a little
blanket.  I had this sense she was close by, but unable to get free.   Torn between helplessness and the need to go back out and find her, I woke up multiple times and checked the mudroom. No cat.

More Where's Alice?

The house is strangely quiet.  One more trip out with a flashlight, umbrella, keys.  No Alice. No interruptions.  No noise, NADA.  I made LOST CAT posters to put up early tomorrow.  I will keep the mudroom door open and the porch lights on. She is fat enough she can live off of her own girth for awhile. The day is so busy tomorrow, it's Pentecost. I won't be home much till later. That's nerve wracking.  There is no more I can do right now though. This is not fun.

?Where's Alice?

The keeper is writing tonight because Lady Alice disappeared sometime between 6 and 7 this evening.  It's almost like she vanished.  She had already been out exploring her trails, and had come tearing back in, winded.  But while I was working out on the elliptical trainer she must have slipped out again and she has either gotten herself trapped in a garage, eaten by a raccoon or a coyote, or is wounded.  She may have tried to escape and had an asthma attack.  I have now made the rounds of the neighborhood several times, the last time with an umbrella and flashlight, calling her name. I have looked in every closet and under furniture. I figured that she would return when it started to rain.  Then I figured that she would return when it began to thunder.  Then I figured the darkness would do it.  But, no sound of the little bell on the orange luminescent collar.  No little scratching.  It is very odd.  She has a microchip, and perhaps that will help her.  She is just so naive, and not used to much beyond the yard.  So this could be a long and difficult night for both of us.  I just hope she is safe and if she got locked in, can get out in the morning. Oh, Dios mio.  She hasn't eaten dinner either. I am making signs in case she is not back by morning.  I haven't seen any racoons yet this spring.

At this point, there will be no stern words, only rejoicing when the prodigal comes home. 

Garden Angel Returns!

The Garden Angel is home after wintering in warmer places.

It seems to his dour little spirit hasn't left him.

Working Flowers

No gum trees, no cannon ball trees, no plumeria, but the beautiful tulips and lavender, the clematis, and  wisteria, and all the flowers welcomed the keeper back home.  They had been working really hard while she was playing.

Facing East and Heading Home

Sigh.

Mahalo!

 We will return!  Aloha!

Living Large

Before leaving, George tried to kayak and swim. He wanted to have tried it all!

Plantation

The keeper toured a plantation village that explained the migration of all of the different groups to work in the sugar, pineapple plantations.  They have rebuilt cottages, and stocked them as they were in the early 1900's.  Descendants of the original inhabitants tell stories as they give the tours. The keeper had read the book Honolulu which told the story of Korean picture brides who came to Honolulu, their struggles, joys.  The cabins now look much better than they probably did in the day.

Wednesday Dinner

On Wednesday night the Inn throws a dinner for guests, complete with local entertainment and mai tais.  The keeper was happy to finally have a drink with an umbrella in it. The music was lovely.

The Black Tears

The sunken boat is still leaking oil. It seems that it will continue to leak for another 200 years.  We wondered why they don't take some steps to soak up all of the seepage.

USS Arizona Memorial

The tour of the memorial was more powerful than expected--a bit of a cathedral feel, with the

crowds moving reverently. 

Touring the USS Arizona

The family headed to Pearl Harbor. The entertainment began before the tour started.  The Park Service Guide took on a Tour group leader who brought his group of 40 for the boat 20 minutes after their reserved boat had left.  He was refused to accept any excuses for tardiness.  They did make the boat, but then he grounded two of the tourists for ignoring his orders of standing up in their seats to take pictures! 

Garden of Eden

The keeper and her brother went to the Horticultural gardens in Honolulu.  She did not expect to find this tree there. She loved all of the plants there, and found new garden ideas.  The cannon ball tree drops big heavy smelly fruit on the heads of those passing by.

Hygienic Store

The Hygienic Store  had many things, but no Ted's Pies.

Morning Rainbow

The keeper had breakfast every morning overlooking the hills and the bay.  This was a lucky morning and the beginning of a lucky day!

Shade and Cliff Jumpers

One afternoon after snorkeling and sunning all morning on the rocks at Shark's Cove, George and the keeper sought shade. But they were quite taken with the young men who kept throwing themselves off the rocks into the eddying surf below. After that, the keeper was ready for Ted's chocolate coconut pie.

Kailua Beach

The keeper brought Curious George along to the beach.  This beach was pristine, soft white sand, and gentle water.  They stayed a long time. George did not burn, even though he didn't use sunscreen.

Makapu'u Point

Another day they started early and hiked up to a lighthouse point.  They saw whales flipping their flippers and tails in the water far below.  The water was the blue of dreams.

Cardinals and Tortoises

One day, they went to swim at Turtle Bay.  They swam with tortoises who then came to sun themselves up on the beach.  The tortoises have protectors, like lifeguard, who take turns protecting the sea turtles from the hands of all the tourists. While the keeper sunned like a tortoise, she found the cardinals feeding their young from apples which she and her siblings had left for them on a log.