In the forest again. In our ongoing reforestation project we are trying to establish walking paths.
This is not easy in more than one way. There are many hidden soft spots in the ground.Plants develop a mat of roots over a hole that can give way sometimes causing to a horrible feeling that the next stop is china . There are lava tubes in this area so it is possible to fall into one. After finding a possible trail path it has to be weeded . Never the less it is rather satisfying.

And We live here!

Early morning view of glow from the vent in Halema`uma`u crater on Kilauea volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii. And we live here! The photo from USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory
website http://volcano.wr.usgs.gov/kilaueastatus.php

Letter #2

Here is thank you letter # 2. It just occurred to me, these letters were all written in 1974 . That would make the the "kids"over 30 now. Tempus fugits

Wanna Go !

Sharon and I at Portmeirion (just a few years ago) Can you guess what we were attending?

Thank you letter # 1

In College, I took a class in the psychology of music. One of the assignment projects during the semester was to take a small group to a local grade school and present a short program . I organized a small jazz ensemble, played different styles of tunes and then talked about what we had done. A few weeks after we played, the professor gave me a manila envelope . I did not realize it but the kids we had played for wrote notes about our presentation . Being the pack rat I am, I still have them. I ran across them again tonight and thought it might be interesting to post a few. Might as well use them for something!

Wake me when it's over!

Spent part my birthday today here at Volcano National park .
It has very spiritual qualities and is one of my favorite places . The column of steam is
rising from an opening which is 300 feet across (within Halema uma u crater) . The crater is 300 feet deep and 3,000 feet wide. There is Lava (magma) just 1oo or so feet below the floor of the crater . Another reason to love living here.

Fun Day at the beach in China

San Francisco porch

Sunrise in San Francisco 1994

My MOM the babe!

Portmeirion column

Watercolor attempt Portmeirion

You Never Know

Monday mornings usually mean Grocery shopping. Today as I finished and was getting in line at the check out the gentleman in front of me got out of line and moved to the next cashier. No sooner had he moved he backed up and went ahead of me again . As I backed up he turned around and said, "oh I didn't see you there". I motioned for him to go ahead of me and he then said "you get indecisive when you are approaching 83 and I will be 83 in November". He was quite pleasant and as we began talking, I was astonished to learn he was a retired FBI agent. He showed me his ID card and related that he had worked with President Nixon,Vice President Agnew and President Kennedy . You never know who you will meet while grocery shopping.

The Big Island

This was taken from the space Shuttle on May 22. Notice the 3 volcano plumes towards the bottom of the Island. As a friend once said "and we live here!"

Bad news Good news

Bad news Good news update on Snailzilla .
Bad news is that I found it crushed on the road this morning. Good news is that the Giant African snail is extremely invasive and damaging to the environment. One snail can live up to 3 years and lay from 100 to 500 eggs every three months . It can eat around 500 types of plants including tree bark. It also can eat paint and stucco . In addition it may transmit diseases including Meningitis So, all in all it is not a bad thing it was crushed .

There Will Never Be Another Michael Brecker

SNAILZILLA!!!!

I have never seen anything like this huge snail that I spotted this morning . Its size does really not show in this photo but it is probably 6 inches long. Its shell is good size too. It is probably larger than a field mouse. I'm sure it came right out of a Japanese science fiction film! Can Mothra be far behind!