Pineapples

Pineapple central (ours at least) Almost every plant in this photo has a young fruit growing on it.
They are all weeded and fertilized(thanks in part to our recent guest Eileen) With any luck we will have another good crop this summer.

Genius

Getting back to Thelonious Monk and the current book I am reading, The subject of humor in his music was introduced.
Monks music has always made me chuckle. I never understood why , but with just a couple of sentences the author brought me closer.

"His chords often elicited chuckles from the audience,but Monk didn't mind.He later remarked
" Anything that's very good will make
you laugh in admiration ,so it must be humor to make you laugh---or maybe it makes you laugh in surprise because it knocks you out." Humorous, but no less serious" .

This humor is evident in the video above. The tune is the standard Tea for Two. It certainly"knocks me out"
It is crazy when compared to a standard version and although I can barely figure out what he is doing, the harmonics and rhythmic aspects
of it make me laugh! Maybe I should not try to understand it but Just enjoy his Genius

Good Stuff

Sharon and I went to our semi annual community pot luck picnic today.
A turnout of about 90 produced some excellent dishes.
In addition, a small group of volunteers cooked turkey and pork in an Emu. This is a traditional Hawaiian method of cooking in a pit in the ground( the emu) . A wood fire is built which heats rocks . The firewood is removed leaving the rocks to cook food
that is usually wrapped in plant leaves .
This makes everything really moist. It must cook for hours and usually takes all night. Good food and time spent with neighbors. Good Stuff!

The excerpt is the beginning of Chapter 6. Mintons is the club where Monk began his accent to greatness. I am starting to see how some of the quirky aspects of Monk developed! More later.

My dad the PIano player!

Just started this and its going to be very enjoyable. Back with more information later.

the way it feels sometimes

Circus Cat

While I was reading this afternoon I looked over and noticed the contorted position of our cat Nani. Maybe she is practicing to run off and join the Circus.

Tradition

On Christmas morning a couple of years ago when all of the presents were unwrapped I put all of the paper in an empty box. Little did I know that was the beginning of a small tradition. My cat Harlich decided he liked to lie in it so I left it there. Every time I thought about discarding it he was in it. So each time I left it again. This went on long after the tree and decorations were gone and before I knew it Christmas had rolled around again. At that point I simply removed the old paper and replaced it with that years wrappings. This year I replaced the paper and gave him a new box . As you can see he is pleased!

An all time favorite of mine!

Christmas theme

Continuing my Christmas theme here is a photo of a little village I got from my grandmother years ago. As a kid I used to help her set it up every year. I made such a fuss over it that she eventually gave it to me. I have been married for 38years and we have set it up every Christmas. It has to be 60 years old now but I still get a kick out of seeing it each year. I suppose that is one of the little things Christmas is all about.

Ornaments

Now that our Christmas tree is up again I though it might be interesting to compare it to last years . Although the trees vary in size and shape they basically are the same every year. It is the ornaments that do this. Take a look ! This years tree is on the right.

Recovery

We put up our Christmas tree up today and for me it was a real kick. I spent an hour or so putting the lights on. When I was finally finished and was fine tuning , trying to make all of them well spaced and visible, I accidentally cut one of the strands in two with my pruners. Of course the lights were plugged in at the time and with a dramatic pop and flash all 75 of them went off. I was not hurt (except my pride) but sat down stunned. In all of my years doing this I have never done anything like that .Thank goodness it wasn't a total disaster . After I recovered (emotionally) ,I removed the damaged set, replaced the fuses in the other two and put another set in. As always the tree turned out great ! I have always said it is all in the recovery!

58 Chevy

Another car I wish I still had. This 58 Chevy was my Christmas present in the mid 1960s. When I bought a 61 Corvette my mom got this car. Eventually she got a 63 Chevy and I don't really remember what happened to the 58. By that time I had a 67 GTO and The 58 was just a memory.

Portmeirion

Portmeirion's piazza was at one time a tennis court. This pond and fountain makes much more sense. Most of the buildings directly behind it are self catering cottages or hotel rooms . Others to the left side are various village shops. The round pink building at the far left is the unit used for The Prisoners home in the TV series . It now houses a shop selling material related to the series. As I have said before this is one of my favorite places in the world!

Laughed till I cried

More Changes

Big Island Hawaii

There is a reason it's called the Big Island!

Around The World

Today Sharon started a new book. She has been on a David Nobbs kick lately reading many of his books.He is a British humorist who has written many quirky and funny books that have been adapted to British Situation comedies. Among them are The two Ronnies and The fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin. Getting back to today, she just started Nobb's A Bit Of A Do. It was eventually a British comedy drama series starring David Jason and was aired on ITV in 1989. As is the case some of the time, the books I order through Amazon come from the UK. This one did for sure,as when Sharon opened it, this theater ticket stub fell out of it. It provided an interesting glimpse and connection into an unknown life half way around the world.

Today I heard a Freddy Cole recording on the Dish Jazz channel . It reminded me that a few years ago I had never heard of him. Although he was born in October of 1931 and began playing piano at age 6, he had three elder brothers, Eddie, Ike and Nat (twelve years older) who were all musicians. Because of Nat's success he was probably always in his brothers shadow. After Nat died Natalie seemed to eventually move into the spotlight. Or maybe I am the only one who had never heard of him . For more information visit http://www.freddycole.com/overview.html