Far out new year

Cat Parade

41 Christmas together

I have tended to remember the Christmas of my childhood as being the most prevalent . All of the sudden this year that all changed. The change came when it dawned on me that Sharon and I have now been together for 41 of them. That number far surpasses the years of "family " Christmas. Remarkable!

far out Christmsa

Amazes

It still amazes me that stuff like this happens about 20 miles from our house

Bah Humbug!

Something is not right about this scene. It seems to me that some spirit is missing from these flattened decorations. Either keep them on full time or don't bother!

Over the years my wife Sharon and I have had many pleasant stays at Portmeirion.
During one of the first few we met a couple of fellow Prisoner enthusiast who have become life long friends. The four of us have returned many times and created wonderful Village moments.Each time during our stay we would always venture out at night and usually got up to some fun mischief. The idea was to enjoy the special mood the quiet, lighted atmosphere created .Well, maybe the dinner and several pints at the Golden Fleece Pub near by had something to do with the mood but I digress.
This night we ended up sitting on one of the benches(one of our many squigging opportunities) in the piazza and everything seemed perfect. Almost everything that is,because the fountain was not on. As luck would have it I had seen a gardener turn it on that morning so was appointed to do so too .Feeling a bit like a burglar ,I crept to the pump, concealed in a box near the bench .After removing the top and fumbling around inside the box's darkness there was a whirring sound and the water shot up in the air. I hurried back to the bench and we all laughed hysterically. Then we started babbling about Mrs Cartwright ( the rather stern hotel manager at the time) and all this talk about being banished . At the height of our laughing hysteria a voice
boomed out of the darkness saying NO ONE WILL BE BANISHED ,HAVE A NICE EVENING! It was an odd, slightly sobering moment. Our very own magical Prisonerish experience in the Portmeirion Village! It is one of my favorite Village moments .

Side yard palm

Astounding

What an evening it was. Saturday Sharon and I had a wild evening. It began with a wonderful crazy flaming red sunset upon arrival at the volcano National park. It is at the 4,000 foot level of Mauna Loa(14,000ft) The mountain looked as if giant piece of the sky had been cut out and all around it there were scarlet clouds. We were up there to see the the Brothers Cazimero. They have been singing Hawaiian music for many years and are truly great showmen. Their long careers include 36 albums and performances at Carnegie Hall and the Hollywood bowl . Just seeing them would have been enough but there is more. Because the venue was in the Volcano National park, after the show we took a detour to one of the two active volcano vents to see the glowing lava lake. This would have been awesome enough(it was 9 pm and about 48degrees ) but there is still more. This weekend there were wind advisories here on the Island and it was blowing so hard (50 mph) that we had trouble keeping our balance. Buffeting there in the dark , gawking at this swirling,steamy orange glow ,while freezing and trying to avoid being blown off this cliff was quite challenging. Astounding what a diverse place Hawaii island is!

Happy evacuation day!

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Christmas must be coming coming! Once again I have found Christmas Beer! I have to start looking a little earlier and harder here in Hawaii but I am persistent. So persistent that I learned that this island was only going to receive 7 cases of the Anchor ale and I managed to get one of them. The Anchor"special" Ale in my left hand is really special. as this the 37th year it has been produced. It seems reasonable that Anchor Brewing http://www.anchorbrewing.com/ was selling it before some of the others (like the Deschutes http://www.deschutesbrewery.com/ Jubleale ) in my other hand was even in business. Anyway we are off to a good start!

amazing

I put this on my ipod and have been listening 3 times a week for months now wile exercising.It just keeps getting better! Seeing as it was recorded so long ago its vitality is amazing!

U.K County-village-pub name #6

The 6th in my series of interesting British county/town/and pub names.

Item from Harper's

Having the last name of Niceley(in case you hadn't noticed) I find this funny!

From the archives 1980s

Subject: Beware of Happy Hour!

advise re a friends email

I did not know this.....

When you drink Vodka over ice, it can give you kidney failure,

When you drink Rum over ice, it can give you liver failure,

When you drink whiskey over ice, it can give you heart problems,

When you drink Gin over ice, it can give you brain problems.

Apparently, ice is really bad for you.

Warn all your friends

British Town/pub names #5

The fifth in my presentation of interesting British town names and pubs located there.At this rate it will take a while.

I normally would not do this but I have put down the Last book I was reading to start something else. Already halfway through Double play and enjoying it. This is the story behind the double assanations we lived through in San Francisco during the 1970s. That horrible event was something the city did not recover from for a long time if ever.
Although it was a sad event it is interesting to see all of the elements(that we knew nothing about at the time) which led to the shootings.

Hard to believe we have lived here almost 10 years. During that time the view of the ocean from our Lanai had slowly disappeared. Recently we worked out a tree trimming deal with the owner of the house across the street (including cutting some on t he front of our lot) and as you can see the view has returned. You would think that seeing the ocean would loose its attraction living on and island but after all these years of having it nearby it is still something special.