Sunday January 21, 2007

Today the girls (my daughter and her 2 friends) got together and we went out to the beach for some shots. None turned out as well as we all had hoped so we are going to do this again soon... They are looking for just the right look.. Oh well.. It was lots of fun as you can see and we saw 3 whales.. Shucks I had the wrong lens on.. (good excuse for not being quick enough :) But maybe my shooting partner Annie will post her whale shot.. :) She was much more alert than I.. :)

Waikiki Fireworks :)

Jogger at Sunset

I am back in Honolulu.. Finally got out for a sunset. Nothing spectacular but finally something to post :)

Lake and Sierra Nevada Mountains in the background with a bit of snow.. Oh I love the snow :)

Busby Winery Barn in California at Sunset. They have very yummy wines. :) Testing out the new version of Blogger. Guess you can not delete once you post. Hmmmmm.. Oh well. Sorry for the dark image..

Happy New Year

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year.

Friday, December 29, 2006

The Contemporary Museum Honolulu. Black and White wall mural and reflecting pool.. And They have "Great Yummy Food" in the Cafe. :)

Downtown Honolulu - First Hawaiian Bank Angels :)

December 27, 2006

Seasons Greetings from Ali'iolani Hale. Built in 1874 and was originally intended to be a palace. Instead, Ali'iolani Hale ("house of the heavenly King") became the Supreme Court and Parliament government office building. In the courtyard is the Gold Leaf statue of Kamehameha the Great. When Kamehameha V laid the cornerstone, a time capsule was buried there. It contains Hawaiian postage stamps, 21 Hawaiian and foreign coins, 11 different local newspapers, the Hawaiian Kingdom constitution, a calendar and books. It also contains photos of royal families. Some trivia I found on various web sites. :) :)

Mele Kalikimaka,, Aloha and Merry Christmas

Santa's Helper :)

Taking photos of the High School Boys Soccer once again this year. Lots of fun.. :)

Honolulu City Lights :)

Santa

A Christmas Display at one of the hotels in Waikiki :)

Testing out the new lens!!! :)

Black Swan and Koi

Water reflections and baby waterfalls at Valley of the Temple in Kaneohe

Pu'u Loa Petroglphs on the Big Island in Volcanos National Park. The trail to the petroglyph field is 0.7 miles but an easy walk over some rough areas of pahoehoe lava. This particular field consists of over 15,000 individual petroglyph images that have been scratched and pecked into the hard pahoehoe surface. (I did get this info from a web site). But to go there and just stand and be surrounded by these petroglyphs was just truly amazing.

Morning Rain Drops. This was also taken when I was visting the Big Island. So different from Oahu. The mornings in Volcano are a bit chilly and it rained everynite. Such a nice change.. :)

We were lucky enough to see 6 sea turtles up on the Black Sand Beach near Punaluu on the Big Island. They were just resting and warming up in the afternoon sun. It was really overcast but I guess they didn't mind. :)

Here is another huge splash. Same place different angle. An amazing spot :)

Here is the photo without the photoshop frame around it. This is the most unusual wave action that I have ever seen. The incoming waves are breaking towards shore and then the receding water is attempting to back out thru the same channel so they literally crash back on each other creating these huge splashes. Not sure what the technical term would be but it is just an amazing thing to watch. Thank you everyone for your wonderful comments. Happy Holidays :)

Took a Photoshop class on Monday and learned well ... Lots!! Now I am playing around with what I learned. At least trying to remember some of what I learned.

Found this Sand Sculpture on the beach. Guess they were having a conference at the hotel.. :)

Underside of Taro Leaves :)

I know. Another Sunset!! :) :) :)

A day of surfing :)

Sunday, Nov. 12

On Sat. and Sunday I went over to the Windward side of Oahu to Ulupo Heiau. The YMCA was sponsoring a photo session and history tour of the Heiau. Below is a bit of information about the area. It was very quite and beautiful.

Ulupo Heiau (Night of Inspiration) is one of the first sacred temples to have been built as a "mapele" (agriculture) heiau by the first people, or menehune, and dedicated to the god Kaneulupo. Kakuhihewa, an Oahu chief who lived in Kailua in the 1400's is thought to have participated in ceremonies at Ulupo Heiau. Later in the reign of high chief Ku'alii, in the late 1600's, the temple may have been reconstructed as a luakini or human sacrificial heiau. It is believed that the heiau was abandoned by the late 1700's.

Ulupo Heiau was originally 140 by 180 feet in size with walls up to 30 feet in height. It is believed that some of the rocks used in its construction came from Kualoa which is more than 10 miles away.

I found some Fall colors here on Oahu. Can you see them?? :)

This little girl was soooo cute and colorful with her birthday balloons at the beach today. She was looking for tiny crabs in the water. Her mom said they were celebrating her 4th birthday. :)

Yellow and Pink Plumeria's

Tuesday November 7, 2006

Funky Tilting view Ala Moana Beach Park :) Actually taken on Saturday the 4th.. :)

Monday, November 6, 2006

Morning Tide Pools a few hours after sunrise.

It was such a beautiful sunrise this morning.

Saturday, November 4, 2006

Moon Rise over Waikiki :)

Thursday, November 2, 2006

Fall colors of the Koolau's :) Guess we have only green, green and hey a bit more green. I look at everyone's photos and they are so full of wonderful fall colors.. Geeeesh!! :)

Windward Oahu, Koolau Mountains. Since we have had a bit of Rain and Fog we now have a few waterfalls.

Halloween Trick or Treat.. My Daughter in Red and her friend since PreSchool.. Every year since they were 3 years old they have Halloween Photos together.. They are really toooo funny :)

Kalani High School Volley Ball playoff. Nite #1 Hurray they won.. Now on to tomorrow nite :)

A slow wave splash... :)

The sunset was just boring and cloudy tonite, no color what-so-ever.. My friend Annie was kind enough to let me play with her Tobacco Split Filter.. it added lots of nice color in the clouds.. WOW.. Thanks Annie for sharing :)

Tonite I went to watch the premier of this film. The film was part of the Film Festival being shown at the "Sunset on the Beach". It was so nice outside to sit on Waikiki Beach and watch this awesome film...Here is a write up I found....

About the film
Beyond the deep-rooted stereotypes of "grass skirt girls", Na Kamalei: Men of Hula explores the revival of men who dance the hula. It follows legendary master hula teacher, Robert Cazimero, and Halau Na Kamalei, the only all-male hula school in Hawai'i, as they journey to compete at the world's largest hula competition. Celebrating the 30th anniversary of their school and competing with some of the oldest male dancers at the competition, Robert and his men are out to prove that the renaissance of male hula is not over. Na Kamalei tells a story of Hawaiian pride through the exploration of male roles in the hula tradition.

Before the film began The Halau performed.. Top Photo :) :)

Aloha Friday. These were just cutest little girls dancing Tahitian and a bit of hula :)

Plastic Twirlly Crafts

WOW.. Thanks to everyone for your thoughts. We are fine over here after being jolted out of bed at 7:00am. I know what were we doing still sleeping!!! :) :) My daughter and I were stunned that everything could shake so much and for so long. No damage other than one photo crashing off the shelf along with a candle holder. We had no electricity from minutes after the quake until way after midnite :) But all is well... Aloha Renee :)

Crown Flower in the late afternoon sun :)

This week my daughter and I are on the mainland, California checking out colleges and going on tours. WOW this is exhausting. Stanford is the best college out there. WOW like a mini little city :)