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City, country, winery, fish

"Each time Honolulu city lights stir up memories in me.
Each night Honolulu city lights bring me back again...." (Keola Beamer)

Ron and I did something crazy on Sunday. We went to Honolulu for the DAY.




"No we're not the jet set.....
We're the old Chevrolet set....." (Tammy Wynette)

Ah yes, life is just one song lyric after another. Anywho, we flew to Honolulu to have lunch with one of Ron's clients who was on vacation on that far away isle. It's just a one hour flight from Hilo. (I wonder if there's a Hawaiian word for boondoggle?) We spent most of our time on the bus, traveling between the airport and Waikiki. That's because we aren't even the Chev-ro-let set. We ride da bus, brah! Hey, isn't using mass transit one of the best ways to help curb our use of greenhouse gases and stem the tide of global warming? Besides, it only cost $2 each way rather that $40 by cab. So there you go. I used the money I saved to buy a new aloha shirt and some shorts at ABC. I know locals deride ABC stores as tacky tourist traps. But I love them. There's one on every corner in Waikiki. Need a beach mat? Go to ABC. Forget your sunscreen? ABC. Got liquor? Check out the fine spirits at ABC. Chocolate covered macadamia nuts anyone? They got those too.
Lunch was nice at Duke's. There are Duke's on the mainland now, so I guess technically it's just another chain, but it's still nice. I had the ono Caesar. It was ono. And yes, it was ono, too. OK let me explain. There's a local fish here called ono. It's also known as wahoo. The Hawaiian's named it that, 'cuz it broke da mout,' cuz'. It's onolicious. So, I had the Caesar salad with ono fish. It was ono. Duke's at Waikiki is right at the beach, overlooking the water, the surfers and Diamond Head. The Hawaiian name for Diamond Head is Le'ahi, which translates to "brow of the yellow-finned ahi (tuna)." It was called Diamond Head by 19th century British sailors who mistook sparkly calcite crystals on the slopes of the crater for diamonds.
The winery was slammin' today. We didn't get much of a breather all day. My throat's actually a little sore from delivering my tasting shpeel so many times, time after time. Whew!
The weather was nasty, so it was a good day to be at work. Yesterday and the day before were nice. So I've included some pretty pics here of flowers and my new tea cuttings (bottom left) for your enjoyment. The orange blossoms (bottom right) smell like heaven. We didn't have any last year. Too much rain. And those bright pink/purple things right below this text are amazing too. The photo here's a little blurry, but you get the picture. They grow right out ofthe side of a tree fern. They appear to be some sort of bromeliad.














A hui hou. Aloha!

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