[On November 27, we awoke to the excitement of morning in Roy’s backyard.]
[Then it was time to tour his “neighborhood” and his hometown of Kailua-Kona, beginning with the drive downhill .]
[Then we’re at the beach (you can check the sign). The private property was once a beach escape for the royal family, back in the day.]
[Then a walking tour of the town. BTW, that’s “Roy’s mountain” in the background, a/k/a, Hualalai.]
[Just perusing the neighborhood ISO . . . a beverage?]
[This guy popped out when we approached a corner and put a big parrot on the Super’s shoulder. And then he tried to put another one on her other shoulder. I tried to take a photo of it . . . and he blocked me! We didn’t know it was his business to take a photo and sell it back to you. I should have had him arrested for assault by an avian creature!]
[And then we went home . . . ]
[And a yellow-billed cardinal was taking a bath – since I didn’t get a shot of the yellow bill, I’ve included a canned shot . . . ]
[And then dinner and a sunset . . . ]
The cool thing about being famous is traveling. I have always wanted to travel across seas, like to Canada and stuff. ~ Britney Spears
[On November 26, we left our comfortable digs at the Ka’anapali Beach Hotel on Maui. We were off to the Big Island for a week with our friend Roy. No, we were not going by canoe . . . ]
[On the road to the airport in Kahului, we finally got our best view of Haleakala – must have been a spectacular view into the caldera this day!]
[Airborne and coming into Kona International Airport on the island of Hawaii.]
[They warn you that you’re actually not landing on an alien planet . . . but it is in the midst of a lava field. And being Hawaii, the airport facility is actually like a carport – no walls!]
[The Super and Roy renew acquaintances. Roy and I go back to when . . . well, they say if God wanted man to serve in the Army, He would have given us green, baggy skin.]
[Roy retired here (from the Department of Labor, just like me) four years ago, and this was our first visit to see him. He gave us a lovely room . . . ]
[Then a tour of his property, about a half acre, with a view of the ocean about a half mile away and 400 feet lower. This was a day for R & R, i.e., wine and eats.]
Travel becomes a strategy for accumulating photographs. ~ Susan Sontag
December 22: Regarding the headline, I don’t ever recall that happening before (basketball and hockey games on the same night)?
[I was there for the end of the JV game. Quite exciting. We have two freshman with No. 13 (?). I believe this one is Trey Hoepner who made the game winning free throws.]
[Brayden Amundson (23), 6’3″ senior, scored the first basket of the varsity game – a ‘3’ if you watched the video. His grandparents are in the stands right over the top his his head in row 3. I don’t recall him taking another shot?]
[Spencer Hockert (15), 6′ junior; Jaran Roste (1), 6’2″ junior; and Brayden on defense.]
[Alec Wensman (25), 6’7″ senior, on defense, and I believe our leading scorer in the game, many off pic and roll dunks from Roste.]
[Jake Drew (33), 6’2″ junior, defensive pest.]
[Wensman and Roste on defense.]
[Matt Bloom (3), 6’1″ senior, with the ball in the corner.]
[The newcomer to the scene is Jeremiah Burnham (5), 6’2″ senior.]
[And at the free throw line. Note to coaches . . . this guy needs to play more to shore up your rebounding. 😉 ]
[We got off to a fast start with Wensman and held a big lead most of the half, but the Hornets closed a bit toward the end.]
[Has been a Super Fan for . . . well, her entire life!]
[Hockert has quietly been one of our leading scorers all year.]
[Brayden’s proud grandparents . . . and I believe I see a recently retired activities director sitting in front of them!]
[Gotta give the stripes a little ink every one in a while.]
[Can you name the two Cardinal stars from the recent past?] ]
[This is still a hard team to figure. We’re 7 -3, but have won big and lost big. In this game we had a 20 point lead halfway through the 2nd half and then had to sweat out the finish. The Hornets, though the smaller team, got way too many offensive rebounds which fueled their comeback. And that’s why I’d like to see Burnham in there more to hit the boards.]
[BTW, on the way to the game I drove by the old Legion parking lot on Broadway. It’s now asphalt basketball courts and this year for the first time they’ve flooded it for ice skating. Well, when I drove by it was . . . moving? It was 33 degrees and the winds were howling. No ice . . . water, and there were waves, on December 22! (Echo Press photo)]
[So, the Super and I were doing our pre-Christmas cleaning this afternoon when she ran across this bottle of cognac. We brought it from D.C. 14 years ago – there was enough in it for two small snifters? In a bold move, we decided to polish it off when we were done cleaning. (She also found a bottle of Polish vodka with even less product in it – party?)]
The one thing I’ve learned for sure in life is that one and one equals two. I learned something else too, but I forgot what it was? ~ Cub Reporter
[We had our annual Those Who Stay Behind dinner at Arrowwood for the senior golf league. I forgot to take pictures. It happens. If you’re interested, you can look back at previous year’s soirees – they’re always the second week in December. But thanks again to Richie for setting it up and to Diann and Al for their annual gift of homemade wine.]
December 12
[The next day we were at the winery . . . because it’s there, as were the Salty Dogs. I noted that the young lady, 7 1/2 months old and whose parents are both concert violinists, had an unnatural attraction to the guitar player.]
December 17
[A beautiful almost winter morning, with a pileated woodpecker . . . ]
[And the Salty Dogs were at SAWA that evening. Greg was joined by Lesley (the parents of the 7 1/2 month old) for some good old-fashioned violin Christmas music . . . ]
December 18
[Another beautiful almost winter morning with “icicles”on the trees, and later in the afternoon we were joined by two eagles and a crow (spying on them) ]
[That evening the girls took on Rogers in hockey. The JV did fine, winning 5 – 2, with the photos featuring, I believe, Meghan Moore (23), Calley Richardson (7), and Kaia Illies (13), all sophomores.]
[The varsity, however, had one of those games where nothing went right. We lost Kristin Trosvig (15) to a practice injury and McKenna Ellingson (24) got hurt in the first period and never returned. That’s two key forwards missing – but as a team we were just flat the whole game. The first period score of 0 – 3 was . . . well, not good.]
[We played better in the 2nd period. Amy Jost (33) got her first varsity to close the gap to 3 – 1.]
[But we knew it was a night not to be when Mari Wosepka (18) got a break away. She’s been killing those all year, but . . . this one hit the crossbar (you can see it in the photo)! That would have made the score 3 – 2 with half a game to go. Who knows? And later in the period, Mari had another potential break away but over-skated the puck. It happens, at all levels.]
[We’ll do better next time!]
[We hied from the RCC after the game to Interlachen. We hadn’t seen Matt and Julie Velline for a long time – their 9:00 starts are too late for we old folks – but after a hockey game we’re still wired.]
December 19
[The joint production between the AAAA Theatre and Lakes Area Radio Theatre of “It’s A Wonderful Life” was terrific show in which 20 on-stage actors played 42 roles.]
December 20
[The high school’s annual combined orchestra-choir Christmas show, as always the blockbuster event of the year.]
The Alexandria high school carolers in 1965 . . . and today
And wrapping up with the family’s 1964 Christmas letter
It is assumed that the woman must wait, motionless, until she is wooed. That is how the spider waits for the fly. ~ George Bernard Shaw
Up next: Back to Hawaii. It sounds like a blizzard outside now, but we’re still above normal temperatures. The lakes finally froze over late last week, and we may get more snow by Christmas.
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