Bringing out the inner ANGEL (as well as the Walking Hawaiian) in me!  Photo opportunities abound at the Honolulu Hale during the Christmas season and lasts until New Year's Eve.  If you haven't been there yet, go quickly!  I did mention in a previous blog about the interesting sights at the Honolulu Hale during Christmas, so I decided that I must give you a sample look.  Since I have deleted pictures from previous blogs, I have a little room to post some pictures, as I'm still trying to figure out how to continue my blog.  Wish me luck!

Made out of broken CD discs, a prize winning peacock wreath.  There are contests for wreaths and trees at the Honolulu Hale.  Please double click the picture to see the intricate details.

Using recycled materials to make a wreath is ingenious and green (now gold)!  Spray painted soldiers comprise this wreath.

 2 liter soda bottles turned into beautiful fishes. Cut, staple, paint and glue eyeballs!  Voila!

Sea creatures swim on Honolulu Hale's Christmas tree. Seen from the Punchbowl and King street intersection, please be careful driving as everyone is looking at this instead of the road!

Hoping that your path this coming New Year will be clearly lit and easy to follow your dreams making it a reality.  Mele Kalikimaka (Merry Christmas) everyone and I'll be walking soon!

What is so great about this banyan tree?  Well if you read a previous blog about Princess Ka'iulani, her father, Archibald Cleghorn planted the very first banyan tree on their property in Waikiki. (Supposedly where the Princess Ka'iulani Hotel stands now.)  This tree is a "slip" from that first tree and is on the "Princess Ka'iulani Elementary School" grounds.

Aloha, my blogger friends.  Found out that I have "2" heel spurs and am diligently following my Doctor's recommendations to get my feet back to working (walking) condition.  I yearn to get back on the road again, but need to take care of my feet first.  Please be patient!  I promise to slowly get back into it. 

Another problem presented itself.  I'm told that I have reached my "photo" limit of 1 GB.  I didn't know that there was a limit!  As contact with "blogspot.com" is not apparent, I'm trying to figure out ways to continue this blog.  I've been deleting a few pictures from previous blogs to get some picture space back.  Monthly payments is an option, but, I believe the extra GB will be for text only and not pictures.  Since this blog is predominately a picture blog, paying for the GB will still not help me to continue.  Does anyone know how to communicate with blogspot.com?  Any ideas would be welcome.  Until I can resolve this situation, "Happy Holidays to all!"

A very odd contraption to grace the front of your house, the only thing that I can come up with is maybe a large fish hanging scale?  But then, why the mid-air ladder?  Do you know what it is?

Blessed many times with Hawaii's liquid sunshine,(rain), up I went, higher and higher.  I'm about half-way up  Aiea Heights Drive, but many side streets exist and I must travel on them too! 

 

Unfortunately, even though I scaled 3.90 miles today, most of it was back-tracking.  Well, when you have a lot of dead ends on your route, it can't be helped.  I had a resident make his feelings known that he didn't like me walking around his neighborhood in an interesting way.  He honked his horn for 10 seconds straight and drove around while doing it.  The horn blasting aroused the interest of every single dog in the area and I had the "Mormon Tabernacle Choir" of dogs howling for an eardrum busting minute.  When they all settled down, the resident did it again!  The dog symphony began again.  I have to admit, picture taking was not on my mind at the time!  Leaving that area was! HaHa!

The juxtaposition of angles had me wondering if they couldn't make up their mind, or for "Feng Shui," they had to do it that way, or maybe they wanted a 360 degree view!

If this truly works, it must be powerful. They're probably checking out Kauai!  HaHa! It kind of looks like it could have been on a Navy ship, I may be wrong, but that's what comes to mind.

A bonified "Ohia Lehua" flower.  It's so much nicer to see it in person instead of a photograph!

The strange looking ornaments are fishing weights.  Now either they are avid fisherman(spare weights), strange artists(thought that it would look pretty) or they needed to weigh down this pine to make it stronger.  What do you think?  May you walk light as a feather, unburdened with weighty issues today!  Aloha!(Bye!)

A picture of my daughter and I at the "Honolulu Museum of Art, Spalding House."  I loved the visual effects.  

My humble apologies my blogger friends.  Now both of my heels are causing pain when I put pressure on them (like walking!)  I thought that by walking 3 times a week instead of 5 would be enough rest for my feet.  Although on the days off, I have been quite a busy body doing other things.  So, if I walked 5 times a week, I probably would have felt better!  HaHa!  I think a Doctor's appointment will be in order next week, so, I can't really tell you when I will be back on the road again.  So sorry!

By the way, the area I walked in last is WAIMALU!  Using my GPS on my walking program and conferring with Island friends, we came to this conclusion.  Therefore, I'm double sure that that is what the area is.

Anyway, until we meet again, enjoy yourselves!  Aloha! (LOVE!)

Where am I?  Well, I could be in Waimalu, or maybe Aiea, or possibly Newtown, then again I could be in Pearl City.  I DON"T KNOW!  Detective Donna is going to take a wild stab and say that I was walking in Waiau.  If you know what this area is called, please let me know!

My confusion started with these maps!  I hope that I am right, but it seems to make sense! Since it was a dead-end road, backtracking was a necessity making the distance for today 4.90 miles, or twice the length of the road.  

Townhouses and homes line the area with "Newtown Meadows" being the only place that is located on the east side of the Waimalu stream.

"Hang on, Snoopy!"  The mailbox shaped as a dog house, showed the "Red Baron" character Snoopy would sometimes be.

Feeling creeped-out that someone was standing there watching me, I waved, "Hello!"  Come to find out that it was a life-size Thailand figurine placed outside their door.  My bad!  HaHa!

Placed inside a "koi pond," this statue was a "school of fishes!"  Please double click the photo to enjoy the details.

At last, the end of the dead-end road called, "Kilinoe," I inquired if there was a trail continuing on from this spot by a resident.  I was told that there isn't one and that this part of the road is private property.  Most valley and ridge roads end with a trail head, but not this one!

Taking a picture of the stream, I noticed that there were two turtles there!  Then I noticed that I may have interrupted something!  Oops!  Hoping for no "Oops" moments for you today!  Aloha ahiahi!(Good night!)

No, I'm not in "Sing-Sing!"  I passed under the H-1 and I like that the state made use of the space under the freeway to park vehicles or store equipment for a later use.  Also, it was nice and cool under there and I enjoyed a little respite from the Hawaiian sun!

Continuing in Waimalu, but mauka now, this little valley community had street names that all started with "pono."  Looking in my Hawaiian dictionary, it means well being, goodness,excellence and more!  What a wonderful word to describe where you live!  Small, but convoluted, it still took me 2.91 miles to circumnavigate the area.  There were very friendly people who didn't mind "talking story" with me as I meandered through their neighborhood! 

A sad occurrence in the neighborhood.  A kitchen grease fire gutted this residence and killed one of their dogs, but many trucks lined the street and were busy cleaning up and working on salvaging what they could.  The second picture was taken in their front yard, a reminder that hope, faith and courage linger on and that THINGS can be replaced!

These two mailboxes interested me!  The first had an oriental painting and emblem decorating it, also in the same color of the home behind it!

The second mailbox has writing on it!  After staring and staring at it, I still can't make it out.  How about you?  Can you tell me what it says?

Noting a spinning item in the garage, upon further inspection, I realized that it was an airplane made out of a beer can and the propellers actually spun around when the wind blew making the entire plane turn on its axis.  I would like to know how they did this!

I've never seen a contraption like this before.  I don't know if this was jury-rigged by the owner or this is a new product that makes sure the ball will ALWAYS bounce back a certain way.  What do you think?

In moments of weakness, I sometimes feel that the goal of walking all the streets on Oahu is insurmountable.  But, this sight gives me the encouragement to continue.  This papaya tree should not have survived, but not one, but two branches grew out of the trunk to produce DOUBLE the amount of papaya now!  I hope that you'll see something encouraging today to help you to never doubt your goals!  Aloha! (Bye!)

Look closely!  Do you see the smiling sun where a branch used to be?  I don't know if they couldn't take looking at the gaping wound after they cut the branch off, since it does face the home's windows, or if it just fit perfectly, so that's why they placed it there.  What do you think?

Since finishing Pearl Harbor, I thought that I should continue to press ewa(west), so according to my map, I'm now walking in WAIMALU.  Covering 3.88 miles, I was able to complete the makai(towards the ocean) side and plan to walk mauka(towards the mountain) next time. Total for the week comes to 10.30 miles making the grand total a blistering 418.85 miles since starting!

Passing by Waimalu Shopping Center, I had to let you know about the best saimin place on the Island! (Of course, that is only MY opinion!)  Shiro's, has a list of over 50 choices of Saimin!  Number 47 is my favorite!  Please give it a try if you are in the neighborhood, and tell me your opinion!

Some interesting items at people's homes caught my attention.  The first picture is the jury-rigged windmill and believe me, there were 5 of them in different parts of the front yard.  I guess they really want to know which way the wind is blowing!

The second picture of the directional sign with the address number.  I am familiar with yard sale signs and party signs on the light poles, but not this!  It seems to say, "Hey, come this way to get to my house!"

The last photo got me wishing for Mai Tai's and Pina Colada's while enjoying the stars and the balmy tradewinds.  A really nice place to chill out with family and friends.

Beautiful "Na pua"(flowers) always make my walk so delightful!

When I passed by this collection of Ti leaves, I was jolted into remembrance of an art store in Kailua, who sold painted ceramic kitchenware which looks eerily similar!  What do you think?

Even though I know that I'm besieging you with photographs today, I had to add these in!  I was walking behind the Waimalu Shopping Center, which is where the trucks make all their deliveries.  As I was dodging all the handtrucks and goods, I spied in between the trucks this vibrant, rich mural!

I didn't even want to walk this street, but, its on the map, so I thought that I'll whip through the street just to complete it!  Lo and behold, I would have missed this gorgeous mural if I wasn't looking!  Just remember, you can find beauty in the most unorthodox places if you look for it!  A Hui Hou!(Until we meet again!)