BEE HAPPY!

July 17.

This past week I went back to the "mainland" (note: here in Hawai'i people will give you the stink eye if you say that you are going back to the States.... they will tell you that "Hawai'i is part of the States, you mean you are going to the mainland") . Racked up the miles allright, from Hilo to Honolulu to LA to Denver to Milwaukee drive to Waukesha, then to Raleigh Durham drive to Winston-Salem, back to Raleigh Durham to Vegas to Tucson, to Phoenix, to Honolulu and back to Hilo!
During most of the week I had no idea what time it was, what day I was on, or if I was coming or going....... yet I made back in one piece.

"The meat is here!"
Wednesday I got a phone call from C and girls with some great news! that's right, our 35 lbs of grass fed beed had finally arrived! C picked it up in Mr. Limpet (barely fit) and into the freezer. She gave away some of it to our friends the Smith and sent me this picture..... now, that is what I call a morale booster!

Unfortunately for C and the Girls, they caught a "cold virus" and were sick for most part of the week (yep, believe it or not, there are cold viruses in Hawai'i.....so much for paradise eh?)

It was good to be back in Tucson for several reasons:
A. See good friends! (best part of it)
B. Visting in the middle of July (a nice and comfortable 110F!) was a good reminder of why we moved to Hilo.

Above is a view of Hoover Dam (damn!) as the flight from Vegas was heading out to Tucson. Followed by other familiar sights (Picacho Peak, Starr Pass, Downtown Tucson)

Unfortunately I did not have enough time to see all the friends I would've liked to see, but hopefully during the next trip (probably mid August) I will have more time there.

Had a good time in Tucson (except for the 2 and a half hours spent at MVD Saturday morning getting Humphrey's title). Dinner with family, drinks with friends, tennis with Eric, visiting neighbors (Otleys) and friends (Breshears). Was able to recover my tennis racquet, and the INCREDIBLE PAINTING that was given to us by so many wonderful people as a going away gift. The painting is now in Hawaii hanging on one of the most visible walls in the plum palace (see below).

On the way back the clouds cooperated and offered a clear view of the islands, from the take off from Honolulu, over Haleakala's crater in Maui, and down to Hilo.

The best part was the welcoming committe at the Hilo Airport, with a lei and all!

While changing planes in Honolulu, C called me to tell me that we "have some bees at home". Well, from the casual tone she used I figured there were a couple of bees just beeing happy at the plum palace, after all, it is the plum palace. But then we got home from the airport and saw that we were talking about two whole bee colonies! Definitely BEEing Happy!

Holy Bees Batman! Well, on wednesday (of this week hopefully) the 'Bee-Man" is supposed to come to the plum palace and take care of our sweet guests...... keep posted for an update to see who wins.

Lately Syd has been converting her room into different things, this week it was hair salon, her customer..... Hana, and as you can see from the pictures, she has a future in that department if anything else fails!

On the other hand, Hana's career as a serious model is highly questionable....