Feeling Creative

I'm still restricted from cycling for another week or so while my eye heals from cataract surgery, so I've been trying to stay busy.

Just finished making this bag. It's the size to carry a notebook sized laptop or iPad -- it's made from 3T jeans. I picked up 3 pair at Goodwill for .98c each. Everything else I had on hand.  Getting ready to post it on Etsy!

Front

Back

Inside -- I picked yellow because I always lose things

inside my bag!  And I put in a small pocket as well.

Showing the notebook computer sticking out. It fits all

the way in, no problem. All pockets are functional!

This was fun to do.  I still have 2 more pairs of little jeans!

What to do, what to do...

Flowers, Birds and Waterfalls

Isn't that title the epitome of Hawaii?  These are from Waimea Falls park on Oahu.  Even in the "non flowery" season, it's awesome.  Enjoy.

If you look closely, you can see an endangered Hawaiian native bird.

The cannonball tree

I love the frill.

Looking to the sky through the gorgeous old growth trees.

This was in the area that archaeologists have found ancient dwellings.

Who wouldn't want to live under this canopy?

Look close, another bird!

More fuzzy frilly flowers

The falls

Aloha, dragonfly!

North Shore Views

The North Shore of Oahu is simply stunning. While we were there, high surf warnings were all over the place. That didn't seem to stop anyone though.

Christmas Day afternoon found us enjoying these views and some hole-in-the wall Thai food. We thought it was just another food truck. Some guy in an expensive car (along with his family) was telling the person at the window that they read about it on Yelp and came out to find it.  Seeing as we were the only non-Asians under the awning eating that amazing food, I think we stumbled into a good thing that day!

Here are photos of the surf.

Not big enough for lunch.

Commuting, Hawaiian style, with a friend.

Christmas Beauty

On Christmas Day we decided to drive over to the North Shore of Oahu, hoping that Waimea Falls would be open.  (It wasn't, but that's another day's story).

To get to the North Shore, we drove across the "Pali" or cliffs. These form the spine of Oahu, and are quite dramatic. In Honolulu the weather was bright and sunny. Fewer than 10 miles away, the weather was rain forest drizzly. At the Pali, it was also very windy! But there's a great pull-out area where you can see the north side of the island from above. Very dramatic and beautiful. I don't know how on earth the ancient Hawaiians traversed these cliffs!

I think this is the HQ for the botanical gardens, but I'm not positive.

The cliffs above us. My son kept saying how much fun

it would be to hike those hills.  Better him than me!

And finally, can anyone explain this sign?

Denim iPhone 4/5 Case - Easy to Make

I've been playing around with my new sewing machine.  Two children have presented me with material -- old blue jeans. There's something about the soft texture of well-worn jeans that makes them a delight to consider. Add the texture of seams, rivets, pockets, zipper ... ooh, too much fun.

So, here's item number one.  Thanks to my son's friend CZ for loaning his iPhone 5 for measurement purposes.

SOFT DENIM IPHONE SLEEVE

This case is to protect your phone when you toss it into a purse or backpack. If the iPhone you're sewing for is a 4, just shorten the length by about a half inch.

1. Cut denim in 7x7 squares, then cut in half, to 3.5 x 3.5

2. Cut flannel in 7 x 6.5 rectangles. 

3.  Divide on the longer edge

so they are now 3.5 x 3.25 

4.  If you're using a piece of denim with a seam, carefully pick out the seam

and use the flap to hold the top edge of the flannel. If you don't have a

pre-existing seam, create a 1/4 inch flap. I iron it to make it stay.

5. At this point, you want to make sure all your edges are

straight. Line them up on the board and trim where you

need to.

6.  If you can sew through all the layers, do so to add a small

piece of velcro to each side. A lightweight velcro is fine -- you

don't want to have to fight the velcro to answer the phone!

7.  Pin the pieces right sides together -- green sides facing out. Starting at

the top left or right corner, sew straight down the length, across the bottom

and back up the other side, using a 1/4" seam allowance. Trim up all threads

and any extra seam allowance.

Turn it inside out and you're good to go!

This is what it looks like with the phone partially sticking out --

to illustrate.  Mine is a 4, so this case is too long for it,

but it shows you the idea.

These are easy to do.  You can get remnant flannel for the insides -- or even use old jammies!

If this is daunting to you, but you want one, I'll make you one for $10+ shipping -- all

proceeds go to Phoenix Bikes.

Remembering the Past

Our first full day with Mom dawned perfectly bright and lovely. It was Christmas Eve.  We knew there were certain locations we wanted to visit, so we decided to start with some history and somenity.

Everyone learns in history that on the morning of December 17, 1941, the Japanese attacked American bases at Pearl Harbor. It is easy with 20-20 hindsight to look back at how the ships were tightly docked at battleship row and how the planes at the various airfields were lined up wing to wing -- everything providing excellent targets. The commander who ordered all of this was concerned about sabotage as they'd had far more intel about locals being a risk for this than that the Japanese would be so bold as to attack. Some say Roosevelt even knew the attack was coming but did not react so that the US would be drawn in to a war that we needed to fight.

I do know that one of my heroes, General Billy Mitchell, took a wedding trip with his wife throughout the Far East in 1924. Being a military strategist and an early advocate for airpower, Mitchell saw what the Japanese were planning. He predicted -- in 1924 -- that the Japanese would attack Ford Island in Pearl Harbor on a Sunday morning at 7:30am using airpower.

By the way, he was rude and arrogant and driven -- those are NOT the reasons he is one of my heroes. I admire him because he was willing to stake his professional reputation and career on telling the truth, no matter the consequences.

There is a new (2006) museum in the Pearl Harbor memorial area, the Pacific Aviation Museum, located on Ford's Island in two of the old hangars that still bear the bullet holes of the attacking planes. These photos are from that museum.

 The old control tower.

We finished the day with a solemn trip to the Arizona Memorial.  Because it was late in the day on Christmas Eve, there weren't very many people around. That provided the right atmosphere. When my husband and I made this visit in 1993, a carnival like atmosphere, replete with Asian tourists with cameras and "selfie" shots made it very unpleasant.

Her stern lies beneath these swells.

Remnants of her bow. The ship in the background

is the Missouri -- where the US received the 

unconditional surrender of the Japanese forces.

Through the ceiling of the open memorial.

And finally, there was a quote over on the land side that Eleanor Roosevelt reportedly carried in her wallet throughout the war. My photo didn't turn out very well, so here it is:

Dear Lord

Lest I continue in my complacent way

Help me to remember 

Somehow out there a man died for me today.

As long as there be war,

I then must ask and answer

Am I worth dying for?

From Bliss to Brrr

When we were in Hawaii, just when it seemed that the sun was a bit too bright, or a bit too hot, a lovely trade wind would sweep through and we would exhale with sweet delight. The only day that got a bit uncomfortable was when we were on the volcano ... but it was a volcano so that's not a surprise. This morning, as I sit cozied up with my heated throw, it is 12 degrees Farenheit out there!  I'm very grateful we have our heat bill (natural gas) on a year round steady payment! And I worry about my husband who goes in to work long before the sun rises. His drive is fine -- it's the mile walk across the Pentagon parking lot, next to the river, without any protection that worries me.

At any rate, going back to Hawaii, even only in pictures and memories should warm all of us.

Day 2 in Hawaii saw us transfer our location from Hickam AFB to Waikiki.  The Hale Koa hotel is a military only hotel, run by contractors. It's a luxury hotel and is a very welcome treat for those who often don't get much vacation time, and rarely have big bucks to make it happen. Their rates are on a sliding fee scale so lower ranks can afford to stay too.  These types of places are paid for by what's called MWR (Morale, Welfare and Recreation) funds. Those are generated by revenue from the on-base exchanges. So the next time you hear someone talking about taking away one of the military privileges like exchanges, think of the downstream effect. (And really, these days there isn't such a great savings difference on exchange purchases except if they're big dollar like appliances or furniture. Then the savings is on the fact that there's no tax. Those of you who sop at Costco are probably getting better deals on a lot of things).

The Hale Koa is in Honolulu, right on Waikiki.  We had two rooms with "partial ocean view."  This meant we could see the ocean to one side and the mountains to the other. This is what we saw:

That beach is 1/4 mile walk through lovely trees.

Almost every day. No kidding. Can you see that it's

a double bow?

Rainbow and gorgeous blue sky

Dusk -- isn't it beautiful?

That evening my mom arrived to join us and the party REALLY got going!