We're back in San Diego after a short holiday in Kona, Hawaii. The amaryllis I was photographing daily in November has now dropped it's petals. What's left is my picture for today.
POETS AND OTHER LAY-ABOUTS

Poets and other lay-abouts have said
about the sea all those lovely terrifying
phrases and shorter exclamations just
before the wave crashes into whatever;
but awe lasts not forever so it’s a better
thing to move away and look back on it
than to stay too close to pounding surf.

Haven’t you ever noticed the strained
expressions on the scrunched faces
of old sailors who remember with love
and hate what the sea has done to them?
Memory is the maddeningly wonderful bit
of ourselves we can’t ignore when it comes
rushing in to remind us who we really are.

Leaving the Big Island as a small storm moved in.
<

Saint Francis
liked doves
and even
pigeons
hanging
all over...It may be
a myth,
but it’s
a nice one
if it is.










Feeding pigeons and holding the sun...

Today was one of those rare days when all the pieces came together. All the creatures around me, even all the people, managed to be where they were without hurting each other. Finches, sparrows, and doves, fed daily at a hotel near where we are staying, fluttered, hopped, and dodged around a bird feeder and the grass underneath it. Colorful little Java sparrows fussed, fought, and scattered seed from the bird feeder all over the ground. A not very bright mongoose tried to get a free meal by hiding alternately behind a rock and a clump of grass to try to catch one of the doves feeding on the seeds dropped by the sparrows. The animal, looking for all the world like a weasel, made occasional dashes out to try to catch one. It didn’t succeed. I think the mongoose was very young and inexperienced. As soon as he went back behind his rock, the doves settled back onto the ground under the bird feeder; and the scene played all over again. I went from watching the birds and mongoose over to a sea wall to watch a Hawaiian man cast a circular net into the sea to catch small fish. The fish he caught were obviously the wrong ones because he kept throwing them all back. In about an hour he gave up and put his net away. I guess he went home. I walked up the road and found that someone had built a makeshift altar above a roiling sea where Ed played in the surf. Life is good.

NANCY ORDERED A CHRISTMAS WREATH from this man and we sat and watched him make it from beginning to end. While he worked he told us about life on the Island for native Hawaiians. Among other bits of information he told us that in the old days the first born child was raised by his grandparents so they could teach him or her the "old" ways. He had been raised by his grandparents. He spoke with great affection of his parents and grandparents.
AT AKAKA AND RAINBOW FALLS ON THE EAST SIDE OF THE ISLAND NEAR HILO.
NANCY took the following photographs of her Mom and Dad.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2O.K., O.K., I ADMIT IT...

The moon is slightly enhanced... Well, maybe more than slightly. We all got up before six a.m. to get pictures of the moon. When the full moon was higher, it seemed not as large. As it dropped closer to the horizon, the earth's atmosphere magnified the moon. I helped just a little.

TODAY WE DOWN TO THE VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK. We stopped along the way to see a beautiful black sand beach where it is forbidden to take away any of the sand. The Kilauea Caldera is an awesome sight.