…grapevine to yer right, grapevine to yer left – heel heel toe toe – heel toe – ball change – boogie woogie woogie woogie, stomp, scuff… First born child is having a swinging time LINE DANCING to her favorite country tunes. Even S’man picked up some culture this afternoon when he went to the buffet line and decided to sample the “potatoe salad”. He shoulda read the label, which didn’t mention potatoes at all — Waldorf 😮

I stand corrected, by one who knows. Whereas the local informal greeting among the Hawaiian was ‘Hey Brah’ as opposed to ‘Hey Bro’ — both are now acceptable. Proper display of the high sign (that is with all fingers folded except for the thumb and pinky finger) is with one wrist flick only and hand held low down at belt level.

I was poking fun of the poor grammar on the signage at yesterdays open market. It read boldly (hand painted) “Shave Ice” — as in snow cones and such and trying to prove my superior intellect gleefully pointed out THEY left of the “d”. Naw Brah. “Shave” is perfectly proper — in pigeon — that is. Not an error.

Big time jet lag. It’s 0250 (GMT-1000) Hawaiian time and I’m wide awake and rare’n to go already! What time’s breakfast? The day is to begin with a jog toward Diamond Head when / if the sun comes up. This landmark looks alot like CamelBack Mtn., seeing as how there isn’t much precip on this corner of the world in summer. In the meantime, I’ve moved my laptop and a desk chair into the lav so as to avoid waking the rest of the sleeping natives in our hotel. Waiting it out.

– our first evening on Waikiki and our native picnic table view from Kapi Olani Beach Park – David and Rosemary gave us the traditional islander’s airport welcome with beautiful flower lei for all, followed by an inspired luau feast amongst brown skinned locals and glorious sunset. Absolutely terrific. We are blown away…

Here we come. Bookem’ DanO
Only fitting that we should be visiting the 50th state for a special person’s big 5 oh!

Having laid low for the last 15+ years and without a bust, I decided try my luck at rapid transit. Kids! Don’t let me catch YOU doing this. It shaves a mere 15 minutes from the journey. Not really a big payoff for the downside risk. You can not sit back relax, as safety is the number one priority. Plus you must maintain a visual scan for Smokey. Cruise control is out. You must constantly adjust your speed to flow with traffic. BTW, that’s your alibi if you are pulled over…”Officer I was flowing with traffic. Sir.” Find a line of cars with a good fast rate (not go-to-jail fast). The key word there is line. Crazy and or frequent lane changes, with turn signals or w/o, will attract unwanted attention. Bail out and wait for another tow if traffic intervenes. Avoid being the lead dog. Think vulnerability. You don’t want to be tail gunner either. A radar detector device would add a nice sense of (false) security. Note: The author is not responsible for any fines or insurance rate increases incurred as a result of reading this article

Eating alone in Barouche’s I’m waiting for my change to arrive. Head tilted, eyes rolled upward toward the ceiling, contemplating, brain deep in thought. I did not notice the restaurant manager’s approach. I lower my gaze to discover her presence and concerned look. “Are you alright?”, she asks seriously. Maybe she figured she was witness to a seizure or fit. Reflecting now, I guess I must have looked the part… I was studying the architecture. Honest. I know it’s derigueor but the ceilings are bare-ass frame trusses, air-conditioning ducting and electrical conduit. The corrugated sheet metal roof — stock galvanization. Odd that interior designers (and bean counters) spend large sums on tile flooring, and sponge painted wall surfaces adorned with antiques or theme knickknacks and then halt. Not one dime for the ceiling. Not even a dark coat of paint. Hey! I should be staring at the young waitresses instead?

That dang dawg rolled. Primal regressive instinct? Does it send a message to other dogs that he encounters that he’s a rough tough s.o.b.? Some kind of fecal war paint? I wonder what another animal, crossing the stinking path of mine, would do… Be totally confused and shocked into excited weirdness… or be freaked and shy away. The dog message that I get is total disgust. It assures him a splash swim in the lake and a hose down bath. I keep him close to me on the path but in this case he lagged behind and then I realized why. Makes you want to cuss a blue streak when you see (smell). Kind of puts a whole new spin on the outing :-)I think that the ultimate bad dog belonged to my dear brother. His family pet found the rotting carcass of quite a large road kill and rolled big time at a most inopportune moment. They were miles from remedy and had to share a closed vehicle on the long ride home. I believe that they had the windows down. euuuuwee

If you did not get to see the live shot on CNN here’s another chance. The launch of the Mars Exploration Rover Mission featured a ROCKET CAM which provided a most amazing perspective. In the video, the earth gets really small really fast.