Ailantha - Blog

My 2026 Commencement Speech

5/31/2026

Another graduation season is upon us, and once again legions of young people will soon be stepping into their futures and the challenges of negotiating life in this turbulent world after having been sent on their with the many words of wisdom, insight, advice and encouragement proffered to them at their commencement ceremonies.
And once again it's time for my yearly commencement speech, in which I endeavor to offer the new graduates a few words of my own to help them along their way on subjects that might not have been covered by the keynote speakers at their graduation ceremonies.
And so here it is, my 2026 Commencement Speech:

 1. If you wake up in the morning and don't feel like eating, or, in fact, any time you find yourself lacking an appetite when it's time to eat, try eating a bagel.

It's surprising how a bagel can do the trick.

2. When painting a room, take pictures of the things around the room before you move them,

...including the order of the books on the shelf,

...so that when it's time to put the room back together you'll know exactly where each thing was before you moved it.

3. Never leave your shopping cart in a parking space,

...or beached on the parking lot tree lawn.

 Always wheel your cart over to the cart corral. It only takes a minute and it's the polite thing to do.

 4. Heed the wisdom of the song and know when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em. In other words, don’t argue a situation that there’s no way you’re going to win.

 5. Also bear in mind that people can't be talked out of something they want or need to believe in.

6. And if you tell somebody something they disagree with they may argue with you, but if you tell them something that is outside of their perceived reality they won't hear you. At least not the first time you say it.

 7. Patience is not a virtue one is gifted with; it is a discipline that must be practiced and practiced and practiced before one becomes decent at it.

Kind of like shooting baskets.

 8. Blink often. It's good for your eyes.

9. Don't turn a three minute story into a twenty-minute saga.

10. If you're fortunate enough to be able to, it's okay to take an occasional day where you sit around and just do nothing,

Only don't do it too often.

11. When someone else is driving, let them drive. Don't tell them a better way to go, a better way to drive, or give any advice at all unless they ask you for it.

 12. In fact, give advice on any matter only sparingly, only if you truly know what you're talking about, and only if it's wanted.

13.  Here's a really good and easy Spanish dessert called Tarta de Helado:
  Ingredients:
About 1 1/2 (or so) 1.5 liter boxes of vanilla ice cream and  about a little more than one bottle of chocolate shell. (So buy two bottles).

N.B.: Before you use the chocolate shell be sure to let the bottle sit in a bowl of sink-hot water for about five minute then shake it very well!

Method
Take a 9" x 9" ( or bigger or smaller as desired) square dish,

...and cover the bottom with a layer of ice cream.

Cover the ice cream with chocolate shell, which will freeze pretty quickly.

Add another layer of ice cream on top of the shell.

Add one more layer each of shell and ice cream.
Decorate the top ice cream layer with more chocolate shell. Freeze for a little while, maybe 20 minutes or so.

Cut into slices.

Enjoy the rave reviews.

14. Always have two credit cards so you'll have a spare in case one is lost or stolen.

15. Be a forgiving person. That way when you mess up you'll have a better chance of being given some grace.

16. Remember that true wealth lies in having enough money to be able give some away with a glad heart, while true poverty lies in not having enough money to be able to give any away. Or in having enough money to give some away, but not having a generous enough heart to do so.

 Best Wishes, Class of 2026. Be generous, patient, wise and forgiving, and go out and make the world a better place.

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In South Bay L.A. The Parts Are Greater Than The Sum Of The Whole

5/26/2026

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In South Bay L.A. The Parts Are Greater Than The Sum Of The Whole

....Continued from previous post:
The following day, Wednesday, April 15, we left Honolulu, sadly.

But, happily, our vacation was not yet over, as our next stop was Los Angeles, where we spent a few days visiting in the South Bay area.

We spent much of our time at the home of our hosts, though I also spent considerable time on my favorite local pastime of trekking up and down the neighborhood hills,

...and snapping photos.
One day when I was engaged in looking at and taking pictures of the gardens, trees, and houses, it occurred to me that the long view of this area that one sees from a car,

...does not always reveal the charming and interesting scenery that one can better appreciate when taking in at close range the individual elements that make up this place,

...and that can be more easily noticed when one is traveling on foot.

Sometimes the parts really are greater than the sum of the whole.

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Cashing In At The ABC Store

5/25/2026

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...Continued from previous post:
The next day, Tuesday, April 14, was our last day in Honolulu.
We had one last splendid breakfast at the Hale Koa,

-...then we took one more walk along the beach.

We headed one more time into downtown Waikiki,

...to the ABC Store on Lewers Street.

I, for one, was headed there with a purpose.
It so happens that one can turn in one's ABC Store receipts for free prizes, a very retro, but to me (and perhaps to those of my generation) very satisfying concept.
So on our last day in Honolulu we went to the ABC Store where I turned in all my ABC Store receipts. That is to say, mine along with those of our six other younger relatives, who, before they left, turned over all their ABC Store receipts to me, none of them having any desire to earn a free Hawaii bag,

...or a free Hawaii mug.

As for me, I love the Hawaii mugs, and hoped I'd have enough receipts to earn one. As it turned out, combined with all my relatives' receipts I did, in fact, have the necessary $100 worth of receipts to snag my free ABC Store mug.

Getting my free Hawaii mug cheered me up considerably on this our final day here, as did one more walk around the grounds,

...one more lunch at Happy's,

...and seeing the sailors who were performing that afternoon with their rock band in the Hale Koa courtyard.

Seems just about everything about this place cheers me up.

To be continued...

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The Bishop Museum And The Historical Hotels Of Waikiki

5/23/2026

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...Continued from previous post:
By the following day, Sunday, April 12, the ducklings were back in the fountain, looking happy as ducks in water,

...and now, thankfully, after their swim they were able to hop out of the water to dry off (see post from 5/16/2026, https://www.ailantha.com/blog/duckling-911www.ailantha.com/blog/duckling-911).

That afternoon we visited the Bishop Museum, Hawaii's state museum of culture and history, as well as home to the world's largest collection of Hawaiian and Pacific Island historical artifacts.

The Bishop Museum offers a panoramic view of Honolulu from its campus,

...and it also houses an observatory.

Though Tom and I have visited the Bishop Museum more than half a dozen times over the years, still it’s among our favorite Honolulu gems and we always look forward to returning and spending an afternoon lost in the exhibits.

This year there was a special exhibit in the annex building called Aloha Bricks ’26,

...that offered images of Hawaii represented by Lego structures. The pieces were intricate and beautiful.

The Bishop Museum

The Royal Hawaiian Hotel

The Iolani Palace

Some were pictures made of Lego bricks glued to a backing.

There was also a room in which folks could make Lego sculptures.

The room was hung with Lego pictures made by students from all over Hawaii of their school’s emblem.

The next day I suggested we visit Waikiki’s two beautiful old historic hotels, the Royal Hawaiian and the Moana Surfrider.
Hotels in Hawaii generally welcome visitors to their lobbies, even to cut through to the beach. (The exception being the Hale Koa, which is technically military property. One is required to have a military or guest ID to be on the hotel campus, and one might randomly be asked by security to show one's ID).
And so late Monday morning we set out down Kalakaua Avenue. We arrived at the Royal Hawaiian Center, the shopping mall on the same block as the Royal Hawaiian hotel, and decided to cut through the mall. Here we saw a curious sight.
There was a line of people, which we took to be young folks and their parents, apparently waiting their turn to get into a store which allowed only a certain number of shoppers in at a time.

However, across from this line on the opposite side of the hallway was another line. These were the customers who were waiting to be called over to the line outside the store.

This we learned from the informational diagram posted at the beginning of the beginning line,

...from which we also learned the pronunciation of the store's name, which we could not make out from the graffiti-esque lettering on the store's sign.

Anyway, the store's name was apparently pronounced "Stussy." It was a clothing store, though there didn't appear to be very many articles of clothing for sale inside the store, just a few things scattered about.

I wondered if there were even enough articles of clothing for all the customers waiting in line, though I figured they probably had more clothes in the back. At least I hoped they did for the sake of all those folks waiting in line.
We cut through the Royal Hawaiian Center to the Royal Grove, the lovely little park next to the Center, with palm trees through which one catches glimpses of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel.

There is a pathway through the park that leads to the hotel grounds.

The Royal Hawaiian, Waikiki's iconic pink hotel, was opened in 1927 as a luxury hotel, then was requisitioned by the U.S. Army during World War II, after which it returned to luxury hotel status, which it still is, along with being a repository of history and old photographs.

The hotel has a beach front with a splendid view of Waikiki that anyone, hotel guest or not, can enjoy, since all beaches in Hawaii are public property by state law, even if they front hotel property.

After our tour of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel we headed back to the Royal Hawaiian Center for some lunch.

After some consideration we decided instead of buying something from the food court to go down to the ABC Store on the lower level and pick up some sandwiches and chips, most ABC stores having a pretty considerable packaged deli section.

After lunch we continued several blocks up Kalakaua Avenue until we arrived at the Moana Surfrider.

Opened in 1901, The Moana Surfrider is the oldest hotel in Waikiki,

...and (in case it should ever come up on trivia night) is nicknamed "The First Lady of Waikiki."
The Moana Surfrider is also quite beautiful inside,

...and is hung with artifacts from the past.

It's amazing how interesting a hotel lobby can be.

To be continued...

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It's Always A Little Sad When The Ohana Leaves

5/19/2026

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...Continued from previous post:
On Saturday, April 11, the rest of our visiting ohana - Hawaiian for family - left the Hale Koa.
The first group left at 5:30 am, and Tom and I came down to the lobby, so quiet and peaceful in the dawn's early light, to see them off.

The dawn view from the Hale Koa lobby.

We also checked on the ducklings, who looked fine and were apparently still drying out (see previous post, https://www.ailantha.com/blog/duckling-911).

By mid-morning the streets of Waikiki had also dried out from the previous day's storm (see previous post), and so we were able to drive across town back to Snorkel Bob's to return the snorkeling gear we'd rented for our visitors.

In the afternoon we drove the last of our relatives, our daughter Theresa, back to the Honolulu airport.

After returning we felt a bit sad, as we always do after saying good-bye to our loved ones, so we decided to cheer ourselves up with our favorite pastime, walking along the beach,

...to downtown Waikiki then to Kalakaua Avenue.

As dinner time was approaching, our first stop along the way was the at the Royal Hawaiian Pa'ina Lanai, the food court,

...where, for all the many times over the years we'd eaten at this food court, for some reason we never until this time checked out this place:

The L&L Hawaiian BBQ turned out to be an overlooked food court gem. Tom and I split an order of the garlic shrimp and steak plate. It was sooo good, and will on future visits be our go-to place at the Royal Hawaiian Pa'ina Lanai.

After our dinner we set off up Kalakaua Avenue.

We walked,

...and walked,

...until we'd walked over two miles from the Hale Koa, all the way to the Honolulu Zoo in Kapiolani Park.

We turned onto Kapahulu Avenue, which runs by the zoo,

...and came upon the Queen Kapiolani Hotel.

It so happened that my niece and her husband were coming to Honolulu in a few weeks and they'd told us that this was the hotel they were staying at. And so we decided to go inside and check the place out.
The lobby was cute as anything,

...and had a friendly vibe.

I considered texting my niece my pictures of the lobby, but then decided not to, thinking it would be more fun for them to enjoy the surprise of discovery.
Rather than walking back by way of Kalakaua Avenue, we decided to cut down Kapahulu avenue,

...and take the parallel street, Kuhio Avenue.

After a few blocks we cut down a street called Seaside Avenue where we caught sight of a promising-looking shave ice shop called Ululani's and decided to give it a try.

Our shave ices were in fact first rate.

Soon after we were back on Kalakaua Avenue and heading for the Hale Koa,

...feeling considerably cheered up.
The night view from our room.

To be continued...

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Duckling 911

5/16/2026

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Duckling 911

...Continued from previous post:
At the lobby entrance to the Hale Koa Hotel there's a circular driveway in the center of which is a fountain surrounded by a pool.

During our time at the Hale Koa there lived around the pool a mama duck and her four ducklings, who we often saw waddling about or swimming in the pool.

We would later learn that there were originally ten little ducklings. But even in this seemingly safe realm of friendly humans, and under the watchful eyes of the caring bell desk staff, who had "adopted" the ducks,

...there is danger here for baby birds, particularly from the mongooses, lightening-fast predators who inhabit the island, even urban Honolulu. One time I saw a gold-colored mongoose zipping across the street in front of the Hale Koa.

The bell desk crew kept track of the number of ducklings and sometimes took videos. Here's a video one of the bell staffers shared with me from when the ducklings were younger and there were more of them.

We were all charmed by the duck family around the fountain pool, but my daughter Claire especially loved them. Claire is a bird lover with a special affinity for the piping plovers who nest on the Lake Michigan beach near where she lives in Chicago.

And now she had developed a special affinity for the Hale Koa ducklings.

However, as it turned out, there was another danger awaiting the ducklings, not from a predator, but brought on altogether unintentionally by their peacefully coexisting human friends.
A few weeks before we arrived there had been teeming rains and flooding throughout Oahu, and now another round of heavy rain was predicted for Honolulu.
A drizzle began on Thursday, April 9.

That night the streets and the view of the courtyard from the Hale Koa lobby brought to mind for me the lyrics from Les Misérables, "In the rain the pavement shines like silver."

Gus the banyan tree, lit up in the center of the courtyard.

On the morning of Friday, April 10, the rain was still a misty drizzle.
The view that day from the Hale Koa lobby:

This was the day that Claire was leaving Honolulu, one day ahead of the others. She and I were going to walk to the CVS in downtown Waikiki so that she could pick up a necessity or two for her trip.
When we entered the hotel lobby, there were the ducks as usual. Or so I thought they were as usual. And apparently so thought all the other folks in the lobby, since nobody was paying the ducks any more than the ordinary amount of attention.
Claire, however, saw what the rest of us weren't seeing. "The ducks are in trouble!" she cried. "Look! The water level in the pond has been lowered and the babies can't get out!"
Now I saw it. The water level was much lower and three of the four ducklings were swimming around, following after their mother,

...who was trotting around the edge of the pool, quacking frantically, followed by her only duckling who'd apparently been able to get out of the pond.

Claire explained that, while adult ducks can stay in the water for long periods of time and can even sleep on the water, if ducklings can't get out of the water they'll eventually die of exhaustion from paddling and starvation. We had to save the ducklings. But how?
"Let's go ask the guys over at the bell desk," I suggested. "They're always really nice and helpful."
So we hurried over to the bell desk, but before we even had a chance to ask the desk staffer he said, "The ducks." He'd seen us at the pool and knew why we'd come over.
He told us that because of the predicted heavy rainfall - possibly up to 12 inches - management had lowered the pool's water level to prevent flooding of the driveway and lobby.
This was when we learned that the mama and baby ducks were loved by the bell crew, especially the staffer we were talking to. "Everybody calls them my ducks," he told us. "I keep chips here at the desk to feed them when they come over to visit me."
The staffer then told us that they'd called the hotel landscapers who'd tried to scoop out the ducklings with a net. They'd succeeded in netting only one of the ducklings, as the others, in a frightened panic, hopped out of the net and back into the water, while the mama duck attacked the worker trying to do the netting.
They called the post engineers, who also tried but had no better luck getting the three remaining ducklings out. One of the bellhops tried hooking a boogie board over a bush then tilting it into the water as a ramp, then putting chips on the board to entice the ducklings to walk up the ramp. But that didn't work either.
One of the bell staffers even called Honolulu Animal Control. "But they haven't shown up yet," the staffer said.
"Can't they just raise the water level back up?" said Claire.
Our bell staffer shrugged. "Maybe they will," he said sadly.
At that moment Tom came into the lobby and found us. Claire told her father about the trapped baby ducks and asked him if he, an expert problem solver, couldn't think of something to do. "You go do your shopping," he said. "Maybe I can find somebody to talk to."
So Claire and I walked over to CVS. While in the store I spotted a display of straw beach mats. I suggested that maybe we could make a sturdy enough ramp from a folded straw mat that the ducks might be able to get enough traction to climb out of the pool.
We brought the folded mat back to the pool and Claire tried to make a duck ramp.

It didn't work. She then tried modifying the ramp.

That didn't work, either. She asked our bell staffer if she could try putting the mat on the boogie board to maybe create better traction for the ducks.

Our staffer gave her his boogie board to try,

...but still no luck.
Meanwhile, the ducklings kept paddling,

...and their mama and sibling kept pacing and quacking.

Tom then reported back to us. He'd managed to find one of the assistant managers, who brought Tom into his office.
"The ducks," the assistant manager said, shaking his head and burying his head in his hands. He told Tom the same thing that the bell crew had told Claire and me, about the landscapers, engineers, and everyone else who'd tried to retrieve the ducklings from the water. As far as raising the water level, "With the storm and possible floods coming, they just can't do that now."
Soon it was time for Claire to leave for the airport, and it was with a sad heart that she left the ducklings. I tried to console her that the ducklings might somehow make it yet. I thought of the hymn, "His Eye Is On the Sparrow" and hoped His eye might be on the ducklings, too.
By the time Tom and I dropped Claire off at the airport the heavens had opened up and the downpour was upon Honolulu. On our way back to the Hale Koa we decided to stop at the Ala Moana Center to escape the rain-induced traffic jam and have some lunch.
The Ala Moana food court was more crowded than usual, with an especially large number of kids and teens.

We would learn that, because of the impending storm, the Honolulu schools were closed for a rain day.
The one mile drive from the Ala Moana Center to the Hale Koa was rather treacherous with pouring rain and flooded streets,

...thought the folks out strolling didn't seem to mind.

But when we arrived back in the lobby of the Hale Koa there was what seemed like a miracle waiting for us:

The ducklings had made it out of the water!

It was thanks to the torrential rain and the ingenuity of the bell crew. The rain had raised the water level in the pool high enough so that when the bell staffers tried again to make a boogie board ramp, the angle was much less steep than when the water level was lower. Furthermore, someone thought of covering the board with a towel to provide traction. That did the trick.

"Call your daughter!" our smiling bell staffer called over to me as he hurried by pushing a trolley full of luggage.
"I've already texted her and sent pictures," I called back. "It will be the first thing she sees on her phone when her plane lands!"
I guess His eye was on the ducklings.

To be continued...

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Ahu O Laka, The Kane'ohe Sandbar

5/12/2026

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Ahu O Laka, The Kane'ohe Sandbar

....Continued from previous post:
The following morning, Monday, April 6, we took an excursion to enchanting Kane'ohe Bay on the windward - or eastern - coast of O'ahu,

...with a tour company called Captain Bob's Picnic Sail.
The trip, as I imagined it, would involve sailing out to the middle of the bay to a sandbar, which in my mind would be a little Robinson Crusoe-esque spot of sand and palm trees,

...where we'd have a picnic, after which there would be snorkeling on the reef off the sandbar for those who wished, while the non-snorkelers (among whom I would surely be) lounged amidst the sand and palm trees.
As it would turn out, the trip wouldn't be exactly as I imagined it. Neither would the sandbar. Probably because I didn't actually know what a sandbar was.
Our trip began as we set out from the Hale Koa and walked ten minutes to a designated point in front of the Ilikai Hotel on Ala Moana Boulevard,

...where we met up with our three friends from the birthday dinner the night before (see post from 5/5/2026, https://www.ailantha.com/blog/an-easter-birthday-no-egg-hunt-but-a-hunt-for-a-hat-and-a-restaurant).
Here Captain Bob's bus picked up the eleven in our group along with the dozen or so other folks who would be our excursion mates for the day.
We set out from Honolulu,

...and rode northeast over the Ko'olau Range, the remains of the ancient shield volcano that runs up the eastern spine of Oahu,

...until we arrived at Kane'ohe Bay.

During the bus ride I got into a conversation with the folks sitting across the aisle from me. At some point the conversation turned to the sandbar. At the end of the trip our bus driver, whom I'd been sitting behind, told me me that the Kane'ohe Sandbar was called Ahu O Laka. When I asked him to tell me again the name of the sandbar he wrote it down for me.

Later I would look up Ahu O Laka to learn that this was a sacred place in Hawaiian Culture.
When we arrived at the dock we were greeted by one of Captain Bob's welcoming staff, who led us to our boat, which I believe was called a catamaran.

What our boat looked like:

Once on board, we made the acquaintance of our friendly guide,

...our friendly captain,

...and the rest of the boat's crew, all of whom were delightful and so very friendly.
Soon after we were out in Kane'ohe bay, surrounded by breathtaking vistas of the Ko'olau Range.

We sailed for about 15 or 20 minutes, when up ahead in the distance there appeared a wide swath of lighter water.

When we entered the area of light water the boat stopped and a ladder was lowered from the front bow. A couple members of the crew plunged into the bay, then our guide told us that the volleyball net would be up in a few minutes and invited us to have fun on the sandbar.
Wait, what sandbar? I wondered, and what's with setting up a volleyball net in the bay?
The looks on the faces of at least some of my boat mates suggested that I wasn't the only one who was confused. But others were climbing down the ladder into the water - the knee-deep water, as it turned out.

"Ohhh," said my daughter, who'd initially been as puzzled as I was, "I think the sandbar must be under the water." That, in fact, turned out to be the case: Ahu O Laka, the Kane'ohe Sandbar, is a shallow underwater island.
Soon most of the rest of the passengers were in the water, playing volleyball and appearing to have a good time.

So pleasant a time did everyone out there on the sandbar seem to be having that I, the aquaphobe who doesn't know how to swim, decided to join them. I made it to the bottom of the ladder before I got a case of the butterflies. However, my daughters encouraged and guided me down the ladder and into the bay where the water was most shallow, calm, and nice. I sat myself on the sandbar in the shallow water, relaxed, and enjoyed the scenery.

When lunch time rolled around our tour guide beckoned us back into the boat,

...where the crew had grilled us up a batch of yummy burgers - including meatless burgers for the vegetarians on board - accompanied by baked beans, salad and chips, with cookies and pineapples for dessert. It did hit the spot, and there were plenty of left-overs for those who wanted seconds.

After lunch we sailed out to a reef for snorkeling. My daughters, who were among the snorkelers, said that this reef was the most colorful, most beautiful reef they'd ever seen. When the snorkelers came back on board there was coffee, tea and hot chocolate waiting, prepared by the staff.
We then sailed around Kane'ohe Bay,

...with our guide pointing out sights of interest,

...such as a turtle playground,

...the cone-shaped island of Mokoli'i, also known locally as Chinaman's Hat,

...and Kualoa Ranch, used as a filming site for numerous movies, most famously for Jurassic Park.

At the end of our Kane'ohe Bay picnic sail, Captain Bob's bus returned us back over the Ko'olau Range,

...to Honolulu.
That evening we had dinner on post at Bibas, located in the courtyard of the Hale Koa.

...where one can eat outdoors,

...or, as we preferred, indoors,

...and where the food is so good.

For dessert, however, we strolled over to Happy's,

...for slices of their sublime cheesecake,

...and coconut cake.

We then walked down to the beach to watch the sunset,

...the perfect end to a beautiful day.

To be continued...

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An Easter Birthday; No Egg Hunt, But A Hunt For A Hat And A Restaurant

5/5/2026

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An Easter Birthday; No Egg Hunt, But A Hunt For A Hat And A Restaurant

...Continued from previous post:
The following day, April 5, was Easter Sunday. I woke up at 4:40 am and left a surprise for my young relatives outside their door: three Easter baskets I had put together the night before, each filled with candy, jewelry, a stuffed animal and a gift card.
At 5:15 am Tom and I walked into downtown Waikiki, then continued for a mile and a half up Kalakaua Avenue, so peaceful and quiet in the dark pre-dawn.

Our destination was St. Augustine by the Sea church for the 6:00 am Easter Mass.

The church was decorated with kāhili, or Hawaiian feather standards, staffs that are traditional symbols of the ali'i, or Hawaiian royalty.

When we left the church the sun had risen,

...and Kalakaua Avenue was already alive as we walked among the folks out and about at 7 am on this beautiful Easter Sunday morning in Waikiki.

This day was also the birthday of one of our young relatives. During breakfast at Koko's,

...one of the servers noticed us celebrating the birthday girl, and he made up a little birthday cake for her from muffins, whipped cream and fruit loops, and led the restaurant in a round of "Happy Birthday."

Later that morning some of the family went out banana boating - a recreational activity which, as I understand it, involves being fast-towed along in a banana-shaped raft until everybody falls off. Or something like that. Much fun, I hear, for those who enjoy that sort of venture.
I, however, opted to walk with one of my daughters into downtown Waikiki.

My daughter wanted to bring back a Hawaiian print cap for a friend, so we set out on a hat hunt.
We wandered up Kalakaua Street, popping into the ABC stores,

...as well as the 123 Waikiki Mart, which looked to be a wannabe cousin of the ABC stores,

...San Lorenzo Bikinis,

...the Target at the International Market Place,

...and a few of the other ABC-esque stores along the way which, while dovetailed with the high end stores, are legion.

When my daughter had narrowed her choices down to her top three, we decided to head over to the Royal Hawaiian Center, where we took the escalator up to the Pa'ina Lanai food court,

...so that she could think it over while we split a cheeseburger and fries from the Mahaloha Burger,

...which makes the world's best burger, nestled in a soft, buttery bun and accompanied by the crispiest of French fries.

After lunch we walked over to Duke's Alley, a not-easy-to-find-if-you-don't-know-about-it passageway off Kalakaua Street hidden between two buildings where there is a vast outdoor market of individual vendors who sell handmade jewelry, locally made crafts, Hawaiian clothing, and all sorts of Island souvenirs.

Ultimately my daughter, unable to decide which hat she preferred to buy for her friend, just bought all three. (All of which her friend loved).

Now, the plan was that, in honor of our young celebrant's special day, we would have a birthday dinner that evening at the Cheesecake Factory on Kalakaua Avenue. We likewise invited a friend of our young relative and the friend's parents, who, by happy coincidence, were currently staying next door to the Hale Koa at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. With the eight members of our group and the three invited friends, that made eleven of us.
We had called for a reservation but were told that place didn't take reservations for parties over six - which seemed rather counterintuitive to me, but whatever - so we decided to go early in hopes of avoiding a gargantuan wait.
However, though we arrived at 4:30 pm, we could see that the interior of the restaurant was already crowded with diners and the line to sign up for a table was out to the street. It occurred to me even then that, with eleven of us, dinner at the Cheesecake Factory might not be written in the stars.
When we reached the host station we were told that our wait would likely be a couple of hours. The sympathetic host explained that, this being Easter Sunday, they were busier than usual with lots of big groups. In other words, everybody had the same idea as we did. We took vote and unanimously decided to try our luck elsewhere.
But where were we going to find a table for eleven on this day when every other tourist in Waikiki was probably also out looking for a table?
One of my daughters took on the task of googling and calling around to hunt us down a restaurant. After a couple of tries and fails she found a place that had space for all elven of us, a pizza place a few blocks away off Kalakaua Avenue called Appetito Craft Pizza and Wine Bar.

Mayhaps not the first choice location for a kid's birthday dinner, but, hey, we figured there'd be pizza. And seats for eleven.
Which there were, except that our seats weren't all together. Still, we were grateful to the staff who kindly squeezed us into their crowded restaurant without an advance reservation on a busy holiday. And it was, in fact, a nice place with a friendly staff,

..and good food.
I had the Homemade Bolognese with Pappardelle, which was quite yummy,

...while among the others at my table, some had pizza which I was glad I didn't order since I don't like the burned spots known in the nomenclature as "char" (see post from 4/7/2026, https://www.ailantha.com/blog/so-is-burned-pizza-a-thing), though those who ordered the pizza liked it,

...and others had the salmon.

Apparently someone passed it along to the staff that there was a birthday girl in the house, as a server bought out to her table a beautiful little square of cake with six spoons so that everyone at her table could have a taste.

And, of course, we all sang another round of "Happy Birthday."
To be continued...

3 Comments

The Arrival Of The Ohana

5/1/2026

5 Comments

Books by Patti Liszkay available on Amazon:
"Equal And Opposite Reactions"   http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
   "Hail Mary"    https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
"Tropical Depression"       https://www.amzn.com/B0BTPN7NYY

The Arrival Of The Ohana

...Continued from yesterday:
Ohana is Hawaiian for family, and on Friday, April 3, some of Tom's and my ohana began arriving in Honolulu to spend a week with us at the Hale Koa.
First to arrive in the afternoon were two of our daughters, whom we picked up at the Honolulu airport,

...then drove back to Waikiki. I've always loved the section of the road from the airport that passes by the mountains.

That evening we walked next door to the Hilton Hawaiian Village,

...where we ate at the Blue Water Shrimp, a short-order eatery,

...with the cutest dining area,

...and the best food.
Among us we had the garlic shrimp,

...the garlic shrimp and steak,

...the salmon,

...and the cheese quesadilla,

...served with a mountain of sweet potato fries.

Afterwards we walked towards downtown Waikiki,

...to a little hidden gem of a shave ice stand, the Niihau,

...apparently named after Ni'ihau, the Forbidden Island, most western of the Hawaiian islands, where visitors are forbidden and the 100 or so residents, the last descendants of the islands' original Polynesians, value their privacy, speak Hawaiian, and keep their island as a refuge for native birds, wildlife and Hawaiian culture.
Here is a view of Ni'ihau, which is 17 miles off the coast of the island of Kauai, from the beach cottage where Tom and I stayed in April of 2015 on the Barking Sands naval base (see post from 4/10/2015, https://www.ailantha.com/blog/two-hikers-in-search-of-a-trail) .

The Niihau shave ice stand, however, was very welcoming to us tourists,

...though folks were required to order at the door,

...then stand back and wait until our shave ices were brought out to us.

Though we'd all ordered "Keiki's" - child sizes - our shave ices were enormous,

...and oh, so delicious, topped with a condensed milk blend called a snow cap.

We then walked back through the park to the Hale Koa,

...where our daughters were happy to turn in for the evening.
The next round of relatives, who were supposed to arrive in the the evening of Friday, April 3, arrived at the Hale Koa at 1:30 am on Saturday April 4, their plane having been delayed.
Later that morning, while the late arrivals slept in, those who arrived the previous day enjoyed their first Koko's buffet breakfast of the season (see post from 4/22/2026, https://www.ailantha.com/blog/in-search-of-a-suitcase-part-2).

After everyone was up and ready to start the day, we went to Snorkel Bob's, the Honolulu snorkeling gear Mecca, to pick up the gear that I had reserved a few months ago for those of us who planned to snorkel.

This, of course, did not include myself, as I tried snorkeling one time a few years ago at Hanauma Bay and lasted a little under five minutes. Turned out that I couldn't stand putting my face underwater even with a mask, I don't even like being in water, and being that close to live fish gave me the creeps, even the beautiful exotic fish swimming among the coral reefs.

But, as always, I was happy to let every one else enjoy mingling with the beautiful exotic fish.
Sadly, there had been heavy, windy rain storms in Hawaii the week before we arrived, and so there was so much residual turbulence of the sand and sea water that the snorkeling this year, according to those who participated, was not the best.
By Saturday afternoon the final round of our visiting ohana arrived, so that there were eight of us at the Hale Koa.
After lunch at Happy's, where Tom had the seafood salad,

...and I had the delectable veggie wrap,

...the young folks headed down to the beach.

That evening we all walked into downtown Waikiki,

...for dinner at the Pa'ina Lanai food court at the Royal Hawaiian Center.

After dinner we joined the Saturday night strollers for a while,

...then we returned to the Hale Koa.

To be continued...

5 Comments

The Dress In The PX Window

4/28/2026

16 Comments

Books by Patti Liszkay available on Amazon:
"Equal And Opposite Reactions"   http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
   "Hail Mary"    https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
"Tropical Depression"       https://www.amzn.com/B0BTPN7NYY

The Dress In The PX Window

...Continued from previous post:
Soon after we arrived at the Hale Koa I saw this sundress in the Post Exchange window display.

The Post Exchange, otherwise known as the PX, is a mini-department/grocery store where military folks stationed on post can find all sorts of necessities.

As soon as I saw this dress in the PX window I felt that it was a necessity, though I couldn't say why I needed to have it. Except that I liked it. But is liking needing?
After a few minutes of cogitating over the problem, I came up with a solution: I needed this dress because, though I'd brought my bathing suit on this trip, I didn't bring along a swim cover to wear over it on my way to the beach or the pool. Never mind that I just about never get into the water (see post from 5/9/2025, https://www.ailantha.com/blog/water-water-everywhere-but-i-dont-like-to-swim).
But what if this time I decided to? Why, I'd need a swim cover. (And, okay, I might wear the dress other times, too).
So I went into the PX to buy my sundress.
But, though I roamed through all the racks of dresses, there was not another of the exact dress that was on the mannequin in the window. There was a white dress with red flowers and a white dress with blue flowers, but not another pale yellow dress with magenta flowers.
I went to the check out and asked the clerk if there was, by chance, another of the same dress as was on display in the window. The friendly clerk told me that there was not, but if I wanted the dress that was in the window, I should just go ahead and take it off the mannequin.
"Oh, thanks," I said. I thought a moment. "Should I, um, put another dress on the mannequin?"
The clerk thought a moment. "Um, sure," they said.
So I picked out what I considered to be the second prettiest dress among the selections, the white dress with the red flowers. I then proceeded to window dress the mannequin.

For never having window-dressed a mannequin before, I thought my effort was not half bad.

Nor was it all that good.
I could not get the bodice straight across the shoulders, no matter how I yanked and pulled.

Every time I passed the PX window I zeroed in on that aggravatingly crooked bodice. On two occasions I even popped back into the store and endeavored to straighten out the shoulder line, but to no avail.
Then, on our last day in Hawaii, in the PX window where the white dress with the red flowers had been, I saw this:

I expect that some one must have seen that white and red dress, liked it and bought it, crooked presentation and all.
I wonder if they redressed the mannequin?
To be continued...

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My 2026 Commencement Speech

In South Bay L.A. The Parts Are Greater Than The Sum Of The Whole

In South Bay L.A. The Parts Are Greater Than The Sum Of The Whole

Cashing In At The ABC Store

The Bishop Museum And The Historical Hotels Of Waikiki

It's Always A Little Sad When The Ohana Leaves

Duckling 911

Duckling 911

Ahu O Laka, The Kane'ohe Sandbar

Ahu O Laka, The Kane'ohe Sandbar

An Easter Birthday; No Egg Hunt, But A Hunt For A Hat And A Restaurant

An Easter Birthday; No Egg Hunt, But A Hunt For A Hat And A Restaurant

The Arrival Of The Ohana

The Arrival Of The Ohana

The Dress In The PX Window

The Dress In The PX Window

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​In South Bay L.A. The Parts Are Greater Than The Sum Of The Whole

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Archives

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In South Bay L.A. The Parts Are Greater Than The Sum Of The Whole

Duckling 911

Ahu O Laka, The Kane'ohe Sandbar

An Easter Birthday; No Egg Hunt, But A Hunt For A Hat And A Restaurant