Ailantha
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact

My 2022 Commencement Speech

5/29/2022

1 Comment

 

Books By Patti Liszkay
Available On Amazon

Picture
​"Equal and Opposite Reactions" http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
and the sequel, "Hail Mary" https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
​Available on Amazon.


​MY 2022 COMMENCEMENT SPEECH

Picture
​      Once again graduation weekend is upon us, and so once again it's time for me to give my yearly Commencement Speech in which I offer graduates a few words of worldly wisdom and advice to help them along their way on subjects that might not be covered by the keynote speakers at their commencement ceremonies.
     And so, for all the new grads out there, here it is, my 2022 Commencement Speech:


     1. Try not to be an "oughtacrat," always telling people how you think they ought to do things, or an "I'dacrat," always telling people what you'd have done in their situation. (See post from 8/5/2014, "A tale of two 'Crats" https://www.ailantha.com/blog/a-tale-of-two-crats​ ).
Picture
     
​      2. Always keep a flashlight, candles, and matches on hand  - 
and easy to find in the dark - in case the electricity goes off.
Picture
​    
​    3. When loading the dishwasher, put all the spoons together in one compartment, all the forks in another, and all the knives in another.  Putting them away will be much faster.
Picture
​   
​     4. If your calling in life is be an artist, writer, composer, photographer, performer, or any other kind of creative, by all means follow your calling; 
Picture
...​but plan on having another job to support yourself, as 90% of the world's creatives do. (And remember that Stephen King couldn't afford to quit his day job until after his second best-seller).

      5. Whenever you have an overnight houseguest make sure you have an extra toothbrush on hand in case they forget theirs.      
Picture
 
​     6. There's a difference between what people think and how people feel. Care a lot about people's feelings.
 
Picture
     ​Care about what people think, too, but not too much.
Picture

​    7. Whenever you buy a batch of berries, wash the fruit before you put it into the refrigerator. That way you won't have to wash a few at a time every time you want to eat some.
Picture

     ​8. Pour a little watermelon juice into your iced tea. It's naturally sweet and delish.
Picture
 
     9. Cut up the plastic soda bottle holders so that animals don't get themselves stuck in the circles
Picture
​    10. If you slather raspberry jam on a slice of white bread, fold it in half and use your imagination it tastes kind of like a jelly donut.
Picture
​   
     11.  If you find a pair of shoes you love, buy several pairs because when you want to replace those favorite of favorite shoes there's a good chance that exact shoe will no longer exist.
Picture

​    12.Remember that your problems aren't necessarily everybody else's.
Picture
     
​     13.  "Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity" - Simone Weil
Picture
   
    14. No matter what occupation or endeavor you might be pursuing, always remember that being nice covers a lot of sins.
Picture
     
​  Best Wishes, Class of 2022!
Picture
1 Comment

The Land Of The Unfree And The Home Of The Greedy

5/27/2022

0 Comments

 

Books By Patti Liszkay
​Available On Amazon

Picture
"Equal and Opposite Reactions" http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
and the sequel, "Hail Mary" https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
​Available on Amazon.


​THE LAND OF THE UNFREE AND THE HOME OF THE GREEDY

Picture
....Continued from previous post:
         Mass shootings are the scourge of this country. But the ruthless trajectory of this horrific  scourge could be changed. It could be changed in a day. Our Congress could immediately pass legislation banning assault rifles. As with tobacco and alcohol, they could raise minimum age to purchase a firearm to twenty-one. As with buying and driving an automobile, they could require a license and registration. They could regulate the transfer of firearms at gun shows. They could expand background checks and "Red Flag" laws for individuals wishing to purchase firearms. They could outlaw "ghost" guns.
         They could do all of the above. Or even a few of the above. Or even one of the above. They could do it in a day.
         That is to say, they could do it if not for an enormous obstacle in the way. I'm not talking about the Second Amendment to our United States Constitution,
​
Picture
...since the U.S. Constitution, like the Bible,
Picture
​...can be interpreted any way one wishes to interpret it.
​      Nor am I talking about the will of the American people, as a strong majority of Americans favor stricter guns control laws with over 90% supporting universal background checks for all gun sales.
        No, the obstacle to ending the scourge of gun violence in this country is higher than a mile-high mountain and wider than a mile-thick concrete wall:  It's greed. Massive greed.
      It's the greed of lawmakers who line their pockets with money from the National Rifle Association lobby. Look at the kind of money Republican members of the Senate have received and continue to from the NRA since taking office:


  • Mitt Romney (Utah) $13,647,676
  • Richard Burr (North Carolina) $6,987,380
  • Roy Blunt (Missouri) $4,555,722
  • Thom Tillis (North Carolina) $4,421,333
  • Marco Rubio (Florida) $3,303,355
  • Joni Ernst (Iowa) $3,124,773
  • Rob Portman (Ohio) $3,063,327
  • Todd C. Young (Indiana) $2,897,582
  • Bill Cassidy (Louisiana) $2,867,074
  • Tom Cotton (Arkansas) $1,968,714
  • Pat Toomey (Pennsylvania) $1,475,448
  • Josh Hawley (Missouri) $1,391,548
  • Marsha Blackburn (Tennessee) $1,306,130
  • Ron Johnson (Wisconsin) $1,269,486
  • Mitch McConnell (Kentucky) $1,267,139
  • Mike Braun (Indiana) $1,249,967
  • John Thune (South Dakota) $638,942
  • Shelley Moore Capito (West Virginia) $341,738
  • Richard Shelby (Alabama) $258,514
  • Chuck Grassley (Iowa) $226,007
  • John Neely Kennedy (Louisiana) $215,788
  • Ted Cruz (Texas) $176,274
  • Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) $146,262
  • Steve Daines (Montana) $123,711
  • Cindy Hyde-Smith (Mississippi) $109,547
  • Roger Wicker (Mississippi) $106,680
  • Rand Paul (Kentucky) $104,456
  • Mike Rounds (South Dakota) $95,049
  • John Boozman (Arkansas) $82,352
  • John Cornyn (Texas) $78,945
  • Ben Sasse (Nebraska) $68,623
  • Jim Inhofe (Oklahoma) $66,758
  • Lindsey Graham (South Carolina) $55,961
  • Mike Crapo (Idaho) $55,039
  • Jerry Moran (Kansas) $34,718
  • John Barrasso (Wyoming) $26,989
  • John Hoeven (North Dakota) $22,050
  • Susan Collins (Maine) $19,638
  • James Lankford (Oklahoma) $18,955
  • Jim Risch (Idaho) $18,850
  • Tim Scott (South Carolina) $18,513
  • Kevin Cramer (North Dakota) $13,255
        Of the most recent mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, where nineteen elementary school children and two teachers were killed, here is what some of the above Republican Senators had to say:
Picture
​     Mitch McConnell: “Horrified and heartbroken by reports of the disgusting violence directed at innocent school kids in Uvalde, Texas. The entire country is praying for the children, families, teachers, and staff and the first responders on the scene.”
​
Picture
​ Marsha Blackburn: “Horrified and heartbroken to learn of the significant loss of life in the shooting in Uvalde, Texas. Please join me in lifting their loved ones up in prayer. Thank you to the local first responders working on the scene.”
​
Picture
​Ron Johnson: “There are no adequate words to express the horror at Robb Elementary. “My sincere condolences to these families. Something this horrific, children being slaughtered in their school, it does not get worse than this."
​

Picture
  Ted Cruz: "Heidi and I are lifting up in prayer the entire Uvalde community during this devastating time and we mourn the lives that were taken by this act of evil."  
​
​

Picture
  Mitt Romney (who has raked in by far the most money from the NRA, over 13.6 million dollars): "Grief overwhelms the soul. Children slaughtered. Lives extinguished. Parents' hearts wrenched. Incomprehensible. I offer prayer and condolence but know that it is grossly inadequate. We must find answers."

       Mitt Romney is right. The drivel drenched in corn syrup that he and his fellow NRA money-addicted senators offered is grossly inadequate to the parents, grandparents, siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles, spouses, friends, classmates, and acquaintances of the children and teachers who bled to death crying in terror on that classroom floor. And he's also right that we must find answers. 
        So I have one for him: 
       The problem of mass gun violence in this country is primarily a mental health problem. It's the mental sickness
of massive greed among too many of our legislators fed by a crippling addiction to National Rifle Association money. These NRA money addicts may well feel deep sorrow over the death by gun shot wounds of the children and teachers in Texas and they may well be praying sincerely and fervently for the dead and the living. But they are addicts, and so have no choice but to keep in the good graces of their dealer, the gun industry, to be assured their fix. To an addict the fix comes first and foremost.
       And and so our greed-sickened, addicted members of Congress will sit tight and spout drivel and shuffle and tap dance and protect the gun industry until the outcry over this most recent mass shooting dies down and the public demand for gun law reform fades as it always does. Then they'll continue to block any laws that would prevent guns from getting into the wrong hands and they'll promote laws that will assure that more guns will be sold to anybody and everybody and more money will roll in for members of the gun industry and from the gun industry to them and God will be in His heaven and all will be right with the world.
Picture
      If we were a pro-life country, if we cared enough about the sanctity of life of our brothers and sisters from cradle to grave, we'd vote out of office the greed-afflicted, NRA money-addicted lawmakers.
         Sadly, for being  the richest country in the world, life here is cheap.
Picture
References:
1. ​https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/3500861-majority-in-new-poll-favors-stricter-gun-control-measures/

2. https://www.newsweek.com/republican-senators-nra-funding-texas-school-shooting-uvalde-1710332
0 Comments

We Are Not The Land Of The Free

5/25/2022

0 Comments

 

Books By Patti Liszkay
​Availlable On Amazon

Picture
​"Equal and Opposite Reactions" http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
and the sequel, "Hail Mary" https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
​Available on Amazon.

​
​WE ARE NOT THE LAND OF THE FREE

Picture
        We do not live in the land of the free. Of this we are reminded on a regular basis. We are reminded, lest we forget, that we are not free anywhere in this country, from sea to shining sea, to go to the movies, to go shopping, to go to work, to go to a concert, to go to a place of  worship, to go to any public place at all without fear of being  shot or killed in a random mass shooting.
       We live in mortal fear for our children and grandchildren, knowing that they could leave for school one morning and never again come home to us because, for all the safety precautions, school guards and fortifications in place in American schools these days, any sick kid with an assault rifle can still get into any school and kill or maim a dozen or more children and teachers and leave the rest grieving and emotionally scarred.     
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
​     The images leave us all grieving and emotionally scarred. And angry. And even more in the tyrannical grip of fear for ourselves and our children.
        Living in chronic fear and grieving...That's no way to live. And it's not freedom. It's living in a no-man's-land where the angriest, most dangerously deranged teen-aged boy or man can easily procure an assault rifle or two or ten. It's living in a place awash in guns,
Picture
...and tears,
Picture
...and the blood of men, women, and children. It's living in madness. 
          It's living in my country, the United States of America.
Picture
0 Comments

Monkey Pox??

5/23/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
​"Equal and Opposite Reactions" http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
and the sequel, "Hail Mary" https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
​Available on Amazon.


​MONKEY POX??

Picture
      Oh, please, please, please!
     The day before yesterday nobody had heard of monkeypox. Today it's all over the news that this rare disease, previously specific to Central and West Africa, has been spreading its way across England, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland Italy, Belgium, France, Israel, Australia, Canada and (gulp) the United States. 
      Oh please, please, please
, not a new pandemic, not when COVID is gearing up for another wave of attack!
      Is that possible? Could the planet really be hit with two awful pandemics at the same time?
     Of course, just because this rare virus that's never occurred outside of half a dozen countries in Africa has recently shown up in a dozen countries across the globe doesn't make it a pandemic.
    
Picture
​     Or does it? At what point does an outbreak cross over from outbreak status to pandemic status? X number of illnesses,  X number of hospitalizations, X number of deaths, now we've got a pandemic?
     Anyway, according to the CDC website, the signs and symptom of monkeypox are fever, headache, muscle aches, backache, swollen lymph nodes, chills, and exhaustion.
       But those symptoms are only the beginning. Within one to three days of the onset of the above symptoms, one breaks out in a rash of pustules - the CDC's word - often beginning on the face then spreading to other parts of the body. (If you look up Monkeypox on the web there are plethora of  pictures of monkeypox-inflicted skin. I opted not to post them here. If you look up the pictures, you'll understand why). 
      Also according to the CDC site, "
The illness typically lasts for 2−4 weeks. In Africa, monkeypox has been shown to cause death in as many as 1 in 10 persons who contract the disease." 1 in 10. That's ten percent. The world-wide death rate for COVID-19 is between one and two percent.
        The latest word from the World Health Organization is that the outbreak of monkeypox
appears to have been spread primarily among men who have sex with other men. 
        Not that this should be a consolation for those who might never find themselves involved in that sort of activity, as monkeypox is not a sexually transmitted disease per se, though it can be spread through bodily fluids. But it can also be spread through respiratory droplets (as in a cough or sneeze or shared breathing space), via a break (visible or invisible) in the skin, or through close contact with people, animals, or material infected with the virus. 
      According to Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former U.S. Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, “This is a virus that is super stable outside the human host, so it can live on objects like blankets and things like that.” 
​        Over the weekend President Biden said that everybody should be concerned about the spread of monkeypox.       
Picture
       Not to worry, Mr. President, I'm concerned as can be about the spread of monkeypox. Just tell me what to do to avoid catching it. Do I need to social distance? Wear a mask? Wear protective gloves in public? Fine, I'll do all those things to keep from getting monkeypox. Should I get a shot of monkeypox vaccine? Sure, I'll get it, why not? I've already gotten my flu shot, my shingles shot, my pneumonia shot, my COVID shot plus three boosters.
         I wonder if there's any blood left flowing in my vaccine stream.  ​
References:
1.https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/about.html


2.https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices/alert/monkeypox

3. https://www.who.int/emergencies/disease-outbreak-news/item/2022-DON385


4. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/23/monkeypox-outbreak-is-primarily-spreading-through-sex-who-officials-say.html
0 Comments

The Bug In My Blog

5/20/2022

1 Comment

 

Books By Patti Liszkay
Available On Amazon

Picture
​​"Equal and Opposite Reactions" http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
and the sequel, "Hail Mary" https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
​Available on Amazon.


​THE BUG IN MY BLOG

     There's a bug in my blog.
      I discovered the bug one day while I was scrolling back through my archives and noticed that in a post from February, 2020
 in which I described a dinner I had at a Chicago pizzeria, where there was supposed to be a photo of people sampling beers there was instead a photo of trees in my neighborhood that belonged in a different blog:
Picture
    A little farther down that same post there was a photo of me baking where there was  supposed to be a photo of my daughter and me walking around Chicago:
Picture
       I scrolled to the previous post about a couple of kind Chicagoans helping me with my luggage at the Metro station and discovered this photo of my sister baking in my kitchen:
Picture
         I began looking through random past posts and to my horror found:
​      
  This,  in a post on my niece's wedding where there was  supposed to be a picture of friends and family setting up for the ceremony:
Picture
...and this photo from a blog on the Columbus Franklin Park Conservatory that replaced the photo of the wedding party walking down the aisle:
Picture
...and these pictures in a post where pictures of my grandchildren's dog were supposed to be:
Picture
Picture
...and this picture that was from a blog about my granddaughters playing in my backyard stuck in a different blog next to a description of a Vegan Power Salad:
Picture
...and these pictures in a blog on my 50th high school reunion where pictures of my classmates were supposed to be:
Picture
Picture
Picture
       You get the picture. The messed-up picture.
       Frantic, I called my sister, who is a computer engineer. 
       "Sounds like your website's server has a corrupted disk," said my sister. This meant nada to me, except that I had no doubt that any disk that would wantonly mix up my photos and maliciously mess up my blog posts must have been corrupted. 
        My sister explained that this unscrupulous disk was randomly shuffling my pictures around, and likely wouldn't even drop the same picture in the same spot twice. 

         "What do I do?" I moaned.
       My sister suggested I contact my website server. Which I should have done right away, but didn't. I think I was afraid that if I contacted my web server - Weebly - they might tell me "Eh, tough luck" and then I'd be hopeless. So instead of doing the sensible thing - contacting Weebly - I kept sifting through old blogs, hoping to find evidence that the disk had rehabilitated itself. Instead I continued to find this sort of thing:
      On a blog about a demonstration in support of refugees:      
Picture
...on a blog I wrote about me trying to install a bidet I'd bought:
Picture
...on a blog where I had posted a photograph of a piece of paper I still had from my childhood on which I had written the Catholic Holy Days of Obligation:
Picture
...on a blog about a book talk I gave:
Picture
         I couldn't stand it.
     I contacted Weebly via a chat app on the website. The friendly tech knew exactly what my problem was. He informed me that in order to stop the picture-shuffling I needed to go through every blog and download every photograph to my computer. I then needed to give every down-loaded photo a name, save it with this name, then replace each photo on every blog with the re-named copy. Then the server would no longer confuse the pictures, as each one would have a different name.
          I kinda got what he was talking about. I asked him why I had to do this; was there some kind of bug in the server? He typed this answer:
​       
​"Yeah, actually we do have a bug on that, my advance team is working to fix that problem as soon is possible, but they just confirm me that you are not going to have any problem with what you are trying to do, as soon my advance team resolve this problem i can send you an email to let you know." 
          That was a couple of weeks ago, and I still haven't gotten the email announcing that Weebly has recovered from its bug. The server must have a case of long-haul disk corruption.
          In any case, I have since then been working backwards, going through every post from every month of every year, naming, saving, and re-posting every picture that is correct. I'll then have to go back and deal with all the pictures that are wrong, either replacing them with the correct pictures, if I can find the correct pictures from my old camera memory cards, or deleting them. 
          Since starting this gargantuan  project I've come to realize something kind of amazing: How many pictures I post. It's not uncommon to see that I've posted over fifty pictures on a blog. On some blogs I've posted over a hundred.
           So I have my work cut out for me, and even though my daughter Theresa is helping me when she can,       
Picture
...I expect I'll be slogging away at fixing my blog for the rest of my days.
      Anyway, the reason I'm sharing all this - well, besides that I share, you know, all kinds of things - is so that if someone goes back to look at an old blog post and sees a ridiculous photo that doesn't at all match the narrative, they'll know I'm not crazy. Just REALLY bugged.
1 Comment

A Visit To L.A., Then Back Home

5/17/2022

2 Comments

 

Books By Patti Liszkay
​Available On Amazon

Picture
​"Equal and Opposite Reactions" http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
and the sequel, "Hail Mary" https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
​Available on Amazon.

​
​A VISIT TO L.A., THEN BACK HOME

Picture
...Continued from previous post:
   
 On Saturday, April 16, Tom and I flew from Honolulu to Los Angeles to spend a week with our daughter, son-in-law, and grand daughters.
         The following day was Easter, which I expect was ​what gave me the idea to have for the girls, if not an Easter egg hunt, an Easter gift hunt. I wrapped about a dozen little gifts that I'd brought then hid them around the house for the girls to find.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
      The Easter gift hunt was a grand success.     
Picture
      In the afternoon we went to the nearby town of El Segundo to a pretty outdoor mall called The Point,
Picture
Picture
 ...where we joined the crowd out enjoying the sunshine, blue skies, and balmy weather.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
     We had lunch at a burger spot called Hopdaddy,
Picture
Picture
...where I had a kale salad topped with an outstanding burger cooked exactly the way I like it: as rare as is permitted by law.
Picture
     After lunch we drove back to Manhattan Beach where we took a stroll along the seaside walkway known as the Strand.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
      Among the scenery were some of the impressive homes along the Strand,
Picture
Picture
...and the cute neighborhoods of walking streets that run into the Strand.
Picture
     The next day, Monday, it was back to school, back to work, back to all the daily things,
Picture
...the ordinary things,
Picture
Picture
Picture
...that are, somehow, so dear.
Picture
Picture
     When the following Saturday rolled around it was back to the airport for Tom and I,
Picture
...then back home, 'til next time.
2 Comments

Aloha Hawai'i, Then On To More Sunshine

5/16/2022

4 Comments

 

Books By Patti Liszkay
​Available On Amazon

Picture
​​"Equal and Opposite Reactions" http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
and the sequel, "Hail Mary" https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
​Available on Amazon.

​
​ALOHA HAWAI'I, THEN ON TO MORE SUNSHINE

Picture
​...Continued from previous post:
     
On Thursday we were up before sunrise to drive to the eastern coast of the island, 
Picture
Picture
…for another visit to beautiful Lanikai Beach.  (See post from 4/25/2022, ​https://www.ailantha.com/blog/beautiful-lanikai-beach)
Picture
…where I once again left the swimming and snorkeling to the others while I waded in the surf and snapped the scenery.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
     On our way back to Honolulu we had to stop to take in the views from an overlook  along the highway.
Picture
Picture
Picture
      The following day, Friday, was our last day in O'ahu. Tom and I took a final walk into downtown Waikiki by way of the Maile Garden, one of the botanical gardens on the grounds of the Hale Koa that opens to Waikiki,
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
...the beach,
Picture
...then on to the city.
Picture
Picture
      This day we walked a mile and a half down Kalakaua Avenue,
Picture
Picture
Picture
...to Kūhiō Beach Park, a popular stretch of Waikiki Beach, 
Picture
...where the beach and the water were so crowded that I couldn't understand the attraction of the place,
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
...unless maybe for some folks the crowd is the attraction.
Picture
       However Romaine and Stanley, in searching out a spot for a final round of snorkeling, discovered Sans Souci Beach, just a half-mile past crowded Kūhiō Beach, where there were few people and, they said, the snorkeling was wonderful,  even better that day, they thought, than either Lanikai Beach or Shark's Cove.
Picture
      On Friday night we walked next door to the Hilton Hawaiian Village,
Picture
...for dinner at the Hatsuhana restaurant,
Picture
Picture
Picture
...where we had some great sushi.
Picture
Picture
...and fish.
Picture
Picture
      After dinner we took a last walk along the stretch of Waikiki that we came to think of as "our" beach.
Picture
...then once more around the grounds of the Hale Koa.
Picture
Picture
Picture
     The following morning, Saturday morning, April 16, Tom and I said our good-byes to Romaine and Stanley  then we joined those travelers saying their alohas to the Hale Koa.
Picture
Picture
Picture
    We said our alohas, too,
Picture
...then left for the Honolulu airport.
Picture
     But our aloha to Hawaii wasn't as sad as it might have been, since we were not flying straight home to Columbus, but would spend a week in Los Angeles, enjoying the beautiful sunshine there.
Picture
4 Comments

Ono Kine Grindz At The Honolulu Farmers' Market

5/12/2022

0 Comments

 

Enjoy the blog?

Picture

Check out the books!

Picture
​"Equal and Opposite Reactions" http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
and the sequel, "Hail Mary" https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
​Available on Amazon.

​
​ONO KINE GRINDZ AT THE HONOLULU FARMERS' MARKET

Picture
...Continued from previous post:
     On Wednesday evening we went to the Honolulu Farmers' Market on Ward Street in downtown Honolulu,
Picture
Picture
...where one could procure both fresh local produce,
Picture
Picture
Picture
....and fresh-cooked, interesting ono kine grindz,
Picture
...which is Hawaiian slang for delicious food.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
     Romaine and Stanley tried plates of spicy duck noodles and nachos,
Picture
...while Tom and I split a couple of soooo tasty roast beef sliders with hot, crispy seasoned fries.
Picture
Ono kine grindz, we all agreed.
0 Comments

The Kulu Kulu Honolulu Double Cream Puff

5/9/2022

0 Comments

 

Books By Patti Liszkay 
​Available On Amazon

Picture
​"Equal and Opposite Reactions" http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
and the sequel, "Hail Mary" https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
​Available on Amazon.


​THE KULU KULU HONOLULU DOUBLE CREAM PUFF

Picture
​...Continued from previous post:
     
On our last trip to Honolulu in 2019 I discovered the Royal Hawaiian Center food court in downtown Waikiki.
Picture
      What most interested me at the time about this food court was a little bakery called Kulu Kulu Honolulu  that displayed the most charming little pastries.
Picture
      Though I didn't manage to snag myself one of those pastries during that trip, I swore that if I ever returned to Honolulu I would.
       And on this trip I did. Multiple times.
     It was during our second week in Honolulu that Tom and I got into the custom, when there was time, of walking in the afternoon or evening from the Hale Koa into downtown Waikiki,
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
...where we re-discovered the food court at the Royal Hawaiian Center,
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
...and the Kulu Kulu Honolulu bakery,
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
...where we made the acquaintance of the Double Cream Puff.
Picture
     How do I begin to describe the gustatory wonder of this confection? 
Picture
      The puff pastry was light and tender, and the cream...ah, the cream! It was sweet and rich and at the same time light and silky. It made your taste buds sit up and take notice. It was the stuff of dreams.
       Which was what kept us going back to the Kulu Kulu Honolulu. 
Picture
0 Comments

The Waimea Botanical Gardens, Seven Brothers, And Shark's Cove

5/6/2022

0 Comments

 

Books By Patti Liszkay
​Available On Amazon

Picture
​"Equal and Opposite Reactions" http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
and the sequel, "Hail Mary" https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
​Available on Amazon.

​
​THE WAIMEA BOTANICAL GARDENS, SEVEN BROTHERS, AND SHARK'S COVE

Picture
...Continued from yesterday:
     
On Tuesday, April 12, we drove to the north end of the O'ahu to the Waimea Valley to visit the Waimea Botanical Gardens.
Picture
      The Visitors' Center,
Picture
Picture
...opened up to a trail that meandered through beautiful and lush tropical flora and fauna.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
     There were also facsimiles of village life as it would have been centuries ago on this part of the island.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
     The 3.5 mile trail - which seemed a fraction of the 1.6 mile Manoa Falls Trail we'd walked the day before (see previous post, https://www.ailantha.com/blog/the-manoa-falls-trail​) - ended at Waimea Falls, where, unlike at Manoa Falls, swimming was permitted in the pool at the base of the falls.
Picture
Picture
     As Waimea was only a couple of miles from Shark's Cove, the good snorkeling spot Tom and I had visited the previous week (see www.ailantha.com/blog/sharks-cove-oahu), we decided to go there after we finished seeing the botanical gardens.
​      But first we wanted to seek out some lunch. This tuned out to be more of a challenge than we'd anticipated, as this was a rather rural area with little commercial activity.
       However after driving around for a bit we caught sight set back off the road of a little cluster of eateries around a picnic area.

Picture
Picture
      We opted for a promising-looking burger place called Seven Brothers
Picture
Picture
Picture
     I ordered an intriguing-sounding menu offering: A giant onion ring over half an avocado, mushrooms and melted Swiss cheese with house dressing.
Picture
Picture
     It was really good, and the French-fired potato slices were out-of-this world. The only problem was that I couldn't open my mouth wide enough to accommodate this mélange of a sandwich, so I had to go back to the counter and ask for some silverware. But that was a good problem. 
​      After our delicious lunch we headed for Shark's Cove where the swimmers did some great snorkeling, 
Picture
...while I snapped some great shots.
Picture
Picture
Picture
      In the late afternoon we headed back through the Waimea Valley to Honolulu,
Picture
...and the Hale Koa, 
Picture
Picture
...where we opted for dinner at Happy's,
Picture
...topped off by a nice walk around the grounds.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
0 Comments
<<Previous
    Picture
    "Tropical Depression" 
    by Patti Liszkay
    ​Buy it on Amazon:

    https://www.amzn.com/1685131832

    Picture
    "Hail Mary"
    by Patti Liszkay
    Buy it on Amazon:

    https://www.amzn.com/1684334888

    Picture
    "Equal And Opposite Reactions"
     by Patti Liszkay
    Buy it on Amazon:

    http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
    or from
    The Book Loft
    of German Village,
    Columbus, Ohio
    Picture
    Or check it out at the Columbus Metropolitan Library
    Picture

    Archives

    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013

    RSS Feed

    I am a traveler just visiting this planet and reporting various and sundry observations,
    hopefully of interest to my fellow travelers.

    Categories

    All


























































































Proudly powered by Weebly