We can be cold here, like we want to be. We can climb a rain-battered tree halfway before sliding back to the ground. We can balance on wooden swings and look from the sand to the sea to the sky and not feel lost at all. We can be wet. We can talk about a cozy coffee house three thousand miles away, the one with the fireplace and the window seat, and we feel warm just talking about it. Almost.
"Life seems nothing more than a quick succession of busy nothings..." So says Fanny Price in the film adaption of "Mansfield Park." Very true, most of the time, but lately life has been a succession of busy somethings. Someone in my family came back this week from the Rockies, boasting about the snow and skiing and all that fun stuff we snow addicts don't want to hear about. But I am very happy about a new writing project I've started. For some time, I've been wondering about the world of Wordpress, but didn't know if I should change over or not. I finally decided to start a new blog, this time on Wordpress. My new blog is called "In Love with England" and is devoted to Anglophilia. I've been having a great time getting in touch with my English side. If you would like to join the ranks of the Anglophiles, or if you want to see how little it takes to get me excited, or if you are addicted to Jane Austen movies, please check out this link.
As for work, some new piano students are starting this week - little do they know what they are in for ... hahaha.... On the brighter side, my brand spanking new Dell laptop with a shiny black top, typeable keyboard, chargeable battery, and non-Vista operating system arrived last week, and I am very excited about it. I've been going through some cool photos I took over the last month and hope to share them with you soon. Below are a few of them - some "inspiring" mail boxes. I love how beachy they are... If mailboxes could ever enjoy being mailboxes and living lives of having bills shoved down their throats, these mailboxes would.
It has been said that the simple things are those that really matter. Well, my life has been a bit simple of late. Whether it has mattered is still undetermined. Music has been keeping me going lately. Piano lessons and choir class - seeing the kids get excited about music makes it all worth while. I actually broke out (not literally, of course) the grand old violin yesterday. We had a tender and touching, though a bit scratchy, reunion. Among other things that have been happening to me recently:
I accidentally closed a door on a baby gecko -without going into details, it was not a pretty sight.
A whale jumped out of the ocean today, just because I was there.
I discovered a rather fat rat in my garage - it was practically waddling away from me when I opened the door one night.
Despite a general indifference and lack of talent at scrapbooking, I learned how to decoupage a box. It was fun, plus I now have a new favorite word. Decoupage, decoupage, decoupage...
Spring is on its way... I think. Those of you on the mainland are probably waiting on the edge of your seats for the snow to stop and the sun to start shining again. Here in Hawaii, the winter is our rainy season. Despite some rainy afternoons and wet spells (and a case of acute thunderstorms last week), the sun has been smiling the last few days. The local plumeria graveyard...
...has sprouted a few blossoms...
I wish the internet had a scratch-and-sniff button so I could show you what Heaven smells like. Somebody please invent that.
As the seasons come and go, the sea always and never changes - it is always beautiful and never the same. The other day I watched as distant rain showers fell on the Pacific while the setting sun cast golden beams into the veiled horizon...
On a closing note, here's the latest from snowoholics anonymous:
If you know me at all, you know that I am a snow addict. Little did I realize when I moved to Hawaii that Snowoholics Anonymous has such a small attendance here. Not much moral support, if you know what I mean. But I find consolation my own way - it takes a bit of concentrated effort, but I'm happy to say that I've survived three years without the pleasures of frozen toes and snowy skies to brighten my day. My methods are perhaps out of the norm, and I rather think I am the only one in Hawaii who dares carry books with frosty titles (such as Snow,which I am currently perusing) to the beach on sunny days.
January is a very exciting time for snowoholics. The rush of Christmas is over and the world can settle in and wait for the snow. With all the recent snowpocalypses on the mainland, I feel a silent urge to be in the midst of it all. Snowboarding in Breckenridge - or ice skating in New York City - or even curling in Minnesota. If snow is somehow involved, I'm in. Too bad that bridge over the Pacific hasn't been built yet. My only release: the Winter X Games. As you may know, the X Games are the most Xciting, Xhilarating, Xtreme sports event on television. I realize I may have gotten a bit overexcited this year, especially since I got asked the question "What's with you and the X Games?" (as if I were dating them) and since I've been thinking in strange terminology lately (like, "so stoked to sit on this gnarly couch, watching sick tricks get stomped"). Healthy? Perhaps not, but in the long run, I feel like I've lived a little winter. Here's a clip of my favorite part of the X Games this year, when Torstein Horgmo landed a triple cork (first time ever in competition):
In case you've been wondering how the weather's like in Hawaii right now, don't ask. You don't want to know. All I can say is, I feel like I'm living in Jumanji. For instance, this is what the setting looks like:
But wait, there's more! Not only do you get the tropical lushness and equatorial sunshine, but order now and you will receive your choice of household slugs slogging down the hallway!
I actually thought this guy was sort of cute, but I still tossed him outside. No one wants to step on a slug with bare feet!
