Words Of Whimsy

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What I love about Fall...

Well I am feeling the familiar feelings that come with Fall.  Other than Summer it is probably my most favorite season.  I LOVE the color, it is one of my favorite times to photograph Nature, all the leaves and trees and changing colors I try so hard to capture the beauty I see with my camera.  Ever since I was a kid I have collected leaves, I still do when I go on walks with Sophie...not sure how many books around my house  I have with pretty delicate leaves pressed between wax paper and paper towels in them, as if I could capture the still beauty in the moment they fell from the tree.  Try as I might, I never really do, but something about picking the leaves up and taking them home with me and bringing that little bit of firey color inside to savor warms my heart.  I LOVE trees and in the fall when they are so flaming with color in their transition about to shed their leaves for the long winter is when I love them best and feel the strongest affinity with them. 

I love Fall for all that it brings, for me it is about:

*digging out my hats and scarves and mitts (many knit by the knitting Goddess Heidi of Heidis Hats ~You can find her lovely things at

Union Rose: Locally made goods, beautifully designed in Portland, Oregon )

Drinking Hot Spiced Cider

cozy nights on the couch with a fire and a good tv show

Good hot soup ( I am SO SAD my favorite soup cafe the Blue Moose on NE Fremont Just closed...anybody have other suggestions for great soup places)

Reconnecting with friends I haven't seen in a long time...I am a Football widow, Frankie is GLUED to the TV on Monday nights,  so I want to make Monday night my night to go have dinner with a friend each week, it helps get me out of the house, reconnect with people, try new places to eat, and I am loving Facebook for helping reconnect me with so many peeps I haven't seen in so long!  If you want to go have dinner or coffee or a cocktail let me know!

So those are some of the wonderful things I love about Fall...What do you love about Fall?

Trying to learn the mechanics of posting some things...

I worked really hard and created a great slide show of our recent trip to Maui and have tried to post it here for you all to just click on...from what I can tell that hasn't quite worked...BUT what has worked is the the link just below all this if you CUT and paste it into your browser it will take you to the slide show!  I hope you enjoy it very much and I would appreciate your comments...especially if you all have travelled the infamous Road to Hana and took the BACK ROAD all the way around the Island!  What an Adventure.  Kind of like being on the Indiana Jones Ride at Disney Land minus the boulder for like THREE HOURS!!!  Oh but it WAS breathtakingly beautiful! Mahalo and Aloha Becky

Becky and Frankie in Maui

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Mahalo from Maui day 5...

Oh my gosh I am supposed to fit EVERYTHING back into my bag and make it weigh less than 50 pounds in just a little more than 2 days, I am sure I bought more than 4 ounces in souvenirs, the pineapple vodka and chocolate covered Macadamia Nuts alone will weigh more than that!...we leave Early Sunday morning and after upgrading to first class coming we will try to do the same to get back home. Then we can take an extra bag for Free *the ONLY free thing on this trip, believe me.

Every Vacation I go on, I think "THIS is the BEST VACATION EVER" well, I think maybe I am truly right.  We found the MOST perfect place to stay and they literally have everything you need if you just look in the closet.  I mean we do have a Private Turtle Bay to snorkle in right outside our door and the Turtles are awesome and the owners Jerry and Jeffery even have an Underwater camera here for us to use. Though we did see the Turtles yesterday, the waves were quite strong and nearly knocked Frankie off the ladder and me off the rock and man you can get Sand in the worst places here....Hopefully I won't be bringing any home!!!

Our Snorkeling Trip to Molekini and Lanaii were PICTURE POSTCARD PERFECT and about 2 pods of 30 or so Bottle nose Dolphins joined us on the ride home.  We chose to go on  a Pacific Whale Foundation Tour (a non-profit group that does research to save our oceans and all the proceeds of our trip goes right back to them) the tour was full of wonderful  lessons on the Island, types of Fish, the reef etc and one wonderful Goddess on crew named Alana even dove down and got my RENTED underwater camera for me when it slipped off my wrist.  If you go to Hawaii and go on a Snorkeling Excursion, go with the Pacific Whale Foundation, the Boats are amazing, the crew so nice, the $$$ goes to a good cause, I can't say enough. Oh except SLATHER the BACK of your legs DOUBLE with sunscreen or you will FRY!!! They even provide REEF SAFE sunscreen for you and use all recyclable paper plastic products on board.

Boy when people said it was EXPENSIVE here that is NO JOKE... I spent 50 cents plus 2 cents TAX on a glass of ice water at a gas station.  The gas is $3.71 a gallon, Our first Cheeseburger Lunch was OUTRAGEOUS at over $50!!!!  So we have been looking on the CHEAP FOOD sites a lot since.  Last nite we ate at the Aloha Plate Cafe (next to the The Lahaina Luau) and the food was Excellent, affordable and the view postcard perfect.  Did I mention how GLAD I am I quit smoking 3 years ago...I about CHOKED at the cost here..$8.91 a PACK and $83.95-$87.99 a carton  BEFORE TAX!!!! That should be enough to make you quit on the spot!  Plus you can't smoke within 20 feet of a public space here so we have seen only a handful of smokers anywhere, it has been so nice!!!  When we went to leave the Luau he said our parking for 3 hours was going to be $20 then when I said we were at the Luau it only cost $2!  Nothing is cheap here!  After the snorkle trip I spent $6 on an Ice cream cone that attacked me when it melted so fast and then blew all over me in the wind..not pretty!

So far the most perfect Sunset was our first night and then the Rainbow I wished for came Tuesday morning just before our heavenly massages.  We had two wonderful massage therapists come to our condo and set up HOT STONES and all and give us 90 minute massages to the tune of the OCEAN as our back drop...yep pretty much HEAVEN!!!!  If you want a massage in Hawaii and you are staying someplace nice enough with a view have them come to you, price is affordable and the service so much personable and you can go shower and just be at home when they are done!

TODAY..we take the long drive to Hana and I am looking forward to that as I have heard it is so beautiful and I want to see the waterfalls etc. We are getting up at 5:00 (well Frankie is, I have been up since 3:30am (that is 7:30 Portland time)to hit the roads before Traffic.  We saw kids lined up for the school bus at 6:00 am the other day!!!

Well I hope you all are enjoying the pictures I have posted on facebook from my phone and here are some from my big camera on my computer....

We will be home LATE on Sunday and SOMEHOW I have to go to work on Monday ... i will be tired  but happy to see my residents! Thanks for all your comments and enjoy the tales of our vacation to Maui!

Aloha, Becky

Day one in Maui

Well we made it on first class as many of you know from my Facebook post and after being served bottomless coctails and iced water and DELICIOUS COFFEE in REAL GLASSES and have glass noodle sald with shrimp, salmon with mango rice and vanilla bean ice cream and fresh berries for dessert and then a nice hot towel at the end of the flight..oh yesh did I mention the free Dig E player full of entertainment and YES the seats really are that much bigger!  My gawd it will be hard to go back to coach after that treat.

Anyhow we had nearly a 6 hour flight and then we picked up our convertable Mustang and got a little lost trying to find Safeway.  Luckily driving on Maui is NOTHING like driving in LA and we knew were close and eventually found it.   We got all our food stuff and the sweet produce guy even picked me out and cut up my pineapple for me..it is so good!  Speaking of good they served POG juice on the plane (passion fruit, orange and Guava) and I got Pineapploe Vodka to mix in it...I have found my cocktail of choice for the week! SO GOOD!

Our Condo is awesome and tonight we saw the most spectacular sunset..I will post pix soon check Facebook too) We also saw two huge turtles swimming in our little Turtle Bay in front of the Condo that was SO COOL!  Just as my neighbor was about to go in for a swim a baby SHARK swam by and we both stopped and said"HEY WASN'T THAT A SHARK?" he decided not to go swimming after all and I headed for the pool!

The weather is in the upper 80's and MUGGY!  It was quite overcast when we got here and drizzled for about 9 seconds ! so luckily no rain yet.

It was warm so we took a short swim in the pool to cool down before bed and Frankie is now reading while I am blogging in the breezeway  and a couple 60+ guys are playing pingpong.

So far everyone has been incredibly friendly , the cost of everything is INSANE and I am even more grateful than ever that I am a non-smoker, I about choked when I saw a pack was $8.91 and a carton was $87.99 or $81.99 on SALE!!!!!!

Monday Morning is the Farmer's Market and checking out the local sights..Monday night is the Luau!  Pictures coming soon!

Hope you enjoy the blog updates!

Aloha~

Becky

Heading off to Maui

Well I leave soon for my much anticipated trip to Maui.  The bag is packed and after several attempts and taking several things out it now weighs exactly 48.8 pounds.  Wow...I can bring a souvenir home that ways 1.2 ounces exactly and I won't have to pay an extra $50!

 

I am not looking forward to the 5 hour flight..flying is not exactly one of my favorite things to do...BUT we have decided to upgrade to 1st class if we can since we got such a good seal on our tickets..so this will most likely be my one and only time in first class and I figure a long flight is the best time to do it!

 

We have scheduled a Luau and a someone to come to our condo and give us a hot stone massage and we are going on a 7 hour 3 stop snorkeling cruise and we plan to have a good time driving around in the Convertable Mustang and the rest of the trip is OPEN to see what the Island brings us...we are planning on geting up at the crack of dawn one morning to go watch the SunRISE over the crater as it is suppossed to be like meeting GOD or something incredibly AMAZING like that...all I know is I actually packed LONG UNDERWEAR, a turtleneck and a fleece hat for that trip as I guess it is quite cold up there..just doing what the BOOK says!  So hopefully I won't have wasted 2 pounds of souvenir space for nothing.

 

Well I wil either post pictures during the  trip or when I get home depending on what the mood strikes. 

Until then...

Aloha~

 

 

Good Morning!

It has been ages since I have last blogged...where does time go?  Hard to believe just a few months ago I was buried in snow in the worst snowstorm Portland had seen in years  and I was stuck at home looking for a job and now we are in a heat wave and I am working at a job I LOVE but alas..no AC!  The ebb and flow of time.  I enjoyed watching the Lunar eclipse on TV yesterday wishing we could have seen it in my part of the world, remebering the last time we had one here I was driving down 39th AVE (soon to be name Ceasar Chavez Blvd ~ a major busy st. in Portland, Or) and I pulled over into a parking lot with my funny glasses to watch the eclipse.  It seems Lunar eclipses make the world stop for a few moments..Sad we can't see them from everywhere on Earth. Hard to believe another won't come again in my lifetime they say.

I am enjoying the summer but watching it pass me by so quickly.  I am the Activities Director at Menlo Park health Care, a Skilled Nursing Facility in Portland and my job is to plan to the activities calendar so I have to plan AHEAD and it seems to make time go so much faster for me.  I am already planning the OCTOBER schedule and trying to think of how to find a group to sponsor us or who is willing to take on 60 residents and provide Christmas Gifts for them so my residents can have a good Holiday come December.  I guess the staff at a local Jail sponsored our facility a few years ago and each resident got a couple gifts wrapped and a Santa came and it was incredibly festive and fun and then they have had NOTHING for the past couple years..I want to really WOW them this year so I am starting to look NOW!!!  Anybody out there think their work facility or Church group might want to join together to take on 60 special need residents at a Skilled Nursing Facility to provide a Christmas for them?  If so please e-mail me at bbilyeu@eaglehealthcare,net and I would love to talk with you!!!

What have you all been doing with your Summer?  I am looking forward to ending my summer with a trip to Maui in early  September.  I haven't been in 30 years so it will feel like the first time I am sure.  It seems like so many people I know have gone there in the past year or so and have had an AMAZING time  so I am counting the days.

I have discovered the wonders of Facebook and spend most of my computer networking time there which has caused me to neglect my blog..I will try and do better and post more frequently here as well.

I have started a new weight loss/get the ole' bod healthy plan routine and now I work out at the gym at least 3  or 4 days at week at 5:30am and if I am not at the gym I am walking a mile with my sweet dog Sophie...who thinks she has died and gone to heaven!  She now waits at the door when I get up! :)  I also enrolled in a 5 week weight managment class and am feeling excited about the new changes in my life.

Hope all is well with you out there and you are having a great summer! It would be great to hear any comments as to what you are all doing or if you have any HOTSPOTS in Maui I should visit on my trip! :)

Over The Bridge Arts & Crafts Show~ Today 5/31 4-8pm

Mark your calendars for an afternoon/evening of art, food and music THIS SUNDAY at OVER THE BRIDGE ARTS & CRAFTS SHOW May 31,2009 4-8pm 6446 SW Capital HWY @ Capital Coffee House & Bistro..I will be selling my Photography and Photo Cards... and there will be a total of 20 Artisans selling and live music and food and drink. Bring your families and friends. I would LOVE to see some familiar faces and have the opportunity to show you my photography in person! come check it out! Hope to see you there!!