Musings

And your tomorrow is my today. The promised palm trees!

We’re on the leeward side of the island. We found these grazing horses under steep volcanic slopes that were greener than I expected.

Oh great omen, the rainbow. Stubby but still a bow!

And the leeward side is the sunset side. And the sun’s getting low. This is the end of the road on the west coast.

And full sunset! A stunner! Another wonderful omen?

Totally slipped my mind on the last post: when we left the airport, we rode in a rental car. So yesterday: trains, a plane, a car, and several walks.

Posted at 2:21 AM | Comments Off on Almost unreal colors

Travel day, yuh. We walked to a bus station, took a bus to a train station, and this is on the train. So: bus; train.

Got off the train, checked bags, went through security, and got on the airport train. So: another train.

Then, from the international concourse: a flight.

Land ho! This is the roughly rectangular Molokai island, properly: Molokaʻi (almost correct…).

The Guru and I now have stepped on all 50 states of the USofA. And this is the US’s 50th state. Whatta coincidence. I won’t go into how the US government and US businessmen, along with a few well-meaning (hrrrrumph) missionaries, started wheedling these islands away from the people who “owned”/had them, beginning in the late 1880s at least. Finally, the coup was cemented in the 1890s, although statehood wasn’t until 1959. Colonialism in northeast Polynesia.

BTW, the Hawaiian language uses a glottal stop. This is denoted properly by a written symbol called ‘okina in Hawaiian. It is correctly a different symbol than a single quote or an accent grave, although they are frequently substituted (the former substituted here). TMI?

I’m thinking palm trees tomorrow?

Posted at 9:59 PM | Comments Off on Our 50th state

I zipped over to the PO this afternoon to mail one of the few bills we can’t pay online. That’s a route I don’t usually take. And on the way back, I found this laggard. Must be in a heavy metal band?

And at the corner gas station, are they replacing the tanks or removing them? Time will tell (since I don’t have the plans).

Oh, and the crape myrtles are blooming.

Posted at 8:21 PM | Comments Off on No lies, big or little

This is a sample of last night’s food porn. The restaurant around the corner has special menus seasonally. Right now they’re on a tomato one. This is pane pomodoro appetizer. That tomato mixture started with roasted tomatoes, then they were cooked down and I could not tell all the magic that went into the transformation into the final version. So complex. So excellent. I’m still swooning. We did have a whole lovely meal. Even dessert (against all odds). Mmmmmm.

Tonight’s menu was nowhere near so complex. Tasty, yes. But…hmm…my flavor-creation choreography. Toasted some pignolas. Pureed them with good olive oil, garlic, salt, some water to thin. Then basil. And more basil (after it was de-stemmed and cleaned). Over pasta, duh. Stirred with a generous pile of Parmigiano-Reggiano until homogenous.

Livin’ large.

So, now the hip-high bushes are only almost that high. Trimmed.

Posted at 8:56 PM | 1 Comment »

The grass has to know how the canna got downed. Has. To.

I’ve got a bit more data on this one. This yard sports new-this-season sod, and it’s supporting a sprinkle of these little ’shrooms, perhaps inky caps. No other yard has them. Mushrooms d’sod? The grass has to know.

Posted at 5:12 PM | Comments Off on Grass stories

No popup storms today. That I noticed. This is carry-over moisture.

We’ve been binge-watching the latest “Veronica Mars.” Spiffy writing overall, yet some parts drag despite some snappy dialogue.

Posted at 10:04 PM | Comments Off on Leaf loving

White lily with feathery petal tips. “Just an ornamental” (™ 😀 ).

An Ampelopsis spp., common name porcelainberry. Pretty sure.

At seven this morning it was a mere 72°F, unlike yesterday’s 79°F, so I went for a no-stress walk. Humid!

Posted at 9:42 PM | Comments Off on Parsing

I did not count how many times lately I’ve heard the phrase “feels like” (and its sibling “will feel like”) referring to high temps. And not in the kitchen, but in the everywhere outdoors.

I took heed and stayed indoors (except for the odd outdoor chore). I did not walk. Or do yardwork.

The photo? A three-tired retaining wall under construction along a newly built section of a miscellaneous highway in southern Appalachia. I haven’t seen one built quite like this before. A sign of the future? Stay tuned….

Posted at 7:52 PM | Comments Off on Feels like…

I am possibly too fascinated by the patterns I see in nature, especially in plants.

First big magnolia blossom I’ve noticed this year.

White and green is not a reference to MooU. It just looks like it might be.

Posted at 9:23 PM | Comments Off on Variations in white and green

Inattention suited the basil lately. The tall Genovese bush is thigh high; the Thai cultivar is to the right with the purplish flower spikes.

I picked a good pile of the Thai basil…

…and, with cilantro leaves, it made a terrific garnish for our Thai curry tofu. High protein version today with added edamame, peas. I think the rice has a bit of protein, too. I recently read that aging people need more protein.

Protein: check. And yummy, too!

Posted at 6:57 PM | Comments Off on Basil burgeons