Dream

Today is Texture Tuesday at Kim Klassen's Cafe and the theme for this week was "Dream".
My dream of an idyllic life would be to live by the ocean, preferably somewhere warm and sunny like Hawaii. This photo was taken on Kaanappli Beach in Maui. We have been back from there since the first of August and I can honestly say I am not really back yet. I love Hawaii, I love the water and I love the warm sand and sunny weather. I can feel the soft trade winds blowing and hear the rustling of the palm leaves. Waking up in the morning to the sound of the tropical birds singing in the trees is just short of paradise. Seeing the sky turn from a soft pink to blue is magical, and I am NOT a morning person, but being in the warm tropics seems to make one want to not miss any part of the beautiful day. But, this is not my only dream, I would also love to go back to Italy, rent a villa near the Tuscany area and spend time soaking up the atmosphere of the country. The first time I went to Venice it was like coming home, I must of been there in a previous life or something because it was so familiar and reached out and embraced my soul. Dreams keep us going in our every day lives, we may never make them come true or live the fantasy we envision but we need to remember that we are in charge of our destiny and the old saying "If there is a will, there is a way" is so true. We can live our dreams we just have to make it happen.  

City Cousin and Country Cousin.

 Cameron and Brandon, on the old truck

 Posing on the haystack

 Up the tree, now how do I get down Grams?

 Almost made it up on the branch.

 Yay, made it up.

 Brandon

 Cameron

Uncle Gary's boat.

Nudie Beach

My grandson Brandon and I went to visit Great-grandma at the family farm this last week. He and I try to spend time together in the summer since mom and dad are at work and big brother Tyler is busy with football. We took off on a Thurs. and headed to the farm for the next 5 days. When we stopped for a few groceries I asked Brandon what he wanted for dinner and he said tacos. I swear he is going to turn into one, but anyway, I said ok, do you want taco shell tacos or the great family fired tacos, he opted for fried. Aunt Lori and Uncle Gary were wonderful and said sure we can have a big taco feed. So Friday night that is what we did. YUMM-O, as Rachael Ray would say!!! During the day Cameron brought over the 4 wheelers for them to ride around on, Brandon got his first lesson in driving by an 8 yr. old. I always like to do exploring around the farm and see if there are any treasures that I might have missed in all these yrs.and we took time to do some portrait work with Cam and Brandon. I did find some great pieces of the old house that I will have to rescue and some really good photos of the boys. Saturday we planned a day on the river. Nudie Beach as it is called is the favorite hang out for the boating gang on the weekends. There is actually no nudity on the beach, it was named that back in the 70's but not exactly sure why. The Columbia river is running full and it is cold but we all enjoyed the boat and jet ski's. Lots of sun and food and friends, not to mention all the food and drink. A wonderful way to spend a hot summer day. Sunday was a day to stay with mom at home since we had been gone all day Saturday and she isn't able to join us in the boat. The boys spent the day playing at Cameron's, with water balloons and lots of other games. Had a nice bbq over at Gary and Lori's that evening with  mom and Aunt Elma. More good food and the weather was warm and perfect. Had to head back home on Monday but stayed till mid afternoon since Cameron comes over to Grandma's when dad and mom are at work. All in all a great time. Grandma was happy to see Brandon and wants him to come back to the farm and visit. Great time.

The Old Underwood

My Grandpa had an old Underwood typewriter like this one, in fact I still have it and have used it on occasion, back in the days before computers I would type on it. Loved it when grandpa would let me sit at his big roll top desk and pretend I could type. This old one was found on a photo expedition and was discarded in an old shed on the property where we were shooting the old cars and buildings.  Funny how objects can stir memories for us. When I get grandpa's typewriter out to use it for photos it takes me back in time to when I was a little girl. Grandpa died when I was about 6, I think, and I don't have a lot of memories of him but this is one of them and the old desk and his dog that was always by his side.

This one was edited for Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday, I used two layers of aurora, one of granny's cupboard and Feb. magic to add a bit of a border. Check out The Cafe`
http://www.kimklassencafe.com/thecafe/

Pink Sunrise, Haleakala volcano

One of the things we did while in Maui, HI was to get up very early and drive up to the top of the volcano to see the sunrise. I edited this one to add more pink for Kim Klassen's texture tuesday. Beautiful sight to experience.

Maui The End

 Sunrise Haleakala June 2011

First peek of color

 Gorgeous color on the clouds below in the crater

 Two very old churches along the road to Hana

 This one only holds services if there is a 5th Sunday in the month, it was very very old.

 The power of the sea. Along the coast in a small village off the Hana Hwy.

 View from the Hana Hwy. looking out to sea.

 The three bears falls, Hana Hwy

 Sunset from the condo laini, one of the more colorful ones we had.

 A funky little wayside stop on the Hana Hwy, good fish tacos. No beer.

 Harry and the tattoo lady.

 The turtle tat on the back of the head.

 Tyler's shark tattoo.

 Heather's dolphin tat.

 Last dinner in Maui at 3's

Harry and I at dinner.

I was unable to post a blog entry to cover the last 3 days so I will take the time while it is all still fresh in my mind to finish up the trip now that I am home :( The last 3 days were eventful and filled with long days trying to get in the things that we wanted to do and had waited to get to. The first thing on the list was the sunrise visit to Haleakala. Harry and I were the only ones willing or wanting to get up at 3am to drive up there for sunrise. We had been told by many that it was not to be missed even tho' it could turn out to be a total dud if there wasn't a low cloud cover. Since we had been up there previously during the day, we knew how windy and cold it could be. We dressed accordingly. Luckily it was not very windy and it was about 44* not too bad since we live in Oregon and so far summer has averaged just above that LOL. Anyway 3am comes EARLY. We were hoping we would be there in plenty of time and maybe be ahead of the crowd. We got one of the last parking spaces in the lot. People were everywhere. We were also lucky to find a place to set up tripods for a view, not in ideal places since Harry had wanted to be at the rail. I was happy, I could see what I wanted to see. There was a nice cloud cover below and the sky was just starting to show color when we arrived. It was another 30 to 40 mins. before the actual sunrise. I must say it was a sight to see, but not quite as amazing as I had imagined. Looking at the photos I think it looks more colorful that it seemed to the naked eye. Something I can say I have done, but probably wouldn't do again. Ok...........so on to the next day, Tuesday. We decided it was our only chance to drive the road to Hana, another thing you are told not to miss in Maui. To tell you the truth I could of lived without it but had committed to do it. Waterfalls are kind of an Oregon thing for me, pretty hard to beat what we have here. There are other sights on the way but the falls are what people go to see. So up again early, not so early only 5 am this time. The road itself was much better that I had expected and tho it is very curvy 600 hairpin turns is what the book says, I believe it. I will not elaborate on the trip, except to say, next time I have a hair brained idea to follow the road all the way back to civilization, I will be DAMN sure I know exactly what the road is like. To explain, instead of going back up the road out of Hana you can continue on around the end of the island and go back up to the road to Kehei where we were staying. OMG, what a mistake. Harry called it the road to misery, but he really enjoyed it. It was like a cow trail thru the pasture only you have cars coming both ways and it is more windy and curvy than the Hana Hwy. and it is on the side of the volcano and the ocean on the other side. Paved, sort of in places and dirt and gravel mostly. By this time I had a major headache my stomach burned and I was just done with it. So Harry wanted to stop and take photos since he found it so enchanting but I told him he better just get me out of there before dark or else!!! After, god only knows, miles on this road to hell, we hit pavement and actual civilization. Back home for a lovely dinner? that also turned out to be awful. Live and learn. That brings us to our last day, all I cared about was relaxing and doing nothing but we had to pack and get things taken care of for leaving. We did take some time out to make one last trip to the shopping place for souvenirs and such. Harry had decided to get one of those temporary henna type tattoos, then Heather and Tyler wanted one so they got all that done. I made reservations for a VERY nice dinner at the one place there that we had wanted to try call 3's restaurant, for our last dinner in Maui. It was excellent and a very nice end to a wonderful vacation. Even tho' I feel I had to come home to get some rest and relaxation. Too much to do and too much to see. I think every one had a great time. I know I did.