Maybe tomorrow …

  - O Ceallaigh
Copyright © 2009 Felloffatruck Publications. All wrongs deplored.
All opinions are mine as a private citizen.

“Hey dude!”

“What do I look like, dude? A paniolo?

“A paniwhat?“

“A paniolo. A Hawai‘ian cowboy, you haole. Who might possibly have some interest in hay.”

“Dude, I’d love it if you had some interest in hay. Like maybe making some? So I wouldn’t have to be howling at you every month when the rent’s due?”

“Very funny, dude. Next thing I know, you’ll want me to be hawking T-shirts online or something.”

“Well, if it’s good enough for OC and Quilly, it oughta be good enough for you.”

“What?? They sold out?!?“

“I don’t think so, dude. Their store’s only been open for a couple of hours. I hardly think they’re sold out of anything yet.”

“Oh fer … what brought this on?”

“Well, you know Quilly’s been taking all these photos of like Hawai‘ian flowers and turtles and birds and things?”

“Yeah?”

“Well, she figured if they were good enough for this Aussie journalist guy, they were good enough to stick on mugs and calendars and aprons, stuff like that.”

“You think anybody will buy this stuff?”

“What? You dissin’ Quilly’s pictures?”

“And risk OC’s delete key?? No way, dude! Besides, that Aussie dude’s right. They are great pictures. And nobody’s payin’ me to say that.”

“Damn.”

“Damn what, dude?”

“I sure wish someone would pay you to do somethin’.”

“Hey! I can stand on the surfboard now, dude! Sometimes …”

“Riiiight. Here. Read this.”

“‘Click on by OC ‘n’ Quilly’s Cafepress Store for all sorts of knick-knacks, keepsakes, and mementos from Hawai‘i and the OC and Quilly blogs. C’mon. You know you want to.’ Dude? Did I just read a commercial?!?“

“You did a great job, too, Daddy-O. A lot better than you ride that board.”

“I can’t believe this. I’m turning into a capitalist!“

“Does that mean you have money for the rent, dude?”

“I said capitalist, dude! Not philanthropist!“

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

But seriously, folks. Check out the store. Buy stuff and save Quilly from pre-K.

Better yet, if you see something of Quilly’s that you think would look good on a mug (not my mug, of course, that would be fatal), let us know. We’ll see what we can do.

Cheers, The Amoeba

He was walking along reading. He said, “According to the brochure, there should be green sea turtles sunning on this beach up here.”

She said, “Yeah, well according to my eyes, there are rocks sunning on that beach. One of them looks a little turtle shaped, but …”

If you wish to read Quilly’s honu thoughts, click here: Honu Heaven

If you wish to read O’Ceallaigh’s honu thioughts, click here: While Turtles Safely Graze

Tagged by Cooper. The origin of the meme lies with Mimi. Don’t start.

If you like the idea (obviously I did), consider yourself tagged. There are rules, see Mimi’s post to read and follow them.

And may the Force be with you.

  - O Ceallaigh
Copyright © 2008 Felloffatruck Publications. All wrongs deplored.
All opinions are mine as a private citizen.

They were in Palolo walking down a crowded sidewalk hand-in-hand. She spotted a gorgeous Hibiscus blossom outside the bank. “Ohhhh!” She sighed, stopping dead. She let go of his hand and began rummaging through her bag.

He took a few steps away and diligently studied a light pole. As She pulled the camera from her bag He muttered under his breath (just loudly enough for her to hear), “Turista! Turista!”

Snap!

.

Que sera, sera.

The phone rang. She answered it.

He said: “So where was the torture tree?”

She said: “I thought you weren’t checking the blogs any more from work?”

He said: “It was lunch time, so sue me. Where is the torture tree?”

She said:”It is near that Indian place on campus where you like to eat.”

He said: “I’m coming up on the quad now.” Thirty seconds of silence. “Okay, I am at the Indian place. Where’s this tree?”

She said: “Turn around. It should be right there. “

He said: “Turn around which way?”

She grumbled, “I don’t know which way is which on campus. There’s a building and a white fence.”

He said, “White fence? I don’t see any white fence!”

She said: “You know, this could take awhile. I don’t want to keep you from work.”

He said: “I have a few minutes and people are asking.” Pause. “So, it’s not here. Which way do I go?”

She said: “It is near your building. I pretty much walked a wide circle around Bilger Hall.”

He said: “That helps. Here’s the Barringtonia tree. Now where?”

She said: “The tortured tree is somewhere between the Barringtonia and Campus Center.”

He said: “Okay.” She could hear his foot steps on the pavement.

She asked: “Hon, are you near the art building?”

He said: “I was. I can go back.”

She said: “Okay. I took pictures of the huge Baobab Tree near the art building.”

“Once you find it, around the corner to your right is the Orchid tree you tried to tell me was a tulip tree. Then the real tulip tree. And somewhere between there and Campus Center is a shack (portable) and the tortured tree.”

He said: “I can’t even find the Baobab Tree.”

She said: “Are you between Bilger and the Art building?”

He said: “Yes.”

She sighed: “You’re on the wrong side of the art building.”

He said: “Well, I was on the other side. I must have walked right past it.”

She said: “You need to go back to work. Thank you. I love you for trying.”

He said: “Well, I wanted to try because I love you, but I do have to get back to work.”

She hung up the phone thinking how lucky she is and what a special man he is. Then she called the optometrist and made an appointment to have his eyes checked. Meanwhile, he was busy in his office enrolling her in a geography class and a memory enhancement course.

This is a Grand Crinum Lily. She spent weeks looking for the perfect photo op. The blossom begins to wilt almost as soon as it opens and it is difficult to find a fresh, crisp flower. In this photo you can see a few buds and many wilted remains — and, miracle!, a few fresh flowers.

They were driving along the main road of their housing complex. As usual She glanced over these bushes near the entrance. She expected to see nothing spectacular. Instead ….

“Stop!” She yelled. “Pull over!” Luckily He is a mind reader (or experienced with her quirks) and He knew, despite her hysteria, that there was no real crisis pending. However, He also knew there would be a crisis if he didn’t let her out of the car. He stopped.

“Hurry up!” He said, “We’re blocking traffic!”

She hopped out of the car, climbed into the bushes and began snapping photos.

He pulled the car as far off to the side of the road as possible. The street there is narrow and the curbs are high. There really wasn’t any place for him to go. He left the engine running and stayed behind the wheel in case he had to move. The bushes were tall, so for the most part She was holding the camera above her head, snapping the shutter and hoping for the best.

At home She downloaded the photos. He didn’t seem too impressed. “You certainly didn’t center those well,” He muttered.

“Hey, I’m short.” She answered. “I was taking these shots blind. I think, under the circumstances, they came out pretty well. You could have come and helped me, you know.”

“I was helping,” He said. “I was making certain nobody crunched your car.”

Boggled by his priorities, She shook her head.

Oh — and thanks to a little digital sleight of hand, she framed the photos just fine.

Merry Christmas from Hawaii.

O’Ceallaigh is playing concert after concert after concert. Tis the season, after all. On Saturday the band I’m forbidden to name performed their Christmas concert in the outdoor gazebo at Mililani Town Center. On Sunday OC played in church, performed with the Oahu Civic Orchestra at Windward Mall and played in a brass ensemble which accompanied the Kapiolani Chorale Choir in performing a Christmas Cantata. Then tonight the Oahu Civic Orchestra played again at a retirement center.

Here are pictures from the Windward Mall performance. Sorry, no video. I just bought the camera and haven’t read that far in the operator’s manual.

No pictures from tonight’s performance because I did not attend. I had planned to spend the weekend making stockings, but all my time was taken by OC’s concerts (although I did sneak away for a bit at Windward Mall and buy my lovely new Canon PowerShot A560 — which so far I like quite muchly)!

Have you noticed that Quilly posts a lot of pictures of OC on the blog but all you ever see of her, besides that snap to your right, is her hands or feet? Well, even if you haven’t noticed it, OC has. And he wants something that closer approaches equality.

Here you have OC’s back side.

And here’s Quilly’s.

She said: Now, is that fair or what?

He said: Somebody I know runs and hides anytime I get anywhere near a camera. One fine day …

]]> http://ocquill.wordpress.com/2007/11/01/per-your-request-sort-of/feed/ 8 Quilly http://ocquill.wordpress.com/2007/10/30/spooktacular/ http://ocquill.wordpress.com/2007/10/30/spooktacular/#comments Wed, 31 Oct 2007 07:15:57 +0000 Quilly http://ocquill.wordpress.com/2007/10/30/spooktacular/ ]]>

OC participated in a musical fright feast. The free concert was titled, Chillers & Thrillers: A Halloween Spooktacular. It was a melodious yet chilling treat.

The musicians were invited to dress in costume. Most of them dressed as undertakers — tasteful nondescript black suits and ties — however there were some brave and imaginative souls in the group. The conductor came as Darth Vader, much to the delight of the audience. He swept onto the stage, cape flaring, as the band played the very familiar, Emperor’s Death March, from Star Wars.

Several other costumes brightened the stage. One was a young lady dressed as a single slice of watermelon. Another was a bright yellow fish. There were two pirates and a couple of witches. The percussion section all wore hockey masks ala Jason and/or Michael Meyers from Friday the Thirteenth (et al). There was a witch in purple satin, a fellow wearing pigtails and a short skirt, and another dressed as Willy Wonka. OC went as Wiz, from the Shoe cartoon by Chris Cassatt.

I made the costume. That is why you didn’t hear from me this weekend. OC mentioned Saturday morning that he’d like an original costume for the concert (or he was going as an undertaker). Next time I’ll know to just press his suit. I worked until two a.m., then got a few hours sleep and worked a bit more in the morning before church. After church we went to the concert. That evening I returned home exhausted to find all my weekend chores still waiting for me. Some of them are still waiting.

Here’s the robe:

Here’s the hat. (Yes, I made it, too.)

And here is the only shot I have of OC in the robe.

The frightening black shadow to the right of OC is a band member in undertaker’s garb. He walked right around me and into the photo. He saw I was taking a picture. He did not say excuse me. He said, “Move!” I quietly left the stage. No more photos.

Last night as OC and I were driving home from his Octoberfest gig, we noticed lights on the mountainside where lights had never been. I said, “Is that fire?” OC said, “I can’t tell, but I’ve never noticed lights there before.” As the highway twisted and curved down the coast, the lights would come into and out of view behind small hills. After several miles I said, “I think it is fire. The lights seem to be moving.” OC concurred, adding, “And it’s hazy, like a bush fire.”

I was incredibly sleepy and soon lost interest. I was just about asleep when OC said, “You better hope that isn’t fire.” I blinked my eyes, tried to focus and muttered, “Why?” OC said, “Because it is right about where our house should be.” Again the coast and highway curved and the mountainside disappeared from view. I waited impatiently as we curved around a small hill.

Finally, several miles down the road I could clearly see. I said, “It’s fire.” At the same time OC said, “At least we still have the car.”

We were surprised to find the Makaha Valley Road open to traffic. We made the turn fully expecting to be stopped halfway up. We drove all the way to our complex. OC stopped at the guard kiosk and asked if there were any evacuation plans we needed to know about. The guard shrugged her shoulders. She said, “They tell us we’re safe. This isn’t bad. You should have seen it a couple of years ago.” Then she added. “Go home. If anything changes we’ll be knocking on doors. But don’t expect us. I think this is going to be out in about three hours.”

We came home. OC decided to take a walk and see how close the fire was to Kili Road, which runs behind our complex. I went to bed. If I was going to have to move in the middle of the night, I wanted some sleep first.

I woke this morning to the whomp-whomp-whomp of a helicopter. As my eyes opened OC said, “We have no power.” We got up and went to the porch. The mountain was still smoldering, but everything looked to be under control. It was very early, so we went back to bed.

Again I woke to the whomp-whomp-whomp of a helicopter. We couldn’t see it from our bedroom window. The sky was no longer filled with smoke. OC thought they were probably looking for hot spots. I went onto the porch and found their hot spot. The fire had moved on up the valley, away from the condos, and was burning across the ridge near the high rent district. The whomp-whomp-whomp was from the Fire and Rescue helicopter, which was refilling its water bucket just below our condo.

OC and I went for a walk about noon and took a few photographs. The blackened earth in this photograph is fire scorched ground. I was standing in the road by the curb when I snapped this shot.

This is our apartment. The red roof is over the staircase that leads to our door. The white wall to the right is the outside wall to our bedrooms. I took this photo from the roadside just a few feet from where I took the first photo. According to OC and Google Earth, the fire came within 400 feet of the place we rent. Even so, after his walk last night he came home and slept peacefully because he knew that within that 400 feet there was a row of fire trucks — seven or eight — bumper to bumper, pouring water into the fire. Plus, most of the 400 feet in question was road and fire break. And, the trade winds were blowing the fire down the hill, parallel to, not towards, the housing complex.

I snapped this photo one second too soon, or you could have seen the water cascade onto the hot spot and the billow of smoke that rose from the ground. There were two choppers flying this morning and the pilot in this one knew his stuff. He was zipping through the sky. He would fly past our building and swoop down to fill his bucket, barely pausing his forward motion. The other fellow must have been a rookie at fire fighting. He struggled filling the bucket, bobbing up and down in the air. He also clearly struggled raising back into the air with a full load. However, he stayed at it all day.

Here’s a close up of the chopper above. OC had a chance to briefly talk to the pilot and another fire fighter. He thanked them for all of their hard work.

Here you see the chopper on the ground while the pilot takes a break. The big container to the right is a portable water reservoir hooked up to a fire hose. Between the chopper and the reservoir is the Bambi Bucket used to carry water to the fire.

The choppers finally quit flying about 6:30 tonight. That’s dusk, and it doesn’t linger long around here. One second the sun is out and the next the world is dark. I’ve been outside and see no ominous glowing spots. The sky isn’t lighter up the valley than it is down here. The fire may be out.

8:54 p.m. update — three fire engines, sirens running, just screamed past our place and went behind the Makaha Towers, a glass and steel skyscraper that, in my opinion, mucks up the neighborhood view. Still, despite thinking it’s an eye sore, I would hate to see it burn down. A lot of people live up there.

If an Olive Tree . . .

produces olives,

and a Chestnut Tree . . .

produces chestnuts;

What would a Money Tree produce?

Ha!

You wish.

Not even in paradise.

Pancakes. Warm coconut syrup. Portuguese sausage.

And Brazilian Cardinals.

Is this seat taken?

Hold the soy sauce, but I’d like some tea, please.

Come to OC.

Hey, you’re a little stingy with the coconut syrup there, aren’t you?

OC, Runt (l), & Grifter (r) watch the lunar eclipse.

Close up of Runt (l) and Grifter (r).

OC and Runt, writing collaborators.

Runt, tuckered out.

OC says that he would just as soon we not have any pets. And I believe he means that, right?