A little sunshine for my friends in the north

DH and I went shopping for souveniers on Friday. At 7:30 am Hawaiian standard time, we had a continental breakfast at the coffeeshop downstairs, and set out to walk three miles in the glorious cool morning to the local Walmart.
Our route took us past this lovely sculpture in front of the Hilton Hawaiian Village. The figures are about twice life-size, dancing joyfully in the shadows.

In front of them is a serene lilly pond. Luckily, one lilly was posing just right in the sunshine, waiting for someone to appreciate her beauty and take her picture. The birds are caroling their little throats raw, the air smells of greenery and flowers. there was a big rainstorm overnight and everything is fresh, clean, and sparkling with droplets.

Further along we crossed this canal that drains the Waikiki area. Local canoe clubs have races here. I've never seen the races, but I HAVE seen the brown, muscular, sweat-glossy lads stroking and pulling in unison on their training runs. Oh, my!


It was a perfect morning to be driving around in your convertible.


Walmart is open 24 hours, so we got in early and got out fast. Then we strolled back to the Ala Moana shopping center to hang out, and wait for my niece to meet us. Here you see happy Hawaiian Christmas elves in aloha shirts, waiting to greet children who come for a photo on Santa's lap. (Later on we saw some of the darlings. I nearly wet my pants, they were so adorable. One merry little princess, about 18 months, with a wreath of flowers around her head and a wreath of smiles around her being was just charming the beard off jolly St, Nick. Hope the photographer got a LOT of film on that one!)


Here's Roxie knitting at the Ala Moana.



Here are a couple of doves on crumb patrol. I got the photo for you, LG.

Our chosen coffe / tea stand was midway between the Louis Vuitton store, the Escada store, The MiuMiu store and the Ralph Lauren store. We got there about half an hour before the stores were due to open, and lots of sales clerks were stopping by to grab a cuppa on their way to work. I saw more haute coutre clothing in an hour than I have in the past six years. Swear ta dog, EVERYONE was wearing chic, expensive, high style. And the women would not have weighed a hundred pounds, even dripping wet and WITH their knee-high, four inch heeled, platform soled boots on.

And by the way - I missed the memo. When did we start wearing our designer jeans so snug that we need a Brazillian wax to zip them up?

One older woman showed up wearing a tailored suit in a marvelous plaid in shades of gray, with blouse, lipstick and shoes all the exact shade of cranberry. She just looked like a GROWNUP! Mostly, the younger ones were styling in black, layers of black, skin tight black, and more black.

A young Asian mother went by with two little boys in a stroller. They were all wearing the same shade of charcoal gray.

An Asian woman strutted past in resort wear - a pair of imperial yellow pants with Chinese red dragons as long as my forearm, and vibrant purple chrysanthemums the size of my spread hand. Artfully, artfully placed! She was wearing a top, but I can't for the life of me remember it.

DH remarked that you don't see many men in Jackets and ties. Then a young Beau Brummel sautered up in a brown chalk-stripe suit, fresh from the press and exquisitely fitted. His tie was a masterpiece of understatement, and I think his shirt was silk. Swooon! There is so much to be said for a custom-tailored suit in making a man look goood!



Of course, some guys take another oute to making their sppearance notable. He was a VERY polite young man and graciously allowed me to photograph his creative hair coloring.

We met my niece, LB, who lives and works here in Honolulu, and she very kindly offered to take us up to the Hilo Hattie outlet store. I am on such a sentimental journey on this trip. I remember when the outlet store was more of a warehouse and the bargains were astounding. Now, the store is all dressed for success, and the prices aren't all that great. Gad I'm getting to be a curmudgeonly old fart!

We had lunch at Don Ho's restaurant at the Aloha Tower, and they practically had to use the cattle prods to get us out. LB and I had SO much to talk about! She's my favorite niece and has grown into a marvelous young woman. DH, meanwhile, just kept getting quieter and quieter. The brisk morning walk had over-taxed his system, still trying to fight off that stinking sinus infection. LB took us back to the hotel, dropped us off, and DH and I spent the rest of the afternoon with our feet up, just resting really, really hard.

And that night I had another bath.
I am in LOVE with the bathtub here and want to fit it into my luggage which is silly because it wouldn't fit into the bathroom at home. But it's big! It's deep! It likes me!



And I like it!