A photo from 70 years ago with my dog Blackie. Why? I'm most thankful for the life I've lived.
While hardly a perfect life, I'm healthy with no particular worries, and continue to be in a mild state of euphoria today. Observing the homeless and immigrants and troubles around the world, I'm certainly thankful for all my homes, with family, stability and never a time when there was uncertainty about the next meal. For the past 36 years I've enjoyed the sanctity of two Craigsides:
Appropriately enough, the Gold Tree has also been an important part of my life. From these apartments I've viewed spectacular rainbows and sunsets, and here is just one:
In a way, you would think I should have a grander vision than food, but this blog site seems to feature cuisine a lot--to again be my posting tomorrow--but o-toro (fatty tuna) and Japanese wagyu beef now seem to come with some regularity, and that final photo of Sue (who lives here at 15 Craigside) contemplating her fish dish in one of our outings, is a fitting conclusion:
The following photos made the short list. While she's been gone for nearly a decade now, here is a Crystal cruise shot taken somewhere between New Zealand to Honolulu, which also shows my favorite tie:
Or what about with my niece Sophia?
I asked her when she was four what she wanted to become, and she said, a rainbow butterfly. Below I am with John and Judy Collins, founders of the Triathlon, at Michel's. It was 40 years ago when John was a Navy seal at Pearl Harbor and Judy worked for me at the University of Hawaii when they organized the first Ironman Triathlon.
I tried to talk them out of this crazy race, but failed, so they became famous.
Also 40 years ago, students from my Technology and Society class at the UH published a book which was funded by the National Science Foundation and adopted by the Hawaii Department of Education as an energy textbook:
Also 40 years ago, students from my Technology and Society class at the UH published a book which was funded by the National Science Foundation and adopted by the Hawaii Department of Education as an energy textbook:
Forty years later, nothing much has changed, for more than 90% of the energy we use today still comes from fossil fuels.
There is a long, sad story here for the first photo--and if you clicked on that, I should admit that I have yet to learn how to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star--with Dom Perignon Champagne and Louis 13 Cognac, plus a second one, as just another representative meal, on my Craigside lanai:
From this penthouse I took hundreds of other sunsets:
We just about have daily rainbows at 15 Craigside:
I've certainly eaten well: o-toro, opihi, Japanese wagyu beef, caviar....
If you did the calculation, that comes to $283/pound. I doubt if you ever paid $28.30/pound for beef. Not exactly cheap are two fugu testicles, and there is another story here:
At one time a $40 musk melon was the esteemed gift of choice in Japan. Today, that extravagance has been displaced by one musk melon and two mangoes (these are from Matsuzaki, the home of the best wagyu in the country), for $200 or so:
Japan also has Mount Fuji, Sakura and Whale Sharks:
I place magnificent mountains up there with sunsets and rainbows, and I love flowers. Why am I thankful for whale sharks? And shouldn't they be left in their natural habitat? Sure.
Here is a turkey on a golf course in California, not a turkey ranch:
At least we don't eat whale sharks, although I have studied these prospects.
What else am I thankful for? Colors:
The above from Chihuly Glass in Seattle. I travel a lot and one thing I'm always thankful for when returning to Honolulu is that first sight of Oahu:
After all that, rather anti-climactic, but I'm thankful that at the Ala Wai Golf Course I pay the equivalent of $10 to walk 18 holes. Not that I love golf that much, but this exercise in agony allows me to eat and drink whatever I want. Plus, we have more rainbows and a pond with wildlife and Diamond Head in the background:
I'm thankful for all the above and people who made my life. But life continues, and I look forward to my upcoming final chapter of gratefulness.
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There is a long, sad story here for the first photo--and if you clicked on that, I should admit that I have yet to learn how to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star--with Dom Perignon Champagne and Louis 13 Cognac, plus a second one, as just another representative meal, on my Craigside lanai:
From this penthouse I took hundreds of other sunsets:
I've certainly eaten well: o-toro, opihi, Japanese wagyu beef, caviar....
If you did the calculation, that comes to $283/pound. I doubt if you ever paid $28.30/pound for beef. Not exactly cheap are two fugu testicles, and there is another story here:
At one time a $40 musk melon was the esteemed gift of choice in Japan. Today, that extravagance has been displaced by one musk melon and two mangoes (these are from Matsuzaki, the home of the best wagyu in the country), for $200 or so:
Japan also has Mount Fuji, Sakura and Whale Sharks:
I place magnificent mountains up there with sunsets and rainbows, and I love flowers. Why am I thankful for whale sharks? And shouldn't they be left in their natural habitat? Sure.
Here is a turkey on a golf course in California, not a turkey ranch:
At least we don't eat whale sharks, although I have studied these prospects.
What else am I thankful for? Colors:
The above from Chihuly Glass in Seattle. I travel a lot and one thing I'm always thankful for when returning to Honolulu is that first sight of Oahu:
After all that, rather anti-climactic, but I'm thankful that at the Ala Wai Golf Course I pay the equivalent of $10 to walk 18 holes. Not that I love golf that much, but this exercise in agony allows me to eat and drink whatever I want. Plus, we have more rainbows and a pond with wildlife and Diamond Head in the background:
I'm thankful for all the above and people who made my life. But life continues, and I look forward to my upcoming final chapter of gratefulness.
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