Thursday, March 6, 2008

Going to Town, Part Three

Are you enjoying yourself at Lydgate Park? Uh oh...I'm getting a little sunburned (that usually only takes 15 minutes), so we better take one last dip and head home.

I love this road. It looks like Gilligan's Island, doesn't it? If The Professor could've made asphalt, Gilligan's little bamboo car with the grass roof would've been in the next lane over. I loved that show when I was little. I wanted to be MaryAnne. Remember her banana cream pies? I would've married The Professor if I was MaryAnne. I had a big crush on The Professor. Who would you have been? And who would you have married--The Professor, The Skipper, or Gilligan...or Mr. Howell if he wasn't already taken?


Funny, I did sort of marry a guy like The Professor and end up living on a tropical island. But my husband was the one who always wanted to live in Hawaii, not me. His mother once showed me an essay he wrote when he was eleven years old about wanting to be the king of his own tropical island. His adolescent vision, of course, included skantily clad slave girls fanning him with palm fronds and feeding him fruit by hand. (This was 1960 and I'm sure the teacher must've passed that essay around the teacher's lounge a few times!) And here we are! We have asphalt, but no slave girls. Personally, I think it was a good trade-off...unless slave girls do windows--then maybe I'll let them feed him fruit. I hate washing windows.

Looks like the kids are out playing at Kapahi Ballpark. Nice day for it.

Ooohh! Banana trees. This is where the Banana Lady lives. We better stop and see if she has any fruit for our dinner tonight.

I don't know this lady's name that lives down the road from me, but she's always got a garage full of fruit and flowers for sale. I call her the Banana Lady because she mostly has bananas of all different varieties! Finger bananas, Puerto Rican, red, apple bananas (which taste just like green apples); there are a lots of different kinds of bananas! I tried to get her picture, but she's pretty shy. You weigh your own fruit and leave money if she's not around. She's a real sweetheart.

Unfortunately, it looks like we got here too late. Not much fruit left, just flowers. Too bad we didn't have time to stop at the ULTIMATE fruit stand, Banana Joe's Fruit Stand in Kilauea. My quilter friend Cynthia and her husband, Banana Joe, are the owners. Cynthia and Joe also happen to be the parents of lovely Angela, who is my son's girlfriend. (Did you catch all those links and still make your way back?? Wow...your Mai Tai's must be wearing off...)

Ah well, we'll see if we have anything for dinner in our own garden.

My husband's garden, with no slave girls. He grows a lot of things, but it's a constant battle with the fruit flies. Yes, they like vegetables, too. We must grow tomatoes, zucchini, squash, peppers--anything succulent--in that screen house because the fruit flies are just terrible around here. Tropical fruits are more fruit -fly resistant, so they are easier to grow than Mainland-type fruits and vegetables.
This little pineapple is not quite ready yet:
And the mangoes are just little blooms right now, but here is a picture of one of our gorgeous mangoes last September. I think the colors are just beautiful, don't you?
Now that we're home, I remembered something I wanted to show you. It IS UFO Friday, after all. I put last Friday's UFO in the "save" bin because I decided what I wanted to do with it (more details later). Here's this Friday's UFO, which is an easier decision than last week's UFO:



The Einstein Coat by Sally Mellville. I can't believe I ever wanted to knit this coat. It must've been before the hot flashes arrived. I didn't get very far with this Lion Homespun, mainly because the feel of the knitted fabric creeps me out. It feels like I'm wearing a poodle skin. And look at the picture of this coat! Not only is it unflattering, it's a hundred years worth of boring garter stitch! No wonder it's been a UFO for a year. An unflattering poodle coat--GONE. I frogged it. I actually took a picture of the yarn pile, but I didn't want you to have to wait for a picture of a pile of yarn to download, so I frogged the picture, too. I'm on a roll! Gone, baby, gone! Whoo hooo!

This has been a fun day! Thanks for coming along. I have a class to prepare, so I won't be posting tomorrow. The next post from me will be the Saturday evening "Hawaiian Rainbow Basket Giveaway" results post, which will probably appear in your time zone on Sunday morning. Good luck to you!

21 comments:

Tine said...

Poodle coat!! You are too funny! Thank you for making me laugh, just finished my classes for today....and lets just say, it was not my professors most inspired day!zu

~Joan said...

Lisa,

Why does your son have purple hands? Does touching too many bananas do that to you? My children all love bananas, so although we don't live on a plantation, I've handled enough to just now notice that my hands do have a light lavander shade in the right light.

Poodle skin? Maybe a take-off of 101 Dalmations movie?? You're full of enterprising ideas!

~Joan

Kristin said...

good for you for frogging the poodle coat! I call those project with enless repetition "asylum projects" because I think that's where I would end up if I made one.
I am going to go hit the elliptical trainer to work off that hula pie! Maybe if I could hook that up to a generator I could offset my energy costs of the iron and sewing machine. Have a great day and thanks again for the fun trip.

Mar said...

Sorry, didn't take the linky side trip today, but did take it last week while visiting your site. Thought Banana Joe's sounded familiar! Glad to see you got rid of that coat and lightened up your load!

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the pictures! I love to see the ocean (and especially whales)! I did see them one year ago in New Zealand. It was my best birthday present until now!
I think a cookery quilt is a good idea! Maybe some little cookery items (tablerunner..)for Easter.:-)

susan said...

like usual, enjoyable. talked with linda j. last night, she said hello. i like that "coat" you are knitting...but where on kauai will you wear that or did i miss something....

Sally said...

Frogged the poodle coat. good for you!!!!! I always have to think twice before doing that...you have much more fortitude than I. Loved the trip thru your part of Hawaii. Could sure use the sun and breeze and GREEN right about now! Have a great weekend....hope you pick me!

Doris said...

Love your field trips...and as it's 10 degrees here this morning with a below zero windchill factor...I'd like to keep imagining I'm there with you!

qusic said...

what a wonderful tour, now I feel relaxed enough for a school concert where my two younger ones are performing rock songs with a band.
I just have to stand 17 other gigs, they are the last ones to play.sigh.........
I finished my first boomerang heel sock today, a perfect beach project. I 'd like to taste Hula pie,what's in there? 100000 calories, I bet.
a poodle coat can be very useful when banned on Rura Penthe but when I see these beach sights better knit an afghan for chilly nights, do you have any?
Life long and prosper

Mom IsAmagpie said...

Poodle Coat, that's fantastic. Good for you frogging it. Sometimes I have to wonder what made me think certain projects were a good ideas, at least you reclaimed your yarn. I'm not going to lie, I lack the patience for that sometimes. Then I suffer from yarn guilt, it's like a hangover only more expensive.
I want to come to your house for mango goodness, I'm pretty sure that I could live off of them. Thank you for the day trip tour with you.

Libby said...

I tried to grow my own pineapple once . . . with no success. You've inspired me to try again. I'm glad I got to go to town with you *s*

Mrs. Goodneedle said...

Loved the outing, and your pineapple and mangoes are gorgeous. I laughed myself off the chair at the idea of a poodle coat... must be the same hormonal response you're having... I do remember when I used to be chilly.

Cathie said...

Oooooo, now you have yarn again! Although come to think of it, if it felt like Poodle skin in garter stitch there might not be much you can do with it.... I think I might be tempted to donate it to the thrift store in gratitude for prior fabric purchases. Then all the guilt fumes would magically transform into virtue fumes! *grin*

Don't mind me... my brain is full of leather fumes... Today I have to scale up my pattern and try a different weight of leather for those bags. Soon I will be offline and "making" again!

Thank you for the vacation!
Cath

Salem Stitcher said...

Thanks for the tour! Gilligan's Island was my favorite and I was ALL about the Professor.

Mary Anne said...

Hey Lisa !! Thanks for that fun tour of your "little neck of the woods"!(uh oh, do I sound like a hick again?) ..... oh, and I have a quick question .... on that little car trip/tour we took today, was I in the front seat or the back seat? ... cause I get carsick in the back seat ..... so on all car trips, I ALWAYS ride shotgun!!! trust me, it's best for everyone!

....oh, hey... re: the Gilligan's Island thing .... I AM Mary Anne !!! ... and I've always been torn between that studly Professor, and that scrawny dork, Gilligan.....

P.S. ---- good call on the "Poodle" coat ...... just let it gooooooooo..........

tina said...

Thank you SO much for the 3 day tour. I have to admit, I'm so homesick I sat right here and cried.

Ack.

Angie said...

Cute story about your hubby and his dream island. Your mango is beautiful! We had an infestation of fruit flies in our kitchen this past winter. But, I never realized they liked veggie gardens. Little pests! I've sure enjoyed the field trip each day...hope we do this again sometime. Thank you!
P.S. Glad you frogged the poodle coat!

Lisa said...

Okay, pardon my ignorance (I know more about snow than pineapples) but is that really how a pineapple grows?! thanks for the tour!!! What was it that lured your husband specifically to Hawaii? It looks like a lovely place. My BIL has a friend who is on one of the islands teachign.

Joe said...

Great to see the "banana lady" getting the praise she so well deserves. Check my blog to see the Tokashikis circa 1989.

The Calico Quilter said...

Pineapples growing in your own yard? That would be heaven for my husband. And, different kinds of bananas???? Here on the mainland, it's BANANAS. Period. They all look alike. Love to try different kinds!

BTW, it's the professor, absolutely. I always figured if you could ruffle his hair and make him loosen up a little...... (And I married a professor-ish person, too - electrical engineer.)

Caroline said...

You won't believe how many mainlanders believe Pineapples grow in Trees... Thanks for sharing the PIC... I was thinking frog the 'coat' and make socks... Have you ever knittted any Bags? Inquiring minds want to know...