Sunday, March 29, 2020

Peace over panic; faith over fear

The title thoughts were spoken by a young mother who is living in Milan. I thought they are very good things to keep in mind in the current crisis.

Since I have more time on my hands now, due to all the parks being closed and I can't swim, I am branching out to find other things to do. I have colored sealife pages; watched endless re-runs of NCIS (it is a show that I can color along to); baked bread (yum, yum! Watch out waistline. Challah and potato bread so far. Also cranberry muffins.) I also found Andy Stanley on youtube.com He has great messages that are very real and profound. Check 'em out!

So since my friend also likes Hello Kitty and I think HK is the epitome of "happy", I took some pix of my oh-so-too-many Hello Kitty Pens. Lisa, this is for you!

 These are almost all of my pens, working or not! I am thinking to make a "wind chime" of the empty cartridges of those pens that have died. I really can't justify buying more ink cartridges...with so many pens, why do I need them ALL to work?!
 Big barrels. These pens fit my big hands better. Added bonus is that they often have several colors.
 And just when I thought I had them all, I found more.













And more
 And even more

 And beaucoup. (We say it bow-coo...bow like on a present. Coo like a dove.)
 And one of my faves: HK comes out of a flower. And the thing I love about her is that she has no mouth, so cannot get herself in trouble with it!













I call this one Hello Kitty in Jail...
 Another fave: you blow on it and the whirly thing whirls, round and round.
 Putting them away, I noticed some more in my bin. Gee, what was I thinking?!
 Almost all on the table.














And you can't have a post without an octopus. This is a pottery necklace, resting on the Passion version of the book of Isaiah.
And a word of caution: we were told not to hoard toilet paper; and now no one has any! Fortunately, we do still have several rolls. Here's hoping for the next shipment to come in with more.

Please stay healthy; socially distance yourselves! Be kind. Pray. Don't panic.

Sunday, March 15, 2020

Operculators with Glass

For those of you who have read my blog posts, you know I like operculum. I just think they are so pretty, original, useful and gosh darn it, I wish I could still collect them! But Hanauma Bay, where I usually swim nowadays, doesn't allow collecting of sea shells, and I consider operculum a part of that.

So I sat down today with my camera and put some operculum in shotglasses to see what transpired. Enjoy!
 When we moved back to Oahu, I got rid of some shotglasses. I'm not really collecting them anymore, but some I just won't get rid of: Hello Kitty is helping me showcase some of them. The ones above I like because they are a cool shape, but also twins.
 A momento of my visit to my family in Albuquerque for the Balloon festival.
 A reminder of my roots: both my parents, grandparents, and aunt and uncle and cousins were/are Canadian. My parents moved to the USA before we were born. But my cousin still lives in Canada, so I have tight roots! I also have good memories of meeting my grandpa at the train station, as he was an Immigration officer. What a different job that is today.
 I always liked the blue dot shotglass. Blue being my favorite color, it also seems very well thought out and sturdy, too. Even though it's made of glass.





Bluebird of happiness atop the Boston shotglass. Cheers, Ballou and Becky!




A Japanese shotglass from my husband...I think the officer who gave it to him was visiting Kauai at the time.
 Some shotglasses I like because of the shape. Some, such as the one below, remind me of my visit to see my Aunt in Windsor before she passed away. She was a great lady and had a big impact on me.
 Speaking of great impact, my friend in California sent me this Celine Dion shotglass when she and her mother went to the show. Since I probably will never pay that much to see Celine, I appreciate this glass even more. (My frugal self says: I can buy many more of her cds with that show money!)
 Dolphins/Sea Life Park shotglass, with HK twins looking on.
 Since I like octopuses, I have several glass ones.

A friend's daughter is an artist. She painted  this ceramic octopus for me. And the glass is a momento of my trip to the Acores in Portugal, when the family was stationed there. (What does the USAF do in Portugal? They pass gas!)
 Schlitterbahn. A way to cool off in Texas.














More octo-glass. And a nicely shaped shotglass.
 This Hershey's shotglass is very cute with a cow leaning over. Sadly, the paint is weeping, so now I'm keeping it out in the air. 

Hello Kitty in a grass skirt.

 From our visit to London, this is from Windsor Castle.
 Far too much JD has passed my lips. Happy to say I don't like the taste anymore. Progress, I guess.
 Never had a bar, but did buy the shotglass.
 Kauai Coffee shotglass. It's a nice tour, if you are ever on island.
















London Eye shotglass
 Looks like a bowl of mints, doesn't it?
 We toured the Battleship Missouri when it was in Pearl Harbor. I think it still is, as it was decommissioned.
 One of my fave shotglasses. It says: Sometimes I wish I was an octopus so I can slap several people at once. I'm trying not to feel that way as often anymore, but I have the glass to remind me to be kind.
 Gold is featured prominently on some of the shotglasses.
 Painted octopus taking a rest on a sea of operculators.

In these tough times, it's definitely time to pray without ceasing! 
 A little octopus in another of my fave-shaped shotglasses.
 Another good shape.

 I put the HKs for color. 


My brother retired from the USAF; we visited and I picked up this shotglass.

 Wisconsin cow and operculum.
Not a shotglass, but I love the cross my sis-in-law sent me.
 And last but not least, an octo-chorus line.
Enjoy your friends. Visit your memories. And pray without ceasing, for the world and an end to this virus!