Ho'okipa offerings.

At low tide I padded around Hookipa looking for a shot, but was too impatient to hang around for a corker.

This one however caught my eye as now I know (post clinic) that throwing a rooster tail is as much of a learned windsurfing skill as any other. This one gets a 6.5 out of 10 from the British judge.

This looks like Mark Angulo and his mutant....but what do I know?

Feminine prettiness collecting shells.

Talking of Hookipa, this beautiful fish used to live there and how rude of me not to have removed the kitchen sponge before David Baileying my dinner. It does give you pause that just hours before this beautiful creature was swimming in the ocean and the next thing you know it's caught, is in a cooler, then stuffed in a bag with his head down the garbage disposal at my house. The value placed on it's life was a mere $10.00, oh the indignity of it all.

What can do, but honor it by making a delicious dinner and not wasting a morsel.

And finally, remember my friendly neighborhood heavily prego preying mantis? Well she (or one of her girlfriends) just deposited her egg sack on the hand rail of my front stairs. I overrode my homeowner urge to scrape it off and am now eagerly awaiting the happy event. Stay tuned.

Crikey.

Long time no post and the list of apocalyptic craziness that's occurred/ing on our planet since a pregnant praying mantis caught my eye, is very grim indeed. I've donated, I've thanked my lucky stars and as it's easy for me to get overwhelmed with the intensity of it all, I believe the best thing I can do is to keep living a meaningful, joy filled life.

As I was surfing the Web, I came across the Pale Blue Dot photo and then this clip of Carl Sagan's thoughts prompted by it. If I allow the catastrophic headlines to get too close, it re-calibrates my thinking reminding me how totally privileged I am to exist on our beautiful Earth.

With all this fire and brimstone stuff, it probably doesn't help that I've just finished reading Susan Casey's terrific book The Wave. Which reminds me, this footage of the recent tsunami taken three miles off the coast of Japan is really something. The scientific models don't bode well and as our planet heats up, predictions for more earthquakes, volcano eruptions and hurricanes seem to be the inevitable fall out (cue Pale Blue Dot)!

And if the Pale Blue Dot doesn't do it, then this never fails!

So following the instructions for my own prescription on life, today (post Uke lesson) I went sailing bang on 11:00am hoping not to be blown to smithereens. It didn't work and I came in after 20 minutes as it was total pedal to the metal- first to fourth in waaaaay to short a time! I like my limbs and am way too attached to keeping them intact to stay out longer. Still, given the return reading on my iphone, 26 gusting to 41 mph I didn't do too bad!

So I headed to Ho'okipa, as there are always sailors skilled and crazy enough to put on a show in such gusty conditions.

There were some decent sets to make it worth watching (though I didn't get any good pics) and as Francky was in the water shooting, that always creates some good show-off action.

That's him there, the Pale Red Dot.

Sunny delight.

This is one of this most unique human beings I've ever had the privilege of knowing. He lives life on his own terms, has the ability to find the joy in everything and delights in unpicking the societal template that most conform to.

Talking of which (and not having sprogs myself), I love to watch kids off the leash and gravitating toward their own pleasures.

Whoops-a-daisy (my reaction), but this young one didn't care, she just kept on playing digging, building and getting wet.

Of course not all of us are so carefree, this little one secured herself like a limpet to her mother and for good reason.

Snug as a bug in a rug.

Having left my brass ovaries at home, I left the surf to those who had brought theirs with them.

The unique one surveys the scenery....

...."three little birds pitch by my doorstep"

My goodness it was a beautiful day and as we've been rain soaked for about a week, the contrast helped crank up the appreciation meter.

Just in case you needed more proof.

Confidence boosters.

Whilst sailing at Kanaha I lost my confidence because of one stupid fall and came in too soon. I've noticed this is a bad habit so before sailing I either have to double brush with Colgate to get in that bloody 'Ring Of Confidence', or think "What would Meesh do"?!

Action of another sort was required to restore my fragile ego so I headed to Ho'okipa, which (for an enthusiastic snap-shot shooter like myself) always delivers.

The usual suspects hung off the guard rail like droning notes on a musical score. Further up the fence the bikers I wanted to photograph were much more interesting, but I still haven't figured out my chat-up lines when asking for a portrait shot. I once read in a book that a compliment is a good opener "Excuse me, you lot look fantastic clad in leather and tatt's....all together now say cheese". Uff, it needs work.

Avoiding possible rejection, I settled on my compliant broken headlight for a close up.

I shall call this one 'Stick in field'!

What lurks beneath at low tide.

As I pulled in my driveway I was greeted by the Amaryllis that are in bloom. "Excuse me, if you don't mind me saying, you look fantastic clad in your red/orange leaves and your stamens are stunning. I think you'd make a great image, do you mind if I take your photo"?

Waves of fun.

Woah....

Ufffffff....

Blimey....

The dogs bollocks....

Stylie....

Well bastard fast....

Sweet...

Bub-bye.

Moonshine and sunshine.

While dinner was cooking Tuesday night, the glorious full moon was rising spectacularly through the trees of my back garden.

Yes, yes yes, I know there is the wind speed, duration and fetch that create waves but for sheer convenience and tie-in-factor from the previous picture, I’m going to say ‘the full moon did it”. Wednesday was glorious and (despite a bit of wind) the swell was good enough for most to jump in the briney. Here's a nice little surfer boy trifecta!

The ironic thing about a good watching session at Ho'okipa is that sitting there on my arse can actually be quite invigorating.

There's just no way you're going out in this kinda surf and coming back in feeling the same way. Whether your dialed into the conditions or not the paddling, focus, traffic, energy of the waves and emotional highs and lows are gonna jiggle your mojo around (for better or worse). Probably better if you're the one on the board, not  so much if you're the one about to get worked.

Hui!

With the surf pounding on the outside, these little kiddiewinks were having a blast paddling up and down on the real 'inside'. Enough of this practice turns into this.......

I think this is Matt Kazuma and his sprog, look at that little ripper go! Unbelievable.

Ow, Ow, Ow....

For the most part the surfers at Ho'okipa are just ordinary people with a true connection to the sea that makes them feel alive.  It's as essential to their well being as other rituals to the rest of us, such as gardening, train spotting or ping-pong.


A penny for his thoughts.....