Saturday, May 23, 2009

Goal to visit all 50 states!

The other night I was inspired to write down what I would like to do in my life. One of the things was to visit all 50 states. Today I got a message from a friend and it encouraged me to list all the states that I have visited. So here goes... and by the way, I will post my "Bucket List" soon.

States I have been to... (39+DC)
Alabama
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
District of Columbia (not a state but it deserves to be on the list)
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maryland
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Jersey
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wyoming

States still to visit... (11)
Alaska
Arizona
Maine
Massachusetts
Michigan
New Hampshire
New Mexico
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
Vermont
Wisconsin

From the Mountain to the Sea



Oh what a great day it was on Molokai today! Rejoicing in God's beauty.


Started out at 8:30am with hiking the Kalaupapa trail with Bri. Twenty six cutbacks down the highest sea cliffs in the world! :) The sky was Carolina blue with no clouds to be seen. Very unusual especially on the back side of Molokai.


On the way back up, we stopped to take a break, looked down at the ocean and saw 6-8 dolphins and a couple of monk seals playing in the bay down below. So amazing to see those creatures frolicing so freely in the water.


Once we finished the trail, we stopped by church/school and changed then headed to Maki Horse Beach to spend some time with friends visiting from California. Got to talk story with them for a couple of hours. The water was SO nice.


What a beautiful day relaxing in God's greatness.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Learn something new everyday


It has always been my personal challenge to learn something new everyday. Some of these lessons are little things... some big... some should have been learned years ago... some taught by children... some learned the hard way. But all learned.


So my lesson begins yesterday with my neighbor dropping off seven fresh fish that had been swimming just minutes before. They were netted from the ocean at the bottom of Kawela.
I enjoy eatting fish but have never learned how to skin them. That evening I mentioned my problem as we were sitting at a going away party for a friend and our pastor's 10 year old daughter explained to me how to skin and gut a fish in great detail.


For dinner tonight... I followed Cendall's instructions and had steamed fresh fish with spinach. It was very delicious (or as they say here... ONO!!!). But as I was cooking the dinner I had a few thoughts about lessons learned...


1. Fish gills are sharp and can cut your skin.

2. Teach your children how to clean fish at a young age. I learned how to cut, clean, and prepare a whole chicken fryer before I was a teenager but it took me 30 years to clean a fish.

3. When skinning fish... work outside ... as my kitchen counter is now covered with fish scales!


So what lesson did you learn today???