Thanksgiving

Hawaii is called the pineapple state because the pineapple is a symbol of hospitality, friendship and welcoming. A pineapple would be placed outside the hut of those receiving visitors

We have always wondered why hummingbirds were never brought to Hawaii, it is because of the pineapple, seeds negatively affect the quality of the fruit so the importation of hummingbirds and honey bees are prohibited-this is from the HI Government list of prohibited animals. Captain Cook brought pineapples to Hawaii and large scale cultivation began in the mid 1800's. The pineapple is called "hala kahiki" which means foreign hala (fruit) or hala'ai which means forbidden fruit-forbidden to eat unless first presented as an offering to the gods.
It rained flowers on our car,
this sign...if you read it left to right it says: "on left arrow only no u turn" since that doesn't make any sense I tried: "on arrow left only no turn u"...
heading to Bellows for Thanksgiving,





















we are thankful for everything, God is so good...dirty prints on my walls, paint on the carpet, never finding scissors when I need them, everything about living in Hawaii, Erik, his job, our families, my new touch kitchen faucet, traveling, and so much more...

Last Week

Last weekend we went to the Physics Open House at UH. They were pretty surprised to see us come with such young kids, it was pretty much advertised for highschool kids which mainly who was there,

the kids had a blast and learned a ton,
the Dept. Chair, Professor Lam, really took a lot of time with the kids, explaining all the concepts to them,
what's kind of cool (to me being I am from Maryland) is he came from Gaithersburg, MD from the National Bureau of Standards and Technology in 1985, NIST houses the atomic clock which is the official time for the US, has a neutron science facility, an ultraviolet radiation facility, as well as a nanotechnology research facility...among other things. Erik would love it here,
like how a spinning wheel is able to keep a bicycle up right,
diving with pressure,
how Owen could boil water with his hand,
how the pig seems to be on top,
how a train slows,

then he got the kids floating on the airfoil, Erik makes many of these experiments at home, we can't wait for him to do this one...his leaf blower is gas powered...!
after this we went to a seminar on the smallest neutrino detector, they asked if anyone knew what a neutrino was...no one would answer-finally Evan raised his hand, was called on, and said, "like little things that can pass through your body or anything every second," the teacher called him a genius and I was very impressed!
last stop was the physics lab with Professor Sattler and his awesome German accent, where we learned about nanophysics, cool stuff about graphite and saw photos of real silver atoms taken by a special scanning microscope-very cool stuff. There were tons more but we never get to see it all and always say we can't wait for the open houses next year.

Remembrance Day at Gettysburg, Nov. 19th, 2011

I was able to participate in Remembrance Day in Gettysburg, something I've done probably for about 30 years but during those years wither with the Gilmor Camp Color Guard of the Sons of Confederate Veterans or the 1st Virginia Infantry re-enactment unit, but for various reasons I've missed the last two years, happily I was able to return this year and was invited to march with the group of staff officers who control the Confederate part of the parade.

How the Remembrance Day began is as follows: Every November 19 since 1863, a special event takes place in Gettysburg called Remembrance Day. It started nearly 150 years ago with a visit from President Abraham Lincoln to commemorate the Gettysburg Cemetery in honoring the Union dead. What followed next is perhaps the most notable speech in American history - the Abraham Lincoln Gettysburg Address.

Each November 19 (or the closest Saturday) since then, Gettysburg Remembrance Day is celebrated to memorialize the brave soldiers who fought and died at the Battle of Gettysburg. On Saturday during that week a parade is held featuring Civil War re-enactors, Abraham Lincoln look-a-likes, and many others wearing Civil War era clothing. It is really a sight to see all the units of soldiers marching down the street in Civil War reenactment clothing.

You'll notice in one photo I'm standing next to a Confederate soldier by the name of Russell Justice, what is unique about Russell is that he never wear any shoes, he's always barefoot even in the coldest weather, I don't know how he does it. When he's marching along the spectators gasp in disbelief when they see shoeless Russell marching along totally unconcerned with a smile on his face.