Saturday, December 09, 2006
Winter in Paradise
¶ Saturday, December 09, 2006 
 | Instead of the obligatory "don't hate us just because we don't have snow" I thought I'd start by pointing out that the noise in our attic is probably rats, again, and this is probably where they like to sleep. |
 | This is the best detail shot I've gotten of the observatories. The light was just right: shining from the east without being glary. There have been reports of snow on the mountain, but there's been a lot of cloud cover so it's been hard to see. |
 | This frisbee is a little big for him, frankly, but he's been really good about trying, and about following my goofy instructions. |
 | I've wanted to get this picture for ages. Finally, I got lucky. |
 | Every few months, it seems, Max has to put on every piece of headgear he can find. |
 | Just a fun shot, and also to give you an idea of just how large this kid is. |
 | Max's school participates in the annual Pahoa town holiday parade. It's a pretty free-form event in a lot of ways, with traditions and innovations. Here you can see the Toys for Tots train, a perennial favorite, as well as a woman leading a goat. When I first saw the goat, as we were forming up, I thought it was part of some other float or group. Nope. Just a goat. |
 | My pick for "best engineered" is definitely this smoking volcano. Max's favorite part of the parade, aside from being in it, is that many of the groups and floats throw candy. We haven't finished the Halloween candy yet... |
 | One of the parents on the float -- ok, it was a trailer, pulled by a pickup truck, with leaves garlanded on the sides -- was blowing big bubbles. Woody and I were forward of the float, but when we stopped (as we so often did) and the wind was right, they'd come towards us. |
 | While you're admiring the detail shot of the bubbles, I'll point out that it did rain during the parade, working up from a mist to a gentle rain, then fading away by the time we'd reached the bandstand. Oh, and one thing nobody tells you about marching in a parade? You have to march back afterwards! |
