Amoeba and the Quill are in Kailua-Kona on the Big Island. He gets to work everyday in a laboratory with his algae specimens and a microscope. She is having to enjoy the beaches, shoreline drives, and beautiful scenery. I know it seems unfair, but she is making do.
Kailua Bay
Humpy's Big Island Ale House
They went out to dinner the other night and walked back to the condo together along Ali’i Drive. She took a couple of photos of the sunset.
He: ” … and I did some sampling at the floor of the Pololu Valley, right about here. It was quite the hike to get down that cliff face, I’ll tell you.”
She: “Lovely. Can you come home now?”
He: “Love to. After they give me what I need to pay the rent.”
She: “Sigh. I know. That makes sense, but …”
He: “I am not making cents!”
She: “Um … tell me something I don’t already …?”
He: “Absolutely not. That would be counterfeiting!”
She: “And when did you start having this thing about carpentry?”
He: “Carpentry?”
She: “If you’re doing finish work, you want the counter to fit, don’t you? If it’s too big, it sticks out; if it’s too small, stuff falls in the cracks. Either way, the customer complains.”
He: “Oh. That. That’s how the breakfast bar got invented.”
She: “It is?”
He: “Of course it is. ‘Dang it, boss, whoever drew these plans was clueless. This counter design don’t fit noplace!‘ ‘Relax, cuz. Just stick it out in the middle of the kitchen and throw a few high stools around it. They’ll never know.'”
Well, Amoeba spent a week in Louisiana, came home for a few days and then flew off to Hawaii. He came home from Hawaii for a few hours — literally just long enough to get the clothes in his suitcase washed and repacked — and drove to Seattle where he is now.
I have been busy, too, but not jet setting. I have been right here at home gardening and cleaning the garage. I had to clean the garage because we bought a second car. Well, it is sort of a car …. It is street legal and we have it licensed and insured, but calling it a car is kind of ambitious. It is a little electric Ford TH!NK Neighbor.
Buggy
I call it a buggy and I love it. It only goes 25 mph, but that is plenty fast enough in town — and one can still get a speeding ticket in it on many of our local streets. (No, neither of us have done so nor do we plan to). I told Amoeba I would happily trade him cars. He can have the Malibu and I will have the buggy. He said no — then he got in the Malibu and went to Seattle!
Of course, going to Seattle in the buggy could be an ordeal since one would have to make at least 3 eight hour stops to recharge the battery along the way. And I am happy zip, zip, zipping around in the buggy.
Once again we tripped off to Vancouver, B.C. with a group of students from UW’s Friday Harbor Labs. Â This time it was the ZooBot class (a Zoological and Botanical survey of coastal sea life).
This is Megan.
Megan teaches the Zoo part of ZooBots.  I took this shot right after the class returned from the beach and caught Megan in the act of exchanging boots for shoes. Megan is just as fun and energetic as this photo implies.
This is the classroom.
This is the class.
Somethings to study.
Some more things to study.
Of course it wasn’t all work.
When in camp we roasted hats.
Roasted socks.
Played games.
Celebrated a birthday …
… with cake …
… and music …
… and dancing.
We also ate.
Megan’s friend brought us a bucket full of fresh crab. Â I am sure that somewhere in all the crunching and slurping we remembered to say thank you.
And of course I found time to take a few pics:
Wildflower
Dancing Grass (growing from a rock)
River Tree
Seed Head
Fiddlehead Ferns
crab
Sea Anemone
Gull
Berry Soon
Grass
Botany Bay Path
Botany Bay Steps
Botany Bay Boardwalk
Furry Trees
New Growth
Stellar Jay
Amoeba and I woke at 7 a.m. EDST on Saturday, April 16th, and I haven’t been in bed since. It is now 8:04 p.m. PDST and we are home. I am about to put dinner on the table.
Saturday morning we checked out of the hotel and drove to Amoeba’s mother’s house, where we spent a couple of hours before heading to Boston and the airport. As is customary, we sat in the airport a couple of hours before our flight — which was a little over 5 hours long. I did nap a bit, but mostly I watched reruns of NCIS on my lovely, free Jet Blue TV.
After leaving the plane in Seattle Amoeba and I had another two hour wait for the shuttle from SeaTac to the Anacortes Ferry Landing. We got on the shuttle about 11:15 p.m. PDST and I did get to sleep for about an hour. Amoeba woke me because we had to transfer from the big, warm comfy bus to a cold, cramped, rattle trap with (I’m certain) cement seats. The bus driver was nice though.
The shuttle left us at the Anacortes Ferry Terminal at two a.m. — about 3:15 a.m. someone came along and unlocked the door and let us inside where it was warmer. We stretched out on the bench seats in a dining booth and slept for another hour — and did the same on the ferry.
When we landed in Friday Harbor, Amoeba left me at the ferry terminal and walked to the airport to retrieve the car from long term parking, then he came to get me. At home Amoeba showered and changed and went to church for one more rehearsal before the Palm Sunday Service. I curled up on the couch and took a 75 minute nap.
In a minute I am scheduling Punny Monday, then I am going to watch TV. Sam Axe — I adore Bruce Campbell. Why didn’t someone tell me about this show 5 seasons ago?!
