"Staycation or Vacation..?" 'Judith Whitehead' (Inspiration Sunday)

Judith Whitehead lives in Amherst New York( A suburb of Buffalo, N.Y.)

 and has worked in the ophthalmology field of medicine for over 30 years.

 Staycation or Vacation?

Needless to say, we all need a break for a few days or more where we can unwind from our every day work week or monotonous day after day  routine.  

Today can be quite costly to travel especially if you have a family to bring along.  When our children were little we did a lot of local things that were fun and gave us a break in the week.  

We are fortunate that in Buffalo now more than ever,  are lots of activities nearby to enjoy for the whole family.  Most of our vacations took place in the summer when our boys were out of school but now that  they are grown  and out of the house we can be selfish and plan our trips carefully and economically.  

We belong to every hotel and airline free club and collect points any time we travel; we choose economical airlines or when close enough, driving vacations that we enjoy just as much. We have taken many road trips while staying in little hide a way motels that were very picturesque as well as easy to find.  Whenever we drove anywhere we always packed food to take along for at least the first few days; food on the road is very costly  and not always the best.
  
A staycation can be a great way to unwind as well.  A few months ago I just decided to take off on a Monday and just chill.  I met a friend for lunch, did a lot around the house and went shopping with no rush or timeframe to meet.   By the end of the day I felt relaxed and mellow; of course the next day returning to work made that all disappear but it was nice while it lasted.

No matter what you do during the day, raising  a family, work out of the home or care for the elderly, it is more than vital to take a mental day off to forget about your responsibilities and allow yourselves to relax.

We are planning a vacation to the west coast soon; I started many months ago stalking the websites for airline deals and hotel spots.  If you can plan way ahead, the best deals are to be found.  Even the anticipation and countdown of days before leaving is a morale booster in itself, especially with the Winter we have had to endure.

If you can’t leave the area  then research the great finds in your home town  and surrounding areas.  Visiting the Zoo or the Niagara Falls are amazing in the Buffalo Winter time.  

Many of my friends take up winter sports, skiing, snowboarding and running all that can be done if dressed properly.  For myself, just give me a warm fire to sit near and watch a great movie at home while snacking.   

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"Do I really look that pathetic..?‏ 'James"Kimo" Rosen' (Burger King)

James "Kimo" Rosen is a retired Professional photographer and publisher.

Rosen lives on the  beautiful Garden Island of Kaua'i with his best

friend Obama Da Dog. Rosen also posts the Sunrise daily on his Facebook Timeline.
Photo taken yesterday 02-26-15--

Do I really look that pathetic?

So, I am sitting at Burger King drinking a diet coke and reading. It's my way of meditation and relaxing.

I just really enjoy the staff and energy at my local Kapa'a Burger King. I believe it's the cleanest and most organized Burger King in the country. That's not why I am writing this though.

This is an actual Whopper jr. I bought
one month ago. The manager made
it special for me with extra tomato,
 extra onion, on a double toasted bun!
 Kapa'a, best Burger King in the world!

A couple from Honolulu with two young kids come up to me and  have a  folded over $5.00 bill in their hand and  offer it to me to buy something. They see me only drinking a diet coke and dressed down... City folks are not  used to us Kaua'i people.

I tell them, no I am fine and that things are very expensive on Kaua'i, spend it on your kids.  After going back and forth they say, "are you sure?" Yes, but thank you, that was a very nice gesture.  They leave and say, "we hope we didn't offend you."  No problem, and I say Aloha.

All I can say is holy Moose turds, do I look that sad and pathetic?

You tell me? I had my friend take a photo of me 10 minutes after the incident? The photo is at the top of this blog. Well, What chu tink?(sic)

This has happened before where people bring me food when they see me riding my bike with Walmart bags draped over the handlebars with my dog in tow. They automatically think I am riding a bike because I cannot afford a car. Oy Vey.

Reasoning based on observation is not very sound.

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"Terrorism..." 'Bettejo Dux' (Classic Wednesday)

Bettejo Dux has lived on the cosmic Garden Island of Kaua'i for over 40 years.

Bettejo is a regular opinion writer in the Garden Island news and is the author of the

famed novella, "The Scam."  Her latest fiction

 "Children of Extinction" is now  released and available on Amazon!

www.bettejodux.com

www.amazon.com

Terrorism

 How to define a terrorist? 

Anyone can be labeled a terrorist. What does he or she look like?

 One of the problems I see is the reticence to use a religious term. We have religious terrorists. Here and abroad. We have political terrorists. Here and abroad. We have homegrown terrorists. I think of the KKK, a Christian organization. Germany was a Christian nation. Italy, too. I think the answer for the religious terrorist confusion is to have those who are religious-but not religious terrorists-to recognize and define their own. 

I think most Christians are in denial, we have any? A response might be, “…Reverend Jones, an Episcopalian ministers, despairs about terrorists who belong to Christian churches and organizations and use their beliefs, their God, to allow them to murder doctors who perform abortions or hang black people because they are not white.” Let’s be honest.

P.S.
Interesting facts on left handed people;
http://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/video/11-epic-facts-about-lefties/vi-BBhHzFM

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"Imagine..." 'James 'Kimo" Rosen (A solution to traffic gridlock on Kauai)

James "Kimo" Rosen is a retired Professional photographer and publisher.

Rosen lives on the  beautiful Garden Island of Kaua'i with his best

friend Obama Da Dog. Rosen also posts the Sunrise daily on his Facebook Timeline.

Imagine  

Imagine a solution to traffic gridlock on the Cosmic Garden Island?

Imagine driving from Kapa'a to Lihu'e in 10 minutes!

Imagine employing hundreds of people to construct a toll road!

Imagine the toll road creating many new jobs for maintenance and for toll collectors.

Imagine the toll road cutting or even eliminating  our county debt!

Just imagine...

A light-bulb went off in my head!  ;-)

P.S.
Read Part 1;
"50 Shades of our Roadways..."
http://dakinetalk.blogspot.com/2015/02/50-shades-of-our-roadways-james-kimo_19.html

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"Forever,USPS, Till Death Do Us Part..." 'Kimo's world #59'

James "Kimo" Rosen is a retired Professional photographer and publisher.Rosen lives on the  beautiful Garden Island of Kaua'i with his best
friend Obama Da Dog. Rosen also posts the Sunrise daily on his Facebook Timeline.

Kimo's world #59

Forever,USPS, Till Death Do Us Part...
It was back in May of 2007 when the United states Postal service first debuted the 'Forever stamp.' This was a new marketing ploy to get people to load up on stamps. You could by as many first class stamps as you wanted for .41 cents each. When the postal rate increases and  if you have stamps remaining you made a good investment.

I bought 300 stamps at .41 each that was an investment of $123.00. I figured  300 stamps would last me the rest of my life. I never figured I would run out. How could I run out?  I use about one stamp a month and that's for my phone bill since the phone company charges a fee of 1.95 to pay online.

 The only other time I use stamps are in the case of a death, I still like to send sympathy cards, all other cards I use are electronic and  are free..  

After-all with email, Facebook and other social media the need for stamps has definitely diminished.
The Good news, I was finally down to my last stamp purchased at .41 cents. I outlived my forever stamps. 

This meant a visit to the post office for the first time since 2007.  I still recognized  some faces, some were 50 shades or more grayer, more wrinkles but same great  people. What had changed at the Kapa'a Post office was no more garbage cans to throw  your junk mail in and no more table tops out front to lean and read your mail.

I wound up buying 2 books of stamps, each book of 20 stamps at .49 cents each is now $9.80. These are also Forever stamps. I did not buy as many this time since I hope to be able to purchase more stamps in the future, God willing.. Plus, I want to see  everyone at the post office at least  once again before we all expire...

The only thing that lasts forever, 'Forever stamps...

Forever, till death do us part...

This meme was used on social media to promote this blog!

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"The most brutal Winter..."'Judith Whitehead' (inspiration Sunday)

Judith Whitehead lives in Amherst New York( A suburb of Buffalo, N.Y.)

 and has worked in the ophthalmology field of medicine for over 30 years.

All we can say is stay warm and Aloha to Judith!

 

The Most brutal Winter

As we brave the cold sub zero weather on the East Coast, it seems the only thing that puts a smile on my face are  the upcoming vacations plans to the West Coast.  

This has been the most brutal winter in New York with an abnormal amount of snow and sub zero weather breaking records for many years.  Even the deer have gone to eating the bread I put out for the birds, starving from the lack of vegetation available that is covered by huge amounts of snow; they cant even get through the yards that are piled shoulder high in some neighborhoods.    They are coming right on my porch which they have never done.  Water mains are bursting displacing people from their homes and businesses and  schools have closed for several days now.  

Judith's front door, BRRRRRR.....

Of course the weather bureau is predicting temps in the 40's for early march...when I am choosing to vacation but the worst is yet to come...all that melting snow will cause great trouble for people.

Enjoy your great weather if you live in the warmer climates, don't take it for granted and think of us freezing on the east coast

Judy's hometown has a lot of snow...

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"50 shades of our roadways..." 'James "Kimo" Rosen' (Blogger-n-Chief)

James "Kimo" Rosen is a retired Professional photographer and publisher.

Rosen lives on the  beautiful Garden Island of Kaua'i with his best

friend Obama Da Dog. Rosen also posts the Sunrise daily on his Facebook Timeline.

James "Kimo" Rosen
High school graduation photo...

50 shades of our roadways

This gridlock needs to stop.

Driving is  out of control with bumper to bumper  traffic and when you do manage to gain momentum on  the open road  you will most likely be tailgated, nobody on Kauai seems to follow  the simple rule of one car length for each  10 miles per hour...

Everyday new trucks and cars are sold on Kaua'i. Everyday at least one new driver comes of age. Every day more and more visitors arrive. Everyday we  buy more trucks, cars, boats and motorcycles crowding  our few roads.

According  to the Kauai  County website;  Kauai only hosts  235 miles of paved roadways and 40 miles of unpaved roadways

Our Road system has not changed since the 1960's.

It doesn't take an Einstein to know what the priority needs to be  within our local politics.

I would like to propose  a concept I penned, '50 shades of our roadways'
"I scowl with frustration at myself in the mirror" knowing something could be done, but nothing is being done...

No new developments,  no new promotions luring visitors to our over priced paradise,no new  anything until such time that we have the roads to accommodate. 

P.S.
Read Part -2-"Imagine-(A solution to traffic gridlock on Kaua'i)
http://dakinetalk.blogspot.com/2015/02/imagine-james-kimo-rosen-solution-to.html

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'Help..." 'Bettejo Dux' (Classic Wednesday)---short yet artistically brilliant---

Bettejo Dux has lived on the cosmic Garden Island of Kaua'i for over 40 years.

Bettejo is a regular opinion writer in the Garden Island news and is the author of the

famed novella, "The Scam."  Her latest fiction

 "Children of Extinction" is now  released and available on Amazon!

www.bettejodux.com

www.amazon.com

 Help!

I’m in a cleaning frenzy. Send in the National Guard. I’m gonna write a piece about twenty or thirty shades of fur and dust balls under the bed.

I’ll be back..

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"My Cousin..." Obama Da Dog' (True story) (Source)

Obama Da Dog is a lifelong Hawai'ian.
Obama likes to watch the Sunrise and Sunset with her
best friend James "Kimo" Rosen...

My Cousin

My cousin, a perpetual bachelor, owned one of the biggest and fastest-growing businesses in Miami, a furniture store. I convinced him that he needed to take a trip to Italy to visit a manufacturer and check out the merchandise himself. And maybe he could meet an available young Italian women.

As he was checking into a hotel he struck up an acquaintance with a beautiful young lady. She only spoke Italian and he only spoke English--neither understood a word the other spoke. So he took out a pencil and a notebook and drew a picture of a taxi. She smiled, nodded her head and they went for a ride in the park. Later, he drew a picture of a table in a restaurant with a question mark and she nodded. So they went to dinner.

After dinner he sketched two dancers and she was delighted. They went to several nightclubs, drank champagne, danced and had a glorious evening. It had gotten quite late when she motioned for the pencil and drew a picture of a four-poster bed.

He was dumbfounded. To this day he says that he's never been able to understand how she knew he was in the furniture business.


P.S.
For any Bachelor reality TV fans out there, check out this Jimmy Kimmel & Chris Soules YouTube;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpUBX49VoEw

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" 50 Shades of the Exotic and Erotic Sunrise..." 'Kimo's world #58' (Please comment)

James "Kimo" Rosen is a retired Professional photographer and publisher.Rosen lives on the  beautiful Garden Island of Kaua'i with his best
friend Obama Da Dog. Rosen also posts the Sunrise daily on his Facebook Timeline.

50 Shades of the Exotic and Erotic  Sunrise

This meme was used on social media to promote this blog!

The popularity of woman's porn becoming main stream with the new controversial movie '50 Shades of Grey' has prompted me  on thinking of  publishing a book titled, "50 Shades of the Exotic and Erotic Sunrise."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifty_Shades_of_Grey

'50 Shades of the Exotic and Erotic Sunrise' will be all about the addicting sensual qualities and many artistic aspects of  colors, feelings and freedoms felt from the Sunrise.

Many are claiming '50 Shades of Grey' is porn form a woman's perspective, allegedly making it more main stream acceptable than  "regular porn?"  Scientists believe women are turned on emotionally and verbally while men are turned on visually. With that in mind, porn is porn, whether visual in film, photographs or written in a novel. 

No matter what your opinion, one thing is for sure, it's all over the news and social media giving the film  free advertising and promotional value  which will only enhance this monetary and  controversial subject.

Believe it or not according to the Washington Post, sex injuries in the United States had  doubled with the original novella  release of '50 Shades of Grey.  

True fact; hospitals across the country are gearing themselves this Valentines week for a surge in sexual related injuries with the release of the movie.  ;-)
http://www.eonline.com/news/624610/sex-injuries-in-the-us-have-doubled-and-it-s-probably-50-shades-of-grey-s-fault

Rumor has it Kaua'i county is going to start
charging a tax on Sunrises! ;-) So please enjoy while the best things in life are still free.

Enclosed are a few examples of the exoticism and  eroticism  of the Sunrise. Sit back, relax,  look at my photos, no need for handcuffs here.   

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