What Happens In Hawaii

While Thanksgiving is a holiday I very much enjoy, I doubt that I have ever been able to enjoy one as unusual as that which just passed. It involved taking a whole week to partake of the fun and frivolity of Waikiki, near Honolulu, on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. As a long-time fan of Hawaii Five-O, it was especially thrilling that the Ilikai served as the week's accommodations. It is a famous landmark there, in part because it's where Jack Lord is standing as the camera flies across the water in the opening credits of that long-running CBS show. The Ilikai opened in 1964 and certainly looks dated amidst all the other highrise hotels and other buildings around there, but I definitely dug it. (In case you're wondering, the Thanksgiving meal was partaken at Jameson's by the Sea, up in Haleiwa, on the north shore of Oahu. I had a delicious Cajun blackened Ahi tuna, and no one else in the group had turkey, either. It was quite good and the view looking out at the Pacific, with those breezes blowing in through the open windows, made it all the better.)

So, a few days into my trip, I get a call from my General Contractor Pete. He simply wants to know what the temperature was in Oahu (at that time of the Hawaiian morning, it was probably upper 70s), and he noted that it was a "balmy 44" in Winston-Salem, with a light drizzle. He also gave me an update on what all they'd been doing while I was yet again away.


Later in the day, while our happy crew was off at Pearl Harbor, Pete checked in with me again to talk about how we'd handle the exposed part of the foundation under the new addition, as he was getting ready to order materials. Because I've got some compromised brick facing under the bay of my bedroom window, he thought it best to put a stucco exterior covering on that bit of exposed foundation, beginning at the steps from the parking area to the porch and wrapping around all of the new addition. This picture is when I took that second call from Pete. You can see the USS Arizona Memorial in the distance (click on this picture to enlarge, if you wish).