Well we are just about at the 2 week mark...

Two weeks (as of Sat.) until our last full day as managers...

We switch the new/returning managers over Sept. 30.

We'll have Oct. 1st free and clear,

And most of Oct. 2 until we fly out that evening,

Landing in Phoenix, AZ on my 52nd birthday.

What a gift!  Yay!  I can almost smell the freedom!

Ru and I go separate ways from Phoenix...

He goes on to Orlando and home,

I'm going to San Francisco, 

And then on to my hometown,

For a six-day visit.

I haven't seen my folks

In 1 1/2 years.  It's time!

Anyway, back to the here and now...

I don't think we'll be going out to any distance

At this point due to an issue w/ the hotel vehicle,

So I doubt I'll see any new sights, 

No new birds...

Oh well...to be honest, I am beyond anxious

To get back to the mainland, see my folks,

And then get home to Florida

Where a new-to-me house awaits

Paint, furniture, and homey touches...

We were only in our new house

For 4 weeks 

Before we came to Hawaii

For what turned out to be 4 months

(Instead of 3 as 1st planned)....

So, to put the focus

Back on feathers, new or not....

Besides seeing No. cardinals here in Hawaii,

(I was surprised too!)

There are also plenty of house finches

And house sparrows, as on the mainland...

Case in point, this male house sparrow, looking quite sinister

With his dark mask and goatee....

As he eyeballs me from straight above my spot in the shade at a beach...

The sparrows get fairly close, looking for crumbs...

The lone ruddy turnstone appeared again a couple days ago,

Strolling down the seawall past the back of our hotel room...

Getting decent shots of the java sparrows

Is no easy task for some strange reason...

Probably due to the poor light below the tree canopy,

And the fact that the birds and feeders are always in motion....

I did get a better shot of the Pacific golden-plover recently, 

The same day as the leering house sparrow incident at the same beach...

This plover was fairly close compared to the last one I tried to photograph.

Kalapana & Lava Tree State Park

I get some interesting, 

Strange,

Annoying,

And downright ridiculous

Phone calls

In the hotel reservations / inquiries

Department...

But recently an extremely cheerful,

laughing (at his own cuteness, for one),

and downright colorful guy called...

And eventually he put me on

Speaker phone so he could

Sing and play the Ukelele...

He sang a really nice tune

About Kalapana,

A town that no longer exists

Thanks to a lava flow...

I found this esp. touching

Cause Ruben and I had taken a quick look

At Kalapana pretty recently..... 

...Or more like, what was left of it.....

This is pretty much it.

Pretty eerie.

We drove on to Lava Tree State Park, 

South of Hilo at the far east side of Hawaii.

The park has a loop trail...

This cool tree wasn't labeled but you can see it has the fluffy, lacy type "needles" ...

The lava trees, like this one that resembles a goofy face,

Are formed when hot lava pours over a tree,

Creating a mold of the tree.

The park had some of these pretty leaves...

Here's a better perspective w/ the leaves growing up this tree...

That's hubby posing...

Last but not least,

There are some Jurassic Park sized ferns growing in the park...

Ok, how's this for a better perspective?!

The park was eerily quiet and I kept looking over my shoulder,

Wondering if I would come face-to-ankle w/ T-rex...
But only the mosquitos were chomping that day.

The Hotel is Becoming a Zoo

It's beginning to look as though the local critters

Are trying to move in on us here...

This mongoose was sighted slinking around the front garden a couple days ago...

(Ruben's photo)

We've had a No. cardinal pair at the front feeders,

I think this is their offspring...either that or a rebellious, mohawked female...

Ok so maybe she's molting...

The java sparrows are always dining at the coconut shell feeders all morning,

I feed them around 6:30 AM daily...they get pretty restless by then...

We do have occasional, brief visits from a ruddy turnstone...

(Besides the wandering tattler)...

And the black crabs appear fairly often, 

patrolling the sea wall...

Then there's Smokey...

The neighborhood cat...

We feed him ea. morning and evening...

It was a part of our training,

Feeding the birds and Smokey that is...

We only see him those 2 times a day...

The geckos continue to scout bugs in the front office area...

This one is filling in my position for me,

Looking to check a new guest in....

And now we have a duck.  Yep, a duck!  This fella (or gal) appeared a couple days ago,
And is currently residing at Room 101's lanai...
When it isn't waddling around the back lawn or along the seawall.