Puzzle

 Last Christmas, my friend Droopy gifted me a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle... of myself! It's a photo from my visit to see the bluebonnet field in spring of last year.

Let's open it up and get started on it!

First, let's flip all the pieces right side up.

Next, let's do the edges. Done!

I think I'll start with my shirt. I'm wearing a red plaid shirt and a jean jacket in this photo.

You know what I learned from working on this puzzle? That my fur is beary complicated! My face is more complex than it looks.

*A COUPLE DAYS LATER*

I insisted to my secretary that we keep working on this puzzle nonstop, but I finally gave in and took some breaks for food and sleep. Now, we have finished the most important part of this puzzle - me!

Let's start on the background of the bluebonnet flowers. The orange flowers are Indian Paintbrush flowers. It's a rather challenging background with so many flowers and some are blurry. There's lot of green grass too.

Alright, we just have one piece left!

There it is. Do you see it?

Oh this is exciting!

The puzzle is completed! What do you think? I'm going to find a frame and hang this puzzle up on the wall. Thanks Droopy, for a great puzzle!

Hawaii, part 5

And then, we finally made it to Pu'uhonua O Honaunau National Historical Park. This is a sacred place that was a place of refuge for defeated Hawaiian warriors and those sentenced to death for violating kapu, the code of conduct.

This sanctuary was protected by Lono, the God of Life, as the native Hawaiians believed. Once you made it here, no physical harm could be done to you.

There used to be several platforms built from rocks on which dances and songs were performed.

We can still see what life was like back in those days. Here is a hut for canoe making. They were very resourceful and used whatever they could find in nature.

Alright, let's go check out our next AirBnb. This is on the western part of Hawaii island. This property has several papaya trees growing. What a view!

I also stopped by a fruit stand and bought a cacao fruit. This is what chocolate is made from. Let's open it up and have a nice big bite of choc--

Wow, this is not what I expected at all. It's very fibrous, and white, and has a slightly sweet taste. A lot of work has to go into this before it turns into chocolate.

For breakfast, we had a scrumptious meal with fresh fruit from the backyard! Yes, there are banana trees here also! I've gained quite a few pounds on this trip.. but it's been worth it.

We highly recommend this place if you visit. It's called Hale Hoola: http://www.hale-hoola.com/

I've really enjoyed my time in Hawaii and I hoped you liked following along.

I'll leave you with a nice sunset view...

Hawaii, part 4

Hi there! Glad you could make it to the BIG ISLAND of HAWAII! We are staying at this cute little AirBnb on the island and --

"WELL HELLO THERE!" a familiar voice said.

"Let me guess. It's Droopy," I replied.

"Looks like we're booked at the same AirBnb! It's pretty cool and has a loft with ladder access," he said.

"Oh, that sounds beary cool!" I said.

Now let's take a ride out to the Hawaii Volcano National Park. There are a lot of steam vents on the way to the volcano like the ones you see here. Be careful when walking around! Some people have fallen in and gotten hurt, or worse...yikes.

Here we are at the Kīlauea Volcano viewpoint. Unfortunately, the volcano stopped erupting 3 days before we arrived, so there was no flowing lava to see either during the day nor at night. *sigh* But that's how it is with Mother Nature - we have no way of controlling it! This just means that we will have to come back again to see it in action.  😉

There also happened to be a hula performance going on in the park! We were lucky to see it.

Then, we drove around the southern part of the island and stopped at Black Sand Beach. Yep, the sand here is black alright!

The shores are made of black volcanic rock. Be careful! They are extremely sharp and feel like broken glass if you fall on them.

Hey, wait! I see something interesting over there. It looks like a few large smooth rocks... or is it?

They are actually Hawaiian green sea turtles! The Hawaiian name is honu and they symbolize wisdom and good luck. They are an endangered species. This part of the beach has been roped off to allow them to come onto shore and rest. Maybe they will lay eggs here.

He or she seems to be sleeping - how cute! I will have to tell Ooogie I saw some of his relatives.

Here is a cool shot from a different part of the beach.

We drove around some more and saw more beautiful scenic views!

Stay tuned for our last and final stop on this Hawaii trip!

A Summer Road Trip, part 2 - The Oldest Store Museum

Today, I am visiting a museum called "The Oldest Store Museum" here in St. Augustine, Florida. It is a museum the recreates a store started by C.F. Hamblen in 1908. It was not only the first store in St. Augustine, but also the first store in the United States since St. Augustine was also the first city.

Let's go back in time and see what they sell in this store!

Do you recognize any of the products on this shelf? Do any of the brand names look familiar to you? Try to see how many you can find here.

The store clerk let me sit in the measuring scale. And yes, I'd like a bar of that chocolate also, please!

You could also buy machines in this store. There were a lot of machines and gadgets for the kitchen that made life easier. This machine is for shucking corn. You spin the large wheel on the side to get it going, then the corn kernels were collected in a bucket underneath. As for the empty corn cob? Well, it was used as toilet paper! Yikes, that's a bit rough for my bum.

And how about this device? Does it look familiar? It is a phonograph by the famous Thomas Edison.

Stick candy was very popular back then. There are free candies for going on this tour, so help yourself! These are fresh and not from 1908, so don't worry...

This is a cash register from back in the day. But if you were a woman back in those days, you probably didn't have much money to your name. Ladies would often buy things from the store on credit, then their husbands would pay for it.

There were all sorts of medicines and remedies that were sold at this store. Some of them were not exactly, umm... effective, approved, or even a good idea. But somebody did invent them and people did try them. Just think of all the advancements in medicine that we enjoy today.

Ladies, this is your place to get fancy boots or hats. Of course no one wants to look the same, so dress up your hats and shoes with all sorts of embellishments, custom made right here in this store.

Of course someone had to do the bookkeeping for the merchandise in this store. Here is a hard working accountant looking over the company books.

And here is the friendly butcher chopping up meat for sale. I don't see any fish though. Where is the fisherman?

We are moving to the back of the museum where there is an even bigger warehouse of antiques. The owner of this store, C.F. Hamblen, collected a lot of things. He supposedly kept one item in his archives of everything the he ever sold in the store. The museum currently has several more warehouses full of antiques which they rotate.

These are oxen yokes, so the oxen will pull together.

The store clerk is demonstrating the challenges of mothers during that time. How do you churn butter and take care of a baby at the same time? It's very difficult to do.

That's why some enterprising individual came up with this baby rocker butter churner. You just put your baby in the basket on top, then rock it while the butter churns inside.

Wow! Just look at all these bicycles!

This one has the big wheel in the back and is called a high wheeler. It is similar to its cousin the penny farther, but was designed to have more stability with the large wheel in back. I'll try riding it!

The museum also had a display of old laundry machines. From washing to drying, we certainly have come a long way to solve the common problem of dirty clothes, haven't we? Remember, stuffies should always be hand washed and never put in the washing machine. 😉

And here we have some antique typewriters! No emails, no backspace, no delete button here, folks --

"THIS MUSEUM IS AMAZING!" said a familiar voice.

"Okay, who is your travel agent, Droopy?" I said.

I hope you enjoyed this museum visit!

Stick around for our next stop..,