So I’m just visiting DC one day, checking out the White House with Philosopher (who was visiting from the UK). Suddenly, this whole parade of black cars starts driving in front of the White House! I was super curious about what was going on, but unfortunately there was nobody to ask…
black cars white house from Mary Qin on Vimeo.
It was rather windy out on our second excursion with Hawaii Nautical, but it did mean we got to actually turn off the engine and sail!
windy day at sea from Mary Qin on Vimeo.
When Panda and I were in Hawaii, we took half a day to go out to Kualoa Ranch, where we went on a two-hour horseback riding tour. Along the way, we ran across some chickens, cattle, and rebellious horses.
Here we came across a hen and some chicks. I’m surprised they stayed so close to the horses!
horse & chicken from Mary Qin on Vimeo.
The cattle stared at us suspiciously, but decided they’d let us pass without charging.
horse & cattle from Mary Qin on Vimeo.
My horse Toby kept going his own pace, which meant getting a fair distance behind the rest, so every now and then he’d trot to catch up. Bumpy!
trotting horse from Mary Qin on Vimeo.
Here are some of the horses that weren’t “on the job” that day. I can’t tell if these two were nuzzling, neck-wrestling, or fighting.
nuzzling fighting horses from Mary Qin on Vimeo.
I mean it literally. Panda and I were awoken at 5 AM the second morning in Hawaii to this horrible sound. It was loud, blaring, and sounded vaguely like a dying animal when I first woke up. After awhile, we realized it was coming from outside – waaaay outside. Like who knows how many miles away kind of outside. I was reminded of when I was a kid in Topeka and we’d have tornado drills with an alarm much like this one, so we were able to figure out it was probably some sort of warning system. We then turned on the TV to the local news just in time to catch them talking about the siren and how it was malfunctioning. I was pretty baffled as to how it could be set off half a dozen times before it was fixed, but at least we didn’t have any natural disasters to worry about. I think it finally stopped about 40 minutes later and we were able to get back to sleep. Thank goodness!
tsunami false alarm from Mary Qin on Vimeo.
If you look closely, you can see a bunch of teeny little fish swimming around! They look like minnows that belong in a creek.
tiny ocean fish from Mary Qin on Vimeo.
In the midst of a heat wave, it’s hard to imagine that this very place was so cold just months ago:
blustery snow from Mary Qin on Vimeo.
Animals just do what they do and don’t care if you’re watching or not. Meanwhile, people have the exact opposite problem and get too self-conscious.
ram urination from Mary Qin on Vimeo.
Panda and I got to attend the Hale Koa luau while we were in Waikiki, and as the night got underway, we were entertained by this guy climbing a coconut tree.
First he climbed up:
climbing up coconut tree from Mary Qin on Vimeo.
Then he talked about jumping from tree to tree and asked us if we wanted to see:
coconut tree jump from Mary Qin on Vimeo.
And finally he came down while trying not to flash anyone:
climbing down coconut tree from Mary Qin on Vimeo.
This reminds me of a song I learned in 5th grade for select choir…
Mama says no play, this is a work day
Up with the bright sun, get all the work done
If you will help me, climb up the tall tree
Shake the papaya down
Shake them down, shake them down
Climb the tall tree shake them down
Shake them down, shake them down
Shake the papaya down
I love papaya, yes I do
Juicy papaya, yes I do
If you will help me I’ll help you
Shake the papaya down
Out off the coast of Oahu, we got to enjoy a ride on the ocean before hopping in for some snorkeling! At this location, there were a bunch of sea turtles hanging out and just as we arrived, we saw this guy coming up for air. I was basically within arms reach of another one when it came up for air later on – soooo cool!
surfacing sea turtle from Mary Qin on Vimeo.
Back when I just return from China early in the year, I mentioned the auditorium at Lingshan. While visiting the site of a huge Siddhartha statue, we watched a show in this massive room. It’s hard to believe, but each row has the same number of “petals” and each each petal is the same exact size! Looking up, it definitely looked like it tapered off, but this was designed to fool you…
rainbow lights at lingshan auditorium from Mary Qin on Vimeo.
