Pink clouds at sunset

Sunset Maili Cove March 2007

This is one of my favorite photos from my trip in 2007. I was walking in the beach park next to the condo where I was staying at Maili Cove and looked up and saw how beautiful the clouds looked. My faithful Kodak camera was never out of my hands.  Sunsets in Hawaii are always beautiful and each one has a magic all it's own. The clouds rather remind me of pink cotton candy. 


I tried to be at a different beach park on the western side of the island every night to capture one of the amazing sunsets. Sometimes I succeeded and at other times I was still on the road. I always wanted to capture the sun as it eased it's way into the western ocean. So with that being stated, here are more photos of Hawaii sunsets. 

From condo at Maili  Cove 3/2007

What could be nicer than staying in a condo (really an apartment complex) on the beach and seeing this view each night from your Lanai. Is it any wonder that I want to move there and live there for the rest of my life? How can a person be stressed out when they have this kind of a view to look forward to each evening while they are eating their supper? 

Maili Cove March 2007

In regards to the photo on the left, I took a series of photos on this day as the sun slowly sank from sight. It might seem strange but I never grew bored watching the sun disappear from the sky each evening. The only thing I never had the opportunity to observe was the sun rising each morning. I just was never up early enough. LOL  I kept promising myself that I'd get up early to drive over to the windward side of the island (or go to Koko head) to see the sun come up, but I never got around to doing it.  I will do it one of these days though.  On an observant note...sunsets are mores spectacular when there are clouds in the sky. :) I have to be honest and say that the photo to the right is doctored somewhat. I just darkened it a little because when it was taken it was darker than the photo came out. This is the sky I saw on that day. This is looking directly west toward Japan. :)

While I was there, and each time I've gone, I rarely watched television during the day or anything on the web. With views like this to gaze upon daily who needs television?

http://www.queensroyalsurreys.org.uk

I'm still reading The Slaves of Love. Yasmina is now aboard HMS Himalaya in the cabin of Lord Castleford having been smuggled aboard the ship by a faithful servant of Mihri (who is the Sultan's favorite)  in a trunk (try that these days!). Yasmina might have been in the harem until the war with Crimea was over had it not been for the Black Eunuch's interest in her and he was not the most gentle of master's. Of course Castleford is not to happy to be involved in her escape since Britain is at war with Russia. His being the new Ambassador to Greece and his harboring a Russian would not look good for his career. 

Photo from Wikipedia

I wish in some ways that I had the Internet when I first read these books. I so enjoy looking up the people and places mentioned in them. For example: In this book the Sultan of the Ottoman empire is mentioned, it is into HIS (Abdülmecid I) harem that Yasmina has taken refuge. He was quite a handsome fellow judging by the painting. In the book there isn't much of a description of him but then perhaps Cartland didn't have the painting on the right to go by. She did have, however, his accomplishments where the Ottoman Empire was concerned. I've tried to find out if Mihri was a real person and the closest I could come was Gülüstü Kadın Efendi who was of Circassian descent as is the character in the book but who was a servant in Yasmina's household before she was abducted and imprisoned in the Sultan's palace, something that was pretty rampant back then. I couldn't really find to much about Gülüstü but the time period when she was his wife matches with Cartland's novel. 

Today's paper doll is Jane Arden from May 9th, 1943. I enlarged it a little and brightened it up.  My favorite garment is the dress with the fur coat. 


For the paper doll from my designs, I present a baby Ewok. I don't know what the heck I was thinking giving it modern clothing. This is another one I'm in the process of revamping and giving it more "primitive" outfits made out of fur and hide. I suppose I was thinking at the time along the lines of a teddy bear. The clothes however, just aren't right for the little critter.  I will also be changing the border to something more appropriate

to Endor.  The set has only two pages of clothes. I am not sure if I created more for this little girl or not. If I did I hope to eventually find the other pages. I'm still searching for my other sets. I had created 100 of them varying from children to adults, reality to fantasy. I had one set that went with the movie Clash of the Titans and while I've found some of the clothes, I've yet to find the complete set. I suppose that is the downside of moving, you may leave things behind. Yet, I don't really think I did, I just feel that perhaps the other sets are packed in a box that I haven't  gotten to yet or squirreled away and I've just forgotten where I put them. 


I suppose that is it for this time. This blog is a little shorter than usual. I was trying to fix the lettering on the blog and lost quite a bit of writing in regards to the palace mentioned in The Slaves of Love and I really don't feel up to trying to hunt down the photos again, and try to remember what I'd written. Maybe next time.  I wanted to share the photos of the palace because it was and is quite impressive. I'm also rather late in posting this. I was going to post a few days ago but ended up selling quite a few things on Ebay and with one thing or another I wasn't able to complete this posting until now. So until next time...Aloha and May the Force Be With You. 

N Dennis March 2007

Crystal clear water

Hanauma Bay from lookout March 2007

I love this shot of Hanauma Bay . The water is so crystal clear! I like how you can see the coral under the water. I've always wanted to go snorkeling but as of yet haven't been able to. Mainly it's a monetary issue not that I physically can't do it. I didn't go down to the beach on this day. It's a steep incline (if you look closely you can see the incline on the right hand side of the photo) and though I hate to admit it at times, I'm out of shape and walking down the incline would be easy..it's the coming back up that would be the hard part. I could do it, but would have had to walk backwards and since there were quite a few people there on this day, didn't want to look silly walking in reverse. It's easier on my calf muscles if I walk up such a steep hill that way.  I took this on the same day that I took the photo of Koko head. If you turned to the right of this photo you'd be gazing up at Koko head. It was also extremely windy from this vantage point. 

This is also another doctored photo.  Again the sky on the left side of the photo was to light so I separated it from the bottom portion and using the brightness/contrast feature of Photoshop altered it so that the sky was a little darker. There isn't to much of a difference to the two photos really. I did brighten the bottom portion a little as well which you can tell by the water and the sand being a little brighter in tone. Hawaii is the only place I know of where you don't mind gadding about on an overcast day and said overcast doesn't ruin it in the least. It did sprinkle a little but not so much that my camera got to wet. I had just bought the camera in 2006 and it was the first time I'd given my Kodak a real workout. The lovely part of using a digital camera was when I got back to the condo where I was staying, I could immediately download my card on the laptop computer I'd brought with me without having to go to Wal-mart, K-mart or Walgreens to get the pictures developed. 

Lord Stratford Canning age 29

I've finished THE PASSION AND THE FLOWER (it was really good so only took a day to read) and I'm now reading THE SLAVES OF LOVE. The time frame is 1855 and the setting is Constantinople, Turkey or what is now Istanbul.  The Crimean War is raging and fear abounds that there are Russian spies every where. Our hero, Lord Vernan Castleford, is on his way to the Bazaar in search of a present for the British Ambassador Stratford Canning, who, I might add, was quite a handsome fellow.  The book takes place when Stratford is 68 and according to Castleford is still a handsome man. (Photo of Canning courtesy of Wikipedia) He actually was still quite good looking in later years. 

Photo from Look and Learn website

Upon arriving in the Bazaar he is witness to the beating of a Russian by a mob. It is here that he comes upon a young Russian woman, Yasmina, who was raised in both Crimea and in Russia. Her father is ill and she'd come to the Bazaar for herbs in the hope that they'd help her father get better. He'd been sick for awhile and not trusting British hospitals she was trying to nurse him herself. I'm at the part where Yasmina's father has just passed away and she's trying to figure out what to do. She doesn't have any where she can go. She's now pretty much alone except for Hamid and he's just told her that the safest place for her to be during that dangerous time would be in the Sultan's harem.  

Today's paper doll is a Jane Arden. I couldn't find a matching paper doll for today's date in my collection so decided to post this one. I'm not sure of the year but judging by the dress I'd say either 1950's or 60's. I remember these paper dolls in the Sunday paper. I wish now I'd kept them but like all things from my childhood, my paper doll collection was relegated to the trash bin or a garage sale when I "out grew" them. This paper doll was also on a disc I bought from a seller on Ebay. It was rather on the small size so I enlarged it. The scan I received was at 150 dpi which isn't to bad of a resolution. I also made this one into a black and white version for those who like to color their paper dolls. This pose was a common one in the Jane Arden series so the clothes of other dolls will fit this one. 

For my paper doll design I present Babs the Ballerina Cat. I'm in the process of revamping this one. I'm thinking of perhaps making her into a greeting card. Maybe have several cats with the same pose and with two or three costumes a piece. I'm also thinking of enlarging her. She doesn't have to many outfits. As she is now she only has three pages of clothes. 

It's time to call it a day. Until next time, Aloha and may your day be a great one!!

N Dennis 2007