Yes, we are. We are often greeted by a rainbow when going about our daily lives. We love each and every one of them. We don't have the rain associated with the rainbow, and that makes it even more enjoyable. This particular rainbow is the first we have seen that was so intense we could even see the violet in the bottom-most stripe.
Most often we spot a rainbow when out in the car, but this rainbow greeted us when we got up in the morning and looked out from our lanai (balcony). Rainbows are a theme we see in many business logos, the names of teams (University of Hawaii Rainbow Warriors), and displays.
As seen here, Yes, we do occasionally get out and have a chance to enjoy this beautiful island where we now live. As we learned from Dr. Rit when we were in Thailand, you must always be aware of sun exposure when outside. Thus, sunscreen becomes a part of our daily lives accompanied by a hat, water jug, sunglasses, and even an umbrella.
Our air conditioner is the Trade Winds. The Trades (as they are referred to by local weather forcasters) are here about 85-90% of the time. As a result, not just any umbrella will shade me from the sun. We discovered that a double canopy style allows the wind to pass through and does not turn the umbrella inside out or drag you down the street.
When not busy "having fun" we seem thus far to always have an active project from our honey-do list. Here John is figuring out how we will mount this 40-lb ironing board cabinet on a wall that seems to have no studs available for support. The cabinet arrived (the UPS and Fedex people know us by name now) ready for painting or staining. This meant finding somplace in our little apartment to apply stain and not get it on everything around us. And don't you know the door arrived with the hinges on the wrong side. So after the staining job we had to remove the door and remount it on the other edge of the cabinet. Eighty-seven screws to deal with (just kidding).
Project complete. The amusing part is . . . we have no iron. It is in a box we left in storage on the mainland before we departed for Thailand. It will join us one of these days soon. The other amusement is our wardrobe -- shorts and t-shirts. So what's up with the iron?
BEFORE --One of the first things we did after arriving here was pick paint colors. I insisted I wanted a yellow bedroom and that was it - no discussion. So I got a yellow bedroom and here it is.
AFTER --Barely beige is the name of this color.
Once our area rugs arrived (last week-Fedex) it became very evident to me that yellow is not the way to go. So while John was busy in another room, I proceeded to paint a tan color we had left over from painting the bathrooms and the second bedroom.
As you can tell from this photo - someone caught me in the act and snapped away. For the last few days we have been out looking at new paint colors. The tan's not working out after all. So, perhaps the wall by the headboard will be the tan in the photo while the other walls will be something called "barely beige" (whatever that means).
Another completed project is seen here. Our kitchen is really, really small. No space for a waste can. We saw one in a home improvement center that glides out on a rail from under the sink. We couldn't move forward with purchasing it until the plumber finished hooking up the dishwasher, disposal unit and sink stuff. Then we were able to measure and see what size we could use. Here it is completed. I love it. It takes bags exactly the right size for dropping down the trash chute. It is so nice not to have to deal with rolling a 50-gallon can out to the curb for pickup each week!
This is a photo of the interior of one of the two new medicine cabinets we installed recently. When living in a small space storage is a big deal. We discovered this style/brand of medicine cabinet when visiting in a brand new house. Instead of the standard 3 shelves this model has 6 half shelves that can be arranged independently. We had to remove the old cabinets, cut a larger hole in the wallboard and reinforce it with lengths of 2x4. We sure did feel "accomplished" when this job was finished!
John thought the area below the kitchen cabinets was not bright enough for doing prep work on the counter tops. We went exploring the electric departments at several home improvement stores and found these LED "puck" lights. They are purported to last 25 years before having to replace them. We purchased several sets and John went about figuring out how to install them.
This is how the counters look after John finished installing 6 pucks. The photo was taken without the overhead light on. Good job John!
I mentioned the "trades" earlier. We are on the 12th floor facing Diamond Head to one side -- with Pearl Harbor slightly off to another side. When the trades blow, they whip into our space with strength to bowl over a small child. Early on for window treatments, silly us decided to install vertical blinds on the windows and sliding glass door. Seemed like a good, contemporary solution. They look better than drapes and should last longer. My goodness! With the windows open the winds are so strong they literally ripped several of the blinds out of their holders snapping the tops on some. Whew! Fortunately, while hunting another solution someone suggested metal fittings installed at the top of each vertical blind. We found the part on the WEB. Thus far we have installed about 50 of them with maybe 75 more to go. After the finishing with the blinds, the painting (repainting!!), installing a tile mural, etc., we plan to have lots of fun!
