It's Almost Spring

 Okinawa Got Warm

To long-term residents of the island, anything below 70 degrees is freezing.

We get temperatures in Celsius. 70 F would be over 21 C degrees for me.

Sumba Falls

Here's an iPhone 13 image shot while traveling up north near the end of February.

It felt so warm, I took my jacket off and left it in the car.

For folks back in NY  State (where it snows) I screenshot this chart.

It was 20 degrees C at this waterfall. That's 68 degrees Fahrenheit!

Well, the warm temperatures lasted a few days. Now, I'm wearing a jacket again.

But, the weatherman says this week it will get warm again.

Springtime is coming!

Sunflowers and the Wireless Shack

Early Morning Exercise Walk

Lately, I've been waking up way before sunrise and doing some hiking.

The goal is usually to reach 10,000 steps before the end of the day.

This morning the camera and dog accompanied me on this 17, 900 step excursion.

A field of Sunflowers is blooming and many folks a happy to see them.

After a miserable Winter, these signs of  Spring can brighten up anyone's day.

Walking carefully around the slippery, wet field I took several photos.

When I have the camera and a dog to walk these flowers are two hours away from home.

People living in the southern part of the island could get there quicker than me.

What's a Wireless Shack Got to Do with Anything?

This was something I came across as I was looking for important landmarks.

People are always asking me for directions so, I need to know special stuff.

Look closely at the photo above. See that white thing sticking out of the roof?

It's not a chimney. That's the Kin Town Electric Powerplant.

That shack got me thinking. It just needs a few more feet of wire to reach that power pole.

Then we could all sit down inside and watch color TV!

Directions to the Sunflower Field

Some Sunflower field photos were posted by me on Facebook. They were iPhone images.

Next thing I knew people began asking how to get to this location.

Everybody uses Google Maps these days so, I did a search of the area.

Not in the habit of doing Public Toilet Reviews, I did my first one today.

If you can locate this toilet on Google Maps, you'll find the flower fields,

Feeling Blue ? Here's Something You Could Do !

Hit the Road and Get Out of Town

 

 

Okinawa is a pretty small island.  Eventually, all roads lead to the ocean.

March weather can drive a body crazy.

It's officially Spring but, Mother Nature must not have gotten the word, yet.

On one of those cold mornings in March, I hit the beach before the sun did.

And, got to humming this tune.

But, I'm an optimist.  Things ain't really that bad.

We all know, the warm, springtime days are coming our way, soon enough.

So, it's time to start making some travel plans.

It's good to hear to someone else singing the blues in a song.

Before you know it, on a sunny day, a ship will come in.  And, you know who will jump on it.

Try it sometime or at least, take a bus and, get out of town.

Blooming in Okinawa: The Aloe Vera Plants (Photos)

These aloe plants were spotted on Kouri-jima, Okinawa, Japan.

It was March 21, 2013 so, I guess these blossoms wait for Spring's official arrival.

We used to grow the stuff but, I can't remember ever seeing these yellow flowers.

If you get real close and look, the blossoms resemble miniature bananas.

 Unless you really know you aloe plants, you probably shouldn't eat them.

Learn all you'll ever need to know about Aloe Vera over at eHow.

What the Lily (Flowers) Taught Me Today (Photos)

It's Spring and Easter Sunday is just around the corner.  So, today I figured it'd be a good time to practice shooting Lily flowers.  Mrs. Ryukyu Mike has the things growing in a garden on the roof of the house. 

What brand they are, I have no idea but, the Missus said if I planned on shooting them I'd better do it today.  They won't be in bloom much longer.  Here's a few photos.

                                     Just for the sake of simplicity I'll call this the Red Lily.

                                          This one, I don't know.  Call it whatever you'd like.

HERE'S WHAT THE LILIES TAUGHT ME TODAY:

1. I was born to shoot wildlife, not flowers.

2. Lilies won't hold still in the wind.

3. Lying on my back in a puddle of water isn't as much fun as it used to be.

4. The wife and Wikipedia disagree on the names of these lilies.  One of them could be wrong.

5. Hold real still shooting lilies, lying in a puddle and the wife's dog thinks you died.  So, he pees on you.


There is a big Lily Festival on the island of Ie-shima in Okinawa, Japan at the end of this month.  I plan on taking the ferry over there to shoot the white lilies.  They will have over a million of them in bloom. 

Those lilies, I know, are Easter Lilies.  But, Easter will be over before I get there.

It's a good idea to practice for these big events.  I need to brush up on my flower photography before I go spending an overnighter on some strange island.

That's just in case the locals slip something in my tea and I wake up with a hangover. Know what I mean?

What I'm hoping for is to come back with plenty of good flower photos taken under sunny blue skies.

And, I hope they have a "No Dogs Allowed" policy for the Lily Festival on Ie-shima.


Visit my Homepage for THE PHOTO OF THE DAY

Laptop Cooling Tower: The Redneck Version (Photo)

Spring has sprung and the flowers are blooming all over the island of Okinawa.  That means, anyday now, it will get so hot my flip flops will start sticking to the blacktopped roads.  It'll be just like Summer ! 

I love hot weather but, those poor laptops of mine don't.  They started meltdown today.  Not one to present a problem without a solution here's my version of the redneck cooling tower.

Mind you, this is just a prototype the Ryukyu Mike Research and Development Staff is working on but, so far it's an all-systems-go.  If your better half is as fussy as mine about housekeeping you might want to consider spray paint, or something, for the blocks before placing them on the kitchen table.

What prompted this ingenious set-up?  Well, I remember one day last summer, I had a skimpy little cooling tower.  It consisted of a pair of real fancy, custom made flip flops a gal gave me for my birthday.  They were too nice to wear so, I used them to prop up the back end of my laptop.  That gave it about half an inch of air circulation and I put this humongous floor fan right next to the kitchen table.  It worked alright for awhile.  But when it got really hot in the summer my keyboard started sagging in the middle.  I suspect it wasn't getting enough cooling air.

Do you know, if the supposed genious laptop builders had any brains they would make the things with built-in fold down legs.  Then people like me wouldn't have to run around the neighborhood looking for nice clean cement blocks to borrow.  But, it could be they want our laptops to melt so we have to buy new ones every few years.  Not me, Buddy.  I ain't that stupid.

Just in case any of those wise guys try to steal my Redneck Laptop Cooling Tower idea get this:

I AM THINKING OF GETTING SOME OF THOSE PATENT PENDING STICKERS FOR MY CEMENT BLOCKS. 

I BETTER NOT CATCH ANYBODY SNOOPIN AROUND MY INVENTIONS.

GET YOUR HANDS HIGH IN THE AIR WHERE I CAN SEE THEM, TURN AROUND AND WALK AWAY SLOWLY !

If you are one of my friends who isn't a millionaire and it gets hot in the summertime, in your neck of the woods, you have my permission to experiment with this invention.  Friends are good people.

Just  be careful not to drop any of the parts on your toes during assembly. OK ?

Flower (Photo) Purple Iris and an Okinawan Festival

There has been a massive jump in traffic on my Festivals of Okinawa page since I mentioned in a Cherryblossom post that we have all kinds of flower festivals in Okinawa, Japan.

So, I figure I'd better start filling the place up with whatever I have on the Festivals (Matsuri) and see what else I'll need to shoot more photos of to give everyone a year-round schedule to follow.

This photo was taken 5 APR 2009 in the village of Ogimi Okinawa, Japan. It was a cold and windy day.
I don't forget what the conditions were at the time I composed a photo, even if it was years ago.

There have been several people who live in countries where it's snowing, right now, telling me they wish it was springtime where they are like it is here.

Hah !  It's winter here in Okinawa, right now, too. It's freezing cold, to us.
It'll keep getting colder until sometime around March. We just don't have any snow.

Instead, we get the 90% humid wind blowing off the ocean and it makes us shiver just like we were up in the Arctic Circle.

People from Canada, Alaska, Hokkaido, Sweden and even North Korea would probably be running around in their underwear laughing at me bundled-up in a flannel shirt and three jackets.

I don't care. I do whatever I have to do. We don't have heaters built into our homes.
So, sometimes I turn on a 500W lightbulb and hang it over my head just to stay warm!

The Purple Iris photo makes me look forward to spring. I hope it makes you look forward to spring, too.
There won't be a scheduled date for the festival this year until someone figures the weather out. This post will be updated with the dates for events as soon as mother nature gives us some clues.

When it's time for the Iris Flower Festival this year, in Ogimi, I'll go back and shoot some more pictures for you.

Hopefully, it'll be warm enough for me to just wear a t shirt. To be on the safe side, I'll bring along a jacket.