Just another country church - site of recent wedding of Peter & Sheila down in Devon

What else can I say? ? ?

R O O F T R U S S E S !

Just returned from a weekend in Orange County. Interesting, and I found a fun restaurant/oyster bar/brew pub in Brea, which is Jue's home town. Try "Taps" at the corner of Imperial Hwy and Brea Blvd. Nice new (looks old) brick building with a great fish menu and above-average beer.

Our former neighbor, Bob Knapp, psychiatrist, has just retired from the Army Reserve and his unit, the 113th CMS (I think) has just returned from Baghdad. Colonel Knapp has completed his 20, so he's out with his pension, and we thank him for his service!

** UPDATE** I forgot to mention that Col. Knapp received the Bronze Star, which, to me, is a Big Deal. I'm impressed!

Here's the presentation of medals and awards to the enlisted guys, who saluted smartly but were dressed casually. The Top Sergeant, Commanding Officer, and one other are on the left.




And here's the Colonel's retirement cake:




Back home, Hilton House has slowed down a bit, but we're rebuilding the old garage, now officially "Mieko's Garage". It's on the left, and the new Winnacker garage is on the right. Interesting juxtuposition.




** UPDATE** At the Mauna Lani Golf Course (I did par the 18th, you may remember) the battery-powered golf carts all had solar panels on their roofs. Makes sense and pleases the environmentalists among us. I like that!
However, for the sceptics among us, while walking past the cart garage, I noticed all the next-day's golf carts were washed, shined, and plugged into the house current!
I'm smiling a bit.

Here's a little napkin-sketch of an idea:

This week Mieko has announced that she wants a cupola on the roof of Hilton House. I'm thinking that I'll cadge this design from a neighbor up the street.




Any thoughts from anyone out there? Just post them on www.winnacker.com
Meantime, the roof trusses are delayed by two and a half weeks! Lots of groaning going on here.

It's great to see 'Tempdisplaced" posting to this blog! Thanks for the parade pix from Looe, Hanako; now tell us how to pronounce that name!
We're back from a week in Kailua-Kona, golfing and renewing old acquaintances. It's been about 20 years since my last visit, and it was good to see not much changed. One change for the better was a non-stop flight from Oakland to Kona on an Aloha Airline 737-700. I didn't know that it was legal to fly 5.5 hours in a two-engined plane!
Kona has not been noted for fine/fun dining, but we did find an exception at Kenichi/Pacific in the Keahou Shopping Center. Put tablecloths on the tables and move it to Nob Hill and you could charge $150/person! The food is memorable, and the price okay at $40 each including wine.
Here is Mieko at the 14th "mountain" par 3 at the Kona Country Club:



And here's calamari at Kenichi/Pacific (with Dynamite Shrimp in the background:



Mieko stares provocatively across the choppy bay waters at City of Refuge:



A final view of the North Kohala Coast from the end of the road:



And now, back to reality, and a view of the progress at Hilton House in Walnut Creek. It's coming along nicely, and more or less on schedule. Keeping our fingers crossed!

Summer Parade in the small Cornish town of Looe