But first, a few news developments: Chance for peace in Iran? About that Hamas disarm matter, Israel bombed the Gaza Strip yesterday. Before you get too optimistic about that possible ceasefire development in Ukraine, here is a Wikipedia article about past efforts. Yes, there is another Heat Dome over Western North American: Las Vegas reached 115 F yesterdsay, Phoenix, Arizona will hit 116 F and El Centro, California 118 F today. Even Montana is expecting 104 F today. Parts of Mexico will get up to 120 F, and Canada will be 22 F to 43 F ABOVE NORMAL . Hot, but not as bad as the Heat Dome last month .  Now, on to Pearl's Ashes ceremonies #10 and #11, in Africa. Some background info: When Pearl grew up in Hilo, Mauna Kea could be seen from her home.  The volcano was especially awesome during the winter months when covered with snow.  If there was anywhere Pearl wanted to visit, but I did not, it was Africa, with Mount Kilimanjaro being her link to Mauna Kea. ...

On this Sunday, in my 17th year of this blog, I thought, my life is now not as exciting as in the past.  While I did last month return from a nearly two-month long trip that took us from Honolulu to Seattle ( by air ); then a very long cruise through the Panama Canal to Southhampton, UK; another flight to Amsterdam, Netherlands; a European Christmas Cruise to Budapest; flight to Zurich for a couple of days; then a 27 hour return by plane to Honolulu; certainly more than virtually every one of you reading this has accomplished the past year, relatively, my earlier experiences were more memorable. So I thought, over the next few months, I would select a few of my past postings to re-share with you, utilizing mostly my nostalgia day, Tuesday, for this purpose.  But I'll begin today with a grand summary. My first blog was published on 29April2008.  How long ago is that? Go back to your first day of kindergarten. Imagine how long it took to get you to become a senior in colleg...