A hospitable day

The first time we went to Hawaii, I was aghast when one of these fellows flew (yecch! Yes, flew!) into our living room. The others scurried around trying to eradicate him or her, while I sat by in stunned horror. My Aunt Pauline is the mother of five boys, and is used to being obeyed. She got up, opened the door, and firmly told it to leave. And, amazingly, it did. The next time it visited, we were playing Scrabble, and I was in the kitchen making tea. The little demon flew in and sat on my Aunt Dakki’s head! As I fussed over the teakettle, I heard a scuffle from the other room, but a fairly mild scuffle – certainly not the shrieks there would have been if he had sat on my head. I think Dakki was probably too stupefied to react. Marcus chased the monster into the kitchen where he (the cockroach, not Maucus) ran under the stove. The next morning the base of the oven was lying on the kitchen floor. That cockroach was certainly strong to break a big appliance like that. They were back again this year, and Marcus saved us this time. What runners they are! He chased one under a cupboard, and chased the other out the door into the night.
The second picture is a more welcome little guest. There were many lovely birds, some of whom came to sit on our lanai, but they would not sit still for their portraits to be taken.