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Fruity dinks
No tropical holiday is complete without plenty of fruity drinks. Every afternoon, we fill our daily quota of blended fruit ice and rum. We’ve made the classics, most remarkably pina coladas with a coconut from a tree on the property, and we’ve invented some of our own. As the sun set yesterday we sipped cantaloupe,…
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Uluhe
Uluhe is an indigenous groundcover that has the most unusual growth pattern. It unfurls, fernlike, into two leaves. Each of those spreads two additional leaves and so on until it reaches its end where the leaves branch out to form a pointy-ended fern shape. These plants cover everything that isn’t forested. Roadsides, clearings, recovering lava…
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Mysterious boat
The mysterious boat comes by every morning. It cruises past quickly at a distance about 3/4 of the way to the horizon. There’s no sense of scale–it could be a twenty person yacht or a radio-controlled toy. Our binoculars bring it into clear focus but there is nothing to see that indicates how big it…
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Watery view
Our watery view is punctuated by creatures that like to leap. Yesterday morning a school of fish came jumping along. Again this morning. The fish are sleek and pale grey and are accompanied by a bright blue spot that swims along with them. We’ve been debating what the spot is attached to. I think it’s…
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Rain
It rains often here. Every evening, the clouds roll in from the south and we have a nice downpour while we cook dinner. Then the clouds break up and the sky is full of stars. Every other day, we see more clouds than sun. But this is good. Not only does it fill the catchment…
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Flock of Parrots
Flock of Parrots. Great name for an 80’s pop/Jimmy Buffet cover band. Also an actual sight and sound at our Hawaiian retreat. Parrots are noisy squawkers when they fly but they sure are pretty. Their green plumage with red and pink on the head and yellow beaks makes quite a spectacle as they wing across…
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Whales!
Whales! Yesterday morning, I swore I saw a black fin arcing up out of the water, but I was the only one who saw it. Later in the afternoon, I spotted another. Once again, I was the only one. But I wasn’t halucinating. Within the hour we were standing at the railling of the lower…
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Our cliffside ocean view
Our cliffside ocean view offers hours of lazy fascination. With a pair of binoculars, we have spied on passing ships, waves, sea birds, even cows in a pasture on a nearby hillside. Rainbows do not magnify well.
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Maui has a gaping
Maui has a gaping hole in its service economy. There are no Internet cafes on the island. I see an opportunity. Would relocating to a tropical island be torture? I don’t think so.
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Travel is the worst.
Travel is the worst. Holidays are the best. At the moment, I’m getting over through over the rigors of travelling from there to here. Train to Narita. Wait in the lounge. Red eye to Honolulu. Short hop to Maui. Arrival 9:30 am. Friends are due to arrive at 2:12. We’ve forgotten their flight number. Meet…
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