Farewell to Maui Hill

Maui Hill
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This is the page I never wanted to write. We've had a wonderful week. It went fast and it went slow. It was beautiful.
Today I went for a quiet walk by myself. I went down the road to a pretty little beach behind the hotel that faces the water and is across the road from our condo. Since I really am still on California time, I think I was easily out the door before 7:00am.
The others wanted to spend the better part of the morning by the pool. We hadn't really taken advantage of the pool yet. It's been usually noisy and sorta crowded. Today though, is a final do-nothing day and the pool looked good to them. I found it stuffy. The development plays the same Hawaiian music tape over and over. I'd much rather feel the breeze off the ocean. They all know I can't sun-bathe like they can.
I saw a number of beach-combers and a few early swimmers. I sat on the steps and just thought. I pushed tomorrow far away. I told the Lord how happy I was, how thankful I was for giving me this precious time. Maui is so incredibly beautiful. Friendship is such a wonderful gift.
I found a tiny path to the sand through the ice plant that looked just like the breaks in the foliage I remembered from long ago. I've had quite a few of those reminiscent moments. Hard to put my finger on feelings of familiarity. It's been sweet. I turn my head and I'll see my childhood, either through a hole in a fence or across a school ball diamond. I did as I determined to do; savor every single day.
This last evening we decided to watch the last sunset from that same little beach. We carried our chairs and towels across the road and set up camp. I took one last quick dip in the Blue Pacific. A whole swim, actually. You can barely see me splashing, a feeble backstroker, out past the rocks. I tried to judge the timing...how long can I stay in the water, still get dry in the waning sun light, see the sunset, and make it back across the road, not dying from hypothermia? Interesting difference; the sea water here isn't so pungent as the water off California. It's milder, more soft or something, definitely different.
We reluctantly trudged uphill towards home, had a 'clean-out-the-fridge' supper of pork fried rice, baked potatoes, shredded cheese, re-heated steak, and a dessert we'll call a Shunshine Special: a Pineapple, Banana, Pineapple Sherbet, Coconut Milk, Crushed Ice, Smoothie. Yum!
None of us is ready for bed. The only thing I have done to start packing is move Mom's rice cooker back to my bedroom so I won't forget it.
The others are sitting on the lanai behind me, howling at yet another somehow 'more funny than is possible' story. After a week of mishaps, miss-turns, misspeaks, misjudgements, and mispronunciations (you can only imagine), we have a truck-load of inside jokes. I wish I had a recording of them trying to figure out, and incorporate daily, Hawaiian slang.
I was teary eyed on the flight over to Maui when the airline played a melancholy Hawaiian melody on their introduction video. Then, I felt like I was finally coming home.
I can only imagine my future feelings of homesickness.
Can you be home and homesick at the same time?

Haleakala & ZipLine

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Well.
We made it home in one piece.
It took some convincing but she did it, the whole thing.
You'll see a shot of her praying.
Whether for protection or for new friends, we're not sure. She met a kindred spirit, a honeymooner named Connie.
It was a total blast. I think she had fun. She phoned home right away to let Ern know she was on the ground again. And forever after on the ground, from now on.

The drive up to the summit of Haleakala was about 45 minutes from the ZipLine. We passed some cyclers, two to be exact, going UP! Lots going down, only two going up. When we were ready to get going back down they both arrived at the summit. It turns out that his daughter was having a birthday cake and party for him at the top to celebrate his 70th today!

The Road to Hana

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Aloha!
Another early day. They seem to get earlier as the week progresses.
We got on the road out of Kehei by 6:00am.
First a stop at McD's for coffee to go and then clockwise around the island to Hana. The road was all our own, just like we'd planned.
Most of the tourists don't get up and going until later, maybe 9:00. We drove and stopped, hiked, and tried our best to discover what the two tour books intended. Sometimes we were so far off base it ended in a half hour goose chase.
Once we discovered that the mile-markers stopped and started at whim and that they weren't always there and that they didn't always keep in sync, we did better. We saw so many waterfalls I thought I'd better stop boring you with more and more pictures.
We found beautiful pools at the end of short up-hill hikes. One in particular we found by disregarding the No-Trespassing sign. Now wait just a minute....we were told by our tour book that those signs are illegal and put up by the locals for spite. It's all public land with public access. Besides, this was a hunting road and even though we'd left our red plaid jackets at home, we felt very obvious by our volume. The hunters probably wondered when they'd been over-run by hyenas.
After a while we noticed that we were seeing the same cars over and over. Stopping where we were or were leaving as we got there.
It started to rain during our lunch break at Hana Bay. A few silly looking waves and a few more silly looking maybe-honeymooners.
We tried to go the whole way around but discovered a bridge was out. We got a little farther than the Seven Sacred Pools ( which is neither sacred nor are there seven) and were turned around by huge barriers. Apparently there was an earthquake last year and a few bridges were shook loose. We drove over a quasi repaired one...it looked like tinker toys placed right next to the damaged one. It was pretty scary looking but we got home safe and sound.
KW fired up the grill.
Tonight we had steaks, baked potatoes, grilled zucchini, grilled bananas, pineapple sherbet.
Tomorrow is the ZipLine day and Shunshine is trying her best to find a reason to stay home.

Lahaina

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We drove to Lahaina.
We bought some stuff.
We saw some stuff.
We ate some stuff.
We sat on some sandy stuff,
and returned some stuff. (the man remembered you, dearie)

I am so tired
I am so sunburned.
I am going to bed.
We are going to have along day tomorrow, we're driving to Hana on the north coast.

Mama's Fish House

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We went to mamas fish house for supper tonight and I can safely say I have never eaten better fish. The drive out was beautiful; the sky was dark and cloudy, a bit fierce. The wind was blowing the palm trees around, bending them over gracefully.
We were so impressed with the restaurant, the approach, the decor. We started with shrimp wontons with macadamia ginger sauce, asparagus clam bisque, poppy seed garlic bread with fresh whipped butter.
I had Opakapaka for the first time in my life. It was made a little like picatta but with grilled Maui tomatoes too.
KW had Machong with Carmelized Maui Onions,
Louie had Salmon with Maui Sweet Potatoes, and Grillled Candied Bananas, (the lightest and most delicious salmon she's ever had),
Shunshine had Macadamia Crusted Pork Tenderloin with Coconut Rice, and an Edamame salad.
The staff gave us three birthday girls each a Kona Ice Cream Sundae, but we'd already ordered the Polynesian Black Pearl dessert which was Chocolate Covered Chocolate Mousse on top of Passionfruit Cream. All this was placed in a cookie clam shell and put on top of a swirly design of some liquer.
After supper we drove into Pa'ia a little and saw Doris Todd's school. It was dark and closed, but we got pictures.
We were going to listen to a CD of SBA on 'Would the Lord have you buy a Ferrari?' but we're too tired.
Tomorrow we drive to Lahaina for a day of sightseeing and shopping. (also to return some mistakenly pilfered snorkle gear.)

Maui Hair

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It's Tuesday and we have had a busy morning. Shunshine and I had appointments at a hair salon to do our Maui Hair. First we went to an 'Island Orientation' at a nearby restaurant which was just a half hour of hard-sell for all the tours and packages. We ate our little pancakes with coconut syrup and skipped out early.
I discovered I'd lost the ($75.00 deposit) room key right off. Yay.
We drove way back up to Kahalui (where the airport is) to the salon only to find out that they weren't able to do what we wanted, treated us like low-brow tourists, and had overbooked. We left.
I looked again through my bag for the key. The day wasn't going well. I was feeling really stupid and prayed that the Lord would help me find that key.
Wandering back to Kehei, we discovered a little salon right by a Taco Bell.
''Sherry' was able to fit us both in right away, me for 'wrapped & beaded', Shunshine, for highlights.
While one of us was in the chair, the other went next door to a fabulous bead and jewelry store. Tons of shell and jade necklaces, abalone, coral, wood carving, seeds of all kinds! What a place to spend alot of money. I emptied my bag again.
I picked up some sushi at FoodLand and we drove back to the condo by 1:00pm.
Louie wanted to know if I knew where my room key was? Duh, I'd left it in the door. They discovered it when the went out to walk to the lobby for bagels. sigh.
Thank you, Lord.

Maui Days

Go to webshots to see the fun!
We're here and we are relaxing. I'll be loading lots of photos daily onto webshots instead of here because it's faster. And I think it's more organized. Besides I think there is a limit? and I want to upload lots every day.
The girls have just left for the beach. It's still 3:00 here and they all wanted SAND!!!
Our balcony faces the sunset, which I plan to watch every night. We've been to the grocery store and have our meals planned. There is a BBQ right downstairs from us and the condo is equiped with every possible amenity. Even beach chairs, towels, boogie boards, beach umbrellas, board games and puzzle. (as if)
We have three lanais, which means we can pick and choose all day long. The one off the smaller bedroom is totally surrounded by palms and is so calming and serene. It faces East so I think it will be a good spot to see the dawn. Since we're still on California time, that won't be hard to do.
There is a double lanai off the master bedroom and living room with a dining set and chaises. Off the upper loft is a small lanai that over looks the swimming pool. The windows seem to be a special kind as we can't hear pool noise at all. There is so much bougainvillea I am as happy as a clam, dozens of colors, and huge as houses!
It's quiet and not at all crowded. We noticed that the airport seemed particularly empty. Yay!
See you tomorow!

One Titanic Lady

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This is who bought the outfit. I am so pleased, it's so much better than as a Halloween costume! I couldn't ask for it to go to a better home. She'll post pictures of it when she wears it to her 'Functions'. I can hardly wait.

I think I sold it, finally!

The story ends with a fizzle.
I listed this dress on eBay about one month ago and it didn't sell. Bummer. Then I was contacted by an ebay-er on my personal e-mail. She's interested, cost-conscious, and ready to buy. We just have to negotiate a price. She gives 'Titanic Presentations', whatever that means, and would love to wear my suit while at work. Hooray!

The beginning of the story is much more romantic.
Incredibly romantic, mind you. Husbands like this don't come around that often. I know, I know, he probably has warts, gambles, has bad breath, and poor eyesight. That didn't matter to me, what he did was rare.
About ten years ago, right around Spring of 1998, a man called me up at work and asked me if I could help him with a surprise for his wife. Their fifth anniversary was coming up and as she LOVED the 'Titanic' movie that had been released the previous Fall, he'd like to make her her favorite outfit for her to wear on their special day. He had it all planned; he bought the big hat, the shoes, I would make this dress, and then they would go have supper on the Queen Mary.
We had six months. He snuck clothes out of her closet so I could measure them. He said that she was trying to lose some weight, so we made the dress her target size. He brought me her collector books, her video, her magazine pages. She was obsessed with the film, a real cult follower. I think she'd seen the film six or seven times already. This was her favorite of all Kate Winslet's outfits.
We worked on this together for four months and then came the moment when I really needed to fit her to finish the suit. How we planned this surprise! I was so excited, pleased with the result, happy for him.
Well. It didn't work out so well. I guess you could say that she was wondering how much money he'd spent. I guess she was frustrated that it was still a little tight. I guess she isn't really into surprises. Whatever. I wanted to slap her.
She grimaced and she grumbled. She put on a 'happy face'. He'd gone to all of this trouble, enjoyed the journey, anticipated her delight, only to have it fall flat.
What an ungrateful grouch. After they'd left, he called. He apologized for the situation.
Toward the nearing of the anniversary day I got a phone call. Um, she's pregnant again. Gestational diabetes. Doctor wants her to eat healthy so, no more diet. He thanked me for my time and would walk away from the dress. I think she didn't want it around to remind her of what a thoughtless jerk her hubby was.
In the end it wasn't a loss for me. I was paid in full. The anniversary came and went. The dress hung in my shop collecting dust.