KAUAI

But we didn’t participate in any sporting pleasure but rather had a lovely aloha and decidedly unambitious picnic and stroll at Lydgate.

A few of the paddle/surf boards and canoes available at the house for your sporting pleasure. The opposite bank is reflected in the windows.

In ‘our’ neighborhood you find the highest concentration of sacred sites in Kaua’i and worth learning a little about before visiting.

Of an evening, enjoying a cocktail on the lanai and watching the life of the river as it winds down for the evening.

Guests are arriving tomorrow and I’ll start a new chapter where we’ll be four instead of two. Should be FUN!

Hanalei – sight of the filming for Bali Hai. There are gorgeous properties edging this bay. The surfing was amazing. You could hardly see a wave but still people were riding great distances on these simple swells.

It looked like an excellent place to get started surfing because without heavy wave action you could paddle out easily enough to try again and again.

March 12

Anini Beach, near Hanalei but you’ve got to drive a fair distance off the main road to get here. This is my new favorite beach of all time (that I can remember at this moment anyway… memory being what it is).

Here is a vast expanse of bay protected by a coral reef. You can ride waves much further out and snorkel near the reef, or you can lounge in the calm, shaded, stunning to look at, easy to park, lovely facilitied, full of treasures in the sand, glory that is this place.

An offer to take our picture!

Sigh!

the Dude! We have been waiting all week for one of these guys to show up. The red-crested cardinal. Our favorite!

We are ducking out of the rain here on Anini Beach. We are on the wettest side of the island which must account for the lack of crowds.

The two women in the distance are picking through the sand grain by grain collecting a specific type of shell about the size of a lentel. They had been working for some time and had found enough to fill a couple thimbles. The women said doing this was calming, like a meditation.

An enterprise on the beach at Hanalei.

Looking across from the photo above, that’s where Puff frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Hanalei.

Problem: he’s supposed to be frolicking in a land that rhymes with sea… but still, it’s supposed to be this place, it says so on the internet.

On the way back we stopped at Banana Joe’s near the Kilauea lighthouse for a fresh fruit treat…

…and met up with a family of Splendid Red Jungle Fowl. I don’t have any shots of the dads yet this year but they are still around, thousands and thousands of them protected by law, and very Splendid they are.

A formation that you can see from most places on this quadrant of the island. We had originally identified this guy as Sleeping Giant but not so. Sleeping Giant actually rests right up the road from the house!

March 11

We decided to just head out today and flip a coin as to turning left or right. This ‘method’ took us in the direction of Poipu and one of our favorite stops, the Grand Hyatt.

But first, what’s that over there? An abandoned mill of some sort of which there are many on Kaua’i where once sugar plantations and processing plants drove the economy and where now it’s all about the tourists.

A stroll through the fabulous landscaping of the Grand Hyatt…

…and futher along the coast and up the bluffs. It’s an easy walk that we do at least once or twice every visit because it is so dang gorgeous.

Back at the hotel, various of these incredibly colorful guys live in the atrium. If they could wish I’d guess they were wishing they could fly the heck out of here, but they surely are amazing to watch.

We took a spin through the itty bitty quiet peaceful sailing port of Nawiliwili where once a week…

…this cruise ship disgourges several thousand folk onto the Garden Isle. All the big shows and tours kick into full force on the day-night-day of their stay.

Interestingly, in our daily life we don’t notice them much so they must just get absorbed into the general tourist flow of things.

A little slice o’.

March 10

We decided to brave the off and on rain and headed up to the Hindu Monastery as neither of us had been before and they are open only a few hours each day Monday-Friday.

We’re thinking to come back when they have the once per week tour. They take you into the places you can’t visit on your own, like the new temple in the distance there.

From their website:

“Kaua’i’s Hindu Monastery, founded in 1970 by Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami (1927-2001), is under the spiritual direction of his successor, Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami. It is part of the Saiva Siddhanta Church, founded in Sri Lanka in 1949. Its spiritual heritage derives from the Nandinatha Sampradaya, which goes back to 2,200 bce.”

It was all quite fabulous. Here you walk through a tunnel of these trees and come upon the figure very surprisingly, and it was dark as you approach through the trees.

Religion…what people will believe…

And then Clear Skies! So we had the walk we had been hoping for along a portion of our new favorite trail.

March 9

Good morning! A view out my bedroom window. Looks like it’s going to be a nice day for walking…

…not. Rain rain rain.

We haven’t had one consecutive hour without rain. It’s random reinforcement. We keep thinking AH-HA, now it has stopped, which it has, and the skies clear and the sun shines and we put on our shoes to go walking and BAM, like from out of nowhere, more rain. But then they don’t call it the Garden Isle for nothing.

Looking out from the entrance gates.

Inside the gates is a vestibule where you can admire the stone carvings and change your shoes before entering the house.

She watches the lanai from her spot along the side of the house.

I was thinking to name her Hi’iaka after the Hawaiian goddess of water. Because the Thai goddess of water is named Phra Mae Khongkha… Sharon wants to name her Tofuti.

We did go out for a couple chores where it rained on us, ate lunch where it rained on us, and tried for a few walks when the skies cleared, all failing when the rain would come back before we were 10 feet from the car.

Here’s a dry moment at the view point of the Menehune Fishpond. Last year we saw the Menehune Ditch. The Menehune are a legendary people of Kaua’i, their story available to all, on the source of all, The Internet.

From the corner of the back upstairs bedroom you look down on the nine hole miniture golf course recently built with the last remodel.

Which also works very well as a nice garden.

March 8

Bright and early this morning, out Sharon’s bedroom window we find ducks with a serious case of Spring fevor.

This room makes me sigh with pleasure. That’s my computer on the corner there, with a view into the lanai, living room, and kitchen. It is the perfect seat in the perfect room and since no one else really wants to sit on the floor it’s mine all mine.

In an effort towards tidiness, I keep all my bits-and-bobs there in that antique grain barrel.

Those windows look down on the river where long outrigger canoers work-out most mornings and afternoons and hence the wall decoration…

…which couldn’t be more perfect.

Sigh for the koa wood floors and walls too. This is not a huge house by any standard and you don’t go rattling around in unused space, you just enjoy every place you find yourself.

The wind was fierce today and with occasional light showers so we did some chores and drove around instead of doing a long walk.

We stopped off at the Kaua’i Beach Resort which is very near the house mainly because I don’t remember ever having stopped by before.

It was very nice and there were some easy short walks nearby.

Including a place that was supposed to be a salt flats but we didn’t see any salt flats.

We did see cows. We were women who stare at cows. When we arrived they were just milling around and then first one and then two and then one by one they were all staring at us. Or were we staring at them? We entertained ourselves for a good long while with these cows.

Then it was Oscar Party time at the neighbor’s down the street, Cathy and Kenny. Feast-o-rama.

Also attending were everyone’s long-time pals from Idaho, Sharon and Bob who are always in Kaua’i in March-April too, and their friend Carl, and more neighbors Camas and Koa.

I’m quite satisfied with the Oscar winners which is always a special delight, to be happy with the outcome of an election.

March 7

Today we took the first of no doubt many walks through Lydgate park ending in…

…the Kamalani children’s playground. It’s a very cool walk – with the sea and sand on one side, picnic areas nestled amidst the trees, of which there are many varieties…

…and the play structure itself, to admire the dozens of charming mosaics made by local children.

You can rest along the way and let yourself be hypnotized by all that surrounds you.

March 6

It’s the spirit house (and Sharon!) welcoming me to Kaua’i.

And my new favorite fountain that wasn’t installed yet when I left last year. It’s just outside the front gate that leads to the front door. The decorated metal chain is a rain catcher Sharon’s son brought home from Thailand. They rigged it up with a circulating water source through the roof so it’s always got water running into that big pot that has water plants in it. That thing is profound.

Around in the mini-golf course…

The living room with the furniture in it. Last year everything was still getting pushed around.

My travel day was very easy btw but by 7:30pm here I just collapsed into my king-sized thermapedic (10,000 thread count sheets all perfect down pillows louvered windows (my fave) gently fanned) bed and slept like a stone.