Aloha HAWAII Mahalo!

…because it is AWEsome.

She wants to say HI!

Splendid Red Jungle Fowl. Pretty glorious too.

June 16

Waimea Canyon in all her glory.

Another view of the canyon here looking all the way to the sea.

The lookout onto the Na Pali coast.

Wow, hydrangeas. We hadn’t noticed them before growing here above 4,000 feet.

And the highest concentration of Splendid Red Jungle Fowl on the island.

The views coming down from the park.

You can notice that this side of the island, the west side is much drier than were we are on the river, on the east side.

More hydrangeas at one of the park buildings. It is great up here at the Waimea Canyon State Park – cool with the mountain elevation and so beautiful. They have cabins to rent, a sweet cafe where we always have lunch, and an interesting visitors center.

This is a cute picture of Camas and Curt, the bride and groom, from 2011. When we first met Curt he made us dinner. OK, he can stay.

June 15

This morning’s view from one of my bedroom windows.

I have windows on three sides if you can believe it, all looking at the river, and a bedroom bigger than my house and a shower bigger than my bathroom. Oh yes, what a treat.

We’re deep into another craft project for the wedding. This one is going to be the party favor.

First we undid the 100+ green boxes and secured the lids so as to be sure that the lid would go back on.

We opened the plastic bags and put them in the boxes.

Next came the distribution of very special and very sticky pink salt, that you can’t even buy, given to the bride from the owners of the Hanapepe Salt Flats in Kauai. We had to leave the bags open to be sure we would evenly distribute the salt which turned out to be about two tablespoons in each.

Once all the salt was distributed we closed (get out all the air please) and carefully folded the bags to look nice in the box.

We still need to get the write-up of the story of the salt printed out, to fold and place inside the box, then close the box, then tie it like a gift with a bow of raffia.

What we have done with the jars, the napkin rings, and these boxes represents 2% of the craft projects that will be on display at this wedding. Pictures will be forthcoming.

A scene on the way home. Sharon is so good natured about backing up the truck anytime for a photo-op!

June 14

Our local up-the-road waterfall: Opae’ka’a Falls, but everyone just says Opaka.

Isn’t she pretty.

Then we spent a couple of hours and ate a picnic lunch at Anini Beach. We love Anini Beach. There’s beach on the other side of the rocks and beach all along the crescent bay formed by the largest coral reef in Hawaii. I just read that Anini used to be called Wanini but the ‘w’ fell off the sign and instead of fixing the sign they renamed the beach. Sounds apocryphal, but maybe.

It was beautifully not too hot, the clouds were stunning, but the wind was so strong I didn’t take a picture and I didn’t go in the water.

This shot is from another year but no matter because it’s always like this.

June 13

We went on a garden tour we had never been to before. If another garden turns up that we have not seen I’ll be amazed.

This place is called Princeville Botanical Garden and is very much a Mom and Pop operation. Their claim to fame is chocolate production which they do entirely by hand from the 50 or so cacao trees on the property.

They’ve also done a lot of landscaping with botanical specimens to round out the tour.

The Chocolate Tasting Tent where the guide has pictures to show how an industrial chocolate facility would work and comparing that to ‘Lucy’s kitchen’.

There were also plenty of bits to taste and everyone was happy.

Sharon’s pictures. We had tastes of some of the fruits growing on the property as well as a sample of the honey from their hives.

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Hi Sharon! We had fun.

Kayakers heading up river for a trip to Fern Grotto and the Secret Falls, although not so secret really since every day these kayaks go up in herds.

It was very gorgeous.

More gardens to enjoy.

June 12 afternoon

We’re off to the Kilauea Lighthouse for some bird watching. You can’t see in the big picture but the entire slope and all the trees are full of birds.

No albatross this year as their season of nesting is past and for some reason I don’t know we didn’t see any of the usual nene that hang out here.

The big one is the ʻIwa, the Great Frigatebird, with a wingspan of 7 ft.

The white ones are the Koaʻeʻkea, the White-tailed Tropicbird, in mating season now and the guy on the top is flying backwards to get the girls’ attention. It’s very amazing to watch.

There are 150 species of the Albezia tree growing in the subtropics and tropics. This one is called the Chinese albizia and is an invasive species in Hawaii. It’s a rapid colonizer and tends to shed large branches, damaging power lines, houses, and other infrastructure.

But look how gorgeous. This is our first chance to see them all, of which there are so very many, fully in bloom. They’re gorgeous just as they are but these few weeks they are splendid.

June 12 morning

Snow bushes at the Hindu Monastery.

The same guide we’ve had every time!

It’s the landscaping that brings us here again and again and the hope that…

…they’ll get this project moving again. It’s been a couple of years now with no action but they say by next year this time more workmen and more stones from India will have arrived.

From their website which I’ve copied before in other years: “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.”

Awww.

A very gorgeous and very serene mosquito farm.

Here she is again and this time all dressed up.

For flower offerings at the temple.

June 11

From the patio at Duke’s where we ate lunch, at Kalapaki Beach in front of the lovely Marriott Resort.

Some pictures from Sharon. That’s the wind in my hair btw and not a fashionable new hairstyle.

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June 10

There was a little of this and that all day but our highlight was Happy Hour at Oasis on the Beach for cocktails and pupus.

We went to one of the beach front hotels and lolled around for a good long while enjoying our cocktails (one Thai Martini (mine, YUM), one Pineapple Passion Martini (Sharon’s, YUM)) and an order of their deeelicious poke bruschetta.

Sharon now has her wedding outfit mostly complete except for a little wrap and I am still missing shoes.

June 9

Here she is, the goddess of all the water features at the house, the statue Sharon calls Fiona and I like to think of as Hi’iaka, the Hawaiian goddess of water, but I call her Fiona too because it’s easier to remember.

She watches over the fish pond…

…where I got a fish foot massage. You know elsewhere you have to pay good money to get a fish foot massage!

Lovely lady, and blooms in the tree.

I walked ‘across the way’ to get this shot of the house. I’ve done it before and will no doubt do it again. Every time it’s different.

Cute kids enjoying a swim in the river.

SO many blooms. Look at that Look at that we say All Day Long.

Sharon went grocery shopping and cooked a few dishes that we will enjoy in the coming days. We worked a little more with Kathy. I read Proust, walked across the river, messed around on the computer. We had an overall delightful and easy day.

June 8

Not too many pictures today but we were busy. We spent many hours of the morning and into the afternoon following Kathy’s instructions. Kathy is making all the decorations for the wedding and we are her faithful minions.

These jars aren’t done yet, no no, there is more. More. The list of individual decorating projects is as long as a tall man’s arm. It’s going to be amazing.

Also the internet was having a mind of her own requiring some time spent chasing down tech support. Everything was improved since last time I was here .. and now we’re back in business and all is well.

As it was already toward evening we did a fast loop through Lydgate and enjoyed a massively delicious dinner at Brick Oven Pizza.

Brick Oven Pizza is one of our favorite meals in Kauai, and there’s plenty left for breakfast, lucky me.

June 7

At the turn-around point of our favorite walk – Lydgate!

Wild cats…

…live in the bushes along with The Dude.

The Lydgate walk takes you along the sea, through a mini-forest, past the golf course, past the picnic and fishing spots, and more. It’s a fantastic walk.

Finally the re-construction is done and the children’s snorkeling pool is ready .. for children and anyone who wants to float around with the fish.

Back to Sharon’s as yet unfruitful search for a dress, we decided to pass by Princeville and check out the lobby bar…

…and the poolside/seaside areas.

We continued on to Hanalei.

WOW is Right.

Back at the house this is the riverside lawn looking towards…

…the gate that leads to…

…the mini-golf course that is looking fabulous.

We just can’t stop ooowing and awwwing over how thick and colorful we find the foliage everywhere here in June, much thicker and more colorful we believe than our usual visits in March and April.

There are So many blooming plants about.

June 6

A quick click just walking through the garden on the way to the car.

We spent the day trying to find Sharon a dress to wear to the wedding.

Eye HAVE a dress, oh miracle of miracles. Sharon came with me back in LA to Patagonia where there it was, a dress I didn’t hate. YAY!

The weather has been spectacular because of the trade winds and we’ve not been rained out as is so common on Kauai. It’s still plenty hot, oh yes, but at the moment quite livable.

We had lunch on the patio at one of the higher end shopping opportunities.

At another shopping opportunity (we stopped at five different malls) I got distracted by shave ice. Oooow, gotta have me some shave ice. (Sharon continued the search on her own…)

I asked the guy if I could watch him make shave ice and here we have it:

1) scoop the ice cream into the bottom of the cup (optional but not really)

2) attach the disk of ice to the machine that has blades that will shave the outside of the disk as it whirls around.

3) help the fluffy ice shavings pile up in the cup

4) pour the syrup and then…

…Voilà! Shave Ice! My flavors were the same ones I always get: guava, lemon (or lime), and lilikoi.

Think there might be some sugar in a shave ice?

June 6, Good Morning!

Good morning beautiful land of Aloha. Good morning river.

Good morning gorgeous landscaping.

Good morning fish pond and happy fish getting a big good morning breakfast.

Good morning Spirit House, so nice to see you! I’ll be doing this Good Morning round again no doubt because every day is different and I could have done better with the camera settings.

AND I missed the goddess of all the water features here, the statue Sharon calls Fiona and I like to think of as Hi’iaka, the Hawaiian goddess of water. Maybe towards sunset .. maybe tomorrow.