Kauai July 12 - Sept 15, 2005

--Becky writes unless noted by Marilou--

This is our 9th trip to the island.

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August 8, 2005

Aloha,

We've already been here 3 weeks and this is the first I've written. Living on the island, even part time, really changes my travelog urges. I feel that this is home and less like chronicling our day to day lives as I do when we are traveling through new lands.

We arrived on July the 12th. We'd not been here for about 6 months. Steve had just mowed and everything looked so beautiful. We walked around the yard before going into the house and were amazed at how much all the plants had grown. We have two pineapples that will be ripe soon. There are limes, bananas, and papayas, too. Oh my!

I was almost in tears. The place was just so beautiful. And it felt so much like home. Even going into the house, though not fixed just like I want it yet, still for the first time, felt like we had come home from a trip someplace else ... that this is home.

This stitch of a bunch of photos makes our yard look huge. --grin--

This back garden planting is about a year & a half old. And the plants were not big when planted. The bit of roof top you can see is our back neighbors, Pat & Lona's place.

This is the same garden area as in the above photo. Six months has passed.

Here we are having dinner on my birthday at our favorite restaurant, Gaylord's at Kilohana Plantation, near Lihue.

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I finished this painting on August 3rd. Opaekaa (o-pay-ca-ah) Falls, oil on canvas, 18" x 24". It's one of the many falls seen from roads on the island. We've heard that there is a very nice swimming hole at it's base.

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August 11, 2005

Aloha,

A chair we had ordered in January of this year at a local furniture store, finally has arrived about a week ago. Just an example of how long getting something made on the mainland and shipped here can be. We are very pleased with the chair. Worth the wait. It's in our bedroom. We found a gorgeous wool rug from Nepal to go with it. It feels great barefoot.

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Being in the middle of the Pacific, changes the mix of items retailers offer. Not that one can't find things from around the world on the Mainland, it's so much more usual in Hawaii to have the opportunity to buy Asian, Australian, and other south Pacific island products. Which helps to put that exotic touch on the area.

A mostly clear morning at 7:30a, with just a little bit of cloud collecting on the mountains.

Next two, sunset today.

Yesterday, I began painting the downstairs guest bath. We are going to replace the ceiling light with a fan, change the towel hangers and the light fixture over the mirror.

Also, yesterday, our outside shower was finished. We must go for a swim so that we can test it. The things we get ourselves into ... --grin--. We had the plumber install a laundry sink in the laundry room, too. That came in handy today as I painted the bath.

Marilou planted 2 plumeria trees a couple of weeks ago. She has finished a dress she made for her mom. She found a pattern of a dragon-doll which she'll probably start on as soon as her sewing machine gets fixed. Unfortunately, the only Bernina repair person on the island is on vacation.

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Saturday, August 27, 2005

Aloha,

We finally went sight-seeing some. After almost 3 years since our last drive up to Kokee Park (co-kay-ay) we picked a gorgeous day to go again. Kokee Park is in the western part the island. It's a several hour drive from where we live on the northshore to there. From Waimea at sea level, in just a few miles you'll have climbed several thousand feet. Views are wonderful. Up at 3500' to 4000' altitude, it's much cooler. The road up to the Park runs along side the Waimea Canyon. Mark Twain called it the Little Grand Canyon. It is quite impressive.

The Waimea River, fed by the world's highest volume of rainfall, has cut Kauai's red earth deeply. The river is at the bottom of the steep red cliff in the next photo. Also, you can see the sugarcane fields that still make up one of Kauai's leading exports. Some are green with cane and some are freshly plowed red for the next planting. The few structures are homes on the outskirts of the town of Waimea, on the southshore of the island.

Another mile or so and you're beginning to see the top of the island.

This next shot is at the northern end of the canyon, at 3500', looking south as the river heads to the ocean.

At this altitude, a forest of giant Eucalyptus trees grow, with alpine type trees, too. It has been known to frost and spit snow up here in the winter.

In 1992, Hurricane Iniki ran right over the island, a direct hit, with recorded winds on the mountain in Kokee Park of 225mph. That's some wind! In the next two photos you can see the stripped Eucalyptus trees still standing thirteen years later. Some have parts that live on. Many of the snags have begun to fall. I've read that it's suspected that at least one kind of bird that lived in these areas become extinct after Iniki due to their food source being so devastated. Photos taken right after Iniki show hardly any leaves on the trees.

Almost to the Park.

In Kokee Park there is a lodge with a small restaurant, a museum, camping and cabins, and lots of trails. Several years ago, when we had a rented jeep, we drove some of the back roads up here. Check Kauai Jan 2003, almost at the end, look for the red jeep in the pics (hit your Back button to come back to here). (I'll learn how to send you right to it with this link one of these days.)

At the end of the road in Kokee Park is a rewarding grand view to the ocean. It's known as Kalalau Valley (ca-lay-lau-ou). One of the most photographed places on Kauai. You stand at 4000' looking northwest to the ocean. Tour boats go by often. In the next "photo" you can see that it consists of six shots of the valley. In the "photo" after that I've done the magic of 'stitching' them together. (This is how I capture many of the more expansive scenes.)

Ancient Hawaiians lived in this valley. Today it's the Na Pali Coast State Park.

Past the lookout where the above pics were taken, there is another one that can be reached by walking about one mile, along a paved road that is no longer being maintained for cars. The view is of the same valley, just a slightly different angle. Though, the view in the opposite direction, toward island center is much more striking here than at the previous lookout. At 4000' the mountain tops are shrouded in mist most of the time as you can see in the below photo. Again the lingering affect Iniki had on the forest is still noticeable.

This snag shows the general wind's affect during it's lifetime. Then Iniki blew it's leaves off.

An immature Red Crested Cardinal in the parking lot at Kalalau lookout. The brownish red head will become bright red soon.

On the way back down from the mountain, I snapped this shot of the Forbidden Island, Niihau (knee-ee-how) and the much smaller crescent caldera of Lehua Island (lee-who-ah) to the right as the sun was setting.

Niihau is privately owned, bought in the late 1800's sight unseen for sugarcane farming. Turned out it's one of the driest places on earth. Fresh water has to be boated over from Kauai for the 30 or so Hawaiian families that choose to live on the island. Needless to say, not much of anything is grown there. The Robinson family who still own the island, are keen on protecting it and are establishing nature and marine parks. One cannot just arrive on it's shores and expect to be welcomed. It truly is forbidden to go there uninvited.

In the waters off of Niihau are found the tiny shells know as Niihau shells from which the natives there make their leis. It is a traditional craft. For some reason -- minerals in the water, the sand, etc -- the shells found in their waters have a better luster than the same species of shell found in the waters of Kauai or anywhere else in the area. These shell leis are a highly valued art form, costing hundreds or thousands of dollars. When you see the quality of the shells and work produced by the master lei makers of Niihau compared to the same style shell and work done by folks elsewhere, the price difference is understandable.

After our drive up to Kokee and the 2 mile walk (round trip) to the last lookout, it was suppertime and we knew right where we were going to eat. We'd been looking forward to it for days, knowing we would be on this side of the island. It's the best pizza place in the world! I'm not even sure of it's name, for we've always called it The Pizza Place. There's none better! It's in Waimea.

Filling up on the pesto, pineapple, & ham pizza, we were ready to stop by our favorite shop in Hanapepe, on our way back home. Gail has some of the best connections to the master lei maker families' on Niihau. We like to check out the latest from the Forbidden Island. She also has other local handmade necklaces and such. And she has the best prices. We always learn something more about Kauai when we visit her, too. Though, this time she was on Oahu presenting her wares at the annual Made In Hawaii Show.

The next photo, I got off of the internet. It shows an aerial view of the Princeville area and part of the Hanalei Valley. I've delineated the river and marked the approximate location of our house. Back in it's early days, Princeville was a ranch and farm. Then, in the valley was grown rice, sugarcane, and taro.

Today Princeville is a resort hotel, a world class golf course (the Clinton's played earlier this week), a small shopping center, homes, condos, apartments, police & fire station, and has a small airport. Our house is in an area still zoned agricultural and we hope it stays that way for a long time. In the valley, only taro is grown now.

Marilou has finished the shoji screen in our bedroom. Just getting the last three lower horizontal lines in place makes a huge difference in it's effectiveness. You can read about it's beginning in Kauai Dec 2004-Jan 2005, almost at the end, look for pics of the shoji screen (hit your Back button to come back to here).

After banging her thumb a bunch of times, she felt like it looked like this.

Our outdoor shower has been finished.

Yesterday, we met our architect, Robin Lee. We feel that we hit it off very well. He'll take my drawings that I've worked on for a year and a half and add his insight, talent, and expertise. It's time we move towards the new construction we want to do here. In order to do that we must summit plans to the county for approval. There are stringent guidelines that the county imposes depending on the zoning. We hope we can build what we want. We are perhaps pushing the envelope some and there may be some changes we'll have to make. We probably won't know that until sometime during the first of next year.

Below is another late afternoon shot taken in our yard. That double peaked mountain is called Hihimanu (hee-hee-ma-new). Means Manta Ray in Hawaiian.

These flowering bushes are Impatiens! That tallest pink one is about 4' tall! And those are 6 month old Asparagus Ferns in front. Giants.

I've finished the guest bath make-over. Now we need to get some more towels to go on the new shelves. The ceiling fan and new light fixture turned out very nice. Sorry, to you future guests, we couldn't make it bigger ... yet.

Next is a group of shots that Marilou took from our roof that have never before now been done. This is looking south with east being to your left and west to the right, where the sun is setting (duh). The fence looks a little wonky due to the pics being stitched together and the odd angles that produces with closer items.

That's it for now.

Take care & Aloha.

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Thursday, September 1, 2005

Aloha,

I forgot to say in the prior entry, that we've eaten another one of our pineapples. So very good! There is yet another one that probably won't be ripe until after we leave on Sept 15th. Oh well, I guest Steve our mowman will get it. Just rewards for his labors.

Yes, we'll be leaving in 13 days. Sad. Though, we actually do not arrive in GA until the morning of the 16th. We take the red-eye flight.

This next pic is from the overlook in Princeville of the Hanalei Valley and Falls. This is the same fall we see the top of from our house. There's Hihimanu -- the little twin peaks to the left of the falls, which is right in the middle of the scene, coming off of the large mountain. You'd be looking at this scene from the left of this shot if you were at our house. Though, you have to go across the road that's right in front of our house in order to see down into the valley.

As in this next photo, which Marilou took the other day as she went for a walk. Those trees growing in the middle of the valley are following the Hanalei River's edge.

A little farther down our road and you see Hanalei Bay. Taro fields are in the flat area.

If you look carefully, you'll see a couple of horses in a neighboring pasture. Another MK shot from her late afternoon walk.

She took this picture of new growth on one of our Sago Palms.

And yesterday, as we both took a late afternoon walk up our road, she snapped this one.

Then my turn.

Another one of many wonderful sunsets as seen from our porch.

That day's last light.

This afternoon, this rainbow showed up as the sun was getting low. Pat & Lona's house appears to have the pot-O-gold.

And a few minutes later another one again pointed to their house. We called to Pat as he worked in his yard to see if he'd found the gold. He said he was still looking for it.

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Friday. September 9, 2005

Aloha,

A bunch of our bananas began to ripen, so Marilou cut them down. They are cute little ones and are very good. We gave away many of them to friends. A bunch is more than we need to consume and they just don't wait.

Marilou is planting more Ti (tee) plants at the front of the property and has more Sago Palms to plant, too, along with Lawei Fern. The Sago are babies from one of our older Sagos that Marilou potted this past winter. The fern Marilou propagated from other that we have. The Ti are cuttings Steve brought to us from other yards he manages. While we aren't here, Steve brings all his "lost puppies" and plants them in a make shift nursery by our banana trees. There the young plants develop roots and wait for us to decide where their home will be.

On one of the plants she'd brought up from the nursery was this young Mourning Gecko. She found it a new home in some established plants by our front door. There are about 5 different types of gecko on the island.

As Marilou worked late in the afternoon a shower came down the valley. She's bending down behind the fence, forth post from the left. The showers that come down the valley rarely rain on our side of the rim. They follow the mountains to the northwest.

A shower that did rain on us came along just as Marilou was finishing her work for the day. The sun was low in the western sky and, since our showers come from the east, for a few minutes it can be liquid sunshine, as this next photo shows. And often, just before the showers reach our house, the rainbows form like the other day over our neighbor's house.

Showers over the mountains in the last light of the day.

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Sunday, September 11, 2005

Aloha,

I finished a painting today. This one is Allerton Beach on the southshore, near Poipu. It's an oil on canvas, 22"x28".

We went for a swim today at our favorite beach, Kalihiwai (ca-lee-hee-why). It's been rainy for the past few days and two short showers passed over us as we swam. Well, actually we just sort of flounder/tread/swim about at the depth of being off our feet when swells come by us. The water was fairly calm today. Lightening storms are very,very rare here, so there's nothing to worry about with safety in the water during a shower. There was hardly anyone on the beach. A group of kids in small kayak type thingys were fishing further out. They belonged to a group of adults having a cook-out at a large tent under the trees.

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