Three reasons to finish the treehouse

Ben's argument in favor of finishing the tree house. It worked!

ONE LAST PHOTO

Just got this from Nicole. It was taken on her phone. As you can see, the trees are in bloom here. What a nice way to start spring!

Max and Maya

With John, Nicole and Susan

Some photo's from last night. Went to Happy Hour at the Bent Brick with John and Nicole and then to Salt and Straw for ice cream. That place is unbelievable! A line of people out the door and down the street. I don't really understand why, except that people really like their ice cream. Guess I'm not that great an ice cream connoiseur. Fred Meyer's ice cream is OK with me. I think I may be missing some taste buds. Anyway, we came back to the apartment and invited Susan and Max and Maya and they all came up for ice cream and chai tea, and conversation. Here they are."A good time was had by all."

March 16, 2013

Gene and Roz Meieran, Sharon's parents

Ella with her "buddies" Julia and Sophia

                                                      Birthday cake

Well, I haven't posted anything lately. But I have been busy. Went to SMART, the program to help kids learn to read. I used Pua's book with some of the kids and they really found it interesting. One girl noted the page where she left off, so that she could go back to it the next week and finish the story. Donna's been around and we went to see Arco, an exciting movie about the rescue of hostages. Supposedly factual. March 17th was Fred's 51st. birthday and we went to Pastinie's for dinner with the kids and friends and Sharon's parents. Now I will try and import pictures. (Wish me luck.)

How could I forget to put this is my blog!!! We had a party the night before I left Hawai'l and I wrote some poems for those who attended. Here they are!!

Jake

Tall, thin and handsome

His shy ways beguiling

He's kind and he's thoughtful

and often he's smiling

He knows about gardens

terarriums are his passion

He cares for mother earth

with love and compassion

Makenna

She has beauty and brains

Also courage and daring

She's studied geology

with her own special bearing

She can swim, she can hike

She can stand on her hands

Her future looks bright

and she makes few demands.

Like a bird in migration

she'll find a place to light

We'll have to wait and see

I know that her future's bright.

Gail

If a goat could express

All the love it must feel'

Than Gail's goats would tell her

THat she's the real deal.

Her goats are her children

and grandchildren too

mischievous, playful

to Gail they are true

When she leaves them they canter

all around her two acres

and baaaaa with longing

for their loving caretaker.

Alex

He is bright, he is kind

Well read and in his prime

His dog, his books, and his friends

are sublime

He's a gift to Hawaii

and a gift to me

For I've spent six weeks

In paradise by the sea.

Pua (Fleur)

Double named flower 

Pua and Fleur 

Cares for the universe 

Cares for the stars 

Her books, her photos 

Have joy and beauty 

She creates them for fun 

Not as a duty 

Since Pua joined the human race 

Earth is a better place

From heavenly pies to moonlit skies
She lives with charm and grace.

Back Home, Feb. 26, 2013

 March 1, 2013
It's hard to believe, but I'm back to reality. Was Hawai'i a dream, a vision? Sunny weather, wild downpours followed more sun and more downpours. And what fun to wake up to coffee already made by Alex, Makenna wearily arriving in the kitchen, and me in a bathrobe and sweatshirt to keep out the morning chill. But no on cares what you look like. Lucy comes over with her sad, begging eyes. "Won't you please feed me? They're letting me starve around here,"she seems to say. Mama cat is not so diplomatic. She gives a few loud growls to let you know you had better feed her. Or else!
       And so it goes. Back to my lovely bedroom to shower, dress, read, then maybe work in the garden, maybe go to the beach. To Carol's coffee shop for coffee or lunch later? Or how about the pizza place in Capa'au. If it's Wednesday, the WWOOF-ers ( Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms) are coming for dinner. What will we cook? Maybe meatballs (for the not-vegetarians).
      I've gotten used by now to Bird of Paradise, fruit trees, avocado trees, and Lilikoi, just to name a few, in bloom. Maybe we'll have some papaya, from Robert's farm with lilikoi (passion fruit to you mainlanders.) Lilikoe looks like a lemon, but is hard on the outside. Inside is a slimy seed mass, not very beautiful, but when you taste it, oh my, sweet and tangy and perfect with mango. Well, I did leave a couple of pieces of clothing at Alex's just in case I need to go back next year and retrieve them!
      So now,  here in the "old world," the weather is surprisingly warm- 40's and 50's. No surprise, it sprinkles a lot, but no downpours.  Donna is back from her many travels and we went to Smith's tea shop for tea tasting and buying. Also to "Fishsauce" for happy hour. Delicious Asian fusion food.  To Fred's last night. Ella did a presentation at the school science fair, on DNA. When I was her age, it hadn't been discovered yet. Very good presentation Ella! I still havn't met Max. Maybe today I get downstairs to do that. Now I'm supposed to be getting my tax stuff togetner, so maybe I had better do that. More another day. Sorry there are no pictures.

PS: If someone doesn't post a comment soon, I may have to do my own, with things like "brilliant job Judy, I think the NY Times would llike to interview you for a job!"

Banyan tree, goats Feb 24th

"Head Stuck in Tree," a strong willed goat and mother of Goldie.

This is Goldie. He's tiny and wants to nurse all the time. The rope is actually tied to Head Stuck.

Billy, the proud papa

Today I got a few more goat pictures. Also, I can't fail to let you see the banyon tree in the park on the corner. Actually there are two of these giants.

The saga of Goldie, the kid

Feb 22, 2013
The latest news flash- Goldie, the lost goat saga. Gail stopped at Alex's house yesterday and took me back to her place to see the new baby goat, born to Head Stuck in a Tree,  about 2 days ago. As you may know, Gail is in love with her goats and Goldie is no exception. A problem arose when we got to Gail's and Goldie was missing. Gail thought she could have been kidnapped by goat-eating neighbors or possibly killed by dogs. We walked all over her property, looked down in the gultch next door (where the wild pigs live ) across the street at the edge of the neighbors property, and he was no where to be seen. Gail was shattered so, not knowing what else to do, I suggested we go to lunch. Gail wanted to go to Minnie's, which I had heard was very good, so off we went. Along the way we had to pick up a hitch hiker, a friend of Gails, who was walking with his new guitar. So I got to see another part of the neighborhood, the area where he lives, which is an old sugar cane processing plant.
  To get back to Goldie, we had lunch (good fish) and Gail dropped me at Alex's with a request that she call me and let me know about the lost kid. Well, to make a long story short, this morning Goldie reappeared. Apparently she had been asleep in the long grass. Gail stopped at Alex's and we heard the whole joyful ending to the story. When next I get back to Gail's I will get a picture of Goldie and post it for you. 

Odds and Ends

Woman in Havi beauty shop clowning for the camera. 

Bird of Paradise- grows wild everywhere

Fred, Sharon and kids visited for a week and stayed at the  Marriott, a swanky hotel with a warm salt water pool and all the amenities. I visited there, they came up here to Havi, and we had a good time. Even go to go snorkling and enjoy the turtles sunning on rocks and amazingly beautiful fisn.

This blog is a mish-mash of pictures, stories, notes, and lots of out of order stuff. Hopefully you can get an idea of what I'm trying to say. And show. 

Book by Fleur (Pua) Weymouth, about Chickens and Hana Rooster.

Mushroons at Polopu, on the ocean

B

Somehow, after I posted something about the hike Makenna and I took to  Pololu, which is a fantastically beautiful cliff above the ocean, it got deleted. Ah, the mysteries of the internet and blogging. It is teaching me patience. 

Tree swing at Pololu

Plumeria

Local News, Sat., Feb. 17

We're having what passes for winter here. The wind blows pretty hard (20-30MPH) and there are intermittent showers, some very heavy, some lighter. On the tin roof  it can sound like all hell is breaking loose at times.  But the temperature remains in the 60-70 degree range. Showers can last a few seconds to a few minutes.
  Went to the Farmers Market yesterday. Also had coffee with Warren and then went to see if we could see some whales. The water was full of white caps and the whales weren't really showing themselves, except for a few spouts on the horizon.
Also went to the Kava bar. Kava is a root, also referred to as Ava by the Hawaiians. It is ground and made into a drink by adding water. It makes the mouth and tongue feel numb and is supposed to be relaxing and clear the mind. I've tried it twice and it definitely made my mouth numb. It may be relaxing too. Hard to tell. Then we went for pizza. Warren, being originally from the East coast and of Italian heritage doesn't appreciate pizza with pineapple and barbecued chicken and all sorts of other stuff on it. so we had a plain cheese pizza. We had to explain to the server what a plain cheese pizza was.
  I haven't told you the strange story of Warren. I was looking through an advertising magazine and came across his name, Warren Vignato, which I didn't think was all that common. He was advertising his business as an aroborist. It happens that Bayport school, on Long Island, where I grew up, had a coach Vignato who had a son named Warren. I called him up and sure enough it's the very same one. Now we all have to say, "isn't it a small world?" Yes. Warren has been here in Hawaii for at least 20 years. He brought his high school year book and we looked through it.  Comments like "I dated her" and "he's dead now" ran through the discussion.
   Now let me mention Pua. (Pua means flower in Hawaiian. Her other name is Fleur.) She is a neighbor, two doors down from Alex. Pua loves birds, especially chickens, and has written a children's book about them. The book is funny and charming and full of chicken love. Pua bakes great pies and is very generous, and brought down a lemon meringue pie this morning. She also autographed two copies of her book for me.
   I made lilikoi (passion fruit) custard on Friday. It's quite a job, as the good tasting part of the lilikoi is the gelatinous center which is full of little seeds. So you need to seperate the seeds from the jelly. Eventually you get juice. I combined it with eggs and made custard. I need to bring home some lilikoi jelly, which is sold at the farmer;s market. There's also lilikoi pie, and lots of other versions of lilikoi.  The lilikoi itself looks like a lemon, but the outside is much harder.
   I went to my nut cracking volunteer job the other day. Crystalena is the gal in charge of the Macadamia nuts. Nuts are dumped into a machine which cracks them open and then someone needs to seperate the nuts from the shells. So that's what I did.  She hasn't called me since then, so maybe my days as a nut cracker/ separator are over. The nuts need to be husked to get off the outer shell. That's done at another location as Crystalena's husker is broken. After seperation the nuts are soaked in salt water for 24 hours. Then they are dehydrated. There's a lot to the process, explaining why Mac. nuts are so expensive.  And I didn't mention that someone needs to pick the nuts up off the ground to begin with. Labor intensive.
   Hope this isn't toooo long winded and boring, but I want to mention that Chinese New Year is being celebrated here. It's the year of the Snake. A parade went to all the stores on Saturday drumming  and generally created havoc. The store keepers are required to hang a cabbage over the entrance. Yes a cabbage. No one seemed to be able to explain the significance of the cabbage. As the paraders leave, I think they take the cabbage with them.

Pua, lover of chickens, author and pie maker par excellence. 

Warren, a fellow graduate of Bayport HS, Long Island, NY. 

Chinese New Year at Carol's coffee shop in Capa'au.  

Here it is, February 12th already. Alex flew to Portland and came back on Monday, after one week there. He went for a reunion with son, Max, and family. What have I been doing? Not keeping very good records, I'm afraid. The days go by. I had a miserable cold for most of the past week. It was a great opportunity to read, and I finished Cutting for Stone, by Abraham Verghese. If you've got to be wheezing, coughing, blowing, hacking and feeling miserable it's wonderful to spend a few hours in bed with a great book. This one, to me was great.
    Makenna and I went hiking  at Pololu, which is at the very North tip of the island, once I was feeling better.  There's a stunning view high above the ocean. There is a trail down to the ocean, which we used. I was nervous climbing down the rock stairway; no railing or anything to hang onto. But once down, it was wonderful. Climbing back up was fine, thanks to all my kettlebell classes, which have given me strong legs. The area at the ocean is surrounded by green mountains. It's very rocky (volcanic rock), and the sand is black. Makenna went swimming (the only one in the water.) I am not so brave. They tell me there are strong currents there, plus the fact that if it's not 99 degrees, I'm just as happy on land. I will pull up some pictures for you to see. 

Makenna

Makenna Perry

Gail and her goats.. She has about 5  goats with names like   "Head stuck in a tree" and "Poppy seed cake." (a sweet goat.)

I haven't mentioned Gail. She has 2 acres of beautiful property near the ocean and she's raising goats, more for fun than for profit. She loves them like children. She hasn't been able to build a house yet, so she lives in a shed. She recently got hot running water in back of her shed, so that she can take a shower. She is very happy with her simple life style.

Tuesday, Feb 5
 I'm sitting in bed right now. I've had a miserable head cold for the past  day.  Otherwise, all is well here. I'm supposed to start my new volunteer position as a sorter of nuts (Macadamia) tomorrow. I think that's a perfect job for me. A woman named Crystalena is the nut boss. I'll let you know how it goes.
I got a new Canon camera in the mail from Amazon today. I put in the DVD and all it has shown me is how to register my camera. What I really want to know is how to operate it. When I figure that out they'll be some fantastic pictures coming your way.
  Spending large chunks of the day in bed has made it possible for me to get through most of my 600 plus page book, "Cutting for Stone," by Abraham Verghese. I think he's a wonderful writer. The book's got a lot of medical stuff in it; he even gives detailed instructions as to how to do a vasectomy! Aside from this his characters and story are unforgettable.
  Yesterday Mackenna and I dropped Alex at the airport in Kona and then had a fun day in the town. Later, we went to the beach called 69 which is at the 69 mile marker, and saw the sunset. I learned about Vog yesterday. The volcano is continually erupting and creating what looks like smog in the Kona area. It's referred to as vog. The sun set behind the vog but then it peeped out through a break in the bottom of the vog and created a beautiful, red ball, gradually sinking below the horizon. 

Jake and Alex, 

Air plants sitting in tree.

Alex's front entrance

Geckos are everywhere!

Shane, Kelly, Omni and Tor.

Mackenna helped me to upload these photos. I don't know exactly how, but it worked. I need a picture of Mackenna.

Sunday, February 3rd, 2013

There's nothing like morning, especially in Hawaii, to make me feel good. I'm sitting in the swing, which hangs from a tree, in the yard. There's a pretty strong breeze and sun and blue sky. Not possible to feel bad, I guess. Haven't written anything here in a long while, so I want to catch up a little.
  Fred and family were here this past week. They stayed at the Marriott, so I was over there a few times. The Marriott has a heated, shallow, salt water pool. Ideal for kids and me. As if that isn't enough, there's also a jacuzzi with even warmer water and power jets and the whole nine yards. One day I went snorkeling with Sharon, Ella and Ben, while Fred stayed in the hotel and caught up with some work. Snorkeling is an amazing experience. The fish have no fear of humans- they're so use to us in that area. They really look like the pictures of tropical fish, but it becomes much more real when you see them in person. The designs, and the colors on their little bodies are works of art. Mother nature at her best. A big sea turtle (named Rocky) crawled up on the rocks (hence the name) to sun himself. I would have thought he was dead. There are docents who give information about them and watch that no one harms them. Fred has a video camera which, amazingly enough takes videos under water. I'll try and post one.

This is me, now in real time.

  I learned there's a bus which goes along the coast every morning, mainly to take the workers to the hotels. It leaves at 6:30AM from Hawi and I took it twice. It's so pleasant to watch the sun gradually rise as the bus goes down the coast. By the time we got to the Marriott the sun was up. From my experience, the local people have been very friendly- the bus driver remembered me, told me where to catch the bus back, and wanted to know if I would be back on the bus again. Kehau, a woman I met on the bus lives in Hawi and works at one of the hotels doing administrative stuff. We may get together on the weekend. She is the bus driver's cousin and opens a gate for him. She looks Caucasian although he looks more Hawaiian. Two Chinese people who I thought didn't speak English, got off the bus with me and began giving me directions (in English.) Guess I looked confused, but that's my normal look.
    Well, this blog is playing games with me. I tried to find my photos to post and all I could find is this web cam, hence the picture of me. I will ask Mackenna, when she gets up, if she can figure out why I can't get into my Hawaii album. She is sick today- nausea, vomiting and that sort of fun stuff. It's been going around.

Friday, Jan 25th 2013

 Not a lot to report from these parts. I did some gardening yesterday and then went to the beach at Mahukona. The beach is rocky, so there's only one area where a boat can be launched or where you can get into the water to swim. Nevertheless, it was beautiful. They say there are whales off the coast and I had Alex's binoculars but didn't see any. Here's a sunset from Kapa'a which is just up the road. I took this the other day.
  Fred and family are arriving later today. Going grocery shopping to have the welome meat balls and sauce ready.

I am learning to post these photos. The top one is a trumpet vine. A pomelo tree is behind it and a pomelo hangs down, looking like it's growing from the trumpet vine. Pomelo looks just like grapefrui but is much larger..
   The next is Alex at the farmers market which is held on the corner every Saturday. Last is a view of the Ocean from Kapa'a Beach Park.

Fri., Jan 25, 2013-This is Alex with Lucy, a lovely dog. His house in Havi',on the big Island, where I am staying.

Thursday, January 24, 2013
Into the blog-o-sphere I go! Hello again. As promised we had our "Woofer's Pot Luck"  last night. There were 9 or 10 people, including Alex and Makenna and me. Alex made pickled beet salad, Makenna made a very interesting "burger" of taro and bread fruit, mashed and mixed with red cabbage, carrots, ginger, eggs, I think, and other stuff. She breaded and sauteed them in olive oil. Very good! The ginger pepped it up as bread fruit and taro don't have much taste. I made red cabbage slaw. Gail, the goat lady, brought some sort of veggie stew. Unfortunately she dropped part of it in the road before she got here. I've done that sort of thing too, on the way to pot lucks. However, she was happy as a clam, as she had just gotten hot water installed behind her shed (her word) where she lives. She has 2 acres close to the ocean. and goats. There's Billy and 4 girls. They have Hawaiian names which I don't remember. However, she loves them dearly. Jake came, one of my favorite people. He's somewhere above 6 feet, very thin, about 30 years old I'd guess. He loves living in Hawaii and came here from the mid west where everyone drank beer and watched TV in there free time. He's reads a lot, is very idealistic, and wants to make the world a better place. He lives in a yurt at Roberts place and farms there. I've met a lot of very happy people here. They appreciate the simple life, the great weather, have many friends, and seem happy to avoid the rat race. Jake brought kale and a big leaf spinach and washes the dishes after these affairs as he doesnt' cook.
    John brought wine. I don't know his relationship to everyone but he was late as he had to go to a local meeting about installing a dock for boaters. Apparently it's the boaters against the swimmers and so far the boaters are winning. No one was very happy about that.
 Carol who has the coffee shop brought good macaroni salad with bacon and other stuff. Her son, Noah is visiting from Portland where he works in a restaurant on the East side. Carol's daughter goes to PSU, so Carol comes to Portend now and then. I think that family is Hawaiian or Asian from their appearance. Not sure about that. Did I say Robert was there? Can't remember what he brought. We had ice cream for desert, courtesy of Alex. Well now, do you think I could get a job doing the gossip column for a local paper?
  As usual, the weather is great although a little overcast. I've been weeding this morning. I'm sitting on a swing, looking at Bird of Paradise,  coconut palms, many types of bromelaids- they have long pointy, leathery leaves with prickers and beautiful colorful cup-like flowers, sedum, cactus of every variety. agave, aloe, and a lot of stuff which I can't identify. If you're wondering where I am getting my plant knowledge, it's from Alex's very large book from the American Horticultural Society. It has words and pictures for an amazing array of plants. In the back yard there's a garden with a tree with trumpet shaped, hanging flowers  They grow a fruit that's like a huge grapefruit. Also, the vine, Liliko,i is in the neighbor's yard, but the lilikoi drop down in our back yard. (See how possessive I'm getting?) Makenna's been making Lilikoi custard. Lilikoi is the same as passion fruit.  Fuchsia grows here too. That's it for now.

Thursday
 Well folks, I'm extremely frustrated!!! I just wrote a whole new post for this blog and then lost it!!! If there's one think I learned it's to save stuff!! Anyway, I had told you about our Woofer's dinner and the food and the people who were here. And then I told you about all the plants I've been looking up and naming and that's gone too. This can be a VERY frustrating thing to do. I tried every trick I know to find it but it's gone! Gone! GONE!   Oh well, what's that thing they say in French? No, the other one that means be philosophical and forgetaboutit! I'll write more tomorrow. I think.
Se la vie.

News flash!!! The one I had written was in the drafts! Ignore this one.

Wednesday, Jan.23, 2013  3:38 am

The period between sleep and wakefulness is called  hypnagogia. I have been laying here in hypnagogia for a few hours now, and figure I better work on my blog. Enough hypnnogogia. In this state my mind has been wandering between two Hawiian words; Kapa'a and Kapa'au. Kapa'a places the accent on the pa. In Kapa'au the accent is on the au.  many Hawiian words seem similar to me which makes them hard to remember. Between my terrible sense of direction and lack of linguistic ability, I am in a bit of a muddle. But I soldier on.
 Now that I have that off my chest, life goes along like a pleasant dream around here. Alex likes to chat so breakfast means about an hour of eating and chatting. Yesterday I went to Yoga (in Kapa'au) while he went next door to the coffee shop. He actually gets the NY Times mailed to him- a day late or so- but that doesn't make much difference when you think about it. So he can read his paper and have coffee. Wednesday night the Woofers are coming for pot luck, so we (Makenna and I) did some cooking. Woofers are part of the World Organization of Organic Farmers. They're on the internet and the deal is that they agree to do farm work- 20-30 hours a week- in exchange for room and board. This appeals to students, but you don't have to be a student. I've heard Robert, who has a farm, complain that they are not reliable, but Makenna told me some of the farmers exploit the workers, who usually don't have cars and are trapped into a lot more hours of work. Robert who,along with his wife, runs a health spa is a good employer, but not everyone is. Robert is also an emergency room physician and works in the local hospital. He is tall, sunburned, and balding, except for where he has a lot of curley hair. (Around the sides.) Very nice, down to earth fellow. We went to visit his farm/spa and he was down in the mud with a woofer, fixing the plumbing. He comes and hangs out around Alex's place some evenings and brings papayas. Which reminds me, that passion fruit, also called Lilikoi, is delicious with papaya. Open the papaya, scoop out the seeds, and pour in the lilykoi innards. I say innards, because they are gross looking- slimy with little black seeds. But delicious! A sort of sweet, lemony  taste.
  Now, I have been wandering all over the place. I started out telling you about my day here. Most days I do a little gardening. Keeping after the weeds is a major project as things grow "like weeds." So I do some weeding and trimming and edging. But yesterday, no, we cooked instead. Last night I went with Makenna to see the sunset at Kapa'a. There are volcanic rocks for several yards out to the ocean. A few kids were sitting out there and we went out there too. A nice guy helped me because I was in no mood to fall on those rocks! It was beautiful and I got a few nice shots of the sunset. (Still haven't figured out how to download that camera) I sat on the rocks talking to another young thing who's trying to figure out what to do with the rest of her life. I don't envy kids who need to work, but don't want to be stuck in some cubicle with a computer.
 Well, a little about Makenna. She is a beautiful and usually scantily clad young woman. She graduated with a degree in geology, but her goal just now is to make enough money to hike the Pacific coast. She rode her bike carrying her ukelele to the beach. I went by car. It's about 6 miles or so from Alex's house. Then she had to ride back in the dark and she had forgotten her head lamp. I worry about these kids, which must mean I'm showing my age. The girls wear very little in the way of clothing. I know, I'm being sexist, but I think this can be misinterpreted. Oh well. She is a great person. Very self assured, hard working, kind to old ladies (me) .
 I think I'll sign off. I'm tired. Good night.

Sunday, January 20, 2013
 Happily for me, the thing I wrote actually posted to my blog. So now I am confident enough to continue with it. My next goal is to learn to post some pictures. If there is anyplace pictures should be taken, it's here. Everything in Hawai'i is lush, green, full of life "to the max." I have been snapping away and will try and post.
 Today I worked in the garden at Alex's house. It's not a huge piece of property, but there are many little gardens with all sorts of flowering things (boganvilla is one). The weeds love to creep in. I have been edging which is satisfying because I see some nice results. Took my self out to lunch in Kapa au, the next little town. Had some great pizza with barbecued chicken and pineapple on top. I know true Italians think pineapple on pizza is sacrilege but it really tastes good. Visited the statue of King Kamehameha I, across from the pizza place. The king was supposedly born in this little town. Drove onward to a beautiful beach, Laupahoehoe Point Beach Park. It's very rocky, but at least I was able to sit on a rock and get my feet into the water! The water is amazingly clear and blue with pretty heavy waves. There was what looked like a family picnic, and some little boys were on the rocks fishing,  useing bread for bait.(I don't think they caught anything.)  I took Alex's Honda on this little jaunt and actually made it back in one piece.
Hope you're all having a great Sunday.

Well, you lucky people (all 7 of you!) I'm back. I think. I am now in Hawaii, on the bigh island, in Hawi (pronounced Havi' ) which is in the beautiful NW corner of the island. It's truly wonderful. Things grow like wild here. I'm staying with Alex Achmat, the husband of my neighbor, Susan Walsh. We are doing a house exchange. Alex and Susan's son Max, and daughter in law, Maya, will stay in my apartment while I stay here. Now who do you think got the better end of the deal, considering that it's cold (somewhere around 40 degrees) and rainy and cloudy most of the winter (well, there's occasional sun) in Portland? Anyway, Alex is getting me "oriented" and then he will go  to Portland for a family reunion. I've been having a wonderful time eating mango's with passion fruit and suchi and wandering around in the sun. Alex took me to Waimea for groceries and we drove along the mountain route and returned along the ocean. The water is that amazingly blue color. Haven't gone swimming yet but intend to soon.
 I'm not going to write more until I know if this is really going to post. Hope to talk to you and post pictures and hear from you soon!