Aloha and Mahalo,

This was saved as a draft and I have not been to the blog for sometime. I just read what I had to say and decided to publish it pretty much as it is (in otherwords I decided to at least attempt to spell check)

Not sure how to start this so I will just jump in........



I can't say enough about the wonderful people I have met here in Hawaii. I am trying to figure out how in the world I missed this place. With all the places in the world I have been including here two times, how could I have missed what Oahu has to offer or has something changed? Me or it.... Both previous experiences all I wanted to do was leave, now all I want to do is stay. By my previous post you know we are not staying in Waikiki, we are in Diamond Head. Waikiki is actually nice, I know the locals hate it and call it the concrete jungle etc., etc., but frankly I like it. Maybe I would not like it as much if I were actually staying in the middle of it but I remember it from previous times, and concrete jungle was very accurate then. Now it is green, charming, still some local color, it is not all Fende, Prada and Gucci. There are still ABC Stores and Aloha Sushi (This is a fabulous concept, fast food sushi, fresh and cheap) The Tiki Torches (gas now) going at night, palm trees, green grass and a warm welcoming atmosphere. Whats not to love? Expensive? No not really.

We did go to the Big Island, nice......maybe a bit boring. Except Hilo, it was a wonderful small city on the "rainy coast" but charming and real. Kona, not so much charming or real. Kona is more like a generic suburb you would find in Atlanta, Jacksonville, Dallas, Chicago, Minneapolis....on and on and on. Kona is fine if you want to scuba, snorkel and rest. We visited Mauna Kea at 13,500 feet to see the observatories, now that was very cool or should I say cold. There was a bit of snow on the ground the temperature was 30F. We also visited the Volcanoes national park, not too much see, at least not much more than what you would see in Yellowstone. Some steam coming out of the ground and more lava fields, well most of the island is raw lava fields so you don't need to go to the park to see it. We were told to see flowing magma you had to rent a helicopter in Hilo. I would love to see magma flowing into the sea but my limited experience in helicopters was enough for me to have zero interest in that idea. In the end, two days was enough of the Big Island.

Aloha is a strange word and it has so many different meanings but they are all good, Hello, Goodbye it was fun and I look forward to seeing you again, Sure let me get that for you, Sure I will let you in this line ahead of me, I am happy to wait for you to cross the street, Sure I will give you room to change lanes in this bumper to bumper traffic, Have a wonderful day, Is there anything else I can get you, it goes on and on and on but again it is all good. People here say, "where is your Aloha?" when someone is rude or impatient. I wish I could clone this attitude back home. In Minneapolis it is hey a-holA way too much, well I will take the Aloha back home with me, maybe it will spread even just a bit.

There is a catch: The traffic here is horrendous, going 4 miles in rush hour (7:00 AM - 9:30 AM and again 3:00 PM to 6:30 PM) can easily take over an hour, how is this possible? This is what Bangkok is like. How can the stewards of a place that is so incredibly wonderful have messed this part of this place up so royally? Truly, I can't find anything else to complain about here except it is an 8 hour flight from Minneapolis.

UGH.............. 8 hours to Minneapolis, I get to do this one more time. This is Sunday night and Wednesday I have to board that plane back half way across the Pacific and half way across the US to Minneapolis. I am told there has been a little snow, maybe none of it stayed but you know it had to be cold for it to happen at all. I am not sure I am ready to go yet, but then maybe I never will be. We can't live in Paradise right? If we did it would no longer be paradise, it would then be home and for some reason the two cannot be the same right, or can it?


We are going for a nice walk in the balmy night to contemplate the culture shock of going home and to work.

Aloha

Here I am in Hawaii for a month of rest, relaxation and recharge.

As those of you who know me know, (that sounds weird but how else would I say that?)this has been on horrid year for me. On April 1st my Mom died after a long slide and incredible pain associated with osteoporosis. Add to that neglect. Now, don't get me started on this, I am still pissed off enough at a certain family member that could have helped but choose to sit by and withdraw, that I am afraid I will write something I might regret in 20 or 30 lifetimes.

Then 22 days later Dad who was in relative good health, followed Mom. His death is even more tragic, all he asked for was a little help from that same certain family member and that never happened either. So again, don't get me started.
If those of you who are reading this have not lost both your parents, let me tell you it is worse than you can imagine. Not a day goes by that I don't wish I could pick up the phone and call just to chat. And if anyone tells you it is easier if you are prepared, from my perspective, it is, the sudden unexpected one was much much harder.

Anyway, here I am trying to figure out what my place in the world is now. Why do I matter and what exactly does matter? I know I can't run from the world but I still think I am going to give it a go just to make sure.

I have rented this wonderful little cottage makai of Diamond Head. It was origionally the guest cottage of a famous Hawaiian family but the main house has been mostly demolished in preparation for a fantastic rebuild. This cottage was totally remodeled in the last two years with impeccable taste. Two bedrooms, one bath, kitchen and living room. The bath and kitchen have stone counter tops and floors and wonderful lighting. The rest of the house has new windows, french doors in each bedroom to private decks and another set of french doors from the living room to another deck. The Audio Visual equipment is top notch stuff with plasma screen TV and great sound on the CD/DVD player. Since there is a lot of land here there is also a nice little stone patio ringed by Tiki Torches. There is no water view but this privacy is worth not being able to see the water. The cottage is built on the side of a hill and part of one deck hangs out over the ravine that runs from the top of Diamond Head to the Pacific Ocean. Howard's cousin Karen moved here 37 years ago to teach school for a year and of course, being the wise one, she stayed, met and married a great guy named Eric. Eric was born and raised here and is 100% Japanese. Interesting that he has a name like Eric and a sister Susan and a brother Robert all 100%Japanese, I guess when they were born they had to assimilate as much as possible. I don't think the Japanese were all that welcome during the 50's. I have spent about 3 days of my first week with them. They are wonderful guides to the Hawaii that tourists don't see. Last Sunday they took me to a potluck, what a hoot that was. All the ladies in Hawaiian muumuu's and a lot of the men in Aloha shirts. This was Karen's church Choir group annual potluck. What an incredible bunch of folks, they all were so nice that I even agreed to help stuff envelopes last Tuesday at the church.

Last night Karen and Eric came over here for dinner. I brought my cooks books written by the Blanchards. I love those and the ingredients are easy to find here being this is another tropical climate. (I have written more on this twice and each time it was deleted by my hitting the wrong key, so this is the end of this topic for now. )

Today we went to the Aloha Stadium to the flea market, it was mostly new stuff. Frankly it was similar to Berlin New Jersey in some ways, a whole ton of the same thing over and over but without the cheesesteaks. Tomorrow is all used stuff so I am going back. Eric and Karen have taken me to little out of the way places that most people would never find. Of couse the normal stuff as well, today we went to Kmart and Boarders. Now that may sound awful but let me tell you, when you need Tiki Oil, where would you go, and the most recent issue of Travel and Leisure, again where?

You know you are in a different world when even the Boarders most currnt issue of Travel and Leisure is October. I think my December issue has probably arrived at home. The store employee did not seem at all surprised that last months issue was the only one they had.