IN A BED!!!

Spod has gone to get Aryn and Bradley.  They should be landing around 9:30 pm which gives me a few minutes to blog.  I may not get a chance in the morning.

Well I slept in the bed last night and my back hurts like hell.  At least now though, with the hip pain completely gone I can discern where the pain is coming from.  Stupid muscle just above the hip and below the back of the rib cage.  Sigh!  I shall have it checked out when I get home.

We have not done much in the last couple of days. I have cleaned, organized, laundried, bought book shelves and filled them, cleaned the fridge and swam and swam and swam.  I am so going to miss the pool when I go home.  We trotted out occasionally to see sunsets and we went shopping a couple of times.  Absolutely nothing exciting whatsoever.

Tomorrow the kids want to go to Lahaina so we shall do so in the afternoon, ending with dinner at Star Noodle.  Spod loves it there.  He always gets his bowl of noodle soup, makes him happy.  On Saturday I have us booked in for a luau.  I am really looking forward to it.  Its the same one as the last time so the food will be good and so will the entertainment.  

So starting tomorrow, more excitement in the posts and for sure more pics!  TTYL

A QUICK EXTRA POST

Very rarely here on this blog do I get on a soapbox about something, except maybe how I don't like most people.  Yesterday's post I was really fighting the urge to soapbox about milk…but I held back the best I could.  So this post is going to be about a thing I started to take just over a month ago.  And the only reason I am mentioning it here is because its kind of miraculous how it has worked.  I truly didn't expect any results, I am sort of jaded about supplements.  But this is crazy.

My hip has been hurting bad then not so bad for the last couple of years.  That is why I sleep in a chair.  I actually thought I would never see a bed again.  Some days it just flares up for no reason I can figure out.  We even were mentioning hip replacement (shovel list).

At christmas time when it was so so bad I started to read about joints and what can be done beyond the obvious.  One thing kept popping up…Wasilla.  Another word for it is Frankincense..which is just the french word for expensive incense.  Wasilla comes from a resin from the wasilla tree in Africa and they have discovered that it is kind of a miracle worker with joint arthritis.  So I did a ton, and I mean a ton, of research…its fairly new but it seems to work in blind studies…and works fast…within a week.

So I bought some.  I also bought a flex pac that has willow bark, glucosomene, (sp?), and other stuff…all of which takes about three months to start working.  I have just finished a month of these supplements.

Like I said, I did not expect to feel any different.  I have taken many supplements in my time and frankly it seems a waste of money and time.  But not this time.  I don't know if it actually is the wasilla or what…but my hip is better.  It does not hurt even a little.  And even when the ocean tossed me flat on my ass, jarring every joint south of my waist, and I was expecting to not be able to walk for a while, it just simply didn't hurt later.  My hip doesn't even twinge.

  I don't understand.  And I am more active with unexpected movements here than at home.    So I am moving back into the bed and I am going to test it.  I am kind of scared though.  Beds and me did not get along so I am not sure. I was living on Ibuprofen, some days I was taking six extra strength. Now..I don't even know where the bottle is.  

Anyway, enough of this.  After I spend my first night in a bed (Thursday night) I will report back and then I won't say anymore!  Unless it starts hurting again and it wasn't the wasilla but just a little gift from above for a short period of time:)

Thank you for listening!  TTYL

HE WAS THE CUTEST BRIGHTEST DOG ON THE BEACH….SO KEEN TO SEE EVERYTHING  AND HE HAD WICKED SHORT STUBBY LEGS

I LOVE THIS TIME OF NIGHT

FOR THIS SHORT PERIOD OF TIME THE SUN SETS INTO THE WATER, BETWEEN LANAIA AND MAUI

ALL THE SUNSET GAZERS

THE BROWN SPOT IS ALL ME BUT THAT RED ONE IS A BUG BITE…IT IS SORE AND ITCHY AND WEEPING

IHOP….CHICKEN FRIED STEAK BREAKFAST…WHAT CAN I SAY?

CAMPING CAMPING CAMPING!!!

I am going to go camping this summer.  When Spod entered my life three things were shut down..three things I love and used to partake in regularly.  One was camping, one was games (crib, hearts, scrabble etc) and the other, music.

Now to be fair, we had Bamfield.  So of course we would go there for whole summers and that really did put camping out of our life.  Never mind the fact that he would have refused anyway, even if we didn't have Bamfield.  And he absolutely unequivocally refuses to play any kind of game, ever.  And if it isn't blues, its not encouraged.  And its not possible to enjoy your music when you know someone within hearing distance is hating it.

So, back to the camping.  I have asked a few times over our lifetime together, with a flat out refusal to even consider it..which is entirely his right.  But now that children have grown and we don't own a summer home, I am free to throw crap and a dog into the truck and take off for a few days in the woods.  And I would be happy to have anyone tag along…like any of my kids or rellies or friends.  I figure if I am out there somewhere all alone, I might move Parker into the back with me instead of putting him on the back seat. 

 No tent for moi…just a nice big thick foamy and cozy duvets.  I shall lay back there, light some candles, snacks, music, extra batteries for my music and lantern and a deck of cards to play solitaire…what more could one want.  Oh yeah…a bottle of wine…the sweet kind that no one else really likes.  I shall drink it straight out of the bottle!  Sounds like heaven.  And best of all?  Our truck has an electric plug in socket in the back.  I shall be bringing my one cup coffee maker…oh yeah!!!  Actually!!  Brain wave!!  I am going to go to staples and buy the one cup kuerig….that will be perfect!

We did not leave the condo yesterday…not once!  We had the blinds closed, the air conditioners on, lappies charged up….perfect day!  Today we went to Zippies and picked up chicken and chili and headed out to Ho'okipa.  The water was dead flat again, (which usually means no one is about)  but because its Memorial Day week end there were a few families there enjoying the day.  We ate and snoozed and listened to the family next to us gossiping away (mostly in Hawaiian) and bashing their tiny Chihuahua in the face every time it tried to bite their little girl.  They also had a gorgeous pitt bull in the back of their truck.  He was pretty cute and fun to watch.

Around four we headed back to the condo and that is the sum total of the last two days.

The neighbour is still missing.  People are getting a little frantic.  I am pretty sure she has just gone to San Fran under an assumed name (is that possible?)  Its pretty nice and quiet around here though!

Because it is almost Monday I shall mention this week's challenge.  And I can almost not write this because I so completely disagree.  Drink milk.  NOT HAPPENING!!  The only reason this saying is even out there is because the milk board has everyone bamboozled.  There are actual studies out there that show it takes more calcium than is in that glass of milk to process that glass of milk  in the body.  Where does the body get that extra calcium?  From your body.  If you look up the famous nurse's studies that was done (on nurses) that is a good place to start.  And speaking of starting…don't get me started!!!  Don't drink milk.  Once you are three, you lose the enzyme that breaks milk down.  That is why other cultures and animals don't feed their younguns milk past that stage of their life.  Grrrr!!

If you disagree with me that is perfectly okay.  To each our own!  What the heck do I know?  TTYL

A MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE

Over the years of blogging I have had the occasional chance to post about mysterious disappearances.  It seems we have one right here next door to us.

I noticed about two weeks or so ago that there was very little activity next door.  In fact the last time I saw her was the day after the bomb scare.  I talked to her for a minute about where she had gone for the evacuation etc.

And…since then nothing.  Her door is shut, her lanai is as it always is, her flip flops beside the door, a few things on her outdoor table etc….. A couple of days ago I saw a man banging on her door and her sliding door.  No answer.  Yesterday a woman was banging on her door when we drove up.  She asked us if we had seen her lately and we told her she should go ask Don if he knew anything.  Then last night I heard talking outside our front door.  I took a look and it was the police and some other people milling about and knocking etc…  I couldn't hear what they were saying.  Something is up.  I overheard them say something about having checked the plane manifests already, but I couldn't hear well enough.  We shall see…. a lot of people go missing on this Island.

I just got off the phone a few minutes ago with Westjet.  I have made arrangements to go home earlier than July 1st.  We are now flying home on June 11th, arriving the morning of the 12th.  Yay!!!  Monte will pick us up with the truck and we will swing by Jan's and pick up one good looking blooming dogwood tree!  I am really looking forward to going home, although I am totally going to miss the pool.

Yesterday we did a little shopping, did a little business in Kahului (insurance) and banking etc…then home.  Its weird being here alone without kids or company.  I did try barbecuing a pork roast on the barbie…it was really good!  And today I have done nothing.  I think I shall go swimming.  Sorry for the lame post!   TTYL

LAST DAY OR TWO WITH MONTE

I simply do not remember what we did on Monday.  I know we went to Mamma's Fish House for dinner that  night but I can't for the life of me remember what we did during the day.  Probably swimming at the pool.  

Dinner at Mamma's was fantastic..as usual.  Spod and I have noticed that over the last couple of years the food we get out there, from the cruise ships to exotic restaurants, is just not that tasty or good anymore.  Its been disappointing.  But that is definitely not the case with Mamma's.  That place never disappoints.  I put pics at the end here.  The only drawback is the cost.  Coffee at the end of the meal…a bodem with 2 and a squirt cups of coffee in it is 15 bucks.  Your average cocktail is 18.  Crazy prices but its good food and fantastic service and ambiance. 

Yesterday was a shopping and Ho'okipa picnic day.  We stopped at Costco to pick up some poke and apple slices.  Then we stopped at Mana grocery in Paia for sandwiches and out we went.  It was absolutely dead.  There were no cars, no one in the ocean…it was creepy!!!  Mind you the water was dead flat and it is the low season here right now so that might explain it.

We left after and hour and headed into town to do some shopping.  Monte leaves tonight and had a few more things to pick up before he goes.  Survivor final was on last night so we didn't go anywhere.  Just before it finished we headed over to the pool for one last soak in the hot tub.  We had it to ourselves so it was very nice, but a little sad.

Now its morning and the boys are still sleeping.  I am going to go wake them up soon.  This the last day for Monte…he heads out tonight at ten thirty.  So when I asked him what he wanted to do he said the sugar mill museum.  So thats what we shall do.  Then its pack and clean and laundry etc…  We will probably go to Zippy's for supper on the way to the airport.  Maybe we will get a swim in today too.  Its nice out.  TTYL

WALING DOWN TO THE RESTAURANT

THE ENTRANCE TO THE RESTAURANT

A BANANA GUAVA RUM DRINK

OUR APPETIZERS…SO UNBELIEVABLY DELICIOUS

MONTE AND I GOT THE MAHIMAHI STUFFED WITH CRAB AND LOBSTER…AND I GOT A BANANA MARTINI

MONTE'S CHOCOLAT GANACHE ON A THICK LAYER OF CARMEL ON A COOKIE NUT CRUST

BAILEY'S COOKIE AND CREAM ICE CREAM…MADE THERE AT THE RESTAURANT

CHALLENGE NUMBER WHATEVER

I checked out this weeks challenge…and its suggesting you go organic…for all the right reasons of course.  But if you compare the cost of…lets say a regular chicken with an organic one, you would have to work two extra days to afford it.  She made one good point though.  You CAN combat the pesticides etc in your vegetables and fruit by bleaching/washing/soaking or whatever, but that doesn't help the environment.  So if you are concerned about the environment, and you can't grow your own and you don't have a farmer's market nearby, then you need to buy organic…for all the right reasons.

Let's see, I think we were off to Lahaina last time I posted.  We left Spod in the parking lot, in the car with his book and a loo nearby and hiked it up and down Front street.  Monte picked up a few last minute gifts for friends, he leaves on Thursday (shovel list) so we are down to the last minute activities and purchases.

We went back up to Star Noodle for dinner.  What a place!!!  When we left there around seven, there were so many people waiting for a table!  The waiting room is the parking lot and that lot was full of milling people with more coming.  It reminded me of all the crows that fly home at night to their rookery…thousands of them from all over.  So that tells you that that place is one heck of a place to get food.  My fave dish this time was a Filipino hot plate with onion, pork belly and 62degree egg (in other words soft poached).  Hokey Dinah!!  It was delicious!!!

Yesterday I got Monte up at 11 and hauled him over to this little greasy spoon the locals go to for breakfast and a talk.  He is planning some big healthy changes when he gets back to Port and I had him go over stuff, just to reaffirm.  I have always had these talks with my kids when they are still in the growing and developing stages (hahaha…sorry guys if you are reading this).  I love these talks.

Back when we used to go to Bamfield for the summer, on our way home we would discuss the changes in ourselves that we would strive for over the coming year.  On our way TO Bamfield we would discuss how we thought we did over the past year.  I blame all this self improvement stuff on Amway. 

 Back when I was 12 my mom put us through a self improvement course, on records no less, that Amway promoted.  It was all about your sub conscious brain and how it can work for you and all about positive thinking and self affirmations.  My whole life was influenced and affected by those nightly lessons, listened to in the dark for a half hour every night for six weeks.  Very powerful and made me something of a motivational type mother…much to the poor kids chagrin.  But Monte's and my talk was awesome.

Later that afternoon we went to Costco to make sure there was a twin bed there for Spod to pick up this morning and then we went to the matinee at Queen Ka'a Humanu Mall cinemas.  Monte went to 3D Godzilla (they never seem to grow up) and Spod and I went to Million Dollar Arm, the only other choice.  And it was awesome I might add!

Today, as I mentioned, Spod is going to head into Costco to get a twin bed.  Then we are pooling it this afternoon, then tonight its MAMMA'S FISH HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!  the only bad thing is a trip to Mamma's usually means someone is leaving :(.    What a lovely send off though!  TTYL

THESE LADIES HAD FUN WITH HIS HAIR.  WHEN WE CAME OUT OF THE MOVIES A COUPLE DAYS LATER, THE LADY ON THE RIGHT RECOGNIZED US AND STOPPED US TO TALK.  CRAZY!!!

EMBARRASSING MOMENT AND ABUSE

Its funny…when I pick a title for my post I don't always make it a very clear one.  Well, its clear in my head but not to anyone out there!  This post will contain a very embarrassing moment I had and abuse of a child (at least I think its abuse) I witnessed.

First of all..the trip to Hana (or Hawna as the pretentious {and locals} pronounce it) was beautiful as always.  It was hot and sunny and not too too busy.  Monte was suitably impressed and we made stops at all the usual places.  Pics below will explain it all.  We got back to town at supper and had made plans to go to Zippy's as usual.  Zippy's is the end of Hana trip stop.  And as we were heading there, Spod pipes up "what about the spaghetti place?".  So that was good to Monte and me and off we went up the hill to the spaghetti place.  This was our third visit and it was great!

Yesterday we planned a beach day.  Around noon we headed down to Kam 2…right across from the Maui Banyon and a Mexican restaurant.  Spod dropped us off and headed back home.  We went down and set up the chairs etc….and stretched out.  About half an hour into it Monte went across the street for fish tacos (as planned earlier).  About a half hour after he left I started to feel sick.  It was so blasted hot there on the sand and I can't go in the ocean (it was really rough that day).  I just knew I had to get out of the sun.  And here comes the embarrassing part.

I could NOT get out of that chair.  It wasn't my usual one..it is a little higher than mine.  Normally I just tip out forward onto my knees, stick my ass ungracefully into the air and push up and stand.  This chair was just a little too high.  I couldn't tip out of it and my hands were covered in oil so I couldn't push on the handles and just stand up.  No matter what I did I could not get out of that chair.  After about ten minutes of struggling, and I was beginning to think I would end up puking right there on the sand, and I was almost, not quite but almost crying, a handsome young man came along.

He asked if he could help me.  I was so embarrassed.  He told me he was a lifeguard going off shift, he said they saw this all the time (yeah right!) and to put the palms of my hands on the sand for grip then grab hold of his.  He pulled me up and out of that effing chair.  What a nice person.  He told me that the sun at this time of the year is a lot hotter than we think and its normal for us to underestimate it etc….I felt so fat and stupid at that moment.

I grabbed my beach bag and towel and headed up to the bathroom, grassy area and sat at a table in the shade.  Suddenly I had to bolt to the john and upchuck.  Man, I felt wobbly and sick for a long time.  Monte eventually came back and we called Spod to come get us.  I felt much better after we got home and yet again I say, "I HAVE TO LOSE 120 POUNDS!"  Never again, I am sticking to the pool.

We went to Coconuts for dinner later.  The only reason we went is because everybody absolutely raves about the place and it has an extremely high review rating.  And guess what?   We didn't like it.  My apologies to those that love the place but we didn't like the fish tacos and I wouldn't go back.  The chowder was amazing…but the rest of the food wasn't great.  The fish was so overcooked it was chewy.  Very disappointed.

Today I dragged Spod over to the pool around 10:30 and made him walk with me for half an hour.  He went back after and I stayed for another couple of hours.  Its Sunday so as such its family day over there. 

 Two families with a thousand kids came over and set up.  These families here are a mix of Filipino, Hawaiian and White or Mexican.  They have very loud big families.  The moms are HUGE and their children and husbands are tiny.  Today there was a 14 month old little girl.  She couldn't really talk yet.  All of them were in the pool.  The wee one, her name is Eve, climbed out of the pool and toddled over to the playground area.  She climbed the ladder to the top of one of the slides.  In a leisurely manner the skinny dad sort of called over to her "No Eve, its too hot on the slide" (you could fry bacon in two minutes on that dark slide) and he slowly climbed out still calling her.. but being tiny and demanding, she went down anyway…and absolutely burned herself.  She screamed so badly several people came running.  That poor little munchkin.  The dad picked her up and says "I told you not to go on there" and took her to the pool. 

 Nothing helped. She cried and cried and kept saying "Ot  Ot   Ot  (hot)"  Her mum finally took her to the hot tub and I am thinking Jeez!  you don't put burns in hot water, it really hurts.  She stood her on the very top step, the water would have only been knee deep on the baby.  And then SHE WALKED AWAY AND OVER TO THE BUTTON THAT TURNS ON THE JETS!!!!  The baby fell right into the middle of the hot tub, right in!!  I freaked!!  The mom waddles over, takes her a bit to get into the tub cuz she is so huge, grabs the baby by the arm and yanks her out.  The baby choked and vomited and coughed and then finally started screaming.  What the hell???

  Later I overheard the dad say that the baby's back legs were blistering so he was taking her home.  And so he did and the mom just stayed with their other very noisy obnoxious four year old boy.  Upsetting to say the least.  Abuse?  Maybe not but for sure its neglect.

Now we are off to Lahaina.  One last trip there for Monte.  He heads home on Thursday.  We are going to miss him for sure.  But its only a few days later that Aryn and Bradley arrive!!!  I am so glad we bought this condo!  TTYL

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THE CHURCHES ON THIS ISLAND ARE AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL

A LOCAL SWIMMING HOLE

THIS DOES NOT EVEN REMOTELY LOOK AS SCARY AS IT WAS

HALEAKALA FROM THE BACKSIDE

WITHOUT QUESTION I LOVE THIS SIDE OF THE VOLCANO..WAY MORE THAN THE OTHER JUNGLY SIDE

IN EDITING I  'RETOUCHED' MY CHINS TO MAKE THEM GO AWAY

A CROSS TO BEAR

This is going to  seem very ungrateful and rude, this post.  But seriously! I don't think I cannot write about the following experience.

As most of you already know (but for those that aren't fb friends I will briefly expand) I was awakened from a dead sleep by an insistent continuous banging on the front door, the banging accompanied by the constant ringing of the doorbell.  I flew out of my chair…which is literally two feet from that door, whipped off my cpap mask and bolted for Monte.  No way was I opening that door by myself.    I would have gone for Spod but by the time he got out of bed and shuffled out we could all be dead.  For all I knew it was a fugitive looking for safe harbour.

So Monte came up out of a coma type sleep, all confused and freaked.  I quickly told him what was happening so he came out to the living room.  I opened the door to find two tiny, I think Filipino, policemen.  "You have to leave the condo right now!  We chased a car into this complex and it has explosives in it."  What???  Then they told us that it would probably be noon tomorrow before we could come back. (It actually ended up being 4 in the afternoon)  You have to be kidding!  "Maybe you drive around and get some breakfast."  The time was 12:30 am.  Sure…drive around all night then go get breakfast.  Monte is 6'8"…Spod is 80…I am fat…this was not going to go very well.

I whipped around, gathered pillows, water, computer, phone, pills and galloped out of there.

We drove around and about an hour later came back and a different cop told us to drive up to the new Kihei police headquarters.  They have bathrooms at least.

So we did.  We parked in their lot and we were almost asleep when there was a banging on the driver window.  And thats when the gong show started.

It was a lady from the red cross.  She had an important official looking clip board and brilliant blinding (even in the dark) florescent vest with big RED CROSS written on the back.  She told us that they were going to get us (there were two other evacuees in the lot) a room for the night.  This was at 1:15 am.

Car after car arrived in the lot.  I thought it was other evacuees…but no, it was more red cross volunteers.  In the end there were about three volunteers to each evacuee.  There was a 70 something long long ponytailed Santa type, a person of indeterminate age and indeterminate sex…I never did figure out if he/she was a he or she.  One was old.  Really old.  There were several more but these four were the ones we basically dealt with.

And then…nothing happened.  They all stood around a truck over yonder and talked and laughed and drank coffee and had a great time.  We decided, around 2:30 am to just go to sleep.  So we did.  At 3:00 there was another banging on the window and instructions were given on where the hotel was (really close) and we were to go there.  They didn't know where it was, just that it was close.  No directions.  So we took off and after a few minutes I happened to spot the sign and we went in and parked.  In the beautiful lobby we met the other two people from the condos and then waited and waited and waited til the red cross people found the place.  I was getting pretty agitated by this time.

Finally they arrived and I figured we would get a key and head off to a room.  No.  We were told to go sit on the couches in the lobby first.  We did.  And we waited and waited and waited.  Finally around 4:00 am each of the three of us evacuees were assigned a volunteer.  Spod, Monte and I got the old man.  He sat down beside us and quietly said that this part of the process was to be private.  He had a clip board with a form to be filled out.  Now, I had already filled out a form with names, car info, addresses, phone numbers etc. for the hotel.  Plus the first lady in the parking lot took all that info as well.  And now a third time?

OH MY GOD!!!  It took the old geezer five frigging minutes to figure out which side of the form to start filling out.  He was on my right and Spod (who forgot his hearing aids and is really really deaf now) was on my left.  Old Geezer started with Spod's full name (and unfortunately he has four names), two addresses (home and condo), birthdate (have you ever watched an old person write crap out?  shaky and stopping every three letters to think) and when he heard Spod's year he was born (1933) he froze, looked up, stared for three minutes, I thought he had had a stroke, then said "1933?"  long long pause   "same year as me." And then they started to talk to each other, or at least tried.  Old Geezer had a hearing aid too.   Oh God…Geezer Hell.

Finally he repeated the process, laboriously slowly for Monte and me.  I thought he was done when God forbid, he turned the flipping paper over.  Oh NOOOOOO!!!

And these questions were dicey.  They were designed for true disaster victims.  Not us.  And he simply could not figure out what to put.  Twenty times he got up and dawdled over to the others, who had finished doing the same thing with the others ages and ages before just to check what he should put.  "Does your victim need mental after care?"  "Does your victim need clothes and sundries and shoes and wtf ever?"  He closely and carefully read every damned question, ruminated over the obvious "n/a" answer, checked with the others…til I wanted to scream.  It was truly a farce and ridiculous.  A sweet old guy, bless him, but holy shit!

Finally he finished and then we sat again and waited and waited and waited.  Whimper whimper!  I do not know what the hell they were doing.  Eventually, around 5:00 am the head lady called us over to the lobby desk.  She had in her hand three keys!!!  Yay…but hold it….not yet…she still had to sign a billion papers.  And as she did this she kept stopping and talking and telling stories and talking some more.  I want to kill someone right now.  Finally we all headed to the elevators.  And instead of handing us our keys, she says "One of you is on the fourth floor (not us of course) and you other two are on five.  So you go on up there and wait for me."  So thats what we did.  And we waited and waited and waited and waited.  Finally she arrives with a laugh…hahahaha I got lost and their room was right at the back…a long way.  Yeah, real funny.  Then it was our turn and we walked a mile to the back of the complex.  We reached our room, she opened the door and handed us the key and left.  Handed us the key.  WHY THE HELL COULD SHE NOT HAVE DONE THAT A HALF HOUR BEFORE????

And the stupid part is this..the room was  $140.00, which we could have simply just got for ourselves.  Its nice to have that 140 paid for (over a five hour period) but we feel obliged to make a 200 dollar donation now.  Next time we will take matters in our own hands.

But I am really impressed with the Red Cross overall.  But I can't help but think that if all the people had been told to go up to the police station (three buildings with 8 units each) we would still be there being helped by the Red Cross.  I think I would have temporarily volunteered just to expedite the whole process.

We came back here after a dismal breakfast at Denny's to be told we couldn't get in for hours yet.  The national guard and the bomb squad were here, their crap spread out everywhere.  We took off to Costco, got some snacks, headed out to Ho'okipa Lookout (Turtle beach), had a snack and fell asleep for an hour.  Finally around four we got back in.  Still haven't heard what they found.

Thats my vent for the day.  My apologies to anyone associated with the Red Cross.  They really are ass savers and this was just our experience.  We are making a donation!  TTYL

I DIDN'T TAKE THIS…I FOUND IT…SO BEAUTIFUL

THE GOLF COURSE ARYN IS CONSIDERING GOLFING IN

ALMOST EXTINCT NENES (HAWAIIAN GEESE)

AT OUR FAVE ITALIAN PLACE

THE EIGHT DOLLAR DINNER

IF YOU READ MY BLOG….DON'T MISS THIS POST….IT'S A WARNING

I was looking back over my blog to the early entries.  I put a counter on my page back in 2009 and to some extent keep track of how many people at any given time read this thing.  While I write it predominantly for myself, I have to admit that when I see over a hundred people have read the last entry it sort of makes me feel happy.  But I have also noticed that BECAUSE so many read it, I have really toned it down.  I am not saying some things that I really would like to.  That is because I don't want to hurt feelings.  (General public feelings, not personal ones)  It doesn't seem appropriate to slag on Asian drivers, cruisers, fat people, really stupid people or anyone group that might identify with what I am writing.  It never used to bother me.  I just wrote…no filters.

So with that in mind, I am announcing here that I am going back to what I used to be.  This is a warning.  If I am pissed at Asian drivers…I am going to say so.  If I feel nothing but derision for my fellow cruise passengers, I am going to deride freely.  If I am horrified yet fascinated by fat people, I am going to tell the story…even though I am probably fatter than them.

So I am warning all of you that will definitely become offended, please erase me from your bookmarks and don't read my blog.  I will be slagging everybody, including myself, eventually because..you see…I don't like people.  Not really.  As I have aged I have become very cynical and disheartened by society.  I will still add in the happy loving ones, when they happen.  And sometimes humanity surprises me pleasantly so I will be posting those occasions.  But I have been really holding back and I haven't liked it.  I am outspoken by nature, lacking a lot of filters so I am going to be going back to the old me.

So that being said, we had a stupid persons encounter the other night.  I shall be posting about it in my next post.  I was seriously ready to rip my hair out by the end of the experience.  But I will save it for tomorrow.  I have to run right now, out the door to the Apple store for yet another techie purchase!  TTYL

SAVE ME!!! I HAVE TURNED INTO A SHOPPING FREAK

I have an american ip address.  Do you know what that means?  I can vote on American Idol.  I can watch all manner of tv…all of it, not just what the CRTC decides I can watch.  I get awesome movies and tv on Netflix.  And….I can get stuff shipped to our Hawaii address!  All those awesome fat lady sites…endless wonderful stuff that is simply not available in Canada.  And because the Americans think they are the fattest people on the earth (I think it is actually Canadians but don't tell the Americans that) the sites' sizes go up high enough for me to be able to buy stuff.  And buy stuff I have.

I have already received three parcels, although not clothes.  One box was gasper stuff (CPAP), and two more were awesome pictures from Redbubble.  And I truly will have nowhere to hang them, but I love them.  Now I am waiting on three more packages.  One of them has two dusters and a pull over apron.  Really?  And another one has three identical blouses, just different colours.  And the last one has….I forget.  I must stop.  I must not go on Amazon.  Its just so tempting.

Yesterday we went to the pool for a long time and blissfully floated around.  Then we went into Lahaina to the Outlet Malls…(Cookie:  the mall is all around and part of Hilo Hatties)  It was seriously a disappointment.  The Sketchers store had already closed down.  There were still a lot of stores but not any I would be interested in.  We went down Front street, stopped along the way and eventually made our way home.  We went for an evening swim…it was heavenly!

Today we headed up the mountain.  We had so much fun.  We took along a pringles can and watched the increasing pressure as we climbed bulge out the paper seal across the top of it.  We do this  every time.  It wasn't overly cold up there or windy but truly beautiful.  I shall put some pics here.  We stopped at Colleen's for fish and chips on the way home, truly delicious as always.  We spent the evening watching Amazing Race and Good Wife and now its bedtime.  Hana tomorrow. Because I can't post in the morning I will put this weeks challenge here.

Find your 'purpose' and live it every day.  Define your strengths, passion and what matters to you.  Sit down and write a mission statement..short term (daily) and long term and live it, every day.  Hmmm..not bad if your kind of lost.  Or do this and realize you already ARE living with purpose!  TTYL

FRONT STREET, LAHAINA

DOING THE DISHES

DOING THE BBQ'ING

TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN

CRATERS

THE FAT FARKLES

WE HAD TO FOLLOW A WHILE TIL WE COULD PASS