A Few Answers, More Questions

The days have been lazily drifting by here on Kauai. Lots of sun shine and often very high surf which has made for some dramatic scenery. However at Anahola Beach the other day, things were placid and  we were able to be beach bums, each in our own way, Bruce in a chair reading and Gail and I paddling in the warm, healing ocean.

We returned to a favourite place, the grotto at the old stone dam on the Wai Koa trail one late afternoon. A pleasant time to walk, the angle of the setting sun highlighting the gnarled, thick bark of the trees and  the ginger and hibiscus blooms.

We love this spot...so serene and contemplative, although this time we shared the place with three nubile young maidens and their families. The girls knew exactly where they were headed...up above the dam to a rope swing from which they plunged into the pond. I almost stripped down to join them but as with many things fanciful, I needed to be sensible. My hip and knee have been very sore. The giant knee brace you can see poking through my trousers has helped.

Sister Rosemary in Kenora, Ontario has found the name of the hedge that I pictured on my last blog. Clever woman found it on the Honolulu Zoo-Botanical Gardens website, which is really well done.

http://www.honoluluzoo.org/gardens.html

RED LEAF HAU
Hibiscus tiliaceus
Hau has a nutritious leaf and flower. It makes excellent mulch and was favored for old Hawaiian Lo‘i kalo (taro patches) The Hawaiians had many many uses for hau: buds are medicinal and were taken as an aid to childbirth, as well as a laxative. The leaves make great desert plates at an elegant luau (and you can compost them into the garden when the feast is pau). The wood is soft lightweight and easily carved. Net floats, ama or canoe outriggers, puppets and various fishing tools were made from hau. The bark is stringy and fibrous and was used for lashing and cordage. Hau flowers can tell you what time of day it is: The yellow, hibiscus like flowers of hau open clear yellow in the morning. By midday they turn orange and at the end of the day they are red. The red flowers drop to the ground in a beautiful display the next morning.

So lovely to know the name of this flowering beauty.


Today's conversation in the grocery store.

I waited at the "service" counter to pay for Bruce's newspaper. As the man in front of me paid and was moving off, a local Hawaiian man leaned over the divider next to the clerk and said,

"Dis what you wan?" He held a piece of fiber in his hand.

The clerk, rather dismayed replied, "You wait, I busy wid dis customer heeah"

"Oh no", said I, "I am really interested. Is that coconut fiber"

"Ya, dats it", said the native holding the rough looking swatch, sort of like this.

"What is it used for?", I asked

"We gonna make hula costumes for the keiki (kids), big festival comin' up," answered Mrs Cashier who wore a plumeria blossom behind one ear.

"Looks rather scratchy", I said, "What part of the costume is made of this fiber"

"I dunno, neva done this beefoah....big job"

"How many keiki?", butted in the man. "we gonna ruin a lotta trees doin' this and the Hawaiians will not like dat"

"I dunno" chimed in the cashier, "lotta kids mebbe a hunnert"

I was loving this exchange and did not want it to finish! 

"How big dose kids?" asked the gentleman clutching the fabric.

"Well, some as old as 12 years", replied the clerk.

"Oh,oh, dem kids get pretty big by 12 years old, we gunna need to harm a lotta trees...not good"

This was so much fun, watching these two try to figure out how they were going to get enough coconut finer to clothe 100 children in costumes of an as yet unknown design.

I bid them both my "Aloha" and scurried home to look up; coconut finer, keiki hula, coconut fibre hula costumes to see what they were up against. After plowing through hundreds of pictures ( mostly of young women with coconuts brassieres and articles about hula traditions), I am no further ahead on what the scratchy bits of fiber are going to be used for. My two friends are in for a lot of work, because I think the fibers need to be treated, carded etc. And the kids below are wearing what we would call grass skirts.

In the past we have been lucky enough to catch the kids at their hula lessons. They are sweet.

And so the sun sets on another delicious Kauai day. We did have to give the cockroach a decent burial, as his little glass cage seemed to deny him enough oxygen.

Next chapter will probably be after our arrival in Hoi An, Vietnam.

Love the Tropics!

As I look out of the window of our vacation rental condominium, with a glass of crisp white wine nearby, the trade winds are dancing with the palms, the light is angling down on the hibiscus hedge with its bright red blossoms and my companions are sitting on

the lanai with their drinks and books, chatting about important issues like who will cook the vegetables tonight. No wonder we dream of this place when the rains and winds are smacking our windows at home at this time of year.

Our days slide by all too quickly. This mornings adventure was to return to the seaside path between Kappa'a and Kealia, but this time by bicycle.  Over the years we have walked this path many times, in fact when we first discovered the walk from the trail head at Kealia the trail down to the ocean and Donkey Beach was a mud path. It is now all paved and is very popular with walkers, cyclists and runners. It winds around the shoreline just at the tree line in the photo below.

Our rental bikes were clunky and rusty; good old fashioned push bikes....but it was fun breezing along, agog with the mighty ocean.

When we had walked down to the trail the other day we were surprised to see that the previously barren walkway was now enveloped in a tunnel of the most beautiful growth. I have tried to identify this "bush" but so far can not. The foliage is variegated; green and white with occasional pinkish leaves. The blossoms when newly budding are yellow..... but when mature and fallen to the ground are a brilliant orange/red. On this day following a heavy night rain, the blossoms stained the pavement in a delightful mosaic. Let me know if you know what the name is of this intriguing bush.

Other hikes have taken us through a mahogany forest and through a heiau, a sacred place, where I am always silenced by the sanctity of the place.

"A heiau is a Hawaiian temple. Many types of heiau were built, including heiau to treat the sick (heiauhōʻola), offer first fruits, offer first catch, start rain, stop rain, increase the population, ensure the health of the nation, achieve success in distant voyaging, reach peace, and achieve success"

Could be though that I am also focused on hip and knee pain...it is a bugger to be

getting old.


 Bruce is once again surrounded by women.....I think he likes it! This is JoAn, Betty and Gail trudging along through the mahogany forest. Good Kauai coffee is the reward.

On the home front we have a house guest who also reminds us that we are in the tropics. 

We daft northerners were clever enough to trap the cockroach under glass, but what now????

Stay tuned!

Old Friends, Familiar Places

We left Salt Spring Island on Sunday, January 17th on a cold, dark and rainy morning. The first leg on this journey, as with most, was the ferry ride. When a friend in Vietnam saw this picture on Face Book she asked if we were coming to live permanently there. She was being snide about the mountain of luggage. We had been feeling clever that we managed so efficiently, carrying essentials for ten weeks away in two different countries....plus a few advance copies of Bruce's new book taking up a lot of space and weighing more pounds than we usually like to carry.

Eighteen hours later we landed on Kauai and wound our way to the north shore of the island to our very comfortable digs. We had stayed here last year for a few days with our pal Gail and in a rash moment then, we all decided to came back this year for two weeks.

There is such a comfort in travelling with old friends to familiar places, especially our beloved Kauai where the trade winds are refreshingly cool on a hot day, there are no dangerous critters, the hills are lush and green and the ocean tropical turquoise.

We are staying this time in Princeville on the north shore of the island. Although there is more rain here than on the east side or south shore, we love the green of the forests. Princeville sits on a promontory, a vast tract of golf courses, hotels, and condominiums. Once the destination of the rich and famous, Princeville seems to have settled into a comfortable, well kept neighbourhood with locals in private homes and townhouses sharing with the thousands of visitors who come for a break from the winters of mainland USA and Canada. The area is very familiar...we have our favourite places to shop, hike and eat out. 

But there are "bonuses"....unexpected surprises that add to the delight of our days. We awakened on our first morning to find these amazing succulents in our front garden. I can walk under these arches! As yet we have not been able to identify them.

And wandering over to the nearest golf course we spied this mama albatross sitting on her eggs, where she has been for almost two months, which means we could be here to see the egg/eggs hatch. I did not want to approach too closely, thus the blurry picture.

 As for the calving the endangered monk seals, there are armies of volunteers here on Kauai who watch over the nesting albatross. Signs are posted to warn wanderers like me to stay back. Citizens call in sightings and each nest is monitored. There are a number of webcam sites which follow from the hatching and eventual flight of these impressive birds...so awkward on land, yet graceful in the air.

Other birds have been visiting nightly and serenading us with song. (I did not take these photos, piked them from the Internet, but have seen these species...honest!!!

It did not take long to get settled in to our spacious and light filled condo and well rested after a couple of nights we began the adventures. First up a hike on the south shore on a trail that we have hiked many times, yet with each visit we are filled with awe on the lithified cliffs above the crashing ocean where whales on the distant horizon reminded us that they were out there, birthing their new calves.

The reward on this day was lunch at Hamura's, a local saimin restaurant.We all order the "Special".....flavourful, salty broth, noodles, meats, fish cakes.

It may be a few days before Bruce gets into the local culture and can match the fashion statement of this charming "moke", who sat at the counter near us.


A favourite hike is up the Kuilau Trail from the Keahua Arboretum,where a grove of rainbow eucalyptus show off Ma Nature's colour palette.

Even better when you meet up with old friends from Vancouver and have the pleasure of sharing such a magnificent forest, with breathtaking vistas and melodic bird song.

Another adventure off to a good start with lots of hikes, beach time, pool time, reading, and lolling around on the agenda for the next ten days. Stay tuned.