Appreciating it all

This last week, we've been focusing on simply appreciating what we have here.  It is easy to take things for granted when you're in the moment and so I hope that in these next few days we can make a conscious effort to soak in as much of our surroundings; burn it into our psyches in such a way that we can bring home some of that relaxed and calm energy. 

The Dargis family stopped by on Saturday.  They had to catch their flight late that night and so they came and spent the afternoon with us.  I took the boys to the Waimea Country Club to hit some balls on the range.  The whole time that we were there, there were wild turkeys running around on the driving range.  We had a great time using them for target practice.  Every once in a while, when the birds would get spooked, you would hear them going "gobble gobble gobble!".  That was rather amusing.

Driving range with snowy topped Mauna Kea in the background

One day this week, we drove to Kona for a little shopping.  It was a little bit cloudy in Waimea that day and so it was nice to go to Kona where it's always warm.  Whenever we go to Kona, we always seem to find ourselves at Humpy's Alehouse for lunch.

Ann admiring the view from our table at Humpy's

Two fish tacos and a pint

Poor Allison.  Her parents always pull her out of school and drag her to the aleshouse.

Ann tries to bare hand her fish taco.  Epic failure! 

At one point this week, we had a washing machine disaster.  Well, I guess it wasn't a disaster but it could have been if Ann hadn't been home to notice water leaking all over the floor and didn't shut the water off.  This misfortune gave us the opportunity to visit the local laundry mat where we got to hang out with a bunch of nice moms and kids.  It also gave me a chance to chat with Pabling.  Pabling is the man who cuts the grass here and maintains the gardens.  He is a very handy guy and so he also came over to fix the washing machine.  We chatted for a long time and I got to know a very interesting guy.  He was born and raised here.  In 1968 he was thinking about joining the army when he was drafted and had the decision made for him.  Fortunate for him, he was trained in firing surface to air guns and since the Vietnamese didn't have an air force, he was sent to Germany.  I quickly did the math and when I found out he was 64 years old I was amazed.  I had him pegged for early 50s at the most.  He told me that later in life, he spent about 15 years doing maintenance work on a tiny island near Micronesia where the US government use to test the air defense missile program.  You just never know what kind of life experience your gardener has until you sit down and talk to him.

Yesterday was a very nice day in Waimea and so I encouraged the girls to come and hike with me to the top of the big hill  in the pasture behind our rental house.  The trade winds stopped for the day and so the breeze was coming from the south west.  When this happens,  volcanic fog, or vog as they call it, drifts in and makes the sky a little hazy and this limited our view from the top of the hill, but at least it was nice and warm. 

Resting, part way up the hill

1/4 of the way up

2/3 up the hill

At the summit.  3400 ft above sea level

The vog in the background means that we cannot see Mauna Kea in the background

The view to the north

The view south, towards town

The air is thin at the summit and you can see by the following video, it can have some strange effects.

 

Lets play a game.  Guess what famous statue is being represented in the following photos.

The first one is easy.  If you guessed, the statue of liberty, you're correct.  If you guessed, Christ the Redeemer from Brazil for the second photo, you have a great imagination and can be my friend.  The third photo is an easy one:  King Kamehameha of course.

Looking towards town and the vog

Our house in the center of the photo with the 2 solar panels

On our way down, we meet some cows

On Friday night we went to the Redwater Cafe in Waimea for sushi.  They had a couple guys playing jazz music on a guitar and various wind instrument in the background.  They were very good.

The best sashimi (raw fish) I have had in a long time

The chef felt that it took too long for us to get our order and so he gave us a free sushi roll.  We all loved the red fish eggs covering the roll.  As a side note, it really did not take that long to get our food.  We've had way slower service in many places.  This restaurant is great.