• Leap Into The Next World

    Sun. Ocean. Blue. Breezes. Palm trees.  Sand.  Molokai in the distance.

    Aerobics this am, 7:00AM.  Walked from here at the Westin along Maui’s west shore.  At the end of the walkway headed north is the Maui Sheraton.  They have provided a historical marker, set in bronze and attached to a piece of black lava.  It explains that the lava napali (cliff) just ahead was, in the belief of the Hawai’ian people one of the places where souls jump off for the afterlife. 

    The sign reminds me of the observation that developers name their work after what they removed to create it:  Fox Run, Oak Grove Estates.  Those are shameful, but when a hotel sits on land sacred even by the business owners admission, then we have moved into another category of insult.  Call it blasphemy.  Idolatry.  Worship of a false god. Call it what you will, but imagine the feeling.

    It made me consider all those Catholic churches built over Celtic holywells and all the Celtic holy days sequestered by church liturgists, then absorbed into an alien creed.  The violence done to the sacred reality of another is, often, not obvious at a historical remove, but for those of us whose ancestors dressed the wells or leapt off the cliff to paradise, we remember.

    At the sacred cliff I turned around and headed out on the beach.  Boy, did my heart rate climb while I hiked on wet sand. (I take along my cardio rate gear when I travel.)  The ocean has its way and I forgot that, walking down below the beaches crest.  I thought I could move fast enough to avoid the incoming surf.  Nope.  Sand laden shoes and socks now drying on the lanai.


  • Whales

    Sun sets over Lanai.  Below our lanai a slack key guitar and vocalist play Hawaiian melodies.

    Kate and I sat on our north facing lanai just 20 minutes ago and watched a pod of whales move between Molokai and Maui, then head towards Lanai.  They breached and spouted, flukes slapping the ocean when they dove.  The humpbacks come here each year during this time for mating, then they head back north.

    The strangeness of the whaling imagery comes into clear relief when these behemoths play.  In fact, there is now a small industry involved in whale watching.  One way to find the whales from the balcony is to follow the whale watching boats as they head for the pods.  Which seems backward and perverse to me, somehow.

    Dinner just came.  Catch of the day: ono with fruit salsa.  Thai chicken wings.  Thai coconut bisque.  Smells good. 

    Bye. 


  • From Maui to Bangalore with Frustration

    77 clear skies.  sun.  blue ocean, white surf.  sunburned tourists.  no snow here. (but, there is on the mountains)

    Kate and I went down at her suggestion to the pool side bar and grill.  We sat in lounge chairs and ordered lunch.  I didn’t last long.  I don’t like the direct sun, nor do I like laying around with other folks who seem only interested in laying out in the sun.  This must be some Puritan instinct, but seeing other folks lay in the sun, drinking, then swimming, then eating and drinking and laying about pushes some kind of button.  Probably my own fear that I’m as lazy as they appear to be. 

    I know.  This is vacation, right?  Well, even there, I like more active vacationing, hiking and visiting historical sites, that sort of thing.  When I got to Maui, I said to Kate that I planned to do nothing, but in the end I find it difficult.  Since I can’t drive the rental car, I can’t get to the places I’ve gone during other visits.  Not a terrible thing at all, but the option of sunning doesn’t add up to much to this northern curmudgeon.

    On the bright side I got to talk to Dakesh in Bangalore about my internet connection.  This time he bypassed the hotel’s server and gave me a straight shot into the network.  Says I won’t have anymore trouble.  Hmmm.

    Naptime.


  • Sweatshirts and Palms

    Sun shines.  As it nears noon, the heat comes on, lovely after the slight, but welcome chill of the morning.  Now the palms sway a bit to gentle breezes.  The ocean reflects the sky and both send off a blue that suggests today will be fine, just fine.

    A catamaran employee, a fit looking woman in her late twenties, spoke to a crowd, “We need to go with the ocean.  As it runs, we need to stay up with it.”  The crowd of pot-bellied, weather weary midwesterners nodded as if they’d understood.

    Whaler’s Village had a slow start this morning.  Most shops had not opened when I wandered over there about 7:45.  The grocery store cum gift shop cum liquor store cum clothing store had its security door rolled up, so I walked in and purchased Nyquil, kleenex in the handy packs and listerine in a three ounce (TSA compatible) bottle.

    Back at the hotel I had an even lighter breakfast (and, therefore, cheaper) than yesterday, which suited me just fine.  I realized a lot of my anticipation on a vacation had focused on food.  Now I have to satisfy that need in other ways.  Not to say I don’t have options:  hiking, swimming, reading, writing, shopping.

    At the Honolua Surf Company I found a sweatshirt I liked, a fancy shirt for my birthday dinner on Thursday and a long sleeved t-shirt.  The apparent irony of a sweatshirt from Hawai’i has appealed to me since we first came and I have a collection.  In fact, at night and sometimes in the early morning a sweatshirt is just right. 


  • Clear Skies and Bright Stars

    New Day in Paradise    Clear, sunny with clouds over Molokai.  Little breeze at this hour and the Pacific is calm. 

    Kate’s got a cold, a version she got from some kids at work before she left.  She’ll have to rest today and tomorrow at least. 

    Hard to believe I’ve only been here a day.  The jade guy I  mentioned yesterday also told me how great it was to live here.  If there were a practical way to do it, I’d jump on it. 

    At night the skies are clear and the stars shine bright without the light pollution so endemic to the continental U.S.   It gets hot during the middle of the day but the morning (now) and the evenings cool down and breezes blow off the ocean. 

    Gonna get back to my workout routine this morning.  Got to because this ol’ body collects aches and pains if I don’t stretch it out every day.

    See you later.


  • Lahaina Town

    Maui night  A crescent moon hangs over the Pacific. The northstar, what I think of as our own Polaris (in Minnesota) shines even here in the moist tropical dark.   Clear

    Kate drove us into Lahaina Town.  I’m not on the rental car contract.  We wandered through the streets, looking into jewelry stores, art galleries, clothing stores.  A lot of people on the sidewalks, too many for my taste. 

    In Whaler’s Market (they like Whaler imagery here, in spite of the darkness in the history) I met a guy who works and sells jade.  I replaced my broken jade ring and bought a spare.  The owner thought I lived on island.  We struck up a conversation.  He buys his jade by the wheelbarrow load from Burmese families who carry across the Thai border near ChingRai.  He grew up in Rangoon, his parents worked for the Ford Foundation.

    By walking a block off mainstreet we escaped the crowd and found a quiet restaurant where we ate supper, macadamia nut crusted Mahi-Mahi.  At the bar a few locals bellied up to the bar,  bellowed greetings and exhibited much of the false bon’homie that drunks often think they enjoy.

    Back now in room 853 at the Westin.  Both of us still have a little travel fatigue.  Should get better tomorrow.


  • Tommy Bahama, Reyn Spooner, Maui Dive Shop

    Maui weather 80 degrees and sunny 

    Ate breakfast at the hotel…not again.  Way too expensive. I knew that but I was not awake.

    Wandered over to Whaler’s Village and bought a new hat, looked in the windows.  There’s a scrimshaw shop that has objects inspired by netsuke, only about twice as large.  Well done, though.  Tommy Bahama, Reyn Spooner, Island Living, Maui Dive Shop, Honolua Surf Shop. 

    Noticed the palm trees around the resorts all have piton marks.  To prune these trees little guys clamber up the trunk with piton’s attached to boots and a leather belt around their waist.  The trunks have the scars.  Looks like abuse.

    A lot of people here.  More than I remember from previous visits.  Not as many Japanese, though they are still here.  The frontdesk has  a Japanese language newspaper and there is a concierge for Japanese speakers. 

    Kate and I are off to Lahaina Town.  There is a banyan tree there that spreads out over half a city block.

    Aloha.


  • Just Another Day In Paradise

    Weather:   Another Sunny Day in Paradise!   8:13 AM Maui Time
    Aloha , all you wind-whipped, wind-chilled center of the continent land lubbers!

    As I write this, the Pacific washes up on a white sand beach, birds gibber in the palms off my 8th floor lanai and the temperature heads toward 80 degrees.

    Thanks to my recent work in Taoism, I’m trying to reframe my expectations of air travel.  I now consider it a sort of gauntlet or trial by combat necessary before one wins the hands of the fair lady, the Islands.  All in all the trip was not bad, save for an hour and a half spent wandering among slot machines, blinking lights, hurried travelers trying to find the ATA counter, which was, as in O’Hare of old, the maximal distance from I came in and resulted in an equally long trek back to get the gates.  Sigh.

    Got to Maui at 7:35 PM Maui time, 11:45 PM CST.  There is nothing else on the planet like the smell of Hawaii.  It caresses  you the minute you arrive and lets you know you’ve come back at last.

    Had a strange experience about a half hour out from Maui.  I begin to feel I was coming home.  You know this feeling, the warm secure sense that a place of safety and comfort awaits you, a place where are you are welcome and where you belong.  Don’t know what to make of it, except that I liked it.

    In order to connect to you, dear reader, I spent 20 minutes with the Bangalore cyber connection goosing the net to the room so I could finally get on the web.  Now, I’m going to breakfast.  Catch you later.


  • Cisco Kid, Ramar of the Jungle and Sargent Preston of the Yukon

    22  71%  26%  3mph N bar29.99 falls windchill19 Imbolc

                   Waning Crescent of the Winter Moon

     A late night.  Every time I stay up late watching election returns, as I have tonight, I recall the Stevenson/Eisenhower race.  Dad and I sat up until 3 in the morning watching election returns.  It was a magical time for me.  I got to stay up late; Dad stayed up with me.  We shared an interest in the political realm, even though I was only 5 years old.  You may think that’s odd, but at the age of 6 I proved the point.

    Mr. Gross had picked me up at church to drive me to a meeting with some friends.  As we drove out in the country, he asked me, “Charlie, are you a Democrat or a Republican?”  I said, “Democrat.”  He said, “Well, I don’t allow Democrats to ride in my car.” 

    “Stop the car, Mr. Gross,” I said, “I’ll get out and walk.”     

    We had one of the first televisions in our little Indiana town because Bob Feemster, a Wall Street Journal executive who own the Times-Tribune, the paper my Dad edited, thought the newspaper editor needed to keep up with the new technology.

    Most of the time I found the Cisco Kid, Ramar of the Jungle, Captain Midnight and Sargent Preston of the Yukon much more to my taste, but around elections, I watched right along with Dad.  Very soon after that I became a poll watcher, which meant I stationed myself at one of Alexandria’s precincts and when the vote count finished I called in the results to the paper. 

    Tonight I can’t tell what the numbers mean quite yet, though I did hear an amazing number if it’s true.  Hillary Clinton wins voters making 50,000 and below, while Obama wins with voters making more than 50,000.  If these are accurate numbers, it’s an interesting story and one to ponder.

    This is the best election I can remember, ever.  Issues.  Candidates.  Momentous decisions.  Perhaps a turning point in American history.  I hope.


  • Obama Wins Andover #8

    25  73%  26%  4mph NW  bar30.04 steady windchill23 Imbolc

                Waning Crescent of the Winter Moon

    Just back from caucus.  A blessedly short event.  Obama won our precinct 58 to 36.  Kate’s PNHP group passed out a sample resolution for universal health care, single payer.  I presented it and it passed.  Though not without some troubling debate.  One young voter said, “Wouldn’t that be a monopoly?  That’s against the constitution and Federal law.”  He had a worried look.  So did I, after that breath taking example of civic ignorance.  A woman said, “It’s been shown that competition makes things better.  The Canadian and British systems don’t provide good care if you have a special case, just for most of the people.”  Well, health care for most of the people would be a hell of an improvement on what we have.  As I left, a man came up, took my hand, and said, “Good job.  Thanks.”  Felt good.

    My political impulses are all contradictory these days.  Don’t know what to make of it.