Saturday, February 20, 2010

"AS SEEN ON TV"
















A mind like mine is a terrible thing to waste
Under the guise of keeping decorum and good taste
But by arousing my muse
I’ll fabricate some news
And endeavor to do so with much haste

This time of year there is little vacillation
As for a fortnight we abandon our vocation
The call of Hawaii does beckon
Its impact is something we reckon
Will lead to a restful vacation

Day One of S.P.A.M. 2010
Always provides things on which we depend
Sunrise, breezes, palms and a whale slap
Laughter, good food, and sunset are fodder for my rap
But will it show up in the words I have penned?...

As I was saying when I last wrote 248 days ago… thank goodness for a metaphysical GPS - the inner nudging that gets you where you need to go despite your best conscious efforts to go in a different direction. Through fits and starts and ups and downs, we have managed to make our way back to Kauai, about 50 yards east of where we started last year for another round of the S.P.A.M. Chronicles. For those who may have slept in the last year, this will be a sporadic recap of our Hawaiian adventures in the areas of Sights, Play, Activities, and Music in a mnemonic tip of the hat to Hawaii’s favorite meat by-product. Pictures and descriptions to follow…

Today’s theme is “As Seen on TV” and In a scene out of National Lampoon’s Vacation , we held our breath and crammed our luggage in the Caddy as we headed out with a new participant to our tropical party, Eula Belle Burks, Dianna’s great-aunt on her dad’s side of the family. We had the good fortune of having her and her son Barry come up from Visalia, CA join us for Thanksgiving in Portland, so we invited her to join us in February. We boarded our plane without incident but then found ourselves somewhere between “Airport 77” and “Airplane” when Eula & Mary had the misfortune of being trapped in the lavatory during a particularly violent and unexpected period of turbulence. Eula wedged herself in and hung on vowing not to get bucked off the toilet as she once was off a horse… The hopper to Lihue was much calmer and we were able to get a car with even bigger trunk and be on our way..

First priority was food, so Hamura’s Saimen Shop filled the bill and our stomachs and we arrived at our new digs just after sunset. We were staying in a different unit which we also got from VRBO.com and in a small world coincidence it was owned by an Aptos acquaintance of my college friends Carolyn & Rich. She ended up selling thee unit in December, but we still felt there was a nice connection. Once we walked in and saw the view from our lanai we knew we were in the right place as we overlook the point where we would hike out each morning of our stay over the last few years to view sunrise. Now we can sit on our deck and watch whales cavorting. Our attention span is now similar to the dogs’ “Squirrel” moments in the Pixar movie “UP”

Our big event for Saturday was the Waimea Town celebration which had ideal weather this year. Merlin has retired from the ukulele competition but we still in our element in the ice cream eating contest. The organizers of the event all recognized and welcomed Merlin back which reminded us again of the benefit of the warmth of communities like Hillsdale & Waimea. We returned home after sampling some of the local wares at the fund raising booths and found an electrician working on a sticky problem regarding lack of power in one of the upstairs bedrooms. When we mentioned we had just come from Waimea, he said he recognized Merlin from the TV as the local channel had been replaying last years Ukulele Contest. When we talked about the Monday night performers we had enjoyed over the years, he said his grandmother had played with Bill Tapia (who is now 102) at the Royal Hawaiian. We had a good chat and a successful outcome as electricity was flowing by dinnertime.

We raced down t o a glorious sunset and then had fish & chicken burritos with the leftovers from lunch. We watched “UP” and everyone retired after a busy day while I swept the cobwebs from my blog and posted one man’s view of Paradise circa Feb 2010…

1 comment:

Rick Seifert said...

Let me be the first to comment. The Red Electrolyte deeply and profoundly (are those the same?) wishes he were there.