75 Degrees and Sunny/Rainy

We are back in the land of rainbows after a three year absence. In so many ways, it feels like nothing has changed since we were here.  Auntie Annette and Uncle Freddy seem so much the same, even though they are 87 and 83 years old by now.

Both are retired without a huge to-do list so they have time to let us interrupt their lives, and it doesn't seem like such an interruption. We help them eat the leftovers from the fridge. We sit with them and talk about anything and everything. Time is not that relevant.

But really the house is very different because they just went through a flood-by-rats who chewed the washing machine hose.  Possibly twice.  The story has become vague already but it seems there were two separate floods. In the process of replacing the flooring, asbestos was remembered/found, and now the entire house has new wood floors.  The two octogenarians were displaced for about three months while other people removed all the wet stuff and took the whole place apart.  Because she has attentive and forward-thinking daughters, Auntie Annette doesn't have quite as much in the house as she used to.  It is a blessing, and she even says that.

Because we have less time here than usual, we were motivated to get out of the house and do something on our first morning.  Of course I woke up way before daylight because of the five hour time difference, and then when Jon went outside the dog went berserk and barked so much that he woke up the rest of the sleeping people.  Whoops. They usually sleep at least until the sun comes up...

We left Fred here to finish his sleep and took Annette with us on a leisurely tour around the island.  It was a very windy day so the ocean was choppier than sometimes and there were fewer people in the water at Sandy Beach. 

With the big wind chop, there weren't many people at the beach.

We stopped at whatever beach parks we fancied, to watch the surfers and the kids. We went through the part of the island that they think of as "the country" -- where there are farms and horses and low buildings on the mountain side of the road (the road stays pretty close to the coast all the way around the leeward and north shore).  When we got to Kaneohe, we stopped at the Safeway for picnic provisions.

A stopped tour bus alerted us there was something to see, and a Monk seal was it.

We stopped to eat next to a bay with small waves and strong winds so we could watch the surfers on their newfangled boards -- they have foils that are below the surfboard (which is the size of a wide boogie board).  As they come in on these small waves with the wind pushing at their backs, they kind of jump and let the board come up out of the water so they are just sailing on the foil. It looks so weird, having the surfboard above the surface and then a post below, perpendicular to the water. The foil is invisible under the water. We packed up our lunch quickly when it started to rain, and continued around the island.

Picnics are a core of travelling.

Up near the Polynesian Cultural Center and well beyond it there are so many more places to shop and eat and shop some more. There are one story outdoor malls and clusters of food trucks and informal markets with coconuts and garlic shrimp and poke bowls.  Still the road is just two lanes, and it sure seems like the ocean is just about touching the road in some spots.  Big machines repairing road surfaces all around that side of the island.

Looking out to sea, to see.

We didn't stop at Matsumoto's for shave ice (which Charles says isn't very good anyway) but we did stop at the tourist-infested Dole Plantation for pineapple ice cream.

Got to have the pineapple soft serve at the koi pond.

Our next destination -- after going through the boring part of the island where I just tipped my seat back and took a nap -- was the Diamond Head Memorial Garden. I wanted to see Grandpa and Grandma Hiu's graves since I never remember seeing them before.  We wandered around for a while looking for them before Jon finally went and asked for directions. When we went to the correct section, it was super easy to find them since they were right next to the road, where Auntie Annette knew they would be.

While we were driving around we were sending and receiving texts from Charles in China, Lani in her cave in Purcellville, Anna and Mom and Michael L. in Vienna. Lani said she was just entertained to be looking at the "Find My Friends" app on her phone.  When I opened my eyes on the freeway, I saw a school bus going by that said "hanalani.org."  Why didn't I think of that name before?  Wasn't quick enough to take a picture but it wouldn't have been very interesting anyway.

After going back home to recuperate from such a strenuous day, we headed back out for dinner with Auntie Arlene and Uncle Babe.  We haven't seen them since their terrible first 9 months of 2019 when both were felled by a range of health crises. Now they each have lost about 20 - 25 pounds and they just look teeny.  Auntie Arlene says she doesn't get much sympathy as she tries to regain her weight. When we discussed how much her prosthetic foot might weigh (as in, you don't have to regain that weight because that shouldn't count), she took it off to see how much we estimated it weighed.  Uncle Freddy covered his face when we handed it across the table. We thought she was probably right, it doesn't weigh much more than five pounds. We did end up talking about health issues a lot at this meal, but that's because we are all getting old faster than before. All four of those elders are in very good shape, except for their body parts, real and replacement.

Jon and I were trying to reconstruct how many times we have been to Hawaii.  I think I may be on my 15th or 16th trip and this could be his 9th, maybe. For me it is like coming back to one of my childhood homes since my memories are so clear and it all looks so familiar. It feels familiar. The food is the same. Kaimuki looks like a movie set from the 1960s, with many of the same businesses along the main roads. There are still customers to patronize a store that sells crack seed? (Flavored plum pits etc.) The air is the same: soft and wet and breezy. The ocean is the same: a spectacular mix of turquoise and blues. The aunts and uncles are the same but now I am older than they were back then. They are all much mellower than they were 40 or 50 years ago, that's for sure. When we come back I like to see relatives (a whole generation has died) and eat things that we always ate and go to beaches we played at the most. It is different from being a tourist, although we are certainly not locals. Very lucky to have Hawaii as one of our home bases.  Always feels like we should get back here more often, but it sure is far.  But now time feels more precious as the youngest of my mother's siblings turns 80 next week.