ANOTHER DAY IN PARADISE!!

 Mornings are dark and cloudy with the cackles and barking of dozens ... and I mean DOZENS of chickens and dogs.  I love it ... because I'm up country!

The first order of the day ... and it should be EVERY day ... is the bakery in Makawao.  It's native owned and the best on the island.  Don't expect big city buildings here ... these little towns are from the 1930's.

Donuts on a stick ... peach pear turnovers and a long John.

We ate outside on the deck to the sounds of this cardinal calling all the males in the territory to come take a look see.  We whistled back and forth for ten minutes before she flew off.

This is next door and there are three axis deer in this pasture.  Can you find them?  They are pretty well camouflaged.  

Baba comes over every morning now for her ear scratching.  She is just the sweetest thing!!

In no time we were off to the beach.  The whitecaps could be seen from high up on the road.  That's no bueno, so we headed over to Makenna instead.  It wasn't much better.  You can tell instantly by the brown water swirled up from the big waves.

You'll have to look close at this one.  There are abut six tiny birds on this rock.  They were trying to hit us up for some tortilla chips.

A little later, this fisherman came in on this very cool kayak boat.  He had quite a hard time getting it in to the beach.  The waves coming in were BIG rollers ... like the ones that got me.  He finally made it, but it took him 30 minutes to get the boat out.  We never did see if he got any fish.

The waves got even worse as we got a little damp from rain and sea water.

We met a nice tourist from Dallas with his family, and told him where to go on the island.  We also gave him the secret location of the turtles.  His family came back with BIG smiles on their faces.  YOU MADE MY DAY!!  

That's when I made CYNDAE'S day with THIS secret location.  I've been diving all over this island in years past and surprisingly remembered this diving spot.  This is a family cemetery with a secret walkway.

You end up here ... with water even crazier than other locations.  Lots of local divers go out here, as well as fish off the lava point.  

The waves they were a crashing!!!

There was one diver out ... that's the orange float all divers have to take with them so they don't get run over by boats.  It suddenly began to rain, so we left in a hurry.

Into town we went to the Paia (Pie-e-ah) fish house for some fabulous mahi-mahi.  No one makes it better on the grill ... with huge plates of the best potatoes and slaw I've ever had.  

From there we made a trip to the auto shop to get her car safety check so she could get new tags for next year.  Sadly, the insurance card was left home, so we drove all the way back to pick it up.  All this time I've been driving ... trying to get reacquainted with the island's new highways.  With that done, we finally crashed at the apartment for the rest of the night.   I'm so grateful that Cyndae and I get along good and I get to visit this island again.

In the meantime, I'm looking at a condo for sale.  It might take some accounting magic.  Not that I would live here, but I would put it on the rental market so it can pay for itself.  We'll see!!!

And no, this little guy is never far from my thoughts.  Every single day!!!

HOUSE HUNTING

 Good morning from Maui!!  There were no centipedes to be seen on this day, but I did kill one of my earplugs that fell to the floor.  Better safe than sorry.

The weather is a warm 85 degrees with clouds, including those that drop the wet stuff.  This is Haleakala, the volcano that made this island, most always covered in clouds.  We are about halfway up from the valley at about 2500 feet.  Don't let that fool you ... it's still HOT up here, even with the breeze.  

We are staying on Cyndae's property in a studio apartment.  On the same property are two rental houses that like all houses, require maintenance.  That's half the reason for this trip.

Looking the other way off the deck are the other side of the mountains and Yao Valley.  Rarely do you see these because of the clouds.  I've hiked both ... and you need to be in pretty good shape to do so.  

My favorite part however, is to meet Baba every morning for an ear scratch.  I called her over this morning and she actually came.  She did a lot of smelling, but let me scratch her head and ears.  Her eyes closed immediately.  Apparently I was hitting the right spot.  What a sweetheart she is.

The second reason for this trip was to look at houses for sale, so no ocean water on this day.  I was not disappointed since I wasn't into getting rolled by the waves anyway.  This is one of the trees we spotted on the way.  Plumeria ... a sweet smelling gorgeous tree covered in flowers.

I think every plant on the island has flowers of one kind or another, and they are gorgeous.  Most of the trees are in bloom too!

Wouldn't you know, the very nice realtor took us to the absolute BEST place first.  It made all the others look bad, even if the price was lower.  This is owned by a couple from Oregon who are retiring to travel, and apparently it's NOT to Hawaii.  

No kidding folks, if you come here, just do a few open houses and you will be amazed.  This one is an immaculate 4 bedroom 3.5 bath with all the furniture included.  It's designer furnished and fabulous for a measly $2,100,000.  It has a GREAT pool in back, dog runs, a huge patio ... it's number one on the list.

This was the second house where I snuck this picture of the pool.  I want one just like this in my back yard!!  This house ... it had a garage with GLASS doors.  Who does that?  On the other hand, the rest of it was old and needed repair.  It was priced at $1,775,000 and didn't hold a candle to the other one.

I know these sounds high priced, but everything on the island is HIGH.  Even the cheapest one bedroom condo runs $900,000.  No wonder three generations of family live in the same house.

This house was NOT for sale, but I loved the umbrella shaped tree.  

With beautiful flowers on it.

Next was a trip to Kihei for shave ice.  There is only one place here that is any good, and this is it.  The line was long, but worth it.  The price you ask?  $22.00 for two.

Here you go ... macadamia nut ice cream smothered in shave ice and syrup.  Mine was orange and red raspberry and Cyndae's lilikoi and mango.  YUM YUM!!  Someone in my town should get the machine and sell this stuff in the summer.  They would make a fortune.

That was it ... we stopped in at the Kihei Marketplace and picked up a couple of things, but nothing exciting.  We did run across this rainbow on the way home though ... which of course Cyndae said was a SIGN we needed to buy that house!!!  I'll let you know down the road.  I have to admit, it was the widest rainbow I've ever seen and touched ground on each side.

We came home to check on the contractor doing some repairs, ending a nice day out and about.  She says today we will be back at the beach, but I will most likely just be sitting on it.  The ocean is not cooperating.  

And so ended a lovely day in paradise.  It's now time for me to go scratch Baba!!!!

ROCKING AND ROLLING!

Good morning from Maui!!  This three hour time difference has my internal clock running backwards!!  Mornings generally look like this.  Lots of clouds and even a little rain.  

The chickens love it.  It beings out all the creepy crawlies for Mom chicken's babies to eat.  These guys live next door and are the cutest ever!  The sounds of chickens crowing and dogs barking wakes you up every morning at 5:00.  

 

That's the time I am usually out here on the porch with my computer.  There are always visitors.  Thankfully no centipedes on this day, but the lizards are out in full force eating up all the bugs.  Maui is definitely known for its nighttime bugs.  

On this day we planned to be back at the beach early for some paddle boarding and snorkeling.  We planned well ... but the ocean did not cooperate.  It was pretty rough when we arrived.  Cyndae finally took her board out, but stayed on her knees most of the time.  It was a rock and roll ride.

I on the other hand, watched the waves for a lull so I could get out and get my fins on.  At least I got that far before the big rollers started coming in.  I jumped the first one, but the second one was a good foot over my head.  Bad news for Nancy.  

Saltwater burns your eyes making it hard to see the next three big waves that hit me with a vengeance, every one of them pushing me further to shore.  I could not get my fins back under me to swim out and the rollers just kept on coming.  A nice man held me upright while I got the fins off and walked out.  So much for snorkeling today.

This is taken with the new little camera, which I think I finally learned how to use.  Not sure this is going to work, but it shows a little of the waves coming in.  I think I am out of snorkeling luck.  Cyndae came back in and said it was not a good ride ... way too much wave action.

So what do you do when the ocean does not cooperate?  You go look at multi million dollar mansions for sale.  These are located just above the condo we usually stay at.  We kept it low at first, checking out one of the condo units for sale for $899,000.  It's perfect ... right across the beach from where we just came from.

This one is up the hill a bit, only $2.1 million.  VERY nice, but I would have a little trouble making the $10,000 a month house payment.

We finally headed off to Target for some groceries, though neither of us have been cooking, and crashed when we got back.  It's was a long hard day and I think we are ready for some R & R.  No big plans today, except to see one more house.  Maybe we will even stop in at the pool.  The waves there seem to suit me better!!!

DID YOU HEAR ME SCREAMING???

 Nothing like meeting the locals face to face.  THIS my friends is a centipede.  I was up at 4 am ... not the same 4 am as California.  I was washing my face when I felt something on my bare foot.  Nothing will make you scream louder than having this guy run onto your foot, and hang on, but I had to be quiet so as not to wake Cyndae.

My watch says my heart rate went from 48 to 111 in two seconds.  No kidding Sherlock.  The problem was, how do you get one off your foot without it biting you.  I'm guessing he was maybe sick from the bug spray he probably encountered, but he held on with every single foot.  I could not get him OFF!!  I finally grabbed my comb and COMBED him off onto the floor.  SO lucky he didn't bite me.

He quickly made his way under Cyndae's luggage.  Nope I didn't go after him.  He was quite lively when Cyndae finally got up and took care of him, as in sent him swimming down the toilet.  I'm now super paranoid.  I watch every step I take.  What a GREAT way to start the day!

This was my view an hour later when the sun finally came up.  No bad critters to speak of out here.

Just this beauty!!  When they see us on the porch, they come running.  

Now THIS is MY kind of critter.  She's not exactly happy I wandered into her territory and she quickly ran away.  By the way, I've seen Kitters on the patio looking for me.  I feel terrible.  I'm hoping SHE doesn't run away.

And so we were finally off, two hours late to the party at the beach.  We were looking for calmer waters.  It's been very windy with whitecaps all across the ocean as far as you can see.

Too rough ... so we went on an adventure down narrow un-signed public access to find calmer waters.

Chang Beach was very nice, but not calm enough for Cyndae's paddle board.  This was the view when we got to the bottom.  It being Saturday when EVERYONE goes to the beach, this little area with no sign to say where it is, was quite empty.

But we didn't stay.  We went instead to Makena where the water was not TOO bad, but pretty surgy, making it hard to put on new water shoes, which I bought yesterday because my old ones were shredding. We had stopped at the dive shop because with my big fins, you have to have some kind of boot or shoe.  $$$.  

While Cyndae aired up her paddle board with a compressor (pretty cool), I tried out my new underwater go-pro type camera.  Of course there are no directions, and I had no idea what I was doing.

Into the water we went.  None of the buttons I pushed on the camera worked as expected.  So I swam out until I was getting exhausted.  I'm out of swim fin shape times two.  The visibility was terrible and I saw not one fish.  Back to the beach I went.  It didn't help that without my glasses, I can't read what the camera was saying.  I spent the next 15 minutes figuring it out and finally got this picture.   

When Cyndae got back a few minutes later, we loaded up and headed for the pool.  I wore my fins and did laps until my legs hurt.  I'm sure I'm going to be walking funny today.

We stayed there for a couple of hours before heading back to the apartment.  I'm pretty beat up, so there will be lots of aspirin floating around the room tonight.  Tomorrow we will be back at it at 6:30, hoping for calmer waters.  Wish us luck!

This is my all time favorite picture of my kid.  He just pushed his ball off the chair onto the floor, where I am required to pick it up.  Isn't he the cutest!!!!!

LOCO MOKO!!

I was up early ... 3 hours early!!  Just about the time I get acclimated to the time change, I'll be leaving!! 

It was 7:00 by the time the sun came up and I was perched on the deck having my cup of Joe.

I knew these guys were here, but this was my first up close encounter.  These are native to Maui and are everywhere in the mountains.  I'm up country as they say, about 2500 feet up the side of Haleakala Volcano.  

Three of them live next door and are as cute as can be.  

I can't quite say the same for the chickens.  Good grief ... at 4 am Maui time, the roosters began crowing like crazy.  There must be a hundred or more!!  Soon after, the dogs started barking.  No biggie, my body thought it was 7:00 anyway.

Cyndae finally got up and off we went for breakfast in town.  It was 7:15 ... and this was Freshies restaurant.  There is very little seating inside ... it's all outside with the chickens.  They stuck together like glue.  The Daddy rooster, Mama hen and two little chicks.  How cute is that!!

Lots of things changed here after Covid.  Most all the business have disappeared, with different ones trying to fill in the holes.  Breakfast was a Denver omelette with sourdough and potatoes.  Not as good as I remember, but it had half a hog under those eggs.

Cyndae had a local favorite, Loco Moko.  This is two Hawaiian beef patties, fried onions, tomato, lots of beef gravy, topped with two fried eggs.  She brought 2/3 of it home.

The next stop was my idea ... the local bakery.  Thank goodness they are still in business!!  Best donuts on the island ... and all hand made by locals.  That one on the right is filled with fresh homemade apricot peach jam.  It is of course GONE with the wind now.  The vanilla filled donut is being saved for later.  If you ever get to Maui, go to Macawao and ask anyone where the bakery is.  You won't be disappointed.  

The flowers here are of course gorgeous and every color under the sun, though most have been battered a bit by the wind.  It's been VERY windy every afternoon into the evening, probably 25 mph as I type this.

There are so many varieties it's crazy ... and every shape and size imaginable.  

The wind was so bad at the ocean pushing up white caps across the entire expanse, that we opted to stay at the pool.  There wasn't a soul in sight ... just like we like it!!

These are the condos where we stayed for many years.  I thought about buying back in, but the HOA fees now run $2800 for your two week stay.  You already paid for the weeks when you signed up ... and now the fees are getting up there.

On the way home, just for giggles, we stopped in at an Open House in a very nice neighborhood just above the condos.  A measly $2,450,000 will buy you a beautiful 4 bedroom 2-1/2 bath with a weirdly shaped pool in back ... all solar.  Chump change, right??  Sorry, I didn't get any pictures.

Back home, while trying to figure out what bank to rob, I spotted this on the patio.  Cyndae thinks it's from a praying mantis.  Anyone seen anything like it?  It's about 3/4 of an inch across.

That was it for the day.  We are lagging a bit from the difference in time.  We had leftover shrimp for dinner, before crashing rather quickly.  On today's schedule ... 75% chance of rain, and beaucoup wind.  We had planned on paddle boarding (the car is packed), but I think it's not going to be calm enough for that.  Maybe some sightseeing today.

My Cooper boy would love it here.  Lots of green grass and new smells to smell.  Hopefully he's a happy boy where he lives now.