Getting Blown Away!!!

There's several meanings to those words, getting blown away ... surprised, excited, amazed ... but yesterday you had to take it literally.  The weather here is much less than desired.  In fact, it is the worst I have ever experienced here on Maui!!!  Pele must be a marathon runner and have lungs of steel, because it has blown at over 20 mph for the last 24 hours and threatens to continue for the next ten days.  Luckily, the small town of Kihei is nestled in the crook of the south end of the island.  The many inches of rain that have fallen in Kahului and Lahaina towards the North and in Hana on the East, have missed us entirely.  THAT's a good thing!!  Unfortunately, with this much wind, the ocean is rather angry, making swimming and snorkeling impossible.

Oh gee ... I guess we just have to go shopping!!!  So off to Tommy Bahamas we went where we tried on clothes worn by the rich and famous.  Too bad they were terribly out of our price range.  We came home with nothing!!  Next up ... Hilo Hatties!!!  While the wind is blowing, so is my luck.  Nothing there either, but we did get the scoop on the best place in South Maui for Shave Ice.  This one is called Maui Sunset, full of guava, passion fruit, mango and orange syrup over vanilla ice cream.  A snow cone over ice cream???  YES!!!  You just have to try it!!  Some are definitely better than others however, as Patty Chance knows from our last trip, so check with the locals for the best in the West.  This one rated an A+

We stopped at the Farmers Market for some macadamia nuts, but were at the very edge of the rain storm.  In two seconds we were soaked, bringing an end to our shopping spree.  Back at the condo, the entire fence by the parking lot is covered with Lilikoi vines (passion fruit) and these beautiful flowers.  From each flower comes a fruit that looks like a lime (yellow when ripe) that makes the best jelly ever if you have the patience to get all the seeds out.  It's like taking all the little black seeds out of a kiwi fruit!!  Tedious at best!!

It has been so overcast thus far that sunsets have been nonexistent.  Finally last night, Pele blew enough clouds away that we got some color in the sky.  The ocean, usually flat and smooth, is very rough and was covered in whitecaps all day.  Here you see about 2 foot waves!!

This is one of my favorite images of Maui ... except usually the palm fronds aren't going crazy like they are here.  The plan had been to get some night images of the palm trees and stars, but with wind like this, the camera would be buffeted too much resulting in blurry pictures.  

Did I mention Cyndae has two houses here in Makawao??  She has been looking for something bigger for her family, so today we will check out the local real estate!!  Now where did I put that umbrella???  I remember seeing it on the table at home ..........