The Little Things...

So many little things keep filling my attention with wonder. Like the rainbows here - we see them so often and they're so gorgeous! The colors are intense and they're BIG, with wide stripes of color. The mountains - everywhere we go, we see mountains or ocean or both. I feel like singing Bali Hai all the time. "where the sky meets the sea" that kind of thing...

The palm trees - how they rustle in the wind. The way the grass feels between my toes. The way the sand feels under my feet. The different temperatures of the ocean as I swim in the lagoon. The waves - and to think people pay to go to wave pools! But I can see why. Not having to wear a jacket all the time. Being able to wear sandals every day. Seeing blue sky every day. Enjoying being outside every day. Seeing mongoose run across the road.

All the sweet little birds. There's one kind that's really pretty tiny but we never seem to see them in groups of less than 20. There's theses white herons, egrets, something - but they've got the long skinny legs. Then there are others that are dark gray or black but have bright yellow beaks and feet. And those red-headed non-woodpeckers.

We have found a house! If anyone reading this wants to see pix, pls send me an e-mail and I'll send the link.

Those wonderful little things, from birds to rainbows to palm trees to blue skies.

Antiques Roadshow Comes to Chattanooga!

Wait a minute, you may be thinking. What does the Antiques Roadshow in Chattanooga have to do with anything tropical? Yes, I may be the one living in exotic locales, but my family in Tennessee seem to have more fun. Below is a guest article from my sister Lu Ann on their fifteen minutes of fame.

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Mama wanted to leave at 7:30 on Saturday morning for our exciting day at the Antiques Roadshow in Chattanooga, which sounded all right until I realized that meant getting up at 6:30. Our time to enter the Roadshow was noon and we'd been admonished, on the ticket itself, to show up no earlier than half an hour before our entrance time. We could show up any time after 11:30 and before 5 p.m. Everyone inside at 5 would be seen. We left the driveway around 9, I think.

We'd discussed several items to take, ignoring glassware since Mama knew about glassware from her own time in the antiques world, and finally selected our 4 items. Each adult was allowed two items, but information from others had indicated that we could easily get in with more. Owing to the fact that we'd had a busy July, we didn't have a lot of time to think about what to take and decided 4 items was more than enough. After all, what we were taking was large and heavy and we had to drag it around all day by ourselves.

Once we arrived we drove around the convention center several times to check out the parking arrangements. I'd read on the Internet that parking was expensive and we wanted a cheap spot. We didn't have to worry that we were in the wrong place because, from all directions, people were coming carrying heirlooms wrapped in quilts or pulling dollies or toy wagons with some item balanced in it. We were here! We were about to get rich and be on TV so all of the US could see what fabulous piece of history we had. But I get ahead of myself.

After our third or fourth time around the convention center we found two women loading up their pick-up at a parking meter, which was free on Saturday. We waited for them to leave and then pulled into their spot. We were in easy walking distance of the front door and got out our dolly and strapped our items on it. We'd brought the large oil painting that we got from Golda's estate (first cousin to Grandfather) which we could tell was an original oil and must be very old and therefore very expensive; a water color that might be an original, and if so, was painted by a well know regional artist and sure to be worth a fortune; a cast iron thing (large with a hinge that might be an egg or pancake cooker) that I'd bought at an estate sale for $110 and it had better be worth that; and a cast iron and ceramic thing that Mama'd had for a long time.

We stuck the large oil in a sleeping bag and wrapped the water color in a blanket and stuck it in the sleeping bag as well. Then we strapped these to the dolly with two bungee cords and stuck the large cast iron item down behind the paintings. Mama kept the small cast iron item in her purse. Since we'd been told it would be a long day of standing in lines, Mama also carried a bag chair and a canvas sack with water and other necessaries. Since we didn't need any of them, I have no idea what she had in there that she thought was so important. Savannah brought a chair and a book. I pulled the dolly and took no chair. I was too excited to sit down anyway.

At the entrance our tickets were checked and then we entered the huge hall. Four halls had be allocated to the Roadshow and then separated into two. The first had roped of sections for the early arrivals to wait for their entrance time. It was now around 2. We'd lost an hour to the Easter time zone, driveren for almost 2 hours and had lunch before we arrived. Large screen TVs had been hung from the warehouse ceiling, showing previous roadshow episodes, for the waiting to view and pass the time. More volunteers checked our tickets and gave us each a booklet with Roadshow information and blank spaces for us to write down who reviewed our items and what they said.

Then we got in line. At last. We were in the first line for half an hour, and we hadn't even had our tickets taken yet. Savannah moved her chair along in line for awhile and then moved to the end to wait on us. Mama wandered around, checking things out and going to the bathroom, and I stood in line with our treasures, moving the dolly up at people were allowed behind the big blue screens that separated us from the appraisers.

At the end of this line, they finally took our tickets. We were almost there. But wait! Anther line. This one was short. There were six tables where each person had to go to have their treasures reviewed and inspected to determine which appraiser would see them. We were given two tickets for painting and prints and two tickets for tools. We got in the longer line for paintings first. There were chairs all around but no one was sitting in them, so Mama abandoned her bag chair and took one of the roadshow chairs.

Savannah stayed with me in line. I said I wished the line would move and Savannah began singing the Rawhide theme song, "Moving, moving, moving, keep this line a moving." "Rawhide," I sang out in saprano, shocking those around us. "That's wrong," I said. "Rawhide was men." So the next time I sang Rawhide lower, like a man would sing it. Another woman sang out, "Rope 'em, ride 'em, brand 'em," and a bunch of us sang "Rawhide". Savananh thought we were nuts. One woman yells out "Clint Eastwood" anther "Rowdy Yates" I had to explain to Savannah who these people were. So that's what standing in line was like. Once we passed through the wall from the waiting area to the appraisal area there weren't any more TVs so we had to amuse ourselves.

In the center of this large room was another area surrounded by privacy panels. This was where the real actions was, but we were still outside of it. It took another 45 minutes to get through this line. Then at last we were at the blue panels and, wait, another line. Very soon we were in the line to see the appraiser about our paintings.

The host was doing his promos and we almost got filmed behind him but our line moved on before he started. I was going to have him sign my booklet but I don't think he wanted to do that since he moved so fast no one could catch him. After we got out of the picture line we had to find the tool line. It was short. There was no one in it and we got through that quickly.

Then back out of the blue panels and into the outer hall. People were out there waiting to be filmed with their strange and unusual items. But we didn't hang around to watch the filming. Then to the sponsor tables. We signed up to win a new car, so far no word on that. We got a free coffee mug and pen at another table and then we took our smallest item into the feed back booth. Mama wouldn't go in and Savannah wouldn't speak, so I told about our day and maybe we'll make it onto TV.

So what about our items? You're read all this nonsense and I'm not going to tell about the times? Be real.

Here you go:

Peter M. Fairbanks told us about our paintings. The oil was an original hand painted from a factory in Germany. It was probably painted around 1910 as something to sell to decorate the home. The frame is probably original to the painting. Worth $150

He said the water color was a print, not an original, and had only decorative value, which means it's worth nothing.

David P. McCarron looked at the cast iron things and said he'd never seen anything like, what he called, the egg cooker. But it was still only worth $100 to $150, which I was glad to hear considering that I paid $110 for it. He didn't know what it was used for, really, but thought an egg cooker was a good idea.

The 4th item he called a citrus squeezer and said the half orange or half lemon would be put in it and squeezed and the juice would run out. Value $50 to $60. This is the item I took into the feedback booth.

While in line we saw many things that we had in the attic. So if any of those show up on TV we'll know what they're worth as well.

We had a great time and will go again if we have the chance. Even though we stood in a lot of lines and didn't get home until late, it didn't seem like that long a day but it still wiped us out. I can't wait until the Chattanooga episodes air and I see it all again from the living room rocker.

Last Weekend of Freedom!

We enter our third weekend in Hawaii and our last weekend of giddy freedom, as we begin work on Monday the 28th. We think we've found a permanent home - more on that in a few days. It won't be here in Ko Olina, though, and I've been trying to tell myself all the downside of living here.

That dang gate we have to drive through each time we come home. The silly little touristy train that runs on Sundays. The tourists in my way when I'm trying to enjoy a nice walk along the beach. The golfers in their little carts. The noise as they maintain the place constantly, with blowing leaves and mowing and trimming palm trees. The noise of the sprinklers every night as they go off around 7pm. The construction noise from the little shopping area they're building.

Yep, it sucks to live here. How can I put up with it for another day?? Never mind that I sat down and cried when our second offer on a property here was rejected. Must have been some salt water in my eye....

I also signed up to audition for the Honolulu Symphony Chorus in August. Of course, all my sheet music will still be packed so I'll have to hunt down something to bring with me, a hymn, art song or aria, said the website. A nice version of "Be Thou My Vision"? "Panis Angelicus", my Eisteddfod winning song?

But even more important, what do I wear my first day of work? A shopping trip this weekend just might be in order...

Info on Ko Olina Resort

We're staying in a rental unit at the Ko Olina Resort (see yesterday's picture for our unit). Today's picture features the hammock grove, one of the features of the Coconut Plantation, the housing community in which we're renting.

Following is what I know (or vaguely and inaccurately remember) about the resort.

First of all, it's really pretty. It's on the west side of Oahu and used to be sugar cane fields. Now it's got a couple of hotels (with Disney coming) and various housing options and a golf course (LPGA plays a tournament here annually; PGA also but not as often). Four man-made lagoons were carved out from the coastline, making great places to swim. In addition to the sandy beaches, each lagoon is rimmed with a grassy area that has palm trees for shade. Local folks will also come here and spend a day at these beautiful beaches.

The first hotel is now called the JW Marriott Ihilani Resort and Spa. But Marriott didn't build it - some Japanese company did that and Marriott took it over later. It has 3 restaurants, the poolside bar and the hotel bar, and hanging out there feels like being on a cruise ship. There's a little daily paper telling you all the activities, just like a ship, along with a brief digest of the New York Times.

The other hotel is also a Marriott, the Ko Olina Beach Club, and there are condos and time shares. The Beach Club has a restaurant and a nice ocean-side bar, which has GREAT salads. We think this place has a better resort pool, but we're not allowed to swim in either one. However, if we wanted a pool, Coconut Plantation has two of 'em, and we'd rather swim in the lagoons anyway. So there.

All beaches in Hawaii are public; no one can own a beach, not even a resort like this. But they control access in a couple of ways, largely by limiting the parking. We just walk over to the lagoons, but we hear the locals talk about showing up at 6am for a parking space. We've also seen cars just waiting at the entrance to the small parking lots (and I mean small - 15 cars?) for someone to leave. I felt so sorry for this one Honda CRV full of 4 little kids!

The resort is a gated community, with security at the entrance, and if all the lots are full, they will make cars turn around and leave. Of course, people can lie and say they're headed to one of the housing areas (which some do!), but eventually if they can't find parking, they have to leave. The housing communities all have gates, too, but no one mans them; the gates are automatic with a little magic gray fob. On the weekends, the JW Ilihani Marriott will advertise parking on one of its grassy areas for $20 for the day, but not many people seem to take them up on that...

Disney is supposed to break ground on their resort sometime this year, with completion in 2011. It'll be a hotel / timeshare / Vacation Club property. I can't wait to go snorkeling with Mickey...

Well, this is getting a bit long so I'll stop for today.

Housing Search

We want to buy a house here in the US, and Hawaiian real estate seemed like a good risk. (Picture is our rental condo.) But have to admit we haven't been too thrilled with much of what we've seen. It's small and expensive. Lots of self-storage units exist here, and some of them look better than the housing!

Today I saw an ad for a single family in Honolulu, not far from Waikiki for a too-good-to-be-true price. So I had to go see it. After sitting in traffic for 40 minutes (traffic here is always terrific; not exactly the tropical touristy image I had of Hawaii before I actually came here...), I passed the freeway exit I really needed, took the next one, and figured out how to get to the house.

As I drove around, I'd see a nice contemporary home sitting in the midst of shacks, and sure enough, the too-good-to-be-true house was in the same situation. I turned right at the street sign into what looked like an alley in some third world city. "This can't be it," I thought. My map-reading skills must have betrayed me. One one side were shacks; on the other was a decrepit former motel turned into tiny apartments with rusty railings and laundry hanging outside. Older rusting cars were everywhere.

But nope, my map-reading skills were still intact. The next turn I needed was up on the right, and at the end of that short alley was this small neighborhood of larger, fancy new homes surrounded by a tall white fence, but smack in the middle of poverty. I don't know that I'd feel unsafe so much as guilty living in a brand new home in this environment. I'd feel like I'd have to open my house to all my neighbors to share the air conditioning, washer / dryer, etc. I felt guilty enough just driving our brand new little Honda in there.

Speaking of A/C, it's not necessarily the norm here. Even some very nice upscale housing have split A/C units instead of central air. Electricity is expensive, and the tropical breezes generally do a good job of keeping things cool, especially in the evening, night and early morning.

But I was glad that I had gone to see it for myself. It makes some of the other things we've seen look more appealing!

Readjusting moments...

So far, I'd say we're readjusting just fine, though I also know from experience that the first month in a new place is very pleasant. Each day has at least one new discovery, and somehow everything seems exciting. Then months two and three hit, and things go from exciting to annoying, so we'll see...

But so far, the best part - it is WONDERFUL to do laundry US-style again! Just throw it in a separate washer and dryer and it's done quickly and comes out without wrinkles, soft and fluffy and wearable! It's a miracle! (Yes, out of all the profound and wonderful things about our country, it comes down to the ease of doing laundry....)

We're enjoying watching the wildlife - every day, we've been going to that little lagoon to try to get a good picture of a turtle. We see lots of cute birds here, including one that has a bright red head and looks like a small woodpecker (but we haven't heard any woodpecking). There's plenty of tropical plants that we don't have a clue what they are. And we've been seeing mongoose, which we thought were weasels at first. Yes, the rare Hawaiian weasel. ??

We've discovered we use some expressions that people here don't understand (can't remember any examples right now.) And all the cars seem big and ugly. Why does anyone drive a Hummer?

We see a lot of limos in this resort, and one of those was a white stretch-limo Hummer, with a triple axle at the back. Couldn't even turn around the hotel entrance - had to keep backing up. And you should have heard the A/C going - sounded like a house-sized compressor!

We haven't seen anyone famous yet coming out of those limos, but we've been looking. Chris keeps insisting it's an Ernest Hemingway convention (lot of guys with white beards running around). And ohhh, yes, there are definitely a good number of people here who need to re-think their swimwear choices....

Chris took some pix of our rental which I will try to post. I get a kick out of what it has and what it doesn't. For example, we have a turkey baster as part of our kitchen equipment. But no pizza cutter. This is a resort community and these units are rented to people on vacation. Which are you more likely to do - roast a turkey or put a frozen pizza in the oven?

Speaking of turkey (or pizza), I think it's time for a little snack.... But not necessarily on this, whatever it is...

Hawaii Cost of Living and some fun facts...

We'd heard it was expensive to live here, but we were used to UK prices where the pound was twice the dollar. So here are some prices we paid at the local Safeway:

• Half gallon of milk - $3.49
• Box of Life cereal - 7.09
• 6 Sara Lee blueberry bagels - 6.09
• bananas - $1.29 a pound
• Gas is $4.35 a gallon.

It surprises us that recycling is not a big deal here, and no one mentions the evils of plastic bags. I feel certain we'd be looked at oddly if we brought our own, like we'd gotten used to doing in Germany, Australia, and England.

But we go swimming in the ocean every day - did I mention that?

Some promised Fun Facts:

• Hawaii is the 43rd largest state, with the 42nd largest population
• There are hundreds of islands spread over 1500 miles
• It's the most isolated island chain in the world. 25% of what lives near here doesn't exist anywhere else on earth
• The mountain peaks on the Big Island reach 13,000 feet and get snow in the winter...
• It's the only state which actually grows in area, due to the volcanic activity
• The island of Oahu has three highways in the interstate system (since it was originally created for defense purposes, these highways connect the important military facilities around the island)

That's it for now! I'm going to keep playing with pictures....

Week One!

True or false??

Chris swims!
Eva Tans!

Well, to a certain extent, they’re both true!

It’s been an exciting first week here on the island, as we enjoy two weeks of “home leave” to help us adjust back to the US. We’re staying in a townhouse in a beach resort community, and may buy a place to live here as well. It’s only 20 min from work, and just a 5-min walk to the beach.

We’ve been out swimming almost every day so far, and some days we’ve been out there twice! There are four man-made lagoons in this resort that make hangin’ out at the beach a pleasure. There are two wedding chapels and we’ve been smiling away as the video camera gets aimed in our direction.

We’ve bought a new car, a little Honda Fit to replace the Smart Car. I still miss the Smart; this Fit doesn’t quite touch my heartstrings the same way yet…

And then, we’re just readjusting to US stuff in general, such as fast food and grocery stores. We’ve been trying some local island chains, such as Zippy’s and Taco Del Mar for lunch, and found that good ol’ Safeway is here nearby. Chris is especially exploring the best (?) that US cable TV has to offer, and we’ve been watching some TruTV series, as well as “Ice Road Truckers” and “MythBusters.” Most important, we’ve been able to catch the last few episodes of Dr. Who that we missed in the UK.

We’re a little insulated from prices right now, since Uncle Sam (yes, you, our taxpayer friends…) are footing the bill for the first six weeks. So we’re enjoying some of the local resort restaurants while we can afford them! In addition to just walking across the street to the beach, we’re walking across the street for a lot of food and drink. Supposedly this is the resort the NFL hangs out at during Pro Bowl time…

But perhaps the best bit so far happened late this afternoon when we went in search of sea turtles at a small nearby natural lagoon. Our real estate agent told us this was where they “hung out” and sure enough, they do! We’d see heads and backs poke up out of the water, but the cutest moment was when one sea turtle flapped his flippers in the wave, like he was playing in the water. I think that’s a spot we’ll be headed back to! Here's an attempt at a picture - trust me, that's a turtle...

Meditations on Moving...

Meditations on Moving…

It’s the 4th time in 8 years now that we’ve had packers come into our lives for a bit, put all our stuff in boxes, and take it away. This latest bunch was fast, and got us done in one day. I’m a little concerned about how well some things were packed, but in the end, it’s just stuff, and sometimes I think we’d be better off if it all fell into the ocean.

It’s too easy for me to become attached to this stuff, though I struggle not to. I tried to get rid of even more of it ahead of time, taking books to charity shops and so on, but then emotions would overwhelm me and I couldn’t bring myself to take any more. I’d stare at my fairly extensive travel guides, most of which will be out of date by the time I visit those places again, and I just couldn’t part with them. Vienna, Venice, Prague, the Loire Valley – just couldn’t let them go.

And then there’s all the stuff you buy when you visit these places. But in the end, it’s the memories, the wonder that I felt when I saw St. Peter’s, attended a performance of Don Giovanni in the same theater in which it premiered (in Prague), or viewed the Hermitage from St. Petersburg’s canals. It’s that sense of wonder and excitement that I don’t want to lose. Seeing the stuff helps bring it back, and some items always make me smile.

But sometimes they make me sad, too, in a way difficult to explain. Perhaps I’ll never get to these beautiful places again. If I do, the experiences won’t be the same. There’s something so special about the first time you encounter something like the Roman Colosseum. It has such an impact.

I try instead to just focus on what’s ahead. The stuff is packed and in its shipping containers and somewhere far away. We won’t see it again for months, and will welcome it like old friends. In the meanwhile, a new adventure begins!