Okay, so I haven’t been posting a lot recently; so sue me. I’ve been too lazy lately to do much in the way of thinking, much less writing. Hawaii has a way of doing that to you. You want to do little more than lie around, talk story, scratch mosquito bites, and stuff your face with plate lunch and manapua. Practically my whole family has been here, and we have been enjoying the hell out of each other’s company. So I haven’t had a lot of time to dedicate to entertaining you, my adoring public. Firm feces for you. 😛

But I thought I’d take a second to offer up a few pictures from our time here so far, along with a couple of observations.

As always, I am constantly struck by the fecundity of life here. In Hawaii, life doesn’t just exist: it thrives, it explodes, it bursts forth and roots itself in every direction as far as it can reach. Case in point: my parents’ front yard is currently beset by a plague of wild tomato plants. For some reason, my father hates these things, while my mother adores them. They don’t produce large tomatoes—more like tiny tomato caviar—but they’re apparently quite tasty, according to my Mom. They’re not in season right now. Anyway, they grow all over the yard, wherever the birds, ahem, “deposit” the seeds. Including in the gutters of the carport.

Something that has really taken off since we were here last is Kitesurfing. You strap a small surfboard to your feet, grab onto the reins of a big-mutha nylon kite, and let the thing pull you along the surface of the ocean. At least, that’s what you end up doing after about fifty hours of practice. If what we were seeing from the beach was any indication, as a novice mostly what you do is get up on your board for about three seconds before doing a face plant into the water again, lather, rinse repeat. Anywho, the kitsurfers were being shepherded about by the same group of people who were managing the sea kayakers, so they were all launching from the same stretch of Kailua Bay.

I was struck by the familiarity of this tableau. The kites appear to be predating on the slow, uncoordinated kayaks as they make their way out to sea. It looked for all the world like one of those National Geographic photos of newly-hatched baby sea turtles making for safety of the water, while overhead the opportunistic skua wheel and dart, looking for their opportunity to swoop down for an easy meal.

Anyway, that’s about all I have the energy for right now. Margaret and I have to saddle up and head out for DonkiDonki to pick up some omiyage. Don’t wait up! 😀