my koko lies over the ocean...

(the cat jumped over the moon)

I'm packing up to ship out back east.

It's gonna be such fun, I'll get to:

see my dear family and friends, oh how I've missed you!
dress up
eat delicious food at fancy restaurants
ride in an airplane and a train
explore new cities- California you are the state of dreams and wonderful municipalities
make a life commitment to the one and only Big D
have a huge party with lots of cocktails and desserts in a big old Virginia mansion


But as I start to fill up the old suitcase it occurred to me how much I will miss my little sugarlump of a kitten cat, my special soft friend Koko Kukui Knut aka Mr. Wu.

So this is for all the lonely kittens:

Oh Koko when I am far far away doing the activities I have listed above please know that a little piece of my beating heart resides with you. While you go about your day bathing yourself and hunting chickens in the yard, little kitten I'll be sending you my love!

massacre on elua street

While I was posting about our serene day yesterday I heard an unusual amount of hen squawking.

(Background: for some reason on Kauai there are an incredulous number of wild chickens. Beautiful shiny, multicolored roosters and hens with their baby biddies can be seen roaming the streets and country side any time--day or night.)

When I went outside to investigate I happened upon a horrendous scene. Mama hen clucked and ran about like a you know what--the undeniable signs of a mother's grief. When I spotted none other than the Harrington's golden retriever Ozzie nosing about nearby I knew we'd lost a baby. But dear reader, nothing could prepare me for what I was about to witness. The cold callous canine dismissively urinated on the dying chick, right in front of both me and the deceased's mother.

Now I know there are certain laws in nature, but really isn't enough enough?

afternoon adventure

Yesterday was shaping up to be a tough day. A. felt like this...

So we devised up a plan to take a cookie and ice tea picnic to a beautiful spot and while away the afternoon soaking and reading short stories.






The beach is called Lumahai, which I've heard translates to "rough waters" but I just did a little research and Lumahai can either mean: "A certain twist of the fingers in making string figures" or "to destroy, overwhelm, as with trouble". Anyway take your pick.

We walked to where the river meets the ocean, I always love the spots where the river meets the ocean, and this one is particularly mana (supernatural or divine power) filled. We forded (oregon trail?) the river, and made our little fort on a nook in the lava rocks.

(the cookies were the most valuable thing we had so I devoted an entire river crossing to them. they were delicious. I made up the recipe:peanut butter/chocolate chips/cinnamon/ and an apple banana)

sailing

My interests in this movie are purely stylistic . I love his white pants and her ruffled bikini... and I just love the way they have these elegant little picnic meals on their boat... the little radishes, the small porcelain cups. (More on chic picnics later...)

I guess my idea of sailing is created by movies like these, you leave the kauai coast during a beautiful sunset, you take a sleep and wake up and have a wonderful breakfast (eggs, toast, french press coffee) then you arrive in the bahamas or the carribbean or venice. It's really more of a mix of a Fellini movie and The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe than actual sailing... but shouldn't that be how it is?

Once I went on a sail boat and it was nothing like that elegant picnic or the ruffled bikini. There were all sorts of calls and actions that you had to take and we didn't really make any kind of journey at all.

But I hope one day to experience my magical form of sailing. I'll have all kinds of little tools tacked neatly to the wall in the galley, and they'll be a cozy bed with one of those circular windows to look out of. I'll have maps and and a cat on board and an old fashioned telephone that I use to ring up friends on the islands we're visiting to let them know what time they should meet us for camparis on the deck.

sunset salutation

Got the flip up and running. Hopefully I'll be posting lots of videos soon. Here's our little bay (well recently we've been sharing it with some pesky hammer heads! fo' real) This is the part of the bay past the pier called Black Pot. Black Pot is the spot for night life on the north shore. Particularly around sunset, everybody loads up a six pack lights a bon fire and "talks story". The sail boats are a lovely addition to the bay, they somehow add a little humanization to the vast expanse (the abyss?) of the open sea. Anyway I love them and always think how nice it would be to float around the ocean with a small boat for a home like a turtle or a baby kangaroo.