Love & Light and everything bright... |
|
Love & Light and everything bright... |
|
27 Sep 2011 |
|
FROM HAIKU, MAUI (HAWAII)
New outdoor stage at MACC in Maui
At Maui Arts & Culture Center's new outdoor stageFashion Show BustDisappointing event draws large crowd; Elizabeth and I ended up as unwitting "models"
HAIKU, Maui, Sep 5 - It was the first time that
either of us has attended a fashion show. After spending two hours
at MACC, most of the time just waiting around for something to happen,
we have decided that we did not miss much. As it turns out, our
own western outfits attracted attention of some professional
photographers from the Honolulu media. You can see our picture
published in the
Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Sunday (right).
Here's what we looked like at home, before leaving for the fashion show. Elizabeth is wearing her Texas hat and a new Hawaiian cowboy (paniolo) shirt I bought her a few days ago in Makawao. I am wearing my Texas Stetson and the new boots from the same store, though they were also made in Texas. We are both wearing feather leis Elizabeth had made around our western hats. Hers is red, mine is green, with peacock feathers inserted around it. HAIKU, Maui, Sep 9 - We have a new addition to our home at the Rainbow Shower. No, it is not a baby or an animal. It is a red inanimate object.. We named it "Firebird" even before leaving the store. And yesterday afternoon, it arrived at the Rainbow Shower. Check it out...
Our landscaper informed us recently that he would be going to the mainland for a few months to work on his mother's house. A noble cause. But it meant that I have been now promoted into being the Rainbow Shower physical groundskeeper, not just a spiritual shamanic keeper. Since I'd never look as pretty on a tractor mower as Elizabeth, especially with a Starbucks in her hand, I asked her to pose on it as the first rider of our new "Firebird." Considering how hilly our gulch property is, I did not ask and she did not volunteer to share in the groundskeeper duties. :-) Wish me luck. Some of the slopes the Firebird and I will be climbing are quite daunting.
And while
on the subject of things red, take a look at that beautiful Vermillion
flower on the right. That is what the petals of my new Anah As Elizabeth and I relaxed in the spa this evening around sunset, we saw a "Pot of Gold" in the western sky (right). I ran into the house to grab my camera before all the gold disappeared behind the clouds. :-) "Firebird" All Fired Up for First Cut HAIKU, Maui, Sep 13 - Well,
yesterday and today, Sep 12-13, were the D-days for my new "Firebird."
It was his and my first cut. And, as you can see, I am still
around to tell about it. Some of the experiences were hairy,
others hair-brained. In the end, the Firebird and I cut about 3.5
acres of lawn over the last two days.
Of course, the haircut was not as pretty everywhere as my professional landscaper used to give. But for a first time barber-apprentice, the effort got a passing mark this evening from the Rainbow Shower's "La Patrona," Elizabeth (whom you can see "driving" it with a Starbucks in her hand upon his arrival home last week (right):
She also doubled as a photographer when I took Firebird out of his stable this morning. When I did it yesterday, I bonked my head on the crossbar. It jarred my neck but not enough to make me stop and think if this was such a great idea. :-) Live and learn...
This series of photos, taken on our Orchard Rd, which we had had built in 2009 by cutting two switchbacks into the side of an 80-ft drop of the eastern gulch slope, should give you an idea of some of the grades Firebird and I had to navigate. This one was so steep that I had to drive it in reverse while cutting the grass. That's why Firebird and I both look like diminishing returns of our nation's savings account over the last 10 years. Had I not done it in reverse, my landscaper had warned me, both man and machine might end up tumbling down into the riverbed of the Namaka Creek. Like the zero interest loans, if we are to carry on with the same metaphor. :-) Which is what I ended up doing anyway, but at a different part of the property. The slope was too steep for driving forward so Firebird just took off and did not stop until we were both lodged at the bottom of the dry riverbed. I tried turning it around and driving up the hill again. No go. Then I tried turning the engine off and pushing it myself. Fat chance. It would have taken a Hercules and two Sisyphus's to do it. And the only person I could call for help was Elizabeth - 5'1 and 103 pounds. So I never even bothered. Instead, I recalled the old saying that "necessity is the mother of invention." And I tried to imagine what I might have done when I was living back east if I had been stuck in a snow drift. I would have rocked the engine back and forth enough time to gain a momentum which would finally propel me up the steep slope. Eventually, it worked. As I patted Firebird on the back for his Herculean effort, I was wondering how a Native Hawaiian without a snow drift driving experience might have gotten himself out of such a tough spot? :-) At least now I know why I froze my butt off for decades during my youth and young adulthood. So I can learn to drive a tractor mower in Hawaii. It figures... :-) Elizabeth's New Purple Peacock Feather Lei for My Stetson HAIKU, Maui, Sep 27 - Well,
the day before we leave for Europe, Elizabeth finished and presented to
me as a gift her latest artistic creation - (On the right, here's also one final look at the Rainbow Shower tree which gave our property its name) Elizabeth's New Purple Peacock Feather Lei for My Stetson
And that's all she wrote so far for the month of September from the Rainbow Shower. CLICK HERE to go to Hawaii 2011 TOC
|
|
|
Updated
Sep 27, 2011 -
