MAUI COUNTY FAIR

Saturday we ventured out to the Maui County fair, which was actually quite fun. BBQ pork, orchids, art, livestock and best of all ... people watching.
Here are some highlights.
Ferris Wheel and Palms.
A spinning pink cake.
Rainbow pigeons. Called scion pigeons... Just how they got to be this color I have no idea.
The Flying Monkey's which was awarded 3rd place in the 3rd grade division.
Pig's -n- wine Goblets game.

READY, SET, RE-MODEL

Last week we received our new kitchen cabinets, floor tile and fixtures. With the help of John's mom and dad, we began ripping out the kitchen floor and closet today. Tomorrow we should have the entire floor ripped out and be ready to lay tile on Tuesday. With any luck we can start the cabinet installation this weekend.The closet and floor before...
The demolition crew.
The tedious chipping away of floor glue.

Aloha Mom and Dad

Wednesday night Mom and Dad finally made it to Maui. We've tried to sneak in some of the sites. Taking it slow to ease them into Maui-time. They have been enjoying the tropical breezes and the fresh fruit. They have also been helping us with tips and tricks about ways to spruce up the house. Yesterday we all experienced the Maui County Fair for the first time together. The night we went to pick them up at the airport the sunset was especially spectacular. We found out that it was due to a cold front high in the atmosphere that actually carried with it tiny ice crystals that acted like prisms. More updates on their visit to come.

HOALOHA

My hoaloha (great friend) Robert whom I have known since 1986 came to visit this past week from San Fransisco. We did our best to give him the whistle stop tour.... La Perouse Bay, Haleakala, Hana, Lahaina, Kihei, and garage sales in Kula. For his arrival I tried my hand at making my first ti leaf leis. They actually came out quite beautiful... if I might say. I'll post a how-to in a later posting.


At D.T. Flemming beach.
High atop Haleakala at 10,023 feet... that's the Big Island Robert's pinching.
John and Robert scaling a muddy wall on a bamboo forest hike along the Road to Hana.

1999 AD Kitchen of the Future

This is funny. The jazzy music as she "cooks", the totally sexist stance, the gigantic kitchen, all for the instant society of tomorrow! And about how much energy is all of this using?

A COLORFUL SIX MONTHS

Today marks our 6th month of island living! Can you believe it? In honor, the island gods treated us to quite a show with a 40 minute long FULL ARC-DOUBLE-RAINBOW. As you can see, it was unbelievable.
These pictures were in no way manipulated or enhanced. Except for the full shot which was only pasted together. What you see is exactly what we saw.


That's our orange shed door right under the end of the rainbow. Too bad there was no pot of gold. Shoot, the whole place is a pot of gold.

POSTCARDS FROM....

I got a letter today from my cousin Chase, who is in the 4th grade back in Indiana. He informs me that his class is collecting postcards from around the globe and wondered if I would send him one from here. He probably thinks he will be B.M.O.C. if he gets a postcard from Hawaii.
Above are the 2 that John and I are sending.

So we all know what it was like to have to go through these grade school rituals (as fun as they were at the time) of selling, collecting or making something for class and being all stressed out about not selling, collecting or making enough right? So here is my thought...

If any of you out there would like to send a postcard as well to really make him B.M.O.C that would be amazing. If not...no worries.

Should you choose to participate (it would cost less than a dollar) just drop me a note and I will send you the address. (tasteful... remember it is 4th grade).
All you would need to do is write a note on the back saying you are a friends of Chase's cousin Conn.


Many Mahalo's in advance.

Paris Je'taime - 14th Arrondissement

Wednesday night John and I went to the Maui Arts and Cultural Center to see Paris Je' taime with our friend Marion. I really enjoyed this movie made up of 18 short films by celebrated directors from around the world, including the Coen Brothers, Gus Van Sant, Gurinder Chadha, Wes Craven, Walter Salles, Alexander Payne and Olivier Assayas and more. With each director telling the story of an unusual encounter in one of the city's neighborhoods, the vignettes go beyond the 'postcard' view of Paris to portray aspects of the city rarely seen on the big screen. Starring, among many others, Natalie Portman, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Juliet Binoche, Miranda Richardson, Marianne Faithful, Fanny Ardant, Elijah Wood and Nick Nolte. In English and French with English subtitles.
It was rally hard to pick a favorite, but here is a clip of one of the one that rose to the top for me by Alexander Payne with actress Margo Martindale. She is brilliant.

I highly recommend this film.
Visit the official site here for Paris Je'taime here.

ENERGY TO BURN

Now that we are living off the grid here on our wonderful slice of paradise, we find ourselves watching and reading anything that has to do with living green... as in making smart choices for the environment not the color. One of the guilty pleasures is watching LIVING WITH ED on HGTV. Not only is it informative but really funny.

Ed Begley and his wife Rachelle are a crack up together. Her use of curling irons and long 285 gallon showers really gets Ed going but they are the perfect comedic couple. Then there is their nosey geeky neighbor BILL NYE who is always trying to one-up Ed with the latest green gadget.

Here is a brief description of a scene from the first episode... a bit TOO extreme for me.

Living with Ed usually starts early. He pops out of bed way before Rachelle and is always full of energy. In order for Ed to make toast for breakfast, he hops on a stationary bike. Unlike an ordinary exercise machine, this one is hooked up to the batteries that run the house. By pedaling he can make energy to run his toaster. By biking for 10 minutes, Ed creates enough energy to make two pieces of toast. After hitting the correct amount of wattage, Ed can enjoy his toast knowing he earned it.

On tonight's episode they visited Jackson Browne's house where he and his family live totally off the grid. His wife points out the toaster and says "We can make toast but we don't have to ride a bike to do it. She then proceeds to burn the toast and exclaims "See, energy to burn". I have to say that I was jealous of that house. What else to say???? Try to catch an episode and entertain yourself. Or click HERE to read a really funny article about the show.