Christmas in Hawai'i

I (Manfred), too, can't believe that we lived here so long. The island of Kaua'i where we are, is much more built up from when we lived here but at the same time, I must say, that most of it is still very much he same. The same underdeveloped roads & single-lane bridges, the same 40 foot MATSON containers that bring in practically everything from the Mainland US, the same vegetation, except more so, with it's flowering trees and bushes and most of all the same friendly and seemingly very happy people.
We were fortunate to be invited by our long time friends in Princeville on the north of the island for Christmas dinner and had a most wonderful time.

The weather is another thing all together. It's too hot . . . . . at least it is for me now, it must not have been then, age has definitely something to do with it. In the last few days we had a storm system coming through here lots of rain complete with lightening and thunder in the distance. This made it a couple of degrees cooler but also more humid.

Christmas Dinner in Princeville

We had an absolutely fabulous Christmas Day, visiting our best friends, Jan and Ken Bernard in Princeville, Kauai. We had a fantastic Christmas dinner, with turkey, lamb, with all the fixin's and then some (portobello mushrooms, orange-glazed carrots, and great desserts and sweets).

Then, after dinner, we viewed a spectacular performance of fire dancing, done by their son, Jake, in the street in front of the house. What a sight! Who knew?

Then we played music, talked story and played games until late. What memorable a day!

Wonderful Garden Ponds on Kauai

Today we went to visit Garden Ponds Kauai, near Princeville, owned by our friend Ken Bernard. What an amazing place. The pictures can't show the feeling of peace and tranquility that this place gives you. You just have to see for yourself.

Celebration of Life - Richard Shen

A Celebration of Life was held for Richard Shen (my ex) at the gazebo he designed on the KCC campus. It rained hard all day, except for the 2 hours that we were there. It was very nice.

Lihue

Hard to work on the computer - it is so hot. I don't know how I ever lived in this place. That's my excuse for not getting any new posts put here, & I'm sticking to it.

In Hawaii

We are in the town of Lihue, on the "Garden Island" of Kauai. Very beautiful place, but sooo hot.

We'll be here until Jan 5, back in Port Angeles Jan 7, as shown in last post.

We didn't get to fly in the little Cessna - I was disappointed, but Manfred was glad it was a jet. Go!Makulele Airlines was very good, unlike the negative comments on the internet.

Heading for Hawaii

We are leaving tomorrow for Lihue, HI, to visit Aida Shen for the holidays. Her husband died a few weeks ago.
We fly to Honolulu Saturday and get to visit with my sister, Jan, and my #1 son, Richard.
It will be a happy/sad time. Not a good time for us to leave, but necessary.

Here's the plan, in case anybody cares:
December
10 Fri - noon take bus to Seattle, stay night (tomorrow)
11 Sat - 9:30 am fly to Honolulu, arrive 1:35
. . . . visit w/ Jan at airport
. . . . 5:20 fly to Lihue, arrive 6 pm
12 Sun - visit w/ Rick & find out what Aida needs/wants.
13 Mon - Rick flies home
January
5 Wed - we fly to Honolulu, stay the night, visit Jan (& Darrel?)
6 Thu - fly to Seattle, stay the night
7 Fri - take bus to Port Angeles, home

We are taking a big chance on the flight Honolulu to Lihue, going by Go! Mokalulu airline. Tiny (9-passenger Cessna) plane, and notorious for canceled & delayed flights. Living dangerously -- we'll see.

Skipped a lot

OMG - this is so far behind.
We got on the cruise ship in Venice - Norwegian Cruise Line Norwegian Gem. Nice boat. Stopped at some places in the Mediterranean, then sailed across the Atlantic to NYC. Took 14 days. Had only a couple of rough-sea days. Otherwise good EXCEPT that they charged a horrendous fee ($.45 per minute on a very slow network) for internet access. So I couldn't update my blog, which I had been planning to do.

From NYC we flew to LA, where son Robin picked us up, since he was there anyway. We had to go to San Francisco because my ex, Richard, had died and both sons were going to be there to be with his widow, Aida, to put the ashes in a cryp there. We had a sort of sad family reunion, but it was good anyway.

We stayed with Robin & Virginia until the Black Friday, the cheapest day to fly to Seattle. We just got a few things done about the house we have for sale, and now we are going to to Hawaii to be with Aida during the holidays.

I'll try to fill in the gaps and get some photos in there while we are Hawaii. .