Back from Hawaii

I'm back . . . Hawaii provided a much needed rest in a beautiful setting.

But first, I have to tell you who was the WINNER of my latest give-away.  It was "Knitionary"!  Knitionary is my favorite knitting blog, and I read it religiously.  She is the fastest knitter I have ever seen, in addition to her beautiful garden, fabulous cooking recipes, decorating ideas, and entertaining.  She has fabulous collections of china, crystal & hand-embroidered table clothes, quilts and pillows.  You'll want to check her blog out yourself. 

Knitionary will be receiving a 450 yard hank of charcoal colored alpaca/bamboo yarn, which I'm sure she'll have knit up in no time, once the weather cools.  This yarn came from Licorice Whip, with the addition of some soft bamboo fiber, to make it a natural charcoal color.  Licorice will be having a baby soon, so I'll keep you all posted.  We expect the baby to be some variation on black, since Licorice is mostly black and the sire was all black.

This was our view, from our balcony at The Marriott Kawaii Kalanipu'u Lagoons Resort on Kawaii.  We had a beautiful room, with this fabulous view.  The picture of the flowers above, was taken from this balcony too.

This is the beautiful fountain and pond in the courtyard of Marriott Hotel.

These are the coy in that pond.  There were hundreds of them, and with just a few steps, you could walk right through them.  However, I am much to afraid of fish to have done that.  My husband spent an afternoon snorkeling on the reef on Maui, where he saw many tropical fish and a few sea turtles, but I spent that time gathering sea glass, as I'm too afraid of sharks to venture past my knees in the ocean.  Perhaps my husband makes me watch too many programs on National Geographic, during Shark Week.

There was a short downpour the first day we were on Kawii.  Notice the rainbow in the background.  It is hard to believe that the grass in this photo goes right to the beach. 

This is the Napali Coast.  I took this photo from a helicopter!  We were able to tour all of Kawii from the air, and it was truly beautiful.  We saw the locations where Jurasic Park was filmed, hundreds of huge waterfalls, inside the crater of an inactive volcano, the location where thousands of acres of sugar cane used to be farmed.  Very little is grown there now, as third world countries can raise it at a lower cost.

This a closer view of the Napali Coast, where you can see the beautiful beaches, and the reef.  Many stars have homes here, such as Julia Roberts, Oprah Winfrey, Kevin Costner and many more.

Here we are, waiting for the shuttle to take us to the airport, for our flight to Maui.  I couldn't resist wearing a flower in my hair, in true Hawaiin style.  The flowers were growing everywhere, so it was easy to do.  When the plumeria fell from the trees, they landed on the grass, as if they had been strategically placed.

"Zee plane, zee plane".  These are the falls that we used to see at the beginning of "Fantasy Island", for those of you old enough to remember that show.  My children had no idea what I was talking about.  I used to love watching "Love Boat" and "Fantasy Island" on Saturday nights in the late 70's.  The place where they used to feature all of the "has been" stars, who would now be on "Dancing with the Stars".  Come to think of it . . . some of the same, have been.

Back in the 80's, a tropical storm blew all of the chicken coops on Kawaii all around the island.  In years since, the various varieties of chickens have interbred, until this colorful variety has resulted.  They are everywhere, and protected by the government, much to the locals dismay.  We often saw the roosters fighting on the roadside.  They are really scrappy little things.  The locals say they are not good to eat, because they eat too much garbage, and carry lice.  There were lots of hens and chicks running around.  My husband, the farmer, recently acquired some chickens of our own, but that is another subject, for another day.

This was our first sunset in Maui.  I think my photography skills may be improving.

I took this picture on the "Road to Hana".  It is the giant version of one of my house plants.  Everything was so thick and lush, and plants you see all the time, grew like weeds.  The ferns were beautiful.  The "Road to Hana" was really scarry.  There were 29 single-lane bridges, on a 2-lane narrow road, with a complete drop-off on one side, and a steep grade on the other.  There were many scenic spots, waterfalls, and swimming pools, but very little space to pull-off the road to take pictures.  The return drive in the outside lane scarred me to death, but my brother-in-law is a good driver, and we arrived safely.  There were some spots, where the road had washed out, or someone had driven over the edge.  Ooooo, I'm glad it wasn't us!  However, I found lots of sea glass on the beach in Hana.  I had never found any before, but have always admired the jewelry made from these shards of glass that are dropped out-to-sea and tumbled in the sand until they are smooth.  I found many colors, and have some fun ideas for making jewelry out of them.

This is the huge Banyon tree that resides on Front Street on Maui.  You wouldn't believe this, but all of these branches and trunks all belong to the same tree on 5 acres of land.  I didn't have a wide-angle lens to show you just how huge it is.  It was planted by a "Smith" in 1835.

It was a long flight to get there, with a long drive to Las Vegas to board the plane, but it was well worth the loss of sleep, to spend a week in such a beautiful place.  I hope we'll be able to return some day.

Since this is a knitting blog, I thought I would share my knitting project for the trip.  I had lots of knitting time, on the plane, and on the "Road to Hana".  This will eventually be the Blessing Dress for my expected little grand-daughter, Alivia Grace.  The booties and bonnet were completed first, but from the looks of recent ulta-sounds, Alivia has lots of hair, and will likely not be wearing the bonnet.  And . . . yes . . . the model for the that bonnet is an ostrich egg.  It is from my husband's collection of bric-a-brac, and was the perfect size to wear this little cap. I'm not sure he will be too happy about the egg's new outfit.

My test-knitters are nearing completion on the "Joan" sweater, so I'll have pictures for my next post, and expect to publish the pattern shortly thereafter.  I'll also have some pics of our chickens, and hopefully our new little baby alpaca.  Who knows . . . maybe Alivia will be here by then too.  Happy Knitting . . .