« February 2007 | Main | April 2007 »
March 14, 2007
Hey, Buddy, can ya spare a dime for a cup of coffee?
Getting a good cup of coffee in Maui isn't as hard as in Seattle...not with the passion of Kimo Falconer of MauiGrown Coffee around anyway. We have heard lore surrounding him from the time we started roasting our own beans and I even tried to find his plantation when I was in Maui two years ago. Turns out I got darn close but not nearly as close as yesterday when we stopped at their company store in Lahaina.........
I believe this photo would be Greg having a chat with the real live Kimo Falconer about the Maui Mokka coffee plants in front of them that were going to burst into flower any day now. 
pppsssttt...I was looking at the buds when this man came by and started talking to us and *I* said "You would be Kimo, wouldn't you?" The rest is history; and yes we do have some green beans to take home with us.
In further news....it took SIL Anna 22 hours to get here, minus one bag (which we got today) but we are all finally arrived and settled in. We constructed a list of sorts of the things we'd each like to do as the week progresses...Today we did Iao Valley and Iao Needle in the rain. Photos to follow.
I took a beach walk when we got back...they are all napping at the moment but that's ok, I do believe there were several initials after "napping" on the list. I'll leave you with a photo of one of the remaining flowers on our trumpet tree out next to the parking lot
Posted by frani at 11:32 PM | Comments (1)
March 10, 2007
Last one there is a rotten egg....
Hrumph...I'm afraid this plane we saw out the window was likely to get to Hawaii before us. However, we arrived safe and sound pretty much on schedule; no flight issues other than it's still a long damn ride.
I think I have achieved nirvana...I just watched a great sunset in spite of some clouds, listened to the "shell blowers" heralding said sunset all the while typing away on my laptop to kept you all informed of our adventures. Now then, there is a little bit of an issue...seems this place thinks we ought to pay $50 a week per computer for wireless access..so far we are sharing; we'll see how that works
I think the rice is down so I'm off to cook some ono. Have a fine day all........;-D
Posted by frani at 11:23 PM | Comments (3)
March 07, 2007
Maui Bound
Ok, so maybe this is a photo of the sunset in Maui the last time I went in 2005, but it will look just like this (maybe even better)Friday evening as we sit on the lanai looking out at Lanai..wine, cheese, shrimp, pineapple ... and barefoot...aaaahhhhh. We leave for PHL Thursday evening then off to Maui bright and early Friday morning..ok, maybe it's not bright at 6:45am but who cares, I know I'll be asleep before we leave the gate per usual.
pppsssttt..it was -17degrees out there this morning or so I heard. *I* didn't go out there, I was busy packing and repacking; I think the leave it behind pile is bigger than the take it with us pile. I also think there is a fine line between not dragging so much stuff because there is a washer and dryer in the condo and spending my vacation washing and drying clothes because we left them home...ya know?
I just may post some more photos as the days go by.. Aloha.;-D
Posted by frani at 08:54 PM | Comments (3)
March 01, 2007
Letters from Seattle
Ok, nothing like waiting until the day before going home to make an entry BUT I haven't had a whole lot to say ....I KNOW, hard to believe, huh?
So, yes we have been here for nearly 2 weeks.
People here are beginning to take on a kind of fictional form to me...the night security guy looks like a " real life" version of the Cartoon Family Guy...really he does!
There have been some guests at the hotel from Japan...2 of them who hang out together a lot remind me of the characters on Heroes...Save the Cheerleader, Save the world. Time to go home.
Hopefully our home is still standing...thanks to our neighbors. In the continuing Saga of Where Water does NOT belong, it seems our roof allowed some melted snow to seep in in the usual place..by the front door. Compression of 25" of snow on a heat tape will do that to you. We continue to have issues with that corner of the house and we've replaced the ceiling/walls in that hallway more than once before. Here we go again but not until we come up with some solution to the problem. Maybe we should just expose the rafters and have some sort of waterway/tube down and back out again..ya know have a little hole in the floor that just runs into the basement and on out a drain or something. We can think of it as a giant intestine and colon and rectum...after all this is the section of the house where the sun don't shine! (ta da dum)
Fortunately we have great friends and resources so the water was being caught in buckets...the water was being sopped up from the carpet, the snowplow guy removed some ice and snow and relieved the remaining water from under the ice...Leo will be over this morning to take a look see as well...whew.
Oh yeah...rumor has it there will be a foot or more MORE snow up there by tomorrow night.
Hmmmm...makes me wonder if we'll get home Sat morning "on time". The airlines are taking a hit with all these weather issues and I can "understand" both sides of an issue..being a passenger most of the time, I just want to go where I'm going especially if it's home. That's not to say some mistakes weren't made in the last storm and some risks were taken that didn't pan out. I remember being loaded on a plane recently where our flight crew told us there was a flight delay due to poor visibility...however, the captain wanted us loaded and ready to depart if he had a window of opportunity granted us. Yup, me too.
...and BTW, the media just loves to kick a guy when he is down. Yup, Jetblue took a major hit with it's customers and the media didn't help. Where was the media during the last storm that fouled up JFK and caused more flights to be canceled...for sure they were reporting 68 flights being canceled by JetBlue ( gee how about the other airlines opperating out of JFK?) Oh? What's this...did no one but JetBlue personnel notice that 16people from Burlington VT wanted to fly to Florida but would have normally had to go through JFK...where was the media when Jetblue took that plane straight from VT to FL bypassing JFK, huh? Huh?? No where to be found....JetBlue still has great customer service.....and they would have done that even before the Valentines Day Massacre. sigh...I really dislike the media.
At anyrate...on to the good news. While here this week, Kieran and I have become another year older...who cares if I have 54 years on him. Whoa... Last Saturday, Greg and I celebrated my birthday with lunch at the revolving restaurant at the top of the Space Needle. Greg can finally check that off his things to do in Seattle besides work list. Sunday night we celebrated my birthday again with dinner at a Thai restaurant nearby with my big brother, Lon and my SIL, Charlotte. (Charlotte made me a hand towel with flamingoes embroidered on it.) My birthday celebration will continue next week as we fly west again to Maui...now that is ONE flight I won't mind.
In the meantime...today is laundry day...whew...Someone is out of light blue oxford shirts...what will we do, what will we do.
Have a good day all.........
Posted by frani at 12:33 PM | Comments (3)