Aloha!

A View of Kihei Beach

Aloha from Maui! The first stop in the our tropical vacation is Kihei (just north of Wailea Makena). The photo above is the view from our rental condo's private lanai (lanai is Hawaiian for "balcony"). We face west and have already acquired a bottle of decent wine with which we can toast the sunset tonight. I was a little worried when John arranged for most of our vacation to be in condos that I was not going to like not having a full service hotel arrangement (yes, I admit it, I am not a cheap date when it comes to vacations... fortunately John is not either, so it works out okay). But how could I not like this?

Blogging in Paradise

Me in my pajamas, my computer and a cup of fresh Kona coffee on our lanai over looking the Pacific Ocean with the sound of birds and waves crashing into the shore (okay, so there are also sounds of cars from the nearby road and helicopters, but those are easily ignored when you have an ocean calling your name). How could I not be happy? Actually, there's something to be said about being able to have your happy home routines in a place that is not your home. Being able to make myself a fresh cup of coffee this morning, editing pictures for my blog in the sunshing with an ocean breeze. Reading a few of my favorite blogs while sipping my coffee and contemplating a morning swim. It's like being at home on vacation. (As an aside, Hawaii is 5 hours behind Chicago, time wise, so even though it's 1:30 PM CST as I type this, it's only 8:30 here on Maui).

There are only two downsides in the whole thing for me. The first is that I seem to have gotten a little cold. It started manifesting itself on the airplane. It's not terrible, though and I've got a stash of vitamin C and some DayQuil and I am giving my immune system all the mental encouragement I can to fight the invader. The second is my brother and his family facing hurricane Rita. They live in a suburb south of Houston. After we got into Maui we chatted a bit through the Google Messanger. He and my sister-in-law were busy packing up their brand new house (they just bought it a few months ago) and their cats and preparing to head for a hotel in Dallas with her parents. It hardly seems fair that I can be thinking about a swim in one ocean while he is evacuating his home because of dreadful weather off of another. Please think good thoughts about him and all the others who are facing this terrible natural occurrence.