question

does anyone wear flip flops in the UK?

after maybe three glasses of wine, i'm feeling incredibly relaxed. i still have two suitcases waiting for me to fill, and a house to set in order before leaving tomorrow, but i'm no too worried about it. usually when i find myself in such a state of contentment, i putter about the house doing things as i please or go to bed early.

after taking a few pictures upside down, it is probably best that i just call it a day.

it's been one of those deliciously hot days, when you welcome the warmth, even the heat, as if you had just come from a cold sea.

i'm no longer restless; i did, however, put all packing aside for the day, and took to the kitchen. the crumb cake is cooling, most of which i'll take over to my parents house tomorrow. they really aren't supposed to have a lot of sugar, but hey, as long as im there, making sure they dont eat too much and get hyper, it should be okay. i also tried a recipe i found in a magazine, basil beer bread. it threw me on a few things, like seemingly calling for too much yeast and the fact that it was not meant to rise. with basil and beer in the same recipe, i had high hopes; as it turns out, i was not disappointed. that, too, will probably go with me tomorrow, or perhaps the freezer.

the heat is still here, but a wind has come and cooled things off, giving me goosebumps that have nothing to do with the slight chill in the air. the mexican petunia, as unruly and tenacious as it is, makes for a tranquil scene as it sways with the breezes. i stare at a wasp that has somehow made its way onto the backporch, willing it to go towards the door i left open. it is perfectly content to rest on the light shade, maybe thinking it would be a good spot for a nest. the wind picks up a bit, and the crape myrtle loses a few more blossoms to the earth.

the trip! the trip!

ahh, packing. ive talked about it before, so ill leave off this time.

let me just say, if i somehow end up with a stowaway named bear, i will not be surprised.

im slowly crossing things off my list, though i had a bit of a panic today, wondering if there was something i was forgetting in getting ready for an international trip. the passport is still valid (got a few more years on that baby), and ive already registered it with the airlines. i have some british currency from the last trip - saved from the last time, dont i think ahead? - and i even have some russian money to exchange. yeah, i know its weird, but a friend gave me her leftover money from their trip to russia that was, hmm, about 5 years ago. according to the exchange rate, its about 25 bucks US, and thus, not that much BP. i dont really have that much money, come to think of it. but i have already prepared my credit card companies with a message: do not block my card! i hate calling them, since, true to form, they try to end the call with selling me something i dont need. i usually tell them smartly that i worked for a credit card company and already know what you are trying to get me to buy (usually some type of protection) is a waste of money. or in so many words. target tried to get me to add someone to my account. isnt that a laugh!

can you think of anything i might be missing?

excerpt from 'the book-bag' by w. somerset maugham

"there were books of all kinds. volumes of verse, novels, philosophical works, critical studies (they say books about books are profitless, but they certainly make very pleasant reading), biographies, history; there were books to read when you were ill and books to read when your brain, all alert, craved for something to grapple with, there were books that you had always wanted to read, but in the hurry of life at home had never found time to, there were books to read at sea when you were meandering through narrow waters on a tramp steamer, and there were books for bad weather when your whole cabin creaked and you had to wedge yourself into your bunk in order not to fall out; there were books chosen solely for their length, which you took with you when on some expedition you had to travel light, and there were books you could read when you could read nothing else."

this is my kinda guy.

a sunday in the overgrown garden

after lulling about nearly all day, except for one minor spurt of energy, i was given some advice: sit on the porch, grab a beer, a premium one if i wanted (i guess that means anything thats not homebred), and read.

instead, i did some potting, pet one of the the neighborhood cats that we named Ang (until he started swatting me a little too playfully) and then, i relaxed on the porch with a beer and tried to start some new vines, morning glory and sweet potato.



its the best time to work outside in florida; a little bug spray, and you can take advantage of the fading light to take care of just about anything in that last hour - mowing, planting, weed-whacking, edging...

ang was just content to watch me. you can see the disarray under the bench, and the rest of the garden is not much different. everything has gone wrong - the tomato plants look sad, watermelons burst before reaching a good size, corncobs turn brown in the husk and the giant radishes, while very tall, yield no radishes... still, my zinnias grow tall and straight, with colors hard to describe and the marigolds are vibrant. its overgrown, but green. its wild, but beautiful.

chris, any idea what this plant is?

my view from the backporch

bear loves this spot and is not letting go

less than a fortnight to go

no more naps.
that means no more reading 'a traveller's history of scotland'. (sorry, ill man)
even i, the most perservering of readers, can not bear read past page 43. run-on sentences abound and the circuitous paragraphs tire me.

'a traveller's history of england' is going back to the library, too, just on the basis of association.

so much for being a slightly more informed tourist.

Hukilau Beach
i already knew about this obscure, private beach on the north shore. how, you ask? well, its more like i knew of it, since the beach inspired a song that i learned at some point in my elementary school education.

we pulled up in our jeep (did i mention we had a jeep?) and the name of the beach instantly struck me when i sounded it out verbally (as i had been doing to all the hawaiian names we came across). "hu-ki-lau.. wait a second! i know this, remember the song? 'oh, we throw our nets out into the sea and all the ... (unintelligible words here, since i dont think i ever saw the song in written format, and couldnt remember the hawaiian word for fish) .. come swimming to me..." i trailed off at this point, since melissa was looking at me strangely; maybe she didnt understand the hukilau dance i was trying to recreate from memory (yes, there was a dance, too). figuring i had just been in the sun too long that morning, she just headed to shore... and found this plaque.






it was as if my whole life was leading up to this point.

Makaha Beach
my favorite of all the beaches we visited.. still working on putting together the panorama shots i took here. one woman very sweetly offered to let us use her snorkel gear to go out and see the sea turtles near the pink buoy, excitingly telling us how there were several of them and how they were approaching her. one set of gear, rotated between us, constant reassurance to the one without the mask that no sharks were visible, and 30 minutes later, we were as close to the pink buoy as we were going to get. (i couldnt bring myself to actually touch it, but we were about 5 feet away.) no sea turtles were visible in the crater-like reef, but there were plenty of quirky fish; one doing the underwater version of skipping, with a tiny friend or two following closely behind. striped yellow fish were closer to the surface, taking advantage, maybe, of the warmer water. the brain coral glowed ghostly beneath me, probably as deep as 30-40 feet, and i saw a fish with an electric blue head and maroon body zip into a hole when he saw my shadow.





can't see the pink buoy? yeah, it was pretty far.

scored one more tomato today and a handful of basil! lets see... the possibilities are endless. these things came from another friends house, who are also away, and whose dogs i checked in on today. the tomato is close to being soggy, but i think i can salvage at least half of it for a salad. i almost stopped at the store, just to get an apple... in hawaii, we subsided on granny smith apples from new zealand (among other things, booze being one of them) and they were just amazing.

i wonder if my neighbor has any fruit?

can you believe i've actually made a goal not to go grocery shopping until im back from my next trip? (if you are a frequent reader, maybe you can) of course, my pantry is pretty full of canned goods, pasta and coffee (a must-have) and i have a freezer full of frozen stuff, including a turkey that i had a whim to try baking, although i dont think i meant to cook it in the dead of summer. these things should provide enough for two weeks, if not more.

i think i can do it, really. afterall, its only 2 weeks until i leave for the UK and i can always head to my parents early if i start to run out of food (i say this sarcastically, but its the sad truth), since my flight leaves from their town anyway. one thing i cant usually do without though is tomatoes. i have one slightly sad one that somehow was forgotten in the fridge and some cherry ones that i (among other things) snagged from a friends house who is away ... i mean, im doing them a favor, this stuff would go bad anyway. that should help with the fresh veg/fruit issue for a couple of days (since i also took all their other vegetables). except the celery; that stuff lasts forever.

now if only they had had some cat food...

its one of those storms that lets you know its there long before you see any rain; the clouds have been rolling in for the last 2 hours, and only now do i hear the thunder and see the lightning as i load the washing machine. the cats have been reasonably happy to see me and are now on the front porch, staring out at the insects who are making use of the last few minutes before the downpour.

ahh, here it is.

i have the doors open as i work... as is typical within the first hour of being home after a trip, ive already done two loads of laundry, sorted the mail and half-unpacked the suitcase. im always so anxious to be home i cant help but put things as they should be, right away (seeing as how ive been content in the past to keep moving boxes unpacked in my living room for months after a move, this is a sort of personal phenomenon - or it could be i've changed - something for another post to consider). its as if i long for the domestic duties of home; being away takes me from cooking (something i really enjoy), cleaning (which can be immensely satisfying) and my garden (quite overlooked at this point).

this is not to say that i dont enjoy being away; i've mentioned my trips, nearly a dozen at last count. its just, after awhile, i long to be among the familar, even if it means back to not doing much and cooking and cleaning for myself. i tire of the place im visiting (this time it happened only a day before leaving) and its hard for anything to inspire the rapt attention i had at the beginning.

still, hawaii was so much more than i expected. that, ill have to tell you about later.

flying home tomorrow. i will be glad to be on east coast time again.. tired of waking up at 3 am as if its the most normal thing in the world. i took quite a few pictures. right now its raining, as it has done a lot since yesterday. the rain clouds make quite a mist over the mountains that is beautiful to behold.

of the list (of course there would be one) my sister and i accomplished everything we wanted as of early yesterday morning. so the last 36 hours have been exploring and finding new beaches, driving just to see the mountains and going back to places we enjoyed the first time we were there. and i finally got to have a malasada and let me tell you, they are everything i thought they would be.

my flight is late tomorrow so i will be wandering around waikiki looking for something to fill the time. that might be shopping, that might be the beach.