Kauai, March 2012

The boy runs down the path in the rain, carrying his surfboard in his arm, waving at a white pickup loaded with friends. It’s pouring rain, and the boys aren’t near the beach. They are on the Princeville golf course. A flooded low pond area – they run, jump their boards, and sail across the muddy water, a rooster tail of brown flying behind them, then splash down into the pond. We ride by on our bicycles, soaked to the skin, watching the happy nenes and the lively boys, and Les and I can’t help smiling in the rain.
So this is the north shore of Kauai! Weather has followed us here from Alaska where we’ve had more snow that any year since Les arrived in 1964. The trade winds are kicking up the surf, and old Mt. Wai’ale’ale is directing the rain down into the rivers and onto our shoreside retreat at Pali Ke Kua. Surf warnings are out and road advisories tell us that we can’t go over the Hanalei River to the little Hawaiian church on the other side. There’s been a mud slide.
Little red-headed cardinals come to the lanai, and Les gives them what they want, a cracker crumb treat. Chickens are everywhere! Get those baby chicks off the edge of the road, Momma! We saw a beauty when we stopped at a juice bar for an exotic fruit smoothie. That chicken had cream and tan markings, and I thought it should be in my sister’s brood.
Our bicycles are the old fashioned kind with foot brakes and no gears. We remembered seeing Marcus and Barbara stand up to go up hills, and that made riding much easier. We got our bikes at Walmart because it was much cheaper to buy than to rent. Getting the bikes back to Princeville was another story, but mahjong John loaned us a rack that belongs to his friends – we had to buy it, but he’ll refund most when it is returned.
Les invented his own drink – Coco Pali Ke Kua. Take coconut water, add coconut rum (proportions to suit), a splash of orange juice, and a wedge of squeezed lime. Yum, it beats the St. Regis Princeville Hotel’s fancy drinks! Now, if we could just get some of those tapioca chips….
A red hibiscus flower is smiling at me. No flower leis yet, but I did get some coffee and some cocoanut ice cream for our birthday desserts. Our neighbor Teresa gave me an aloha lei when we arrived in Honolulu (she flies the Anchorage/Honolulu route), and I’ve been wearing it every day. Nice to be spoiled on your flight over.

I just lifted up my computer, and a tiny gecko, exactly the color of the blond flooring, stood exposed. Our first lizard – where are they? Is it too cold and stormy for them? The trade wind is howling; it sounds like someone is revving their engine in the parking lot, then the trees swish. The sound of rain dripping off the roof is almost constant, like a faucet left on, and we are getting one to two inches of rain per hour! The ocean is foamy.
A little red cardinal came onto the lanai railing and called for something, so I took out a scrap of bagel. One little red-headed cardinal is so bedraggled and soaked, his little topknot feathers sticking up bravely.
“We refuse to sell a hamburger for less money than a can of dog food!” This was Bubba’s Burgers for lunch. We had passed through a flooded part of the highway where cars were plowing water like bow-heavy boats. This was on our way back from Lihue (means gooseflesh) and the Kauai Museum. This time we had a docent museum tour with a fluent speaking Hawaiian who delighted my ears with musical words. We left in what Les calls a monsoon – wind and drenching rain. Back at Pali Ke Kua we see branches everywhere and two big trees uprooted on our drive in.