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| MELE KALIKIMAKA |
27 Dec 2014: My annual letter is posted on the web at http://sites.google.com/site/rsbeatty/christmas-letter-2010
The Makena has a good breakfast buffet with an omelet chef, so we are fat and sassy again this morning. I need to get busy editing my Picasa albums, but it is probably time for Smooch Smooch and I to go for our after-breakfast waddle. More later again. Christmas dinner at Nick's Seafood down the street at the Fairmont was fabulous with open air on the patio and all the sunset and bikinis that either of us could want.
25 Dec: Mele Kalikimaka. We arrived at the Makena resort in Maui towards evening, so today was our first walk & look-around. The hotel grounds are spectacular, arranged around an interior courtyard with waterfall and nature trail. Our balcony overlooks the ocean, the beach, the sailboat, and a couple of islands. I've taken a couple of pictures and will post them soon. The only drawback is expensive (or limited internet access): $60 per week in the room, free in the lobby. So now I'm hungry and ready to search for food. More later.
24 Dec: The transition to Maui went smoothly. The cabbies were friendly and talkative (me too, surprise, surprise). We are both happy with the progress genealogically during December. Cynthia is beginning to commence to start working on another book, this one about the 3 James Leas in Caswell County in the 1700s. Ron's Camblin website shows up well now. The Rambo CD is progressing nicely, although there is still an incredible amount of work ahead.
18 Dec: Today I omeletted in the condo, snacked at noon, and computered outside covered with a sheet to thwart the mosquitoes. Now it is getting too hot for me outside and the sunshine is creeping towards my toes.
17 Dec: Dinner at 5:30 oceanside at Huggo's was perfect with a bright sunset, good waves, and wonderful Ono (that's fish). Cynthia prefers Huggo's to Jackie Rey's for a wider selection of fish, better sunset views, and the ocean almost underfoot. Breakfast at Bongo Ben's was less than perfect, although the 13-year-old family member who waited on us was delightful. Our shoreside walk after breakfast was delightful, as was the evening walk to dinner.
15 Dec: The luncheon at Lava Java was wonderful. Mike was in town looking for a new, used pick-em-up truck, so the girls talked and the guys talked and a fine time was had by all. Excitement runs high today because we have a luncheon date with Wendy (and hopefully Mike) at Lava Java. Wendy assures me that they have good, healthy food and nice salads (and obviously coffee).
Cynthia is beginning to worry about over-crowding at our wedding. We have nearly 100 confirmed attendees already and the facilities are comfortable for 125 to 150. We gotta have a dance floor at the reception; we may have to "recept" in two shifts, early & late. There are a number of people I've not yet invited (usually for lacking ANY address). We may have to invite them to the Friday brunch only. Hmm, since several are AT hikers, they should be comfortable outside ??
14 Dec 2014: Breakfast at Bongo Ben's this AM. Highly recommended for anyone in Kona. They do a wonderful job with egg white veggie omelets, and the nearly ocean side seats have pedestrian traffic for added amusement. The walks to and from were perfect, cool and comfortable; not overlong.
After spending too many tedious hours editing the Camblin material for acceptable presentation (and drinking coffee all afternoon), I was still able to resume work on the Rambo CD until midnight. The work is more fun on the lanai in the morning because of flower fragrances in the air (although the bugs and a few mosquitos lessen the pleasure). By mid-afternoon, it is far too muggy: pleasantly warm but very humid.
I wonder if Cynthia has yet become a "follower" of this blog. Blogger tells me that I have 0 (that's a big fat goose egg) followers. [15th, ohhh, she added a widget to the margin and is now a follower. Smooch, smooch, smooch I love you. Thank God for Cynthia.] Where is Ron Now finds me first, and this sentence corrected the problem resulting from mistakenly Googling Where's Ron Now. Once again I'll just have to Google myself to rise in the results rankings.
Maybe my beloved will download the newest Waikaloa pictures from my camera onto another Picasa web album. (Thanks Google. Thank you Cynthia. Thank God for everything.) [15th Ron, you Dummy, always, always, ALWAYS remember to remove pictures of your beloved that are un-flattering, no matter how amusing.] I doubt I'll ever convince her to post the "cute shoes" picture even tho' I think it is marvelous.
13 Dec: Returning the rental car to Waikaloa went wonderfully well. After waiting an hour for the commuter bus, the miracle is that it is a free ride. Amusing to think that NO ONE on the hotel staff has any knowledge of it for the tourists. Dinner at Jackie Rey's was as satisfactory as always; when the chef owns the restaurant but prefers to stay in the kitchen, good food happens.
12 Dec, Sun: Test for day two: What was the white stuff atop 13,000-foot Mauna Kea this morning? SNOW ! In Hawaii ?? They musta shipped it in from the Midwest where we are told they have an oversupply. Now we can vicariously experience camaraderie with our friends and family who are housebound after being nailed by the big, early blizzard of 2010.
11 Dec Sat: Are you ready with paper and number 2 pencil? Eraser? This is a test: Where did Ron and Cynthia eat dinner the last night at Waikoloa? OHH! You peeked. Yes, it was at the HAMASUTRA! Who surprised us? WENDY (and her hubby Mike)! Yes. Right again. Wendy was our favorite staff person at Waikoloa both times we were here in 2009. She looked beautiful and gave Ron a huge hug. AHHH! The staff at the Kamuela Provision Company keeps "our" table right at ocean side every night. They have been marvelous! And the ocean views table side are the best garnish any meal could ever have. Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou Tiffany.
We saw one of the two the big barracudas in the boat canal during our walk last night.
10 Dec: Wow, clouds and rain today; Cynthia also loves cloudscapes. We are still spending way too much time indoors, venturing out only to eat dinner at the Hamasutra restaurant. (The real name is Kamuela Provision Company, but I cannot seem to remember that name.) Yesterday was productive in terms of the Camblin genealogy, so today's focus is communication (hence this update).
Oh, as an aside to my dear friends who view my sleeping indoors as a MAJOR life change, I have to tell y'all that I'm now cooking omelets for breakfast whenever convenient; even I view this as major change.
7 Dec: Another beautiful day in Hawaii. No wonder that the Hawaiians are all such happy people. Our condo is in the middle of the golf course, but we've not seen any of those interesting black goats yet this year. [Cynthia saw several from afar on the 8th] The stars were wonderful at 5:30am, and I did see a mongoose slink across the lawn early today. The computer and I are on the back porch at ground-level in bare feet and short sleeves. Cynthia and I have not done much sight seeing, but we are making terrific progress on our sundry projects relating to correspondence, wedding, and genealogy.
Perhaps recapping, we've eaten dinner at sunset nearly every night overlooking the ocean at the Kamuela Provision Company at Waikaloa; our helicopter ride over the volcano this year was even more awesome than previously, but only the granddaughter & friend took pictures. We flew right over Mauna Loa's crater and later saw a lava flow on the surface dropping over the cliff into the ocean. The pilot pointed out "silvery" lava that was just now cooling and had thought that a home twenty feet away would be in flames by then. He showed us the 1983 flow that had frightened Hilo residents (which was already very overgrown and green) and also told us that the lava flows around Waikaloa were about 5,000 years old but were still black because the leeward side gets only about 4" of rain annually vs 170" in the mountains.
4 Dec: It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas: Where IS Ron NOW? Decking the halls? Decorating Trees? Kissing under the Mistletoe? Jumping for Joy? Riding on a one-horse-open BMW? Dashing through the Snow white Hawaiian sand? Roasting coconuts on an open fire? AH!
IMAGINE! JUST IMAGINE! Another glorious, sunny day in Hawaii. The bright, blue ocean beckons. But Ron is focused on his computer sitting on the lanai near the beach (and bikinis) with his eyes FOCUSED. He has more SAVE THE DATE cards to mail and addresses to update. He does NOT trust Cynthia's methodical record keeping of those who have sent RSVP's, so he is emailing again so HE can keep his own list. IMAGINE! Cynthia has her Christmas letter written, all of her gifts purchased or ordered, everything is finished except to fill the stockings. IMAGINE!
[RSB Strange to see the meanderings of the female mind in print. I could never imagine all that without a accomplished guide. I would have imagined that Ron wants to find addresses of friends who have dropped out of sight since last correspondence, casualties of his single-minded focus on publication of five volumes of Rambos.]
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| 3 Dec. Hawaiian Sunset at the Kamuela Provision Co. |
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| Koi and Duckie |
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| Rare Chicken (Eat Your Heart Out Carol B |
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| Unique Koi |
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| Pink Flamingos |
1 Dec, Wed: We have just been simply too busy - too many fun things to do since our arrival in Hawaii. Sat night the girls (granddaughter and college roommate) returned to the Mainland after astonishing views during the helicopter ride across the island and over the active volcanoes. They proclaimed this day "The MOST FUN ever!" Previous to the helicopter ride, the Luau on Friday night had been best because of the hunky male dancers!
Ron's Rambo Companion Volume of Reference is moving along nicely as is the CD compilation. Cynthia is focused on file organization and is having WAAAAAAYYYYYY too much fun with a new I-Pad. Next time she will do the driving so Ron can play with the I-Pad. It is quite a novelty. Her hip bursitis (caused by four hundred miles of hiking in four months) is improving daily with icing. Soon she will out-run Forrest Gump.
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| Sunset 1 December 2010 |
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| Sunset at Hilton Waikola Village Resort |
