A thank you to our friends

As our settling in period comes to a close, I want to say a few words about our friends on the island who have given us an extraordinary welcome.

First, there is Casey and Bill. Casey has been keeping an eye on our house during the period it was empty, which has been an enormous comfort to us over the months. And, then, they supplied us with some essentials for our first week: a mattress, covers, tables and chairs. Without those, we would have been sleeping and eating on the floor. Not the worst thing in the world, but we sure had a nicer housewarming because of it. I could go but suffice it to say, they - particurlarly Casey - have been our saviours. Mahalo!

Casey and Bill last year

Then, there is Bud! He has been a prince - supplying us with a wide variety of important things for the household. (See the photo below for just a portion of the items he gave us the day he had us over for a wonderful meal!) We particularly appreciate all the stemware. A manhattan needs a martini glass; wine needs a wine glass; champagne needs a champagne flute and, voilà, because of Bud, we can have a proper cocktail two-hour! And there is no better person to share a cocktail with than Bud. Here's to you!

Bud on our porch drinking a manhattan with one of the martini glasses he supplied to us.

Some of the things Bud gave us

And, then there is Dick and Carol. They came over last week to celebrate the birthdays of Dick and Leslie and brought along a lot of avocados (from their farm), a grand orchid and a few more chairs so we could seat everyone at our first dinner party. Over the years, they have opened their home to us multiple times - with lots of laughs and great conversation along the way. They are two big reasons that we feel so at home on the Big Island.

Leslie and Dick celebrating their birthdays last week.

Carol celebrating her birthday last February

And, now, we have our new friend, Robert. (See Our hero, Robert). He came over for dinner with yet more bags of things and his ukulele to serenade us. What a great, fun guy! He is leaving the island but not our hearts. I fully expect we will see him in the future.

Robert singing Christmas Luau - a song he promised we would be hearing a lot over the next several months

I can’t really thank all of them enough for their warm aloha to us. Our first two weeks was really special because of these folks. A big mahalo to you all!