Pictures on Paddington Bear Day*

* Google decided to commemorate the date the first Paddington Bear book was released even though it is Columbus Day (observed). How PC...

A fisherboy at Coconut Island

Going to the dump. In Hilo, there is no city garbage pick-up. You have to take it. This was our first load (with a lot more in the back seat of the car). I did our second dump run today.

Lucky again

For those who read my France blog, I wrote one about our luck called Bonne chance! It was the story of how things went wrong on the day we left for France with lucky results. Well, we hit the jackpot again! Right before we left for our short Kona vacation, our toilet supply line burst, flooding are bathroom. But, I was at home and heard the running water. I stopped it before the water hit the hardwood. If the supply line had waited 12 hours later, when we were gone, it would have been a catastrophic flood - inundating the home, ruining the floor, flooding the basement and generally making our return home horrible. So, aren't we totally lucky!

More on Kona later, but here are the pictures of the day (as promised):

Robin taking down this dead orange tree

Hawaiian guy with his dog on Coconut Island

The new blog concept

Well, now that we have put the house together, I have to move on to other things with the blog. When I am not obsessively following the election, I am usually working on house projects. Until I get inspired to write about one of these projects (or something else), I think I am just going to give you two photos most days: one related to a work around the house and the other just showing our life on the Big Island.

Joe, John and the Dolphin Bay Hotel - thanks

As I mentioned in my last blog, we bought more furniture from a couple soon leaving the island. We were supposed to pick it up Friday morning. To that end, we borrowed a truck from Casey but it needed to be returned that evening for her commute home. But, Friday morning Leslie woke up with a really bad back. She isn’t sure from what – the move that day with Robert, a long day in the garden, sitting in an awkward position because she has a bum knee – but she couldn’t really move at all.

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

Shopping is almost over...

Pictured below is our house shopping over the last couple of days. We now have most of the things we need and so this sort of post will come to a natural conclusion. But, I feel a responsibility to finish up with a fully stocked house. That comes Friday, as we just made a deal to buy the rest of the furniture we need and will pick it up then. ($700) So, my last picture-of-things-we-bought post will end after we complete that move.

Some photos

Leslie and I holding a bunch of orchids that we were taking to our friend, Casey, who invited us over for a delicious meal at her home in Volcano last night. $5 for all those orchids! What a deal!

Our hero, Robert

We were making progress on our house - buying a few things here, friends giving us a lot of things there. But, two days ago we hit the mother load: we purchased the lion's share of the household of our new best friend, Robert! He is leaving the island so his entire household's contents were for sale. We really liked his taste in everything, so we made a long list of all the furniture we were interested in that he had for sale: a queen bed, three dressers, two end tables, a futon, a table and chairs, a desk and desk chairs, a bookshelf, an area rug, a lounge chair, a coffee table and more. Leslie handed him the list and asked: "How much for it all?" He came back with the quote of $300! Wow! Did I mention that most everything was in good shape? Driving our typical hard bargain, we countered with $600. At that point, he agreed but threw in everything but the kitchen sink - his tools, ladders, lawn mower, chemicals, lamps, etc. etc.

The Sally shop comes through

Leslie found a cheap-ass old exercise bike (and a few other items pictured below) at the Hilo "Sally shop" ($18). She was thrilled and took it for it's first spin yesterday. Beyond the smell of burning rubber, worked like a charm. And, here I said bad things about the shop in my last post. I am so sorry, please forgive me!

Our first trip to Kona

There is one Costco on the island but it is 100 miles away in Kona. We made our pilgrimage there yesterday to stock up. Now, unlike Walmart, I am not embarrassed to shop at Costco. As corporations go, they are fairly good – though not perfect by any means. Read this if you are interested in what is both right and wrong with the company: http://www.bohemian.com/bohemian/04.30.08/feature-0818.html
Anyway, we bought a lot of food, drink and sundries there yesterday. Here are the non-food purchases (total:$127.30):

Here's to Cindy and Joe!

I have to give a shout out to Cindy and Joe – our fabulous former tenants – who sold us a bunch of their stuff when they moved back to their home in Texas. See above photo. They didn't sell us the computer (or Leslie) - but they did sell us everything else pictured and more! The little trash cans they left have doubled as both end tables and step stools (see the coffee on the trash can next to Leslie.) Invaluable!

The Rainbow Isle

Lots of rainbows all the time here! Like this. This is actually a double rainbow but the upper rainbow is hard to see...

Let’s Help the USA: Go shopping!

Yes, we are in another crisis and, while Bush hasn’t yet repeated his exhortation to “go shopping” to solve this particular crisis – I will! Come on, Americans – let’s do what we do best and hit the stores. But, this time, please don’t do it with credit. That isn't going so well.

We are here doing our part in Hawaii. We have been so busy shopping that I haven’t had time to really write this blog. And, I must confess – oh, please forgive us for we have sinned – that we bought most new stuff at Walmart. Hey, did you know that they have every day low prices? We were seduced by their evil empire. Below is our Walmart junk. Click on the picture for a screen sized view if you want to see what it all is in more detail. (Total bill: $165)

Poor Rosie

We are now in Hilo. Let the blog begin!

We brought Rosie with us. I don’t want to go into the complications of the “direct release” program for dogs but, suffice it to say, it is a complicated and expensive way to avoid quarantine. If anyone ever wants to bring an animal here – we can help you! Just ask! But, just know that the cost of bringing her about equaled our two plane fares together. And, unfortunately, it might be torture for your beloved animal – as it was for Rosie.

France is so over, Hawaii here we come

We must be seriously crazy to finish a 6 week trip to France and then, three weeks later, leave for four months in Hawaii. And, between these two trips, have a 3 day trip to San Francisco, a 3 day reunion with Leslie's college friends, another trip to SF, two other parties, multiple dinners out with friends, a dentist appointment, a vet appointment (and other things to get Rosie ready for her big move), a picnic, a date for playing bridge, working out details with our renters, obsessive watching of the Democratic convention, pack and whatever else comes up.

Yes, crazy.

Thus, don't expect the first "real" post until late September. When we get to Hawaii, we must deal with such essentials as getting internet access, buying a bed, buying a car, etc. The good news: Yes, there is http://honolulu.craigslist.org/ in Hawaii!