Back to Reality

Mike and Meghan joined us on a quick 4 day jaunt to the Big Island. Never had we visited in October, but it's much quieter once school has resumed. Even three days here lowers the blood pressure and helps one appreciate how very much is accomplished at work in the same number of hours. Lots of changes over here in just over a year since we've visited. Our favorite coffee stand up in Waikoloa Village is closing, sadly, but we found another just past the Kona Airport. The Mauna Kea is scheduled to reopen at Christmas and I want to head up there this July to see the great lady's facelift, hoping that they did not do away with the amazing Hawaiian quilt displays there.

We sat out on our lanai in the evening and as usual marvelled at the view of the heavens in this part of the Pacific. Mike promises he'll go with us up to stargaze in July, when the telescopes roll open on the top of Mauna Kea and the top of the world blazes red and orange at sunset. Once the blackness blankets the sky, it's as though someone has stretched some fantastic black fabric over a bowl and has shined a flashlight through the pinpricks. But that doesn't do it justice: those white shimmers are too jewellike. A better metaphor might be that someone has strewn a black velvet tablecloth with a million diamonds of all shapes and sizes to dazzle you. Then the tradewinds buffet you and the chill up there at 14000 feet confounds you as your skin chafes from the sunburn of the afternoon against the parka or sweatshirt you thank the heavens you wore up there, though at sea level, you wondered if it were crazy to bring. I love this part of the world. The colors are just so vivid, especially the blues of the ocean. Last time on the mountain, I viewed Saturn through one of the small portable telescopes and saw the rings--what a view.

Four days back at work and it seems lightyears away. Where's my Iz CD?