A LONG, STRANGE TRIP

I'm writing this on Monday from sunny Kauai.  We fly home Friday after 17 days here.  This weather map is from home.  Naturally.

This has been a strange April trip for our annual Kauai vacation.  We arrived on April 10 to clouds and "chilly" winds which continued for the first week we were here.  Torrential, record-breaking rain hit parts of the island (thankfully not so much where we are); mostly up on the North Shore around Hanalei.  Nearly 30 inches of rain in 24 hours.  Massive flooding and landslides; it was declared an official Disaster Area, with evacuations and National Guard and Red Cross presence.  Roads are still closed up there and predicted to be for another two weeks.  I love Hanalei and feel so sad and sorry for the people there.

The worst we endured was me driving us in a torrent on our way home from a visit to Kauai Coffee and Kauai Brewing southwest of where we are staying.  Traffic was backed up for miles as rivers of mud and rain flowed down hillsides and along the roadsides; a downed tree blocked one lane.

Given the inclement weather, we didn't feel like going anywhere so for several days we just hunkered down here in our long sleeves and hung out at the beach a bit and in the room a lot. Hub worked on the Men's Retreat program he's leading for our old church and I read.  And read.  And read.

Hub was also stymied from taking his new Stand Up Paddle Board out after giving it a go for the first few cloudy days.  Once the torrent hit, there was a Brown Water Alert to stay out of standing water, rivers, ponds, and ocean areas fed by rivers or streams -- as our Kalapaki Bay is.  You could see the brown water throughout the bay -- a toxic slew of runoff from pastures, overflowing cesspools and septics, toxic goo from wherever toxic goo accumulates.  YUK!  It's the first time in 20 years we haven't seen anyone, tourists or locals, in the water here.

Also, as I noted in my previous post, the pool here has been freezing (for me and others) cold.  Broken heater and no sun for solar warming.  It's improving by now, so hoping for a few days of pool time before we head home on Friday.

Hub goes for his morning walks, I come here to the Terrace or sit on our room balcony to scroll FB and write, and often go on a walk around the grounds here through the gardens and along the beach.  Then we have papaya, mango, apple bananas for breakfast and head for our beach chairs.  Hub takes the paddle board out several times throughout the day.  I read.  And read.  And read.

Here's the thing.  I'm both a bit tired of my familiar surroundings this trip, and also completely content to just stay here instead of going to other places on the island, that are also very familiar, just to be going somewhere.  It is absolutely lovely here and I have everything I need and want.  So, I'm not sure where this antsy, restless, inertia is coming from.  I'm wondering if we need to choose a different vacation next year, and then I feel sad to think we might not come back.  Ambivalence reigns within me.

But the good news is that the sun has returned!  The past two days have been spectacular and I'm back to chasing shade all day and slathering on more and more sunscreen to keep my dermatologist happy.  The breezes are gentle and refreshing and the rain comes only during the nights -- as it should.

Just the same, I'm starting to think about home and eager to get my garden planted, check on my spring blooming azaleas and rhodies, see the new views after the across the street neighbors had some trees taken down....so I checked the weather report from home and found the temps will plummet 20 degrees just as we arrive and rain will return to what has already been a very soggy spring.  I'll wish I was back here.

I'd better get crackin' on my gratitude practice.  I'm too busy wanting something other than what I have -- a sure sign of something agitating for change within me.  I wonder what's coming?

At least, that's the view from here...©