Big Island Routines

Sighting of Mauna Kea from Lanai

Mauna Kea looming large

Requisite bouquet from farmer's market

Nightly view of Kyr and Joop either pre or post Big Island Brewhaus

Side of our beach cave at 69 beach

Joop thinking about going snorkeling

Kyr giving it serious thought as well

Front of 69 beach enclave

View of lava island - great snorkelling opportunities

Joop heading out to boogie board at Hapuna

Kyr catching a wave at Hapuna

I suppose there is nothing wrong with having a routine while vacationing. But sometimes I wonder if we've taken the  whole thing a bit far. We wake up lounge around the computer stations - I usually sit on the lanai. I make the boys nice breakfast sandwiches, make our lunch, then we board the rental car, stop at starbucks for our drinks, go to our little beach cave at 69 beach - read and snorkel, head home about 5pm, snack, shower , head into Waimea to Big Island Brewhaus where we inevitably end up chatting with people: many canadians, the chef, the waiter, sometimes locals then home and bed. I like it. In fact I'm loathe to incorporate many more activities - because what if it interferes with our time at the beach? time at Big Island Brewhaus? We met a local who had been born and raised here - Aaron - he went away to architecture school and then came back. He was full of tidbits - seemed quite amazed by our rental - acted like all of the amenities - the pastures, the streams were unheard of. He said this luscious grass that we see is from africa and is not that nutritious. I wondered about that because the horses don't seem that fat. Historically all of the beautiful pasture lands that I am so fond of were covered with trees. Hunting is quite big here - pigs and birds. The most worrisome little tidbit was how big dog fighting and cock fighting are. Joop quickly looked it up and dog fighting has been recently outlawed. I wonder how much difference that will make. A little horror in otherwise paradise. Most people own 2-3 dogs - mostly outdoors. One night I couldn't sleep and was sitting on the lanai - I've never heard so much distant dog barking in my life. Who knows what they are saying to each other? Unlikely to be predators - though the pigs do look quite mean.  Not sure how my type of veterinary medicine would fare here. I was quite horrified to think of outdoor dogs - which is quite stupid when you think of how benign the climate is.
I'm glad we've found our little beach enclave - mostly it is just us and the most darling little crabs in the world - so hilarious to watch them - Kyr actually caught one but I was minus my camera. On weekends we are happy to share with the locals - who we hear from Aaron probably only go to the beach once per week. The other day we happened upon our enclave with another family in it - we happily made ourselves at home in an unused spot - the family indignantly got up and crawled through many trees to find their own privacy. I was happy that with time our enclave was completely filled with local people  - I felt it showed that indignant family (had to be tourists) just where it is at on a public beach. This weird little family then proceeded at the end of the day to spend 45 minutes constantly trucking down to the water edge attempting to wash the sand off everything they had brought. One of the most incredible acts of futility that I've had the pleasure of watching.

At our beach enclave it is very easy to access the water - only a gentle slope of sand - no rocks or big hunks of lava. It is very easy for me - plus I love it because often I get to swim with turtles.  Hapuna beach where the boys go boogie boarding isn't so accommodating. The sand is wide and hot enough to burn your feet. The waves can be huge. Yesterday I couldn't even get in - knocked over in the shallow end - the waves come fast and furious and I'm not able to get up unless the water is deep enough. Poor Joop almost dislocated his shoulder trying to help me.

Pu'u Menehune

View from Lanai - a horse grazing just below the trees

View from the front yard looking south east

Approach to Pu'u Menehune

Side yard

My writing desk

Chair on Lanai

Path leading to waterfalls

Shed on the west side

View of house looking North east (direction of BC)

Hill behind house

Looking into living room

Pristine Parlour/Living room

Joop happy at his computer station.

Life at Pu'u Menehune is pretty wonderful. I think a person could sit contented on the Lanaii morning, noon and night and never tire of the bird songs, the horses and foals galloping on the hill tops, and the occasional view of Mauna Kea looming like a spectre, reminding us all of the volcano that caused such splendour.
Staying at any of these spectacular vacation rental homes you become very intrigued by the owners. My number one question of all of them is how often do they get to stay here themselves? Especially this home. It is such a labour of love - such a clear vision that inspired it.
The home has an interesting history of being a part of the original Waimea hotel. It was built in the 1920's and consisted of 4 identical rooms - 2 bathrooms to share. It was slated for demolition in 1999 so the present owners had it sawed in half and moved to this location - a 13 acre former steer pen on the Historic Parker ranch. You can see by the photos in the house that the land was more barren than it is now. Most of the trees around the house were planted by the owners in the last 15 years - all native Hawaiian species. I'm amazed by the rapidity of growth.
The house has almost a museum feel to it. Just a moment of time at the turn of the last century captured and catapulted into now. I love the purity of their vision - I realize that despite all of my attempts to capture the same feeling in my homes and in my clinics - I am more messy - bringing in way more modern elements - partly for convenience - partly for comfort.
It is relaxing though to have such simplicity, when there was way less stuff. The thank you book in the house has not many entries for the number of years that have passed. I would hate to see it become too popular. It has a fragile feel to it.
It is funny how these vacant Hawaiian homes have the same musty Hawaiian smell - you can get quite fond of it. Our days are really routine already - Morning on Lanaii, starbucks then afternoon on beach snorkelling, evening on Lanai and supper at the Mexican restaurant - Big Island Brewhaus- I told the waiter last night when he was so pleased to see us again that he'll be sick of us soon.
One of my favourite things is sitting on the Lanai in the dark evening and hearing the horses snort around us.

San Antonio Grand March

Large crowds gathering outside the Alamo for no apparent reason.

The vibrant River Walk and the Christmas Grand March

Enjoying supper on the River Walk

On our last night in San Antonio the whole of the city seemed to converge on the River Walk for what seemed to be a Grand March. Even little tiny children paraded along at 10:30pm to see and be seen. It was quite a spectacle with the cascade of coloured lights falling in streams off the tall cypress lining the water. We wondered how many fall in the river. The river cruise boats speed along in quick succession. I felt for a few ducks that had to scurry out of their way.
Many of the buildings that line the walk are made of limestone. Even the rural houses and town buildings are made of the soft stone. It has a

More of the Grand March outside our restaurant

nice effect. The soft colour blends in with the earth and vegetation, seeming to be a part of it.
As we drove north to Blanco a few days ago into the hill country I was stunned to see a plethora of Fireworks buildings - shacks set up along the highway simply for the sale of firecrackers. Sometimes there were 4 in a 100 metre span. What on earth are they doing with all of those firecrackers? That and tiny horses. Field after field of tiny horses eating hay. Despite driving one of the most scenic drives in Texas - The Devils Back. I really can't say that the hill country is that remarkable. Just undulating waves of leafy trees in a sparse grass. The relief isn't that great so that from the car it is mostly trees.
Today we went to the zoo. Quite a pretty zoo. The Mocking birds that greet you at the entrance seemed to have memorized all of the exotic bird sounds from within so you immediately are transported to somewhere tropical.

A cute little Hippo Bum

The hippos were darling and didn't seem too bored. The very graceful Okapi even tried to sniff me with his vomer. The poor African dog seems to need some anxiety meds - endless pacing. Even the elephants were rocking back and forth. The whole thing gives you quite a despairing feeling. Animals in captivity definitely suffer but then the grim reminder that very few of them will exist in the wild. All in all Zoos are hard to visit for all of the terrible feelings they evoke.

Waiting in the Airport to be whisked back to the winter wonderland and a white Christmas.
Despite the wild shopping that I

Some weird bird who was obsessed with pecking my shoes

A curious Okapi

 witnessed and the plethora of decorations - the Christmas feeling doesn't seem that strong here to me and it is probably the lack of the white stuff. Even though I sometimes catch a sniff of pine - the trees are not that common here and without their leaves the cypress don't smell.

A very restless wild African dog.

San Antonio TX

The Emily Morgan Hotel in the background at Sunset

San Antonio is hot. Quite hot. Almost too hot to walk around. This is a nice change from record snow falls in Nelson.
I always wondered why the Gaines family were so insistent that I would love San Antonio. Now I know. It is a unique North American city in that the hub of downtown is so social. The core of this social atmosphere is the river walk. It is very unusual in that it is a recessed walkway around man made canals that is full of people walking and eating at outdoor cafes. Apparently most of these people are tourists: according to the guide books the downtown is devoid of the locals trying to make a living. It doesn't seem to matter who they are - they all are having a good time and you feel like you are a part of something that is happening.
Historically the San Antonio river did wind through the downtown but a tremendous flood in the 20's that killed over 50 people saw the downtown bend almost paved over. Two young women apparently had the foresight to see that would be devastating and managed to convince the decision makers to turn it into a canal system. This stroke of brilliance was executed by the WPA in 1938. The action not only saved all of these 500 year old cypress trees lining the banks but created an unsurpassed social core that makes the city.

Really a person could camp downtown and endlessly walk the river walk and feel like they were really living.

Happily ensconced in our room

The infamous Alamo at night

All the horse drawn carriages beside our hotel

Where have all the telephones gone?

Joop descending to the River walk.
Our hotel  the Emily Morgan is a refurbished medical arts building from the 20's that sits right beside the Alamo. God knows why but apparently even non Texans feel a real kinship to the Alamo. Every sign in town points to it and this has helped us navigate and never get lost. The clip clop of all of the horses carting people around in carriages gives it a nice nostalgic feel. The hotel has been nice but we hit it during a transition to Double Tree Hilton which meant that the only priority in the world was making sure every awning had Double tree painted on it and who cared about the internet not working for several days. I'm sure the manager after multiple interactions with Joop has reconsidered this oversight for the next Hilton takeover. And if he hasn't lets hope Joop and I aren't tenants.

San Antonio's large Hispanic population means that the flavour of  is mostly Mexican. I have yet to see an employee of our hotel that is not of Hispanic descent. Because Jalapenos don't agree with Joop's digestion we have had to consult guide books for restaurant recommendations. Weirdly every restaurant we have picked has disappeared.
.

River Walk

River walk

Charming boat captain

Sad home in the King William area

Less sad home

Joop pointing out all of the Bald Cypress roots - wildly searching for water

Texas Christmas wreath at the Botanical Gardens

The happy couple in Wimberly TX

As wonderful as walking the city is we felt forced to use our rental car and justify the $30/day valet parking fee. It is hard to navigate San Antonio with any map. Every purchased map has not had enough detail. As chief map reader I have an unerring ability to land us in "Military Installations". After  stopping our car at a check point, the guard felt sorry for us. Seeing my frazzled look and maps scattered all over my lap as I claimed: "We're just trying to find the botanical gardens!" Despite:"You are in the middle of a Military Installation Ma'am." and demanding our driver's licenses, he let us sneak through.

One of the more posh historic areas of town had a combination of derelict abandoned homes with beautifully maintained mansions. I think this juxtaposition seems to permeate all of San Antonio. Even the bustling downtown River Walk exists interspersed with gigantic vacant old department store buildings. That same disparity even permeates the vegetation.
                   
The trees of this region are very interesting. The most fascinating are the bald cypress that also line the river walk. They are swamp trees that lose their leaves every fall and have these weird knobbly roots that madly search in the adjacent body of water for something. The combination of these deciduous trees that lose their leaves with the scrabbly oaks that don't, gives a desolate feel in December as though most the trees are dead.
The region has been in a drought for a few years. Neighbouring towns have very paltry rivers. I quizzed a young girl working at a cafe in Wimberely what was the draw for so many young people to the town as all the stores were staffed with young people. She didn't know. The only draw she could think of was river tubing in the summer. Judging by the trickle of water in the river I don't think that is a very viable recreation option. She agreed that the last few years have been rough but she stated with quite a degree of authority that it would rain in the next couple of years and the river would return. Needless to say given the precipitation reality the trees are all interspersed with cacti.

So Long San Francisco

                                 Kyr pondering

                                        A movie in Union Square Saturday night - Roman Holiday to a huge
                                      audience - hundreds of people.

                                             Me hauling the requisite new suitcase per trip.

                                Kyr at Yerba Buena Gardens

                                 Olga, Dave and Kyr

Olga Zilberbourg reading at Portuguese Artists Colony

The last few days in San Francisco have been fun and event filled – as we tried to squeeze every last juicy morsel from the city. Forget going to Alcatraz. I think you have to book weeks, even months ahead. I'll know for next time. We shopped excessively. Kyr is going to look very hot attending college. He failed to find any decent Fluevogs so he is now a proud possessor of Campers. A lovely Spanish brand maybe even as weird as John Fluevog.

We struggled through China town – picked a bad time to walk down the produce street – completely jammed with people buying produce for supper. It was not too fun trying to work around the desperate purchasers but I tried to take consolation in how zealously they were buying vegetables – how healthy is that.The streets were horrifically littered and completely wet as the meat places were being hosed out. It had the horrible wafts of gross anatomy lab every few feet. We gratefully made our way to the parallel street with all of the marvellous knock off wares directly from China. I had to control my urge to outfit Hippoworth with tons of asian paraphernalia. Perhaps Horace needs to do a trip to the far east.

We ate again at Kyr's favorite – the Tonga room. Just gets better and better – quite the hub of the universe.

Yesterday we meandered around the Museum of Modern Art. Saw a few good exhibits and the entire collection of the Gertrude Stein family – tons of beautiful Matisse and the evolution of Picasso.

We met my friend Olga and her husband David at the tea room at Yerba Gardens. It was nice to be removed from the noise of the city and have the sounds of running water superimposed. The shrieks of the doormen whistles echo from hotel to hotel and almost shatter your nerves. Kyr thinks they are communicating to eachother like dogs do barking around the neighbourhood. No matter what, it was good to have the intense noises in abeyance for awhile.

We then accompanied Olga and Dave to the Fivepoint Arthouse for an evening of readings by writers at the Portuguese Artists Colony. Olga was one of two writers highlighted that evening. She read two of her short stories. I love her voice. Her characters communicate a wry, almost incredulous acceptance of their fates. Kyr and  I enjoyed ourselves immensely. We were also entertained by a 10 minute write off – where four writers expound on a topic - “She had his head” while the rest of us listened in awe to a singer who staggered her own background voices on this little machine she tapped with her foot and then launched into the body of the song seemlessly accompanied by many harmonious voices and sounds.

Despite the distractions the 10 minute writings were amazingly diverse and some hilarious. It was such a wonderful opportunity to witness a section of SF's writing community. Olga said that the community is very vibrant and excited about the changes the digital age is bringing - unlike some other areas of the country. Both Kyr and I were caught up in the enthusiasm and wished we had something like it back home.

It was hard to say goodbye to the lovely Fairmont. I think I might actually miss the intense workout that is imperative the second you step out the doors of the hotel.