6/8/04

The long overdue update is here.  It’s been a while since we last posted and there’
s good reason – we’ve been busy getting settled in our new home.  Here’s a
summary of what’s gone on since our last update:

Our Trip to Hawaii
It’s hard to believe we landed in Hilo about 2 months ago.  The trip was very
smooth for all 4 of us.  Just as the plane was ready to take off, with Steph's face
pressed up to the airplane window, saying ‘I haven’t seen them load Bailey &
Sasha yet…’  one of the flight attendants handed us a card that said in so many
words ‘Bailey & Sasha are on board’.  Whew!  Boy, were they glad to see us in
Honolulu and once again in Hilo.

The Transition
Sometimes it feels like we left a small town of Boulder Creek to come to a small
city.  This is especially apparent when running errands around town.  It took all of
3 minutes to walk through town in Boulder Creek – that’s not the case here -
although it’s nothing like the size and population of San Jose.

Some days we miss the structure of our old life, but most days we don’t.  Waking
up to the sunrise is a wondrous way to start the day, weather permitting.  We
enjoy exploring the island and meeting people.   We’ve also been researching the
real estate market pretty heavily since we’ve been here, so it doesn’t feel like there’
s much idle time.

The New Digs
The house is grand.  It’s just as large as it looks on the web.  There are literally
times when we can’t find each other.  Even Bailey gets tired of following Steph
around the house.  She chooses to hang out in the office with Noel instead.  The
reality really set in the first time the bathrooms were cleaned.  

We’re planning an herb garden for starters.  
We have the site identified, composter in full
gear, and the soil’s passed the Ph test.  
Some plants have been moved around to
make way for rosemary, sage, tomatoes,
parsley,...seedlings are popping up.

Landscaping in progress...

We have a bunch of banana trees that
are different varieties.  Our favorite is
the Red Cuban, the spines of the
leaves are a deep red.  They look like
those fake silk leaves that you see in
some arrangements that seem all too
perfect.  Bailey, Sasha and Stephanie
have a morning ritual to walk the
grounds to check on the plants.  It’s
amazing how fast they grow putting
out a huge new leaf about every 2 days

Red cuban...

Farm Work
The farm is a lot of work.  We 4-wheel up there once a
week to start chipping away at the landscape.  It's
about 20 miles from our home so we usually pack a
lunch and spend a good part of the day up there.  

While we're there we feed the breeding peacocks that
were left behind temporarily and eat the fresh guava
(yummm!).  Noel harvested 3 bunches of bananas a few
weekends ago.  Each bunch weighs about 35 pounds
and were about 20 feet in the air.  He had to cut down
the stalk with a machete to retrieve the fruit.  It was all
very exciting.  We have bunches constantly hanging in
our garage to ripen.  View pictures from a recent visit...  

more bananas...

Work Work
Noel’s gets up at 445 each morning to start
work.  He grabs a cup of coffee and lands in
his office where he disappears for most of the
day.  The great thing is that it is still light out
when he is done for the day and we get to do
things around town.  The office is on the
second floor and overlooks the bay.  He gets
to see the sunrise each day – a good
compromise for the early starts.

Next issue – Reunion Update and Commentary on the visit to the summit of
Mauna Kea.