Busy doing nothing.

I have a magnet on my fridge that reads "We lied, size matters"!
How true in this case.
Still I'm not knocking my trusty little sony. It's a good companion that gives me hours of pleasure and requires little in return. And before your dirty little minds can run away with that comment, let me just state for the record I'm not mechanically inclined!
I had originally planned to go windsurfing today but at my level it's soooooooooo much work. I know I won't improve if I don't put in the hours, but the waves have been big all week and this was my first chance to go & watch the big boys. Work or pleasure....I chose the later.
Ka-boom-look at that white water exploding behind him. So if you hear 'it's not the size of the wave, but how you ride it', does that actually mean 'we lied, size matters'?!
And finally, look at the plates of meat(feet)on this bloke! This is Pato coming safely off the rocks yesterday with a mate who has feet like a rabbit! I mean that in the best possible way, because you know what they say about men with big feet......

Happy Christmas.

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One way to repair a soft top!

There's enough duct tape on the end of this board to sink a battleship. Luckily the name of the owner is Eddie Flotte! He's a water color genius and all around good dude. At Kanaha today I was the white water queen and whilst flailing around in the ocean I was thinking it would be great to run into Eddie to take this exact picture. As I was leaving he was pulling in....

Keokea.

I took my bike out for a late afternoon spin starting at Rice Park, which provides a great view of the West Maui Mountains. The vistas are so wonderful it always sets the tone for a joyful ride.
When I hit Thompson road the magic really begins. This short stretch of heaven is home to some of the most magnificent views on Maui. It is always a 'healing' to ride or walk this road and I have done it in many different frames of mind, always feeling better afterwards. No matter what time of day the light is always exquisite and the serenity of the place is potent & palpable.
See what I mean.
How beautiful is this lovely creature. I stayed a while and fed the horses grass while they fed my soul.
And as if all that were not enough this was my vision at the end of the ride. Delightful.

Food glorious food.

Feeling smug for having left work early I decided to get a head start on my Christmas food shopping. I only needed a few things at Costco (a foolish notion at best as they don’t encourage ‘ 9 items or less’). However, having battled downtown traffic & finding even the overflow parking lot was full I realized (not so smugly) the rest of Maui had the same idea. Chuntering “there are way too many people on this Island” I moved to plan B…Puk-Sup-a kinder, gentler non bulky shopping experience. Here the natives are friendly and the veggies locally grown.

Puk-Sup led me to Foodland for the few items they didn’t have and as I was warning the local cashier about the horrors of the downtown population explosion I had to stop myself from saying “where did all these people come from”?, as I am clearly one of “those people”!

Upon opening the passenger door of my truck, the Puk-Sup potatoes & onions dove onto the concrete like lemmings off a cliff. Given that I had parked on a slight incline, they started rolling under the car next to me and were only stopped from gathering great speed by a concrete parking lot divider! As I bent over picking up my escaped verdure I must have looked like a bizarre well dressed bag lady who’d won the vegetable lottery!

Which reminds me, as my vegetable cup runneth over & there are too many mouths on the Island, I must give to the Maui food bank.

PS: Hawai'i's population grew by more than 12,000 people from July 2005 to July 2006 and is now home to 1.285 million people.

Meet the Neighbors

Big Daddy Rambo.
Bambi. and the kids......(no pun intended). Or are these fawns?
Seriously, these four leggeds live just two houses down from me and if you ever need directions to my house you'll hear this; "blah, blah, blah then look for the rams, deers & goats and turn right-mine is the third house on the left".

Quiz time.

As a kid I always liked the part of a quiz show when you had to figure out what the obscurely photographed object was. Answers please on a 3 x 5 postcard mailed to.......

Flat-tery will get you no where.

Which is exactly where I went on my bike ride this morning! Bugger, now I'm dueling between two options. Fun: Making soup, painting, windsurfing or practical, weeding, spreading the mulch on the garden, cleaning the bird shit off my truck or fixing the damn flat!
Ennie meenie minie moe......

Ho-Ho-Ho.

As I’m pouty about the demise of my native tongue, Christmas (due to its annual appearance) is thankfully full of juicy words that have survived 23 years of cultural assault. This particular example is doubly delightful as it's a monument and a bauble all in one!
Milk & two sugars Rudolf?
If I drink enough Baileys and squint my eyes nearly shut......Y.M.C.A!
So one year I had a party and the invite mentioned Christmas Crackers. To whit the majority of the guests were puzzled and dissapointed when instead of getting to eat a wheaty, crispy & savory cracker...they had to pull apart a snapping toilet roll and wear a silly paper hat on their head! I put the F in fun I do!
Santa's definately being naughty and as for Mrs Claus, I'm saving you the visual as you would never look at candy canes the same!

Buddah Said..

"Ely-be not impatient for new blog posts, when words are both true and kind they can change our world"

Billabong Pro Maui

Today was the last day of the Women's Billabong Pro surf contest held at Honolua Bay. It was hot and beautiful. Ulli, GP & I were hill top paparazzi and while I think Ulli won, here's a few of my offerings. I spy with my little eye, something beginning with 't' .



And if you win the world championship, you too can ride up hill uncomfortably on the your friends shoulders! This is Australian surfer Layne Beachley having just won her 7th ASP Women's World Title

What turning 50 really looks like!

My fantastic business partner Nancy, turns 50 on December 6th. To celebrate her half century, we've been giving her surprises for the last three work days. Today's theme was balloons, cake & champagne......I think it went down well don't you?!

It's been a bit wet!

We've had a bit of rain the last few days. With a good down pour, it’s amazing how many parts of Maui get quickly flooded. The English-we always talk about the weather, a favorite when it’s especially grim is “looks like it’s clearing”.
At Kanaha today you definatly had to pack out what you brought in, infact my banana peel made it all the way back up the hill. But good news- it looks like it's clearing!

Just a reminder.....

"Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone."
I don't have a clue who said it, but I like it.

Wallace & Gromit.

How frickin funny is this? I was leaving Mana Foods, which is kinda of like the "star wars bar" for grocery shopping. In hindsight I should have gone inside & taken photos of possible candidates for "Wallace"....if only I had some cheese!

Happy Thanksgiving.

I sat on the hill at Hookipa in the early afternoon to watch the world go by and there's never a dull moment. Between sets my attention was sandwiched between watching the grass grow and observing Michelle paint her first watercolor since turning double digits, it was riveting entertainment all round!
I didn't eat one, but spot the turkey here!
'Mo bettah brah.
This was the late afternoon view from Buddahs house where I had drinks with friends which was delightful. And finally, to top off my American holiday I served my home made minestrone soup to two sets of trust worthy Italian taste buds and this was the unanimous review. Salute!

Plagerism.

This is one of these scenes that due to its location, most of us drive by and don't pay much attention to. If you're familiar with Maui, you'll look at this for a moment and then go "oh that's where that was taken"!

I did the same thing a few months ago while looking at some great photos of local Maui artist Kenn Brinner. He'd taken this shot in sepia and it rocked, check out his stuff at http://www.bigzenphotography.com

Play time.

This was a big day at Kahalui Harbor & as you can see it's not the cleanest body of water on Maui, but it’s still a playground for many and rarely busy as many choose less polluted palces to play. Better have the hydrogen peroxide ready!
Saturday. This little left was perfect for me (and the dude on his oc1) and I paddled out to the far right bouy a little spooked and a little exhilerated being the only one on the break. I'm tough to please, too many people out and I don't want to go and be in the way (occupational hazzard of being a steering impaired surfer), no one out and I wonder what do they know I don't? All together now....everything!!

There are a bunch of local kids that shred the little bowl that forms by the harbor wall...it's like a mini Teahpoo and completely addictive to watch.

Play it again Sam!

Mast & natural high.

I forgot to post this pici from a few weeks ago. With big waves & plenty of wind it was quite a show. I cannot imagine being out there, but if I did……
I'd need one of these...
and one of these! Unfortunately condtions for the PWA right now are crap.Should been here 2 weeks ago....!

Kanaha minus wind & waves.

Without wind & waves, Kanaha became a veritable playground for all kinds of family fun. I even went stand up paddling-so you know it was a calm day! Gotta love this chaps commitment to keep the sun off his epidermis.
I like her style.......
This ninja had the biggest spear gun I'd ever seen!
When these little kids grow up they want to become....
This big kid.....
To top it off-notes from the bagpipes wafted on what little breeze there was. And to think I was going to re-paint my office today?!