Cold-play.

Friday night brought the band together, we have Ulles on Uke, Ely on drums and Banjo, Giampaolo on bass & Chico on guitar.There was also Gary on guitar and lead vocals, plus Petra, Messh, Juan and me on percussion. What a bloody racket we made, super fun!

Here's Meesh looking like Jake Shimabukuru but actually playing 'air uke'! "And why the winter hat"? I hear you ask..........see below.

Not only has Meesh been wearing her winter woollies, but rumor has it for kiting she's also been double wet suiting and is still cold! Fark - we are all complaining about the winter chill (right now 65f/18c) and after living here to 20 years I finally broke down and bought.......

.....a heater! In fact I'm warming my toes by it as I type.

Meanwhile, here's my lava lamp (or is it a former boyfriend in formaldehyde) just getting warmed up! And while we're on the subject of juvenile humor, here's Steven Fry's latest twitter entry: In the meantime I'm childishly amused by waiter who's just told me about promotion: in his accent "two vodkas and you get a turd free"! With thanks to Mr.Fry, the word 'twazzock' in now firmly entenched in my vocabulary.

Your honor roll.

You don’t have to go far off the beaten path to find something (or someone) quirky on Maui. Here's one such item that's been a fixture here for as long as I can remember, but it’s certainly grown in stature since my last drive by.

The wood fence and stone wall at my house pale in comparison to this mighty feat of creativity. Very impressive.

Lucky for everyone, there are fruit and flower stands everywhere around the Island. I had randomly stopped by to take snaps of this one when a truck pulled up with the sign ‘Maui Photo Safari’ on the side. Expecting a pile of tourists to jump out and snap the very same fruit stand, I thought ‘blimey I must have a good eye’…..but the driver just casually strolled up, put his money in the tube and bought his fruit. Busted by my own ego again!

The thing I love about these stands is that it’s all on the honor system. There’s always a box of some description for the money, a hand written price list and the rest is left up to customer discretion.

Flower power perfection in a plastic bucket.

Daniel you're a star.

Yesterday, Danny threw himself the all time 'fun for everyone' birthday bash. He rented 'Da Big Wave' flow rider for an hour, so all his mates could come and be humbled one by one, over and over, and over again. Brilliant.

The line up was mellow, maxing out at about 10 with no one dropping in, no one giving stink eye and everyone politely queueing up to have their fill of water time. Ahhhh but if it were only as civil in the real world.

whoopsy daisy.....there goes Meesh.......

Giampaolo showing his grit and determination.
Big Simon and his butt crack.

Wixie looking like a pro.

The WAG's were out in force.

oooooooohhhhh, down goes Ian.

You go girl! Equal opportunity fun for all ages, shapes and sizes.

Doh.......there goes Ulles. I could show you all the good shots but all the landings are so much more entertaining! It was hard to exit this thing gracefully, which of course makes it all the more amusing.

By George I think he's got it!

And just in case you doubted that this was anything short of big fun, here's Dao to convince you.

While the flow rider kept everyone entertained before dark, that was only the warm up act. After a few pints of Guinness it was off to the chicken shack for a good old fashioned p.a.r.t.y. (again courtesy of Danny Entertainment). I escaped back to my bed well before midnight but I'm sure many are still in theirs.....recovering.

A sign of the times.

Some say.....

Some say that The Stigs scrotum actually generates a small gravity field (plagiarised) and that has a twin sister who lives on Maui. 

Just a heads up, I'm going to sprinkle this post with photo's where you can pause and take a breather, otherwise it might be a bit much all in one fell swoop!

All the laughs were in our birthday boys honor. Sid's a cracking chap and his lovely Mrs. did the honors of throwing him a surprise party with a UK theme. Nice one Ashley!

Here's our lad posing a bit too comfortably with some more of his guests. I think the loo adds a nice touch, so I left it in.

Commercial break....what's new puddy tat?

Ian cooked a cracking dinner with what he thought was plenty of nosh for everyone. However, when he came up short on the sausages, it later became painfully obvious why. The blow up sheep (while ever such a kind gift) was of course horribly abused!

Oh look at the lovely church....let's take a moment and enjoy the scenery shall we?

Meanwhile......back at the party (and talking of scenery) the sheep had become a hero and so had Ulli in his mankini!

Whoa Stig, steady on there old boy, I think you being there is gift enough!

awwwwwwwwww, don't ya hate when that happens an just when the program was getting good!

Paddle power.

It was a picture perfect Sunday morning, so we paddled out from Makena Landing in hopes of close encounters with turtles and whales.

As any eager kid would, I baggied the good seat with a clear unobstructed view of the ocean, but I think the stroker does more work than the steersman?  

We were not disappointed as we did we see turtles and whales (in the distance), not to mention the rare sight of my lily white legs in the mouth of Moby Dick! And taking of dicks......we ended up at 'little beach' which on a Sunday is a favorite spot for naturists! The plan was to go ashore and hang out (figuratively speaking) take a break and paddle back. However, as the wind picked up so did the probability of my whining, so we headed rythmically back to base camp one stroke at a time.

Back on land we basked in the sun , enjoying the numerous variations of blues greens, blacks, browns and whites.

Jack Sparrow trying to steal our bounty for his lunch.

A quick prayer before snorkeling never hurt.....

......especially when exploring the shore break!