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| From the overlook across the street from our condo. We’ve loved this area! |
Who would have thought that living on the island of Kauai, known for its lush greenery and quiet reflective lifestyle would result in our having a great social life? Not us.
When we first arrived and met dear friend Richard at the Makai Golf Club pool and fitness center, we thought that his kindness and eagerness to include us in social events was a fluke.
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| As the sunset progresses. |
Not only have we made new friends from our attendance at local events but we’ve met many tourists, who generally aren’t eager to make friends during a short trip.
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| What a sunset! |
The overlook across the street from our condo has been the most social setting of all in meeting other travelers, many here on long stays, others here for a few weeks at a time. It seems that most tourists second and thereafter visits to Kauai may be extended to weeks, not days, some even to months.
Kauai isn’t the type of place one can easily visit for a few days and leave. Not only is there a considerable number of activities for sports enthusiasts and adventure seekers, but the calming effect of the laid back lifestyle is also intoxicating.
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| As the sunset dropped behind the horizon. |
Kauai has a magical way of lowering one’s level of stress and creating a sense of peace enhancing a desire for quiet, the likes of which few vacation spots offer. One only needs to sit back and enjoy the sound of the surf, the birds, and the gentle breeze wafting through the trees with the almost daily trade winds.
The climate is ideal, although rainy at times and often cloudy for part of each day. Alas time passes and the sun shines, the sky clears and the intense colors of the mountains, the sea, and the surrounding vegetation almost develop to a point of “pleasure on overload.”
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| Look at those clouds at the mountains. |
As I sit here now, writing to our readers, I look out the glass door to see the clouds, the vog, and rain in the nearby mountains, and yet the sun is shining on the lanai at the moment. The roosters are fully engaged in their morning ritual, crowing at a fevered pitch while the chickens do their fair share of clucking in response.
The bird sounds make us laugh especially when we hear the distinct sounds of our favorite visitors, Mr. & Ms. Birdie and two other birds, all cardinals, two different species who will soon alight on the railing singing that specific song that says, “Give me nuts, please!”
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| Colorful pods abound on most vegetation in the Hawaiian Islands, typical of most tropical plants. |
And quickly one of us jumps up in response to that request, grabbing the little bowl containing the nuts I hand chop every week, placing bits of nuts on the lanai railing for them to happily peck at until they’re gone.
The same breeds share with one another. The opposing breeds fight over the nuts. We make every effort to ensure fairness at times separating our offerings into two distinct areas which sometimes works and other times doesn’t.
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| It was surprising to see these tall evergreens. growing in this tropical climate. |
In a way, at this point, we both feel a little lazy. We’ve seen and done so much on this island, experienced more than we’d ever anticipated, made more friends than we’d made anywhere except in Marloth Park, South Africa, an equally friendly environment.
If we didn’t have one more social activity planned, we’d be content. However, that’s not the case at all. We have many more social events planned and without a doubt, more will suddenly appear as it often has. We’ll be the first to chime in to say yes to an invitation, if not taking the initiative for inciting the invitation ourselves.
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| The uniformity of this flower made it worthy of a photo. |
This life we live has no room for shyness. In our old lives, we’d seldom made new friends. In a social setting, we hesitated to ask people we met for the first time for their email or a phone number to set up a time to “get together.” We didn’t want to appear to be stalkers.
In this new life, we have no concern that we’ll appear to be stalkers. We simply love having the opportunity to ask, “How about if we all go out to dinner soon?”
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| A water hazard on the golf course. |
On each occasion, the response is immediate and warm, “We’d love to.” We exchange business cards. If they don’t have a card, we give them ours asking them to email us their email. Who carries a pen and paper these days?
Otherwise, if we have one of our phones in our possession, we’ll enter it there, keeping in mind, we don’t have cell service on the phones and wifi service only when we’re “home.” (Once we arrive in Australia, we’ll be able to load SIM cards into our phones for service).
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| On a walk in our neighborhood, these condos have excellent views of the Makai Golf Course. |
If we don’t hear within a few days, we don’t assume for a moment that they don’t want to get together (Tom says that sound cocky). We assume they may be like us in our old lives, not taking the initiative to make new friends.
Overall, we hear from the other couple 50% of the time and make the effort for the rest. After a dinner out, such as this past Friday night with Alice and Travis, we’re so happy we all enthusiastically made the effort. We had a fabulous time and plan to see them again before we leave.
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| Not only is there amazing vegetation in the Princeville Botanical Gardens, it abounds everyone one goes on the “garden island” of Kauai. |
Our dinner plans for Saturday night were postponed to this Wednesday due to an injury incurred by our host and we look forward to seeing this wonderful couple again this week at their home for dinner.
It’s been hard to say goodbye to the many lovely couples we’ve met in Kauai, many here for short stints, others longer. With many, we continue to stay in touch via email often hearing they are following along with us here. To each and every one of those lovely people, we say, “Thank you” for sharing a bit of your precious holiday/vacation time with us.
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| Cloudy day mountain view. |
Today, it’s raining off and on as the sun also appears off and on. A drive may be on the agenda but if the weather doesn’t cooperate we may stay put once again. After highlighting the Princeville Botanical Gardens for the past three days we continue on with other photos and stories. If you haven’t had a chance to see those posts, please scroll down after today’s post to see all three of them with many photos.
Our Nevada accountant has completed our taxes as of this morning to be filed electronically today. Having that behind us gives us peace of mind, leaving our minds free to soak up our remaining “40 days and 40 nights” on the beautiful, peaceful, and social island of Kauai.
Photo from one year ago today, April 13, 2014:
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| A Kasbah on the road to the Atlas Mountains. I had done a little whining one year ago on this date. For details on why, please click here. |