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| Red Ginger plants overlooking an open area on the grounds of Bev and Sam’s property. |
Before I continue with Part 2 of anniversary night’s visit to new friends Bev and Sam’s fabulous estate, I wanted to share the fact that my sister Julie is flying here on Thursday from Los Angeles for an eight day visit.
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| These organic, non-GMO, pesticide and chemical-free red grapefruit growing on Bev and Sam’s amazing property aren’t quite ready for harvesting. |
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| How wonderful it would be to be able to head out to the orchard in the morning to pick a sumptuous red grapefruit for breakfast. |
Although our condo is small, we’ll make it work. Julie will have the loft bedroom for herself and the three of us will share the one bathroom on the main floor. Our little dining table for four will work well as long as I don’t cook too many side dishes to pass.
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| The former greenhouse has been converted to a movie viewing studio. We took this photo shortly after our arrival to Bev and Sam’s home before darkness fell. |
Tonight, we’ll experience three people in our condo for the first time when friend Richard comes to dinner to watch the finale of “The Bachelor” with us. We’ve always enjoyed this show speculating on the outcome from the beginning. So, like many other Bachelor enthusiasts, we’re having a little Bachelor party.
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| There was an area designated for the growth of papayas. |
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| I’ve always been confused telling the difference between papaya and mango. Mangos grow on large trees whereby papayas grow on smaller trees such as shown here. |
Our dear friend Richard, retired attorney, successful businessman, also enjoys watching every episode after which the three of us have shared comments and observations.
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| The papaya trees were perfectly arranged and space in the papaya garden. |
How appropriate that we’re getting together tonight at our place while I serve well seasoned barbecue ribs (no sauce), veggies, salad and low carb muffins.
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| There are thousands of varieties of orchids. Many can be seen here at this link and growing in Bev and Sam’s gorgeous property. |
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| Purple orchids. |
Now we’ll continue with Part 2 of Saturday’s movie night at the home of friends…
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| These white orchids are particularly appealing. |
After our comprehensive separate tours of the expansive property, Tom and I reconnected at the greenhouse which Bev and Sam had converted to a tiered movie theatre with a huge screen, modern equipment and sound system.
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| This thick shag carpet-like grass was not only a different color than most grasses but was soft to the touch and very dense. |
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| Banana trees from which Bev and Sam harvest each season for resale. With the help of their full-time gardener and groundskeeper, they are able to resell |
Situated in comfortable chairs next to one another, high enough to easily see the entire screen, we gabbed with our immediate seatmates and shared a few tidbits of our respective tours of the property.
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| Bird of Paradise, a favorite we’ve seen in many countries. |
When we heard that the movie was “The Artist,” filmed in black and white with subtitles, we’d both cringed. Neither of us cares to watch movies with subtitles and I’ve never liked watching movies filmed in black and white. Ugh, this was going to be a long two hours, we both thought. But, the opportunity to socialize was more important to us than the movie itself.
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| We’d never have guessed that this is a macadamia nut tree. |
Little did we know, that in the first five minutes, we were hooked! Honestly, “The Artist” goes on our list of favorite movies. Who would have thought? It is the most delightful, charming, heartwarming and smile provoking movie we’d seen in a long time.
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| It will be mid summer by the time this avocado tree produces fruit. |
The movie won five Academy Awards in 2012 including best picture and numerous other international awards. The acting was beyond reproach. If you haven’t seen it, we highly recommend downloading it while serving some snacks to enjoy your own movie night.
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| Aptly named a Bottlebrush Tree. We’d seen a similar flower in South Africa which they call Sickle Bush. Click here for the link. |
Midway through the movie, Sam stopped the movie at an appropriate cliffhanging spot for an intermission allowing us ample time to meet and chat with other guests while many refilled their plates with the various pu pu’s.
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| An elephant statue in the tree as a reminder of Bev and Sam’s various trips throughout the world, able to see this magnificent animals. |
When the movie ended well after 9:00 pm, we had another opportunity to chat a little more with the guests as everyone gathered their various pu pu platters and dishes, meeting several we hope to see again during our remaining over two plus months in Kauai.
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| More white orchids. |
Thanking our gracious hosts, we made our way back to the car to head home with smiles on our faces. It couldn’t have been a more perfect night. Back at home, I nibbled on leftovers when typically the pu pu’s don’t include anything befitting my way of eating. I’m used to that and never give it a thought until returning home and feeling ravenous.
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| This beautiful Buddha type statue sits on Bev and Sam’s massive lanai. |
It was a good anniversary. It was a good night. Our heartfelt thanks to Bev and Sam for including us in this fun event. We couldn’t be more appreciative to all of the friends we’ve made in Kauai, especially to our friend Richard.
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| Moments before the movie began in the theatre. |
Without his excellent “social director” skills, most of our socializing wouldn’t have reached this level. Thanks, Richard! See you tonight for our Bachelor party!
Photo from one year ago today, March 9, 2014:
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| Our first night spent in the Medina as darkness fell. We were anxious to see the lights and festivities so typical in this popular area in Marrakech. The sounds, the smells and the energy was fascinating. We had dinner in a café overlooking the core of the activity. For more photos from that evening, please click here. |