Here is the utterly divine reason for my absence from the blog.  Hawaii!  We went for just under a week and thoroughly enjoyed every minute.  We’d been meaning to go for quite some time, but didn’t actually decide on it until after my surgery.  I was at one of my check-ups when my sweet specialist Liz poked her head out the door and asked an assistant to grab her prescription pad.  My heart sank.  I thought I was doing so well and was already chock full of drugs, so I had no desire to add another to the list.  Much to my delight, she handed me a prescription that read:  Tropical Vacation.  You’ve earned it!

I got home, showed it to the hubster, and we cried a little thinking about how hard a life with endometriosis can be.  We also thought about the summer we missed post-surgery.  We didn’t get to ride bikes together, garden, play in the sun, go to the fair, or even feel normal until we were well into fall.  So began our plans.  We’d have our summer in spring!  Oh what a summer it was!

These are all pictures taken from where we stayed on Maili Point.  We rented a small cottage that was steps from the beach and firmly rooted in paradise.  From this spot we watched boats of all kinds, surfers, paddlers, snorkelers, spear fishermen, whales, and sea turtles (Oh my!).  I really don’t think it could have been better.  The funny bit about it is that when we told the woman who inspected our rental car where we were staying, she could not have been more worried.  Waianae (Why-Nigh), you’re going to Waianae?  Yes.  She frowned, shook her head, took out a map, circled the area, followed that with a giant X, and the word NO.  Well sheesh lady, it’s too late now.  We’re going.  And so we went.  Aside from the heart palpitations I had from her fear, we had absolutely no problems, though we did have warmer, drier weather than the rest of the island and all the aforementioned delights.  We did see some homeless camps, and a couple of them were really big and quite permanent, but mostly the area reminded us of Southeast Portland: a good mix of  people, some with money, some with none, but all living Aloha.

We were treated to glorious sunsets every single day.  As our friend Kelly would say, “That’s why it’s paradise!”  We had a brilliantly beautiful night sky, too, with Venus just above the horizon, and stars, so many stars!

The cute cottage.  The flowers are plumeria and smell like paradise.

Our sleeping quarters – I put a vase of plumeria flowers next to the bed for sweet slumber.

The living room.  We moved the coffee table and practiced yoga in the morning.  Nothing like stretching to the sound of crashing surf.

Eat here.

Staring at the Sea.  Also a great album by The Cure.

We made a concerted effort to buy everything from locals and look goofy while preparing them.  Aside from the milk, yogurt (Nancy’s from Oregon!), cereal, and peanuts, we ate Hawaiian.  I’m making Kalua pork (bought in a package – I didn’t have the time or inclination to roast an entire pig underground) with cabbage and pineapple.  It was yummy.  We also liked the Pipi Kaula.

A view from our hammock.  Hammocks are good.

Another view from the hammock.  Palm leaves blowing in the breeze sound like rain falling and home.

I saw so many ladies with flowers tucked behind their ears that I could not help but join the crowd and squint happily!

The handsome hubster.  My favorite haolie boy.