56...I'm on the downhill side to 60

Yesterday was my 56th birthday. It was one of those tip-over-the-top birthdays. You know, when you are closer to the next milestone? That's ok. I'm feeling good, living the dream.
We've had some excitement here on Apala Farm. Fun under the Big Top - no, not the circus, though there were some elements to the experience which definitely rivaled the circus. We got FUMIGATED.

 Those dirty little termites just had to go. So here's the drill: The bug company comes out with special bags for all of your foods, spices, vitamins etc. Anything that gets ingested. In our case, Mr. Goo from Bug Man came out. No, I'm not kidding. So everything goes in one bag - twist it, double it over, tape it. Then you put that in a SECOND bag - twist it, double it over, tape it. We did that for everything in our house. Fortunately, we had just had 7 teenage boys over so we didn't have that much food. Once we were bagged or removed, they tented the house and we moved to the back of our property in a RV that was kindly supplied by our friends, Antoinette and Melvin:

And then it started to drizzle....
So we spent two fun filled days and one memorable night with the dogs camping on our property. It probably wouldn't have been so challenging had I not just moved 3 times in the past 4 weeks. But then on the second day, the sun came out, the tent came down, the air in our house was tested and cleared and we moved back in. Sooooooo happy!!!!!
The fumigation process was a minor setback to achieving homeostasis, but we are almost there.
And for the good news -
We painted the guest bedroom and now it is ready and waiting for...well,... guests. I added the pillow my dear friend Evie Ross needle pointed for me - "Work...it's not for everyone". Speaks volumes regarding retirement.

So c'mon over to Paradise. Your room is waiting and the bugs are dead.

- Making it our home.

Tomorrow marks week 2 in my new home in Haiku. Feeling very thankful, peaceful and happy to be here. I'm missing my kids of course, but truth is, they were busy with their lives, I was busy with mine and we didn't see that much of each other. We talk every day and now I have new things to share with them.
It's been drizzly the past couple of days. Grateful, because we painted the living room. Drizzle doesn't mean cold here - it's still in the 80's. Our morning walk/swim with the dogs was preempted by rain down at Baldwin Beach. I mean, it's warm, but really, walking/swimming in the rain isn't all it's cracked up to be. It's not like we have to cram every second into a two-week vacation. After all, WE LIVE HERE. The good news about the rain- other than the fact that we never have to water out here, is that we get really spectacular rainbows. Rainbows in the morning, rainbows in the afternoon, double rainbows, triple rainbows, even rainbows around the moon. I hope I never lose the thrill and wonder of looking out my window at a rainbow.
The dogs have settled in pretty much. They love going to the beach and have begun to figure out that it's not an event to meet another dog at the beach. They sniff politely then go on about their business. The dogs and I walk about a mile while Robert swims. We usually try to get down their around 7am and finish up around 8. Great way to start the day.
So that's the wrap up of our first two weeks. It's great to be us. We're blessed. And we know it.

The ocean view from our kitchen table.

Woke up to a rainbow yesterday. From my bed.

Yep, that's out back on Apala Farm

Look! Pearl has the pot of gold! She found it behind the Toyota pickup.

Gardenias from our yard next to the kitchen sink. Makes doing the dishes very pleasant.

And why not have fresh Plumerias on your table every day - if you can.

New living room color. What do y'all think?

It's actually not quite a yellow as it appears, still sunny though.

No whining...mostly pretty pictures.

It's a good day. Nothing special, just a good day. Well, it was Kaylen's 27th birthday. That was good.  We walked and swam at 7am this morning. That was good too. Nathaniel had hot chicken splash into his face yesterday and burned his eyes - not so good BUT he's better today and the burns aren't in the seeing parts. That's definitely good. Went to Kahului to Ulalani's for shave ice. Very good. All in all, a good day in Maui.
So here are a few pics from around the farm...

Out our bedroom window. That jungle is ours.

Red ti by the front steps

Gardenias! I pick one every day.

Man tackling the jungle.

Puakenikeni when it's white

On the tree

Bananas coming soon!

Maui Dog #1

Maui Dog #2

Aloe vera in our jungle

Heliconia - Sassy

Mango Tree

Puakenikeni turning yellow (it will be orange later)

Beginning to clear the cane!

The property we've recovered so far from the great cane grass takeover

Hunting

Hunting with a friend

Ti plants. 

Peek-a-boo  of our house

It will be mango season soon!

And then it will be avocado season!

In the meantime, there's always an orchid

Or a surprise uncovered in the cane grass

Mamaki - makes a delicious tea.

And of course, plumeria

The good day is almost over

Aloha from Apala Place.

Well, we're here and still upright.

Tomorrow marks our first week in Maui. So much has happened in such a short period of time.
Begin with the actual trip:
Saturday I spent the day packing what was left into 3 suitcases weighing PRECISELY 50lbs each. We went to John's All-Star basketball game (which they won- yay) and toddled off to bed around 11pm. Someone forgot to cue the sandman because I tossed until at least 1am, woke again at 2am and got up at 3am. Swell...
Got to the airport, stuffed Pearl into her crate, got Toby through Security and got separated on the plane from Robert because dogs can't sit in the emergency exit. The lucky winners of the seat next to me and Tobs were a nice young couple - the wife was pregnant and I had the aisle seat. Needless to say, it was an up and down experience. Toby was surprisingly good on the flight. That's saying a lot because he's not particularly well behaved. Small blessings count big.
The boys arrived about an hour after us. I had a small panic attack as I sat in my garage thinking, "What have I gotten myself into??" However, I attributed much of the anxiety to lack of sleep and the overwhelming experiences of the past two months. Three of the boys got here and started unpacking the container and within a short period of time, we were functional at Apala Place. That night 3 more boys came in and by Wednesday, our guests topped out at 7 teenage boys.

The piano was the last to move in. We hired a piano mover who, along with our guys and a big local guy named Joey, eeked our piano up the stairs and into the living room. Intense!
So the guys have been on a Hawaiian free-for-all - beach, Maui night life, sleep, eat, eat, eat, eat. They went to a Damien Marley concert last night and a couple have chosen to beach camp up at Thousand Peaks tonight. That should be interesting...John, Dallin, Zak and perhaps Steve have opted out of the beach camp out. Smart guys. I've camped at the beach here - it's not all you'd think it is and my experience was a cockroach festival. Good luck guys.
And how am I doing? Well, for the most part, it's a good move. It's beautiful here, the weather is great, the daily walks at the beach with the dogs are very healing. Getting settled has been slightly easier than I expected. I am caught off guard from time to time with feelings of anxiety and doubt, but those feelings pass pretty quickly. After John and the boys leave next week I'll get a better sense of this new life. Patience, I suspect, will be the key.

This is what it looks like when your life of 34 years drives away.

This is what it looks like when it's stuffed into a 8' X 20' box








Funny thing, I would be lucky to name 10 things packed in there.

June 2, 2013
So we are officially out of 5741 Futura Way. We currently are living with 2 fox terriers, a pomeranian and our dogs, Pearl and Toby who are somewhat persona non grata here on Baird Rd. The Ross' kindly have let us flee our home and live here until they return on Tuesday with our son Nathaniel. This is a very strange chapter in our lives - we are finished yet not started. Kind of hard to describe, but suffice it to say, it has caused me to morph from the crazy mad shrew I was during the packing process into homicidal maniac long-toothed shrew. My long suffering husband will be lucky if he survives this latest transformation. We can't find shaving cream, my clothes all look like they just came out of a suitcase - oh right, they did - we've run out of allergy medicine and I shipped the rest in the container.
Now for the good news...
John Stewart Gordon Aitchison has officially graduated high school. Another surreal experience. It doesn't really floor me until I put it in the perspective that my last little chick has left the nest. I will never again assist in an essay on Robespierre (thank goodness). I will not spend 10 months out of the year trying Mon - Friday to shake John out of bed for seminary. As I cleaned the last of the woodwork at Futura Way yesterday, I reflected on the smudges that were knee high - no doubt a few were my baby's trying to pull themselves up to standing. The smudges on the top of the door cases were when my boys were finally tall enough to reach them and demonstrated that fact often. Looking back, I guess there was an upside to my poor housecleaning habits. One more small piece of evidence that we raised three terrific kids in that house on the hill. So that's it, another chapter closed. Another chapter begins.
Can't wait to see the twist in the story.