I’m back! Did you miss me?

My life is finally settling down a bit, now that the big freelance project is done and most of the unpacking is done (except for the office, but we’re not talking about that here, no, no, no). My day job desk continues to be covered with the inexplicable pile of work, but now that some of the other stuff has cleared out, it’s managable.

I’ve spent the last week doing good things for myself: walks, good dinners, shopping, aimless wandering. Sunday was particularly nice. I had a vague plan of wandering about, and wanted to be prepared for my whims, so I loaded up the trunk with the digital camera, snorkeling gear, swimsuit & other beach accoutrements, bags for collecting beach glass, and the like.

I had seen an ad for a big yard sale at the top of St. Louis Heights, boasting of filing cabinets and old Macs, so of course I had to check it out. By the time I made it to the yard sale, they had only a Mac Classic left, with a buyer lined up. The filing cabinets were OK, but nothing I had to have. Other than that, they didn’t have much.

What a great view from up there, though! I have found myself up on a lot of ridges lately, and I just love seeing the island laid out below me, Diamond Head looking like an ashtray on the corner of the coffee table that is Oahu. There is a park just down the block from where the sale was, so I headed over that way to see what I could see. It is supposed to overlook our valley, and it would have been cool to get some pictures of where I live from above. But the park is closed until June. A disappointment, but not a day-killer.

On my way to return my mindless movies from earlier in the weekend, I ran across another yard sale, and snagged a stationery sorter and wooden serving tray for a grand total of one dollar. She also had a PowerBook 140, but wanted $400 for it. I told her she was nuts. They’re selling for $30 on eBay, and that’s with an external power supply and a case, neither of which this one had. She said she was holding out for $400. Good luck with that, lady.

I headed over to the mall after returning my movies so that I could pay my Discover bill (you did know that you could do that at Sears, didn’t you?). Turns out that it was sidewalk sale weekend, so of course I had to check it out. I didn’t end up with anything for myself, but got Kevin one of the silk aloha shirts he loves so much for half price.

I decided that the North Shore was a good idea, since I hadn’t been up there in a while. A few miles down the highway I realized that I had neglected to bring both sunscreen and a book. I can get by without sunscreen if it’s late in the day, but it was approaching noon, and for me going to the beach without a book is like going to the beach without a swimsuit. A stop at Borders Waikele was in order. And what was waiting for me there on the hurts rack but a copy of Philistines at the Hedgerow, which I have been wanting to read for a while now, and it was only $3.98 because the cover was a little bit ripped. Was that a good sign or what?

Then I figured what the hell and went over to the outlet section of the mall and ended up with a nice $200 skirt from the Saks outlet for $15 and a couple of tank tops, because I can never have too many of those, and a few of the ones that I can get away with at work are starting to look a little tatty.

At this point I realized that I had not yet had anything to eat, so I stopped at Wendy’s for a burger on the drive up. I used to live on Wendy’s in Ohio, and we have only two on this island, both out in the boonies. Stopping at Wendy’s is a treat for me, although this particular one did not taste as good as I expected it to. I guess I’m just too used to Kua Aina now.

Cresting the hill in the pineapple fields, I could see that it was a bit cloudy on the North Shore, but there were some spots of sun mixed in with the rain I could see falling over the ocean. Actually pretty good conditions for me going to the beach at 1 p.m., because the sun here is HOT in the middle of the day. Stopped at Strong Current for some sunscreen, and headed out to Waimea. Of course, being midday on a weekend, there was no hope of parking anywhere near Waimea, so it was on to Sunset.

I love Sunset. It’s a huge expanse of sand of just the right texture, and big enough that it rarely feels crowded. The waves were about 2-4, so I was able to get into the water there for the first time ever. (Every other time the waves have been too big for me.) There is a very strong rip current right at the shoreline -- I can’t imagine how people deal with it when the waves are big. I was swimming against it at a moderate pace, and was keeping even with this guy sitting on the beach. That water felt so great, then the sun when I got out felt even better, then the hard rain that let loose on my head 15 minutes later didn’t feel so great. At that point I realized that I had failed to bring my pareau, and was stuck putting on my nice dry shorts over my sopping wet bathing suit. No Coffee Gallery for me, with my saggy wet shorts -- too embarrassing. I never even cracked my book.

I decided to try one more place: Mokuleia, which is one of my very favorite spots on this planet. Mokuleia is nestled between the end of the Waianae mountain range and the sea at the very end of the road. It is wild and beautiful and dangerous, both in the sense of the water being unpredictable and the wind being strong, and in the sense that it’s not the kind of place you want to be at night and that it is the kind of place where you turn on your sixth sense during the day and stay aware of what’s going on around you. There is a lot of mana here, a power that you feel when you dig your feet into the sand and lean into the wind and watch those impossible blues of the ocean swirl in front of you. From Mokuleia you can hike to Kaena Point, a hike I would like to do someday, but definitely not alone. I lasted about 15 minutes at Mokuleia before I realized that if I stayed longer, all that would be left of me in a short time would be a pile of sandblasted bones. So it was homeward for me.

The beaches in town looked pretty good as I approached, but I was done tempting the rain gods for the day. A hot shower and Sunday evening TV rounded out the day nicely.

I love days like that, even with the rain.
- posted by Lori @ 4:17:00 PM | permanent link | |