We've been here on Molokai since the end of August. It's really an experience like no other. The people here are wonderful. You just have to get out of the house and meet them. I volunteered to take pictures of the Molokai Little League. Unbeknownst to me, baseball is a really huge deal here and they hadn't been playing since COVID started. This was the first year to be up and running again. The kids were great and meeting all of the parents was really wonderful. Everyone was friendly. I will be the first to admit that I couldn't remember the names of everyone and a lot of the names were difficult for me to pronounce. But, I really enjoy learning the little bits and pieces of new language. And, it's really great when one of the locals helps me out with it!
Like I said, the kids were awesome and so much fun. You could really see so much improvement through just one month of watching the games. I hope they will let me photograph them next you and I'll be much more organized. Honestly, I had no idea was going to be photographing over 200 kids when I volunteered. My brain had no idea how to handle all of that! haha One super neat thing that came from this project was that I had one of my photos published in the paper:
Meanwhile, we've continued working on our bathroom and in the yard. I took great care of some weeds that I thought were baby monkeypod plants. I did this for over a month! I had ten little pots of a weed...a particularly invasion, nasty, hard to get rid of weed. But, hey, we all make mistakes right?
I did discover the mistake and found actual baby monkeypod trees. Now they are potted and I'm taking care of them.
Monkeypod trees are a really great tree. I don't know if they are native or not so I won't comment on that. But, I do know, they like the sun and they are drought resistant. That is very helpful here. They grow these great canopies 100-200 feet and create this cool area. It is really wonderful and the best place to sit. I'm working on planting several all around the house. They will create the cool areas and then the wind will blow that cool air to the house.
Because I live on the desert part of the island in Kawella. I learned from a local that Kawella means "the hot".....it is always hot here and we don't get a lot of rain. So, I have pretty much failed at my desire to grow vegetables. But, I'm working on a solution to that as well.
I've had much more success with the succulent type plants and things like that:
And, I've started a cactus garden area down in the front corner of the yard. I have more stuff to add to that even though I don't really like cactus. But, that's okay. Those are generally good plants for the area. I even have one plant that attracts flies. So, I'm planting it far away from the house and maybe I won't get many flies! hahaha
I've gotten back to cooking. I made some brioche buns and they were good. I'm making bread in the bread machine and by hand....as well as my own pizza dough. Oh, and the banana bread! Good grief. Can't forget that because we have banana trees and I have an over abundance of bananas!!
We had some excitement a couple weeks ago. A grandma and her two grandkids were driving down the hill. We aren't sure what happened, but she lost control of her vehicle and slammed right into our power pole. I mean to tell you, she sheared that power poll right off. We happened to be outside and saw it and immediately, Brandon (former first responder and firefighter), jumped into action worried to death that the scene was going to be bad. Amazingly, grandma was out of the car within 10 seconds and had the grandkids out 2 seconds later. Everyone was fine. Turns out grandma was very sore from the seatbelt. But, kids were great. It was a Honda CRV I believe and the airbags! Holy cow there were a lot of them and the car looked terrible. But, none of them were hurt at all. Brandon was worried because he's been to accidents like that before where the results were so much worse. I gave grandma a couple days and then took her and the kids some banana bread (with chocolate chips) to them just to make sure they were all okay. What I found most disturbing about it all is that the 911 dispatcher didn't seem to really be on it and the fire and police that showed up just didn't seem to know exactly what to do. Maybe it was because the electric company got the power turned off right away so there was really no rush and they weren't worried. I don't know. I just know the Illinois response is much different.
We were out of power from about 430pm until about 230am. But, the power company cleaned everything up and got everything working again. So, that was all good.
We participated in a Holiday Craft Fair. I put together a bunch of my images and put together a price list, cards, and a drawing for a free photo session. I was just hoping to get my name out there a little more. There are quite a few photographers here and different folks selling their work. So, we'll see how it goes.
We've made some new friends......
People friends too and been visiting with them. Brad and Cheryl have been wonderful to get to know and have a lovely lanai to sit on in the evening!
This is actually in the backyard where we are.....rainbows are everywhere here and they are still so amazing!
Brandon went up the mountain with Brad to hunt some deer. He came back with the notion that we needed a Jeep. He said there was just no way we'd be able to go up the mountain without one. So, we got one! It's hilarious because it has a lift kit on it and huge tires. I have a hard time getting in and I slide out on my butt. However, everyone loves it, especially the dogs!
Brandon keeps calling it mine and I've been the driver so far. I'm not exactly sure why. I really enjoy being chauffeured everywhere!!! haha
The tradewinds are blowing like crazy right now and right this minute, it is the perfect temperature. This afternoon it will get hot, but the winds will still be blowing. So, it won't be terrible. You're laundry dries super fast on the line here!!!
We end every day with a drink either under the monkeypod tree or on either the front or back lanai....just depends on what we want to look at for the evening. We spent one evening watching the whales for over and hour and that was really cool. They were breeching the water, blowing water, and you could see their tales splashing. You didn't even need binoculars. I just thought how unbelievable that I'm living somewhere that I can see such a thing from the front lanai. I'm truly blessed.....as are these silly dogs that cause us so much grief every single day....like it's their job!
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