I am starting to read again. I haven’t been you see; I have dozens of books in my cabin but I haven’t actually finished one this contract. That’s not like me, and I’m not really pleased about it. I fear I’ve been falling into the same thrall that I’m afraid one day my children might fall prey to…and I don’t like what I can feel it doing to me. So I’m making an effort to set aside my phone, put down my facebook, and pick up a real book instead. And I feel better for it ,freer somehow, as though my fingers have missed the feeling of paper underneath them. My most recent adventure is the Swan Thieves, an art history/mystery/romance. Just another way of trying to let colour back into my life.
And what better place for embracing colour than Hawai’i?
Every tme I set foot in Hawai’i I fall in love with it all over again. I can’t seem to help it there is something about it. I can’t think of anywhere closer to paradise. If I could afford it I would move here in a heartbeat.
Maui is the most tourist heavy of the islands, but even so a wondering walk along the water takes you away from the worst of the throngs, $5 gets you into the tiny local museum that once served as the local church, hospital and doctor’s residence (warning: the docent on duty will talk your ear off, but its conversation is worth the price of admission) and a smile will get you into the even tinier Chinese temple museum just down the road.
Beyond that my ambling wander took me in and out of several shops (where I was lucky enough to find a couple of small things I actually had been looking for) and also to a few photo opportunities for Applejack – who has continued to be my traveling companion since Amras and I adopted her on our way to DC.
Hard to believe that was almost a year ago now…or how much has happened since then.
I shaded my eyes and squinted through the dust coated windows of what used to be the local Hard Rock Café I could even point out exactly which table it was that Amras and I occupied the last time we were there. I’ve no idea when they closed their doors but it seems it couldn’t have been that long ago judging by the state of the renovations. It was somewhat sad and eerie to see it like that. But I’m glad I added the glass from that particular location to my collection quite some time ago.
I finished my day with my book, sitting under the huge spreading branches of the banyan tree (which you are still not allowed to climb on), munching on a store bought peanut butter and jelly sandwich and sipping on strawberry milk. Still feeling that odd kind of revelation in the feel of the paper under my fingers and the warm of the sunshine on the back of my neck.
Something keeps drawing me back here, and it’s not just the sunshine and the sand…I haven’t quite figured it out yet, but I will one day, and maybe then I’ll be able to figure out exactly how to recreate it.