Last day

Feeling like the town crier, I feel I must wake Dan and girlfriend Fran up to see this! They both say "Tomorrow!"
I don't know if they have been giving me space to meditate each morning, or they love sleeping. . . probably a little of both.
After making the fruit platter I head down for a massage from Melissa and a sweet Namaste. We return to our place for breakfast. We want to be on the road by ten, stopping by the Craft Fair and onto watch turtles at Poipu Point. Things go swimmingly. I am too in the moment to mourn the last day. . . . Then we have a date with Mike and Nancy at one. They are waiting for us at Brennekes. We spot whales from the open air windows. We share a veggie mushroom burger and an ahi sandwich on a bun. Mai Tais all the way around :)
I find myself wishing we had more time together. That we could have another drink at their place to just feast and sit together.
But it's over and we are on our way home.
I ask if we can just stop at Anini Beach to ground. Breathe and relax, sipping the nectar of the last day's daylight hours. Sure!
Fran feels off her shorts and Dan and I could care less about sand. We all sit together. It is so cool, a rain is coming. Fran reaches for a stick and inscribes, "I Heart Dan and suzyG". Aaaahhh








Once home we settle on the bluffs and whale watch, breathing in the ocean mist and whale joy.
Dinner is leftover pasta, salad and a pizza from Foodland. We are eating up our leftovers, Dan grills the pineapple sausage an eggplant and zuchinni for me. Some will enhance the pizza, just a nice Italian dinner . The rains have come now: crickets chirp.

Perfection!

What a day; what a sweet and perfect continuum of activities: a balance of yin and yang.
We arise, to sit and watch what comes up, a glorious sunrise. Goodness Gracious! Can the day get better than at this moment?

I wake Dan o for coffee, Franny arises to a gentle scalp massage and breakfast: fruits and yogurt. (we passed on the 'red velvet cake' yogurt, oops.) Fran explained they name these so people who would never eat the stuff, buy it anyway. oh!



We are planning a kayak trip. Nothing required, other than sunscreen and water. Franny and I slide across the Hanalei for five miles. I love the slalom course; coral hu u flowers floating on the milky green, and I slide between each pair as they approach. Gold happy fish skip across the water, announcing our advance. Egrets,Ne Ne, a banana grove, dripping with sexy maroon flowers, a waterfall, a bamboo forest and a family of black ducks with four furry chicks are caveats. . .. So silent was our voyage: stillness, tranquility and gliding. (I must add that the wrists got a work out. Yoga was good for the circulation. A wider arm 'stance' encourages the whole arm and side body to assist.)

Dan picks us up after two hours and transports us to lunch at the Dolphin.
We return home for a change out of soggy clothing, something a little dressier!
This day could not be unfolding more perfectly.

We are taking Fran to see and hear the McMaster's Slack Key Guitar concert at the Hanalei Community Center. We are sleepy with seduction. The notes are rhythm and harmony at once. Talk story and sheer relaxation to Sandy's hypnotic story telling. Doug asks for a volunteer. Will Vanna please step forward. Amazingly, Fran arises to draw 'lucky numbers. . .there are 43 people attending and about ten receive prizes and a kiss from our Vanna look alike. She is most gracious! Doug says she sautees, he meant to say saunters.
Hey it's ALL so good here.



Whisking, or should I say, floating, we drive towards the St. Regis Hotel at Princeville. It is a magnificent glass palace overlooking Bali Hai on the Hanalei Bay. :swanky with valet parking. We saw Britney Spears here once. The sun is setting as we order drinks. A mango bellini for Frances, An agave gimlet for me and a Texas Mary. a very spicy bloody mary for Dan. The Hawaiian lounge act is setting up. A wedding party is returning from their sunset nuptials. The place is sheer magic. The music is perfectly classic lounge.
As we return to sleepy Hanalei town, the silver moon appears suspended, like a hammock attached to fine silver threads.
We have dinner reservations at Bar Acuda at 7:30 and Fran is treating us! It's crazy as we are shown to a booth near the bar. From serene to frenetic in nine and a half hours. We don't talk because we can't. We ask if the pulsating music can be turned down a notch :)Dan orders the olives, Ahi Nicoise, Greens and Pizzetta. It is so perfect. Again. So extraordinary in the opening . . . from silence to ear pounding silence. A very exciting day, in so many ways. Perfect!


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Tale of Two Beaches

We have 'planned' (soft intention) a lazy day. Two beaches. . .Kepuhi and Hanalei, punctuated by lunch at the Mediterranean Gourmet, hot tubbing, an Italian dinner and coconut pie.


Who will this L O V E go to?





By ten we are packing up the beach bag and cooler for Kepuhi Beach. Geologically it is rare. Sheets of lava poured out like a layer cake, washed by the rugged seas, so gray and green, porous and smooth like a sponge. It allows nice tide pools as we pick a path across the beach the the crescent with Bali Hai in the background. There is a Camp Fire Camp here, Naua.
Lunch is good. . . a lilikoi iced tea for Dan, pairs nicely with his lamb burger. Fran chooses the falafel sandwich, and I have a pile of tabouli.

We choose two spots on Hanalei Bay, one to tell Fran of Puff the Magic Dragon, and the pier promenade is a must. This end of the bay is good for beginning surfers and people watching.

An e mail from Sharron Brainard reminds us that we often buy a coconut pie, celebrating Charlotte's birthday. Fran is gaga over this idea, and we step over a yellow caution cone to enter the store. She wants PIE!!! A piece or two might me enough, but a whole one is just $12.00, and we can leave it for Gail and LuRae. . .(really?)



How home again Fran makes up the pineapple martini and we stroll to the hot tub for a very hot soak. Mmmm The perfection pales as a resident in number nine whines about his taxes on his 1.1 million dollar unit. We do leave with compassion. "It's always something."
Fran and I prep eggplant for dinner. We purchased these at the Farmer's Market, and until today, didn't quite know what to do with them. Cutting them lengthwise, they get marinated in olive oil and peppercorns, for a grilling that will accompany the bowl of pasta. Dan , at my urging , buys some pineapple sausages to grill as his entree. Both he and Franny say they are fabulous! Like a hawaiian pizza in a casing.
Hey "It's All good!", we remember fondly and often, this sentiment.

Then Dan cleans up and we settle in to watch Selling New York and eat coconut cream pie. Fran really likes both offerings. Cheers~

We are going to Waimea Canyon today, it will take all day. I make bacon and eggs, apple cinnamon pancakes for my family, 'ohana'.
We are on the road by nine thirty. Fran wants to see this massive canyon, since she has not see the Grand Canyon. To break up our trip we make Hilo Hatties our first rest stop. Dan buys mac nut brittle for Sandra, his friend Charlie's daughter. I buy a few gifts too.
Hanapepe is a sleepy little art community with a swinging bridge. We cross it, admiring the engineering and laughing like school children.
Lunch is at The GROVE Cafe, formerly Wiamea BrewPub. another garden burger for Frances and me, this one with sweet potato fries. Our salad is delicious with a guava balsamic vinaigrette and toasted, candied hazelnuts and fresh chevre.




Beginning our ascent to four thousand feet, we move above red canyons and green plains that look like patchwork. The rugged chiseled ridges to the East and to the West, a plunging terraced valley are called Halaulau, overlooking the ocean, where the lost tribe once lived. A trail from the north shore and the difficult steep coastline are the only access. As it turns out, my brother Mike and his Nancy are climbing in from the North today, as we explore this region from the South, one of many coincidences. We plan to join them for dinner later today.
The weather is perfect for viewing the Na Pali coastline; wispy clouds move across and a rare hang glider sails far below.
We stay, transfixed to the view we cannot fathom as time stands still. Feeling the necessity to travel on, we reluctantly leave. There is a coffee plantation just up the road and we pull in for a few tasty cups. This plantation was planted in 1860 by the McBryde family and is still roasting fine Kauaiian coffee. It saves us.
Dan is very tired, we encounter rush hour traffic in Lihue and Kapaa, the sailing is then smoother.
Dinner is at seven at Bar Acuda. Mike and Nancy are seated indoors at a booth. It is so good, and a relief to see them. I get so nervous, and excited anticipating this moment. Then there is ease, awesome food, and lively , lovely conversation.
There is pizza, sewed ahi Nicoise, fennel salad, mesclun greens, banderillas with a honey ancho glaze, accompanied by a Avila d Nero.



Dan goes straight to bed, Franny and I stay up cuddled on the sofa sleeper, relishing the details of this day.
It's all so good here. Mahalo!

Tuesday

What a spectacular sunrise so happy for my formal practice!
I wake my friends with this image on my iphone :-) and make a luscious fruit place, slicing banana bread and putting the coffee in motion.
We have a leisurely morning, to the daily whale greeting, and the pool to relax under clacking palms. Franny squeezes local lemons for tonight;s lemon drops. Ooh, they are juicy!



The afternoon will be 'action' packed. Lunch at the Hanalei Gourmet, coconuts at theWaipa Farmer's Market , the Limahuli Gardens and Relax Deeply, then Ono fish tacos and the beverage of the day!
The tables are packed so we sit with the locals at the bar. . .this is a first. Fran and I share a garden burger and a waldorf salad. Dan continues his quest for an Ono island hamburger; this is a good one!



At the farmer;s market, we find the coconut lady, who lobs the end off a green coconut, and plunges a straw into the milky water inside: cool, hydrating and restorative. And it's on to the end of the road, to visit the Limahuli Gardens.
A few photos capture the majesty. I love these taro terraces.

Bhavani's class is a separate post.
Dinner is under a canopy of stars, no music required, just the stillness and beauty of the night and delicious fish tacos with guacamole and pineapple salsa.
Yum!

Bhavani's Relax Deeply

After a day in the Limahuli Gardens, it was time to head for yoga. I want to share this deep healing style of yoga with Fran.
Bhavani greets us warmly as we enter, "Hello Susan." SHE TELLS ME SHE IS USING MY NAME AND STORY IN THE NEWSLETTER SHE IS WRITING. The stories of guests to Kauai who come yearly, like migrating whales or birds to study here at Yoga Hanalei. this is about my eighth year.
I am lost in time with Bhavani, fresh and ancient simultaneously. She says time was created, because it is all happening at once, and we can't comprehend it.
She talked about prana as light, sound, motion, and other phenomenon; my mind was reeling.
She told us of doctors who anesthetized people and then could put them into crazy yoga positions, once they released 'holding'. profound!
She read from a book she'd owned for twenty years written by Vanda Scavarelli. And all I could say was WOW! The vastness of my studies here.
The poses? Well we worked with the organs of respiration, yogic breathing to increase prana and move prana. A childs pose and two internally rotated twists, lengthening the spine over a bolster.
She said people loose 3/4 inch of height in a day. After work they adjust their rear view mirrors as a necessity, they have compression! It is good to practice spanal extentions every day. That's what we did~
We worked with chakras: the solar plexus and Anahate, seeing them as wheels lying horizontally. maybe we skipped the vissuda, I got a bloody nose somewhere along the line. Then moving prana between the eye brows to agna chakra and she spoke of babyies whose fontanels are still open and the crown chakra.
Whew, a lot of information. She helped Fran and all of us, tucking shoulderblades under, finding length in the torso, ribcage.
The only new restorative pose was supta gomukasana.
Then! When I thought it was over, she approached me and commented on how much change she's seen in me over the last few years. Yes! I know. . .I am so happy. I tell her about The Shanti and Yvonne, and invite her to come! She asked if I am authorized to invite, "I am an apprentice..." I know I am not authorized, but KNOW she and Yvonne (having the 'V' in the similar place of their names) will adore one another for life. Bhavani says her teacher allows her to 'come' when she is invited...curious. And so sweet, like me a child and student foremost.
Well, enough goodness for now. Love, Susan
P.S. She is going to use my last name, spelled with an 'f'.

The Coconut

I have been subscribing to a daily e-mail from Garrison Keillor and the people of PBS, titled 'The Writer's Life' I first heard this poem at the Shanti Yoga studio. It is so lovely~


Poem: "Coconut" by Paul Hostovsky

Bear with me I
want to tell you
something about
happiness
it's hard to get at
but the thing is
I wasn't looking
I was looking
somewhere else
when my son found it
in the fruit section
and came running
holding it out
in his small hands
asking me what
it was and could we
keep it it only
cost 99 cents
hairy and brown
hard as a rock
and something swishing
around inside
and what on earth
and where on earth
and this was happiness
this little ball
of interest beating
inside his chest
this interestedness
beaming out
from his face pleading
happiness
and because I wasn't
happy I said
to put it back
because I didn't want it
because we didn't need it
and because he was happy
he started to cry
right there in aisle
five so when we
got home we
put it in the middle
of the kitchen table
and sat on either
side of it and began
to consider how
to get inside of it

A fairly dark morning yields to a glorious day. In meditation the rhythm of my heart pulls my body left, then right, left then right. I feel like a schoolhouse clock. It's fun, The air is cool and Dan and Fran, my two closest friends sleep on.
We thrill Fran with the Lion coffee, banana bread with lilikoi goat's cheese, and then fresh fruit. The cardinals come to brunch. She is ecstatic, so much so, we're late for Charley, the massage therapist at the activities pavilion.



Fran and Dan watch for whales as I pop my earbuds in , hungry for a few more chapters of my book, Water for Elephants.
I watch as they chat happily. Never had I noticed how similar they are energeticlly, obviously kapha doshas. I am pitta, here me flutter.





By noon we are ready to pack it up for the Kilauea Lighthouse, followed by the Kilauea Fish Market and we settle on Anini Beach for some down time. There are three black labs on the beach today, with their paddle boarding partners.



They swim and swim way out towards the reef. We are amazed at their endurance. I am so happy when Fran spots a turtle surfing in the green lagoon, which is our bay. I stroll looking for L O V E in coral remnants, a little gift for my girlfriend.

Then, we run down to Hanalei for a pound of ono, and to the Princeville Foodland for a steak and some more tortillas.(After tonight's surf and turf dinner we will have Ono licious fish for tacos tomorrow night after yoga!)
Pupus are offered at the owner's reception tonight; the usual cheese and crackers, edamame and wine. There are some funny jokes and Earl tells us that he just lost his long time friend, Gordon. Earl asks Gordy, what can you tell me about dying? Gordy says, "Enjoy your life, enjoy your family!" Now we understand why Earl has been so cloudy.

A deep breath, we retreat each evening to the bluffs to say good night to the whales. They have been quiet today. Often they are after high surf days. Fran has a little business to tend to. I make a green salad and Dan moseys down to the grill lanai with our fresh catch and a rib eye, Earl is there with his marinated lamb. Long Island Kim with her meal. I love laying on my back, watching stars, tonight it's Venus.
We eat to candlelight on the lanai. A gurgle as we pour the Coppola Shiraz and the McMaster's slack key guitar are the only sounds.

Franny and I giggle over Lara Schissel on Facebook and Dan plays Words with Friends, it's been a lovely day in Paradise.

Sunday welcomes Franny

A cloudy morning, rain is moving in. The ocean is covered in a heavy wet gauze. We rise, I blog and eat a bowl of oatmeal with a sweet pile of bananas and honey. I am excited to welcome Fran. We drive to church, hoping to buy a lei from Auntie in Anahola;"not open yet." I do catch this rather unique photo of the Sleeping Giant though.



Scooting along, we arrive at church just in time to get the last two seats, four feet from pastor Paul's feet. Looking right up into his palate :-) What a seat! He tells us he loves to see us front and center. We have an hour before Fran's plane arrives at 1:06. We go to Longs Drugs for a lei, no luck again, they recommend The Times. I choose the ti leaf lei representing honored guest and healing. She could use a dose of that! Here is the handmade rosette I am so fond of:



We give her that Hawaiian Aloha, lei and kiss of welcome. She isn't hungry so we rush off to Kapaa and the Olympic Cafe for a meal. A toast to her Kauai homecoming and a mediterranean wrap for me, which included fresh beets. Dan ordered the blackened Ono sandwich, the 'best he's ever had!"






She drops her suitcase and Dan takes us into Hanalei town for a little shopping. She is sure she needs a pair of shorts. We don't find any she loves. So, home for sunset and whale watching on the point. When she unpacks, it is clear she has 'plenty' of shorts. The Cliffs isn't a 'resort'.
It is still misty, but the weather is improving. Dan and Fran enjoy the wild boar dinner from the Ohana in Anahola, and I settle down with my Dolphin sushi roll.
(Dolphin restaurant, not animal.If you are aghast!)
It's early to bed, after we explain what we have in store for her tomorrow., massages at 9:00 a.m.
Aloha!

Massage, Market and Moloaa

We're moving faster than usual today. Always happy for a calm center each morning before the whirligigging...
I was hoping for another neck massage at the New Residents Reception today, and it's Melissa, the yoga teacher I was disappointed with. Last year I was pleased with her. How mercurial of me. I guess I needed more attention and was giving off confident,independent vibes.She gives a loving massage.


Dan reminds me we need to get down to the Farmer's Market in Hanalei. We have a list and although we don't want to be a part of the initial stampede, they do sell out.
We need Lemons, greens, goat's cheese, something for the soba noodles, more bananas and a pineapple. Fran is arriving in the morning and I want to make a fresh pineapple infused vodka today.
We go to the Bluff for our slow start, AND it's teeming with whale counters. We settle in on two remaining chairs. Here I can double task, listening to my Water for Elephants book and watching whales frolic offshore.



Half the day remains and our hunger is increasing. Dan has heard of another 'sustainability' venture: Common Grounds, a restaurant and garden. I have a pile of Dark, Leafy Greens topped with macadamia nuts. This might affect me tomorrow :0 I have shied away from Kale since I know it as a flower, And I am embracing it now. . .Dan is disappointed with his steak wrap. It measure 3 by 3 inches and it's a meager offering. More interesting is the clientele here, Gorgeous, well to do young and 'organic'. I say too much 'female energy'.

Moloaa Beach awaits. We love crawling onto a remote beach to relax under a lilting palm and hear the roar of surf echoing. My book is quite good. Going for a walk I throw myself into half moon poses, reflecting the curve of this pretty bay.
It felt good to 'be' yoga, and I wish my teacher were here for many reasons, but just now, to hold me and rotate me open! I love it this way too, every time I fall out, a new beginning. And a laugh.


Dan has made dinner reservations at Bar Acuda for seven. We actually plan our meal to keep the cost down. I am wearing the brown Tropical Tantrum dress. This is romantic.
We begin with the apple, honeycomb and Humbolt Fog goat's cheese. The cheese is 'blue' and I love it. The comb is dark and waxy, I chew it remembering a wax tubular candy from my childhood.
Next a chop salad to share, green beans and carrots, avocado and raddichio carefully molded into a round and topped with a micro green bouquet.
Dan orders the short rib on a polenta bed. He says it's bland.
We share my Lobster Pot pie, it's very good, I note that I always prefer raw, cool foods.
For dessert there is an almond cake, with cherry compote and the smallest sweetest scoop of ice cream. Just right for two. In fact, It's a feast.
We return to our home at the Cliffs for sweet slumber, though Dan doesn't sleep well.
Mahalo and we welcome week two. Mahalo