May 13, 2023
Welcome to Blog #14
This has been a week requiring a lot of patience and I don’t have as much to report as I would like. Stomach flu is going around this little community and I somehow caught it. Three days were spent doing hardly anything and trying to recoup. Chris, my builder also caught it so with a May Day school celebration for him yesterday it was another three day work week. I continue pushing to make this all happen asap.
This week has also been mainly about placement of the water tank which has taken more time than planned. Three whole days were spent wrestling with the 5,000 gallon dark green towering water tank. Some how we had not planned that the tank would be so high. When the tank was set up last week it was actually several feet above the gutters that will feed it with rain water from the roof. In order to make this happen the tank had to be relocated and a hole dug in order to reset it. The tank seems about twenty feet tall with nothing to grab on to so it was a real amazing job getting it level and in place. Afterwards Chris made some steps for me to use out of the old growth cedar planks.
After eight months the windows are finally on the island ready to be trucked out here on Monday. They cannot be installed until the wooden framing is primed, sanded and painted. This will probably be a couple of weeks if I am lucky.
A great weed eater man, Chris, has been working this last week clearing the cane grass away from the fence. This job makes the already great view even better.
The squash plants have flowers now. Seria, on Oahu, gave me a bodi tree and I finally got that planted this week. Also five pakalana along the fence line. More seeds were sewn into a little container to sprout and then put in the ground-lilikoi, cucumbers, green beans, white beans and tomatoes. The one tomato plant is giving beautiful red tomatoes with abundance. I think fireplace ashes are the key.
The ground was leveled behind the shed for a fence and planting of Brazilian cherries and Surinam cherries. These plants make a great edible privacy barrier for the neighbor up on the hill and give a patio an encloser.
Some of you have reached out when they heard the road was closed here. But, that is just the back road (not the curvy one in) which is very bumpy and after my last trip feel it should be closed to tourists. It is very narrow in several places with a steep cliff dropping off to the ocean. And, on my last trip to town I decided that was not a viable road for me.
The cats all seem happy and adventuring out more and more.
I wish a Happy Mother’s Day to all.
The thought of the week is to remember that fear is a choice and it will always keep you “on the couch” doubting rather than helping you reach your dreams. I am lucky enough to have had one of the world’s best mothers who constantly modeled this belief with her own life philosophy and adventures. At this point I shudder to think of myself letting fear stop me from venturing out into this new exciting, wonderful and fulfilling life that I am living. She also taught how important it is to have a strong belief in yourself. And I now realize that is what makes dreams come true.
Have a joyous weekend and thanks for tuning in for my adventures.
Aloha Nui
Vicky
Wave Woman: The Life and Struggles of a Surfing Pioneer by Vicky Durand 