August 10, 2025
Welcome to Adventure Blog #108
I missed last week as not much happened as I was preoccupied with going to Honolulu for a knee manipulation. The manipulation helps get rid of the surrounding scar tissue that forms on the knee from lack of movement. EAKS! Now the job is to keep it all moving.
The trip inspite of all my warnings for pain and various potential problems went pretty well. Happily I found out the Ala Moana Hotel gives a nice discount if you are visiting for medical. I had two nice nights there and got to listen to Pierre’s great piano music with a great dinner on the 32nd floor at the top. For the next days besides the manipulation I was kept busy going back to Straub for Physical Therapy. Everyone was really fantastic! The last night I stayed with my friend Wendi who has an amazingly gorgeous apartment right next door to where we originally spent our first six months in Hawaii at the Dad Center apartments at Diamond Head. Very nostalgic!!
This last week has been mostly about yard maintenance. Toby came yesterday and we got lots done and some with the help of the mule vehicle which I love and is a life saver. During the months I have been slightly incapacitated the beds have become full of weeds. I am slowly redoing them, but it will take time.
Sara Kehaulani Goo author of Kuleana did a book talk here on Wednesday night at our retreat center Ala Kukui. She wrote an amazing book about her family’s struggle to reclaim their ancestral lands given to them by King Kamehameha III in 1848. Amazingly the the largest breadfruit orchid in the Pacific and Pi’ilanihale Heiau sit on that land.
Piʻilanihale Heiau is the largest heiau (Hawaiian temple) in Maui and one of the most important archaeological sites in the Hawaiian Islands. Located in Kahanu Garden near Hana, it was dedicated to the worship of various Hawaiian gods and goddesses and was integral to early Hawaiian society.
It was named for Piʻilani, a notable figure in Hawaiian royal lineage meaning “ascent to heaven”. Hana refers to the location of the heiau and the meaning of the word itself, which can mean “work, craft, or blossom”.
The heiau sat undisturbed until 1974 when it was deeded to the Pacific Tropical Botanical Garden (now the National Tropical Botanical Garden) and underwent restoration and preservation efforts.
I am working on the final report for the Maui Green Grant so need to get going on that. They are requiring information that I didn’t realize I needed so it is a lot of work digging it all up out of various places.
This morning I was rehoming a mongoose and came across a real old fashioned cattle drive moving the herd from one pasture to another down the Hana Hwy. As I sat there in my car I was hoping they would keep walking past-and they did.
The cats are all doing well and I have to take more pictures. Here is Casper enjoying himself on the rock wall. He goes all over the property and is the big boss here.
Wishing you all a great week.
Aloha Nui,
Vicky
Wave Woman: The Life and Struggles of a Surfing Pioneer by Vicky Durand 