Vicky Durand’s Adventure Blog #113

October 19, 2025

Welcome to Adventure Blog #113

It has been a very fun social week with company for a few nights and three dinners out with friends. Two of my grandson Rhodes’ friends, Taylor and Charlie, were on the other side of Maui for a wedding and came to visit me here in Hana. Being surfers from Southern California they were blown away with life and the natural beauty at the jungle’s edge. They helped me with a couple of projects, I showed them some of the sights in the area, and we had some nice meals and nightly fires. They loved it so much and want to return as cat and farm helpers. They both slept in the front room under mosquito netting.

On Thursday My friend Niketa, a chef, and made a wonderful Indian dinner that we took up to a mutual friend Laura’s house for dinner. Besides a great dinner the company was super and this house is at the top of the world above the Hana airport which is always a treat to visit.

Friday was James and Moie’s fifth wedding anniversary and they had a gathering of friends and family to celebrate. James had picked taro from here and pounded poi as one of the many items served. There was lots of lively conversation including the Molokai to Oahu canoe race that took place last Sunday. Hana had a crew that paddled in a koa canoe. The crew paddled the canoe from Maui to Molokai on Thursday, rested for a couple of days and then the race on Sunday which took six hours. There were some very fun stories…..

In between all of that on Friday I managed to lock myself out of my car. Since I was planning on going out I left my purse in the car on the front seat with the extra, unknowingly with the extra set of keys. This is not a place that the Auto Club services in a friendly way so luckily James came with his daughter and with some devices and managed to fish out the extra set of keys that were sitting in m y purse. Getting the keys out through the small opening in the car door was an interesting challenge that took both of us, but finally possible. Yikes!!! That was scarey…. And, the rains have finally come so it was pouring rain during much of the process.

We have been harvesting big batches of squash. This squash is delicious and besides baking I made a pasta sauceI sold some on the road and am taking more in to the Maui Hub on Wednesday. That has been a very successful crop and great ground cover. With my mobility still slightly hampered I need help picked them as walking on the steep hill with all the vines is rather challenging. I have a new helper, Isaac who is a big help for this project.

We are getting ready for the next big coconut planting in early November. Indrajit is currently in Japan learning how to extract DNA from coconuts. I am sure this information will be helpful in the cataloging of the many different varieties of coconuts which is part of his future work. You can see the coconuts are growing.

I better end this as there are lots of jobs waiting for me: washing now that we have rain water, painting the downspouts, oiling the timbers for the Outstanding tent soon to be erected, and planting.

Thanks for tuning in. Remember “when coconuts grow, humanity flourishes.”

Wishing a great coming week for everyone.

Aloha Niu,

Vicky