A wild 10 days

Well last post was of cheese and wine and my stay with my brother Patrick. On fri the 6th I went to spend the day with a long time friend Karen who only lives 1/2 hour away from Pat. We had lunch and dinner together.

Karen Treat

Karen's Home in Danville CA

When I got back to Pat's he had a guest from the Netherlands, 'Young' who had been traveling cross country on his Moto Guzzi and would be staying until . . .

of course all Moto Guzzi people take care of their own. Pat of course gets the same hospitality when he travels to Europe.

Pat, Mary, 'Young', Regina

Up on Sat morning to go to the SF Flea Market with Regina and then home to what I thought was going to be a motorcycle ride with pat, except that when Regina and I got back at around 2:30 who should be there but my other brother Vin and his wife Liz. Vin and Pat planned it as a surprise birthday gift. Well I guess so. Also there was their son Jonathan who is a pilot for Frontier Airlines who had just gotten in for an overnight flight. A great Mother's day present for Liz. Pat and Regina's son Brenden, came by for dinner that evening so a good time was had by all. and then it was up early and off to the airport and Hawaii!

Regina, Pat, Mary, Jonathan, Liz, Vin

Mary and Brenden

Soooooooo I arrive in Kauai on Sunday 5/8 around 2:30 and Ashley is there to pick me up. Hooray I am here. Some rain and overcast but right now who cares. we head to Costco for her to pick up a few things and I spot a great beach umbrella and a CD (of IZ - everyone go to YouTube and search for IZ and "somewhere over the rainbow" he was a national treasure here in Hawaii and has the most beautiful voice! pat is very familiar with him and played this for me) and a guidebook for Kauai. Well being one of those Membership places, Ashley had to purchase them for me but I didn't have enough cash so I went to the ATM to got some money and forgot my Debit Card! left the damn thing in the machine and after 30 seconds it sucks it back into the machine. My first hour here and disaster has struck, except I do not realize it until the next day when I was getting my purse in order. Yippes! now what. you all know what. had to cancel the card, send a fax requesting a new one (after much time on the phone - and remember there is 6 hours difference) and hope it gets here before I go home. no sweat, got it on friday.

The rest of the week is a blur. Ashley had plumbers, cable guy, pest control, and anything else she could think of scheduled since I could be here to monitor them. And of course I had to go and break one of her jalousies window frames. Can do Mary got a new frame and put it in all by myself! Good thing is was rain on and off all week for these projects so I wasn't missing the beach. Tourists who are NOT staying 2 months were grumbling a lot.

how hard can this be?

Ta-Da  I guess not too hard.

My reward for all my hard work was to be able to go to the beach on my Birthday, as that is the day the sun  came out. I decided to go to Ship Wreck Beach because it has surfers and is quite beautiful. Well it is also treacherous! I now know why it is called Ship Wreck! I nearly got sucked out to Tahiti. Back to the baby beach at PoiPu with lifeguards. I just turned 65 not 25!

Ship Wreck Beach - Grand Hyatt to your right

Ship Wreck Beach

Ship Wreck has a short drop off - ergo the strong undertow - need to be young and strong

until next posting - mary

remember to go to 'blog archive' to see any POSTS you might have missed :-)