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Monday September 24, 2007

I am sitting by the pool in Kona watching the sunset over the Hawaiian Trail Wall. A cruise ship is sailing into the sunset. The day was hot and humid but the sunset is comparatively cool, actually balmy. The day was cloudy; we hardly saw the sun. This is a typical day this time of year; clouds of steam created by waning summer heat aided by the volcano’s VOG. It is 6:09 and the sun just broke out of the cloud cover to reveal a beautiful sunset, even if the sun is a little hazy. It looks like one of those portrait photos that are fuzzy soft.

 

I got here yesterday afternoon. I usually come with at least Donna and usually with others as well. It is different having no one to share Polynesia with; it is lonely. An army of workers started tearing the roof off our house today; we are having a new roof put on as you can protect a steel roof just so long in this environment of continuous salt spray. Donna would not like the dust and little bits of scrap metal from the roof. The workers clean up every day, but they are just men and you know how men clean.

 

I went for my usual walk just before sunset yesterday north on the wall that separates us from the ocean known as the ancient Hawaiian Trail. Kailua Kona was King Kamahameha’s home and the place from which he ruled the islands in ancient times. The wall is along the high water mark and ancient Hawaiian rulers walked this trail to ponder life. Rumor has it that many rulers were buried along this trail and to this day their spirits will help you guide your life.

 

I walk .65 miles north into the old airport park. The original Kailua Kona airport was closed in 1970 and the new international airport is 10 miles north on the coast. The park has baseball, soccer and football fields and a roller hockey rink.  There are tennis courts, swimming pool, horse shoe pits and gym. There is even a nice building, the old airport terminal, where local dances and music are performed. The abandoned runway provides more than enough parking for the beach less than 100 yards away.  Tables, shelters and restrooms are provided. My destination is on the mauka (inland) side of the runway where a .7 mile paved path circles through a park like area, known as Makaeo. The Friends of Fitness maintain a series of gardens and native trees interspersed with benches and tables. Native Hawaiians often come here to practice drums, dance and song. There are herds of mongoose that dart across the path from the native brush on the mauka side. This “park” is where locals bring neutered cats to live with the mongoose. Locals then feed the cats, but are forced to feed the mongoose as these persistent creatures get along fabulously with the cats. In return the cats become feral, wild like the mongoose. I make it at least three times around Makaeo then back home, over 3 miles.

 

Today I attended a Board meeting, shopped for a few groceries and went for a bike ride looking for real estate information and “The Paddler” magazine. I rode 7 miles south through the town of Kailua Kona. With the cruise ship is in town, late in the afternoon, there are tourists hurrying around looking for that last purchase before having to return before departure to Maui.

 

God Bless Bella Donna.