Bright lights

Yesterday when I was meandering along the Kammie's while the Mister golfed, a back-to-the-sixties, dreadlocked guy dressed in a sari who was camped out in the old life guard shack called me. "Hey! Point and shoot!" He noticed Cyclops around my neck. "You have to come over here to get the picture of a lifetime!" Uh huh, I thought, I can imagine what sort of a grand design he had in mind. So I bumbled along and nodded and sashayed backwards and sideways subtly to increase the distance between us. All the while he went on about the unbelievable occurrence of a group of very rare Hawaiian parakeets that were in the very trees above me. He even knew their exact flight plan and demonstrated with great enthusiasm how they would glide from the mesquite trees to a feeding spot on the ground, then return to the mesquite. But only until 7:45 a.m., and then, like magic, poof, they'd be gone! I stood there obediently and focused my lens skyward and saw absolutely nothing. Me being me, I murmured my admiration (still sliding sideways) and he said, with his eyes glittering, "Did you see one? Did you?". I am such a sheep that I told him of course I had, it was fantastic, and too bad my lens wasn't good enough to capture the shot of a lifetime. He looked disappointed as I walked away smiling, wondering exactly what he had imbibed to give him such a peyote-filled vision.

Fast forward to this morning, precisely 7:30, as Rick and I walked the beaches. And lo and behold, there they were. Right where Bob Marley said they would be - at least 40 of them, chirping happily and singing from the branches, soaring gracefully down to the ground to continue their meeting, and then returning on their predicted flight path.

 

I hasten to add here, these are not my photographs, although depending on circumstances over the next few mornings you might find me camped in that spot, camera at the ready. But this is exactly what they looked like, charming, chatty and as cheerful as they could be. Bob Marley was right on, dude!

Kammie 1 was not the only beach that held treasures this morning. As we strolled the shore on Kammie 3, we noticed an elderly lady being gently helped through the tiny waves by her white-haired son and another lady. As we paused to watch them make their way safely beyond the breakwater, a passerby told us that this particular lady swam all the way to the buoy at least three times a week. Pretty impressive feat, I thought, for an older gal, as the buoy was likely a good 200-300 yards away. And then the guy commented further: "Next week she will turn 103 years old." That pony-tailed white-haired son had to be in his 80s and I tell you, the two of them were the absolute embodiment of the Maui lifestyle. Can you imagine - being born in 1911 and living la Vida Loca for more than a century? Inspiring!

 

 

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