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What a great week! 

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Surprise Visit From London

There is a certain Luso-Gallic-Briton feel in the air when we arrive at the Hall this morning and at first glance, everything appears to be normal:  no French baguettes strewn about, no Portuguese cod-fritters stuck to the walls, no "tally ho"'s nor a single "pip pip" in sight.  And then, it hits me.  Standing there in the lobby, seemingly out of the blue, with a big smile on his face is my friend Victor from London, who has popped in with wife Mimi and father in law David who is our speaker this morning.  

Victor is just the coolest brother, not only because he actually once cooked breakfast for me while on HIS vacation here in Hawaii... he's also quadrilingual¹ which is a fact I find so very intriging that I am already hyperventilating.  

This almost inspires me to get on with the promised LATINVM AMO posts.

Almost.

1 He's Portuguese, was born in France, is living in London and married a Mexican.  Go Victor, go!

Forty-One Minutes of Saturday Morning Sunshine

The rain over here has pretty much kept up since October with no signs of letting up just yet.  And no I'm not exaggerating- I'm dead serious!   Everything's all squishy and slippery underfoot since over the past 8 weeks or so, the sun has only come out just long enough to taunt us, but not long enough to dry anything out.

Then, suddenly and all weird like, we're greeted by clear skies and blinding sunshine in field service this morning and we think:  Could this really be the end of all the rain and mud?   Oh please, oh please, oh please!  I am crying just thinking about it. 

As if the miracle of sunlight isn't enough to drive a cargroup of fully grown (and might I add, ravishingly handsome¹) brothers to tears of rejoicing and celebratory dancing, we also find the usually padlocked  gate at Cristobal's W-I-D-E open.   Excited, we park out on the main road and Justin and I decide to hike in and see if we can find Cristobal along the way,  the  glorious sunlight  filtering down through the trees onto our pale, moldy, mildewy skin, and all is suddenly great this morning.   

Justin pauses at the stream crossing

The weeks of rain  however, means the usually dry arroyo running through the property amidst the palms, cycads and ferns,  has turned into a swift flowing steam running over the road.  Nice and relaxing, and all glimmery and refreshing in the sunlight, but not necessarily something you'd want to cross wearing slacks and dress shoes.²

Thankfully Justin notices a stone foot-bridge off to the side of the road, and we are able to cross over and continue to the house where Cristobal is busy tending to the property, his machinery whirring loudly although not quite drowned out by the roar of the river over the next hill.  He accepts the magazines.

crossing the stone foot-bridge

The walk to and from Cristobal's place is beautifully amazing,  filled with lush tropical palms, jungle cacti, bromeliads and ferns like this unidentified Platycerium species growing alongside Epiphyllum anguliger.  What a great, refreshing, enjoyable way to start the morning off in the ministry.

walking back to the main road

Of course, the rains and dark clouds return within the hour, meaning we end service all wet and muddy.  Perhaps the sun will finally be back for good tomorrow.

Yeah, sure.

1  I'm being silly of course.  About the "ravishingly" part.  Plain ol "handsome" would suffice.

2  Or in any type of shoes for that matter.  That seemingly clear rushing water has just made its way across a wide expanse of poo-filled pastures .

Annual Pioneer Meeting

Let the Hoarding begin!

The dark, rainy weather the past few weeks has brought on a bad case of plant hoarding, which I am happy to say does not make me feel guilty one little bit.  Which means despite the windy, grey, wet  conditions outside, the view inside is looking quite green and leafy and happy.  Who needs hot cocoa and thick blankets when you can have tropical orchids and aloes instead?  Psssh, not me.

It all began last Saturday when a post-field service jaunt to Kona turned bad.  Real bad. 

After working the territory out in Pahala, we decided an extra 80 mile trip to Kona would be worth it, you know, to flee the rain and soak up the rays and get some roasted chicken from Costco.  Problem was, there were no rays to soak up, and unlike Hilo which at least has greenery to fall back on when the skies turn grey and ugly, Kona's landscape of lava rock punctuated with stunted mesquite trees wasn't exactly giving me the warm fuzzies.  Thankfully, Kona has a Lowes garden center. 

Uh oh.

Tillandsia caput-medusae and Tillandsia funckiana¹

Kona also has a KMart with a less than exciting nursery where I hardly ever find anything very interesting.  But I always take a look of course- you know, just in case.  Unfortunately this time, these two Aloe hybrids decided to pop up within sight range.  And they were cheap. 

Uh oh again.

Aloe Fire Ranch and Aloe Grassy Lassie

Finally, right around the corner from Costco and their roasted chicken, I spotted a great Crasula ovata varigata from Margo at Sunrise Nursery... the perfect replacement for the recently deceased Pelargonium crispum at the entrance to our house.  So I purchased that too and pluncked it down on the floor behind the driver's seat along with my Aloes and Tillandsias.   By this point, I had already given up on the "uh oh's" and decided instead to go ahead and squish as many plants into the back seat as possible while laughing manically, rubbing my hands together and jumping up and down. The varigated leaves go well with the color of the previously empty ceramic planter and house, don't you think? 

 Crassula ovata variegata at the entrance to our house

All excuses for rain-induced plant hoarding went down the tubes yesterday since the weather here in East Hawaii took a turn for the better and we had clear blue skies and strong, cool breezes and a nice group for service.    But as life would have it, Suz casually let it slip that she had received an email about an orchid and succulent plant sale over in Waimea at the community center. 

I thought to myself:  "Too bad I already hauled home a bunch of plants last weekend."

And then I thought to myself: "Too bad I already got stuff to do this afternoon."

This was rapidly followed by: "Although, wouldn't a drive to Waimea after working the territory be nice? Especially on a nice clear, cool day like today.  And it would give us a chance to cover the Mauna Kea Park public area at the same time if we took Saddle Road."

So...

Dracula carderi, Dracula lotax (FREE!), Masdevallia paivaeana

Well, the hoarding bug stuck again once we arrived an hour later in Waimea, because the weather had once again turned rainy and cold and windy... absolutely PERFECT for lingering indoors among the vendor tables, and  I walked away with some orchids from Fat Cat Nurseries in Paauilo. 

Close up of Masedevallia paivaeana bloom 

Pendant blooms on Dracula carderi

So there you have it.  Two weekend's worth of plant hoarding goodness.  Isn't it great?

Of course I'll admit that all the plants in the world don't warm the heart as much as being with the friends and this weekend, we had the privilege of hanging out with 3 visiting couples.  We met Olaf and Silvia from Frankfurt Germany, during dinner at Henry and Sandy's place that night, and yes, by that time, it was raining heavily in East Hawaii.

Again.

Olaf und Silvia

Then today, Luis, Mara, Jose and Ruth visited our group (Luis gave our talk) and we had lunch at Don's. As you can see, it was pouring outside. 

Still.

During lunch, Luis tells us they were up on Maunakea yesterday and it was beginning to snow.  Looks like a cold, windy winter has officially arrived which probably means there is more plant hoarding to come, but I think I'm done for the time being.  And you know something?  A cup of hot cocoa and a blanket DO seem good right about now. 

1     and I typed that last bit reeeeal carefully. 

We eat Pig

You know someone likes you when they go through all the trouble of buying, killing, gutting, cleaning and cooking an entire pig to make carnitas. 

I guess our studies like us, then.

On Sunday, Cesar and the guys invited us over to feast on said pig, which by lunchtime had been transformed into a large metal vat full of delicious, tender, shredded meat floating in broth, served with tortillas and homemade salsa.  Thanks to Cesar, Alfredo, Gustavo, Lupe, Apolo, Adan, Oscar, Guicho, Chancho, Fernando and Armenio for your hospitality and a nice afternoon.