Grounding

ALoha! 


Life has been very plant-filled as of late, which is good because January has not been the easiest month in the universe.  It was an emotional return from the mainland, not entirely in the great way, and then I came down with the evil flu and finished it all off by screwing up my back pretty well.  Go big or go home, I say.  Luckily, plants to the rescue!


First of all, I was walking out in the pineapple fields one fine sunset evening  and I ran into these Seuss-esque fuzz balls of wonderfulness:  

I don’t know what they are, but they have tiny, orange flowers about to poke out and bloom.  They totally changed my mood for the better.  Well, they helped.  Dave helped, too :o)

A day or two later, same weekend, same sadness; I decided to stop moping around and dig my fingers in the dirt, instead.  This reminds me of my blessed therapist from younger years, who has passed away but whose wisdom lives on with me forever.  She definitely told me to go home and put my toes in the dirt more than once.  Since gardening with toes is tricky (especially in flower pots), I went with fingers this time.  Porter Brown helped, of course.  

garden supervisor

When I first moved to Providence, I learned from a friend that you could grow plants from the seeds in your food (because the veggies came from plants).  Amazing!  Why didn’t I think of that?  I tried it once, but I put too many seeds in each cup and then I couldn’t bear to pull any of the sprouts out.  They all died.  That was that. 


Living here on Maui, there are lots of fun seeds in my life, like the ones from my daily breakfast papayas and the lilikoi that practically fall from the trees on the Hana side of the island.  So I started with stuff from the kitchen:  eight papaya seeds and four lilikoi.  I learned from Becky DeBarros that I could plant them in egg cartons and then cut up the carton and plant the whole thing in the dirt later.  We’ll see how it all works out.  So far, I’m keeping them watered and sunny and checking for sprouts roughly every four minutes.  

Growing things!  From food!

The other exciting thing is that I planted the top of a pineapple!  They grow in patches out in the fields and I think it takes about two years before they start making pineapples, but I’m kind of excited because it’s a cool plant and I can already see little green shoots in the center of the old leaves. Yessss!


We also had this giant, old, neglected succulent/aloe kind of plant in a crusty clay pot in the yard.  I pulled it out and cut some of the healthier parts off to repot in fresh dirt.  All of this happened with some refreshing iced tea and the dog sunning himself in the yard at my feet.  It was a lovely way to get rid of the blues.  

clippin'

It has been a week or two and the succulent, aloe-y things are looking kind of brown.  I have a tendency to overwater (I call this “loving them to death”), so I am trying to just let them be.  Maybe just a little more water would be good, though.  


I think it’s finally time to admit we might stay here a little while.  Since we found out we can keep the fancy house a while longer, I’ve been wanting to hang some art on the walls, surround ourselves with nice, green plants, and make the whole place feel a little less like a vacation rental.  Our landlord brought some new/old furniture over today and the place is looking pretty good.  Next step:  turn guest room #2 into an office so my school work isn’t harshing everyone’s mellow upstairs in the livining room.  It’s starting to feel pretty great around here again.  I think maybe we will stay a while...

Missions accomplished. 

It seems like February will be about getting back to the routines a little.  I started today with yoga and ended with a sunset paddle at the canoe beach -- it was a beautiful thing!  Dave’s pal Greg is visiting, so he joined me for a try on the wa’a (outrigger canoe), which of course, he loved.  We saw a few whales out there, but they were quite a distance from us.  It was still pretty exciting.  If you ever get the chance to see the West Maui Mountains by boat...do it!  It’s amazing and lovely every time.  There was even a nice, bright rainbow today. 


Dave is heading to the winter wonderlands of the East Coast and Oregon for a few weeks.  PB and I will hold down the fort here on our little island.  Porter loves lying around in the sun in the back of the station wagon while we drive with all the windows down and the sun roof open.  He gets pretty panicky if Dave doesn’t come home as expected, but I think we’ll do a good job of keeping each other company for a few weeks.  I know Dave will have a great time skiing, meeting his new niece, and visiting his family and friends.  I also know he hates the cold and he’ll be glad to return to Maui.  Besides...I’ll have his dog :o)  


It’s so nice to feel at home again.
xoxo
Jen