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Tuesday |
| Today was a good day. Actually, we haven't had a bad day since we got here. We've been busy making our caretakers' cabin a home and then there are various chores and maintenance, some routine (feeding chickens and collecting eggs) and others unexpected (reattaching thrown PTO shaft). It's all very pleasant and engaging, each day an adventure in learning and improvisation free of arbitrary schedules, rote actions, and clock-watching. But today felt especially great. I started by picking up work on my lately neglected second novel, White Bluff. Then I primed lumber for an addition to chicken shelter. Sarah and I teamed up to fill tractor bucket with leaf litter for compost at banana stands where additionally I mulched a pile of fibrous stalks with tractor power. After mowing the citrus orchard we went to Hana, delivering three dozen fresh eggs along the way. Pulling in to the tiny packed parking lot at Hamoa Beach our timing was good as three surfers were leaving and bequeathed us their spot; one summed up my feelings when he said, "This is your lucky day." Returned bottles, shopped, and had some laughs with the clerks at Hasegawa's, enjoyed the sunny drive back to Kaupo, did our daily chicken dance, then repaired to the hammock overlooking Kaupo Gulch with beer and binoculars to watch the big fat orange moon come up over the ocean. But it wasn't pau hana yet. The night after full moon is auspicious time to plant so we donned headlamps, grabbed shovels, and went to put some papayas in. Transplanting them is not advised but we inherited six starts in pots so we crossed our fingers and gave it a try, the moonlight bright enough to read by. We heard rustling in the bushes and worried it might be feral pigs come to uproot the young trees but it was just Miso who delighted us with her stealthy surprise visit, the furthest she's ranged from the cabin on her own, a feline queen rightly asserting her rule of the jungle. |
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