the little travelers * travel blog

Addicted to stress

So now I'm living on this beautiful island.  Unbelievably gorgeous island, really.  And I still manage to create stress for myself.   Why??  The other night I was stressed out driving to a - um, get this- deep relaxation yoga class!  I left a little late so the whole drive there was slightly anxious that I was going to be late.  Like it mattered!  What, late to relax?  That' doesn't even make any sense! 

Today we signed up to do a little weeding at this groovy little garden with 88 shrines stacked up the hill and basically surrounded by orchids.  The volunteer times were 9 to 1 and volunteers were to meet at 9 at the bottom of the hill.  There was an accident on the road on our way down, which delayed us by nearly 45 minutes.  So, I got kind of stressed out driving there because we were late.  Late to do volunteer weeding!  Is that really something that warrants stress?   So, I've really been trying to work on this lately.  To calm down.  To move at the pace of the island and learn how to just get present!  

I remember when I was 20 and my friend and I had summer jobs in Jamaica.  The first day on the job we actually ran across the hotel grounds to get to our bosses office exactly by 9am, rather than 9:01.  The Jamaicans who saw us running got all worried and were asking us, "What happened?  What's wrong??"  When we explained that it was 8:59 and we were trying to get to work by 9:00 they nearly wet themselves with laughter.  Three months later we nearly did too remembering back.  Then two years later I was working for the Board of Ed in Japan and was docked pay for every minute after the chimes rang that I was not in my seat.  Seriously.  As an adult.  Even if I was already there and went to use the restroom- "In your seat when the chimes ring is the rule.  And Japanese business men drop dead at 40.  

 

So, let it be known that I plan on releasing this addiction to nonsense that I have and ready to embrace a slower, simpler more centered way of being.  amen.

catching crabs

People are always saying how one or the other of the girls looks just like me, and thankfully I don't see it in either one of them.  I just see them.  Except the fingers of the oldest .  They truly are my fingers.  I never notice how angular and crooked I hold my fingers until I see them in a photo- the exact same way that she does.  It's a funny thing to observe.

Kauai has so many beautiful rivers and I just love where they meet the ocean.  We have green mountain river views in one direction ...

and a stunning ocean in the other.  We've been having a lot of rain and it's been quite chilly, but the minute the rain lifts, even for just 15 minutes we head for the beach.  There is something so soothing about just looking at the color of it.

catching rainbows

The rain let up yesterday just long enough to give us this beauty!  Nothing like a rainbow on St. Patty's day.  Hope you all had good ol luck o the Irish yesterday! 

The Island

 

People here refer to the island as a living, conscious being here.  I love that.  When we first arrived many people said to us, "Well, if you got here the island must want you."  "If things work out easily once you're here, like finding a car easily, you'll know the island wants you."  "If the island doesn't want you here, you'll know- stuff will happen to you and you'll leave."  It wasn't just one or two people who said this to us and the girls began to ask me, "What kind of things could happen to us?"  Times like this it felt a bit like buying into a superstition, so I was very dismissive about it to the girls, "Oh, it's just a saying- like don't walk under a ladder."  But then on a walk that afternoon a mango was dropped right in front of us on the path.  We looked up and around to a lush cliff above us and could find no mangos among the trees.  It was small and still slightly sour- just how the big sister likes them.  We said, 'thank you' to ...'the island' and kept on walking.  So yesterday we were down at the beach when the rain started.  We had a steady15 minute hike back up a steep and muddy trail to get back to our car.  We were getting pelted with a good hard rain and sliding down the hill in the red mud when the rain suddenly lifted.  The little sister says, "I asked the island if she could stop the rain until we got to the top and she did, so let's hurry because it's not going to stop for long."  There were so many things running through my head but what came out of my mouth was, "Did you say, thank you?'  She crossed her eyebrows at me and scowled, "Of course."

A plot of our own!

I'm so thrilled to finally have our own garden plot!  This one is a 12 x 15 plot at a community organic garden for $10/mo!  Such a deal!  And look at the view.

Ever since reading the Ringing Cedar books last summer I've been so eager to try out the method outlined for planting.  See here.  Go to 5:38 for the relevant part.  

We started our seeds last week.

 

And were ready to plant today!  We divided the plot into 3, which happily turned into a peace sign in the middle. A fun little 'accident.'

 

We each put the seeds under our tongue and planted this center mound with sunflowers.  I'm letting each of the girls do whatever they want with their section of the plot.  So far, I've been impressed with their creativity and planting choices.

 

 

And most importantly, the kale went in today!  hooray.  We go through so much kale here in raw kale salads, that it was a main priority in our planting schedule.

A month from now we ought to be able to start harvesting some of this we're told.  Can't wait.  A very pleasant surprise from out neighbor plot was some lemon grass starts this morning.  I was just looking online before heading to the garden to see where I could find some.  A near instant manifestation.  Love it.

The entire plot looked like this when we started!  That was a lot of weeding.  But we had a lovely surprise yesterday when we showed up and the plot was tilled by the garden fairies!  Today we received celery, lemon grass and arugula starts as gifts from fellow gardeners.  When I moved into a new house in Japan years ago and brought flowers with me the old woman who lived across the street came over and said how happy she was to see someone moving in who loved flowers, because all people who love flowers are kind-hearted people.  That definitely seems to be the case here!  Soooo happy to have my hands and feet in the dirt again!

The oxymoron photo!  those nails!   My girls have been sooo happy to be staying in a house with nail polish and no school rules prohibiting it!  Me, well... ahem.

 
 

A single moment

Capturing life.  No words.

 
 
 

running errands

It's weird how easily life can fill up with errands no matter where I am or how long I've been here.  I signed us up for a community garden plot, which I'm super excited about!  Well, except that the plot comes with weeds.  Tons of them.  So we've been baby stepping ourselves through the weeding process.  But gardening requires tools and in my case, gloves.  So off to Home Depot we went.

 

The Home Depot with the best view I ever did see.  

I also needed a few more hangers for my new walk-in closet.

 

And then we needed to go to the local health food store, Papaya's.

 

Errands are errands and parking lots are parking lots.  But ah, the scenery behind the lots!  I'm in heaven.  I feel my soul hydrating here.  Lush, thick vegetation in every direction is just what the Dr. ordered!

A little rain, a little sunshine and lots and lots of green.