Interior places

It was a breath of fresh air, a gift from one of John's former students. Would we like to stay in his mom's little house below Mauna Kea, Hawaii? She was going to be visiting the mainland, and it would be helpful.

It has been a year of tough things. My brother's death in January, and nearly catastrophic medical issues for a dear one in February, March and September...these events fell in a stretch of unrelenting political ugliness. A break sounded good, and Hawaii is one place that we had never visited.

 "You'll love the sun, and the beaches" everyone said. But we were headed mostly for interior places, and those were my favorite areas of the big island of Hawai'i, as lush and misty as Oregon. The house, a simple two room dwelling of a dedicated Buddhist, was imbued with gentle peace.

It was perfectly quiet except for the lowing of cattle, call of roosters, and the sounds of birds and frogs.

Kahili Ginger

The breeze, lit with the fragrance of flowers, was soft.

The landscape, a tangle of colors.

 Pattern everywhere.

A visual feast

Papaya in season were 5 for $2.

'Akaka Falls

Oh, it was easy to forget about the beaches when there was all of this: exploring the interior places was surely the richest experience of the trip, and a balm for the spirit.