Insights from Hawaii

Day 2, October 24

I got up early today and went for a long walk (one hour) along the beach, through Kapiolani Park, and up Diamond Head road. Alan and I decided that we would kind of do our own thing in the morning (if we felt like it) and then spend the afernoon and evenings together. I like to walk and practice yoga; he likes to run and practice golf. So this was a happy medium and a good balance for us.

My daily intention is simply to be conscious and to experience life here without labeling or judging. I noticed immediately on my walk that I was really drawn toward noticing the foliage. The plants and flowers are extraordinary, so different from Montana. I hope to take some pictures. I stopped frequently to look at them and drink in their beauty.

Right outside our condo are some gorgeous yellow flowers (I will include a picture here if I can figure out how to do it). I am inspired to paint these flowers in water color when I get home. I've been wanting to do some water colors again (put aside since college) but was not inspired enough to do so till now. We'll see . . .

After our morning venture, Alan and I meet up and set out to find a place for breakfast since we have not had a chance to go grocery shopping yet. (The condo does have a small kitchen.) After much walking around Waikiki we find the perfect place, an outdoor buffet restaurant surrunded by waterfalls and a fish pond. The food was wonderful--some standard American fair, but mostly fresh Hawaiian fruits and vegetables, as well as many steamed veggies, rice, fish, tofu, miso soup, salad bar and many interesting condiments.

After breakfast, we continued to look around at the shops, which in Waikiki Beach are fabulous. I usually don't enjoy shopping at all, but with all the beautiful Hawaiian fabrics and gifts, I enjoyed the adventure. After much walking, we made it back to our condo and later went grocery shopping. The food in Hawaii is very expensive (close to double what it is on the mainland), but we got what we needed for breakfasts and lunches for the week.

The condo manager was nice enough to specially purchase a nice blender fofr us. So we brought our Schulze Super Food (powdered greens) and intended to make a SuperFood fruit smoothie for quick lunches. It turned out to be a great idea. The first one we made included apple juice, banana, pineapple and papaya, along with the SuperFood (which, by the way, is 40% protein). It was a delicious and quick healthty meal that satisfied us for hours.

We spent the afternoon at the beach, mainly swimming and reading. One of my favorite things about Hawaii is the perfect water temperature. I don't like cold water. The oceans and bays in Hawaii are refreshing but warm enough to swim for a long time.

Throughout the day I was in perpetual appreciation for the sunshine, the sand, the water, and the diverse people on the beach. It was interesting to listen to all the different languages being spoken, especially Japanese and European.

That evening we went to a small local fish place for dinner, watched our first sunset on the beach and talked about our goals and dreams.

More to come tomorrow, as I type from my journal and upload more photos . . .