AWESOME UNEXPECTED MOMENTS IN OAHU

[schlomo]

Awesome Unexpected Moments in Oahu

Last week as I entered Waimea Falls Park and Botanical Gardens, I saw a male peacock ascend and flutter onto a pavilion roof. When I was leaving the park, that same peacock plummeted to the ground from another roof. I have occasionally seen peacocks flaunt their expansive feathers, but I had never seen one of them fly, if that were even an option. What a treat!

A couple of years ago at dusk, my adopted 95-year-old Mum told me to look out of her downtown Honolulu bedroom window. What I spied was a magnificent spectacle. Hundreds of chattering green parrots converged on a huge banyan tree far across the street. I wish I had had a pair of binoculars to get a more intimate view.  But yesterday, equally just by chance, I reveled in observing the same kind of parrot up close.

While I was walking along Mamala Bay at Hickam Air Field Base, a friend of mine pointed to a bird zipping towards a mimosa tree. It was a vividly dark green parrot. I got a better look at this sleek bird when it alighted at the end of a limb.  It didn’t jabber; it didn’t groom its wings. It just perched serenely for a few moments. I was delighted to have been graced by its presence.  I am convinced that Nature searches you out when you don’t expect it. Such blessings abound in paradise.

[aruzinsky]

I made two trips to Hawaii in 1987 and 1990 to attend conventions of the International Heliconia Society and I stayed at the Ala Moana Hotel in Honolulu.  The first time, on the cab ride from the airport to the hotel, my cab driver had the fattest neck that I ever saw.  I suppose it wasn't as impressive as a flying peacock, but it stuck in my memory.  Also, in 1987, the Ala Moana Hotel's interior was completely decorated in wool, which was something I would expect from a Hotel in Alaska  It was just creepy but, by 1990, they got rid of the wool.  Other things that I remember include visiting the Dole estate and riding in a car on the road to Hana on the island of Maui.  The road is famous for being winding.

[schlomo]

The road to Hana is wonderful if cars behind you don't want you to go faster. My wife had to frequently go to the side of the road to let the tailgating cars pass us.