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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 didnโt jabber; it didnโt 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 donโt expect it. Such blessings abound in paradise.
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.
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