“Never forget that regardless of where you are on life’s journey, something unexpected and amazing can lie just around the bend.”
Sometimes this Island is like taking an EST training where they lock you in a room, don’t let you go to the bathroom, and then process the heck out of you.
Good things happen though; yesterday the powers that be didn’t charge us taxes on our Prius. Halleluiah. That car was considered a part of our household goods and thus not taxed. [Appreciation Number One.]
Continuing down our list or errands: Husband Darling needed a new phone as Verizon doesn’t work on our property, so we go to the ATT store. There I find that I have exceeded my minutes by an enormous amount, and have an exorbitant bill. All those phone minutes I used were not for fun either, some were-- talking to wonderful friends and daughter, but mainly they were used handling business. You know, “The menu has changed, please select from the following options.” One, two, three, four, five. “Okay you chose three, now chose from the following, one, two…“Your call is important to us please hold…” “Thank you for your patience.” It took one hour to get my Direct TV disconnected and a box sent from our old address to my daughter’s...except they sent it to the old address. ATT lowered our bill when we signed for a family plan though. [Appreciation number two.]
Coming home, attempting to connect to the Internet, we discovered that somehow, in the process of adding a phone, and more minutes, they turned off our Internet service. I wrung my hands, didn’t want to part with my computer, did anyway.
Husband Darling found a computer repair man who repaired it in his home during one afternoon. I’m back online! [Appreciation three]. This man has connection to a broadband antenna we might avail ourselves of. [Four.]
Daughter Darling and I have decided that the hang loose attitude here is because there are so many irritations, like small parking lots, and small parking spaces, and 35, 45, and 55 mile an hour speed limits, and it taking about three hours to get a checking account, so eventually you give it up and hang loose.
Drivers are nice here. [Appreciation five] They wave you into spaces, wait for you. In Oregon many drivers keep their faces straight ahead and pretend they do not see that you have been signaling for 6 miles.
People here are nice. [Appreciation six]. They are nice to each other and to their Keikis (children). Did I tell you that we have a school on this road? One would never know unless told for it is tucked into the jungle. You wouldn’t believe that people drive this road to deliver their children, but they do. From what we hear it is an alternative school, rather Montessorish, although not Montessori. In driving around, one sees a school on almost every corner, but apparently there is a great draw to the alternative schools and an attraction to home schooling as well. We joked that Baby Darling could walk to school, and if he didn’t like it he could walk home. He’s at the crawling stage now, but the speed in which he travels; he could cover that distance in two shakes of a goat’s tail.
There is wonderful Island grown produce here sold at Outdoor Markets, and Natural food markets abound. [Appreciation seven and eight].The temperature is wonderful, [Nine].and there is no frost on any pumpkins, [Ten] and no frozen pipes, [Eleven], and when it rains, it waters the grounds and fills our catchment system, and cleanses us. [Twelve].
Right now, we need rain, as our water tank is WAY down. We hear there is an El Nino. California gets more rain during an El Nino, Hawaii gets less. Rain baby and you can make the appreciation list a baker’s dozen.
