Aloha From Hawaii: March 2011

Aloha! How are you all surviving the NH weather? Bet the skiing is delightful...spring is on the way!

The Garden Villa, our new home away from home until the end of April is located high on the hillside in the town of Kaumuki, a small suburb of Honolulu. This is another lovely home belonging to our friend Ingrid and her brother. Ingrid's dad was an architect and built the Hawaiian style plantation home for his family many years ago. This blissful retreat, surrounded by lush gardens, has the same decor and comfortable easy living feel of our November accommodations. It is a pleasure to live here...we call it home!

The villa has three bedrooms, two upstairs and one "sweet" bedroom suite downstairs where Adam enjoyed two weeks in his private quarters! There is a nice size veranda off of the spacious living room on the main floor which overlooks Diamond Head, the Pacific Ocean, the high rise hotels of Waikiki and many neighborhood rooftops and towns below. At night the city is aglow with twinkling lights as far and wide as the eye can see. There are two outdoor seating areas for eating dinner, relaxing or watching the sunset or just admiring the floral gardens that embrace you on the ground level of the home. Even though the houses are close together you still feel like you are in your own private paradise!

While Adam was with us at the beginning of January, he and I toured the Missouri at Pearl Harbor and spent as many sunny days as possible at the beach where he took to the ocean on his surf board. Another must do, if you dare! You can take a lesson where the "beach boys" guarantee you will ride the board standing!

I became a member of the Honolulu Academy of Art, a great museum and another must see! I have frequented several films at the Doris Duke Theater on the museum premises, enjoying the Jewish Film Festival in February, Iranian films last week and looking forward to viewing Filipinao films in March. Along with the museum and the theater, there is an art center across the street where I am taking a watercolor class with a great abstract, free spirited instructor and loving it!

I visited the Doris Duke Mansion last month...what a place! Doris Duke was a young heiress, her father a wealthy tobacco tycoon, who in the late 1930's built Shangri La, her Honolulu home overlooking the Pacific Ocean and Diamond Head. She collected Islamic art over her lifetime and her home houses her collection and is now open to the public. Not only a gorgeous mansion inside but an "awesome" space outside. She constructed two huge rocky jetties at the ocean's edge which forms a safe area for swimming and a nice spot for fishing. From the swimming area, a large stone stairway carries you back up to the impressive stone walls and walkways that wrap around her oceanfront property. In the 1990's Hawaii made all beaches open to the public allowing access to any beachfront property anywhere, including Doris Duke's backyard playground. The docent encouraged us to come back and enjoy the scenic grounds so Jim and I took a ride over and walked down onto the stone walkways surrounding Shangri La. Locals and tourists alike come to hang out and spend the day...a nice place to swim, have a picnic or watch the sunset! Just another day in paradise!

Jim's brother Dennis and his wife Tricia came to visit us mid February. We had an awesome time! Dennis is quite the chef and prepared a Maple Glazed Cedar Plank Salmon with risotto for dinner one evening and veggie omelets for breakfast...yum! And Tricia prepared her famous Lemon Ricotta Pancakes one morning...what's not like about this menu or our live in chefs? The night before Dennis and Tricia left we enjoyed dinner at Duke's Restaurant, a popular Waikiki landmark with an ocean view. Thanks again guys for your generosity and thoughtfulness!

Notice the pink box in pictures below! The plump sugar dusted cakes you see are called Malasadas, similar to our sugar raised donuts...bet you cannot eat just one...from another Hawaiian landmark called Leonard's Bakery!

It was nice to see the two brothers spend time on vacation together...something they have not done since they were kids! We all enjoyed a day at Bellows Beach boogie boarding and a day at Hanauma Bay snorkeling! We hiked Diamond Head for the 5th time but who's counting??? We also hiked two smaller trails, Manoa Falls and Makapu'u Lighthouse Trail. We still have Koko Head Crater on our list, a hike similar to Diamond Head for the views but unlike Diamond Head, tho Koko Head Trail is a straight up climb and exposed to the elements...should be an interesting hike!