Thursday 4/14/05 - Sunday 4/17/05

Friday was a nice day.  Jackie had a potluck as a celebration of her move to the north side of the island.  I mentioned her before.  She works for KISC (Kauai Invasive Species Committee).  Several of her co-workers came and it was an amazingly diverse menu and guests:

There were people from the Dept of Forestry, the Inter-Island Air Co, A Gallery owner, a realtor, KISC members, and me.  Dave who is working on the eradication of small fire ants was interesting.  Jin-Wah who knows all of the botanical scientific names was very intriguing.  Marty is a pilot with Inter-Island Helicopters who often drops the KISC members in the deep rainforest areas.  They discussed a trek to the Bogs, one of the most fragile ecosystems in Kauai, coming up soon.  Patrick, who does Kayak trips around the Napali coast was there but I didn't get to talk with him much.  Ken Wood, a botanist known for his work with the Palm Plight, who has "more than 1,000 expeditions in the last decade" collects rare plant specimens or at least saves their seeds.  He's also been featured in the National Geographic and was very interesting.  I hope to get to talk with him next time instead of eavesdropping as I did this night.  Joe brought his 4 month old Josiah who was very sweet.  He, Patrick, Sheri, and others (but not sure who), work on the team that is removing the Kiawe, long thorn in the jungle.  These are very large and it is very hard work from what Jackie says.  It was very exciting to hear everyone discussing work that I hardly talked at all (and my friends know that is a rarity).  I learned an amazing amount from them.  Isabelle, Buddy and Todd came later too.  I look forward to Jackie inviting me to a party with these people again so I can listen in again.  I'll miss her as my neighbor.

I also walked to the Art Night out front for a few minutes and caught this.... Hanapepe Art Night