Wednesday 3/16/05 - Monday 3/21/05

Today, Sunday, I went snorkeling at Poipu.  The weather was just perfect.  I worked in the morning and then went to Poipu at about 2pm.  There were very few people there.  The fish were amazing.  I saw a Christmas Wrasse that was much larger than this example.  I also saw a Kihikihi fish or Moorish Idol.  I've seen them before with Karen but never as large as I saw today and it's nose was HUGE.  The colors of the reef were amazing today.  I think the reef seems to recuperate from the tourists during winter.  Seems silly as it takes years to see growth but the reef seems to be more colorful.

Saturday I went to the church around the corner as they were sponsoring the Garden Island Orchid Show.  It was a two day event with judging and was just amazing.  I asked if I could take pictures so take a look.  I had to really pull myself back when I got to the end of the room as they were selling orchids at 12 to 21 dollars and they were just amazing.  They will have another in August so maybe I'll think about trying my hand at growing them later.

The most interesting thing happened last night.  Just as the sun was going down I heard this unusual clicking.  I kept looking in the tree in front of my place but I just could not find it.  But,  you know me.... I recorded it.  This is some bird but I have no idea what kind.  Maybe from the sound of it my friend Carole (the major bird watcher)... Carole you there? will be able to tell us what it is.  I've since learned this is a Shama.

Today, Monday I got the news that the house sale was complete.  Yeh!  I know that Ana, the buyer, will be very happy in that old house.  I loved it while I was there.  It was a great place to live and I really did like fixing it up.  It was just perfect for my time in Corpus Christi.  Can you believe I lived in Texas for 14 years?  The longest I have lived anywhere since I left California after 17 years.  I will miss my Dad's plumeria, the elephant ears, the Jacuzzi, but most of all my children and friends nearby.  Ahhh, but a new life in a heavenly place to build again.  I love the feeling of this place.  I feel as if I have come to the place I was meant to be.  The smell is heavenly, the sounds are soothing, and the land is so beautiful.  I do miss working at Spohn and I miss my friends but I really like working at home better.  I like exploring this new place too.  It's amazing that I was able to do this.

I worked on the weekend to finish an assignment for SANS due today and the project at WalMart is stalled until Wednesday so today was my free day.  So, guess what I did?  I went to the beach!  I went to the Salt Pond.  It is not even 10 minutes away and was totally awesome.  I snorkeled, took a break, and snorkeled again.  It is at the end of an airport so I also sat on the beach and watched the helicopters land.  I saw an ultra-light also but couldn't get to my camera fast enough to get a picture.  I'll get one next time as they are so low when they come over the beach you can almost touch them.  I loved this beach!  It is totally protected by rocks and reef.  There are all kinds of little spaces to explore.  I had hesitated to go to a new beach without my snorkel buddy, Karen, but I had heard this was a popular beach for the locals and then over the weekend someone told me there is a lifeguard so I went to check it out today.  It was perfect.  This will be my close place to snorkel now.  I even saw a new fish.  It was black with a white spot on the side.  I looked it up when I got home and it is called a HAWAIIAN DASCYLLUS or ALO'ILO'I.  It acted like a clownfish (ya know... Nemo?).  Swimming around the cauliflower coral like it owned it.  It was also very small like the clownfish.  Anyway.  This reef has great coral... purple and lime green.  It also has huge cauliflower coral or Ko'a in Hawaiian.  After reading this article I realized why it does so well as the wave action was great in this little inlet.  I saw large and small fish and it was different at each location as I rounded corners to different sections of the reef.  Very nice place.

Weight Watch.... Lost another 2 pounds... Total of 25 since February.  Yeh Me!