14 March 2016

Memorandum Monday



Morning, glories!  I've been away the last 2 Mondays so I have a bit of catch up to do.  The Chosen One and I celebrate our 30th anniversary in June and several years ago decided it would the year to hit Hawaii. He wrapped up 30 years with his company in December and was given a sabbatical until the end of March. We're excited that that is the date he starts a new chapter with another pharmaceutical company.

We've had a tremendous amount of together time over the last three months and I have learned something huge!  We're good together lol, seriously we both wondered about that much togetherness and it has been such a gift. We now know that life after he retires will be glorious!

Since he had the time off we did the trip early and just wrapped up 2 weeks in the islands. We spent time on Oahu, Kauai and the Big Island, Hawaii. We did so many cool things, I'll possibly overwhelm you with Hawaii posts in the coming weeks!

I learned that because the Chosen One has a close and warm relationship with sleep and I do not, he adjusts to time changes much better than I do.



I learned that when your tour guide/bus driver sings beautifully the entire tour group can sound amazing serenading you for your anniversary with "Can't Help Falling In Love". This is an ad but it's our guy.




I learned that "The Eddy" is a huge surfing competition in memory of Eddie Aikau. The competition is only held if waves are up to "Eddie standards" so in excess of 20'. Hawaiians measure waves differently from the rest of the world, everywhere else they would be measured even higher. It was held on the North Shore of Oahu the day we arrived, the first time in 9 years. Winning is like winning best actor at the Oscars and a 16 year old won. Here's a cool video about it.


I learned that there are loose chickens and roosters on every island I visit whether Caribbean or Hawaiian but none have as many as Kauai. Hurricane Iniki in 1992 blew apart chicken coops on the island and they have been running wild and reproducing ever since. The roosters don't understand they should only crow at dawn and crow all day long.


SweetGirl had chickens as a child (I have a story to share about that another day) She still loves chickens and was very excited when we sent her pics. We found the perfect tshirt for her.




I learned soooooo many things but I'll stop with this last one (for today). The Hawaiians were having a problem with rats in the pineapple and sugar cane fields, a big problem. A really smart guy decided they should introduce the mongoose to the islands to eat the rats. Unfortunately the mongoose hunts during the day and rats are nocturnal so they never crossed paths. The mongoose didn't solve the rat problem but has done a great job of reproducing. The Chosen One was excited about seeing them, they looked like diseased ferrets to me. Evidently they are like raccoons in that they like to check out the garbage. Photo credit to TCO.


Memorandum Mondays are inspired by Sian of From High In The Sky. It's a weekly meme so click here to see what Sian and others are sharing; the things they've done and something they've learned in the past week.



7 comments:

  1. I love how full of the excitement of travel this post is! It sounds like you had a wonderful time and I'm cheering at the thought of you two enjoying all that time together. Our two ask us what we'll do when they leave home for good and we keep telling them that we managed fine before they came along..

    Have a great week Beverly

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    1. Thanks, Sian! We were a bit concerned about 3 months together and we were truly together but it worked out so well we dreaded him starting his new job today.

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  2. I've learnt loads, just popping in today! Fascinating about the rats and the mongoose ... Glad you rediscovered your happy twosomeness :).

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    1. Not a fan of those mongoose. Today was the first full day without him and actually evening as he has gone out to dinner with some other newcomers to the company. Left to my own devices for 3 days in a coastal town will help with the transition ;)

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  3. Love the info about the mongoose! I've been enjoying your photos on Instagram and look forward to reading more about your trip here in the coming weeks.

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  4. What a fun mix of new things that you've learned. Personally I'd have preferred not to know about rats and mongooses (mongeese?) though. Glad they are stuck on the islands.

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  5. Wow, what a great bunch of learning! How awesome to have three months together - we've just returned from a 10 day road trip and we, too, enjoy just being US! We have three more weeks before Robbie starts a new job! :)

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YOU ROCK! Seriously, I love getting comments, so know that you have put a bit of added sunshine in my day. Thanks so much and I hope your day is glorious!