Photos of Maui: Road to Hana and Haleakala

Last night Richard Bonomo and I went to work out at the health club in Sun Prairie while Travalon swam there. We did what Luxuli calls Strength Training Without Mercy, or STWOM, pronounced "storm." (Having studied Irish for nine months now, I no longer find that pronunciation unlikely.) This involves lifting a reasonable weight twelve times, then a heavier weight eight times, and then one you can barely lift three times. Today I feel like my arms are going to fall off. (Hope that makes you happy, Rich!)

As promised, here are some more photos of Maui. This first one is looking out the window of our resort, not toward the ocean but toward the rest of the resort.

 

These next photos are from the Garden of Eden along the Road to Hana:

 

 

 This appears to be a private residence in the Garden of Eden

 rainbow eucalyptus

 bamboo

These next shots are from the public beach at Hana and the private black sand beach.

 

 

Apparently there are Packer Backers on Maui - we found this along the Road to Hana.

 

This is a photo from the Seven Sacred Pools. Most of the rest of it was not that photogenic due to the lack of rain this past season.

This is a photo from the south shore of Maui, of a roadside shrine. It shows how the landscape resembles the west coast of Ireland.

These next shots are from Haleakala National Park and show the silverswords and the peaks above the clouds, as well as a stuffed nene (since we never saw a live one).

 

 

 

I still have some shots from my own camera to share with you, so stay tuned for that.

Famous Hat

Walking Weekend

Do you know how big Richard Bonomo’s driveway is? Big enough for an RV to park there and still fit two more cars! Can you believe it? Friday evening Travalon and I went over there for dinner, joining Kathbert, Catzookz, and Twins Fan, as well as a relative of Catzookz who had recently purchased the RV. We got a tour of it, and we also looked at MRI images because Kathbert, Rich, and I have all recently had MRIs done on our brains. All three of my brain files worked fine then, but now two of them won’t open. Here is the one that does still run, for your viewing pleasure:

Saturday Jilly Moose met Travalon and me for coffee, then we all went to Indian Lake County Park with Rodney and walked around the lake while praying various chaplets. We went to our old favorite, the Keg in Martinsville, for a drink and a bite to eat, and we asked about confession at St. Martin’s across the street, but they only have it the first Saturday of the month at nine am. We went to St. John the Baptist in Waunakee for confession, and tons of little kids were there in fancy white clothes to receive their first communion. Jilly Moose and I took a walk around my neighborhood, and we went to OK Cap’s house but she wasn’t home. We went to Pooley’s for dinner and then had fun singing along with “Sweet Caroline” on the way home.

Saturday Ma and Pa Hat stopped into town on the way back from Ma Hat’s alma mater, and several of us met them for lunch: Jilly Moose, OK Cap, Rich, and of course Travalon and me. Our lunch stretched on for three hours – guess we all like to talk! It was a beautiful day, so before lunch Travalon and I took Rodney for a walk at Tenney Park, and then in the early evening we intercepted Cecil Markovitch and the Single B-Boy walking through the Arboretum. Luxuli and Prairie Man intercepted us further down the road, and we all walked to Gates & Brovi for dinner. It sure was a great weekend for walking!

Famous Hat

Meta-Mystery of the Rosary

Maybe this would have been a better post for yesterday, because Thursday is the day we meditate on the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary, but I really wanted to put some more photos of Hawaii on the blog. Today I want to post just a brief reflection on the Third Luminous Mystery, which is the Proclamation of the Kingdom. When I first heard about the Luminous Mysteries, they all sounded so wonderful except for that one, and in fact they are still my favorite set of mysteries. (Is it OK to have “favorites” where prayer is concerned?) At first the third one bugged me, because it seemed so vague, but then one day it occurred to me: it’s a meta-mystery! Why isn’t the Multiplication of Loaves and Fishes a Luminous Mystery? It’s already contained in the Third one! What about the raising of Lazarus from the dead? Already contained in the Third one! And the Sermon on the Mount? It goes without saying that it is part of the Proclamation of the Kingdom. It’s a mystery full of mysteries – all of Jesus’s public miracles could be included in it, except for the Wedding Feast at Cana, which is already the Second Luminous Mystery. Now I think the Proclamation of the Kingdom is kind of the coolest mystery of all, because it gives you so much to meditate on. It just makes me love the Luminous Mysteries even more.

Famous Hat

Photos of Maui: Whale Watching and Luau

Here are photos from our second day on Maui, when we went whale watching and then attended a luau at our resort. The first few shots are from Mick Fleetwood's bar in Lahaina, the town where we caught the boat to go watch the whales.

These next photos are from the whale watching cruise. In some of them, you can see the island of Lanai in the background, but this first shot is the shoreline of Maui:

 

These last few photos are from the luau we went to that night; they show the pig that had been buried in the ground, cooking all day, as well as some dancers who performed for us.

 

Stay tuned! Photos from the Road to Hana and Haleakala still to come!

Famous Hat

Failure at Lucid Dreaming

This transpired last week but I totally forgot to blog about it: I was in a dream study. I was recruited because I frequently have what they call “lucid dreams,” in which you realize you are dreaming and can control the content to some extent. Months ago they did an MRI of my brain, and last week they asked me to come into the sleep lab to try to have a lucid dream in a controlled environment. I had to be hooked up to a veil of sensors to track my brain waves and eye movements, but the bed was surprisingly comfortable and I had only a small amount of trouble sleeping, mostly with waking up now and then. When I finally awoke completely, the graduate student who was monitoring me asked if I had dreamed, and at first I said no, but then I remembered a dream about an evil guy breeding violent cats, dogs, and monkeys. I was supposed to give a signal in my sleep if I realized I was dreaming by looking left, then right, then left, then right. Unfortunately, I did not give the signal, so I am a failure at lucid dreaming on command. However, you can enjoy this photo of me wearing the veil of sensors. Doesn't it look conducive to a good night's sleep?

Famous Hat

Two Small Roadtrips

I hope everyone got a chance to enjoy the beautiful weekend. Saturday I was outside most of the day and got a bit of a sunburn. In the morning Travalon and I met Luxuli and Jilly Moose and another woman for coffee outside, so Rodney the Poodle could join us, then we ladies prayed the rosary and OK Cap joined us just after we finished. Travalon, meanwhile, walked Rodney by the lake. He, Jilly Moose, OK Cap, and I had lunch outside, then he and I drove to Paoli for more cheese curd bread and more Hop Garden beer. We were excited to hear that another small brewery, Driftless Beer, is opening a brew pub, but it’s over near Wyalusing. The Hop Garden will have their official Grand Opening on the second of May. We hiked at a park in Bellville by the lake, then we drove to the Wisconsin Brewing Company in Verona and sat outside enjoying their Ol’ Reliable. I have mixed feelings about this brewery, because I hate to see anyone fail, but they broke off in a pretty nasty way from Capital Brewery. Who knows, maybe there is enough room in the microbrew market for everyone, and there's no need to fight. When Travalon and I got back to town, we got subs from Subway and ate in the park. Rodney had such a good day, getting to be outside all day long. Too bad poor Cashmere never gets to enjoy the lovely weather…

Yesterday after Mass we weren’t sure if the usual crowd was going to the usual place for brunch, since Rich is out of town, but they did, and they had saved us two spots. Then Travalon and I hiked all over Festge Park with Rodney before driving to Arena to try to find a bar that used to be a chicken coop. We did find it, but it did not look open. A quick perusal on the internet just now showed that it seems to have closed last August. We checked out the Arena boat launch and thought how much fun it would be to bring Travalon’s boat down there once we get it. We drove on to Spring Green and had some weird icy gelato, sitting outside although the day had become overcast. It didn’t start raining until we were at dinner, at a Japanese restaurant near East Towne. Only as we were about to leave did we realize that they have a really cool little secret room we could have sat in, since nobody was sitting in there. Oh well, next time.

Famous Hat

Photos of Maui: Our First Day

Here are photos from our first day on Maui, including the Iao Valley, a county park with various pavilions to celebrate different ethnicities on the island, and our drive along the rugged northwest shore.

 interesting decal on a truck

 the Iao Needle

 rainbow plant... croton?

 

 the beautiful Iao Valley

 the beautiful Iao Valley

 Chinese pavilion

 Filipino pavilion

 

Korean pavilion

 the Sugar Cane Train (temporarily defunct)

 billy goat living amid the sand dunes

 Honolua Bay

 rock "sculpture" by Honolua Bay

 sign near Honolua Bay...

 ...and the coconuts to beware of

tropical sunset (Molokai visible on the left)

Still to come: two more days on Maui!

Famous Hat