Toto, We Weren't In Iowa

Many of you were aware that the farmers were taking a break from the farm and work for a while over the holidays, though I suspect some of you were not.  Well...

We took a break from the farm and visited one of our favorite places on this good Earth of ours.  Now you know if you didn't before.

As a part of the break, I allowed myself to "reprint" the best blogs of 2022 so there was something good for everyone to read through late December and early January.  I did manage to create new Postal History Sunday entries, but that was it.  

I recognize that I don't have to write frequent blogs like I do.  But, sometimes when you make a habit out of something, it just sort of happens.  Before you know it, there's some low-grade pressure to keep at it because... well, you expect that you should.  Over time, that pressure can build up a bit.

And, now we're back - and we have lots of stories of Kauai to tell - along with stories of the farm, and whatever else that comes to mind. 

Getting to Kauai from Iowa can be a bit of an ordeal and there is usually some decompression that has to happen during the first twenty-four hours after arrival.  As a matter of fact it takes a while for your brain to realize that...

You're not in Iowa anymore.

Of course, you have to get your brain off of travel stresses.  Gotta make that connection at such and such airport.  Did I remember the book I was reading or is it still in the pouch on the seat that was in front of me?  Boarding pass?  I need ANOTHER one of those?

And then, if you're like the two of us, the sleep patterns get messed up pretty good.  The first night here I woke up every two hours wondering if I was supposed to get up now...

How about now?

Now?  Oh, heck.  I'll just get up.

I also had to get used to sleeping with ocean wave sounds.  I woke up confused a couple of times because my brain couldn't make sense of the sound of waves.  Instead it thought there was a rain downpour going on and I needed to get up to close the windows (as I would do at the farm).  What made it worse was that sometimes there was ALSO rain.  Talk about issues in water sound identification.

Then there's the part where you realize that none of the things you are used to having readily available are anywhere nearby.  For example, what do you do when you are hungry?  Well, I just to the fridge in our kitchen and pull out the....  oh.  Wait.  That kitchen is a few thousand miles away now.  Might be a bit difficult to grab a snack from that fridge.

It doesn't take long for us to figure out where we are, because we have been here before.  And that's part of the attraction.  In some ways, it feels like Kaua'i is our second home because we have been fortunate to have been able to visit more than once prior to this.  We know a bit about how to find things and how to do things.  We even are asked occasionally "Kamaʻāina?"  Or - are you a person or child of the land?

We take it as a compliment.  But we are guests who simply are a bit more in tune with the land that is Kauai than some.  We do our best to be the best guests we can possibly be. We have a kuleana to the land and the people of Kauai and we take it seriously.

Kuleana means more than "responsibility," but that will serve for this blog post.  We have kuleana to āina (the land) and to the people that live here to be thoughtful and to act well.  

We also had kuleana for our respective jobs and our farm (and the people who graciously stayed at the farm).  We still had some work to do after we arrived.  But, it was so nice to have a beautiful environment in which to perform those duties.

And then we went to a farmers' market with the knowledge years of producing food has given us and we patronized growers who do what they do well.  And we went about the work of learning to find balance in our lives, minds and souls once again.