Today? chillin'

The first evening here in Keaau, I was pretty-much a non-starter, made an early mark (just after dark). The party girls had a bit of Bailey's and soon found their eyelids growing heavy... it wasn't just the Bailey's, either. It had been a rather warm day and stayed warm well into the evening.

Largely because of my dodgy back, I found myself up at 4am. I went outside... it had rained in the night - the sound of the rain magnified by the classic tin roof - so when I reached the bottom of the driveway, I found myself sloshing through a puddle. The smell brought back memories of paper-route in the dark. Puna District has that particular smell, probably because of the rockiness of the ground, even now, forty years later. There may be a bit more traffic along the Keaau-Pahoa road - well, sheesh, it's wall-to-wall on certain times of the day! - but otherwise it smells just like it always smelled, whether you're in the Pana`ewa forest or near Hawai`ian Paradise Park, which is where we're staying.

Our host - who SO could write a tutorial on how to do AirBnB right - had generously provided us with belgian waffles and fresh papaya. He had even given us home-made Coconut syrup to go on the waffles.
Really nice!
Anyway, I had my usual rolled-oats/chia seeds with coconut milk - I was trying to recover from a couple of days of naughty eating and feeling fairly ordinary from lack of sleep and sinuses, so I passed on the waffles, as tempting as they were. The smell of the papayas brought back memories of that first day in the Islands as kids trying papaya for the first time. It was at Onekahakaha Park, as I recall. We weren't impressed by the flavour, not at all. Tried to modify it by sprinkling rolled oats on it, which didn't work.

I still don't care for papaya. Which is unfortunate, as they are excellent nutritionally, so I'm told.

Today, we're chillin', as Katie Wild would say. We spent a gras matinée working on this blog, doing a bit of video and watching the odd shower pass through. Our lovely host popped in to show Brenda and me a Magic Berry (fruit? not sure) about the size and colour of a just-ripe coffee bean pre-roast. You suck off the skin and at the pulp for a bit: it isn't bad at all. Then, go ahead and enjoy the tangiest lemon, or tartest lilikoi (Hawai`ian for passion-fruit) ... sweet-as! Morris reckons that the Aboriginals (Aussie) know of this plant -- possibly might exist in Oz -- but in any event, it so makes sour... sweet.

Think I need to consume a LOT of this one!

So, plant life in Keaau? Pretty much like this...