This is happening, right now, out our front window. WHAT?!?

Last night was our last night in our Wailuku sublet and we have mixed emotions about it. We are very excited about having our own place again and unpacking the suitcases for good, but Wailuku really feels like home now. We were so incredibly lucky to have Cheya and Ashley as our neighbors. At a time when we were feeling completely lost and alone on this island, they took us out, introduced us to their friends, answered our millions of Maui questions and became great friends. I know we will still hang out with them all the time, but it was nice having them right next door. Cheya’s dad Mark, who lives in the main house has also been wonderful to live next to. Not only is he a super nice guy, he’s also a talented artist who has lived a very interesting life.

Living at the base of the West Maui Mountains, overlooking the Central Valley and the ocean has been incredible. Every single time I drive up the driveway and see those mountains, I can’t comprehend that I live here. It took a couple weeks but we eventually grew to love all the strange jungle sounds and critters. That first night I could barely sleep with all the unusual sounds just outside the window. Every night a cool breeze comes down from the mountain and creates the quintessential perfect evening under a sky filled with all the stars we never got to see living in a major city. I wouldn’t be surprised if we ended up living back in Wailuku some day.

Then there’s Skunky. Oh Skunky, we are going to miss you SO MUCH! She was the first the welcome us to the house and seemed to immediately adopt us as her owners. We will miss her long meeeeeeeeooooooows that last longer than any other meow we have heard. We feel like we are leaving our pet behind and it’s breaking our hearts. Luckily Cheya and Ashley have agreed to keep feeding her and giving her love after we leave. Skunky is the best!

The car is now almost fully packed and in a few minutes we will say goodbye to Wailuku and hello to Kihei. Thanks for taking such good care of us, Wailuku.

We finally got the keys to our new place and have started to truck what little we have over. We also had a chance to put our bed frame together for the first time and see just how enormous it is. Wow, it’s huge! We might end up selling it and getting a new one, which isn’t all that bad because we should be able to sell it for at least double what we paid. We will know better once our memory foam mattress un-compresses for a couple more days. We ended up getting a great deal at Amazon and somehow the shipping of this 80 lb mattress 2nd day to Hawaii was only $40. Hopefully we will be fully moved in mid-week and finally unpack these suitcases and have our own home again. It will be bittersweet though because we really love living so close to our friends and we worry about Skunky, who has become VERY attached to us, and vice versa.

I’ve always been a cat person. My drawings as a child usually consisted of one of two things: a picture of a cat or the words “I love cats!” Let me note that I would at times substitute the word love for a heart – I need to be accurate here. Sometimes I would get a little bit crazy and draw a cat and have a word bubble coming out of the cat’s mouth saying , “I love cats” which I guess make all of these adored creatures a little narcissistic. Now, if I was to draw an image as a gift for someone else, say, my mom (flowers) or my dad (guns and cigarettes), I would take the time and cater the image to what I thought they liked.

On my third birthday, I received the best gift ever: a tiny, orange striped, white chested kitten that I named Tara, a name I found in my mom’s Baby Naming Book. She meowed and whined through my early stages of dressing her in doll clothes and walking her in my toy stroller, and eventually made it all the way to Chicago with me. She lived 21 years, making her my longest roommate. Since her passing, I have always felt a little empty. That’s why I always latch onto other people’s cats. (Deb knows what I am talking about.)

Skunky came into our temporary lives here our very first day of our sublet. She started begging at the back door earlier and earlier each day, spending more and more time with us. Soon she was kneading our laps, lovingly with her sharp claws and I think I have at times heard a faint purr. In contrast, her meowing is not faint. She meows at you whenever she sees you, as if just to say hi. She has this cute tongue that she sticks out when she meows, which happens to have part of it missing. She’s definitely an outdoor cat with a lot of fights under her belt. Even through she’s a frisky, half-tongued fighting cat, her coat is very soft.

She has an arch-nemesis, Nunie, that lives in the apartment to the left of ours. Although they have gotten into a lot of fights in the past, Skunky seems to have stopped picking catfights since we have been giving her food and attention. They still have daily stare-downs though.

As we near the end of our sublet, we are starting to get very sad. We are unable to have pets at our new place and there are also a lot of questions of who in the neighborhood Skunky may really belong to. So, last night, we discussed the whole thing with our neighbor-friends, and thankfully they will continue to take care of Skunky Meow Cat. We will be able to move this weekend knowing that she will be loved and cared for.

We finally bought a pineapple, one of the few cheap things at the grocery store.

It was delicious.

Early morning sugar cane burn.

For Ken, our FREE Matson key chain!

Welcome to Hawaii, car! Our sweet ride finally made its way across the ocean and into our driveway. I have to admit, we felt a little sad when we were saying goodbye to our rental car, it treated us well for 3 weeks.

This sucker might not look that big without a reference point but believe me when I tell you it’s about 2 feet across. That’s a lie, it’s actually about 5 or 6 inches from the front legs to the back legs and it’s web is about 4 feet across. I’m pretty sure it’s waiting to kill us in our sleep tonight. Read all about the Argiope Appensa’s appearance on the world’s most disappointing TV show, Lost.

Skunky’s archrival engaged in a serious cat stare-down from next door.

And finally… My last meal with co-workers at Evanston’s finest burger joint. Great people, great co-workers, great friends and a great way to make me fat before I hit the beach! Thanks again for the awesome send off, I really do miss you guys a lot!!!

We started the day with a visit to the local diner, Tasty Crust. I had the “local omelette” which included Portuguese sausage, green onion and Spam. Darlene went for the Tasty Crust specialty, pancakes covered in about 2 cups of margarine. Breakfast was good but it has been a while since we have eaten like that, so we were feeling a little sluggish. Then we headed down the The Four Seasons resort in Wailea for Darlene’s job interview. It would be a great place for her to work, for many reasons, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed. She will be interviewing at another restaurant on Tuesday which could also be a really good opportunity for her, so we will just have to see what happens.

We can see the Kahului port from our lanai and today I noticed the ship transporting our car was docking and unloading. As long as they didn’t drop my car into the ocean, we should be able to pick it up in a couple days.

Other than that, we were super lazy and boring today.

Tasty Crust in Wailuku

Excuse me ma’am, can I get some more margarine, I can still see some of my pancake.

See you soon Explorer!

Things continue to be great here. Other than constant internet issues, Maui has treated us well. Darlene went from being worried about finding work to possibly having too many job offers. In the span of a few days, she was offered a part-time position at a large company, offered a part-time job assisting our current landlord who is a successful painter and sculptor and getting a job interview at a restaurant that she would really like to work at. She has a good shot at getting this restaurant office manager position and since it’s full-time with benefits she might not be able to even take the job she was offered. It’s a tough call for her and a bit of a gamble but I think things will work out.

The position with the artist is really cool and she would get a chance to work side-by-side with our friend and neighbor Ashley who also assists him. He’s a really nice mellow guy (like most people here) and his house is INSANE. It’s one giant open space surrounded by windows that overlook the ocean. Oh yeah, and most of the space is filled with a beautiful indoor pool that features a living room built over the center like a bridge.

Skunky pretty much officially lives on our lanai now. She used to just come by at dinner time but now she kind of never leaves. It kills us that we have to move in a couple weeks and leave her behind. She’s basically our pet now even though apparently she has another home someplace. Although I find the lizards to be very cute, it’s still funny to watch her casually grab one and eat it whole in less than 5 seconds. She’s not playing around.

Our new Hawaiian bank account is open and our car is scheduled to arrive on Monday. After that, we will get new license plates, driver’s licenses and invest in some stickers for the back of the car that will make us look more “local.” Apparently this simple step can go a long way when it comes to preventing car break-ins. Life is starting to feel normal again as we complete these small tasks. The next big step will be moving into our new place and patiently searching for good deals on used furniture and having family members slowly ship us the mountain of flat-rate USPS boxes we left them with. It will be nice to see some of our stuff again.

“Our” pet cat Skunky.

Skunky is getting more and more friendly.

Our friend CJ gave us a papaya from his yard. It was the best papaya we have ever tasted. We can also walk right into the back yard and pick fresh bananas and avocados. These perks will be missed after we move.

The Central Valley is mostly large sugar cane fields and when it comes time to harvest it they light the field on fire, leaving only the stalks behind. It fills the air with smoke and the smell of caramelized sugar. Luckily this does not happen very often. Sometimes ash will gently fall from the sky and it’s referred to as “Maui snow.”

We bought some decent snorkel gear.

Crazy night sky over Kahului.