Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Toddstock: Wednesday 6.18.08
















We had been to Waimea Canyon on a previous visit to Kauia and knew we wanted to return to this spectacular view. We made the trek with Ronnie, his son, Allen, and Karen. Karen lives in England and is originally from Australia. We loved her quick wit and her comments about being Jewish and looking for a synagogue on Kauia were hilarious. She is also a songwriter although we didn’t get to hear any of her tunes.

Waimea is known as the small Grand Canyon. I’ve not seen the Grand Canyon but the clouds parted long enough for us to see the Napali coast and ocean and provide a view you won't find at the Grand Canyon, of course.

We returned to the campground after buying leis to take part in the house blessing for Todd and Michele's house. It's been under construction for 3 years and when I asked the forman who happened to be sitting next to us one evening when it would be finished he looked at us and said, "Never." Truly a work of art in progress. The roof has curved lines and is covered with copper. The foreman told us that it was constructed on the ground and then attached to the house. Todd's ability to see a vision and then make it happen continued to amaze and inspire me.
Of course, it was a Hawaiian house blessing. The spiritual leader explained as she moved through the blessing the purpose of each part of it and then she spoke in Hawaiian. A tea leaf was planted at each corner of the house to remind them of this day of blessing. We waited outside while the family went inside and spoke words of their intentions for each room of the house. When they were finished the rest of us were invited into the house. When the front door opened the view was breathtaking. We looked straight through the house (because there is no fourth wall on their living room/kitchen) to see the water of the koi pond at the edge of the living floor and look directly out into their valley view. Only an artist could know how to take advantage of such a view. Then each person was permitted to share their words of blessing for the house. Most of the words were beautiful and appropriate. My word was "martini" and it went downhill from there so Todd knew to put a halt and invite people to tour his home. When we are released to share our pics I'll post some of our better ones of the house here.
We had a great dinner that evening and continued to mingle and share in the beverages.

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