Getting a Better Idea of What I Am Seeing

"I think a future flight should include a poet, a priest and a philosopher . . . we might get a much better idea of what we saw."
-- Michael Collins, NASA Astronaut

The title of this entry is directed at me, not you. I am trying to find words to explain the peace and beauty found on the north shore of Kaua'i. I have been here once before, but perhaps I needed this vacation more this time. I'm not going to tell you exactly where; my in-laws would kill me for revealing this little gem to the world!

I feel the shortcomings of not being a real poet. Words so rarely convey the full bandwidth of human experience. Our brains compress things because they simply can't store everything. Our poets compress things into tropes like metaphors and similes as a shorthand for the vibrancy of life. We relate by relating, not by imagining from Dickensian detail (he simply got paid by the word, duh!).

As many of you who are hassling me about being on the computer know, this is a working vacation for me... the joys of self-employment, but I don't mind. It's a good life. I wake up early to interact with folks on the East Coast, have some breakfast (usually fruit, artisanal bread, Peet's coffee(we brought, but you can buy here!), pineapple, papaya; today included oatmeal and some local goat cheese infused with herbs picked up at the farmer's market first thing) and then either go for a swim, run some errands or get about my business. Today I worked on a press release, but other days I've done things for clients or some writing.

In the afternoon, I'll swim again or take a nap. Before dinner we'll have drinks and some spicy ahi or tako poke. For dinner we've had scallops provençal, some rockin' burgers, fish kebabs and grilled chicken.

At night, the mosquitos come out, but honestly, to complain about that would paint me as an ingrate. Better to keep my mouth shut and whip out the Muhi or Mopiko.

It rains a bit and then it shines. The colors are really almost caricatures of themselves; life is not this vibrant. Waterfalls in the nearby mountains seem to come and go. We've had several rainbows in just the past few days. The house we are staying in has a huge, immaculately kempt lawn, freshly green from all of the recent rain.

This is an exceptionally remote part of the world, but here I am, posting a blog entry over a WiFi connection. In between breakfast and swimming we got to watch the Giants lose to the Dodgers (Boo!). It is amazing how normal life can be in this abnormally beautiful and unique location.

It also highlights the fact that I probably don't really need to live in Northern Virginia. I need to be able to travel easily (which is not possible from Hawai'i), but I can probably be more proactive about where we choose to live.