Avoiding Disaster- A Matter of Opinion

Last week we heard that Hawaii was in the path of Hurricane Felicia. The weather turned muggy and everyone was buying up bottled water and flashlights. We evaluated our situation here, having no food supply except of what I had bought at Costco the week before. We thought if the lights went out we better cook up some of the things in the freezer. We filled two gallon pitchers of water and hoped for the best. But the hurricane broke up and we were left with very beautiful sunsets. This is taken at Turtle bay which is a 2 minute walk from our condo.

But this Saturday morning after Craig had taken his morning walk he had sat down to read and heard water dripping. He saw that the ceiling was about to come down right on top of the dining room table where my computer sits. He quickly got things out of the way, pushed back the furniture and carpet and watched as the ceiling full of water came tumbling down. I came home from my walk to see him mopping up water. Apparently there was a leak at the washing machine from the condo above us. I must have been dripping for a while because quite a bit of water had accumulated until if finally let go.

It was a blessing that we were home so that Craig could get everything out of the way. Otherwise the ceiling would have crashed right down on my computer and who knows what would have happened with that.

You can see the drywall separating from the ceiling. Thank goodness the ceiling fan still works.

The drywall was really heavy because of the water that had soaked into it. The supervisor of maintenance came over to help carry it out. He also got a guy to fix the leak upstairs. Now we just need to wait until they get someone to fix the hole over our heads. Considering what happened there was a minimal amount of damage- it could have been a lot worse!

Other than that we are enjoying getting used to living here, enduring the heat and humidity with no air conditioning, and waiting for the next disaster that awaits!

On an other note, I finished this square for my album quilt and wanted to share it with you. The basket was the hardest part, it is woven besides appliqued, and was a real pain to do. I am now working on one of the more simpler

Aloha from Hawaii!!

We arrived in Hawaii a week ago to set up our new home for the next year. We are living on the first fairway of Turtle Bay. This photo is taken from our living room looking out at the golf course. Our home is located where the golfers land their first drive (if they are lucky and accurate). We have learned that after 3pm golfing is just $15 if you walk. We bought ourselves a couple of pull carts and take them out the door when we want to go play. We then take our driver and go to the first tee to hit. Hopefully our ball has landed close to the carts and we go on from there. In the week we have been here we have been out four times already.

This is our very Hawaiian looking living room. When we arrived the condo had been closed up and it was so hot and humid!! Since then we have learned that opening the windows and doors allows a great breeze to blow across the house both upstairs and down. It is very comfortable and sleeping is great. I now have my computer set up on the back table and Craig works from the one in the foreground. It is also where we enjoy our meals and watch golfers as they make their second or third shot.

This is our kitchen. It will work nicely. On the table on the left you can see the Raid. We have been visited frequently by tiny ants. In this week I have learned that certain ant traps work very well while others don't and for the past few days I have been ant free. Hopefully we can continue to keep them at bay. In the background you can see the guest bedroom. You can also see a set of golf clubs waiting for the next round.

Upstairs is the master bedroom. The condo is a split level. We get a nice cross breeze through here. I like the quilt a lot but the carpet has something to be desired. We usually wake up to someone hitting off of the first tee around 6:45am. Across the hall is another bedroom.

This is the guest bedroom downstairs and also the storage for our clubs. It also has a nice Hawaiian quilt on the bed, making it very inviting for those guests that will be coming!

Craig has begun teaching. He has one class right now on Tuesdays and Thursdays that goes from 12:10-3:20! That is a long time to hold a class, but it is only for the term. In the fall term he will have a more reasonable length. He will also teach one more business class and a missionary prep class.

Colleen will begin teaching piano lessons to non-majors in the fall. In the mean time we will be trained to take tickets for the luaus at the Polynesian Cultural Center. I have also volunteered to work there two days a week. I think it will be in the mission area which has the old time mission home, the old church, and the school house. I got an email yesterday saying that they need help with teaching how to play the ukelele, so maybe I will do that. I will know more this week. I also volunteered a few hours a week at the language lab to help students with English. All of that should keep me busy.

We love you all and miss you very much! I hope you enjoy the blog, it is my first time at it and I think I need to get used to it!!! Colleen, Mom, Tootsie