26 Friday Apr 2019
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, travel, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, colleagues, flowers, hugs, missed, notes, presents, surprise, widow
been away from the office for sixteen days…
today when I returned there were notes and presents at my desk, and hugs from colleagues… nice to feel missed…
shortly after I went into a meeting I was called into another meeting at which point there was singing, flowers and a card… I was surprised as I was thinking that my birthday celebration would be on Monday…
sure is great to be appreciated;-)…
25 Thursday Apr 2019
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, travel, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, flowers, grandson, laundry, memories, orchid, purple, rocks, sarongs, shopping, souvenirs, stones, widow
had a lovely day…
woke up at nine and had a relaxing morning…
in the afternoon grocery shopped with my grandson and did loads of laundry… basically all the clothes I took got washed, although I didn’t wear everything, lol…
in the process of emptying the suitcases I gathered up my souvenirs and decided where they will live;-)…
picked up a heart-shaped amethyst and two rocks…
they have all gone into the coffee table for now and fit in nicely with the shells that are currently on display… I did find a few shells, but decided to take pictures and not bring any home…
picked up a cute little bag and a hand towel…
just possibly I have a problem with sarongs… got four all together, but I do use them all the time…
cooked chicken and potatoes for my dinner, with enough leftovers for a lunch, and made a batch of zucchini-basil soup…
bit of tv and then early to bed as I am back at the office tomorrow;-)…
24 Wednesday Apr 2019
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, travel, Uncategorized
at the airport in Kahului by eight pm…
returned the car, after driving around the airport a few times, lol..
waited with many others for the check-in to open… then discovered that both of our checked bags were overweight so had to reorganize right there at the front of the line…
got on our plane just before midnight and my daughter got this shot of the sunrise…
and then as the day progressed we got a few different pictures out the airplane windows…
landed in Vancouver, went through customs and were driven by shuttle to the connecting gate… just got there in time for our flight to Winnipeg…
arrived just before 2, glad to be home… my daughter hopped back on a plane around six pm and after a stopover in Toronto will be home after midnight…
been one long day… gonna get some rest… good to be home…
24 Wednesday Apr 2019
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, travel, Uncategorized
Tags
airport, banyan tree, big girl pants, car, chocolate, helicopter, home, Maui day fourteen, snorkelling, widow
great final day on the island… after breakfast and a song by the chickens and rooster, we went snorkelling at a lovely beach where I saw lots of fish, although no turtles… I did have a little issue with the rocks as I came out of the water and have a small cut and bruise on a finger;-(…
got a final photo of our car which got us around splendidly…
from there we checked out of the hotel and went and had lunch under the banyan tree… it was lovely…
we drove across the island to the heliport close to the airport and finally had our helicopter ride… such beautiful views everywhere we looked…
picked up some chocolate and headed to the airport where we are now waiting to board our flight…
23 Tuesday Apr 2019
Posted in business, family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, travel, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, connection, customer service, moments, shopping, taking care of business, vacation, WECM, widow, work
over the last few weeks I’ve been paying close attention to the customer service displayed in the various businesses we’ve been in…
I must say that the service provided has certainly affected which place we actually left our money, lol…
some restaurant staff were so courteous and quick to solve issues almost before they happened… others clearly were too busy or didn’t bother to take the time to connect… the tip meter went up or down based on those interactions;-)…
when we were in retail stores we were drawn in when the staff would connect with us in some way… in these tourist towns it must get boring, but watching the way that many of these employees/owners responded was very telling…
often if there were two people working in the store they appeared to ignore the customers as they would be busy getting paperwork done, restocking or visiting with one another…
we had the most fun in the stores where we were greeted pleasantly and they shared stories with us… those were usually the places where we made purchases…
one particular example of great customer service took place yesterday at Surfside Wood Fired Pizza… Caroline, the owner, was welcoming guests and taking orders when we arrived after paddle boarding… I asked if they had hot tea, and like many restaurants she advised that they didn’t… but after a few seconds she mentioned that she could make me a cup, as they do use tea for their iced tea… a little thing, but it sure made my day… after she delivered the tea and a delicious version of cinnamon buns, she stopped by a few times to see how we were doing… and the Goofy Bread was delicious…
hearing pleasant greetings or receiving welcoming smiles goes a long way to engaging with a customer;-)…
23 Tuesday Apr 2019
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, travel, Uncategorized
Tags
banyan tree, big girl pants, Cathedral Grove, creation, Earth Day, majesty, Maui day thirteen, mystery, peace, widow
our last full day in paradise… and it lived up to its reputation…
we were up rather early and walked along the sand and then over to the banyan tree...
because it was so early there were very few people around… just a few street folk who we had seen on each of our excursions there… it was nice to see them there as they were just quietly going about their business, not harassing any visitors, but clearly appreciating the specialness of the space…
the space has that sacred feeling which reminds me of a forest of trees on Vancouver Island… it is located right on the edge of the highway but when you step into Cathedral Grove you feel enveloped by a sense of mystery and peace…
I felt that each time we have been at the banyan tree, but especially this morning…
we both walked along gently touching the trunks… there are sixteen in total for this one tree…
sadly, over the years individuals have carved names and signs into the various trunks, but I barely see that… just the majesty…
what an amazing piece of creation…
22 Monday Apr 2019
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, travel, Uncategorized
Tags
appetizers, big girl pants, cafe, Easter, helicopter, Lahaina, Maui day twelve, pool, shops, stars, supper, waves, widow
interesting day…
started early with breakfast of hard boiled eggs and mini eggs (from the Easter bunny) before leaving to drive across the island to the airport…
we stopped at the little cafe next to where we are staying to get hot chocolate and tea for the drive… what we received was iced chocolate and black tea without milk and sweetener…
we arrived at the heliport in ample time for our flight and got all the way to the exit door when we were told that the video equipment wasn’t working so we would need to wait while it was repaired… we waited for an hour, finally got into the helicopter… took off and immediately returned to the pad as a light was on that shouldn’t have been… then they cancelled the flight and rebooked us for a few days later, sigh…
we did spend a lovely afternoon in a sister facility to our hotel where we lay by the pool and enjoyed slushy drinks…
we walked along the Main Street in Lahaina and had appetizers at two different places for our supper… at the second one, I dumped my water glass all over the table… our wait person said “sh*t happens”… kind of felt it covered much of the day’s activities, lol…
ended the evening listening to the waves and watching the stars…
21 Sunday Apr 2019
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, travel, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, customer service, equipment, garden, Maui day eleven, moments, The Snorkel Store, widow
well, another moving day… we left the lovely garden of the Gingerbread Airbnb and went up the island to Lahaina…
we hadn’t been this way before so it was all new…
I cannot say enough about The Snorkel Store… besides providing our snorkel gear, chairs, umbrella and cooler, they have arranged tours and provided all kinds of answers to the many questions we have had… every single staff person has been personable and helpful… excellent customer service;-)…
they also provide a snorkelling report by email daily which really helps to decide which beach to go to…
I started following them on Instagram a few months ago… @thesnorkelstore
if you are going to visit Maui, you should check them out…
20 Saturday Apr 2019
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, travel, Uncategorized
Tags
bamboo, big girl pants, Maui day ten, orchids, turtles, typical, waterfalls, widow
today we saw waterfalls…
listened to bamboo sing…
found a humongous tent filled with orchids…
and spotted over fifty sea turtles together on the beach…
just your typical Friday;-)…
19 Friday Apr 2019
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, travel, Uncategorized
Tags
beach-combing, big girl pants, birthday, birthdays, feted, great food, Hawaii, Instagram, Maui day nine, paddle boarding, The Mill House, treats, widow
today is my birthday…
how amazing to be in such a beautiful place to celebrate…
we started out early this morning to get to the paddle board place by seven, as the water is calmer first thing… my daughter had a great time out on the water and I read and beach-combed… she saw many turtles and fish while she was out there…
we sat on the beach and relaxed for a while and then put on our new dresses (in the bathroom at the beach) and headed to The Mill House for lunch… I’ve been following them on Instagram for quite some time so was excited to get to eat there…
another visitor at The Mill House offered to take our picture and had us move here and there until she got just the shot she wanted, lol…
the food was very tasty and besides the restaurant there were gardens, ponds, zip lines, a farm tour and a few shops… we had a lovely wander around enjoying the beauty… especially enjoyed feeding the ducks, little turtles and fish in the ponds…
what a treat…
shortly after we arrived in Maui, I picked up this amethyst as my birthday present… it is gorgeous…
there were lots of birthday messages, some coming at four in the morning as friends weren’t aware of the time difference, lol…
it is lovely to be feted on your special day…
here is a picture that my daughter took of our AirBnB host Eve, who is also an April 18 birthday person… how cool is that;-)…
