Hello Friends and Family,

Link to this year's index by clicking here.


Another Year Goes By


I apologize for interrupting the photos of the Kapalua Shoreline Trail (to be continued next week) but tomorrow, October 14 is the NINTH anniversary of my retirement from HP. Each passing year, the daily grind of sitting at my desk and doing HP's work seems more distant — but it is still hard to believe how long ago it was. And now the news is that HP is going to split in two. I wonder what Bill and Dave would have said.

Back to the business of retirement, as has become my tradition, let's look back at the last year of Life After HP.

In October I was in Hawai`i — first the Big Island and later Maui. One of my adventures was exploring the northernmost part of the Big Island, the area known as North Kohala. I have been here before so my starting point was the famous statue of King Kamehameha, the ruler of the Big Island who united the islands (by force and diplomacy) as the Hawai`ian Kingdom, taking its name from his home island. But "wait" you say — you have seen the same statue in Honolulu. The rest of the story is that this was the original statue commissioned for Honolulu but it was lost at sea — so a replacement statue was produced and placed in Honolulu. The lost statue was later recovered and placed in his birthplace, now the town of Kapa`au.


In November, I was still sharing photos of the Big Island, specifically the public beach at Hapuna. It looks so inviting that I am ready to go back. Now if I can just figure out the correct numbers for the Powerball lottery.



In December, I shared this photo of my last sunset on the Big Island, which turned out to be one of the most spectacular I have ever seen. Honest — no Photoshop tricks other than to remove a couple out-of-focus utility lines (I hope you don't hold that against me). The brilliant color was due to the clouds in combination with the vog (volcanic smog). I guess the vog has some benefit.


In January, I shared shots of the beautiful orchids grown in a greenhouse on the grounds at the Lodge of Koele. Every visit to Maui, I try to get in a visit to Lana‘i (easy ferry trip from Lahaina) to see my friends Larry and Darlene. We generally take a brief tour of Lana`i City just to see what has changed, which is usually, not much. And that is part of the charm of a visit to Lana‘i.


In February, I shared the sad news that my dad had passed away. It is hard to briefly summarize the life of a man who survived to age 95 but there is one vignette that stands out above all others showing the depth of character he possessed.

I grew up during the age of the civil rights movement — he and I used to watch the TV news together of black kids being refused entry to schools, sit-ins at segregated lunch counters, bombings of black churches as well as killings of protesters and civil rights leaders.

He told me that he grew up in a time and a place where blacks were looked down on, second-class citizens — and that he could not change his feelings toward "the colored people", as he called them. However, he recognized his own prejudice and tried earnestly to not let us kids see that in him. Growing up, I never once saw him treat any minority differently than he treated white Americans. He wanted that prejudice to stop with him and his generation. And, in that, he was successful on the personal level.

Thank you, Dad. You are my hero — I love you and miss you.

 


In March, you saw shots of the Maui Sugar Cane Train — here as we crossed the trestle on the return trip, the engineer slowed the train and blew a huge cloud of steam over the golf course. You notice everyone was leaning out of the windows in order to get a picture of this spectacle.

Unfortunately, as I reported later in the year, the Sugar Cane Train has been shut down. We were lucky to ride it while it was still in operation. It will be missed.


April brought images from the Maui County Fair — one of my favorite Maui attractions, held each year in October. It also appears to be one of Johnny's favorites as well (almost as appealing as Cheeseburgers in Paradise).

Bumper Cars date back to the 1920s and have thrilled kids ever since. So much fun to drive your car into someone else's — especially when they are not looking and you catch them by surprise. Gotcha!

 


In May, I shared photos of Johnny Beachboy. This particular day, he went with me on my morning walk — although I was certain he would not go my full route.

Once we got to Kapalua Beach, Johnny decided he wanted to get his feet wet. Then a tiny wave came and got his swim suit wet (he was already dressed to hit the beach for swimming, even though that was planned for later). Then he stepped into the small drop-off and got even more wet. Pretty soon he was wet all over.

Funny how you can mix a little bit of water, sand and a youngster — stir and you end up with heavenly bliss.


Finally in June, after exhausting my photos from our Hawai‘i trip, I began sharing shots from the Chihuly exhibit at the Desert Botanical Gardens. This is the second exhibition held there and both have been spectacular. I especially loved sharing both daytime and nighttime shots of the same scenes. The art in the foreground is called "Cattails". It is especially rewarding where the lighting illuminates the desert flora to juxtapose natural and Chihuly-made art.



In July, I was still sharing photos from the Desert Botanical Garden — this quail caught my eye and my camera caught him.


In August, I shared photos from the dedication and launch of Maui's new open-ocean voyaging canoe. After 18 years of hard work, dedication ceremonies and finally the birth (launch) itself, applause erupted as the Mo‘okiha O Pi‘ilani began its inaugural trip into the ocean and to its initial mooring spot at Kamehameha Iki Park where sits the workshop in which she was crafted.



In September, I shared photos from the Lana‘i Pineapple Festival. The day was filled with ono grinds (good food), singing, socialization, fireworks and, especially, hula.

Despite the damp grass as the result of the sprinkles, this troop of hula dancers wanted to perform on the grass in their bare feet. So the spectators who had gathered their chairs up close to the stage (to get some shelter from the liquid sunshine) had to move back a bit — but it was well worth the effort. Even at such a young age, these girls are very accomplished hula dancers — even the very young girls you can see in the background.

And so begins year number 10. Life is good.

Aloha,
B. David

P. S., All photos and text © B. David Cathell Photography, Inc. — www.bdavidcathell.com