Got carrots?

Last year, at about this same time, I needed garden space to plant our peas and lettuce. So I dug up what was left of the carrots that we'd left in the garden to enjoy over the winter so that I could use the space to plant my peas and lettuce. I scrubbed them and weighed them- 17 lbs. And after scrubbing a little over 17 lbs of carrots, I resolved to plan and plant more carefully and not have so many carrots to stand and scrub. And then I put all those carrots in the fridge and ate our way through them.

Then I carefully counted and spaced and planted carrot seeds for the new season. And in the fall, I covered what was left of the carrots so that we could use them during the winter. And we enjoyed carrots all winter long. 


Last week, I needed the space where the last of the carrots were so that I could plant our peas and lettuce. So I dug up what was left of the carrots that we'd left in the garden over the winter. I scrubbed them and weighed them- 31.6 lbs. 


Go figure.

That's a lot of carrots to eat our way through. No matter what's for dinner, we'll be having carrots with it.

And I've resolved to plan and plant more carefully this year so that I won't have so many carrots to stand and scrub when I need the space to plant my peas and lettuce.


Third time's the charm?

Aloha 2012

So here we are again, after another absence. Let's get this Hawaii report done and move on to other things!

Day Ten

Wednesday

We actually did drive to Hawi today. It is about as north as you can get on the Big Island. It’s a small town that was in decline after the sugar cane plantation left the area. It still looks economically depressed, but there are pockets of wealthy homes and the shops along the highway now cater to tourists- galleries, snack shops and cafés, excursion shops.

We went through Hawi and drove out to the overlook at the end of the Akoni Pule highway. It is a beautiful view of cliffs and valleys and coastline. From there you can look down into the Pololu Valley. Maybe someday we’ll hike part way down into the valley.

We took a few side roads on our way back to Hawi and looked at little towns and parks. The Keokea Beach Park is on one of those little side roads and we drove down to take a look. It was mostly blocked off because of extensive renovation work in the park. We’ll have to go back and see how it turns out.

And here is a picture of a mailbox that we drive past every day. I LOVE this mailbox!

Day Eleven

Thursday

This is our last full day on the island. It was a pretty casual day. Extra long walks along the main drag. Watching turtles and birds and waves on the beach. Getting started on the packing.

We had a funny little episode at dinner. A delicious dinner, by the way, at a nice restaurant. A little visitor showed up in O’s salad. And lucky for O, it wasn’t just half of a little visitor.

The server was appalled and horrified and tried to explain that it was because the greens were organic. Seriously?  The real problem wasn’t the greens, it was the kitchen staffer who washed the greens.

No, we won’t tell you where we ate. And yes, we’ll eat there again.

Day Twelve

Friday

This is the day we head home.

Today we spent the morning in the condo, doing laundry, cleaning out the fridge for breakfast. Mostly just passing the time until we had to check out of the condo.

When checkout time came, we loaded our stuff into the trunk of the car and walked up the road to the Huli He’e Palace for a tour. It’s a beautiful building with lots of artifacts and furniture with really amazing craftsmanship. Photography isn’t allowed in the palace, so we can’t give you anything to look at.

After the tour we drove up to Waikoloa to kill time and look for a new Hawaiian shirt for O. Then we had a quick lunch at Merriman’s Market Café before we headed to the airport.

One last parting shot of aloha.