I had a realization this morning: nothing is stronger than a mother’s bond. I (re-)discovered this earlier today when Chris called (he snapped the picture) to let me know that one of our new ducklings in the neighborhood had fallen into the storm drain in our street.
After thinking like MacGyver, I created a net using a incense stick, a can of silly string and some duct tape (actually it was a coathanger, some netting and duct tape), and headed to the drain. I also took some bread and water down just in case. After feeding the little one I attempted to capture it with the net, however the little guy (I think it was a girl duck by it’s coloring) decided that she wanted to stay there (or she was frightened by this huge white thing).
Finally, momma duck and the other ducklings headed back up towards the drain, and after some coaxing of momma duck to make a noise, the little stuck duck started chirping constantly. Momma duck knew that the little one was there, but couldn’t quite figure out where. Momma duck (and ducklings) wandered across the road, and as they did, the little one become visible, and I snatched her up with the net. Little duck was not happy at this, however as I got closer to momma duck to release her, I actually felt the excitement of the little duck. When I put her on the ground, she took off towards momma real fast. As momma duck quacked, I took that to mean thanks (of course, it could have also meant get the hell away from me). Naturally as I walked the ducks back to the pond, I spent the next few minutes chatting with the ducks explaining the dangers of storm drains. I think they understood.
I got some news about my visa today, and it was positive (at least that is how I took it). Still playing the waiting game, but at least I know that it’s in the queue.
I went along with Chris and our friends, Bobby & Ian to see Mamma Mia! over the weekend. Not having seen the stage musical I was not really sure what to expect, nor had I seen (read) how the music had been interwoven into the story. I thought it was brilliant!
The cinematography of the film is spectacular, and makes me want to go visit that part of Greece (well any part really), and the singing talents of all the cast, especially Amanda Seyfried and Meryl Streep. Go see it!
Today was my unexpected last day with working for Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS). This reality occurred after receiving an email from my immigration attorney on Monday that stated (in part):
“In regards to your case, we found out through an inquiry this morning they are not going to process it as premium processing and that we must wait on their normal processing which could be a few days or a few weeks. We have to just sit and wait at this point, but hopefully we will hear something soon.”
Following receipt of the email, a flurry of activity occurred trying to figure out firstly, what went wrong with the process for my visa application; and secondly, what could be done to re-engage and (hopefully) speed up the process to prevent me having to stop working for BBBS.
Simply put, it turns out that my attorney was under the impression that my visa could be processed in an accelerated manner if I was happy to pay for this service. I was, and I did. In fact, we (my attorney and I) were counting on this type of service to enable me to continue working for BBBS without any interupption, as it would normally take between 1-3 months to process my application. What we did not count on was the Immigration office advising that this particular application could not get processed in an accelerated manner “at this time.” Not sure what the reason actually is for this decision, but it did nothing to stop the panic from starting to fester.
So after exploring a number of options, it finally came down to the realization that as of 5PM today, I was not going to be an employee with BBBS … at least for a few days to hopefully no more than than a few weeks. So earlier today, I sent out an email to my case load that I no longer worked for BBBS, and that I hoped to be back with them in the next week or so. I was actually rather calm about it, which kind of surprised me. I am hopeful that my calmness is a reflection that everything is going to be okay and I’ll be back working with BBBS shortly. Fingers crossed.
Of course the silver lining is that BBBS is very supportive and have agreed to give me some time until this matter is resolved. While it means some extra work is being done by staff within my old team, it is very comforting to know that I am appreciated for what I have to offer the organization, and that they are willing to acknowledge the work that I have contributed over the last ten months and not let it just disappear. Personally, I think this is the main difference in working for a nonprofit in my view – they care. There are many other differences, but this is one that stands out.
Oh, and just for fun, I developed a cold that knocked my energy levels way down, so that only made my week all that much better.
Here is the final post that I forgot to make for our recent trip to Hawaii. See previous posts here and here.
There is a lot of water surrounding the Hawaiian Islands.
After landing on Maui (Lahaina), we drove the western part of the island to waste some hours prior to checking in to our vacation home. We stopped briefly at DT Fleming Beach park, and drove around the winding roads to see some magnificant views of cliffs plunging into the ocean. As we were getting hungry we headed back to Kapalua to the Pineapple Grill, where we enjoyed a beer on the putting green patio and some good (not quite as good as Kalypso’s) Fish and Chips.
Following this, we were ready to settle in, and headed over to the Maui Tradewinds on the north part of Maui, in a town called Haiku. Here are some of the views from the balcony.
As Maui was our last part of our journey, we decided to head to the beach for part of the day, and ended up going to HA Baldwin Beach. This was a really pleasant beach, as we had tree shade, and water for days. The beach also was in the pathway for planes taking off, so we got to see some planes leaving, and we realized that we would be doing this in just a few days. Here is one of my favorite pictures from the trip. I tried to get a close up but the heads had come apart at that stage. It is a picture of Chris and CMom on a boogie board, on the beach, drinking a beer.
No trip to Maui is complete without attempting the Road to Hana. It’s not for the light hearted, and you want to make sure that your driver is very focused on what they are doing (which we were fortunate to have). There are some truly breathtaking views along the road, and it is so easy to just get amazed at what you see, and potentially plummet into the ocean. So … eyes focused! Also a word to the wise, don’t try to rush this trip. It will take you up to three hours to get there, and 2-3 hours to get back. You can’t do this trip in a 4 hour window, so don’t plan on doing that. Besides you will want to stop and snap pictures, which means frequent stops, and “oohs and ahhss.” You’ll see what I mean here…
Along the way, we stopped at this little gallery/cafe and picked up some Mango & Cranberry Scones made fresh that morning. We actually met the lady who made them, and she shared that this was a modification of the Cranberry & Orange scones in the Williams Sonoma cookbook. As some of you know, Cranberry & Orange scones are one of my favorite snacks, and I have to say that what was on offer was just a tad better than my normal fare.
While we didn’t make it all the way to Hana, we did make it to Wainapanapa State Park where there is a black sand beach, and fantastic views of waves crashing into, under and over the rock formations. I even snapped a video for your viewing pleasure.
The very last night, we headed over to Little Beach and found a drum circle in progress. Little Beach is one of the few nude beaches in Hawaii, however there was not a lot of that happening due to the activities that were occurring. The unique thing about Little Beach is that it was separated from Big Beach by a lava flow, so you have to climb over a lava hill to get there. Both Chris and I decided that Big Beach was the place to be, and will make it a definate place to visit during our next visit to Maui.
Places we ate:
Milagro’s, Paia HI (Blackened Ahi Fajitas)
The Waterfront, Ma’alaea HI (Mahi Mahi stuffed with crabmeat)
Paia Fish Market, Paia HI (Fish and Chips)
Leaving Maui was a little hard to do, but we took away some great memories, and a over 2500 pictures!
Okay. It appears that I failed to publish some blog posts from our recent trip to Hawaii. Rather than just hit the delete button, I’m going to post them — aren’t you all lucky?
From memory, and by checking my last post, I left you on Oahu. This post picks up with our travels to Kauai, The Garden Island.
One thing to note about Lahui Airport, it’s small. After a fantastic view approaching the island, and a beautiful sunny landing, where we were asked to wave to the Air Traffic Controllers, Chad and Brian. They waved back! It was quite amusing to hear people on the plane get excited about seeing someone wave back to them.
After arriving at the airport, getting our car, and getting packed … it rained. It’s was a good tropical rain though, so we enjoyed a casual drive up the road until we got to Kapa’a where Chris’s mom (“CMom”) pointed out this cafe called Olympic Cafe. It being lunch, we stopped, and WOW! Try the pig quesadilla or the fish tacos — unbelievably good.
As we continued our drive to our accommodation, we stopped at Anini Beach Park. It was a small park, but the water was clear and warm, and it was very nice to be able to just stop for a short time and check our mail. It was actually kind of funny, as both of us were texting friends to let them how beautiful it was. We did get to visit this beach again for a longer time later in the week, and dream about what it must be like to wake up to that view every day. Do you think one would get bored with it, and just take it for granted?
Later that day after settling into our “home” away from home, we decided to take a trip over the Ke’e Beach (Haena State Park) for the sunset, and along the way (actually just around the corner) we found the Hanalei Valley Overlook which is home to migratory birds throughout the year. During the trip we drove through Hanalei, and found a great restaurant called Kalypso’s Cafe. Awesome food! We ate there twice – two nights in a row. The first night I had probably the best Calimari I have ever eaten. It was just perfectly cooked in a fine tempura-esque batter. I followed it up with Fish and Chip, and to this day these would be the best I’ve ever had (which is actually saying something). Of course, it was made with Ono (also called Wahoo) which is just a delicious fish. The second night, I ordered a Penne Pasta Pesto with Ono and followed it up with a Grasshopper Pie. A further triumph! Thank the heavens we were walking everywhere.
We did manage to get to Hanalei Bay Beach for some sunset shots (this one is the one I use on my desktop). This was probably the prettiest place that we saw the sunset during our trip.
Our last full day was spent driving all over the place, and visited Opaeka Falls, Wailea Falls, Po’ipu Beach; the Tunnel of trees (all eucalypts); spouting horn; and Waimea Canyon.
One the way back, we stopped at the memorial for Captain James Cook (for those not in the know, the [re-]discoverer of Australia).
I went along with 
