Home Again, Home Again, Jiggidy-Jig!

 It's true, I am home.  Though these are the last group of photos of my trip to Hawaii.  The above is a photo of a pair Hawaii's State Birds, the Nene or Hawaiian Goose.  They are an endangered species, and the birds on the Big Island (and probably everywhere) are tagged.  They are a member of the same family group as the Canadian Goose, which migrated to Hawaii nearly 500,000 million years ago.   Interesting, how the road less taken has made all of the difference.

 I think I've mentioned that Hawaii wasn't the Most Fun Trip Ever for me.  I wish I'd been in a better place to enjoy Hawaii, it truly is so beautiful.  But physically and mentally/spiritually, my goals were different there...and I think I'd mentioned before about the view from afar has a lot more perspective.  Please let me tell you what's going on in the above photo.  This is a view of Volcanoes National Park at an overlook on Crater Rim Drive where you can see this area is active.  At the visitor's center we saw heat cameras and the area is just white hot.  The wind shifted while we were there and the air quality plummeted.  I don't mind the sulfuric smell but the oxygen replacement was less than pleasant.  Pretty though, I'll say.  Don't you agree?

 The flower above is a Lehua in bloom and in bud.  Isn't it just beautiful?  There is a lovely and tragic story involving Pele, Ohi'a and Lehua.  Pele, the goddess of fire wanted Ohi'a who was a handsome young man.  But he and Lehua were in love and in a jealous rage, Pele turned him into a tree.  The next bit has a few variations.  In one, the other gods took pity on Lehua and turned her into a flower to adorn Ohi'a; another says that unable to turn him back, out of guilt Pele turned Lehua into a flower so they might never be parted.  It's considered bad form to separate the two lovers, and that if it happens it brings the rain of the Lover's tears.  Nice story, isn't it? 

 This is another view of the crater.  The enormity of this view I can't describe it.  It's just pretty - and you can see the plume of toxic fumes and steam.

 See?  Here's King Kamehameha I (the great!)  We saw him in Hilo.  And banyan trees named for famous people who visited the Island.  They are really stunning, and for whatever reason?  I didn't get photos of those... or the Harbor.... or about a million other things that should be photographed and enjoyed in Hawaii.  I'll tell you though, this place is really, really beautiful.

 And unlike the U2 song, I did find what I was looking for... I was looking for a way to expunge the grief and sadness that I'd been holding onto for too long - having stuffing it down so that I could work and smile at people and be kind and not feel defective 90% of the time.  They say that doing that, that stuffing those emotions down is more damaging because they come out at really inopportune times.  I am blessed that it didn't pour out of me when I was at my job, but in a safe place for me.

 This gecko lived with me in those two weeks, there was a mongoose who I'd see after dark (and I think he lived in the attic too.  Freaked me out the first few nights.)  So, even when I was alone and sobbing my sad heart out, I wasn't alone.  And there was so much pretty.  I took so many photos and I wish I could share them all, but that's not possible.  If you can, you should go and take a visit.

So, here I am again, growing like so much moss and fern in the cracks of the hardened lava floe.  Though the ground looks so hard and unfriendly, I'm told it is the most fertile soil, and things just grow and take off and flourish as long as there is moisture.  My eyes are producing that, my home on the beautiful rainy coast provides that, and I am awash in human kindness, and again I grow.