Notes from Hawaii
Having snuck off to Hawaii for a well-deserved rest, the first thing I did upon reaching our condo on Kauai:
From our lanai you could see whales breaching off the north shore, which was pretty cool. I wish I could take pictures of that, but my binoculars came in handy.
I set about quickly identifying all the birds in the area, including Laysan Albatrosses flying overhead, and Hawaii’s native goose, the Nene, pecking about on the lawn:
The coastline below our condo is beautiful, but maddeningly hard to reach:
My co-conspirator in relaxation, in between getting work done:
A beautiful church on the way to the end of the road in NW Kauai:
Today we spent some time hiking the trail in the NW corner of Kauai, which runs along the wild coast. Many slippery rocks later, we were rewarded with amazing views of the coastline and gorgeous jungle foliage:
There was a fast-flowing rocky river at the entrance to the first campground, where we stopped for lunch. You can get a sense of the size of the surf from the woman in the photo, but these were by far the smaller waves – there were 16-ft swells coming in at the time and it was quite spectacular. I spent almost an hour watching the waves and getting ready for the hike back, after which a quick dip in the ocean was required. Due to the difficulty of the hike it was almost 4 hours to go 4 miles.
Letting go of the house…
So, here’s my house that was, or is for a few more weeks…
If you’ve been following this, you know I’ve been looking at houses in the Olympia area. Early last week I wanted to go see a house that seemed like it would be just right. Rick and I had visited it and the neighborhood and yard were nice, it had a nice porch and lots of potential garden space. The pictures online of the inside of the house looked really pretty. It was small, and affordable – but when I asked my realtor to go see it, it already had an offer. And she told me even if I had been faster, they wouldn’t have taken a noncontingent offer.
It seems that lately, any house I see in my price range that’s really good is gone instantly, within days. The market is picking up here, but more importantly, there are a lot of people looking in lower ranges, including investors waiting to snap up good deals. And the inventory in this price range is mostly not that great. So when something good does appear, it doesn’t last long. This was kind of frustrating, and pushed me into action.
So, Thursday I listed my house for sale. After looking at the comps, we listed it about $10,000 higher than I originally expected, and figured we had time, no problem. If I had to wait a while, that would be OK. It was in the middle of the price range of the MANY similar houses in this area, all built by the same builder. Mine has a couple of advantages – it has been very well-maintained, it has an ideal location on a greenbelt, near parks, and very good schools. And, I’ve put a lot into the beautiful landscaping, deck, and stream:
Well, it sold in three days. We had the good luck of two interested buyers showing up to see the house at essentially the same time – and they could see that each other was interested. By the end of the day we had one full price offer and one just under full price. Woohoo!! And the family that bought the house is really perfect for it. The two kids are just the right ages for the two smaller rooms, they can walk through the park to their schools and to their Mom’s house (shared custody), and while they were looking I had fun listening to the kids playing Billy Goat’s Gruff on the little bridge over the stream :)
And then I thought, omg, I have to find a place to live!! Wednesday I am leaving for a week and a half’s business trip, and I won’t be back until March 1. And then my brother, sister-and-law and I are headed to Mexico for a vacation March 8-15. I set closing for March 21, so this should be entertaining :D
The universe was smiling on me, though. I went onto Craig’s list to see if I could find a temporary rental in Olympia. It’s a little easier than most towns to find month-to-month because of all the students and the legislature. However, both are in session now and there’s not much to be had. I had one (1) choice in a reasonable price range. I called her up and, amazingly, it’s perfect. All utilities and wireless are included. She doesn’t mind my cat, doesn’t care that I don’t know whether I’ll be there one month or eight, doesn’t need any forms filled out or a rental agreement. Just wanted a single professional woman who doesn’t smoke. ~waves hand wildly
I went over there to check it out. Turns out she’s kind of an ex-hippy commune type (which I like), but really has it all together. She has these cute little houses on her property in which various seemingly very nice people live and all help out. There is a beautiful forest with walking trails, expansive grounds with amazing multi-tiered ponds and waterfalls with a patio for relaxing, barbecue, vegetable gardens, orchards, etc. I think this is going to be a really nice place to spend the summer while I’m looking for a house – it’s not far from the center of town.
So, the first week in March I’ll be moving my stuff in there, what I can fit. The rest will go into storage and wait until I find a house. It will be a little bit of a challenge living in 650 square feet – but good practice I think, for the downsizing I’m planning. And with lots of outdoor space to enjoy, I won’t miss my own so much. Plus, I kinda miss people too. This way I don’t have to have room-mates, but I can enjoy some company when I feel like it.
I realized when driving back, that I won’t miss this neighborhood AT ALL. It is soulless suburbia, filled with traffic, strip malls, cookie-cutter houses, and SUVs. It doesn’t hold a candle to the nice feeling of living in a quirky place where people care about nature and cooperative living, funky little houses with interesting people in them, farmer’s markets, good politics, and lots going on. We were in a little restaurant with great coffee and interesting food the other day, and I was struck by the three scruffy-looking 20-somethings among the students who were earnestly engaged in a discussion about… how many delegates their candidate had received in that day’s primary (Obama, I’m guessing). That’s Olympia all over. I’m looking forward to it!
Obama – the Mediator’s Candidate
I received this from a fellow mediator, Ron Kelly. I agree with him 100% and just wanted to pass these ideas along. For those of you Dems reading this in Washington State – please make this your year to go to the caucuses, it’s the only way your vote will count!
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Obama – A Mediator’s Candidate?
I remember early on in the campaign, before I had formed a preference, I heard an experienced Washington reporter discussing the candidates. He found Obama puzzling. He claimed that if you were in a disagreement with Obama, he would summarize your arguments even better than you could yourself. This got my attention.
Then, in an early debate, Obama was asked if he would negotiate directly with the leaders of countries with whom we have strong differences. He said yes. He was attacked by many who said this just proved how naive he was. He didn’t back down. He pointed out that we negotiated with Stalin and we negotiated with Mao. He asserted that you do not need to give away anything to enter negotiations with people with whom you strongly disagree.
In speeches, he consistently advocated sitting down to negotiate with, and respectfully listening to, the heads of oil companies, pharmaceutical companies, and health care companies. He was roundly attacked as “wanting to bring Kumbaya to a knife fight”. He responded that he could afford to listen respectfully to the other side, especially if he was able to reach across the aisle to enlist even a few opposition Senators to his efforts.
I was skeptical. I read one of his books, “The Audacity of Hope”. I went back to read an article he wrote twenty years ago on why he was a community organizer. I concluded he had been consistent his entire adult life about reaching out to those with whom you disagree to build effective working coalitions.
I listened to his January 3 Iowa speech. He said he understood 9/11 not as a way to scare up votes, but as “a challenge to unite America and the world against our common threats of terrorism and nuclear weapons, climate change and poverty, genocide and disease.” His speech moved me deeply.
The next morning I woke up realizing that Obama inspired me like no other major presidential candidate has in decades. I have not heard any other politician currently on the national center stage asserting these core beliefs as consistently and effectively as Barack Obama.
Then, yesterday, I saw the letter that finally prompted me to send you this. It was signed by eighty lawyers working to preserve our rights to habeas corpus. It says: “When others stood back, Senator Obama helped lead the fight in the Senate against the Administration’s efforts in the Fall of 2006 to strip the courts of jurisdiction, and when we were walking the halls of the Capitol trying to win over enough Senators to beat back the Administration’s bill, Senator Obama made his key staffers and even his offices available to help us. Senator Obama worked with us to count the votes, and he personally lobbied colleagues who worried about the political ramifications of voting to preserve habeas corpus for the men held at Guantanamo.”
If you have decided to support Senator Clinton, please know I will be working enthusiastically for your candidate in November if she is the Democratic nominee. As a mediator, I have felt inspired and uplifted since deciding the morning after Iowa that I would put in some work for Obama every day until my state’s primary. If you want to help him, I urge you to go now to http://www.barackobama.com and to contribute as much of your time, money, letter writing, etc. as you can.
Enthusiastically yours,
Ron Kelly
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