Elt wrote:

Surely there is room on here for a bit of "topical" off topic chat?? Or
am I being naive again

There is, just as surely as there are people who would argue over whether
the sun rises in the morning.

A bit of an off-topic story... with the caveat that I am NOT a world
traveler, having done most of my travel all expenses paid many years ago
courtesy of the U.S. Navy!

In 2000, my dear wife took us on a cruise to Hawaii.... lots of stuff to
see; not enough time to see it all. But I especially loved Kaua'I for its
relative lack of touristyness. Sadly, she passed away the next year.
Soooo.... a couple of years later when I felt like living again, I found a
Bed and Breakfast on that island, rented a car, and just spent a couple of
weeks bumming around, taking all the time I wanted so grok the sights.

The National Tropical Botanical Garden is just spectacular, especially so
when you've got all day to wander around, and Limahuli Gardens on the north
shore (where I stayed) specializes in native plants and a nice view of
Makana Mountain, which played a movie role as "Bali Hai" some years ago.

Oh, and little local altars in the lava, with recent offerings to the local
Deities; I paid my respects to Pele, though She has long since moved to the
newer land with active volcanoes.

Locally, there's not much to do but watch the dormant plants and hope the
Kale makes it through winter to set seed next summer. And clean a whole
bunch of seed heads, currently in paper shopping bags in the closet. And
watch the wheel of the stars march across the sky, reminding me that spring
is out there somewhere!

Peace,


Gary Woods AKA K2AHC- PGP key on request, or at home.earthlink.net/~garygarlic
Zone 5/6 in upstate New York, 1420' elevation. NY WO G