Page 2 - MidWeek Kauai - Aug 10, 2022

2 KAUA‘I MIDWEEK AUGUST 10, 2022
The Real Voyage Of Discovery
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.” — Marcel Proust
mer raucous backyard feeder. I do love it here. Seated at my desk, I should be work- ing on our next novel. But I have the delicious distraction of watching the ships as they approach or leave Honolulu harbor — and visits from my marvelous birds. Yes, my birds. I’ m possessive of whichever ones choose to appear, because each day they provide me with a hap- py adventure. Perhaps a pair of red-vented bulbuls or yel- low-patched house finches. And recently, a flock of 24 Java sparrows. The males’ colors are so defined they look like they’ve been paint- ed on. I had assumed they congregated only at Magic Island, alongside the spotted
AFutures
Decades ago, visiting our daughter in Pālolo Valley, Larry and I awoke one morn- ing to an odd squawking: a neighbor’s gorgeous peacock meandering along the rooftops of the one-story houses.
s the quagmire inevitably gets resolved about the new tourism marketing situation locally, I’m putting in a plug to add director-actor-co-
painfully unpredictable times. I constantly remind myself how lucky I am for these sim- ple pleasures, the joyous mo- ments these precious creatures bring to my life.
Rosemary Mild’s personal es- says appear in her new book “In My Next Life I’ll Get It Right.” She and Larry, cheerful partners in crime, coauthor mystery and suspense novels and stories. Visit them at magicile.com.
Chasing The Light is pro- duced by Robin Stephens Rohr and Lynne Johnson.
median Jordan Peele to the consultants’ list. After all, he’s had big hits with movies Get Out, Us and now Nope, so, just by his titles alone, it seems like he might be a perfect ally to align with on future campaigns, as they most assuredly will morph.
What amazes me is how my haphazard birding lifts my spirits. Recently, as we rested on a bench along the path to Ala Moana Beach Park, I discovered a black-crowned night heron standing all alone next to us on the grass — in- viting me to take its picture. And yesterday, right in front of Safeway, I came upon a mommy mallard duck and her six fuzzy chicks, forag- ing under a hedge. We live in
And speaking of tourism issues, we know that some early rhetoric has mentioned plans for bolder moves to redirect or change the visitor experience and perception. Good timing, because they’ve already resorted to “boul- der” moves streetside in Lanikai ...
Larry and I moved to Ho- nolulu eight years ago from Severna Park, Maryland. Viewing the birds on the lanai railings of our 15th-floor con- do is far different from our for-
Last week, I needed to get something in quickly to a government office and they actually asked me to fax it. Really? I thought we were living in a post-fax world, which aligns with the sad reality that we’re also far too often living in a post-facts world ...
While I understand and concur with reminding people that COVID is still a hovering presence and a concern inside crowded buildings, I found it ironic to see a sign posted recently on the fence at a Hawai‘i Public Housing Authority facility that read: “This property is closed to the public” and right below that it added “no trespassing.” Boy, if that doesn’t sum up our laissez-faire attitude to- ward the housing situation and public needs in general ...
Icaught myself daydream- ing as I drove around the corner from Kāheka Street onto Makaloa and — whoa! — I braked. A rooster was starting to cross the street from the right-hand curb. Sud- denly, it stopped, looked at my car, then turned around and sauntered back to the curb. I’m an avid birdwatcher, and a rooster doesn’t exactly fit my daily sightings. Still, I was de- lighted to encounter such an intelligent bird. I couldn’t wait to get home and tell my hus- band.
doves with their polka-dotted “necklaces.”
with Rosemary Mild
DIRECTOR OF CONTENT/ SUPPLEMENT PRODUCTS RON NAGASAWA
EXECUTIVE EDITOR
BILL MOSSMAN
MANAGING EDITOR
NICOLE MONTON
midweekkauai.com
To start/stop delivery
or report a service issue, please call (808) 245-0433.
Telephone for Editorial:
(808) 529-4700
Fax (808) 585-6324 Telephone for Advertising & Administration: (808) 529-4700
PRESIDENT & PUBLISHER
DENNIS FRANCIS
CHIEF REVENUE OFFICER
DAVE KENNEDY
REGIONAL SALES MANAGER
LANCE TAKAKI
SALES EXECUTIVES
EDEN RAQUEL
PHONE (808) 212-5423 eraquel@thegardenisland.com
SALLY CRAVENS
PHONE (808) 212-8240 scravens@thegardenisland.com
Kaua‘i Midweek is published every Wednesday
by Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 500 Ala Moana Blvd.,
Suite 7-500 Honolulu, HI 96813.
Fill in the blank cells using numbers 1 to 9. Each number can appear only once in each row, column, and 3x3 block. Use logic and process of elimination to solve the puzzle. The difficulty level ranges from Bronze (easiest) to Silver to Gold (hardest). Answers are on page 7
RATING: GOLD
It seems pedestrian, obvious and generic to see mun- dane political ads that focus on how said candidate will “fight for the little guy.” As opposed to whom — mul- timillionaires? You see some politico ads highlighting the concepts of “trust” and “future.” Shouldn’t trust and our future be a voting expectation and a basic given? As opposed to skepticism and looking backward? Hmm ...
We need real solutions to real problems in real time, like finalizing flood mitigation plans along the Ala Wai Canal. The Ala Wai Flood Management Project (that name alone might indicate a potentially serious issue) has been around for 23 years, but wasn’t officially autho- rized or funded until 2018. More talks will soon be held with necessary public interaction, and a supposed “final report” will come out next spring, at which point there will be more feedback, more discussion and invariably more studies.
Let’s hope nature remains ambivalent and gives us time to get this one done right ... some decade.
Think about it.
john@thinkaboutithawaii.com