Sunday Salon: Home Sweet Home

I am all unpacked. The laundry is done and put away. The animals are settling back into their daily routines. My internal clock is not quite back on schedule just yet. And I have a tall stack of books sitting on my desk waiting to be entered into my LibraryThing catalog. I still am behind with my e-mails and responding to all the great comments left for me while I was away. Other than that, life has returned to normal. I appreciate your patience as I get back on track.

Many thanks to my guests over the past couple of weeks. I cannot thank them enough for their willingness to step in for me during my absence. If you have not already, please do check out their posts. Each one is brilliant and more than I could have ever hoped for. Thank you also to all of you who stopped in and visited. It looks like there were some good discussions taking place.

Colleen Gleason
Clea Simon
Joshua Henkin
Karen E. Olson
Karen Harrington
Michelle Moran
Lisa Roe

My husband and I had a wonderful time in Hawaii. It never fails that something goes wrong whenever we take a trip. One year it was a flat tire in the middle of the desert, another a visit to the emergency room because of a severe bladder infection, and then there was the time I sprained my ankle on the day we were catching our flight back home. It was with some relief that we got that out of the way right off the bat this time around.

The night before we were to leave for Hawaii, I made sure to set the alarm for 4:15, figuring that was enough time to be up and ready for the shuttle that would take us to the airport in the morning. At 4:53 a.m. that very next day, we awoke with a start when the doorbell rang. A quick glance at the clock, and I realized my mistake. I had set the alarm to go off in the p.m. instead of the a.m. It was the quickest I had ever gotten ready--drank my cranberry juice, washed my face, got dressed and out the door we went. All in seven minutes. Thank goodness we were all packed the night before!

Major trip disaster this round: The alarm mishap and my husband kicking the door, taking a good chunk and several layers of skin off his little toe that morning in the rush to get out. And, oh, did it ever bleed! At least we got the bad event out of the way upfront so we could enjoy the rest of our vacation.


The flight to Oahu was quite pleasant, and we arrived in Honolulu to sunshine and fantastic weather. When planning our vacation several months ago, my husband and I had decided to split our vacation into two halves, visiting the islands of Oahu and Hawaii. Not only were we interested in visiting Pearl Harbor, but I also wanted to revisit the area where I had spent three years of my childhood.

Waikiki was crazy busy--very tourist oriented with the International Market and all the usual tourist trappings. Waikiki Beach was just across the street from our hotel. We had a nice view of the surfers and surf boarders. We did make it to Pearl Harbor, paying our respects at the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial and taking a tour of the U.S.S. Missouri Battleship. We took it all in--the history lessons and the sights.

A person cannot visit Oahu and not see the more natural attractions, and my husband and I were no exception. Among the places we visited were the Northshore, walking along the Bonzai Pipeline as well as Sunset Beach; we took a boat tour of a royal fish pond, visited the Byodo-In Temple, and spent some time at the Halona Blowhole. We picked up a few souvenirs along the way, including a couple of bells for my collection and a box of chocolate chip macadamia nut cookies.

Our time on Oahu ended all too fast and soon we were hopping on a plane to the big island of Hawaii. Unlike on Oahu, we had made arrangements to rent a car while on the Big Island, which made it easier to get around on our own--not to mention at our leisure. We arrived at our hotel in Kona and were very pleased to discover we had a room that looked out over the ocean. Our room was on ground level, and right outside our patio, just feet away, was the ocean, crashing against the rocks. It would be the sound that would sing us to sleep at night and ease us up each morning. The sunset was a sight to behold--beautiful in every respect. The quiet of the area we were in at Kona was such a change from the hustle and bustle of Waikiki. As much fun as we had in Oahua, it was refreshing to slow down a bit. Although, my husband might argue that we didn't really slow down any--other than in my head perhaps.


We took in as much as we could, visiting the National Volcano Park where we could see the steam billowing out of a crater that had only months before damaged a lookout point at the park. We walked through the lava tunnels and rain forest. And later that day we ventured to a lookout point to see the lava flowing into the ocean. We nearly got lost on our way to the southern most point of the United States (it seemed like a lot of other tourists had the same problem). We spent my birthday visiting all of the water falls we could find along with the botanical gardens. Our final full day on the island, we dedicated to visiting the historical sites. My favorite was the Pu'ukohola Heiau built by King Kamehameha I. It was a temple created for the war god as part of the prophecy in which the king would unite all the Hawaiian islands once the temple was built. What makes it an especially intriguing structure is the way in which it was built. None of the stones used were allowed to touch the ground and so they were handed from person to person for a stretch of about 20 miles. Human sacrifices were made at the temple to incur the war god's favor and eventually King Kamehameha I would, in fact, unite the islands as predicted.

The Hawaiian islands are rich in history--and my husband and I couldn't help but be pulled into the stories we learned. Driving around we took in the expanse of diversity of the land--desert-like areas leading into ranch and farmland, volcanoes, mountains, rain forests, and coastal and inland towns.

While in Hawaii, I had the opportunity to meet an online friend. We got together for dinner one evening, and she was a gracious and kind host. She answered all the questions we'd been saving up from our travels that day. She even came bearing gifts--one of which was a couple of slices of homemade pineapple upside down cake. Little did she know, the cake would serve as my birthday cake while we were there. It was wonderful putting a face to a name--and to have such a friendly person behind it!

I finished all three of the books I took on vacation with me. Stay tuned for my reviews of Out by Natsuo Kirino, Murder on a Girls' Night Out by Anne George, and Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman.


You didn't think I could get out of Hawaii without hitting a bookshop (or three), did you? Both my husband and I practiced great restraint, I'll have you know. Okay, so it had more to do with limited luggage space--we didn't want to have to pay extra for another bag--but it could have been much worse.

Those who stopped in last Sunday know that Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo was added to my TBR collection. While on the island of Hawaii, I also picked up copies of two new-to-me mysteries by Chip Hughes, Murder on Moloka'i and Wipeout!, both set in Hawaii. I had just enough room in my suitcase to bring home Song of the Exile, a novel that is described as an epic love story set during World War II through Hawaii's struggle to statehood.

My husband also came home four books richer:
The Girl with the Long Green Heart by Lawrence Block
The Colorado Kid by Stephen King
Shooting Star and Spiderweb by Robert Bloch
Lucky at Cards by Lawrence Block

Although sad to leave the beautiful state of Hawaii, we were looking forward to getting home and back to our animals. The flight home seemed longer than the one that took us there, despite being nearly a half hour shorter. There was a sense of relief when we reached home.


The day after we arrived home, we collected the mail, which included several promising books. I got the look from my husband--but in my defense, I only spent money on one of them. My latest TBR additions include copies of
Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith
The Tenth Case by Joseph Teller
Say You're One of Them by Uwem Akpan
Shining City by Seth Greenland (many thanks to Lisa from Minds Alive on the Shelves )

The cats and dog did well while we were gone. Anya has grown considerably. Parker, who had his teeth cleaned while we were gone, had to have one tooth extracted, but he is fully recovered from the procedure. No one gave us the cold shoulder--if anything, the animals have been more attentive than usual. Yesterday morning, as Anjin and I caught up on a little of our TV watching, I had a dog curled up at bend of my knees, a cat on my stomach and a kitten on my chest as I leaned against my husband--the five of us cuddled on the couch. What better way to celebrate our reunion?

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Just one more piece of business before I sign off. Thank you to all who participated in the Matrimony Giveaway. And many thanks to Joshua Henkin for offering a signed copy of his great book.

The initial winner, Alyce from At Home With Books was lucky enough to pick up a copy of the book in another giveaway and has graciously offered to let someone else have a chance at the book.

The winner of the giveaway is Lisa from Books and Cooks
Congratulations, Lisa!

Have a good Sunday everyone and happy reading!