Quote of the day: "There comes a point when you just can't get any wetter." — Andie McDowell, Four Weddings and a Funeral

We're calling this Monsoon Monday. After going to sleep to rain and hoping it would stop during the night, we woke up at 5:45 to more rain. I sleep through nearly anything, but Keri said it rained most of the night. Part of what we were hearing this morning was the sprinkler system, so we hoped it wasn't as bad out as it seemed. We decided to brave the elements and walk to the Mala Ramp to meet our snorking people.

Oh my gosh. I literally have not been wetter outside of a swimming pool. We walked blocks in the rain. No umbrellas. Pitch dark. Got splashed by a Jeep who went through a puddle and created a small tidal wave, a la Bridget Jones. All we could do was laugh. The whole episode was just too ridiculous. We made it to the boat ramp (on time!) where a young man in a baseball hat (sitting safe and dry inside a pickup truck, I might add) told us they wouldn't be taking us out in this kind of weather. We rescheduled for Thursday.

We slogged back to the Makai to find that clothes which had been previously washed still ran, bleeding color onto other clothes. Mud from the road splashed up onto our legs and capris/shorts. Things inside my tote bag were wet. Got back to our room and peeled off our clothes, toweled off, and dove into nice clean dry things. I hung my tote on a door handle; it took two days to dry. Sheesh!

Spent the day playing mutant Scrabble (not the regulation assortment of letters) and attempting jigsaw puzzles (with missing pieces, as we found out). When a sunbreak came in the afternoon, we got ourselves to Baby Beach as quickly as possible and looked for seashells. Found lots of limpets, some curly shells, and some "potato chip" shells. The important thing was being outside!

We weren't home 20 minutes when it started raining again. I went to sleep wondering about the name of Hawaii's rain god and what we'd need to do to get him to stop...

I'm in spectacular Maui for New Year's, so rather than send everyone the same email and clog up multiple inboxes with the same pictures, I thought I'd try blogging the trip...so here goes!

Keri and I got in yesterday and are staying at the Makai Inn. That's the courtyard, on the left. It's on Front Street, north of the shops. We pick up the car on Wednesday, so we'll be doing a lot of walking between now and then! The Makai is right on the water (our view from the sea wall, on the right), which was so pretty yesterday, but today has been grey with no whales in sight. Saw one spout and one spout/back on the way in from Kahului, but it's early in the season and I'm nervous we won't see more.

Signed up for a snorking trip (yes, I know it's "snorkeling"; long story!) around Lana'i. Will hopefully see whales there. Definitely dolphins. A little scary as I have a water issue, but I'll do my best to overcome it since it sounds so cool.

Most of today was spent walking all over Lahaina. Went to the Banyan Craft fair where I found the most marvelous blown glass waves, similar to this one but with frosty, sparkling, (broken?) glass at the wave edge to simulate foam. (There's probably a term for that, but I'm definitely not a glass blower so couldn't tell you) The low-end price was $100 (the size pictured here went for $300+), so all those pretty little waves stayed in Maui when I came home. But next time...

We walked to the craft fair out by the Post Office, too, about a mile from the Makai in the opposite direction of the Lahaina shops. Jennifer Cohen-Caires makes the most wonderful soaps and lotions. She's the only one I've found with plumeria that actually smells like the flower. I have friends who will not leave the island without restocking their soap supply. If you're in Maui, see her in person at the craft fair ($1 admission, held on sporradic Sundays; drive by and check) or stop by her stall at Kalama Village in on S. Kihei Road. And if you're not lucky enough to go in person, fear not--she has a website: http://www.nanipacifica.com/.

My poor feet do not like Hawaii. Keri thinks that if I stayed long enough, they'd eventually get used to it, but I don't know. They swell and get heat rash, and bugs seem to love me (apparently I am to Mauian mosquitoes what Bella is to Edward) (if you haven't read "Twilight", that will make no sense to you). I've tried hot soaks, cold soaks, baking soda soaks... Maybe Keri's right and it would just take a few weeks. Maybe I'll have the opportunity to test out her theory one day.

I brought "The Kite Runner" with me and am about 2/3 through it. I keep exclaiming aloud, and Keri glances over with raised eyebrows. She might read it, so I keep my descriptions vague. Suffice to say there were several points where I thought everything that could happen had happened, and then something else--a big something else--happens!

We need to be at the dock at 6:30a tomorrow (yowch), so I'll leave off for now.