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| My first watercolor painting |
I laid out my supplies - water colors, brushes, paper. I fired up YouTube on the tablet and quickly found a couple intro level courses to get me started with basic techniques. I watched and learned.
Ready to start, I laid a clear plastic bag over the tray table I have on loan from the landlord. I filled an empty pickle jar with water and and brought it, along with a saucer, over to my makeshift studio. I folded a sheet of the watercolor paper in half, moistened the cut line, and made a perfect tear to split the paper in half. With a few drops of paint on the saucer, I felt like I was ready to make my first strokes.
In my mind, I pictured the sky over the ocean, just before sunset, as I see it when watching from the sea wall along Front St in Lahaina. I thought that would be the perfect image to start with. After a short time applying color to paper, I stood back to take a look at what I'd just created. Not to brag, but I thought it was pretty impressive! I took a picture of my picture and sent it off to The Hubby to see what he thought.
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| Postcard-sized watercolor view of Lanai |
Inspired, and with more time left before the bug guy would arrive, I wanted to paint a couple more things. I took the other half of my sheet of watercolor paper, folded-wetted-tore, and ended up with 2 smaller postcard-sized sheets to work with. I then applied brush to paper to recreate a scene that I see nearly every day - a crisp view of the island of Lanai across the ocean. I followed that up with a view from my memory - the view of a small slice of beach as seen hanging out the window in the bar at Cheeseburger in Paradise and looking down. I took pictures of each of those and sent them off to The Hubby as well.
The Hubby sent me a picture of what he was making for dinner, which reminded me to eat lunch, so I set my creations aside to dry while I cooked my last package of Ramen. My timing turned out to be perfect. Just as I finished eating, the bug guy arrived.
We talked about bugs - what bugs I might have seen, what bugs there could be that I might not have seen, etc. He sprayed the base boards with something that would keep the vast majority of creepy crawly critters out of the condo. He then strategically placed some droplets of a magical poisonous potion for the ants to find in the kitchen. He said they'd eat the bait and then they'd take some home where it would poison the whole colony. He told me I'd see a difference within 24 hours. Bye bye, ants!
After he left, I grabbed my wallet, keys, phone, shades, and headed out. I made a quick stop at the post office to send the puppy travel paperwork to The Hubby and then headed for the bus stop. I missed the bus I intended to travel on so I walked a mile over to the stop at the Wharf Cinema Center to pick up a different one. This gave me a reason, as if I needed one, to stop in Bad Ass for an iced coffee. I noticed they sold nice reusable cups with their logo on them that I could get refilled for $1 each time I needed a fix. I bought one - an orange one, but only because they didn't have any in pink.
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| My new Bad Ass cup |
I finished up my coffee while waiting at the bus stop for the bus. After the other day, when I was given the no-no- finger waggle by the bus driver after trying to get on the bus with an iced coffee, I wanted to make sure I had no issues this trip. Apparently, only bottled water is allowed on "da bus."
The bus pulled out of Lahaina and followed the Honoapiilani Hwy along the coast and across the island to Kahului, "da big city." I climbed off the bus at the Queen Kaahumanu Shopping Center, a mall that looked as if it might have enough stores that I could do all of my shopping right there. Instead, I climbed on a different bus and headed across town to the Walmart. Not a big fan of shopping at Walmart - or dealing with the walmartians - it still seemed like a better idea to try and save some money there rather than at the pricier mall stores.
I failed to find a lot of things. My experience in the clothing department could best be categorized as disappointing. It seems not every Walmart carries the same lines and I didn't find much of what I hoped to find. My experience in the arts & crafts section proved lacking as well, though I managed to find a few of the items I wanted. The grocery section reminded me of the Walmart in Santa Fe, NM except unlike Santa Fe, where everything was mexican inspired food items, here everything seemed more influenced by asian foods - 37 varieties of Ramen, li hing fruits & candies, shrimp chips. I considered picking up some li hing products but I'm nervous about trying them. I tried li hing mui before and found it way too sour for my taste. It put Sour Patch Kids to shame!
I filled the cart with a few days worth of food, carefully keeping track of my basket contents to make sure I stayed within a single shopping bag. Bus riders have carry on limitations. Between the cashier and me, we managed to get my single reusable shopped bag crammed full of stuff.
Back at the bus stop, I found a young guy pacing in front of the bench while strumming away on his guitar and singing. He sounded pretty good. I was happy to have gotten to hear him play, and to be able to have snapped his picture before he moved on.
The bus arrived and I stepped back, as is customary, to let any disembarking riders off before I got on. The driver shook his head and waved me up the steps instead. I had my choice of seats, being the lone rider on the bus. That felt a bit twilight zone like to me. At least it only stayed that way until the next stop.
Back to the Queen K shopping center, bus transfer, and back along the coast to the west side I went. Night fell by the time I reached Lahaina, and I walked home in the dark. Actually, I lie. With so many street lights and homes along the way, the road stays fairly well lit. I kind of enjoy that walk at night, watching the light bounce off the ocean waves, especially if there is a full moon. My bag grew heavy as I walked though, so I moved as fast as I could.
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| An artist drawing with crayon along the sea wall in Lahaina |
Once home, I heated up a just purchased can of Chef Boyardee. I felt The Hubby cringe from 2k miles away as I did so. He never liked this stuff as a kid and, the one time we tried it as adults, he failed to get past the second bite before looking for something else to eat. It turns out, though, I can still stomach canned pasta enough to make it a cheap staple until The Hubby gets here and starts cooking real food.
Without enough light to start painting again, I grabbed my phone to make a sad phone call to a dear friend of our back in Vegas. He had left a message for me to let me know that a good friend of The Hubby passed away. He had fought, and beat, cancer, but the cancer returned after a few years and proved to be too much. RIP, Smoke.
After that, I cleared my painting supplies from the tray table since it doubles as my nightstand and I would need it to hold my tablet, phone, kindle, etc. With everything set up, it's time for an episode or two of Revolution before I fall asleep.
Aloha!
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