Rosebud & Mighty Boy

Meet Rosebud, a sweet-but-judgmental recovering paralytic.

Meet Mighty Boy, the most perpetually frightened pup in the tropics.

She gets surly (to the point of fecal vengeance) if she doesn't get constant, up-close, and varied human attention. He's deathly afraid of people (myself included, though we made progress), and could dominate any canine tug-of-war competition he entered, plus most homo sapien ones. Each walk with this duo felt like a Joseph Heller passage.

Cute kids, though.

Mike's Hike

Aunt Bobbee goes for little walks on her home island in Hawaii. Now, Lucy and I qualify as outdoorsy; we both sport climb, backpack, and scramble off trails at home in Oregon. Still, Bobbee's little walks kick my scrawny tail. She's a free spirit with a generous side helping of hoss.

In 2003, a couple hours into a wilderness constitutional and at one of the most remote and beautiful points on the island, Bobbee found a young man who'd recently died. A phone call later, there was a media circus at the trailhead, and she was recognized on the street for some time as the woman who was on the news. Much more importantly, she's since become close with Mike's loved ones, who occasionally trek to that memorial ridgeline spot to crack open a cold one in remembrance - despite the fact that the mountain's trails have since been reclaimed by the jungle.

We joined Bobbee and Mike's family and friends on just such a pilgrimage. It was a scramble - and quite an honor.

Lucy took the photo of the guy in shades.

Thanks + Giving

Ask a non-package traveler about her favorite life experiences, and she'll doubtlessly include a tale about being welcomed into a home, into a community. Some of us are lucky enough to have stumbled upon new and true friends in the most unfamiliar of places - if you've heard my old rural Vietnam story about the offers of a chicken neck and a daughter's hand in marriage, you know that I count myself in that number.

It needn't be exotic in the traditional sense, though.

Spoiled by close proximity to loving families, it stings a bit to spend a holiday apart from the folks and brothers. When we were in Hawaii for Thanksgiving, the relevant hydrocortisone came in the form of an embrace by a warm and wonderful family, complete with sparkling cider and the first sing-along Christmas carols of the season.

Speaking of community and island songs, if you're lucky enough to be in Lanikai when the home-grown Mortgage Players stage one of their melodrama + musical evenings, do attend.

Mela kalikimaka is Hawaii's way, indeed.