Such a busy day

We were headed off to the Farmer's Market in Hilo, so we were up and rolling by 8. But first, a quick stop by the black sand beach a short quarter mile from our front door. And there was a local guy with his two sons, teaching them how to fish with nets. It was so coool!


Then we drove past the volcano and sixty miles or so into Hilo where we shopped and shopped! Do you get fern fronds and hands of green bananas at your local market?
How about bunches of orchids picked by the stall owner's 10 year-old this morning?

Did you know that eggplants could look like this? I wish I could paint. Those would make a stunning acrylic portrait!

The boxes of fresh local fruit are sooo pretty! I bought a couple of papayas. One for lunch, and one to save for a few days. The tiny Asian grandma who sold them to me very kindly hand-picked just the right ones for me, and gave me a lovely sweet smile with two teeth missing. She was about half my size and I wanted her for my grandmother.

The other half of the market was clothing and art and jewelry. My SIL bought me a pair of black cotton wrap pants for $15. I couldn't sew them for that! DH bought me a purple silk scarf. DH and Harry(SIL's boyfriend) bought $6 swimsuits.

Downtown Hilo looks like a set for a 1930s movie set in the tropics. All the buildings are funky and retro with high ceilings and big windows and slowly rotating fans.

After the market, we stopped at a local cafe and had a marvelous lunch! They shaped their own burgers, rather than buying 100 frozen pre-shaped patties at a time. They made french fries from real potatoes. Everything was done to perfection and the service was great! Our waitress was a spunky middle-aged woman who sassed the guys and joked with us girls and brought us free refills on the ice tea.

Then we went across the street to Walmart for basic supplies(DH forgot his toothbrush. We needed laundry detergent, SIL forgot her swimsuit.) across the parking lot to Hilo Hattie's where SIL found a whole buncha new clothes on the sale racks. Then back 60 miles to the condo. I am getting a fair ammount of knitting done on these long drives, though I keep getting distracted by how HAPPY I am to be here. Then I sit and smile like a merry idiot for minutes at a time.

DH, SIL and I decided to walk back down to the beach. SIL has her new swimsuit and her new sarong and in her hair is a pink plumeria hair comb. Looking very classy!

Look who had come onto the beach for a nap! You are supposed to stay fifteen feet away from them, so we didn't get close-ups, but we admired them greatly from a distance.


just soaking up rays, catching a few zzzzs.