home at last!

Our trip back home was uneventful, but that long flight sorta drives me nuts from being cooped up too long.  Chocolate does seem to help!  And a good long night's sleep (I actually slept 12 hours and I don't know if that has ever happened before!)

During the flight, I finished the Jodi Picoult book I told you about, and this was not my favorite from her.  This story was all about the search for a missing woman who had been an elephant researcher.  I learned a lot about elephants, maybe too much!  And the ending was really unexpected and still leaves me wondering.  I won't say anything more, in case it's on your reading list.

Happily, my suitcase did finally show up in Kauai, after a vacation in Paris.  I got very irritated about it, after numerous calls and wasted time with people associated with Delta.  I really didn't want to waste my vacation time dealing with that, nor shopping for necessities to replace what was missing.  And I kept thinking "it's going to show up anytime now", so I didn't really want to buy a bunch of stuff.  I ended up wearing one pair of shorts (Bob's gym shorts!) and one t-shirt (bought at the Kauai Walmart!) most of the time, running laundry when needed, and trying to keep a positive attitude!  I did finally give up on being mad about it because it was such a ridiculous episode, and now it's pretty funny after it's all over!  Even after the airline brought the suitcase back from Charles de Gaulle airport, I think it sat somewhere for a couple days, then went to Kauai and sat there 2 days when it was supposed to have been picked up and delivered to me.  I actually only got it back after 2 trips to the airport to bug people there about it until I found the right person to unlock the office it was stored in.  Crazy!  Got it back on Thursday and we left for home on Friday!  The silver lining is that I have a whole suitcase full of clean clothes!

my little lost suitcase

I did find a quilt shop in Lihue, and we stopped there for a look-see.  It was a pleasant little spot, with a mix of Asian and Hawaiian designs, and a big section of batiks.

 I only bought a few things--a pretty blue and green bark cloth piece that would make nice pillows for my couch, a neat hexagon print that has a little bit of gold bling on it, and 2 prints of vintage Japanese rice sack labels. 

I found another store, after some searching, that advertised garments made from these vintage rice sacks and I liked the idea and pictures on their ads.  It was called Jacqueline's in Hanapepe, and she makes and sells "aloha shirts".  It was an obscure little storefront that we drove past 3 times before we saw it (and this is on the one main street in town).  When I went inside, I was very sad to find that everything reeked of cigarette smoke.  There was no way I was buying anything there!

In another little shop, I saw this--

seems like good advice!