Outwardly, my storage dilemma is resolved. I now know more about sheds than I ever aspired to know and in the end, fate had its way. Would my friend, Sandi, and I rather dig a shallow shed grave and haul gravel to fill it for a shed base? Or perhaps heave 64 concrete pavers from Home Depot about, laying them upon a bed of crushed granite? Or would we simply like to buy the foundation kit for the darn thing and be done with it? (Except of course for putting said shed together) Okay then! The 8...

New locales, new lingo…just starting to tap into the powerful vowel-laden language of Hawaii.  There’s a beautiful word I’m fascinated by: mana (a = ah). Hawaiians believe there are two different types of mana. One is a generalized, diffused mystic power; a hard-to-define, personal, inner authority. The other is a specific talent or aptitude such as the ability to heal, to dance superbly, fish with marked success or build the finest canoes.

I have an odd sort of “mana” that has no ...

When you move to an island, its simpler and more complicated than a landlocked move. Simpler because there are oh so many, many things you won’t be taking with you! Like furniture. Or your bed--which is a whole chakra below furniture. You can’t even take all your "pictures-you’re-going-to-put-in-albums-someday." Or your now-antique wedding dress made by your now-antique, but timelessly classy, mother. (Whoops, guess that’s just me.) With so much eliminated, the complication arises: yo...

Many people at 62 are thinking about moving into a senior community, closer to their grandchildren, away from the city or further from the truth.

I’m moving to Maui.

Why would a California woman who’s single, has children and grandchildren in Oregon; an elderly mother, siblings, and a passel of nieces and nephews in Idaho; a finely-woven community of friends in Sacramento, including her closest friend, move to Maui at age 62?

Nice guess, but there’s no man waiting on the shore. You ...