Report from Maui

I've been in Maui for two weeks. George & needed to check up on the condo, visit with my recently widowed Uncle Gene,  and sit back & think for a bit.

It was hard leaving Vancouver mid-summer, but I really enjoyed our time in Maui.

I worked on & finished a small piece for an old school friend of mine. This is a Vera scarf, bought with Mary Beecher at filene's basement in 1954 or so. The scarf is made of batiste cotton, very fine & very absorbent. For years I used it as a nose-blowing kerchief when I had colds.

My mother & hers loved Vera scarves. So buying a few of her scarves was at the time a small right of passage into adulthood. This is my last one.

I wrote on it, embellished some squares on the scarf with transparent fabric, quilted it & edged it.

It was a gift of love, though I managed to embarrass myself by not giving enough care and attention to the mailing, packaging & general 'presentation'. Oh dear, silly careless impatient me.



Much of our time in Maui was given to Gene.

His wife, Ellie, died on July 18. He's doing pretty well considering Ellie was his cook, his extra eyes & extra ears, chauffeuse, check-writer, companion, & friend.

She had an illness with atrial fibrillation and all manner of complications arising therefrom for the last 4 years. It was hard for Gene watching a second wife fall apart physically, after his first wife, my mother's younger sister, died of Alzheimer's in 1994.

He now has a competent housekeeper who has a PhD in Portuguese literature. Her name is Arife. She's keeping him on his toes and he's gradually getting used to her reasonable demands.

We had many meals together, lots of talk and sorting stuff out, the next stage.

Gene's son, Jon Bliss, & his wife Dede came for a week of our time there. We had a great time together and much laughter, joking, family history & story-telling.

And then we saw quite a bit of Sal & Jobst who are in the midst of their house being built. Both are startled by how much grader it is than they had imagined. We were twice at the building site. The electrical is in and the incredible system of solar batteries are on line now.

BEAUTIFUL setting, lots of wind too. Porch by the ladder is sheltered from prevailing winds. Floor plan is a box with two smaller boxes added on. So in a way from the air the shape is a block W.

                                                            That's it for now.