Definitely time to start my WA blog. I've been hiding off in my little corner farrrrrrrrrrrr too long, poking my head out to make friends with some truly amazing WA people, and studying like crazy.

Mind you, I have no amazing post to put here today.  I swore up and down that my first blog post would have solid accomplishment kind of content to it. Content-rich, as we like to say.

I'll save that for another day.  Today I will tell you a bit about my  life on one of the neighbor islands  here  in Hawaii.  

Everyone and his uncle lives on one tiny island called Oahu.  Honolulu, Pearl Harbor, and other famous places are all squished together  on Oahu.  And actually, the official legal name of that island is The City and County of Honolulu.  To me, it feels like the big traffic-jam city of Honolulu and its suburbs 

 Actually, there are some pretty cool things about Oahu, and someday I will tell you a few of them.. But today I am dismissing that whole island with a quite  disdainful sniff---Because ! (deep, resonant roll of ancient  Hawaiian calabash drums here, please...)  today I will introduce you to my favorite Neighbor Island,  lovingly known as the Big Island.

Big Island is my home.  The largest island  (hence the name) of the entire archipelago, and soooooo breathtakingly beautiful.  The wet side is tropical rainforest for the most part, and home to one of the wettest, rainiest  cities in the United States, Hilo.  For most people on our planet, Hilo hardly counts as a city because it is home to only 50,000 people. But it is the second largest city in our whole state, and one-third of the people on our beautiful island live there.  

The rest of us are scattered about. Our towns are not incorporated:  the Census Bureau calls them Named Inhabited Places. 

I live on the driest part of the dry side.  Right by the ocean, on a coral reef (and yes, no matter how wonderful it is  where you live, you are definitely allowed one deep sigh and a moment of  pure jealousy right now.  Thoughts of Hawaii do that to people.)

Everyone's first question, after we establish the fact that this is indeed a place of extraordinary beauty, is   "But isn't it awfully expensive to live there?"

And the truth is, yes and no.  Yes, for all the mainland people who buy mainland-designed homes here,especially in gated communities. Homes with incredibly manicured and spacious yards that need huge upkeep (hey, this is the tropics and everything green Grows Like Crazy here), swimming pools (more upkeep), air conditioning. Lots of plane trips . Stuff like that.

No, if you live as a local.  Simple, small older house with outdoor style living. Older high-mileage car or pickup.  (the couple times mine broke down or got a flat, a friend happened to drive by, stopped and fixed the immediate  problem. No kidding.) Lots of fruit trees in the yard so there's plenty for your home, and plenty to share. Small (or large) vegetable garden.  

Currently, I live by myself.  I rent a small house in an extraordinary spot. Granted, there aren't very many of such rentals so not too many people can do exactly what I do. But we help each other find these little gems as needed.

In another day or two I will tell you more.  And one of these days real soon  I will offer a post with WA-style content.

Aloha!