A rainbow broke out while I was waiting for the bus this afternoon. They're fairly common near campus but this one hung around for awhile. It also sprouted a shadow -- a second faint rainbow nearby.
I wasn't sure what winter in Hawaii would be like. So far, it's cloudier than summer and the rain showers are more frequent. It feels cooler but the high temperature is still around 80 degrees every day. It doesn't get hot in the afternoon, as it did in the summer.This past week, most of the island of Oahu lost power for 11 hours or so. In Kailua, our power went out around 8 pm. We went for a walk around town to see if there was any cool lightening but not much was visible. It was very quiet -- no car horns even at intersections without traffic lights. People gathered in small groups talking among themselves. Most stores closed. At least one restaurant appeared to be serving meals by candlelight. Groups of people gathered at the entrances to grocery stores. At the Foodland, they were letting one person/family in as one left. Again, people were quiet, joking with the grocery store employee managing the doorway. I hear it was more exciting in Honolulu, but on this side of the island all was calm. We just went to sleep -- by 6 am the power was back on.
It was a different experience to loose power in the winter and not be at all concerned about heat or cold. I had not yet stocked candles (have now) so we ate a cold dinner by the light of a laptop. All in all, a very minor inconvenience. It would have been different if there had been a storm and concern about flooding or high winds. We had a big storm a couple of weeks ago. The wind was very high with driving rain. I watched from the window and decided I really didn't need a picture of the storm, I would just tell you that palm trees bend really well.
