We snuck away to Maui for a couple of days to celebrate Meda’s birthday. We were able to take advantage of the hospitality of friends escaping the Canadian winter, who offered us share the Wailea condo where they’re staying for the month. It meant walking down to a public access to get to the beach as the sun slowly appeared from behind Haleakala. Kahoolawe and Lanai are visible from there, and the West Maui Mountains look like another island as well. Click on this photo for a few more views of those Maui dawns.

Of course, the weekend wouldn’t have been complete without a thrift store or two. Here’s Meda in the St. Anthony Church thrift store, one of our regular stops when we’re on Maui. We also spent enough time at the Saturday swap meet at Maui Community College to feel like we were dying of the heat, then enjoyed a guided tour through the Waihee Coastal Dunes and Wetlands Preserve with Dale Bonar, director of the Maui Coastal Land Trust (now part of the Hawaiian Islands Lands Trust) and an old friend (“old,” of course, referring to the friendship). The reserve is featured in the current issue of Maui Time weekly.

And, yes, Meda did have a pretty good birthday in the midst of it all.