It’s been a strange week around here.

Monday night just before 11 p.m., there was a home invasion robbery of a couple in their 70’s (yikes!) on the other end of Kahala, about a mile and a half from our house. Two men broke into the house by removing glass louvers, used zip ties to bind the woman’s hands and feet while her disabled husband watched, then went for her jewelry. But she was able to escape and scream for help, apparently interrupting their search of the house.

Tuesday morning around 8 a.m. The body of a man was found in the stream that runs through Waialae Beach Park. It was likely there overnight. His car, a BMW, had been found in the parking lot when it was closed for the night. The man had taken off his shoes and shirt, and set his car keys and phone down. These were found in the morning. The body went unnoticed until well after dawn, when it was noticed by a woman coming back from a swim. We walk along the stream twice every morning, once as we are starting out and once on our return. I remember that there were seven ducks in the stream Tuesday morning, but did not see a body.

Tuesday at about 5:45 p.m. It was wine o’clock on our back deck, when we heard multiple sirens, then blasts of a deep horn as a fire truck tried to make its way through relatively heavy traffic along Kalanianaole Highway. A few minutes later, Hawaii News Now reported a fire in the Naniwa Gardens condominium in Hawaii Kai. I immediately recognized it as the building where Buddy, the elderly Maltese we see most mornings, lives with his person.

I sent off a quick text to check on them.

This morning we learned the fire was on the sixth floor, just two floors below, and one unit over, from their apartment. Luckily, Buddy was fine, having apparently slept through the whole affair. Their apartment is fine, apart from some smoke damage on the lanai. But all the units below the sixth floor are heavily water damaged, and the building elevators also sustained water damage and are out of service (at least the ones servicing that part of the complex).

And then, while not on the same scale, a small personal loss. My favorite umbrella appears to have died during our walk this morning. This is one I bought at the Umbrella Shop in Vancouver years ago. This family owned and operated store manufactured their own umbrellas and took great pride in their work. Their umbrellas came with a lifetime warranty, and mine was been repaired once. But the store closed its doors a few years ago, and this brings ends my tangible link to the memory of our visits there (yes, it became one of our regular stops when visiting Vancouver).

I admit to being at least a little concerned about what other unusual events might await us this week.