Welcome to Paradise

Maui is primarily supported by agriculture, mainly sugarcane. As I look down the slopes of Haleakala (the volcano) toward the sea, it is green with sugarcane fields. In the distance are the smoke stacks of the sugar refinery and all in all, it's really comforting that the economy of the island is based upon a very simplistic industry.

Yesterday I was downstairs in my office working at the computer (okay, I confess, I wasn't working but I am on a writing kick for my next book--a collection of short horror stories) when I realized there was this noise from outside. It was a crackling and hissing, and of considerable volume. I looked out the back of the house and my entire line of sight was a wall of billowing brownish and white smoke. Apparently the sugarcane industry implements the practice of burning crop residue after they are harvested.

Although it was a sight to see, once the fires were doused the air was a haze of smokey fog, and after, black cinders were sifting down in the breeze.