Maui has so many microclimates, and with that the weather can vary in a very short space of time. Yesterday from what I could see most of the island was covered in cloud. Where I live there was a lot of wind, but I had to run Upcountry and there the air was very different. It was still, so still. Even the landscape felt still. Being March there was a little chill in the air as well. These conditions, along with the distant views available Upcountry, brought a little magic to the surroundings.

For a while I could feel the presence of the little corner of South Wales where I lived before moving to the US.

I lived in the same area for just shy of twenty years, a small rural village at the end of four miles of country roads. It was very quiet there, few distractions. Radio was my only source of media entertainment. I had no television and the internet (dialup) only arrived a few years before I left. I spent a lot of time outside experiencing the elements. I felt as though I became very intimate with that landscape. It became very familiar to me. With time, through living there and the lack of distractions, my mind quietened down and started to recognize subtleties in environment, the magic in the air. The place became special to me, truly home.

Over two decades later I still remember that corner of South Wales fondly. It has a place in my heart. Yesterday I was transported back there.

An overcast day with a broad mountain top visible above low clouds. Fields and trees extend to the middle distance. In the foreground is a hedge with some purple and red flowers in it.
Haleakala peeks above an overcast sky