Post #213350 by 8FT Tiki on Tue, Feb 7, 2006 9:13 PM

OK Mrs. LavaLounger, you've cheered up pretty well from the start of the thread and it's no wonder with all of the replies from the TC ohana giving you encouragement to stand firm for what you enjoy in your home. Many of us can identify with your experience because in some ways a lot of us live on our own little "islands" of paradise. We who are the castaways from the corner bar (which is just a clone of a million other neon beer sign festooned dives). Those of us who are adrift in a sea of beer must cling to our coconut lifeboats and pineapple rafts until we make it to port. In other words, we dig your efforts and as one of your closest tiki neighbors, I say, rest assured you are in friendly waters. Hopefully the local tikiphiles will get a tiki home bar crawl thing organized soon and we can share the hospitality with the few in the area who are in the know.
I sometimes think it would be a good idea to have a rack of my Hawaiian shirts at the entry of our place so that visitors could select one to wear and feel more a part of the atmosphere when they visit (if they did not arrive in island attire already). However, I don't want to push them or force a strange drink on anyone who is my guest. If they are open to try it that's great but I never expect them to conform to my style. I think as a general summation it would be fairly accurate to assume that our friends, neighbors and relatives just think we're a bit "adrift".
But they see it as a harmless escape hatch to an imaginary tropical destination. And if they don't feel compelled to hitch a ride on the raft, then let them stay on the dock. You can send them a postcard. Live Aloha, 8FT