Hau'oli Makahiki Hou

Happy New Year!

2008 disappeared in a blur of change and nonstop activity. The reason I have not posted anything since February is because I got a full time job a week after the last post. I've spent the previous 10 months adjusting. I took a job as the administrator of a 20-person CPA firm down the mountain in Hilo. I started right at the height of tax season, working 12 hour days and commuting 2 hours a day, while also keeping up with my Florida graphic design clients. Since then I've managed to climb up the rather steep learning curve, have shed a couple of clients, and ditched almost all of my local volunteer activities. Not without some guilt, fear and sadness. But it has turned out to be a great job and we are much more secure.

Dean has been working as a paid Interpretive Ranger at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park since March. He gets to do really cool stuff, including taking VIPs close up to flowing lava and leading hikes "Into the Volcano."

Dash, of necessity, started going to the after-school program, but all of his friends are there so he enjoys it. His school does a lot of Hawaiian cultural stuff, in May they have a big celebration and all the classes do dances and there's an official Royal Court that does a special hula. Dash is actually very good at hula, but I've been unable to capture it with a photo. His music teacher - "Moku Boy" goes to our church and is a very talented musician from a musical family.

Also in March, Halema'uma'u crater (less than 3 miles away) blew a hole in its side and a plume of steam and sulphur dioxide climbing high into the sky became a part of our daily landscape. For a few months there was a glow from the lava just a few hundred feet lower in the tube. Lately, 'da plume' (as we call it) has been coming and going. Today, the tradewinds have stopped and a blue haze of sulphur has settled over our neighborhood.

We needed a second car so Dean, in typical Dean fashion, bought a classic Citroen 2CV over the internet and had it shipped here. A special thanks to James in Virginia. James is retired from the U.S. Foreign Service and wanted his classic Citroen 2CV to go to a good home. Dean has provided "Claudette" with the best of care and it has become a fixture here in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park - much to the delight of our European visitors who frequently have their picture taken with her.

Dash turned 10 this year and camped out with his friends in our backyard.

Over the Christmas holidays we experienced a 2-day thunder storm that filled our water tank and dropped many feet of snow on Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea. Dash went up to the top of Mauna Kea with his friend, Nathan, and built a snow man.