Lahainaluna

Dash and I had a short weekend on Maui to see Nammie. The weather was beautiful compared to our last visit. No VOG! We could actually see the top of Haleakala, over to Kaho'olawe, Lana'i and Moloka'i. The pic on the left is the beach (Kamaole 3) in front of my mom's condo that we always visit. The waves were breaking really strong so we stayed out of the ocean this time.

We didn't have time to do much but lay by the pool. I got some shopping done and Dash was able to catch up on Sponge Bob.

Maui will always be the most special place in my life. The center point where everything changed. It's almost too painful to return to the crushing weight of nostalgia.

Turns out Dash had no school on Friday anyway because HELCO shut the power off for the day.

He is adjusting slowly to middle school. He had a few problems with an older kid, but I think they are resolved for now. Electives are his big excitement this year, and he's taking Hawaiian, Law, Horticulture, and Crafts.

He had a great summer hanging out with different friends and just relaxing. We did manage to get in some beach trips to the other side of the island. Dean had a great trip to Yokohama and is still hoping to somehow get a permanent position at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. He has a great boss who is trying hard to get him in some how. President Obama, can't you do something about this?

I was very fortunate to get a lead role in a musical called The Family Tree, an original production by two University of Hawaii students and an excellent local composer. So if you're planning a trip to Hawaii, include October 23-24 in your itinerary. I've been singing all over the place. Karaoke show tunes at a coffee bar on Saturday, church band on Sunday, Kilauea Festival Chorus practice on Wednesday, voice lessons on Thursday, and Family Tree rehearsal Tuesday and Friday. Monday is my only quiet day and I hate it!

Hula in Hawaii

Last night we went to a two-hour hula performance (ho'ike) put on by halau hula Kalehuaki'eki'eka'iu, that includes many of our friends from Volcano. The entire stage was covered by a curtain made of plumeria strings (see above). We sat in the front row, and the aroma of the flowers was intoxicating. The stage was packed with dancers doing both ancient (kahiko) hula and more modern (auana) hula.

Our good friend and neighbor, Jay Robinson-also one of the dancers, gave us tickets for our anniversary. That's him in the red shirt below.

Dean is frantically putting together a program for "After Dark in the Park," a monthly program highlighting significant issues for the community. Guess what his topic is? Dark sky friendly lighting! I think it's called "Dark Sacred Nights."

I auditioned for "The Music Man" yesterday, and tomorrow I'll be auditioning for a Universtiy of Hawaii-Hilo student production. I'll keep you posted on how all that turns out!

I just want to do theater without all the drama!

I must have ADD. Why else would I have decided to try out for community theater? Just not entertained enough living next to an active volcano? Working at a job with at least 5 hats? So, even though I had a terrible case of laryngitis that lasted over a month, I had just enough voice range to try out for "Kiss Me Kate" back in May and get a part in the chorus. I am having a great time, and tonight is opening night. I'm about 12 hours short of sleep for the week, and my increased caffeine consumption is producing diminishing returns. But, as I keep saying, "I'm having fun!"


Hanging out backstage with 14-year-old girls, trading make-up, watching them be silly (and being almost 30 years older than them) has given me a lot of perspective on my own girlhood, and has helped me forgive myself a little more for all the foolish things I did back then! Yes, there is quite a lot of backstage drama, but thank goodness it doesn't involve me. I am not the only person over 20 in the cast, there's at least 7 more of us "aunties and uncles."

Also, it's confirmed that I have some kind of learning disability for dance, or I'm just cursed with the "Honky-ain't-got-no-rhythm" gene. I can't believe they expect me to sing, dance and act all at the same time!

Other News
Dean was chosen to go to Japan in a few weeks to represent Hawaii Volcanoes National Park at the island visitor's bureau show in Yokohama. Unfortunately it's during the closing weekend of the play, so I'm not going. We were able to have our lot refinanced again, so we have a few more years to try to get something built on it. Every time I turn around I meet another builder, so I don't think we'll have any trouble figuring out the process.

Dash and I went to Maui to see my Mom, right after April 15. I don't remember much but sleeping and laying by the pool. He also celebrated his 11th birthday with a wild party of pudding-eating contests, silly string wars and other messy things that boys love.

I had a lot of opportunities to sing this spring. I got to pick all the songs and lead worship for a women's day at church, and our 'band' got to perform in downtown Hilo at an island-wide church concert. We didn't do Hawaiian songs, mostly bluesy, reggae, rock-n-roll style.

Can you believe Dash is entering middle school this fall? He will be going to the same school, so I don't think it will be that traumatic for him, even with puberty looming on the horizon.

Aloha to everyone and a hui hou!

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.

Winter is Almost Pau

I think winter (such as it is in Hawaii) is almost over. We haven't had to turn on the gas heater for over a week. I feel the need to constantly defend the fact that it is actually quite cold where we live. It gets into the high 30s at the height of the season. And with houses not built to retain heat, no central heating, and windows that appear to be made out of a glass substitute--it takes lots of layers of clothing to stay warm. We tacked thick towels over our bedroom windows for a couple of months, did the dishes alot just to warm our hands, and took long, hot showers.

True, I could drive 25 minutes downhill and sit on a warm, sunny blacksand beach, but that's not very practical when you have to sit in front of your computer all day to make a living.

I am slowly getting more local clients, and being asked to do more and more volunteer stuff. I have officially drawn the line, NO MORE VOLUNTEERING! I got voted in as the Secretary for the Volcano Community Association, and just before that ocurred, I had agreed to be the Secretary for the incoming board for my Rotary club. I am getting good at taking minutes (which is probably why I'm not posting on this site very frequently). We changed from emailing our weekly update to posting on a blogspot--if you are curious click here: http://www.rotaryclubofvolcano.blogspot.com/

Most of the posts on that site are not mine, but some are (I sub when the official note-taker is absent).

I start teaching a new Sunday night women's Bible study in a couple of weeks. We're doing Beth Moore's "Breaking Free." But I wanted to do this, and it will not be a burden at all. We only have a daytime women's Bible study and none of the working women were able to attend.

Yikes. I just looked at all the pictures on my camera to jog my memory of the past weeks events and I'm sorry to say the overwhelming majority of them are Rotary Club events and VCA meetings. Except for some nice sunsets, snowy views of Mauna Loa, and some show-offy turkeys on our street. I did not take a picture at the funeral we went to.

Here's Dean helping out painting the used book store at the community center. And there's Chuck running at the park with a friend. You're probably sick of my turkey pictures.

We just survived a surprise visit by our landlord from San Francisco (we did have a few days notice). He was actually very nice, took us to dinner too. He's getting bids to do some additions to the house.

My swim partner is going to Japan next week and entered herself in a competition swimming the 100 meter butterly. I have been trying to train with her, but the best I can do is 25 meters at time with 10 seconds rest in between. The butterfly is the most energy expending stroke, I don't know what sadist came up with it. There's no "slow and easy" butterfly. If you try to slow down you just stop.

Discovering New Traditions

Our First Christmas in Hawaii.

Subtitle: Are we supposed to eat this?

You can tell a lot about a culture by the items featured at the ends of aisles in grocery stores. For example, in Havana, Florida where we lived for 9 years (for you non-Floridians, Havana is a rural suburb of Tallahassee), the aisles of the Harvey's store were alternately capped with massive stacks of collard greens and smoked ham hocks-pig cheeks-pigs feet, and bags of masa corn flower and fresh queso. At a FreshMart in Northeast Tallahassee, you'll find artfully arranged piles of pistachios, belgian chocolates, organic strawberries and arugala.

At the KTA in Hilo, aisle ends are filled with "things" that look like a white hat, with a tangerine on top, tied up with a pretty gold bow. All the packaging is printed in Japanese, only the nutritional information on the bottom gives a hint that this is a food item. Wait! I see an English word-Mochi! Mmmm! I love mochi. This must be some kind of Japanese New Year tradition. I'll buy the $4 one (they go up to $20, weighing about 8 pounds). See below for my own adventures in home made mochi. Anyway, I crack it out of it's covering to discover a rock hard clump of pounded rice, devoid of all moisture. I saw off a hunk and nibble.... blech, slpt, spit it out! It's like wax! Who eats this stuff?

Well, after a little research, I discover that these rice cakes are made by pounding glutinous sweet rice, then stacked and used as offerings to household gods. Hilo having a very large Japanese population. So now I'm thinking the checkout girl was wondering if I was a convert to Shintoism or something. And apparently, you're supposed to boil it in a soup after Jan. 15. It becomes very sticky, hard to chew and people die from it every year. There is even a warning inside.

Perhaps in the future I should do my research in advance of making potentially dangerous food purchases. I'm picturing a foreign visitor to America, intrigued by the fresh smelling pine trees on sale in early December, buying one, taking it home, chopping it up, boiling it and trying to eat it. Maybe it needed more salt?

So-back to Christmas. My mom is visiting from Maui. We bought a new couch for her to sit and sleep on. The old futon frame was popping springs and was literally a bed of nails. She and Dash are hanging out all day reading, playing catch outside, and playing with new Christmas toys.

We drove to South Point today (you guessed it, it's the Southernmost point in the 50 States), very windy-even has a wind farm. We had to make a stop at the famous Punalu'u Bakery in Na'alehu for some Mango Cheesecake.

Gifts. Dean got me 4 new tires for our car. I got him a new battery and an oil-change for our car. Nothing says "Merry Christmas" like massive auto repair.

Christmas Dinner. We had a ham, because they don't sell Turkey for Christmas here. Or maybe they do but I failed to order it back in October.

Other Food Adventures. I made sushi for breakfast last week.

Adventures is Mochi. Mochi, mochi, how can I describe you. There's mochi (pounded sweet rice, hardened, utterly flavorless), and then there's MOCHI. It's rice flour, sugar, fruit flavoring, soft and chewy, sometimes stuffed with bean paste (reminiscent of black-eyed peas), sometimes stuffed with chocolate. Look at these two pictures and see if you can tell which is my attempt. Hint: I have not published a book on Mochi.

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas..

Mele Kalikimaka

We just survived a nasty storm, non-stop rain for 4 days, over 20 inches, accompanied by high winds and blasting thunderstorms. But when it all cleared up, we were surprised with snow on both our mountains. This pic is Mauna Loa, I just drove around the corner to get a good shot of it this morning. Now it's pouring rain again, with thunder.

Dash has been home with a sore throat the last 2 days. A friend gave us a bag of about 14 DVD's of family movies so he is okay. I just finished a community Christmas party, the "Kilauea Kalikimaka." Complete with the hula team from our church, and a Hawaiian Santa.



We enjoyed a festive Thanksgiving at our next door neighbors. It was a traditional turkey dinner, but we did get to play ukulele and sing afterwards. I sang all 2 of the Hawaiian songs I know. Dean strummed along on his new ukulele that I got him for his birthday.


And Dash got baptised! Most of our church drove to Hilo and had a big party (with lots more ukulele and singing of course). I love this picture of all of us holding hands, overlooking Hilo Harbor. And below is Wendell, our ukulele teacher. We had a huge potluck afterwards, with kalua pork. Somebody brought coleslaw so I made a pork sandwhich that was almost like Sonny's BBQ, but without the sauce. I'm seriously craving Sonny's BBQ..
School gets out this week for the holidays and doesn't start again for 3 weeks. Dash just finishd his first big project on the Hopi Indians, including a 3-page report, a poster, and a papier-mache model of a pueblo (with the help of Dean).

I think we're officially in the rainy season now. And it's getting colder, it was in the 40s yesterday morning. But it does warm up to the 60s during the day. My Mom's coming over for Christmas--so I have to run out and buy a new couch!

Turkey Time

We've had a very busy month, requiring that I carry my calendar everywhere and avail myself of the Tasks function in MS-Outlook.

It's been kind of a blur lately. All this month I've been singing with our church's worship team. I wish you could see it, I'm the only haole up there, amongst all these local guys (and one teenage girl drummer). On Friday's I go into Kea'au, swim until 6pm, then head back up the mountain for practice (with wet hair), then be at church by 7am to practice some more. It is so much fun, and everyone is either being VERY kind, or they are actually enjoying the addition of my voice to the mix. I don't know any of the songs, so it's been challenging to learn about 8 new songs a week.

Last Saturday, my Rotary club had a Progressive Dinner with 4 stops, one at our house for dinner. Dean and Dash went off to different places and unfortunately took the house key with them so I had to climb in a window to get in the house.

We also experienced our first Halloween, Volcano-style. Dash won a prize for Most Original Costume-got two free movie tickets! I dressed up in last year's costume (hey, nobody here has seen it!) with the modification of cutting bangs in my wig--because I haven't had my eyebrows waxed in six months and I looked like the transvestite bar maid from Shrek. Dean is dressed as a Volunteer Park Ranger, Dash is a musketeer (got his costume free at the thrift shop).

I went to the costume parade at Volcano School and got a shot of his entire 4th grade class. One kid in the school was extremely creative-see the jellyfish costume (at first I thought it was "A Rainy Day in Volcano").

A couple of weeks ago we saw an excellent live production of the Wizard of Oz in Hilo. Really great singing, dancing and acting. The music director is a former Saturday Night Live band member and has one Emmies for Sesame St, Quack Moore. She retired here from New York about six years ago.

And finally, back on Oct. 7, we went on a hike along the Ka'u coast, saw big blow holes, collected salt and were generally wowed by the beautiful coastline. Dean and Dash are seen here entirely too close to a green sea turtle. It was asleep, we did not bother it.

Last but not least, one of the neighborhood Tom Turkeys has been roosting in a koa tree in our backyard every night. At dawn he flys down (more like a controlled crash-who knew turkeys could fly?), pecks around the yard, then wanders off down the road. He comes back around sunset and manages to fly UP, OVER the FENCE and back onto his branch.

Don't Hate Me Because I Live in Paradise

Many women would lack the courage to publish a self-portrait wearing paisley pajama pants, a 2XL Harding sweatshirt, giant pink fuzzy slippers, and yesterday's hastily applied make-up. If I could find my camera, I would boldy upload it this minute!

I am in this state at 9:30 in the morning because the Hawaii School System, in their profound wisdom, schedules a week-long Fall Recess. Just when you're getting into the groove, we get a week off. So Dash is downstairs on the futon watching endless Abbot and Costello DVDs. I'm trying to get a lot of small jobs done-they seem to take forever and I feel I've accomplished so little.

My 5-year old Macintosh Computer has finally died. Yes, I laid hands on it and prayed. But I must have doubted, because it just makes a loud clicking noise and no "happy mac" icon ever appeared. Just the spinning clock, spinning... clicking. I am still in the first stage of grief-denial. But I have a brand new PC that I had managed to transfer many files to before my Mac passed away.

I know I can cause a great deal of envy in some of you reading my posts, so I thought I would complain a little so you won't feel so bad. It has been COLD here lately! And WET. It's about 59 degrees in our house at night, and I'm afraid to turn on all the strip heaters because we'll get a $300 utility bill. I just sit up here in my turret dressed in many unattractive layers, drinking first, coffee, then tea, then diet coke if it gets warm enough. The joys of self-employment. It sounds great that while you're downloading a 100mb file you can just scrub that toilet-sweep the floor-do the dishes-throw in a load of laundry-vacuum the living room, but what you really want is to be independently wealthy and hire a maid.

And another thing. This is a small island-even though it's The BIG Island. Everybody knows everybody. Remember Venn Diagrams from math class? All those intersecting circles...

Hey, look, it's raining again.

Can we go to a party without hula dancing?

We keep having those "I can't believe I'm actually in Hawai'i" moments. Last week, I drove about 60 miles around the south side of the island (see map),
to the lovely subdivision of Kona Paradise. After exceeding the speed limit around 20 miles of hairpin curves, I turned left and drove, virtually, straight down a cliff. Albeit, a paved cliff, bordered by lovely houses perched on roads to either side. I was going to see my friend, Bobbi, who I met at the Women's Retreat in Waimea back in August. Her house is down at the bottom of the cliff, right across from a private beach. Even though the beach is all 'ili'ili (smooth black stones-they use them in hula dancing like castanets), we set up our beach chairs and looked out on a beautiful cove, with deep, clear water and sailboats anchored about 250 yards out.

The surf is pretty treacherous because the shore is so steep. The waves grab you and pull you out. But once you're out, it's calm. I snorkeled around looking at the fish then rode a wave back to the shore. Bobbi's house is made out of lava rock, it's one big room inside with very high ceilings, tres Polynesian. We had a great time talking, and she fed me a delicious greek salad before I had to turn around and race back to Volcano to get Dash by 2:15. I got fried just from one hour in the sun. It had been raining all week in Volcano and I was turning into a mushroom. Turns out it was sunny barely a half mile from our house. So there I was, lounging on the private beach, having the "I can't believe I live here" moment.

Another moment was the birthday party we attended just around the corner. Can we go to a single party without people breaking out into hula dancing? I love it, I do, it's just surreal, that's all. That's our next door neighbor, Jay, in front. Behind him is Linda and Jeanette. They've been doing hula for years. If I could clap and sing at the same time I might try it. But, alas, I'm cursed with the honky-ain't-got-no-rhythm gene. Yes, that's Dash trying to learn the moves with the 'ili'ili.

Then there's this wonderful couple around the corner that remind me of my grandparents. Dr. Miller is always bringing me plant cuttings and stunning bouquets from his garden. He's from Louisiana so all the plants are azaleas, fig trees, dahlias and peonies.

Here's Dean co-leading the "Wild Cave" tour in the National Park. And all the tourists who were lucky enough to get on this very exclusive tour.

And finally, after months of patience, I finally met someone I can swim with! Turns out Dash's Japanese teacher is also a novice youth swim coach. I overheard her say "Master's Swimming" at a community meeting the other night. I didn't even know who she was, I just bolted over and said, "Swimming? Do you swim? Where do you swim? Can I come swim?" So, three weeks later I've finally found a pool that isn't straight out of the third-world. It's a REAL pool at the exclusive, Hawaiian's Only, private school. They let us riff-raff haoles in after hours because they have a community "outreach" program (oh the irony!). And they have a HOT TUB!

Other news: our new dog, Lele, is fattening up nicely. She and Chuck actually romp and play together. But Lele is slippery. She can open the screen door. She pulls all of Dash's stuffed toys out and chews off the noses. Not short on personality, this dog.

**Educational/Cultural Sidebar: The hula they are dancing above is to the tune of "Aloha No'o Ka'u." Ka'u is the district we live in. Here's the Hawaiian and the English to the song:

Ke `ike aku wau
Ka nani a`o Ka`u
Me ka nani a`o wai `o Palahemo
Aloha no `o Ka`u

Nanea i ka ho`olohe
Ka nalu nui e holu ana
A he shua Kaulana Bay
Aloha no `o Ka`u

Kaulana `o Kalae
E kû nei e
Ka hala ipu kukui mâlamalama
Aloha no `o Ka`u`

Ike `ia mâkou
Wai `ahukini
Me ke one wai kaulana
Aloha no `o Ka`u

Puana ka inoa
Ka nani a`o Ka`u
Ua piha me ka hau`oli
Aloha no `o Ka`u

Behold and see
All this beauty here in Ka`u
The beauty of the water of Palahemo
With love an affection for Ka`u.

Relax and listen to
The waves that break at the beach
I am sure the bay is Kaulana
With love and affection for Ka`u

Famous is Kalae
And there stands
The lighthouse that shines
With love and affection for Ka`u

Everyone was able to see
The currents of Ahukini
This water current makes this point famous
With love and affection for Ka`u.

This is the end of my song
The beauty of Ka`u
I am filled with happiness and
With love and affection for Ka`u