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

Night Sky Wonders

It's a good thing I take a lot of pictures because I tend to forget the details. "Oh yeah... we stayed up until midnight and watched a total lunar eclipse." Not the greatest pictures in the world, but proof nevertheless.


I guess my theme for this post is things you see at night. We went to dinner at some friends Dean met through work, who live down near Pahoa, where the coqui frogs roam. After dinner we drove to the very end of the Kalapana road and watched the glow of the new lava flow. Try to imagine the glow from a forest fire. I can see it from my front yard too, even though we must be 20 miles away from it. My camera was unable to capture any of it, I have a lot of black pictures. If you Google -lava glow pahoa- you can see some good pictures.

Dean is right this minute driving up the Mauna Loa road to the lookout, at about 6000 feet. From there you're high enough to see the lava flow. It was too late for Dash and I to go, we'll try it another time. ( He just got back and told me they could see fountains of lava--why did I stay home?)

I've been getting up at 4:30 in the morning to take our new dog out and I noticed a huge planet on the eastern horizon (must be Venus). It's not just bright, it's distinctly round and planetlike. I've never seen it like this before.

This picture reminds me that we have a new dog! A neighbor down the street (who already has 3 dogs, a gross of cats, and a feral goat) came knocking on the door to tell me about a half whippet who had been chained up in the yard its whole life, and now the owner was going into assisted living. We made a provisional agreement that the dog would have to pass Chuck's inspection. Chuck is a complete snob. The best I was hoping for was for Chuck to ignore her. Well, three days later, I caught them frisking and playing together. The poor thing has an indentation around her neck where the chain sat, she was totally neglected and half starved. She has a whippet body, but never got any exercise so her legs look atrophied. She's so skinny she looks like an insect with a thorax. We have cleaned her up, killed all the fleas, and fed her alot. Her name is Lele, short for 'ukulele' which means jumping flea. She prances around like a lipizzaner.

If it wasn't for this picture I would have already blanked out on my Rotary Club's annual Lobster fest (see lobster at left) and we got to make a huge mess eating with our hands. We shipped in 150 live Maine lobsters and boiled them to order.

I was driving around taking pictures of the area restaurant signs to re-do their ads for the community newsletter and this one is blogworthy. Rain? What rain? I don't see any rain. This is one of the only affordable places to eat. Look! I have a son and a husband! Here they are down on the coast, south of Hilo. I remember this because I stubbed my big toe on some lava and it turned black and died.

I've been way too busy the last few weeks. I joined the board of the Volcano Community Association, redesigned their newsletter, joined a committee for the Volcano Health Collaborative and I've been working on a logo for them for almost 6 weeks. School started and I agreed to be a PTO representative for Dash's class. I went to a women's retreat in Waimea with some ladies from Church (it was awesome-woke up to Mauna Kea in my window each morning), sang at Church last week, hosted a Labor Day BBQ, started planning a community Christmas party, a church Pumpkin party, went to a neighbor's birthday party and got to see everyone perform hula.... now I'm TIRED! I declined to become a school board member...maybe next year.
And finally, here's Dash frisking with Chuck in the backyard.