A beautiful day in paradise

The sky was so clear and blue this morning that the snow atop Mauna Kea shone brighter than dandruff on a black t-shirt. And prettier, too. There's about a foot of the white stuff up there.
Today, we played, strolled, baked, weed whacked and just generally enjoyed a perfect day of sunshine graced with lovely, cooling tradewinds. The cats were all in kitty heaven. This is Lucy. Isn't she a cutie? She came with the house. We have fallen head over heals in love with her. Abner likes her too.
Now, it's raining. No. It's pouring. It's so loud I can hardly hear the keys on the keyboard as I type this.
My dad is preparing for the biggest trip of his life. He is coming to the island to visit us for a couple of weeks in April. He's never been on an airplane longer than two hours, never been east of the Mississippi or west of the West Coast of Mainland USA. So this should be quite an experience for him. I'll meet him in Honolulu. It's a small, yet notoriously challenging airport to find one's way through. It's that wiki-wacki wikiwiki shuttle that get's 'em every time. We'll go see the Arizona Memorial and probably the battleship Missouri, check out Waikiki, then head home to Hilo.
Ron has a new favorite commercial jingle that he's been singing around the house for several days now. "Big, buckin' chicken.... you are big and you are chicken....." I'm going to try to talk him into singing it for my next podcast, so be sure to tune in. It's pretty funny really. Of course, everything becomes a form of entertainment when you've been cooped up in the house for three weeks enduring torrential downpours, one after another.

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Mom

This is my beautiful mom. She died last Sunday. For those who knew her, my heart breaks with you. For those who did not, here's an introduction to the best confidante, role model and mother a girl could hope for in life. This is the obituary I'd planned to submit to the local paper, but have opted instead to publish here. Obituary: Beverly Todd Bev -- my mom -- was a longtime caregiver, advocate, and dear friend to countless elderly in South Salem. Hers was a kind and generous spirit. She devoted much of her life to the welfare of others, giving wholly of herself and doing so always with great affection and humor. She was born Beverly Marie Steinberger in Silverton, July 23, 1938, the first child and only daughter of Art and Marie Steinberger. Her brothers called her Bevvy Buns, a nickname she grew fond of and wore proudly within the family circle as an adult. Bev attended St. Paul’s Elementary School in Silverton, Silverton High School and Marylhurst Co...

Back at it

It's been some time since I've written. My mom died in February, and I haven't had the gumption to write much, other than a couple of feature stories for the paper and the occasional pithy email to a friend. Tonight, sitting in my favorite burger joint with a pile of fries in front of me, I dunk them into a deep pool of ketchup mixed with a hot sauce. That's how Mom liked 'em. My burger? The Spicy Hawaiian, a nod to my 808 connections. It's a brilliant combination of peppers and pineapple, a favorite on the Power Stop menu. I'm sure she'd have loved it, too. There's a bubbly beer with a lime in it. That's not a homage to anything. I just like beer. These past months, I've done little but work, search and apply for jobs. Two rejection letters have landed in my email this week. Search-and-apply has become a futile obsession. It's time for a break, at least until I hear back from all those applications still floating around out there. I am...

Fruity booty

It was a long drive from Glenwood to the northern tip of the island -- three hours -- so for sustenance, we stopped at Baker Tom's for malasadas on the way. My pal Kathy and I were headed to Kapa'au for a hike, one we'd read about in the local newspaper. The couple who run Baker Tom's (not sure if the husband is actually Tom or not) are delightful, with enduring stamina. They're as old as radio, yet they're always on duty, ready to serve behind the counter, as they have for many years, frying, baking, brewing and smiling, there in Papaikou , gateway to the Hamakua Coast. The malasadas are enormous, cheap and delicious, the coffee OK, the tourists all happy to have discovered this place, buzzing with sugar and caffeine. They make a killer pumpkin cheesecake at Baker Tom's, too. It's always a pleasant stop. Ahapua'a . It's a Hawaiian land division, usually a strip or wedge, stretching from mountain to sea. Hawaiians lived in villages wit...

Mountains and Islands

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