Mountains and Islands

I chose to deliver a resume in person on Monday to the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Gardens at Onomea Bay just north of Hilo Town. It's located along a scenic four-mile drive that takes drivers along a narrow winding road makai (toward the ocean) from the highway. The road is covered with a canopy of foliage along many stretches. There's a short trail that leads from the cliffs above down to the shoreline of the bay. I have always wanted to take that little trek. So after dropping off my application, I did just that. It's short and not too steep with beautiful views of the crashing Pacific along the way. Hawaii Botanical Gardens is beautiful. It's meandering trails skirt Onomea Bay. Along the way, you'll pass through the most beautiful flora and fauna found anywhere. It's separated into designated areas, like orchids and bromeliads. Before the current owners found the land, it had been used as an illegal dump. The transformation is spectacular. It's a place I

To get a sense of the real Puna, particularly the area near the village of Pahoa, a great place to check out is the Maku'u Farmers' Market. While tourists do happen upon it, it is truly a locals venue. There, you'll find people selling everything from professionally grown and displayed produce and plants to the junk from their houses. You can buy a tropical plant or fresh herbs. You can also get a massage, acupuncture or a tarrot reading. Food vendors schlepp crepes, loco mocos and tamales. I sampled a killer green papaya salad, with a side of bbq banana sticky rice. Yes, you can pick up a couple of tomatoes there, just like any farmers' market. But if fruits, veggies and plants aren't your bag, you can ogle a used blender, flip through dog eared paperbacks, purchase hand strung jewelry, try on a pair of draw-string pants made from hemp and a tie-dye t-shirt to match. It's a hodgepodge, for sure. And if the goods aren't interesting enough for you, the peopl

It was a pretty uneventful day. I was hell-bent on releasing endorphins so as to squelch the depression I'm feeling over my new hair color. To quote another person prone to big-time blunders, "Mission accomplished!" I cruised four miles in 46:27 on the treadmill today. That's a steady trudge for me. All in all, including the two miles logged with the dogs this morning, I propelled myself 6.8 miles today, all on foot. Not bad for a peri-menopausal chick. No sore knees. No swollen ankles. Only a battered toe. It's the same toe that I injured more than two years ago and which, because it is sensitive, just keeps getting re-smooshed. If Doc accidentally steps on me, it's always on that toe. If I drop a can out of the pantry, it lands on that toe. Poor toe. It rained a little today. OK, that's not entirely accurate. It rained a lot today. There was a little sunshine too. That combination made for a lovely rainbow just before dusk. Lucy spent most of the day cu

Or, as they say, 'When in Rome...' Wait. Make that, 'When in Hawaii, do as the locals do....' So, I've gone brunette. Not by choice, mind you. It's just that it's tough finding a hair stylist around here who's familiar with haoli hair. The haircut I got today was great. But the color? Not so good. Here's how it all began. My last haircut and highlight in Gunnison was done by the amazing and talented Kimmi Peacock. Kimmi does great work. In a small town like Gunnison, I had to make my appointments over a month in advance. That girl was in demand for good reason. She had a knack for not only cutting, but for blending multi-tonal highlights with lowlights to camouflage, but not completely cover the little bits of grey. It looked good, yet natural. By April, my Kimmi hairdo was all but gone and in need of an update. I got a decent trim from a local woman. But the color was not great, so I opted to do it myself. Big mistake. It looked brassy and bleached,

It's been an OK weekend. Saturday, I wandered around the Hilo Farmers' Market, which I must say was hoppin.' There was one stall with a small display case filled with yummy looking individual pizzas. They also had a sample plate of bread squares, which the proprietor proudly exclaimed as the base for the pizza crust. She insisted I try. I did. "All organic, whole grains, healthy and delicious too," she exclaimed. I took a small bite. It tasted not unlike a combination of dirt and shredded cardboard, but without the flavor. "Hmmmmm..." I said, as politely as I could. I walked away, then tossed the remaining portion to the birds. The pizzas actually looked good. I'm sure they might have actually sold a few if they'd nixed the samples. I did buy two humungous slices of homemade carrot cake for $1.50 each. We ate them for dessert last night. Ono! After the market, I made my way to Safeway, where I encountered an older Hawaiian man, a kupuna if you w

Today, I ran my first three miles on the treadmill in 33 minutes, 42 seconds. Now, I know you hard core runners out there are probably saying to yourself, "Sheesh. My great grandmother can move faster than that with her walker around the halls of the old folks home." Maybe so. But I am not genetically predisposed to speed. So running a mile in just a hair over 11 minutes is lightning fast for me. Doing three of them is a miracle. The only trouble I have running at Spencer's gym is the heat and humidity. The air conditioning is weak there, especially near the cardio area where it really should be blasting. The temperature feels like about 80 degrees, with about 80 percent humidity. That means plenty of sweat. By the time I've finished my jog, I'm soaked. Now, I don't really care if my shirt is drenched, but the crotch area of my shorts can be a bit embarrassing. As the locals might say here, "look like I make one shi-shi!" So, I go over to the giant f

It was a glorious weekend. We had sunshine every day. In fact, we hadn't had a drop of rain for four days and were just marveling at that today. This afternoon, however, the skies opened up and are now dumping what may very well be the entire contents of the Pacific Ocean. Guess we're back to normal. I drug Ron to see a show this weekend. Hapa, my favorite musicians from Hawaii, played in Hilo Saturday night. Hapa, which means "half" in Hawaiian, is Nathan Aweau and Barry Flanagan; a Hawaiian guy and a haoli guy. They were joined by Charles Ka'upu. Charles is their chanter and the guy who talks story in between songs. He steals the show at times, chatting up the audience with great humor. What a character. Nathan has one of the most beautiful voices I I've ever heard and is a master of Hawaiian falsetto. He also plays a killer, seven string bass. Barry doesn't sing solo on many tracks, but he has a very nice voice in his own right and blends beautifully wi