Growing some good grinds

I am SUCH a SLACKER! Sheesh! No excuses. Just lazy.
Our veggie garden, as limited as it is right now, is going well. Here's a pepper I picked. Considering that bell peppers cost about $5 per pound at the supermarket here, it's a good choice to supplement the home food supply. We've also got cabbage and peas growing nicely.
Friday was Good Friday. Thank goodness that venerable institution known as the New York Stock Exchange is so old school. They were closed. So Ron had the day off. We ventured over to Kona for a Costco run, thinking we would find short lines and thin crowds. Wrong. Apparently, lots of people in Hawaii have Good Friday off. Go figure. Anyway, we chose sushi for our lunch and happened into a place called Kenichi Pacific. We learned it was actually a chain, serving a Hawaii roll, an Austin roll - names taken from locations where they have restaurants. The review: so-so. It was kinda OK though not the most authentic sushi. The place was also way overpriced. After spending $60 we both walked out of the joint pretty sure we'd be hungry again in a couple of hours.
Over the weekend we planted 13 more coffee trees. The planting went easily, since it was an area that Ron was actually able to till. We also tilled a patch to plant corn. That'll go in this week.

Meanwhile, the tea cuttings are still alive in their tiny pots. That's a very good thing.
The weather's been tolerable. That too is a good thing. All in all, life's OK this week.
A hui hou. Aloha!

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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

Born and bred

The creature stared at me, wide-eyed through the florescent glare, Saran Wrap stretched tight across its broad back. Alone in the seafood cooler, he was the only one of his kind, there among the farmed, color-added Atlantic salmon and mud-flavored tilapia, perched on a blue foam tray, legs tucked 'round him like a comfy kitten. He didn't blink. He was dead, red, cooked and chilled, ready to eat. Such a find is rare in the City Market fish department in Gunnison, Colorado. What if nobody takes him home? I thought. This beautiful animal will have died needlessly, ripped from his home, family and friends (Dory, Nemo, Crush and Gill?) only to be tossed in the trash when his expiration date came and went. I lifted him for closer inspection, checked that date, felt the heft of him, scanned his surface for cracks and blemishes. The creature was perfect. I lowered him back into the cooler, nodded farewell, turned to walk away, took one step, and stopped. Shoppers strolled past, stud

On Tennis and Writing and Being Too Nice

I've recently been recruited to play tennis for a local 4.0 ladies tennis league team, referred to as either "Team Debbie" for the nice woman who manages us, or "Have Fun," which is our pre-match chant. We're still looking for a proper name. But we do have fun, despite getting creamed most outings. Last Saturday, we played in the Edith Kanakaole Tennis Stadium in Hilo. Good thing, too, since outside it was pouring, complete with thunder and lightning. It's a substantial structure, covered, yet open all around, most famous for hosting the annual Merrie Monarch Hula Festival in April. It was about 85 degrees outside and 100 percent humidity, air so thick it took three sucks of my albuterol inhaler just to breath. Several of us arrived early to warm up, but after twenty minutes' steady rallying with my teammate, Keiko, the human backboard, I was drenched. I played doubles with a nice, extremely fit and excellent ground-stroker named Cynthia from Pahoa.

Mountains and Islands

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