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Halema'uma'u, it's a gas!

It's high drama at the winery these days. Business is down, so hours are being cut and pennies pinched. It's partly because of the recession and the fact that we've lost two air carriers to Hawaii in the past week. It's also because of Halema'uma'u. That's the crater in Volcanoes National Park that's been billowing volcanic gases. While Pu'u O'o vent sends lava to the ocean, Halema'uma'u is belching big time, rumbling like a freight train and generally acting like a volcano about to blow. It's unlikely to explode ala Mt. Saint Helens. It has, however, been spewing ash that resembles glass shavings into the air with such force as to travel through the air to Pahala, 20 miles away. People are leaving more offerings to Pele than she's seen in decades. I may head up there tomorrow and leave a head of cabbage and a Corona. Hey, those are two of my favorites....

(By the way, I stole this photo from images provided on the Web by the USGS. You can check out the latest at the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park link listed on this blog.)

I've recently heard some great news. I've been accepted to the University of Alaska's Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program. I chose UAA among several other low-residency programs for one reason; a good excuse to visit Alaska once a year. It's also a relatively new program, which means they'll likely bend over backward to make this a positive, challenging experience. I'm excited! Oprah's book club selection, here I come!

I've been meaning to share this funny bumper sticker I saw in Oregon before returning home. On a car in the Silverton, Oregon Taco Bell parking lot was an old beater Toyota sporting a placard that read, "The reason I'm driving so fast is that I really have to poo!" Shoots, brah! I know that feeling. Pedal to the metal, all da way to da lua.

Here in Hawaii, you know you're catching on to the lingo when you understand the difference between a luau and the lua. A luau is a feast. The lua is where you go sometime after the feast. Get it?

We had some visitors in the winery today from the Czech Republic. So naturally we were joking with lines like, "Hey, Czech them out," and "Czech please." It's been slow, so simple, cheesy humor gets us through.

A hui hou. Aloha!
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