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Plume spectacular


A belated Happy 2009 to you all!

We escaped the rain for a couple of hours today, trekking to Kalapana to see where the lava is currently entering the ocean.  It's pretty cool, though you can't see orange until after nightfall.  The plume is impressive and the 3/4 mile hike over rock is only a little tricky.  It's all pahoehoe lava there, looking like solidified black cake batter.  Other flows aren't so easy to navigate, namely a'a lava, which is rough and clumpy.  It's name is easy to remember,  because you can imagine walking over it with bare feet and screaming "A'a!"  There was a little sun down Kalapana way, with whispy clouds and soft trade winds keeping the hike very cool and comfy indeed.  It was the first sun we've seen in a couple of weeks and I could feel the vitamin D being sucked up by my bones, like a dry sponge dropped into a swimming pool.  
There was a keiki noni plant poking right out of the fresh lava, so I shot its picture.  Noni is a canoe plant, brought to Hawaii by the original settlers  from the south pacific.  It was used as an emergency food (though it tastes pretty nasty) and medicinally.  As it turns out, Noni is loaded with nutrients and antioxidants and is now sold as a super potion in health food stores.  You can see a single, knobby fruit on this one.
After our adventure, we dropped by Pahoa Town for some Thai food.  Our new favorite spot, Ning's, was closed, so we tried the second Thai restaurant in Pahoa, called SokuThai.  The food was very good, though the atmosphere and presentation was not so impressive as Ning's.  Still, we walked away stuffed and happy. 
When we got home, Doc greeted us, running down the driveway.  That's not good.  He was suppose to be inside.  We leave the back door open and the area in back where he goes shi-shi when we're gone is fenced.  He must have worked at it for quite awhile and eventually breeched the enclosure.  We'll be adding reinforcements tomorrow.  It's not that he has ever gone anywhere when he's gotten out.  It's just that he could and if anyone were to wander onto the property while we're away, I fear they might be toast in the jaws of the Doctor Dog.  He looks sweet, but he's a big boy and can be a little protective of his turf.

New episode of Desperate Housewives tonight. 

A hui hou.  Aloha!

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