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!

Comments

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

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

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

Search This Blog