Mountains and Islands

OK so I lied. I didn't go the the Puna farmers' market. Actually, I did go, but I got there too late. Apparently, if you don't pull in before noon, you'll find, as I did, that all the vendors have pulled out. So, I went to the Hilo farmers' market instead to pick up plenty of fresh fruits and veggies. I even bought a breadfruit, or ulu, something you don't see at the market very often these days. It's the large, bumpy green orb with white streaks you see in the picture above. The ulu is still a staple among many Polynesian people in the south pacific, but not many people eat it here in Hawaii anymore. When we were here on vacation some years back, I bought one and asked a Hawaiian man how to cook it. He told me; just carve off the out rind, which is bumpy and green, cut the pale yellow, squash-like flesh into chunks, boil it until it's soft, mash it up, season with butter and salt and eat it. I did. Yum! They are a kind of sticky, starchy consistency, li...

Yesterday's adventure at the driving range was, I must say, pretty satisfying. I haven't hit a golf ball in years. The last time occured at the Dos Rios course in Gunnison, when Ron's uncle Ellery came to visit. That was the fall of 2001 I think. Ellery was 84 at the time and kicked our buts. So imagine my delight when the first ball I hit went 200 yards and dead straight. Of course, I hit a few clunkers, a couple of slices and a few more hooks also, but for the most part, I was stiking 'em pretty well for being so rusty. The Hilo municipal golf course is the best bargain around. For $40 you can play unlimited golf for a month. Or, if you just want to play one round, I think it's a whopping $15 for Kama'aina and $27 for visitors. Today I'm headed for the Puna market. I'll take the camera, so tune in the next few days to see a photo. It's actually not raining right this very moment. Instead, it's hot and humid. But it's better than rain. I lim...

Aren't these beautiful? They just popped up in the grass next to a tree in my yard the other day. I think they are some sort of ginger, but they are unusual in that the flower sprouted straight out of the ground just like this. Usually ginger flowers grow on established stalks. Quite literally, there were nowhere to be seen one day and in full bloom, just like you see them here, the next. The trade winds have died down the past few days, prompting the vog to settle in. Vog is volcanic smog, created from current Kilauea eruption. Usually, it is sent aloft and to the west to create a constant haze over Kona. Not today. I had a chat with a neighbor this morning who said that there was once a baby vegatable farmer on our road who supplied many of the local restaurants and small market with greens. The vog was his undoing. As rarely as we experience it here, when we do, it burns the leaves of vegatables, turning them brown. She said she sold spinach to Cafe Pesto for awhile, only to hav...

I've learned a few things since moving to Hawaii. One is that my dog, Doc, loves tropical fruit. He enjoys bananas but goes positively bananas over papaya. He can smell it the moment I cut one open from the opposite end of the house and comes prancing in to see if he can score a taste. What a big goofball. Why is it that we can go bananas, but we never go apples or grapes or oranges. We go cookoo for cocoa puffs, but I think that's different.... I've also learned that, when it rains in the tropics, it's just too warm for a raincoat. Walking three dogs requires both hands, so an umbrella is out of the question. I've been pondering the idea of a hands-free umbrella. I know I would have a use for one, so maybe others would too. Until then, I'll just get wet. I learned recently too that my old, reliable Purple Trooper is on it's last legs and won't we worth transporting to Hawaii. That's not something I learned because I'm in Hawaii. It's just so...

I am beginning to feel my normally cheery self slipping away. The rain is beginning to get to me. I expected it to rain here. I did. I thought I was fully prepared. I also vowed to give this place a fair chance. But it has now been nearly five months, and it is still raining. Except for the first week I was here and fewer than a handful of days that were partly sunny, it's rained. Shoot, even Lewis and Clark knew, when they were holed up at Fort Clatsop enduring the longest, wettest winter of their lives, that Spring would come eventually. Here on the east side of Hawaii Island, I am not so sure. Now, I've always thought of myself as someone who loves the rain. I love the way it seems to freshen the world. I grew up in a place that gets plenty most years. But there's a far cry from 40 or 50 or 60 inches a year and 140 plus inches. Here, we never get that "just after a good rain" smell. That's because it's always raining, so there's no basis for compari...

Clementine.... You are planted in my garden, sweet and jui-cy Clementine. Yesterday was a beautiful day. (Hey, one day out of every three weeks ain't bad, right?) So, we planted a few fruit trees. One was a Clementine tangarine tree. Another, a yellow grapefruit. The third, a Grey Abiu. A what, you ask? We did too. About two weeks ago, we went to the twice-a-year fruit tree sale at Plant It. It's a place renowned for its quality, grafted trees. They usually only sell wholesale to commercial growers. But twice a year, they open to the public. Anyway, there was a tree there, the Abiu, that was all but sold out when we got there. They'd had a run on them, so we figured they must be either very pretty or very tasty. We were assured they were both and that the tree would grow at our altitude in our rain. We bought the second to the last one. We also bought a cinnamon tree, a clove tree, a star fruit and a dwarf banana, which we have yet to plant. That'll happen in about thre...

Crawford got a haircut the other day. I did my usual hack job on her. Ah, but if anyone can pull off this "look" she can. Cute, huh? She seems pretty pleased with herself. The rain just keeps on falling. Even the long time Kama'aina are complaining. Long timers, some born and raised on the island, are pining for the sun. Some have said they are ready to move to the mainland. The ground is so soggy it will take days to dry out once the rain finally stops. Needless to say, here has been no landscaping, mowing or planting at our place. No matter. The tractor is in the shop. Mechanics say it's a slight leak in the mower deck hydraulic line. That's why it lowers itself as you drive along. Flash flood warnings had folks living in low-lying areas of East Hawaii moving to higher ground last week. They put out warning messages here that advise drivers not to proceed through large puddles. "Turn around. Don't drowned," says the ominous voice. If there was only...

It's been awhile since I've posted. Quite a lot has happened. And nothing at all has happened too. For two weeks we spent entertaining my dad, who was visiting from the Mainland. He's never been to Hawaii and never flown over the ocean. So this was a big adventure for him, to say the least. We spent two days in Waikiki, one of which was spent touring the Arizona Memorial and the Battleship Missouri. I know he enjoyed it, although it just about killed him. Dad can't walk too far or too fast these days. He insisted he would start a regimen to build his stamina and strength as soon as he gets home. Of course, he also vowed to do that weeks ago so he would be in shape for his visit here. I'm sure he walked more during the past two weeks than he has in years. Maybe in decades. Nonetheless, I think he enjoyed himself, despite the rain. We toured the island, checked out the visitor's center and museum at Volcano's National Park and ate out a lot. He loved Nori'...

I have a strange family compared to many others I know. The Steinberger clan (that's mom's side of the family) is close, yet we speak with one another rarely and see each other even less often. My cousin Amy called me today and, as always, it was great to hear her voice. Like me, Amy knows that, no matter how much time passes between calls, we're still family and will always love one another. Amy and I, and the rest of our immediately family for that matter, are not so good at keeping in touch. We're pretty bad about remembering each others' birthdays. We sometimes call on holidays, sometimes not. We often don't communicate directly for months, or even years at a time. The beauty of this system is that we never wear out a welcome; we never get sick of or irritated with each other. Because we aren't meddling constantly in each others' lives, we not only continue to love each other, but actually like each other. It works for us. Of course, regardless of ho...

Farm livin' is the life for me..... The tractor has arrived. It is very cool and quite a workhorse, I must say. The salesman made point of telling us "It's not a Cadillac" more than once. Thank goodness for that. Ron had a Cadillac once. What a piece of junk. Once, he was entertaining coworkers from Germany and, while driving them in his Cadillac to dinner, he reached to adjust the rear-view-mirror, only to have it fall off in his hand. Needless to say, they weren't impressed with American engineering and quality. Of course, these days, Mercedes and Volkwagon don't have much to brag about either..... John Deere, however, is different from General Motors. They make stuff that both works and lasts. This tractor isn't fast, but it's steady and strong. In about three hours, we cleared around two large trees and added a few feet to our accessible land. That may not sound like much, but if you'd seen just how overgrown it was, you'd be amazed. We did...

Today's a beautiful day in paradise. It's warm and a bit breezy. The sun is peeking through the clouds. Mr. Sox has been basking in the day's balminess. We're still awaiting arrival of the tractor. Today would be an ideal day to give it a first spin through the cane grass. I spoke with a neighbor up the road this morning while on my daily walk with the pooches. She has two teenaged daughters and is currently sending them to a nice charter school in Volcano. She's not looking forward to their graduation to high school, as she's not too happy with the secondary school choices available here on the island. Too much violence and not enough actual education, she claims. Sounds familiar. I've heard similar concerns from parents all over the country. The news is full of stories about failing American schools. She's considering home schooling her kids. Any random thoughts out there on the state of public education in the US? From what I hear from people across t...

The sky was so clear and blue this morning that the snow atop Mauna Kea shone brighter than dandruff on a black t-shirt. And prettier, too. There's about a foot of the white stuff up there. Today, we played, strolled, baked, weed whacked and just generally enjoyed a perfect day of sunshine graced with lovely, cooling tradewinds. The cats were all in kitty heaven. This is Lucy. Isn't she a cutie? She came with the house. We have fallen head over heals in love with her. Abner likes her too. Now, it's raining. No. It's pouring. It's so loud I can hardly hear the keys on the keyboard as I type this. My dad is preparing for the biggest trip of his life. He is coming to the island to visit us for a couple of weeks in April. He's never been on an airplane longer than two hours, never been east of the Mississippi or west of the West Coast of Mainland USA. So this should be quite an experience for him. I'll meet him in Honolulu. It's a small, yet notoriously chal...

Ron and I walked outside this morning and looked to the sky. We shaded our eyes, squinting, rubbing them with wonder and awe. What, pray tell, was that foreign object in the sky; an orange orb lighting up the world? It was the sun, of course! We just hadn't seen it in so long..... Happy St. Patrick's Day, ya'all. Even in Hawaii, everyone is Irish on St. Paddy's Day. We're headed downtown this afternoon, to a bastion of Haoli-ness. It's an Irish Pub called Nichols Public House. They promised to open at 8 a.m. this morning to be serving cornbeef and cabbage all day. It'll be a nice change from all the sushi, saimin and stir fry we've been consuming lately. We did find a tasty little gourmet pizza at the Kiawe Grill in Volcano a few nights ago. Anyway, we're going to the pub early so we can still make our bedtime. That's important when you get to be our age. The rain has brought out some beautiful wonders around the yard. Yesterday, I discovered thi...

Ron says he didn't think there was this much water is the entire world. Yes, it is still raining, with flash flood warnings across all the islands. I accidentally dropped an empty plastic water bottle out of my car yesterday afternoon and the water running down the edge of the street in Hilo was so strong that the bottle was a block away before I could chase it down and retrieve it. Not only would I not want to litter, but that little sucker is worth five cents! Ron just came it to inform me that it's raining. He does this every so often, like it's a news flash. He thinks he's pretty entertaining. Our lemon tree is covered with blossoms. I hope the bees can see through the rain well enough to pollinate them so we actually get some fruit. Not much is new today. I expect to have a new podcast posted by next Monday. More blog entries will come this week. If you'd like, add a comment or two. Help jazz this site up a bit. Aloha.

Hopps and Crawford say Alo-o-o-ha! People are really into bumper stickers and decals for cars here on the Big Island. I saw another funny one today. It said, "Horn broken. Watch for finger." On the mainland bumper stickers are popular too. The messages run the gamut, to be sure. But here, drivers sport memorial decals. I've never seen them before. I will admit that I've lived life a bit sheltered from big city trends for the past several years. Still, if these were a hot new thing in Colorado, I'm sure I'd have seen at least one car wearing one as it passed through Gunnison. Anyway, these tributes to a lost loved one are usually white, in the back windshield and say something like "In loving memory of James Keoki Chang" in flowery lettering. There's usually a cross or angel to complete the presentation. It seems a bit morbid to carry around the sadness of loss everywhere you go. Maybe its a cultural thing and I just don't get it. That's p...

Language fascinates me. I find it interesting that different people from different parts of the US (or the world for that matter) use different words predominantly for the same thing. I ask you; is it a sofa, a couch or a Davenport? Growing up, my mom always called in a Davenport. She hailed from the same hometown as Henry Davenport. I think he was a guy who created a sofa named after himself, and the name (like Xerox or Kleenex or Qtip) stuck. I'm guessing. I really don't know and it's not quite interesting enough to warrant further research. So there you go. In some parts of the country, they drink soda. In others, it's pop. Some people commonly refer to their refuse as trash or garbage. Here in Hawaii, its usually called rubbish. Yesterday at the grocery store, the gal at the checkout asked us if we wanted a wagon. We both did a double take. On the mainland, we'd have been asked if we wanted a cart. So wagon took a nano-second to process. The girl also told Ron h...

Aloha! Yesterday we woke up to sunny skies, birds chirping and the perfect weather for cutting grass. So, that's just what I did. No tractor yet. I just mowed the immediate lawn around the house with the little Craftsman. Good thing I had that inkling. It was my window of opportunity. Who knows when we'll get another totally dry day. Today it's raining torrentially, coming down in sheets as you can see from the photo. It's a great day to nap, or to update a blog. We found the most amazing Thai restaurant the other day. It was recommended by two locals who referred to it as "Tina's Place." That's not actually what it's called. I don't recall the official name. Something like Garden Fresh. I know where it is though and plan to return soon. Anyway, Tina, the owner and cook, prepares each dish fresh as you order it. Nothing is cooked in advance. It takes a little longer to get your meal but it is absolutely worth the wait. Unbelievable!! We actuall...

The big news in the islands this week is the prediction of a poi shortage in coming months. The heavy rains on Kauai have flooded the taro patches of Hanalei, which supplies some 70 percent of the state's total. Ron's been getting good mileage out of my comment about how taro-ble it will be. One of his clients responded to the news with "poi oh poi. I hope it doesn't make us any poi-er." Personally, I was devastated, as I had just embarked upon the poi-pous driven life. I'm sure you get the poi-nt by now. It's all so poi-nient when you think about it. Now that I've poi-nted this big of news out to you, I hope you are poi-sed to deal with it. I know, I know... this blog has been punn - ishing. Or should I say poi-nishing? Of course, if you eat poi, you generate Poipu, a famous beach on Kauai. OK. I'm all pau now. Done. Finito. Period. (Period.... hey, that's a poi-nt at the end of a sentence.....) Help me!!!!!! I need a new brain!

More rain. We did get our window of opportunity for a relatively dry walk this morning. That was nice. But it began to rain hard by late morning and has poured pretty much all day. It's still raining, well into the night. The fog is again as thick clam chowder without the chunks. It reminds of the toolie fog in the San Juaquin Valley of California, the stuff that causes multi-car pile ups on I-5 every winter. Yikes. The neighbor warned us yesterday that we would probably hear some shooting. It seems the feral pigs have been wreaking havoc in his yard, just generally rooting around and tearing things up. He had had enough. We did hear the shots. They were very loud. Don't know, however, if he actually got one or more of them or simply scared them off. We haven't seen them in our yard, but the dogs have heard them and bark when they do. That, I think, keeps them at a distance from our house. Speaking of dogs, Doc is due for a few vaccinations, so he will visit his new vet tom...

I saw a couple of pretty funny bumper stickers yesterday. They didn't exactly exude the aloha spirit, but they made me chuckle. One said, "Welcome to Hawaii. Now go home." That one reminded me of one that became popular in Oregon during the first wave of California immigration in the late 1970s, when real estate prices went through the rough in the Golden State and people began cashing out and moving north to the Beaver State. It said something like "Welcome to Oregon. We don't care what you look like, as long as you look like you're leaving." The second sticker I saw here (on the same car, mind you) said, "Aloha also means goodbye." Finally, my favorite was, "How's my driving? Call 1-800-ainokea." What made that one even better was the fact that it was on a van with a big fat dent in the bumper. It's raining today. Yes, it rains pretty much every day. But today, it's really raining, without any let up so far. In fact, it...