Mountains and Islands

I'm a big fan of Clint Eastwood movies, especially the films he directs. I always go see them, even though I know the movie will not have a happy ending. I thought he might depart from that with Flags of Our Fathers. It is about World War II after all, "The Good War" as Studs Turkel called it, a war we fought for all the right reasons. No such luck. While the ending wasn't as devastating as Mystic River or as sad as Million Dollar Baby, it was still not the warm, fuzzy finale we've come to expect from WWII flicks. As usual with a Eastwood film, "Flags" is a reflection of both the best and the worst in human nature. Flags of our Fathers is about the guys who raised the flag on a mountaintop at Iwo Jima. They were just young soldiers, doing their job, following orders, under extraordinary circumstances. The photo of their efforts to raise the flag became instantly famous and the guys were dubbed heroes, against their own wishes. "Flags" tells the...

A little shi shi, then Waikiki! I flew to O'ahu yesterday for a little checkup. Since nobody had high recommendations for a clinic or OBGYN near Hilo, I opted to schedule an appointment for my overdue exam in Honolulu. Dr. Vo was great. She was young, smart, cute and very personable. I'll go back to her. The exam, as unpleasant as it always is, was relatively painless and quick. I was out of there in an hour. That meant I had the entire day to kill before my flight home. As it turned out, the clinic was within about a mile of Waikiki. Since Waikiki is the only part of Honolulu I know, and since I had already blown my wad on cab fare from the airport to the clinic, I decided to hoof it. Waikiki is overdeveloped, kitsch, corny and an undeniable tourist trap. It is a Disneyland version of Hawaii. That said, I love it. Oh I wouldn't want to live there, but it is a nice diversion. There are some beautiful hotels there and some great places to grab a bite. There's an ABC Sto...

It was back to the gym today with gusto. I actually returned last week, but gently. Today's workout was back up to a full roar; running, lifting, crunching, stretching. I should be pretty well hobbled tomorrow. If you are a 40 or 50 something woman who believes everything she reads these days, you'd be convinced by the press that, if you don't run your ogle off and engage in strenuous, daily weight-bearing exercises, your bones will rapidly become riddled with holes and eventually turn to powder, after which your limp body will fall to the ground like a soggy load of laundry. Or like the wicked witch of the west. "I'm me-e-e-lting! I'm me-e-e-elting!" You'll break a hip! Yes you will! It's like the middle aged version of "A Christmas Story," (my favorite holiday flick), where poor Ralphy, whenever he tells someone he wants a bb gun for Christmas, hears, "You'll shoot your eye out." While I think much of what's written is...

Ding dong the coqui's dead, citric acid on his head, ding dong the coqui frog is dead (two, three, four) Not much bigger than a dime, douse him with hydrated lime, ding dong the coqui frog is dead..... Yes, he's dead. Actually, there were two of the little buggahs on our neighbor's property, chirping up a storm, having us all wondering when the two would transform into 30, then 60 then on and on until we were just like lower Puna district, listening to 10s of thousands of them all night long. I am being credited by the neighbor across the street for the frogs' demise, since I am the one who called the coqui police and they, in turn, contacted the other neighbor to lend them a hand in the eradication effort. Ta da! I do feel a little sorry for the cute little guys. It's not their fault some stupid human neglected to inspect a shipment of plants from Puerto Rico years ago and let their ancestors stow away enroute to Hawaii. Of course, I still, for the life of me, do n...

Here we were, feeling so smug about having made it through the earthquake yesterday, no worse for the wear, when bang! Boom! Down came the bottles from the top shelf of the closet. I was reminded of the flight attendants' intercom message on every commercial airplane ride I've ever taken. "Please take care when opening the overhead bins as contents may have shifted during the flight." Indeed. Replace the words "overhead bins" with closet, "contents" with wine bottles and "flight" with earthquake and you've got the picture. Three bottles narrowly missed Ron's noggin and came crashing to the floor. Actually, six bottles fell; only three broke.Ron yelled out a few expletives. I did too, as I ran to the house from the yard, hearing his cries intermixed with "The wine!" Upon seeing the purple mess of glass and grape, the #%*&@ was followed by a Tim the Toolman Taylor-esque "Oh no...." Needless to say, my closet ...

When I was 3 1/2 years old, I experienced a tempest known as the Columbus Day Storm. It was what they call an extratropical cyclone (according to Wikipedia), and is considered the strongest storm to have hit the Pacific Northwest in modern history. I don't really remember much about it, other than what fun I thought it was that the lights all went out and we had to make our way with candles for days. I also remember lots of fallen trees across the road and one that squished the neighbor's house. And my tricycle blew away. My dad found it a few days later way up the block. In 1980, I was living in Portland, Oregon when Mount St. Helens blew it's top. Initially, the explosion had little effect on the city. A couple of days after the eruption, however, the wind shifted and Portland was covered with a 6 inch blanket of ash. City residents all donned surgical masks to go about their daily lives. People tracked the whitish grit everywhere they walked. The stuff was extremely abra...

There are two fashion trends that, in my humble opinion, have been around way too long. It's time for them to go away... NOW! One is the skull cap. I might get the appeal of a knit ski hat as trendy in places like Minneapolis or Bar Harbor or Anchorage. It worked well in my old hometown of Gunnison, Colorado. But Miami? Atlanta? L.A? Hawaii? It's just silly. It's mostly boys and young men, but I occasionally see girls sporting woollies on their noggins, too. Board shorts, no shirt, slippahs and a ski hat. It's hot. It's humid. I must really be getting old. I just don't get it. Even worse are the hip hugger jeans the girls are wearing these days, paired with a cropped, navel-bearing tank top. But wait. It's not just the girls wearing this outfit. It's women. Very mature women. Middle-aged, pudgy women. Now don't get me wrong. I actually like the look. It's great if you're built like Janet Jackson. But trust me ladies. This ensemble is not for...

I chose to deliver a resume in person on Monday to the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Gardens at Onomea Bay just north of Hilo Town. It's located along a scenic four-mile drive that takes drivers along a narrow winding road makai (toward the ocean) from the highway. The road is covered with a canopy of foliage along many stretches. There's a short trail that leads from the cliffs above down to the shoreline of the bay. I have always wanted to take that little trek. So after dropping off my application, I did just that. It's short and not too steep with beautiful views of the crashing Pacific along the way. Hawaii Botanical Gardens is beautiful. It's meandering trails skirt Onomea Bay. Along the way, you'll pass through the most beautiful flora and fauna found anywhere. It's separated into designated areas, like orchids and bromeliads. Before the current owners found the land, it had been used as an illegal dump. The transformation is spectacular. It's a place I ...

To get a sense of the real Puna, particularly the area near the village of Pahoa, a great place to check out is the Maku'u Farmers' Market. While tourists do happen upon it, it is truly a locals venue. There, you'll find people selling everything from professionally grown and displayed produce and plants to the junk from their houses. You can buy a tropical plant or fresh herbs. You can also get a massage, acupuncture or a tarrot reading. Food vendors schlepp crepes, loco mocos and tamales. I sampled a killer green papaya salad, with a side of bbq banana sticky rice. Yes, you can pick up a couple of tomatoes there, just like any farmers' market. But if fruits, veggies and plants aren't your bag, you can ogle a used blender, flip through dog eared paperbacks, purchase hand strung jewelry, try on a pair of draw-string pants made from hemp and a tie-dye t-shirt to match. It's a hodgepodge, for sure. And if the goods aren't interesting enough for you, the peopl...

It was a pretty uneventful day. I was hell-bent on releasing endorphins so as to squelch the depression I'm feeling over my new hair color. To quote another person prone to big-time blunders, "Mission accomplished!" I cruised four miles in 46:27 on the treadmill today. That's a steady trudge for me. All in all, including the two miles logged with the dogs this morning, I propelled myself 6.8 miles today, all on foot. Not bad for a peri-menopausal chick. No sore knees. No swollen ankles. Only a battered toe. It's the same toe that I injured more than two years ago and which, because it is sensitive, just keeps getting re-smooshed. If Doc accidentally steps on me, it's always on that toe. If I drop a can out of the pantry, it lands on that toe. Poor toe. It rained a little today. OK, that's not entirely accurate. It rained a lot today. There was a little sunshine too. That combination made for a lovely rainbow just before dusk. Lucy spent most of the day cu...

Or, as they say, 'When in Rome...' Wait. Make that, 'When in Hawaii, do as the locals do....' So, I've gone brunette. Not by choice, mind you. It's just that it's tough finding a hair stylist around here who's familiar with haoli hair. The haircut I got today was great. But the color? Not so good. Here's how it all began. My last haircut and highlight in Gunnison was done by the amazing and talented Kimmi Peacock. Kimmi does great work. In a small town like Gunnison, I had to make my appointments over a month in advance. That girl was in demand for good reason. She had a knack for not only cutting, but for blending multi-tonal highlights with lowlights to camouflage, but not completely cover the little bits of grey. It looked good, yet natural. By April, my Kimmi hairdo was all but gone and in need of an update. I got a decent trim from a local woman. But the color was not great, so I opted to do it myself. Big mistake. It looked brassy and bleached,...

It's been an OK weekend. Saturday, I wandered around the Hilo Farmers' Market, which I must say was hoppin.' There was one stall with a small display case filled with yummy looking individual pizzas. They also had a sample plate of bread squares, which the proprietor proudly exclaimed as the base for the pizza crust. She insisted I try. I did. "All organic, whole grains, healthy and delicious too," she exclaimed. I took a small bite. It tasted not unlike a combination of dirt and shredded cardboard, but without the flavor. "Hmmmmm..." I said, as politely as I could. I walked away, then tossed the remaining portion to the birds. The pizzas actually looked good. I'm sure they might have actually sold a few if they'd nixed the samples. I did buy two humungous slices of homemade carrot cake for $1.50 each. We ate them for dessert last night. Ono! After the market, I made my way to Safeway, where I encountered an older Hawaiian man, a kupuna if you w...

Today, I ran my first three miles on the treadmill in 33 minutes, 42 seconds. Now, I know you hard core runners out there are probably saying to yourself, "Sheesh. My great grandmother can move faster than that with her walker around the halls of the old folks home." Maybe so. But I am not genetically predisposed to speed. So running a mile in just a hair over 11 minutes is lightning fast for me. Doing three of them is a miracle. The only trouble I have running at Spencer's gym is the heat and humidity. The air conditioning is weak there, especially near the cardio area where it really should be blasting. The temperature feels like about 80 degrees, with about 80 percent humidity. That means plenty of sweat. By the time I've finished my jog, I'm soaked. Now, I don't really care if my shirt is drenched, but the crotch area of my shorts can be a bit embarrassing. As the locals might say here, "look like I make one shi-shi!" So, I go over to the giant f...

It was a glorious weekend. We had sunshine every day. In fact, we hadn't had a drop of rain for four days and were just marveling at that today. This afternoon, however, the skies opened up and are now dumping what may very well be the entire contents of the Pacific Ocean. Guess we're back to normal. I drug Ron to see a show this weekend. Hapa, my favorite musicians from Hawaii, played in Hilo Saturday night. Hapa, which means "half" in Hawaiian, is Nathan Aweau and Barry Flanagan; a Hawaiian guy and a haoli guy. They were joined by Charles Ka'upu. Charles is their chanter and the guy who talks story in between songs. He steals the show at times, chatting up the audience with great humor. What a character. Nathan has one of the most beautiful voices I I've ever heard and is a master of Hawaiian falsetto. He also plays a killer, seven string bass. Barry doesn't sing solo on many tracks, but he has a very nice voice in his own right and blends beautifully wi...

Last night, just before turning in, I saw a flash of light in the sky just out the window. The weather kahunas had forecast thunderstorms on the evening news, so I should have taken precautions then and slipped Hoppsy an herbal calmer. She hates thunder. At about 5:00 this morning, she was in the bed, shaking like a leaf, panicked. The thunder was rumbling. Within moments, Doc jumped in too. It was cozy, but a little cramped and very hot. So I got up to get her the herbal and found the cats all gathered in the kitchen, waiting for breakfast. I fed them. That rousted Crawford, who is none too fond of thunder herself, but can't hear it so well anymore. She is, however, very keen on the smell of cat food. Anyway, after all this, going back to bed didn't seem all that practical. I didn't think I'd get much sleep anyway. So, I brewed up a pot of coffee and here I am. Lucy has taken my place in the bed, right next to Doc and Ron. The three of them are snoozing peacefully. Cra...

Here's a cheesy picture for ya! That shaka is pretty feeble. I gotta work on that. My reference to Pick Your Nose in the last post reminds me of Freddie's. That's what we used to call Fred Meyer, a buy-everything-you-need-in one-place place that popped up all over the Pacific Northwest long before Walmart ever rose to dominance. Anyway, we always called it Freddie's, until the passing of the company's founder. Then we called it Dead Fred's. Here on the island, there's a mortuary called A Hui Hou, which is Hawaiian for Until We Meet Again. Kind of sweet, don't you think? In Buffalo, NY there's a chain of mortuaries called Amigon. Ron says that when he was a kid, everyone called it Am I gone? Some years ago, I remember reading about the brilliant minds at General Motors, scratching their heads at why the Nova didn't sell well in Latin America. They didn't get the fact that no va means no go or it doesn't go in Spanish. In Southern Califor...

On Saturday, we spent a little while at the Cultural Heritage Festival downtown, where dancers and drummers performed, representing the the varied cultural makeup of Hawaii. There were also booths selling food and crafts; Portuguese, Hawaiian, Filipino, Chinese, Okinawan, Japanese, Korean. I didn't see any bagpipes and kilts and no lederhosen, but that's OK. It was small, but still pretty cool. We caught a glimpse of the Korean Lion dance for one, along with a few other Asian performances. I approached the Hawaiian booth and was frowned at by an enormous Hawaiian couple. Not much aloha there. They didn't seem too happy to be there. In turn, not many people were making purchases at their booth. Maybe that's why they were miffed. Or maybe it was because of their grumpiness that nobody lingered long there or pulled out a wallet. As I scanned their wares (mostly jewelry) I read signs describing the materials from which the necklaces were made. They read something like, ...

We bought ten more coffee trees yesterday. The ladies at Hilo Coffee Mill are great. That's where we bought them. Their primary business is wholesale coffee, either green or roasted to your taste. But they also have their own coffee orchard and sell coffee seedlings. They have a website, too: www.hilocoffeemill.com . If you want to try the best coffee Hawaii has to offer besides Kona coffee, or some other great beans from around the world, check 'em out. They coffee from Guatemala, Mexico, Africa, Brazil etc. Ask for Jeanette or Kathy. We bought baby trees this time. They're about half as big, for half the price. Since we're pretty sure they'll grow, it seemed the prudent way to go. Now all we have to do is wait 3-5 years for the perfect cup of home grown java. Today's weather has been pretty horrible. I started raining at about 10 a.m. and hasn't stopped since. Tomorrow however, is another day. The weather forecasters are actually predicting sun for our ar...

This morning, my neighbor, who apparently has a rain gauge, reported to me in passing on the road that we received 1.25 inches of rain last night. It did rain pretty hard. I guess in most places, that much rain in one night would be quite a lot. Here, it's a pretty normal night. This morning, the rain stopped and the sun came out. Within a very short while it felt not unlike a sauna outside with all that moisture evaporating into the atmosphere. Whew! It was even muggier in town, as always. So while the temperature stayed at about 85 degree, the humidity was at least 85%. Neadless to say, it was a little toasty for Doc and his canine and feline siblings today. We're cooling off nicely now though. The zucchinis are flowering like mad and beginning to get a few fruits on them. It looks like we should have squash coming out our ears before too long. I'm making plans to make zucchini bread. The tomatoes are doing well too, with small, green orbs replacing blossoms there. Ron ha...

. Yesterday, like today, it rained. So it wasn't too tough early in the morning, watching the water fall in sheets from the sky, to make quick plans to drive to Kona. The excuse? We need stuff at Costco, of course. Hey, if I've got to patronize a big box once in awhile to reap some savings, it might as well be one that takes good care of it's employees and puts profits back into the company rather than into the CEO's pocket. Anyway, we donned our swimsuits under our clothes, slid on the slippah and headed to the dry side. Before shopping, we spent a couple of hours at the beach. We crashed our old favorite resort; The Orchid at Mauna Lani. Technically, we do have legal access to their beach, no matter how much stink eye the staff might give. That's because all beaches, even those affiliated with a resort, are public. Nobody can actually own a beach in Hawaii. So, we hung there, and at their pool, posing as wealthy haoli tourists. Then it was off to Costco to buy sun...