Mountains and Islands

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...

Aloha! It's been a pretty hot few days, with south winds usurping the traditional trades. Yesterday the vog was so bad that our zucchini leaves were actually burned by the sulfuric air. They are a bit shriveled, but I think the plants will live. Doc has been staying cool lounging on the lanai. What a pretty boy, huh? I planted an avocado tree yesterday. Tomorrow's chore is to add two more coffee trees and another avocado. There are several species of avocado and the fruit at different times of the year. So with any luck, we'll one day have avocados year 'round. Holy guacamole, batman! I played tennis today with some athletic and talented ladies today. We played indoors at the venerable Edith Kanaka'ole tennis stadium. They are the only covered courts on the island. The surface is rubberized, so is a bit grippy underfoot and the ball comes off pretty fast, making for a bit of a challenge to the reflexes. The lighting is also weird. For some reason, they built the co...