Mountains and Islands

The other day Ron spotted the neighbor over the fence and offered him one of our giant cabbages. We certainly have plenty, after all, and have shared with two other neighbors as well. This neighbor, a Hawaiian, had a gift in return: two bags of freshly smoked pork! Onolicious ! It's really good just dipped in the sweet-hot Hickory Farms mustard we got for Christmas. Giving and sharing whatever you have is a strong part of Hawaiian culture. Once, at the airport, I commented on how nice a woman's lei smelled. She smiled and gave it to me. What a lovely custom. Not all cultural practices and customs are created equal, however. There was a front page article in the paper today about the impact of a new federal law making cock fighting a felony. Cock fighting is technically illegal in Hawaii, but it's fairly prevalent here, especially in the Filipino community. Arguments in favor of cock fighting in the paper came from frustrated chicken owners who feel their culture, customs...

They say that home ownership is the American dream. It's a bit more like a nightmare at times if you ask me. Sometimes, I really do pine for the good ol ' days, when any malfunction whatsoever could be fixed with a call to the landlord. We have a pipe that leads into our utility room and pump. That pipe is firmly embedded, ensconced and totally stuck in sidewalk cement outside. It is also PVC, which isn't supposed to be exposed to the elements. But it is, cuz copper costs plenny kala and we've pretty much concluded that our house was a no frills kind of construction project. Anyway, the pipe coming up from the cement elbows at a right angle then goes through a hole in the siding and into the utility room. Several weeks ago, I heard a hissing sound coming from what I thought were our gas tanks, located right next to the pipe. At first I thought it was a gas leak. Yikes. Thankfully, it was not. Instead, the elbow in the pipe had sprung a tiny leak and was misting wat...

A coworker and I polished off a fellow worker's bottle of Colorado Cherry Wine tonight, so it was an especially tasty (and tipsy) pau hana . It was hot today, especially in the tasting room, which doesn't have the best air circulation. With no trade winds, it's humid, too. But it didn't rain and the vog was a little less thick today, so that's good, yeah? With all the talk of buying local and sustainability as today's buzzwords for a better world, we are finding it increasingly difficult to do this. Today at Safeway, Ron found shrimp from China and Taiwan and Vietnam and scallops from Bangla d esh, but none from the U.S . Yikes! I'm thinking the waters off the coast of India are not the place from which to harvest filter feeders you actually plan to eat. Here in Hawaii, we're seeing tuna and mahi mahi from far away places like the Marshall Islands and Australia, when those fish can be readily caught off our own shores. Even the edamame they sell come...

The vog was thick as toolie fog today, so we spent most of the afternoon indoors. This morning, however, we ventured to the Maku'u market, where we had a taco and some Thai curry for breakfast. I love being a grown up. You can do or eat whatever you want, when you want, where you want. One of the local county council members was there. She actually holds informal town meetings and talks story with constituents at the market. That's a pretty cool idea, if you ask me. Some of my tea cuttings are beginning to grow. A couple of them are ready for slightly bigger pots. It won't be long before they'll be big enough to put in the ground. Once day, I may actually be able to brew a cup of tea from leaves I've actually grown. A very interesting Hawaiian man came into the winery Saturday. He was very knowledgeable about the island and encouraged us to pay attention to it; to learn what it is and what it provides. "Take some time to stop and smell the roses," he sa...

The lettuce is coming up.... A home grown salad is just around the corner.... Hawaii is the land of the lonely dog. For some reason, people think nothing of getting a puppy, playing with it while it's cute and little, then once it's bigger, tying it to a chain outside in the yard for the rest of its life. With the exception of food and water, the dog has no direct contact with people or other dogs. These miserable excuses for human beings take a social, active pack animal and isolate it for life. Tragic. Of course, not everyone in Hawaii does this. And Hawaii is not the only place I've seen this. But it is a more common practice here than other places I've lived. I see these poor dogs, tied out, alone, day in and day out. They bark when they see passers by. That's their only connection with the world beyond the chain. It breaks my heart. I really don't get it. Why have a pet if you don't plan to love and care for it like a member of the family? What's th...

Last week we watched Man of the Year with Robin Williams. It was OK, though a bit more serious than either of us anticipated. Anyway, the next morning when we woke up, Ron turned to me and asked why I had left the water running at Robin William's house and ruined his floor. "You had a dream about Robin Williams?" I asked in return to his question. "Me too," I said. I told him I had dreamt I was riding my bike not far behind another man, when the man fell. I stopped to help. It was Robin. He had skinned his knee, so I put a band aid on it from my first aid kit. "Well that explains how we got invited over to his house," Ron said. Kinda scary that my dreams explain his, don't you think? There were people from Poland at the winery today. That's really really far away. I could go for some good kielbasa right now.... Tomorrow, we'll be heading to the west side for a Costco run. Little thrills, yeah? A hui hou. Aloha.

I know, I know. What a slacker. The truth is, nothing earth shattering has occurred recently. Wait. I take that back. Today the earth literally did shatter, right into the ocean. I heard on the news today that a 16 acre shelf of lava recently formed by the current and ongoing eruption of Kilauea broke off into the sea today. It did so in chunks, sending steam plumes and debris from 200 to 1000 feet into the air. Pretty spectacular, huh? When the hot rocks fall into the cool ocean water, they do plenty of snapping, crackling and popping. I spent a few hours at the Hilo Library today. It's really nice there because it's so open to the outside. There are rooms and tables with absent walls and views out into a garden courtyard of sorts. Very nice. It was peacefully quiet too for awhile, until a group of kids came in and sat at tables next to me. They were chatting away. I think they were confused and thought they'd gone to the cafeteria or the beach or something. So, I moved. ...

Funny bumper sticker if the week: Honk if you're Jesus. I think the implication here is that if you are not Jesus, you should NOT be honking. Tomorrow, I get to go to lunch at the Hilo Yacht Club. The Yacht Club is interesting, because there are actually no yachts. There's no boat harbor. No slips for your schooner. It's just a restaurant, a bar, a pool and some tennis courts. It's a private club, so it'll be fun to check out the restaurant, which I've heard is good. The local chapter of the AAUW (American Association of University Women) is holding its annual luncheon there. Not much else is new. Winery work kicked my butt today, but it was still pretty fun. We had visitors from France who live in New Jersey and from Tahiti who also speak French. Tres bon. Oui oui. A hui hou. Aloha!