Aloha, from the Kohala Mountains of Hawai'i.

This view is looking upward and to the East. The "hills" in the back are some of the mounds that form the crest of Mount Kohala. The white rail fences are on several small ranches that are part of the upper limits of the Kohala Estates, of which the Brown's house where we are staying is a part. We see a lot of horses on those parcels. We see them in the road too, as the whole development is "open range" for cattle and other livestock and I suppose permission to graze the area is leased from the Homeowner's Association. I should ask the Brown's if they know what the arrangement is.

Two days last week we have had to come to nearly a complete stop on the roads that go out of the development, to allow the horses to "decide" that they would "allow" us right of way to proceed. Last evening there were at least thirty beautiful horses along the road, with the proverbial two that wanted to maintain their superior position of "it's MY road and YOU will have to wait". The cattle have not been here during the first week we were here, but in the last day or two we are seeing them show up. Delaney and Weston... our two newest drivers in the family... remember the page in the California Driver's Handbook that mentioned that open range livestock have the right of way? It appears to be the same here in Hawai'i. Most of my students in my Driver Education classes in Fremont always asked "Why do we have to know that? It's not like we have cows in Fremont..." Gee, they may grow up and actually leave town.

I have been receiving questions as to why I have not gotten out my first "newspaper" yet. Kent and Linda joined us literally hours after we took Dennis and Donna to the airport, and we have had little time sitting still since. They flew home on 09-11-09 on the "red-eye" (no, Andi, that is not a "palindrome" :-) ) and I think that they are finally starting to wake up. We enjoyed their visit, and we did quite a bit of 'looking around' when they were here. Of course we had to run down to check out the ol' mountain. Kilauea was about as active as she was last year (Pele is the Goddess of the Volcano and pretty big stuff around here, you know... that's Pay - lay.), but quite a bit more active than she was when K&L were here two years ago. I will send pictures on that excursion in a future "letter home". Of course we took that opportunity to snag some images of ourselves while we were there:

Kent has become much more interested in photography lately, and with his nice Canon in hand and a 30-pound backpack on board, he is prone to head out into parts unknown. He and Linda have a fondness for lighthouses (paintings, pictures and books in their home attest to that), so on the way "home" from the volcano I mentioned that there was a lighthouse on the eastern-most tip of Hawai'i, so he was up for that. When we got there, the road was one of those that I think I signed an agreement to not drive the rental car on... rental car companies are always warning against stuff like "the Road To Hana", and driving across lava flows and stuff, but this is a first to be handed a form to sign saying that "I will not drive this brand new, shiny, Cadillac CTS down to South Point or over the Saddle Road or several other places... who reads that stuff? We were just about home to the Brown's house and she was asking me to sign a bunch of stuff. Yuk!

Anyway, the road was graveled but very choppy... we got to the lighthouse and back without major damage or flat tires, so... cool! When there, the lighthouse was not too interesting... looked like an open-framed steel electrical power lines tower, but the waves breaking against the shore were 'calling' Kent, so he and Linda walked out over the a' a lava flow (a' a lava is extremely rough and sharp). When viewing the picture, you have to look pretty hard to find Linda... Kent is easy to see. Do you remember how to play "Where's Waldo"? Well... Where's Linda? If you squint hard enough, and have Superman's eyes, you just might be able to see San Diego, or Baja out across the water. :-)

Judging from what growth we can see on this lava flow, I would guestimate that this flow occurred close to 50 to 80 years ago.

On the way out to the lighthouse and Cape Kumukahi (Koo - moo - kaw - hee), we stopped at the Lava Trees State Park, where formations are located that are actually rather unusual in Hawai'i... especially in this close of an occurrence. Basically, quite some time ago (1790), lava from the eastern rift of Kilauea flowed rather quickly in and around standing trees. It filled in as much as eleven feet deep within a matter of minutes.

The moisture of the trees did not prevent them from burning from that tremendous heat, but they did draw just enough heat out of the lava to allow it to start hardening immediately around the trunks of the trees. Then, within another short distance of time... possibly hours or minutes... the lava "escaped" (thought to have gone back into the earth through huge cracks in the ground that would swallow a person even now) and flowed out of the area, leaving behind a coating of lava surrounding each tree trunk and covering the ground.

It did not take too long for the burned remnant of the tree to decay from the hollow lava formation, leaving a "mold" of the tree trunk standing on its own. They call these the "Lava Trees". Technically, they would be "Lava anti-trees" or "Lava Tree-forms" I would think, but I didn't get to name them.

This image shows several of the "Lava Trees" in the park. The walkway is paved and seen on the far right, and the grass in this area is groomed like any park.

 

 

 

 

 

The next image shows the view from above, down into the hollow area in the center of one of these formations. Other plants and soil is slowly filling in the hollow formations. One even had a new tree sprouting at the bottom of the hollow tube, ready to grow up in the actual footprint of the tree that was consumed by the hot lava flow so many years ago.

In some parts of this island there is frequent rainfall throughout most of the year, but other places do not get much rain. The Brown's weather machine here at their home says that it has rained a total of ten inches this year. I do not know if his "year" is the calendar year or if it starts in the summer. The "books" tell us that ten inches of rain a year here on this side of Kohala Mountain is about par for the course.

Yesterday, we had enough rain coming up from the lower main road (the six mile trek to the house inside the security gates) that the car wipers were on full speed. Did I mention this Cadillac turns on its own wipers and changes speeds as the rain gets heavier and lighter? That car is smarter than I am. Costs more too. I'm pretty cheap.

The Brown's weather machine only says that we have gotten .01" of rain since we arrived, and that was all since yesterday, so some rain made it up the hill to the house. Outside we frequently feel "drops" of moisture, or feel it in the wind, and I suppose that is why orchids love it here so much. It is just not enough to keep the lawn green or the trees growing though.

 

 

On the northern end of Hawai'i, on the eastern slope of the Kohala Mountains (just over the hill from where we are staying), there are a series of seven valleys that are not reached by wheels. Coming from the northern tip of the island, vehicles run out of road a little past Hawi, a small and "recovering" sugar plantation town. The road terminates at the Pololu overlook that lets you peer down into Pololu Valley. Five more valleys come out of the mountains to meet the sea before you would reach Waipio Valley (Wah - ee - pee - oh) were you to try the trip on foot. This full section is the Kohala Forest and is mostly unpopulated and quite anti-visitor. Access to all but Waipio Valley is by foot, with "walks" listed in the hours of duration rather than the distance. It can take 8 hours to reach the next valley over. Only an extremely well-footed donkey or pack mule could be expected to make the trails down those cliffs.

Driving in a northerly direction from the lower eastern part of the island will bring you through Honoka'a (Hoe - noe - kaw - ah), and 9 miles further will be the Waipio Overlook. There is a road that goes beyond that point, but it is a single-lane road that was first "improved" during WWII by the military to let a jeep get down to the valley floor. It is a 1,000 foot drop to the floor of the Waipio Valley, and the valley is a mile wide at the beach. It goes back into the mountains about six miles.

Named after the Waipio River (which means "curving water"), this valley has always been a special place to Rosalee and me since we first saw it from this overlook back in about 1991. In a later edition of this newsletter, I will talk about the four of us riding down into the valley on a tour that we took last week.

The major change that has happened here at the Brown's House is that their family has grown a little bit. Their household now consists of two Papillon dogs that are about 7 months old. And are they ever something else. They are truly a delight and are very well trained for this age. Shoot... for ANY age, with regards to most dogs you see. Donna and Dennis have been working with them pretty diligently, and it really does show. They are as sharp as tacks and show great promise. The Brown's get a great amount of enjoyment from these two. Their names are Rajah and Rufus, brothers and littermates.

This is Rajah. He tends to be the more aggressive one of the two. By aggressive I mean that if something were to happen, they both do EVERYTHING at the same time, but it is usually Rajah that is in the front of the line. When they are rough-housing in the yard, it is usually Rufus' tail that is in Rajah's mouth as they spin in a circle.

Rajah, we are told, is the one that will more quickly pick up a new "trick" and perform it, but Rufus seems to hold onto it better, and Rufus is more discerning about when he should do the trick.

We were able to observe Dennis and Donna and their pups for 24 hours, to get the feel for how they work with them, what commands they use, when they reward and when they don't, which furniture is "theirs" and which is "ours"... so that we can follow through with the same signals. We don't want to confuse the little guys during this stage of learning.

On command they will sit, lay down, speak, and roll over. Rajah is quick to sit up on his haunches and dance, and Rufus is still perfecting that.

If they think that there are some "treats" available, they are quick to show interest, and it is usually Rajah that will break into his repertoire of tricks quite spontaneously, hoping that any one of them will trigger the human into giving up one of those treats. They don't get by that easily though. We will generally try to do the command-response-reward thing when they are a little bit separated so that one does not get a "free lunch" because the other one did a good trick.

 

 

 

This is Rufus. They each definitely have their own personality, and yet they are not about to let the other do anything, go anywhere, eat anything, get any attention or sit close to someone unless the other can be right there and involved.

The Browns have fencing and gates set up to contain them when no one is home, and they started to explore their digging abilities last week while we were away, but with some adjustment to the areas that they were mostly interested in, they have seemingly "accepted" their borders. They do exercise their humans quite regularly on walks, and are good to react to the leashes. They also get a little "off the leash" time up on the back of the property away from the roads. This gives them a chance to get some "free" time and become used to the whistle command that brings them back.

We were "trained" in preparing the food that these guys get, and Donna does it in a Crock Pot slow cooker. Let me tell you, that chicken and stuff that they get for meals sure makes us hungry when it is cooking. If we put on weight this trip, it is Rajah and Rufus's fault, for sure.

OK... that brings you up to where we are. I will drop more later in the week.

We love you all and miss you. Well, as much as we can while in Hawai'i... yeah, we do. Honest. :-)

Ken & Rosalee

Rajah & Rufus

Lots of Geckoes, Centipedes, Birds and Bugs

... and one great big rat that I found in the Shade House today.

 

Aloha:

I promised to tell you about some of our traveling that we did while Kent and Linda were with us our first week here. This volume will discuss our trip to visit Kilauea Caldera (Kee - lah - oo - aa - ah).

Back in '91 when Rosalee and I first visited the Big Island, we stayed several days in Kailua-Kona (Kona means the west) and several days in Hilo (on the east side of the island). To go from one town to the other, we looked on the map and chose what is called Saddle Road, Highway 200, which crosses the island over the lowest altitude pass or "saddle" formed between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa mountains. The highest point (or pass) on Saddle Road was about 6,800 feet elevation. That first time through, we did note that it was a bit of a ragged road, with plenty of turns, pot holes, and narrow one-lane bridges. When we got through to the Hilo side we saw a sign warning drivers that rental cars were not allowed over Saddle Road. Hmmm. Now they tell us. Well, we didn't return that way... we went around through Waimea.

I told you that when we signed for this Cadillac, we had to sign the waiver about not going to a bunch of places on the island. I commented about "You mean we can't go on Saddle Road?" expecting wide eyes and wagging fingers. The clerk told us that the road had been widened and straightened and was "acceptable" to us. I asked her again, specifically, just to get that clear. She confirmed that it was a good road. Donna mentioned to Rosalee later that it was indeed a good passable road. So... you KNOW that we HAD to give it a go. On the day last week that we went to see the volcano, we took Saddle Road.

The first fifteen minutes of Highway 200 did not seem much different from what we remembered 18 years ago, driving it in our rented three-cylindered Geo Metro. I recognized the tiny bridge where we stopped to wait for the burning Pontiac to burn down so we could drive past it. Meanwhile the dry grasses on both sides of the road were starting up. A fire truck arrived from out of no where. It actually was part of the military installation somewhere up in the "saddle" ahead of us. No one from the car could speak much English, but I did get out of them that no one was in the car. It had just started burning as we pulled up, but was fully engulfed within minutes.

Back to the present... we soon reached the good road we had heard about and were completely amazed. It was a beautiful road, wide enough for four lanes in some area. There was little traffic on it, but it was late morning so any "commute" traffic between Hilo and the west and northern towns was likely already passed. It is our understanding that the problem with the road is the serious weather that can come through that pass. We had beautiful, sunny weather.

We could not resist stopping and checking out the roadside. These first two images were taken near the summit of the pass. Could all of this have been there in '91? I sure don't remember this gorgeous color and "density" of plant growth.

I took the first photo along the side of Saddle Road. When one hears about "driving across a lava field", one forms in one's mind one mass of black solid mud... but this was very beautiful and quite colorful.

Judging from the published dates of lava flows, you can get an idea of how long ago the black stuff was soft enough to flow, just from what is growing on the "rocks" and in the cracks. First the algae show up on the rocks., and the lichens get started. Soils start accumulating between the rocks from being carried in the wind (as well as some of the rocks start decomposing from the work done on them by the algae), and that gives the grass seeds a toe-hold to start growing. Ferns start up after that, and that provides cover and decomposed plant material to add humus (compost) to the mix and small scrub trees start up.

Each of these growing plants have roots that find the smallest fissures in the long-ago cooled and cracked lava flow, and in their zeal to find the water that accumulates in the porous rock, they crawl and expand, breaking the rock apart, further breaking it down on its way to becoming the fertile soil that made sugar cane and pineapples grow rapidly (before labor prices, politics, and international business deals forced the companies to take that all to other lands.)

So... looking at these first pictures, the algae is there, the lichen is there, the grasses have come in, the ferns are doing well, and we have small trees. This flow, in my estimation, occurred close to 150 to 200 years ago.

As we drove along Saddle Road, we saw roads that turned off to access the military base and the facilities that are associated with the summits of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa on either side of us. Now don't let these images fool you. A lot of the area along this road is not quite as beckoning to the eye. Many acres of the area have been used for the testing of military power and might. Somewhere, years ago, I had read an article about this location being very apropos to the training of the crews that did a lot of the space work. It appears that any vehicle that could "handle" traveling on this terrain should be able to do very well on the surface of the moon.

The roads to the summits of the two mountains on either side are not open to the likes of the Cadillac CTS... not with that six inch clearance under the bumper that finds every curb in the county of Hawai'i. At an altitude in excess of 13,400 feet both summits are not for the light hearted, and are generally not recommended for old dogs like us. Our friends Tom and Vicky Hughes in Pasco, Washington have family that live on this island. Tom's brother-in-law used to drive to the top of Mauna Kea twice a week to make deliveries of materiel (no, not material) and equipment to the scientific facilities up there... if I am remembering the story correctly. There are nearly a dozen internationally operated celestial observatories up there. They are clearly visible from the Brown's home in Kohala Estates, some fifteen miles away (as the crow flies... although I doubt that your average crow can fly two and one half miles high to the summit... are there even crows on this island? LOL).

 

 

You can see some of the installations on the summit from this photo taken from the bedroom window of the Brown's home. This was taken in November of '07, when it had snowed up there. What a nice surprise for our first visit to the Brown's home. That is a 300 mm lens (digital) in case you were curious. Not bad for fifteen miles away and 2 1/2 miles up, eh?

Moving on to the volcano, some of you may know that Kilauea was originally thought to be simply a younger vent out the side of Mauna Loa, which has it's own main vent and caldera at the summit. As more activity has built up over the centuries (for the last 300,000 plus years), what was thought merely to be a vent formed it's own caldera. A caldera is the large pit that surrounds the vent from which the gasses and/or liquid lava flows from the reservoir of molten rock (magma) more than 50 miles below the floor of the ocean. In later years scientists have learned that Kilauea comes from a totally different source of magma than what flows from Mauna Loa, so Kilauea is by all rights a volcano independent of Mauna Loa.

Kilauea has been flowing pretty much in a steady stream from either of several openings since 1983, giving "her" the distinction of being "The World's Most Active Volcano". She basically flowed continuously throughout the entire 19th century, and erupted 34 times during the 20th century.

 

This image is Kilauea Caldera. It does not look at all like the summit of a mountain, but Hawaiian volcanoes are what are referred to as "shield type" volcanoes, which are relatively flat, compared with most sharp-peaked mountains we are used to. Visions of "Bali High" from South Pacific come to mind. But remember, Kilauea is very "young" yet.

Notice that there are some trees immediately in front of the camera. They are the last trees before the caldera starts, dropping down a sheer wall about 800 feet to the level of trees that are out hundreds of feet in front of us. Notice those trees are quite a bit lower than we are. That whole "shelf" of green trees was actually at the same level as the camera is in this picture, but it all slid directly down into the caldera many years ago.

If we climbed down to those "sunken" trees, we could walk across that shelf  (which the trees are growing upon) to the far side of the green trees, and at that point we would have to drop down another several hundred feet to the "floor" of the Kilauea Caldera. That floor is just about everything that you can see in this picture, past the trees, from one side of the image to the other, and all the way around, behind where you see the volcano venting. That is all the Kilauea Caldera. It is about 3 to 4 miles across. If you want to see a larger caldera, the next time you are visiting the town of Mammoth (California) where they all love to snow ski, look up around you and you will notice that you are sitting on the floor of a caldera that is more than ten miles wide. In the past, this entire floor of the caldera (Kilauea) has been molten rock. In later years, that small caldera in the distance (in this image - which is sitting on the floor of the larger Kilauea Caldera, actually within the caldera)  has filled with magma and flowed over onto the larger caldera floor. The smaller (only one mile wide and another 500 + feet deeper) caldera is called Halemaumau Caldera (Hah - lay - mah - oo - mah - oo), which is where the volcano is currently venting. Two years ago when Kent and Linda were here, we stood on the far ledge of this "little" caldera and could toss rocks down into where all of that smoke and gas is coming up now.

Lava is flowing about where it was flowing last year, and the only viewing area is not really a viewing area, but at night you can see the glow in the distance. They are not really excited about a bunch of idiots (that would be us tourists) getting up close and personal with that glowing rock stuff. It is extremely unforgiving. As it is, various locations in the area have live steam coming up from small vents that you can stand next to and feel the hot moisture coming up. Too often an idiot is burned because he/she/it was a brick short of a full wall and had to "see if it was actually as hot as they say it is..." That would be the person that would touch wet paint to see if the wet paint is actually wet, in spite of the WET PAINT sign sitting next to the wet paint. Trade that sign in for one that says "I'm Stoopid".

The first picture of the larger caldera was taken from a vantage point that is on the steps coming out of the hotel / restaurant / gift shop that sits within 20 feet of this caldera edge. There was some activity during the last year that caused enough damage to the hotel that they plan on closing it down for several months during the winter to do some "remodeling". A nice word for "replace". Damage was not obvious to the outside visitor of the hotel.

On the "home" front, things here on the mountain are doing fine. We are all learning some things. The "boys" continue to polish their command / response / reward program, and we continue to be trained by them as well. We have learned that nothing that is within reach of them, or that can be reached through a series of plateaus consisting of chairs, couches and tables, is safe from them. Rosalee has had to track down her nice pencil and erasing stick that she uses to do her Sudoku. Rajah seems to love chewing on anything that makes funny little cracking noises. I moved the cell phone from the night stand to the kitchen counter.

Clyde returned last weekend from a trip / cruise to Alaska, and said that she had a nice time. Her niece went with her. She has asked us over to her home for lunch today. She is fixing her famous Portuguese Bean Soup. She usually fixes a fine dessert to go with it, but we are always so full from the great lunch that we can't eat dessert, so she sends the whole pie or whatever home with us. Well, you know that we don't need THAT temptation. It is tough enough to avoid the Chocolate Covered Macadamia Nuts and M&M Peanuts and everything else in the house. We do not have poor appetites when we are in Hawai'i. Rosalee made Clyde promise that we would accept her gracious invitation to lunch but she was forbidden to fix any dessert. I will let you know if that command got the expected response. I'll take a dog cookie in the case that she responds properly.

We have had occasions where the w/s wipers on the Cadillac turn on and take a sweep or two, but that is about it. Just not enough water to even register on the weather machine. The Davis Vantage Pro... which was telling us that the "console batteries are low" again. That happened the first week Dennis and Donna were gone during the first trip we came over to their home. I had just had the kitchen TV tell me on screen that the remote batteries were low, so I had just visited the "battery drawer" in the kitchen, so what's different about another machine telling me it wants to eat some more batteries? With no plug-in attached, I ASSUMED that it had its own internal back-up to retain the memory with the last several years of data. Well, you know what happens when you ASSUME... I had new batteries in the machine and a totally blank screen. After "allowing" it to cure itself for 48 hours, I had to send an e-mail to Hayward, CA (believe it or not), and they said... well... one button later it was up and running... and it had all of the past data. That's part of why we bought one for ourselves. Then when Dennis said that the whole display screen was destroyed during the earthquake here some years before that, and he sent it back in to get repaired, and they made it good as new and returned it... no charge... that is when we were convinced. So... long story even longer... of course... it's me that's talkin' here... I swapped out the batteries again the other day. And I pushed the right button... It's working fine with all the previous data. What it is NOT telling us is that it is raining. Of course, it is NOT raining. Maybe that is why? What button do I push to get some rain to fall on this side of the mountain. So far it is 10.08" since last November. Hmmm... not gonna break records this year.

OK... time to get ready to meet Clyde for lunch. Next volume I will talk about the Lava Trees .

We hope that you are all doing well.

 

Ken & Rosalee

 

- -- PUZZLE OF THE DAY -- -

While you read the rest of this letter, you can try to figure out what this image is about
(and what botanical process is being demonstrated).

OK... I know... I'm late. Some people may look at my missives being further apart as a blessing, I don't know, but we are just so busy over here (I can see the tears of sympathy flowing... uh huh...). Things are happenin' 'round hear, ya know? And the boys just never cease amusing us and keeping us moving. They are very good about locating critters (even the ones that 'go bump in the night'), so we make sure the music is playing in the evenings because they 'think' that they hear something every five minutes otherwise. Last night they zeroed in on a 4" centipede making his way (quite quickly I might add) down the hall in the master bedroom/bathroom area, so they got an extra treat for that little task. They have found several of them since we have been here. Dennis mentioned that he could tell when the dogs had a critter 'treed' by their special bark. Wisely they do not try to bite it (which has to be a big letdown for a puppy to NOT put something immediately into his mouth). There is no doubt they could have some repercussions from doing that. They seem to have read the 'critter book' somewhere. They know that tiny geckoes under two inches long make very quick and tasty tidbits.

I think that one of the critters that 'goes bump in the dark' may be the six-inch toad that we saw on the west lawn when the kids were here. I asked Dennis what happened to the one that was in the little fish pond on the east of the house and he said that he thought that it went to Froggy Heaven because when he cleans the pond out periodically, he pulls out what may be frog carcasses. This one on the west side is as large as the other, but probably a relative... maybe an offspring. It is amazing where these toads came from. We are six miles from the ocean, even further to fresh-water lakes or streams, and 2,000 feet elevation. I cannot see them 'walkin' 'cross Texas' to get here from somewhere. That ground out there (once you leave the Brown's oasis) is hot and dry. They would become little leather key chains if they tried that. Anyway, I suspect that he is living under the big palm behind the hot tub. That's where he went while I tried to grab an image of him the night we saw him. I think that the dogs hear him laughing at us in the evenings (I did not get his picture).

OK... speaking of critters... Rosalee said that I could not 'write home' about this... but I have to. It is so fascinating. I walked out over the lawn and noticed some dog poop there, which should not be too unexpected with the boys out there a lot (certainly better there than on the hardwood floors, for sure). I started to pick up the poop when I noticed a lot of activity around it. Getting down closer I was fascinated to watch three diligently functioning 'contractors' clearing the debris. I checked and he was carrying his AFL-CIO local 392 card and he was truckin'. He moved that puppy poop that was the size of a Thompson Seedless Grape about five feet from the original spot.

I was checking on his friend that had another 'prize' and he was headed on another course, reaching the flower bed within two feet, where he encountered a sprinkler water pipe that was a barricade higher than his prize was in diameter. He took it right over the top of the pipe and disappeared into the brush.

Meanwhile, our first little friend had stopped his journey. I could see his load sitting in the grass, but he was not in sight. Closer inspection showed the grass blades all around the spherical specimen moving like rolling ocean waves. He was underneath the grass, working. Over a period of ten minutes he had pulled that poop down completely into the grass, and twenty minutes later it was totally unseen.

Now, notice that this guy's cargo is a very nicely shaped sphere. He had to make it that way before he started his journey. They both were like this, and the third worker was making one of these out of the original source. That is ingenious in anyone's book.

About this time you're thinkin'... "This boy has NOTHING do to over there and he is out watching dog dirt disappear in the lawn... but no... no way Jose... this is just a break. There's lotsa stuff to do here, and I don't think I can even get it all done.

Also note that while this "trucker" has six extremities, he chooses to use the front pair (that we would likely refer to as 'arms' and 'hands') to provide the propulsion and the center and rear pairs (his 'legs'?) to 'handle' his treasure. He cannot see his 'load', he cannot see the direction he is traveling let alone the 'road' home. Twenty-four hours later, I am looking out there and the entire pile of poop is no longer there. They have dismissed the entire quantity. I guess that the moral of this story is that "One Man's Crappola Is Another Man's Treasure!"

The Brown's House is basically laid out in a linear plan which certainly allows almost any portion of this home a beautiful view of the ocean and the sunsets that are on the top of the ocean every evening. That also means that the 'boys' have the opportunity to have a practically straight 'dog run' that is 88feet, 5 inches long. Yes... I did measure it, actually. So they can get started in the Master Bedroom, reach a normal speed limit as they enter the exercise room, exceed the speed limit as they pass through the laundry area, alter their course 20° to miss the pantry, re-accelerate through the kitchen, break-neck speed through the dining area, break the sound barrier through the Living Room and end their journey at a glass door. The 'braking' area where they have to come back down to zero speed is the last couple of feet where they are on a throw rug which is on a polished hardwood floor. Well, like kids sliding on a slick floor in stocking-clad feet, their 'brakes' manage to move the carpet some.

On the return trip (at an equal velocity, for sure... WATCH OUT MABEL... OHH... she should not have come out of that powder room at that time... ), their terminus point is a couch in the Master Bedroom which they vault onto and were the back cushion not there they would surely take out that window. They remind us a lot of Kent & Linda's Brandy dog that they used to live with. She would come out from having a bath and she would "air-dry" by running like the wind through the house. If a set of stairs were in the way, she would continue looping the circuit, eliminating one stair-step each time, until she was 'clearing' the entire five-tread staircase.

Rosalee and I continue to learn at the tutelage of Masters Rajah and Rufus. We have to know that all things chewable have to be chest high in the house or they will figure out how to get hold of them and chew away. Rosalee is doing her Sudoku with a gnarled pencil and a shattered eraser stick, compliments of Mr. Rajah, chewer extraordinaire.

They are so like children. They play hard, give us 'looks that could kill' when the word is "NO", eat anything and anytime if allowed, and fight (mock) like cats and... um... well, boys will be boys, right? But when they are through... when they are ready to relax... then they can be oh so cuddly. Ninety miles an hour and then... stone still and asleep. Rufus is always first into the chair or couch, but right exactly where you were sitting not two minutes previously and expecting to return to "your" seat. Un uh... nope. Once you 'claim' your territory and sit again, Rajah has to put his head into a pocket or behind your back or under your book or under the pillow or somewhere 'out of sight'. Then he starts his gyrations and will sleep in any position, with his head either high or low or over the edge of the couch. They sleep on their belly, their side or their back, they don't really care.

They are being good little boys at night. They sleep in the Master Bedroom with access outside, so they 'retire' with Rosalee and when I come in anytime later after my "night shift", they become 'mother's protectors' and when I slide the door open to the bedroom they greet me with barking that would wake the dead. A quick "shhhhhhh" and they are through... sometimes Rosalee even sleeps through that. I don't know how.

In the morning though, they wake a lot earlier than I do. Rosalee is more of a 'morning person' and she notices that the 'boys' are awake and 'ready to go' as day breaks, but they sit nicely and quietly until one of us stirs. Should Rosalee start to sit upright in the bed, that is their clue that THE DAY HAS STARTED... YEAH! That's when she gets up and they go out with her. She does that so I can catch a few more winks... at least until 6:30 or so.

I have been working pretty hard on a website for my 50th graduation reunion that included a little 4-day cruise last April, a Homecoming with a reception following which was last week, and followed the next day with a nice (they tell us) dinner in Oroville. I raised my hand with a suggestion and ended up with an 'assignment'... so with Ed Meyer's gracious help and his workplace graciously providing the host computer, I set up www.Gridley59.com to post pictures of the events, as well as past reunions and original Senior Pictures from our last yearbook. It has been fun, but oh boy... make a mistake and you are re-creating it from an earlier stage. Well, I have been posting stuff as it comes to me, and I screwed up big-time the other night, losing the main menu as well as some recently entered data. Not knowing what I am doing is the main cause of time spent trying to resolve the issues. Ed came to my rescue over the phone last night (late for him in California) and re-adjusted my rudder and set a new course that cleared up the problem. We is good to go again, bro.

In the last newsletter I told you that I was going to talk about the Lava Trees State Park over here that we visited. In looking back, I already introduced you to it in Aloha No. 1, and sent some images. I won't re-hash what I said, as you can look back and review it (you DO save ALL of my 'mini-books', RIGHT?) (choke) (cough).

<<<<  This is one of the tallest Lava Trees that we saw in the park. Linda is providing a sense of 'scale' to the image. It is about 20 feet tall. It appears that as the lava was draining away from this area, the tree was cooling the lava that surrounded the tree. As the level of the lava lake was going down, the lava was getting cooler, causing more of it to hang onto the tree, causing that 'flaring' at the bottom of the tree. The original bell-bottom fashion. Now, I'm not POSITIVE that is the full reason for those big flouncy 'cuffs' , but as the song says... "That's My Story An' I'm... ...Stickin' To It!

 

 

The following image (below) is in the same location (park),  and I believe (hey, you believe the evening news stories... why not my stories... they probably have about the same amount of intelligence-gathering behind them :-) ) what we are seeing here 'appears to be' a six inch thick 'cap' of lava that solidified and did not drain out of the park. After the couple of centuries since lava flowed into and then (mostly) out of the area, the ground under the lava layer has given away in some places, allowing the lava 'cap' to be unsupported and then collapse from animals on the top or its own sheer weight. The ground has quite a bit of water in it, and there are 'man-swallowing' fissures in the park, so the ground is quite unstable and could easily have given way to gravity. That's My Story, And I'm...... well, you know.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One thing about the Islands... the decomposed lava makes a fine 'medium' in which plants can grow, the falling leaves compost into rich nutrients, and the water is plentiful... in this park at least, so plants do very nicely, as you can see in these images.

 

 

 

There is nothing in the image below to give you any idea of the scale, really, but that fern in the center is actually a tree fern, and the span across the fronds from tip to tip is in excess of twenty feet. We are obviously on the Windward side of the island. That is the side that receives the 'weather' that carries the moisture. By the time the winds get to the other side of the high mountains, most of the moisture is 'wrung' out of the air and the 'dry' wind is all that makes its way to the leeward side. Now, if we could only build us a pipeline and... I'm looking for investors... anyone interested? :-)

Another magic spot on this island (and actually, is there a non-magic spot on these rocks?) is the section of the island that consists of about ten miles of the northern waterfront that starts with the Pololu Valley (Po - lo - loo) at the north-west end and continues to the Waipio Valley (Wah - ee - pee - oh) on the south-eastern end, with four or five lesser valleys between them. They refer to this area as the Hamakua Pali (Hah - mah - koo - ah Paw - lee) or the Kohala Mountain Forest Reserve. "Pali" translates to "steep cliff" or "precipice". ALOHA No. 1 had an image of Waipio Valley from the overlook.

Walking trails allow you to get into the Pololu Valley and there is a 4X4 "road" (talk about your precipice) that goes into the Waipio Valley. No roads go beyond the Waipio Valley, and to try to cross the 8 miles or so to the Pololu Valley would be nothing more than by foot (or a really dumb mule). We are told that no one lives in there but just like the beautiful Na Pali Coast of Kaua'i, I wonder just how many are in there to get away from 20th century life. One of my deeper interests has been to go on a tour into the Waipio Valley, which we did do when Kent and Linda were here. That is what I will share with you on ALOHA No. 4.

Hugs from Hula Heaven

Ken & Rosalee

 

Huh? ...Oh... the picture. I'm sure that most of you figured out basically what it is. Linda Smith knows what it is. She is the one that pointed it out to us. No one really LOOKS around themselves. This image was taken in the parking area at the Lava Trees State Park (extremely low key but had restrooms), looking straight up. It is the tree canopy that covered above us, possibly 100 feet above us. It is so remarkable how the trees 'select' their 'real estate' and by shrouding any late-coming branches from sunlight, they force those other (later) branches to make a nearly complete cover overhead. The botanical process? That is a pure and beautiful demonstration of a process which Kim knows... let's say it together... Phototropism... the process by which (most) plants grow toward the source of (unobstructed) light. :-)

ALOHA

 

 

 

Yes... I know... You HAVE seen that image before. I want to tell you about our "venture" into the depths of Waipio Valley (Wah - ee - pee - oh). The Valley of the Kings, which is another reference to this "place," was so named because many of the remains of the ancient rulers of these islands are supposedly buried in caves or "crypts" in the sheer walls, and they were not too open about disclosing where those remains were placed. The last ruling monarch of the islands was Queen Liliuokalani (Lee - lee - oo - oh - kah - lah - nee), but preceding her were four monarchs that each carried the name Kamehameha (I through IV) (Kah - may - hah - may - hah). Queen Lily was a granddaughter to King Kam the First. It is thought that King Kamhameha I was born on the north coast of Hawai'i, near the town of Hawi (Hah - wee or to some it is Hah - vee), which is less then ten miles from the Brown's home here (and about 25 miles around that tip sticking out in that water in today's first picture). He was part of the original fractured family as his grandfather, King Alapai, (Ah - lah - pah - ee) was told by priests that a "rebel infant" was born who would be a "slayer of chiefs", so he ordered all newborn males (including his grandson) to be killed at birth. Priests stepped in and it is said that he was raised by a childless couple in the Waipio Valley hidden from everyone. His grandfather later allowed him to live when he learned of his existence, after the boy matured. Do we hear a little resemblance to one infamous story from the Bible? I can assure you that during the early 18th century when Kam I was born the Hawaiian people had not seen a copy of the Bible.

That beach down there is a black sand beach, made from crushed and surf-washed bits of black lava. It does not look like it from here, but that beach is a full mile wide. The Valley that goes inland to the left of the beach is five to six miles deep. The sheer bluffs that are on both sides of the canyon are as much as 2000 feet higher than the valley floor. The floor, as you might expect, is considered to be some of the richest soil on the island.

A hundred years ago, this valley was nothing but flat, water-filled Taro fields. At times in the past it is said that more than 10,000 people (and by some reports 3-5 times that many) lived in this valley. Today there are less than fifty people that reside there. One gentleman took us on a tour of that valley. He has lived in the valley all of his life he told us. Neither Rosalee nor I can remember his name.

Oops... Rufus gave his little "funny bark" that signaled something was amiss. Another 5 inch centipede took the Royal Flush. They go by the Triple-Ace plan... one centipede retained in one set of kitchen tongs plus one pair of scissors produces three parts of a centipede making the one-way trip down the slippery slope to SepticVille. He will not be back. This dog is good... four to his name so far.

We made a call and signed the four of us up for the 1 1/2 hour buggy ride on the valley floor (Kenton, Linda, Rosalee and me). But first, we have to get to the buggy, which is 1500 feet below us, and to reach it, we must either grow wings, learn to hang-glide, or get in our guide's 4 X 4 Ford van and ride down a road built in the time the US Military were so prevalent in the islands fighting in the Pacific Theatre. The "road" has been here for centuries I suspect, but the military engineers took a look at it and some Lieutenant likely said "I want my Jeep to be at the bottom of that road by 0600 hours Thursday... so they built the road. Or maybe they tossed the lieutenant over... WITH his Jeep... who knows.

<<<<<   This is us descending down the single-lane road that has little "pull-outs" to allow you to let an upward bound vehicle to sneak past you. The view in the window is telling the whole story. The AVERAGE slope of the road is 25%, with some sections approaching closer to 30%. Linda has the outside seat next to the window, and she is pretty cool about this whole thing. Rosalee is doing surprisingly well with it. Kent is up front (riding shotgun) in his Australian Outback hat. At this point we have reached about half way down. Our guide has decided it is time to stop and "talk story", which is the Hawaiians' way of saying "standing still on a terribly steep road telling stories about how he used to walk to school up this very road every day". That goes one step better than the one I always heard about my dad "having to milk fifty head of cows and feed them before he walked twenty miles to school... in the snow... uphill both ways".

Looking out over this valley I'm thinking "this valley certainly would never have been this beautiful if it were covered in taro fields. That's too much like the "barren" rice fields that I grew up around when I lived in Gridley.

This is a look toward the front of our vehicle, to give you an   >>>>>> idea of just what the road looks like.

You may be wondering why this valley was supporting 10,000+ inhabitants at one time but is only supporting 50 now. Actually, there is no longer the labor-intensive taro farming down here. Part of the reason is the market, of course. It seems that the market for Poi is diminishing somewhat. Have you tried it? Do you enjoy wallpaper paste for dinner? Our guide took some offense to that comment... he said that he loved the flavor and without it many of the people on this and other islands may not have survived. What he did not say was that Rosalee spotted him in the parking lot in the front of the Waimea Foodland Shopping Center. We shop there too and did not see any Poi counters.

Another reason that the valley is not full of condos and 7-11's is because during more than a few times in the past, there have been Tsunamis, and they usually will flood as far as a quarter to a half mile up into the valley. Nineteen forty six was a bad year for these folks, as was 1960 with the Chilean earthquake... then 1964 with the huge shaker in Anchorage, Alaska (which actually was not as bad here in the islands as the others. I am reading the book "TSUNAMI! " by Dudley and Lee, and of course, this morning when I'm mowing the lawn Rosalee comes out and says "We just got a call from "Marsha" at the homeowner's group telling us that Hawai'i is on a Tsunami Watch due to an earthquake near the Samoas, and to not go to the beaches today... they are closed. Rosalee and I have probably been in Hawai'i more than 200 days total and we have never been involved in one of those. No sirens today. It turned out to not be a threat to these islands. Well, that is just as well. Everyone wanted to see the "big waves" so they all went to the beaches. Sheese...

<<<<<   Well, the reason that we are descending this "road" is what you can see in this next image. Can we just stop and visualize how peaceful and serene and quiet and relaxing this would be? Our kids would be saying No Electricity? No Phone? No Cell Tower? No School Bus? No School? ...oh... hey... cool!

The wires on the pole to the right are a minimal service coming down into the valley. There is limited electrical power half way across the valley but not past the little creek. I guess with no bridges, the service personnel did not want to get their trucks wet?

There are no stores down in the valley. One little shack is thought to be planned to be converted to a "hotel". I doubt that it will have a neon sign on it. It will probably be right next to the "highway" though. Location! Location! Location!

I mentioned Tom and Vickie Hughes in Pasco, Washington a time or two back. Tom has family that live down south of Hilo, and some time back a group of them took the trip down into Waipio Valley. Tom's dad apparently challenged his granddaughter to walking down the Jeep road. So, of course, she HAD to not let her grandpa get one up on her... so they walked down. That is an amazing feat for a man in his seventh decade.

Well, we made it to the valley floor. This is the little place that our guide calls "Home". Can you imagine a more idyllic place on Earth? And speak about quiet. There is little if any wind down here, with those 2,000 foot high bluffs surrounding you. I did not check, but I doubt very much that there would have been any signal at all reaching our cell phones here. If you can afford one of the new satellite-direct phones, I suppose that might work, if the high walls don't cut off that reception too. Here, at the Brown's home where we are staying, anyone in the area using one of the Dish or the older 8-foot diameter dish antennas have them aimed almost horizontally, indicating they are "pulling a signal" from a satellite nearly over California. That signal would definitely never reach into this valley. We may have found the best reason to live here. No radio. No TV. No Telephone. No Internet... oh no... I could not send out these huge, obnoxious e-mails then... drat!

Our guide did not actually say that he lives here, but his lady friend was here, working in the yard. He got his sack lunch from her. We did not see any other possible buildings that they could live in.

On our travels on the valley floor we passed a small, somewhat rugged home tucked under huge trees, and our guide indicated to us that a well-known football player owned the home and this is where he lived during the off-season. He told us his name and the team he plays for, but hey... what do I know for nuthin'... I don't even remember if the team was AFL or NFL. Now Kim, our daughter, she would know. She knows all that stuff. Her daughters probably even know. As we came out of the canyon onto the main road (after the tour was over), the guide waved as we passed a fellow in a big Ford 4X4 crew cab pickup and told us "That's... " whatever his name is... the football player. He certainly looked as if he could 'hold his own' on the gridiron.

A lot of the fellows that basically have grown up here from the beginning look like they could do quite well on a ball field. They may not be fast, but they all look like they are related to "Refrigerator" or whatever they called that fellow that played for Washington... how'm I doin' Kim... am I in the ball park? Were they the Huskies? :-)

OK... moving on... here's a shot of our man... he is now driving a wagon pulled by a team of mules. He was quick to explain that one male donkey plus one female horse yields one Mule. Mules are sterile and cannot reproduce directly. They end up being quite superior in performing some of the duties "pulling animals" are asked to perform (as well as stature in some cases). These two animals were very easy-going and our guide handled them quite well. The three of them put on a nice show for us. And we certainly did not set any speed records that morning. As you can see behind our guide/driver/carriage man, the Waipio Valley goes well back into the island. The only road going from the left side to the right side is well beyond that farthest peak.

The wagon was very appropriate for the task. It was on rubber tires and had Ford F-150 brake drums and hydraulics added to the rear axle. He tried to impress the ladies by explaining that the axles on his wagon were superior to others in use. I don't think that they were that impressed. Had he simply said that the wagon had a "full-turn fifth wheel" then he would have had me in the palm of his hand. Of course... I could see for myself that the front axle was full turn. :-)

Those hydraulic brakes certainly came in handy when our trusty steeds would attempt to pull us out of a water crossing but would hesitate half-way out. The brakes allowed our driver to "hold onto" any progress we had made up to that point. There were eight of us in the wagon... certainly well within the team's abilities. We wuz jus' little peoples!

You may notice that the valley seems a lot deeper than it did in the image before this one. The image with the ranch house was taken facing south-west, and this one was also facing south-west, but the ranch is actually over to the left, on the other side of that hill behind the driver. Now you can see how this valley could actually be six miles deep. Where we are sitting is probably 1 1/2 miles into the valley from the black-sand beach. If we were to hike directly back into that valley, we would see that it branches out and goes even further on either side of that cloud-covered mountain in the center of the image. If we went up that peak to the top, we would likely be looking down into the town of Waimea on the other side, where we normally go to shop. But... you can't get there from here... without turning around and climbing up that Jeep road again, going eastward along the north-eastern coast nearly to Honoka'a (Ho - no - kah - ah) and then doubling back to the west to reach Waimea.

In this image, the Brown's house is actually to our right, about fifteen miles as that old crow flies, but straight up over the edge of those bluffs and then further up to about 5,000+ feet over Kohala mountain(s). We are basically on the eastern slope of Kohala and the Brown's home is on the opposite, or western slope. Quite a difference between the two sides when it comes to water being available.

I can certainly see why the people that remain in this valley would have somewhat of a defensive attitude and be a bit of an isolationist. Who would want to see a pair of Golden Arches in this gorgeous place? Our guide spoke of a neighbor that wanted to place a "Keep Out" sign on some of the property he owned that was next to the road. People come in here and just walk onto private property like it is a city park. They do not hesitate to harvest fruit that a farmer has worked hard to cultivate and raise to feed his family or sell for income. Apparently the farmer wanted to be strict and to get the point across but others did not like his sign, so our guide made a sign for him. I believe it was something like: "If I can see you in my sights, you are trespassing and within my range". Shooters know exactly what that means.

<<<<   Now if you or I were traveling along a road and found this sign, and then noticed the Waimea River in the front of us, we would likely take that to mean that this is where we stop. However, to our sterile steeds, this is only the beginning. Notice that over on the other side there seems to be a wee bit of an opening in the undergrowth. Well, that is where we are headed. The sign just says that the county is no longer going to be responsible for that part of the passageway. We Is On Our Own, Andy! This may be the reason that " ...they ain't no 'lektricuty pas' th' crick! We done runed outta road" This is where the electrical power service trucks stop I suppose.

It was common to see people in the area hiking, and you are certainly welcome to walk down that Jeep road and walk the road to your heart's content. Don't forget, you have to walk back up that road when the evening comes.

We also see people on horseback. If you like the feel of a horse, I suppose it is ok, but after seeing them in the valley, I am glad that we elected to use the wagon. Sitting on a horse that has to be inline with a dozen others and never gets over a slow walk is not really "riding a horse". We opted for the wagon because of the photography that Kent and I were hoping to do. As it is, many images are too blurry to be of any use, unless you like modern art.

Private cars are allowed, of course, because the roads are public roads. What they do not want you to do is come down here without a 4X4, because it will probably not make it back up that Jeep road and you may get to sleep in your car. We do see some private cars go down that obviously are not 'locals'. Some go down to visit the black-sand beach. However, they all were 4X4 or all-wheel-drive vehicles.

>>>>>   In this image we are closer to those 2,000 foot falls that we could see behind the ranch house. The name of these falls is Hi'ilawe Falls (He - ee - lah - way). which means "to lift; carry". It seems to me that they have that backwards. That waterfall is not being lifted... it's falling... hence the name... F - a - l - l - s?

This is a dry time here, and when it rains more, there are several other small falls on either side of Hi'ilawe. There also used to be a second falls of equal size to this one, but it has been diverted by the sugar industries to utilize the water to grow the crops. The sugar industry is completely gone now (other than some demonstration plots and some experimental growing facilities), but they did not return the water flow. Water is badly needed all over the island.

Kent took a beautiful image of these falls and posted it to his online photo gallery where someone that deals with the water issues here in the islands saw it. They asked him if they could use his image on their brochure. That was very nice. Way To Go, Kent!

Speaking of sugar, when we first visited the islands 25 years ago, we went to Maui, and there were acres after acres of sugar cane. We watched how they laid out small plastic lines for a huge drip-watering system and planted the canes. Then when the canes were taller than the people and ready to harvest, they would set the fields on fire and that would force each cane to send as much of its sugar to its roots as possible (to provide for new growth after this "forest fire" is gone). Then they would take large bulldozers in and just bulldoze everything up, and load it onto huge trucks that were more than 12 feet wide at the load line. They never entered the public roads other than to drive across them at certain locations.

Those huge loads of what looked like trash went to the plant where they were washed and then crushed, their juices gathered, cooked and turned into that lovely white sugar on our table. I just read yesterday in the local paper that the very last crop harvest of sugar cane in the entire state of Hawai'i was being processed on Kaua'i, the island. It's all gone. Now, I guess we have to re-label C&H Sugar as C&? Sugar... or maybe C&P Sugar since most of the industry left Hawai'i and went to the Philippines. I used to ask my Health class students what "C&H" stood for. Their immediate answer was "Cane and...... um.... ". Once they figured out it meant "California & Hawai'i", I asked them "Where do we get sugar in California? Do we grow sugar cane?" That stumped them. Being from the SF Bay Area and living there most of their lives, they had no idea of the extent of farms in California that grow sugar beets.

 

<<<<   This image is what this whole valley used to be about. This is what you used to find on every little scrap of land that was fertile and close to water. See those broad-leafed plants that look like arrow heads? Those are the Taro plant. They are the staple of the original native menu. They have a large tuber or bulb that matures and they can crush or grind it on the grinding stone or in a large bowl, and make it into a paste. That is the basis of several of their menu selections. It can also just be eaten like mush or oatmeal or Creme 'O Wheat (my personal childhood favorite with lots of sugar and some cream on top). The Poi (Poh - ee) as it is called, LOOKS like wallpaper paste, which no doubt biases our taste buds, so when we eat it, we think... "Yep... just like wallpaper paste!" Now, I ask you... how many of us have actually TASTED wallpaper paste? Poi just tastes like we THINK wallpaper paste tastes. In reality, Poi is rather tasteless. It seems to literally have no flavor. So... why not add it to something else and get the benefit of the food value (pretty high) of the Poi and the flavor of whatever you mix it with. Mother did that when she wanted my brother Cody and I to take Castor Oil when we were kids. We hated it (still do), so she put it in our Orange Juice. It was thirty years before I could look an OJ in the face without a churning stomach (now looking at OJ does that to me). (...the man)

These plants are planted individually and by hand just like you see them here, and continually grow in standing water. After they start to mature, they spread as new plants grow from the tuber and cover the area.

<<<<  This second picture shows this same area, and in the lower left corner you can see a patch about the size of this first one, but it is much more mature and more densely packed.

In our visits to the islands we have never seen poi on the menu in the restaurants. The only place that we have actually tasted Poi was at a Luau on Maui that we went to with Harold and Bessie, Rosalee's folks. It was their fiftieth wedding anniversary and our twenty-fifth (and the year that Kent and Linda got married). Bessie was interested in "checking out" a luau. It was interesting. The food was all good. The MC of the show said that we ALL had to take just a little Poi... it was not bad... but if it doesn't taste good, why bother? Ah, yes... the steadfast philosophy of an eternally fat man.

I did read that a short time ago (couple of decades I think) heavy rains filled this entire valley with about four feet of water. With a mouth a mile wide, that had to be a lot of rain in a short while, because there is no restriction for water to run off this valley floor.

Today plants are growing anywhere that they can get a foothold. We saw so many plants that florists back home would put in a pot and sell for $15, but here they are literally weeds. I have always been fond of the dieffenbachia plant. They do not even get a mention here. Our guide did (needlessly, as it could not be missed) bring our attention to Split-Leaf Philodendrons that completely engulfed the trunks of huge trees and grew up into the branches to reach heights of at least thirty feet from the ground. Can you imagine what a specimen like that would bring to a florist that placed it in a corporate office entrance?

 

<<<<  We are on the way back up the trail. I have seriously cropped and adjusted this image so that the ocean is level, but rest assured that the vehicle we are in was far from level. No, it was not our wiggly-eared friends pulling that wagon up that grade. We were back in our guide's 4X4 and he was "talkin' story" to us about historical facts.

If you blow up this picture of that bluff on the far side, you would see a zigg-zagging trail climbing up that cliff, for those that needed to move to the next canyon. I have done that in the next image, in which, down on the lower right of the picture you can see that trail. It has been there at least several hundred years. You can walk it if you want, but it is a good 9 hours to the next valley, and for some reason, it is 10 hours back. Not a lot of people take that walk... at least not a lot of people COME BACK from that walk. I will enjoy it from here. Thank you.

 

 

It was an enjoyable trip. We would recommend it to anyone that wanted to take it. It did not require a lot of strength or ability. You just had to listen to a fellow talk about his life and his daily routines and his ancient stories and his... hey... you are doing that now when you read this... so... take the ride. The scenery is beautiful. If you are looking for old Hawai'i, you are getting pretty close to that when you take this ride.

The last image today is our vehicle about to negotiate the last two turns of the Jeep road coming up out of the valley. Ok... I cheated. This IS the truck, but I took this image two years ago standing at the observation area at the Waipio Valley Overlook. I cannot tell if it is the same driver, but I did not see anyone standing in line to take his position, so it is most likely him. It is his company for sure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An update on "the Boys"... they are great troopers. They sleep on their individual beds in the Master Bedroom. They retire when Rosalee does, while I continue to type long, boring messages to people that wonder why. Then when I retire, they attack me at the bedroom door. I shush them and they go back to bed. If I get up during the night, they ignore me. When either of us awakens in the morning, and we peek over, they are sitting up and ready... watching intently... ready to see some "life" from our bed. Until they do... total silence. Once one of us is up (and the sun is shining), they are all excited. Usually Rosalee gets up and feeds them, and they all go into the other part of the house. When I get up, I open the bedroom door and go into the front of the house with a "Good Morning". That is their key. They have been sitting next to Rosalee as quite as church mice, but now that I am up, the race begins and they are doing sixty mph down the hallway into the bedroom, bouncing back and going the length of the house, and back again several times. The world is awake now. They know it. They are celebrating it. What cuties. When that is done and I come out after my morning stuff... they are asleep on the couch next to Rosalee again. Ahh... such a (dog's) life.

Uh oh... I'm proofing this letter and they just came in from the outside and Rajah... oh boy... Bath time.

Take Care, Everyone

 

Ken & Rosalee

ALOHA

 

Early evening from the mail box area, Kohala Ranch

 

What a wonderful day we had today! I am starting this late Sunday night, and it will probable be several more nights before I finish it up, but I wanted to talk about this while it is fresh in my mind. First of all, we had some sprinkles here but not really enough to register on the weather machine here at the house. But we had no wind. This was the first day in nearly a week that we did not feel like we were going to be transplanted onto Maui on the next gust of wind. We had a full day set up ahead of us, so we left the house a little after 7:00 am to head down to the south-eastern section of the island... what is referred to as the Puna Section. We had two destinations for the day, both two hours from where we are staying but they actually were about 20 minutes apart.

But first, as we were leaving the house, and as we were coming out of the automatic gate that the Brown's have to keep the Free-Range cows out of the yard, we had a big black-whiteface bossy literally standing just outside the gate. We have noticed her "in the area" for several days now, and it is rather strange to see a single cow in the open areas. They tend to gather together more than separate. As we drove out, she did not seem to want to go away, so we lingered to make sure the automatic gate closed with bossy still on the OUTSIDE of the yard. No freebies for Bossy today.

Forty-five minutes into the trip found us driving through Honoka'a (Ho - no - kah - ah), the location for Tex's, The Home Of The Malasada, which, we are told, is a Portuguese treat which is very much like the light, fluffy, raised doughnut, but it is about 3" square and 1 1/2" thick... and no hole... and it is to die for. I'm sure it will take off at least a week of my life... sugar... oil... everything I can think of that is good... and deadly for sure.

Our first destination was for 9:30 am, and it was going to be tight. We had Gabby, our electronic GPS gadget working for us, and "she" said that we were "on schedule", but I did not have an exact address that she recognized, so we were winging it a little bit. We traveled down through Hilo, and then Keaau (Kay - ah - ah - oo), which will be our second destination and we will catch on our return trip later in the day. Thanks to good instructions, we even spotted the home that we would be returning to as we drove by. It has been raining on us most of the two-hour trip, sometimes hard enough that the wipers on the Cadillac are just not able to move the water fast enough.

We are an the road that leads to the Kalapana area (Kah - lah - pah - nah), which Rosalee and I had visited when we first visited the Big Island back in '91 or so. At that time, the lava was flowing into the town, and the residents were desperately trying to move their homes and some buildings. One large, old, famous wooden church was on traveling wheels as we pulled into the edge of town. It was ready to be moved out of the path of the "burning rock". I think that I mentioned before that back in '91 we filmed Kaimu Black Sand Beach (Kah - ee - moo) just after noon and it was covered over with fresh lava later that afternoon.

Before we reached the Kalapana area, we were instructed to turn onto a narrow road that dropped down a steep hill, and after 3.5 miles, we should find a gate covered with a tarp, a round horse pen, and sheep in the field next to the road. Now, the rain is still falling, and we are dropping further and further, and about every 300 yards, we are going through a dip that has water covering the road for at least 10 feet across. Rosalee is starting to visibly show the discomfort that she has been feeling for some time now. She is starting to wonder if we will be able to come back out after all of the rain. This area gets over 100 inches of rain a year, so the trees and undergrowth are very prominent. THIS is what you think of when you think of Hawai'i. Rosalee is not thinking of that at the moment. 8-|

We are not too bad off because they have traffic signs along the road. This is not too far out into the woods. The signs are saying "One Lane Road Next Four Miles", and "Speed Limit Ten MPH", and stuff like that. At least, we still have a white line down the midle. Hey! It's PAVED! LOL This 3.5 miles are starting to take a lot more time than "Gabby" predicted. Rosalee is asking about "Are We There Yet" and stuff... did I mention that Rosalee was a little apprehensive on this part of the trip?

Hey, we see life. Maybe... but... That is a wild boar. Pigs are wild in the islands and do a lot of damage to the crops and the forest lands, and are pretty much constantly in open season if you are hungry for a pork chop, but we have never seen one in all the trips we have come over here. He disappeared under the brush and just as well. I did not know what damage he could do should he decide that silver Cadillac was the new love of his life... or a challenger.

Right at 3.5 miles we see signs of what we are looking for. That is good. There is what looks like a round metal horse pen. Good! OK... There are some sheep, in the field right next to the road. Good! We are now past all of the good signs, except for one. We did not see a gate with a tarp. OK... turn around... but... where? One lane paved road with mud on both sides and a big Cadillac that cannot swim or walk on the top of mud... Hmmm. But we found a spot, where upon getting out and walking on it, I determined that it was solid enough to support the car turning around. Driving back, we found the gate. We had looked right over it looking for the horse corral and the sheep. We pulled in and the sign gave the address and advised "Honk Horn".

Now, by this time, you may have come up with a question in your mind as to just why we were out here on a nice Sunday driving through a jungle in a rented car in a downpour. I know Rosalee was asking this about every three minutes. (Nah... she is a super trooper!) You all know that I am involved with breast cancer detection, prevention, and general information. One major influence in my work... in fact TWO influences in my work, happen to be Sydney Singer and Soma Grismaijer, a man and wife research team. who are co-authors of "Dressed To Kill: The Link Between Breast Cancer and Bras ." They continue to do fascinating work in this field, and other critical yet unique situations. Sydney contacted me a few years ago with gracious compliments about my www.BreastNotes.com website and thanked me for helping to spread knowledge of their work with breast cancer prevention and research. We have communicated since then and they said to let them know if we were going to be "in the area". Well, this is where Syd and Soma live. With a honk on the horn, a charming young blonde lad greeted us at the gate and invited us in. We had just met their 17 year-old son Solomon.

Upon entering their 70 acre estate, we were greeted by Soma and Syd and various critters enjoying life. We saw sheep that I would swear were goats. They do not put on a heavy coat, so are not sheared, but they have hair as short as a shorn sheep. The sheep with heavy coats have difficulties in the heat of some regions of Hawai'i. They showed us trees that bore fruit and came from all around the world, that they had gathered during their many travels. I had my first taste of goats milk that was very sweet and very nice. They make their own cheese from goats milk which I found to be mild and pleasant. They grow their own coffee beans and grind their own true Kona coffee (100% no less). They shared some fruit the likes that we had never seen before, and we still cannot remember the names of, but they were very tasty. The outside looked like a lemon, and by cutting one end off you used a spoon to dip out the fruit. It had two seeds that were shaped like dried dates, and were about the same size. Delicious. They said that they are not even in the local markets.

We sat in their kitchen and talked of medical and scientific things that were very enriching. Syd could tell from merely looking at Rosalee's face which side she sleeps on. They spoke of some newer research that they have been doing that shows promise for those who have been dealing with migraines for years, and are actually eliminating the migraines. Simply sleeping on their back with their whole upper body elevated at a 30 degree angle, they are knocking out the migraines and waking in the mornings more refreshed and without the puffy eyes and grogginess that we often start the day with. They are finding this helps people dealing with sleep apnea and other "problems" that our society faces too often. It has something to do with excess blood pressure from the heart that we experience when we go from a vertical position (which requires extra pressure to compensate gravity to lift the blood to our head) to the horizontal position of sleeping (which has no gravity effect to overcome). Their observation has been that strokes frequently occur in the early mornings before getting up, and astronauts are showing similar affects where they have spent days on end in a gravity-free environment in space.

Their son was literally raised barefoot on that location since he was one year old, and he now teaches people how to ride horses bare-footed and bare-backed, and he literally 'controls' the horse with his feet against their upper legs and shoulders. He was prepared to give us a demonstration but the ground was too muddy for the horses to be ridden. Hopefully we will have another chance to observe that. Solomon has his pilot's license and he and a friend flew up to Kohala the week before, putting on demonstrations of bare-back horse riding, and offers riding lessons. This young man who has been home-schooled his entire life works with the local radio stations, is licensed to the highest individual license level that FCC covers, and he has been instrumental in bringing wireless internet out to this area where we could not even raise "service" on our cell phone to tell our next appointment that we were on our way. And a more courteous and respectful young man we have rarely seen. (NOTE: Two years later this amazing young man ran for County Supervisor.)

All too quickly our time was running out. On the way out, Soma made sure that we took a couple of avocados from their trees, and Syd pulled a huge green coconut from one of their trees that was the size of a soccer ball. With a machete, he lobbed off a corner and the soft shell inside yielded to his blade and with a flick of the blade he opened the white "meat" of the nut to allow us to drink from the nut. I have purchased from stores and/or collected from wild coconut groves here on the islands the hard brown coconuts, and after husking it and drilling it and smashing it, got "milk" that was pretty strong, but tasty. The one that Syd opened was mildly-flavored and slightly sweet. It was wonderful. He shared that during World War II that milk was used as a replacement for blood in combat with great success. After we finished drinking it all, he popped it open and the "meat" is very soft, yet firm enough that you could "spoon" it out, and it tasted different, but wonderful. It was not the usual hard nutty meat that we are more used to but not mushy either. te

Syd agreed with me when I commented to him "This is as close to Old Hawai'i that I have ever been". It was indeed that. It was not an existence that everyone would be interested in, but they have found peace and solace there, and a welcome respite from the corporate and literary world that they have been so involved in. They have multiple titles to their credit. They are also very active in the Hawaiian ecology and natural beauty. They have traveled the world over, but for them, this was indeed Heaven on Earth -- without the wings.

Off we go, through the narrow road, the six-inch deep fordings in the gullies and back to the more traveled road. Still it was another ten miles further into town before we could get a signal to call Trisha to tell her that we were on our way. We finally made contact when we were about two miles from her home. We pulled in and she and her father Walt were outside to greet us. Let me tell you about our hosts.

(Note: This image was taken in the Spring of 2012, when I visited the Livermore Airport with Kent and his son Logan. That is Walt Hughes and his daughter Trisha, who both live in Hawai'i, but were traveling with three "war birds" that have been restored and are flown to air shows. Walt was pilot of a B-24  in WWII. That is his original uniform. Walt has been serving as a 'docent' for these planes for years, and Trisha was traveling with him, helping with the show operations.)

I have spoken several time about our friends (and Ken's former students) Tom and Vicki Hughes, that live in Pasco Washington. They both are involved in the local fire departments, and Tom is Captain of their local station. Tom's older sister (Trisha) came over to Hawai'i thirty years ago. She graduated from the high school where I did my teaching career, but I never had her in class or knew her when she was attending there. Tom came later, and I had him in my shop classes. Vicki was a young lady that was in my "Girl's Auto" class that we created to make a Women's Liberation Principal happy (to get more girls into the shop programs was the intent). We already had girls in all of the programs, but this one was for only girls, and I taught things like "How to change a tire in a skirt without getting the skirt dirty", and "How to start a car under emergency situations" (which most people would say was a nice way of saying "How to hot-wire a car"). That sounds like we were headed 180° from sexual equality with those "titles".

But, we had fun. I remember the day the girls pulled a 3-speed transmission out of a Chevrolet car that the Oakland Tribune donated to the school (with a quarter million miles on it - I think Jack Alberti bought that Chevy). That was when the girls wore those bee hive postiche's. Rolling around on "creepers" under that car, in the transmission oil that was leaking out of the tranny, three girls were having just too much fun and although they did get the transmission out to change the clutch, one of those bee hives ended up rolling around like a pig in a puddle. I never saw three girls have so much fun. I hope their mothers agreed. Well, Vicki was a member of that class (not one that was playing in the oil though), and during the events that occur in a classroom Vicki and Tom ended up marrying in Niles, California, on April the 15th, which should have scared them to death, but they have raised two beautiful girls.

Tom made sure that we knew that Trisha, his sister, lived in Hawai'i, and through his efforts, he finally got us together today. We got to know Trisha, got to know her husband Eddie (he is quiet, but very knowledgeable), and got to have a very nice visit with Tom and Trisha's father Walt who moved over with his wife, Vi in about 2003. We lost Vi last year. When the crew brings those WWII bombers to Livermore airport for the air shows, Tom's dad Walt comes with them as a docent. A photo of him in his uniform was in our local paper last Memorial Day. He had a distinguished career in the Air Force. Walt was also on the Fremont Unified School Board and was the President of the board during the time that I was first hired in Fremont as a teacher. So, you see, we HAD to get together and close up some of those gaps. Thanks to Tom, Vicki and Trisha, we did it today, and it was an enjoyable time for us.

As a former trucker, I do need to talk more to Trisha's husband, Eddie. Tom told me years ago that "his brother-in-law" drove a truck up to the area on Mauna Kea where those telescopes were located. I assumed that he made deliveries to them. Well, he did, but it was not their daily supplies. He delivered the telescopes up there. He had pictures at the house that showed what they had to do to get those huge pieces up there. Not only the weight of the load but the traction that was almost non-existent on those steep, gravel roads were difficulties that they faced (if they spun-out and got stopped they would likely not be able to get started moving again). Three tractors (truck engine, cab, and axles that pull the trailer part) linked together, each with three axles (ten wheels) pulling, and the load on a single trailer with four axles and 16 tires. Just the load on the trailer was in the vicinity of 80,000 pounds (A complete truck, trailer and load is limited to 80,000 pounds in most states). The two tractors that did not have the trailer attached were carrying a concrete block on the fifth wheel that weighed over two tons, just to give it traction. This "train" had to climb up to the 10,000+ altitude. I just read that they are planning another telescope up there, and the main mirror on it will be thirty meters wide. That is just short of 100 feet wide. I would sure like to ride along on THAT delivery.

Trisha made us a very lovely lunch with sandwiches made from her own home-made sweet bread that was very tasty and moist. She also served home-grown fruit and her own harvested avocados, topped off with home-made peach pie and home-made Banana bread. We had a chance to visit and get to know each other better. We were able to reminisce a little from the early days of MSJ High School, and Walt and I were able to discuss "behind the scenes details" of what was happening early in my teaching career. He remembered many of those that I worked with. We both had a bit of trouble remembering some of the names, however.

We were treated to a tour of their gardens, where we saw some of the strangest fruit on trees that were brought in by Trisha over the years. One tree was the size of a small walnut tree, and it had fruit pods hanging at the trunk that were spiny and green and the size of a basketball. Walt said that one had fallen from the tree that weighed 75 pounds. He said that it was problematic in that it had a strange resin that literally would ruin a knife used to open it.

They had banana trees that were loaded with bananas, and she sent some home with us, that were very good. Very tasty. They also plant and harvest their own pineapples. Walt showed me his Hydroponics setup where he grows a constant supply of lettuce - several varieties - from seed. He uses no pumps in his setup. Very simple... very efficient. Trisha has orchids growing in most of her trees. Her profession is working with retention of rainfall, access to water by wells, and proper treatment of waste water and sewage. What a wonderful visit we had with them.

These two visits certainly show us that life on the islands certainly do not have to be dull and "laid back".

The sun was setting as we returned to "the ranch". As frequently happens, the upper gate did not want to recognize us and open for us. We had to press the intercom and communicate with the lower gate. The bar code sticker in the side window of the car that they give us for a "key" was being scanned properly by the laser, but it was stubborn. The gatekeeper at the lower gate knew who we were but did not know why the gate refused to open. He opened it remotely. This happened a lot last year also.

As we entered into the Kohala Ranch area we were confronted with some very dark brown horses that had NO white on them. They were almost invisible in the darkness. One on each side of the road. They ignored us as we slipped past them. As we pulled up to the Brown's gate, our friend Bossy was still there. She was standing in front of the post with the entry button. She was facing the gate, as if waiting for it to open and admit her into that lovely dark green yard. She yielded her position so we could open the gate, but after entry we waited for the gate to close before going on up to the house, to make sure Bossy did not gain entry.

The boys were of course overjoyed to see us. They are if we are gone ten minutes. It is so nice to know that someone loves us. :-)

It is now Monday morning and I am finishing this up. We awakened to a beautiful day with very gentle breezes and a gorgeous sunrise which we seldom see. It will be another beautiful day in Paradise.

Love to you all.

Ken & Rosalee

Sunrise over Kohala Mountains

ALOHA

I don't think that I have brought you home this direction. This was taken several days ago, just as we entered through the "Upper Gate" that allows us to come into Kohala Ranch from the Kohala Mountain Road. The elevation at this gate is close to 3,000 feet. I could not get the image to show it clearly, as this was in the late afternoon and the sun was facing us, but the lower half of the blue above the tree line is water. We are looking DOWN ONTO the Pacific Ocean. It is hazy enough and the sun is low enough that the horizon is very difficult to pick out. We tried to enter through the gate with our bar-code ticket, and the laser was "reading us" ok because the green light was on, but Rosalee observed that it was solid green and not blinking as it usually does while the electric gate is opening. The upper gate has a gate house (at least 500 sq ft) but is often not "manned". They have closed circuit TV monitors all over and the lower gate is always "manned"... or "womanned".

So... we backed up and took another run at that laser. Ok... again, and slower... let's try it backwards this time... OK, now we will turn the bar code over and see if it is better... Closed Gate! We moved forward to the gate where we could press the intercom, and the gate keeper came on. He knew from his computer that it was us and he apologized but did not know why it did not open. He "buzzed" us in. Today as we pulled out, he told us "We did not know how long you were going to be here so we made it good for a month and it expired. LOL.

OK... we're in and... "Huh? ... wha's that up there, Tex?" "Shewt, I don' know, Slim... looks like a ambush settin' up fer us." "We better take 'er slow an' easy here. We don' know if they's friend 'r foe." "How 'bout we jes mosey down thur like we b'long here."

 

"uh, oh... They's a'bunchin' up on us. Looks like they's makin' thur play Tex!"            Look Out, Slim... Thet Brown one's puttin' th' evil eye on ya... Lock yer door!"

We have never noticed horses that were open range on any previous visits, but on this visit we have encountered them multiple times. They just were NOT interested in moving over as we came through. We literally came up to them and stopped. As we rolled forward, they would not move. You notice in the second image that there is a car coming up hill that is waiting for them to move, but they could wait quite a while. I rolled a little more, tried the horn, rolled still more. They were literally going to let me roll up against them. But the last thing that we needed was to have to explain that impression of a horse shoe in the center of that Cadillac grille. Shoot, the whole grill would be gone, for sure.

About that time the passenger of the other car got out and he physically walked into the group, clapping his hands and verbally prompting them, they finally started sauntering out of the way. As we (and the other car) passed through, another car was coming up the hill and the horses were again filling in on the road behind us. They were really out there trying to collect contributions to the Bovine political party. I hear their nominee is a real... um... horse's pitootie. Did I hear a Groan?

Last Sunday we flushed a wild boar out of the rain forest and today we had a wild goat cross this same road. We see wild goats frequently, but they are not much bigger than a large dog. This one today was the size of the Dall Sheep in Alaska with 8" horns.

A little over a week ago we stopped in to visit the Pu'ukohola Heiau (Poo - oo - koh - hoh - lah Hey - ee - ah - oo). Now, before you say "That's just an old pile of rocks on the hill", there is more to it than that. "Heiau" is translated as "Temple", and an esteemed "seer" named Kapoukahi(Kah - poph - oo - kah - he) told Kamehameha The Great to "Build a Heiau on Pu'ukohola (the hill of the whale), dedicate it to your war god, and you will achieve your dream - you will rule the islands." These rocks were brought from as far as thirty miles away in Pololu Valley, by forming a line of thousands of warriors to pass these rocks to this location one by one. Even with that, this sacred place was finished in less than two years (1791).

No mortar was used to stack these ocean-worn rocks, and many of them weigh in the hundred-pound area. Wood and thatched buildings were erected on the top of these structures, and only extremely limited numbers of natives were allowed on the temple itself.

No amount of glorification can cover over the fact that many men, women and children (not to mention the animals) met their final fate at these Heiau. Dedications and religious observations often called for the slaughter of an animal or a human. After the missionaries began to come to the islands, they put a lot of their "rules" into effect and essentially convinced the Hawaiian people to throw out the old "Taboos". That also showed that these "Gods" that they had been worshipping were not what they thought that they were, so many of the old taboos were tossed, and because of the horror and disgrace of these religious sites, the Hawaiian people tore many of them down. This one was reconstructed later, and is continually reconstructed, especially following the destructive earthquakes that have hit this area in recent years.

Downhill and directly in front of Pu'ukohola Heiau is an older and smaller structure, Meilekini Heiau (Meh - ee - leh - kee -nee). You can see that it is being built back up with the primitive scaffolding in use. This is all volunteer work being done over several years. The Pu'ukohola Heiau is only a couple of hundred feet to the right of the camera. Over the trees in the distance you can see the Kawaihae Harbor, the western port on the island, and up that hill to the right is the Brown's home, about ten miles from where we are standing. To the left in front of this Heiau is a very gentle and peaceful natural harbor that first attracted early settlers to this area.

We have had a couple of beautiful days, with nary a wind, and the temperature has been nice. Today looks like it may warm up a little and some breeze is picking up. Things have been pretty quiet here at the house. The "boys" are growing up, and showing more and more maturity. The are responding well to the leash when we walk them. They are quite personable and very intelligent. They pick up on things very quickly. They can appear to be totally asleep in the room with us and if they hear the word "walk" ears immediately go up, even if we were talking about something totally different. "OK" also seems to be a trigger to their anticipation of something further coming along.

We picked up Clyde yesterday and went to one of her favorite food hangouts (Merrimans', where Kent and Linda went with us the first time they came over... located in the King's Shops, an upscale shopping center). She said that "Virgie" (Virginia, the sweet lady that cleans Clyde's home) recommended the Clams and Pasta dish. Well, I'm into the local foods this trip, so I went for it... in a big way. Nothing went home with me in a bag. We usually only eat half our lunch, but this was just too good to let it be a "warm-up". We ate at the "Hawaiian Cafe" which is a proverbial "hole-in-the-wall" that has fantastic (and extremely plentiful) offerings. Twice the waitress recommended "the Hawaiian Plate" or some such, and I made the plunge. When they show up, I'm wondering just what foolishness I had done, but remembering what our son Kent said about one of his trips to China or Formosa or some place, when he was "on his own" for lunch, when entering a "food court", he looked around and there were no dead bodies at the exits, so it must be ok to eat there. He was pleased with the food, he said, but he just did not choose anything that was moving in the serving bowl.

Well, this one sure looked like it was a nesting place for something that would attack at will, but it was wonderful. My next venture at the same restaurant (the "Hawaiian Plate" is only on Fridays) was an equally pleasant surprise. No, I did not notice any printed posters on the wall showing the caloric content nor the sodium content. We're on vacation, remember? Our new friends in the south end of the island shared an Abiu that looked like a lemon but you spooned out of the rind like eating a poached egg. They shared fresh coconuts that we drank the milk and then spooned out the white meat, which is "spoonable" and not solid like we are used to. Our other new friends shared a fresh-picked pineapple and fresh-picked tiny bananas that have a wonderful flavor. Of course we were forced to finish off the bowl of fresh strawberries and bowl of fresh avocados that came from their trees when we had lunch with them on Sunday. Yes, of course... I have put on a couple of pounds.

We are about to finish up here for this tour. Another mowing of the lawn... likely another shower with the dogs... looks like rain coming in over the mountain. Most likely those clouds will empty out before they reach us. That's the way it goes here.

We will be flying into Oakland Wednesday night so we will have to once more say goodbye to Paradise.

Aloha to you all

 

Ken & Rosalee