Friday, Jan 25th 2013

 Not a lot to report from these parts. I did some gardening yesterday and then went to the beach at Mahukona. The beach is rocky, so there's only one area where a boat can be launched or where you can get into the water to swim. Nevertheless, it was beautiful. They say there are whales off the coast and I had Alex's binoculars but didn't see any. Here's a sunset from Kapa'a which is just up the road. I took this the other day.
  Fred and family are arriving later today. Going grocery shopping to have the welome meat balls and sauce ready.

I am learning to post these photos. The top one is a trumpet vine. A pomelo tree is behind it and a pomelo hangs down, looking like it's growing from the trumpet vine. Pomelo looks just like grapefrui but is much larger..
   The next is Alex at the farmers market which is held on the corner every Saturday. Last is a view of the Ocean from Kapa'a Beach Park.

Fri., Jan 25, 2013-This is Alex with Lucy, a lovely dog. His house in Havi',on the big Island, where I am staying.

Thursday, January 24, 2013
Into the blog-o-sphere I go! Hello again. As promised we had our "Woofer's Pot Luck"  last night. There were 9 or 10 people, including Alex and Makenna and me. Alex made pickled beet salad, Makenna made a very interesting "burger" of taro and bread fruit, mashed and mixed with red cabbage, carrots, ginger, eggs, I think, and other stuff. She breaded and sauteed them in olive oil. Very good! The ginger pepped it up as bread fruit and taro don't have much taste. I made red cabbage slaw. Gail, the goat lady, brought some sort of veggie stew. Unfortunately she dropped part of it in the road before she got here. I've done that sort of thing too, on the way to pot lucks. However, she was happy as a clam, as she had just gotten hot water installed behind her shed (her word) where she lives. She has 2 acres close to the ocean. and goats. There's Billy and 4 girls. They have Hawaiian names which I don't remember. However, she loves them dearly. Jake came, one of my favorite people. He's somewhere above 6 feet, very thin, about 30 years old I'd guess. He loves living in Hawaii and came here from the mid west where everyone drank beer and watched TV in there free time. He's reads a lot, is very idealistic, and wants to make the world a better place. He lives in a yurt at Roberts place and farms there. I've met a lot of very happy people here. They appreciate the simple life, the great weather, have many friends, and seem happy to avoid the rat race. Jake brought kale and a big leaf spinach and washes the dishes after these affairs as he doesnt' cook.
    John brought wine. I don't know his relationship to everyone but he was late as he had to go to a local meeting about installing a dock for boaters. Apparently it's the boaters against the swimmers and so far the boaters are winning. No one was very happy about that.
 Carol who has the coffee shop brought good macaroni salad with bacon and other stuff. Her son, Noah is visiting from Portland where he works in a restaurant on the East side. Carol's daughter goes to PSU, so Carol comes to Portend now and then. I think that family is Hawaiian or Asian from their appearance. Not sure about that. Did I say Robert was there? Can't remember what he brought. We had ice cream for desert, courtesy of Alex. Well now, do you think I could get a job doing the gossip column for a local paper?
  As usual, the weather is great although a little overcast. I've been weeding this morning. I'm sitting on a swing, looking at Bird of Paradise,  coconut palms, many types of bromelaids- they have long pointy, leathery leaves with prickers and beautiful colorful cup-like flowers, sedum, cactus of every variety. agave, aloe, and a lot of stuff which I can't identify. If you're wondering where I am getting my plant knowledge, it's from Alex's very large book from the American Horticultural Society. It has words and pictures for an amazing array of plants. In the back yard there's a garden with a tree with trumpet shaped, hanging flowers  They grow a fruit that's like a huge grapefruit. Also, the vine, Liliko,i is in the neighbor's yard, but the lilikoi drop down in our back yard. (See how possessive I'm getting?) Makenna's been making Lilikoi custard. Lilikoi is the same as passion fruit.  Fuchsia grows here too. That's it for now.

Thursday
 Well folks, I'm extremely frustrated!!! I just wrote a whole new post for this blog and then lost it!!! If there's one think I learned it's to save stuff!! Anyway, I had told you about our Woofer's dinner and the food and the people who were here. And then I told you about all the plants I've been looking up and naming and that's gone too. This can be a VERY frustrating thing to do. I tried every trick I know to find it but it's gone! Gone! GONE!   Oh well, what's that thing they say in French? No, the other one that means be philosophical and forgetaboutit! I'll write more tomorrow. I think.
Se la vie.

News flash!!! The one I had written was in the drafts! Ignore this one.

Wednesday, Jan.23, 2013  3:38 am

The period between sleep and wakefulness is called  hypnagogia. I have been laying here in hypnagogia for a few hours now, and figure I better work on my blog. Enough hypnnogogia. In this state my mind has been wandering between two Hawiian words; Kapa'a and Kapa'au. Kapa'a places the accent on the pa. In Kapa'au the accent is on the au.  many Hawiian words seem similar to me which makes them hard to remember. Between my terrible sense of direction and lack of linguistic ability, I am in a bit of a muddle. But I soldier on.
 Now that I have that off my chest, life goes along like a pleasant dream around here. Alex likes to chat so breakfast means about an hour of eating and chatting. Yesterday I went to Yoga (in Kapa'au) while he went next door to the coffee shop. He actually gets the NY Times mailed to him- a day late or so- but that doesn't make much difference when you think about it. So he can read his paper and have coffee. Wednesday night the Woofers are coming for pot luck, so we (Makenna and I) did some cooking. Woofers are part of the World Organization of Organic Farmers. They're on the internet and the deal is that they agree to do farm work- 20-30 hours a week- in exchange for room and board. This appeals to students, but you don't have to be a student. I've heard Robert, who has a farm, complain that they are not reliable, but Makenna told me some of the farmers exploit the workers, who usually don't have cars and are trapped into a lot more hours of work. Robert who,along with his wife, runs a health spa is a good employer, but not everyone is. Robert is also an emergency room physician and works in the local hospital. He is tall, sunburned, and balding, except for where he has a lot of curley hair. (Around the sides.) Very nice, down to earth fellow. We went to visit his farm/spa and he was down in the mud with a woofer, fixing the plumbing. He comes and hangs out around Alex's place some evenings and brings papayas. Which reminds me, that passion fruit, also called Lilikoi, is delicious with papaya. Open the papaya, scoop out the seeds, and pour in the lilykoi innards. I say innards, because they are gross looking- slimy with little black seeds. But delicious! A sort of sweet, lemony  taste.
  Now, I have been wandering all over the place. I started out telling you about my day here. Most days I do a little gardening. Keeping after the weeds is a major project as things grow "like weeds." So I do some weeding and trimming and edging. But yesterday, no, we cooked instead. Last night I went with Makenna to see the sunset at Kapa'a. There are volcanic rocks for several yards out to the ocean. A few kids were sitting out there and we went out there too. A nice guy helped me because I was in no mood to fall on those rocks! It was beautiful and I got a few nice shots of the sunset. (Still haven't figured out how to download that camera) I sat on the rocks talking to another young thing who's trying to figure out what to do with the rest of her life. I don't envy kids who need to work, but don't want to be stuck in some cubicle with a computer.
 Well, a little about Makenna. She is a beautiful and usually scantily clad young woman. She graduated with a degree in geology, but her goal just now is to make enough money to hike the Pacific coast. She rode her bike carrying her ukelele to the beach. I went by car. It's about 6 miles or so from Alex's house. Then she had to ride back in the dark and she had forgotten her head lamp. I worry about these kids, which must mean I'm showing my age. The girls wear very little in the way of clothing. I know, I'm being sexist, but I think this can be misinterpreted. Oh well. She is a great person. Very self assured, hard working, kind to old ladies (me) .
 I think I'll sign off. I'm tired. Good night.

Sunday, January 20, 2013
 Happily for me, the thing I wrote actually posted to my blog. So now I am confident enough to continue with it. My next goal is to learn to post some pictures. If there is anyplace pictures should be taken, it's here. Everything in Hawai'i is lush, green, full of life "to the max." I have been snapping away and will try and post.
 Today I worked in the garden at Alex's house. It's not a huge piece of property, but there are many little gardens with all sorts of flowering things (boganvilla is one). The weeds love to creep in. I have been edging which is satisfying because I see some nice results. Took my self out to lunch in Kapa au, the next little town. Had some great pizza with barbecued chicken and pineapple on top. I know true Italians think pineapple on pizza is sacrilege but it really tastes good. Visited the statue of King Kamehameha I, across from the pizza place. The king was supposedly born in this little town. Drove onward to a beautiful beach, Laupahoehoe Point Beach Park. It's very rocky, but at least I was able to sit on a rock and get my feet into the water! The water is amazingly clear and blue with pretty heavy waves. There was what looked like a family picnic, and some little boys were on the rocks fishing,  useing bread for bait.(I don't think they caught anything.)  I took Alex's Honda on this little jaunt and actually made it back in one piece.
Hope you're all having a great Sunday.

Well, you lucky people (all 7 of you!) I'm back. I think. I am now in Hawaii, on the bigh island, in Hawi (pronounced Havi' ) which is in the beautiful NW corner of the island. It's truly wonderful. Things grow like wild here. I'm staying with Alex Achmat, the husband of my neighbor, Susan Walsh. We are doing a house exchange. Alex and Susan's son Max, and daughter in law, Maya, will stay in my apartment while I stay here. Now who do you think got the better end of the deal, considering that it's cold (somewhere around 40 degrees) and rainy and cloudy most of the winter (well, there's occasional sun) in Portland? Anyway, Alex is getting me "oriented" and then he will go  to Portland for a family reunion. I've been having a wonderful time eating mango's with passion fruit and suchi and wandering around in the sun. Alex took me to Waimea for groceries and we drove along the mountain route and returned along the ocean. The water is that amazingly blue color. Haven't gone swimming yet but intend to soon.
 I'm not going to write more until I know if this is really going to post. Hope to talk to you and post pictures and hear from you soon!