July 27th, 2012
Aloha !
Today, I was very excited as Venetia gave me her Jeep Cherokee keys and said " If you guys want, you can use my car this weekend. $ 30.00 / day and fill the gas back to where it was on the gauge . I am going to the Mango Festival in Hilo with Tiki so I won't need my car. "
Well, the four of us planned to go to Mauna Kea in the afternoon and watch the sunset from the summit . The sunset viewing at Mauna Kea is said to be spectacular.
Beth , Tara , Karen and I left Kalani around 2:30 p.m. and headed off to Mauna Kea. We were all very excited . After stopping off to buy water, snacks and filling up the gas , just barely outside of Hilo , on Saddle Road , the car died. Tara and Beth got out and looked under the hood of the car. They discovered that there was no oil ! Karen went to a house across the road and asked the homeowner for oil . He kindly gave us one and a half containers and we used it all up . We waited for about 15 minutes and started the car up again . It did start up and we decided that it was best that we did not continue to Mauna Kea as the car was not reliable and started heading back home , all of us quite disappointed.
On the way home , a few minutes after the last start up of the car , on the outskirts of Hilo , on Highway 11 , the car died again and gave up the ghost. By that time, it was around 6:00 . Luckily, Beth has AAA membership and was able to call a tow truck. Unlucky for the rest of us , the tow truck could only take one passenger. At that point, it was about 6:30. At around 7:30 , it will be completely dark. Pitch dark , and unsafe to be on the side of a highway , even if there was 3 of us. We tried to call Kalani for someone to come get us and were able to get through , but Kalani was vague and non commital and we had no idea when they would actually come get us , let alone try to find us in the dark along a highway.
We were prepared for the cold up at Mauna Kea and had gotten some parkas from Kalani before we left. While we were waiting for the tow truck, we decided to pull the parkas from the back of the jeep and jumped ontot he hood of the jeep , wearing our parkas and took some funny photos. Hot, humid , overcast
and taking pictures in Parkas in Hawaii , just outside of Hilo. ! It was quite funny and we were all sweating in the parkas. It does get very cold up at Mauna Kea and definitely parka weather up there.
When the tow truck arrived , we unloaded our backpacks out of the jeep and watched the tow truck driver load the jeep. That was quite the mechanical apparatus he had to load the jeep . It was interesting to watch . We were really lucky as he made a phone call and got authorization to take us all in his tow truck . He did not want to leave 3 of us in the middle of no where, along side of a highway with bushes and trees all around, and night falling soon. Yes, it was an very unsafe situation to be in , even in Hawaii .
On the drive back to Kalani , the row truck driver asked Tara to pull out a metal filing box from under the front bench seat. I was sitting in the front with the tow truck driver and Tara. Tara pulls out the metal file
box. " Go through all those papers until you get to the middle . Go ahead. You will see a large manilla
envelope . Pull it out. Take out what is inside the envelope ."
Tara did exactly what the tow truck driver told her to do. When she pulled out two 10 x12 black and white photographs , both our jaws dropped open and we went quiet. Tara passed one of the photographs to me. We were both holding large photos of what I will call a giant ' wookie' and I have my reasons to call it this as I do not want to use to the correct name , primarily for the protection of this man and it is amazing what the search engines will discover if one has time to sift through hundreds of thousands of ' sites ' that carry a certain word. So, think about it . The word either starts with B or with S. The B word is a compound word .
The pictures were taken in 1957 by an old man who happened to be at the right place at the right time. The
" wookie " was huge and took up half the photograph . beside it, you can see the forest. It looked like a really old photograph . There are a lot of people who track and look for the ' wookies."
At first impression when I first saw the pictures , it looked as if the " wookie ' was coming out of somewhere, out of an air space , and in the second picture, it looked as if it was receding into air space. The next words that came of of the Tow man's mouth was " They are able to travel through different dimensions of time , you know . " Yes, I do know the Tow Man's name but I am choosing not to write it . I have my reasons. As it is, I am a bit torn in even writing about this and cannot write as freely as I would in a closed diary . So this opened a whole discussion of portals . Yes, " Wookie ' was coming out of a portal and then going back into a portal in the photographs. Mr. Tow Man told us that Wookie has a fourteen feet stride. They can morph
into their surroundings and not be seen , even though present. Where he used to live, on a windless night , he can see the tree tops being squashed and branches swaying and bending . That was Wookie travelling and running over the tree tops. wild, huh ? Bet you can't top this story for a towing experience ! :)
Although we never made it to Mauna Kea , we sure had an adventure ! Wearing parkas in 90+ heat and pictures and stories of 'Wookies " . I will go to Mauna Kea and watch the sunset on the summit . I know it will be spectacular !
My travel adventures are never boring !
With much Aloha,
x0x0x0x0
Molly
Sunday 29 July 2012
Pu ' ukohola Heiau and Mauna Kea Beach
July, 20th, 2012
Aloha !
Yes, I am going backwards in time . The last blog was dated July, 22nd , and this one is July, 20th . I've been really busy and haven't had time to update my blog posts.
Today, ( meaning July, 20th ) I went on a staff trip and we all went to Pu'ukohala Heiau and also Mauna Kea Beach , on Kona side. It is about a 3 hour drive from Kalani.
The first stop was Pu'ukohala Heiau. Heiau means temple. Here is the website for more info.
http://www.nps.gov/puhe/historyculture/index.htm
As soon as I stepped foot onto the temple grounds , I felt a great sense of familiarity. Tears started welling up in my eyes. I felt as if I had come ' Home " after a very very long absence . Perhaps a 200 year absence. It was the strangest feeling and yet so familiar. With each step I took along the temple grounds , I felt a grounding and a sense of strong connection and belonging to the Land. " This was your home, Molly ! " Beth whispered into my ears. I do not really believe in past lives but I am open to the idea. If there is such a thing as past lives, I have lived in this temple grounds before .Wild, huh ?
The connection , the sense of deep belonging , the feeling of " home " was incredibly strong. Yes, once upon a time , very long ago , this place was my HOME . The other volunteers that were on the trip felt something too when they saw me on the temple grounds. They felt my rooted connection to the Land with each step I took. They were silent and looked at me with reverence, as if I was a priestess . It was strange and yet so very right .
The next stop was Mauna Kea Beach. We spent the whole afternoon there. Wow , was it ever nice ! Mauna Kea Beach Hotel was very posh , and the Golf Course attached to it was spectacular . The beach had a part that was public access and a side that was hotel guests only. We had such a great time there.
http://www.princeresortshawaii.com/mauna-kea-beach-hotel/index.php
I will be performing in a private Luau on Aug, 18th to celebrate Volcanoes National Park Observatory ' 100th Anniversary . There will be 150 guests, by invitation only , and we will be dancing to a live band. I think it will be a lot of fun.
The next staff trip will be to Volcanoes National Park This will be my third time that I will be going there. Pele is drawing me closer. and connecting me deeper to the Land. I will be back there again in mid- Sept to perform Hula on the Volcano. That will be an amazing experience for sure.
With much aloha,
x0x0x0x0x0
Molly
Aloha !
Yes, I am going backwards in time . The last blog was dated July, 22nd , and this one is July, 20th . I've been really busy and haven't had time to update my blog posts.
Today, ( meaning July, 20th ) I went on a staff trip and we all went to Pu'ukohala Heiau and also Mauna Kea Beach , on Kona side. It is about a 3 hour drive from Kalani.
The first stop was Pu'ukohala Heiau. Heiau means temple. Here is the website for more info.
http://www.nps.gov/puhe/historyculture/index.htm
As soon as I stepped foot onto the temple grounds , I felt a great sense of familiarity. Tears started welling up in my eyes. I felt as if I had come ' Home " after a very very long absence . Perhaps a 200 year absence. It was the strangest feeling and yet so familiar. With each step I took along the temple grounds , I felt a grounding and a sense of strong connection and belonging to the Land. " This was your home, Molly ! " Beth whispered into my ears. I do not really believe in past lives but I am open to the idea. If there is such a thing as past lives, I have lived in this temple grounds before .Wild, huh ?
The connection , the sense of deep belonging , the feeling of " home " was incredibly strong. Yes, once upon a time , very long ago , this place was my HOME . The other volunteers that were on the trip felt something too when they saw me on the temple grounds. They felt my rooted connection to the Land with each step I took. They were silent and looked at me with reverence, as if I was a priestess . It was strange and yet so very right .
The next stop was Mauna Kea Beach. We spent the whole afternoon there. Wow , was it ever nice ! Mauna Kea Beach Hotel was very posh , and the Golf Course attached to it was spectacular . The beach had a part that was public access and a side that was hotel guests only. We had such a great time there.
http://www.princeresortshawaii.com/mauna-kea-beach-hotel/index.php
I will be performing in a private Luau on Aug, 18th to celebrate Volcanoes National Park Observatory ' 100th Anniversary . There will be 150 guests, by invitation only , and we will be dancing to a live band. I think it will be a lot of fun.
The next staff trip will be to Volcanoes National Park This will be my third time that I will be going there. Pele is drawing me closer. and connecting me deeper to the Land. I will be back there again in mid- Sept to perform Hula on the Volcano. That will be an amazing experience for sure.
With much aloha,
x0x0x0x0x0
Molly
July, 22nd , Going To Church In Hawaii
July,22nd, 2012
Aloha !
Today was a most eventful day . I went to Church.
I can'r remember the last time I attended a Church Service , with the exception of Daybreak Point Summer Camp where I was the Head Cook for about 5 years , and a cook there foe about another 3 years previous.
It happened so naturally , and was somewhat unplanned . I woke up this morning and was planning on going to Maku'u Market with Juanita's Mom Virginia , Juanita's sister Edie , along with Michelle and Karen. Michelle told us about a little church that she stumbled upon the previous Sunday. " Why don't we all go to Church ? " she said. We all thought that it was a great idea. We were all Christians . We were all curious in how a Church Service was done in Hawaii.
We were warmly greeted by the Congregation and were lei'd with hand made crocheted leis . It was so sweet.
The Church was so quaint . A tiny white painted church with a steeple and church bells. There were probably about 14 pews , seven on each side , each pew seating about five people each very comfortably. Oh, when the church bells rang when it was time for the 11:00 service , my heart sang too. Three Men walked into the Church , 2 with a ukelele , one with a guitar. They were older men and they were all barefeet. Gotta love being in Hawaii . As they got to the front of the Church , they started singing a song that I loved very much in my teens .
" I Want To Praise You , Lord "
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FXP7hwATF8&feature=related
As the service started , I thumbed through the hymn book. All the hymns were both in Hawaiian and English. We sang the hymns in Hawaiian . That was such a neat experience. It was all the old familiar favourites : Holy Holy Holy , What A Friend We Have in Jesus, This is The Day , I Surrender All , How Great Thou Art , Just A Closer Walk With Thee , He Touched Me, Blessed Assurance , Amazing Grace , Jesus Loves Me, Onward Christian Soldiers , Give Me Oil In My Lamp . Thy Loving Kindness , Walking With Jesus , Seek Ye First The Kingdom Of God , and many more .
Aloha !
Today was a most eventful day . I went to Church.
I can'r remember the last time I attended a Church Service , with the exception of Daybreak Point Summer Camp where I was the Head Cook for about 5 years , and a cook there foe about another 3 years previous.
It happened so naturally , and was somewhat unplanned . I woke up this morning and was planning on going to Maku'u Market with Juanita's Mom Virginia , Juanita's sister Edie , along with Michelle and Karen. Michelle told us about a little church that she stumbled upon the previous Sunday. " Why don't we all go to Church ? " she said. We all thought that it was a great idea. We were all Christians . We were all curious in how a Church Service was done in Hawaii.
We were warmly greeted by the Congregation and were lei'd with hand made crocheted leis . It was so sweet.
The Church was so quaint . A tiny white painted church with a steeple and church bells. There were probably about 14 pews , seven on each side , each pew seating about five people each very comfortably. Oh, when the church bells rang when it was time for the 11:00 service , my heart sang too. Three Men walked into the Church , 2 with a ukelele , one with a guitar. They were older men and they were all barefeet. Gotta love being in Hawaii . As they got to the front of the Church , they started singing a song that I loved very much in my teens .
" I Want To Praise You , Lord "
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FXP7hwATF8&feature=related
As the service started , I thumbed through the hymn book. All the hymns were both in Hawaiian and English. We sang the hymns in Hawaiian . That was such a neat experience. It was all the old familiar favourites : Holy Holy Holy , What A Friend We Have in Jesus, This is The Day , I Surrender All , How Great Thou Art , Just A Closer Walk With Thee , He Touched Me, Blessed Assurance , Amazing Grace , Jesus Loves Me, Onward Christian Soldiers , Give Me Oil In My Lamp . Thy Loving Kindness , Walking With Jesus , Seek Ye First The Kingdom Of God , and many more .
There was a very elderly couple sitting behind us , both were in their 90's . One of the announcements was that any one who wanted to make their own ukelele have to sign up by the following day and pay 25.00 as they have to send for the ukelele kits to the Mainland and it would take about 3 weeks. The person making the announcement said that all ages are welcomed , from 6 years old to 99 years old ." Even John can make one " she said , directing her comment at the elderly man who is in his 90's , sitting behind me . Dear John did not hear her . Everyone laughed.
We were the youngest in the Church's Congregation . Most were in their 60's , 70's , 80's and yes , as mentioned, their 90's.
So, I have signed up to make my own ukelele with the Church on Sept, 7th /8th . and we will learn to play it and also compose our own song ! :) I am so looking forward to this ! I am making my own ukelele !!!!!!!!! Yippppeeeeeeee !!!!!!!
With much Aloha,
x0x0x0x0x
Molly
Saturday 14 July 2012
The Remains of Today
Aloha !
It was an easy going day.......I spent most of it in Hilo , just wandering at the Farmers' Market , along the waterfront in Downtown Hilo , and then did some shopping afterwards. Kalani has a Van run every Saturday and it takes volunteers into Hilo for the day for free. And that was how I got to Hilo , in Kalani's van.
Just minutes after leaving Kalani in the van , I was enjoying the scenery , sitting in the front seat of the van, loving the wind in my hair from the open van window when out of the corner of my eye , I saw a huge cockroach make a dash for it over the van's dashboard and quickly disappeared. The cockroach was about 3 inches long , no lie. Maggie and I screamed . That was the biggest cockroach I have ever seen in my Life ! I said to Charles , " Please tell me that was a really big cricket and not a cockroach ! " I can tell that Charles was greatly amused as I could see the corner of his lips lift ever so slightly when he replied , " That was a cockroach, Molly. " Immediately , both my legs went up . I sat in lotus position all the way to Hilo , with my dress carefully tucked under me , and my flip flops in my hands, ready to swat anything that might come near me. That was definitely the longest time I have ever sat in lotus position , all 50+ minutes to downtown Hilo.
Hilo is purportedly to be U.S.'s rainiest City. Today was the first day that it did not rain when I was there.
This morning , at breakfast, Elsa was talking about a little girl named Kiki that she was a Nanny to in New York. Kiki was born in China and was abandoned by her parents . She was adopted by an American
Family that lived in New York. Kiki did not have good use of her arms and walking was extremely challenging for her. She is four years old. Elsa told me that one morning , when Kiki woke up, Kiki said, " Today is the BEST day of my Life ! " That brought tears to my eyes . Out of the mouth of babes lies the beautiful truthful joyful clarity of Living. If only we can approach every day like this . Whatever challenges we may have/had , existing or conquered , real or perceived , if only we can approach each day when we rise and say, " Today is the BEST day of my Life ! " Dearest little Kiki , may you always be able to feel this way all the rest of your Life !
On another occasion , Elsa was trying to get Kiki to walk a block. Kiki has great difficulty walking . She said to Elsa that she did not think she can do it. " Yes you can ! I will walk with you and we can do it real slow ! :" Kiki was able to walk the entire block. She was so happy that she said to Elsa , " If I can do this here, I can do this anywhere ! " I laughed when Elsa told me this. We both laughed as Kiki's statement was a correlation to a very well know song , " New York, New York ." " If I can make it here, I can make it anywhere , its up to you , New York, New York ! " That was so cute.
As we approached Hilo , Charles was telling me that in Phoenix, Arizona , the malls have walking lanes for people who walk around the Mall for exercise. It is so hot there ( 104 F ) that you cannot exercise outside . Imagine that, walking lanes for people that are walking for exercise inside the Mall. It makes great business sense. Afterall , after walking , one would go for tea or coffee , maybe breakfast , maybe lunch , and hey, shopping too !
Charles also told me that in Alaska , Walmart encourages people to park their RVs in the parking lot and allow them to spend the night in the parking lot. That apparently happens frequently as campsites get filled up fairly quickly in Alaska . So, when you wake up, where to you go for breakfast items and other necessities ? Why , Walmart is right there !
Today was Jackie's last day at Kalani .........I will miss her very much. We all had dinner at the Lower Lanai . I feel so incredibly blessed to have Jackie come into my Life . I will miss her dearly........I am closest to Jackie and Beth.
Aufwiedersehen , my beautiful Jackie, You have such an incredible loving heart and a beautiful giving healing spirit ........Jackie will be back in Berlin next week after visiting Kauai for a week...........until we meet again......My Heart and Spirit will never forget you .
with much Aloha,
x0x0x0
Molly
It was an easy going day.......I spent most of it in Hilo , just wandering at the Farmers' Market , along the waterfront in Downtown Hilo , and then did some shopping afterwards. Kalani has a Van run every Saturday and it takes volunteers into Hilo for the day for free. And that was how I got to Hilo , in Kalani's van.
Just minutes after leaving Kalani in the van , I was enjoying the scenery , sitting in the front seat of the van, loving the wind in my hair from the open van window when out of the corner of my eye , I saw a huge cockroach make a dash for it over the van's dashboard and quickly disappeared. The cockroach was about 3 inches long , no lie. Maggie and I screamed . That was the biggest cockroach I have ever seen in my Life ! I said to Charles , " Please tell me that was a really big cricket and not a cockroach ! " I can tell that Charles was greatly amused as I could see the corner of his lips lift ever so slightly when he replied , " That was a cockroach, Molly. " Immediately , both my legs went up . I sat in lotus position all the way to Hilo , with my dress carefully tucked under me , and my flip flops in my hands, ready to swat anything that might come near me. That was definitely the longest time I have ever sat in lotus position , all 50+ minutes to downtown Hilo.
Hilo is purportedly to be U.S.'s rainiest City. Today was the first day that it did not rain when I was there.
This morning , at breakfast, Elsa was talking about a little girl named Kiki that she was a Nanny to in New York. Kiki was born in China and was abandoned by her parents . She was adopted by an American
Family that lived in New York. Kiki did not have good use of her arms and walking was extremely challenging for her. She is four years old. Elsa told me that one morning , when Kiki woke up, Kiki said, " Today is the BEST day of my Life ! " That brought tears to my eyes . Out of the mouth of babes lies the beautiful truthful joyful clarity of Living. If only we can approach every day like this . Whatever challenges we may have/had , existing or conquered , real or perceived , if only we can approach each day when we rise and say, " Today is the BEST day of my Life ! " Dearest little Kiki , may you always be able to feel this way all the rest of your Life !
On another occasion , Elsa was trying to get Kiki to walk a block. Kiki has great difficulty walking . She said to Elsa that she did not think she can do it. " Yes you can ! I will walk with you and we can do it real slow ! :" Kiki was able to walk the entire block. She was so happy that she said to Elsa , " If I can do this here, I can do this anywhere ! " I laughed when Elsa told me this. We both laughed as Kiki's statement was a correlation to a very well know song , " New York, New York ." " If I can make it here, I can make it anywhere , its up to you , New York, New York ! " That was so cute.
As we approached Hilo , Charles was telling me that in Phoenix, Arizona , the malls have walking lanes for people who walk around the Mall for exercise. It is so hot there ( 104 F ) that you cannot exercise outside . Imagine that, walking lanes for people that are walking for exercise inside the Mall. It makes great business sense. Afterall , after walking , one would go for tea or coffee , maybe breakfast , maybe lunch , and hey, shopping too !
Charles also told me that in Alaska , Walmart encourages people to park their RVs in the parking lot and allow them to spend the night in the parking lot. That apparently happens frequently as campsites get filled up fairly quickly in Alaska . So, when you wake up, where to you go for breakfast items and other necessities ? Why , Walmart is right there !
Today was Jackie's last day at Kalani .........I will miss her very much. We all had dinner at the Lower Lanai . I feel so incredibly blessed to have Jackie come into my Life . I will miss her dearly........I am closest to Jackie and Beth.
Aufwiedersehen , my beautiful Jackie, You have such an incredible loving heart and a beautiful giving healing spirit ........Jackie will be back in Berlin next week after visiting Kauai for a week...........until we meet again......My Heart and Spirit will never forget you .
with much Aloha,
x0x0x0
Molly
Friday 13 July 2012
Seeing Green Instead Of Black
Aloha !
Well, its the day after and my knee is completely o.k. Last night, I couldn't even roll over in bed as my left knee was hurting so bad. I couldn't even straighten out my left leg fully. This morning, when I woke up , I was flexing my legs in bed and it was as if nothing happened the day before. I am walking / running around as if nothing happened. My knee is not swollen, as was expected. I was in no pain this morning. Yesterday , I could barely walk , today I am my normal self. My body is amazingly resilient though. I have always been extremely resilient , in many ways. I give thanks to God for this. Karen, who is a nurse , said that it was a miracle. She saw how much pain I was in yesterday. I almost took her up on her offer of tylenol with codeine. I rarely take drugs. The ibuprofen that I took yesterday was the first drug I have taken in a very long time. I give thanks to Pele for keeping me safe when I was on her Land. The lava trek was with the worse guide I have ever experienced in my Life. Yes, he may have known the terrain , but he did not know the Land . There is a big difference. He did not know the sacredness of the Land . He did not honour the Land. He did not give respect to the Land. It was all about the money. There was no love of the Land involved , no apparent love for the Hawaiian culture and customs , no asking Pele for permission to walk on her Land. If any of you take tours, make sure you take tours done by a Hawaiian. You will learn so much more and be given so much aloha . For the Hawaiians , its not about the money. They are happy to share their history , culture, customs, dances and stories with you. To truly experience Hawaii , you have to be with Hawaiians. Period.
We were advised that Kalani had a hurricane warning but this has since been downgraded to a storm . There is a hurricane warning for this weekend however. It may blow over us. Today, when I was working at Hale Aloha ( The House of Love :) ) I could hear the ocean waves crashing against the cliff . It was louder than usual. I went to the Point and stayed for a while , watching the ocean surf. It was magnificent ! The waves were high and powerful , crashing into the cliff sides and dissolving into a thick frothy white marshmallowy foam . So far, we had heavy rain and the storm may have passed over us . Now we wait and see if the hurricane too will pass over us.
Yay ! I'm not working this weekend . I will be going into Hilo tomorrow ( Sat ) so that I can get some cash from a Bank machine. I may go holoholo with Johnathan on Sunday. The trip to Maunakea that was planned for this Sunday unfortunately has been postponed and hopefully it will happen before I leave Hawaiii.
I marvel at all the lushness surrounding me. The Aina is blanketed in green at Kalani. It is such a stark contrast to the miles and miles of black lava rock that I saw yesterday. The miles and miles of black that showed Pele's power .
And with the green come new Life...............blossoming still. I am full of gratitude to experience the many beautiful vast and varied landscapes that is the Big Island of Hawaii . The night jasmine is scenting my air space right now........I am surrounded by Beauty.........
With much Aloha,
x0x0x0x0
Molly
Well, its the day after and my knee is completely o.k. Last night, I couldn't even roll over in bed as my left knee was hurting so bad. I couldn't even straighten out my left leg fully. This morning, when I woke up , I was flexing my legs in bed and it was as if nothing happened the day before. I am walking / running around as if nothing happened. My knee is not swollen, as was expected. I was in no pain this morning. Yesterday , I could barely walk , today I am my normal self. My body is amazingly resilient though. I have always been extremely resilient , in many ways. I give thanks to God for this. Karen, who is a nurse , said that it was a miracle. She saw how much pain I was in yesterday. I almost took her up on her offer of tylenol with codeine. I rarely take drugs. The ibuprofen that I took yesterday was the first drug I have taken in a very long time. I give thanks to Pele for keeping me safe when I was on her Land. The lava trek was with the worse guide I have ever experienced in my Life. Yes, he may have known the terrain , but he did not know the Land . There is a big difference. He did not know the sacredness of the Land . He did not honour the Land. He did not give respect to the Land. It was all about the money. There was no love of the Land involved , no apparent love for the Hawaiian culture and customs , no asking Pele for permission to walk on her Land. If any of you take tours, make sure you take tours done by a Hawaiian. You will learn so much more and be given so much aloha . For the Hawaiians , its not about the money. They are happy to share their history , culture, customs, dances and stories with you. To truly experience Hawaii , you have to be with Hawaiians. Period.
We were advised that Kalani had a hurricane warning but this has since been downgraded to a storm . There is a hurricane warning for this weekend however. It may blow over us. Today, when I was working at Hale Aloha ( The House of Love :) ) I could hear the ocean waves crashing against the cliff . It was louder than usual. I went to the Point and stayed for a while , watching the ocean surf. It was magnificent ! The waves were high and powerful , crashing into the cliff sides and dissolving into a thick frothy white marshmallowy foam . So far, we had heavy rain and the storm may have passed over us . Now we wait and see if the hurricane too will pass over us.
Yay ! I'm not working this weekend . I will be going into Hilo tomorrow ( Sat ) so that I can get some cash from a Bank machine. I may go holoholo with Johnathan on Sunday. The trip to Maunakea that was planned for this Sunday unfortunately has been postponed and hopefully it will happen before I leave Hawaiii.
I marvel at all the lushness surrounding me. The Aina is blanketed in green at Kalani. It is such a stark contrast to the miles and miles of black lava rock that I saw yesterday. The miles and miles of black that showed Pele's power .
And with the green come new Life...............blossoming still. I am full of gratitude to experience the many beautiful vast and varied landscapes that is the Big Island of Hawaii . The night jasmine is scenting my air space right now........I am surrounded by Beauty.........
With much Aloha,
x0x0x0x0
Molly
Making a Grill Cheese Sandwich On Molten Lava
Aloha !
I survived the 6 hour Lava Hike ! I went on a 6 hour lava hike this morning. I hurt my left knee , and each step that I now take is ow , ow , ow ! Walking up the stairs to the Loft is a big challenge . Walking down the stairs from the Loft requires a two step on each step process , but I survived ! yes, I am doing the two-step ! I talked with a bunch of Kalani people that went on the hike previously and some of them blew out both their knees, so I am grateful that I only hurt one. I am extremely grateful that I didn't fall as that would had been the end of me. Falling on lava rock is like falling on glass. It is extremely sharp and there are fine sharp granules that go deep into your hands if you fall. 100% guaranteed that you will be bleeding profusely on any part of the body that accidentally lands on the lava rock. It is easy to fall as the terrain is so rough and uneven . We are walking on lava rock , after all. I had a few near mishaps. One 16 year old boy was cut up pretty bad from a small trip of his foot . His t-shirt was used to mop up the blood. It was bleeding that much.
We left Kalani around 5:00 a.m. It was still pitch dark. We drove to Kalapana and met the Lava Hike Guide at the gate to the lava fields. By then the sun had started rising . Dawn was breaking and there was a softness of daylight all around. Although it is said to be a 8 mile hike , it is , in reality , a 10 mile hike due to the terrain . There is no path . You are literally walking on the lava rock , with its jagged breaks and crevices to the under world . Watching each step that you take was imperative and not an option.
We all started out not knowing really what to expect other than we will get up close and personal with a /some lava flow(s) . It was a most arduous hike. DO NOT wear hiking boots as you will not have the range of motion and the flexibility required for you to walk on the extremely uneven terrain which is completely all lava rock. By rock , I mean big shards and chunks of hardened lava . It is not like big round rocks, by any means , Your feet bend and twist in all directions as you maneuver carefully through the terrain. I had wondered why Bo was carrying a very long piece of bamboo . I would soon find out.
In the early morning , when the sun shone on the lava rock, the lava rock looked like molten silver. It shone brightly in the soft sunlight. As we walked, there was a strong warm wind blowing and I was thankful for that as it got really warm. Actually, really HOT. There was zero shade , With the exception of a few tiny ferns peeking up through the craggly cracks in the silver black lava new earth and a few Ohia lehua trees that were about 2 feet tall , it was all hardened black lava . As we hiked further in , there was no plant life at all.
The first sign of Pele welcoming us was a heart shape hole in the lava rock.
The first sighting of lava was a lava tube that we had to bend almost to the ground in order to see that lava. We could see the red hot molten lava , thick and glowing ! As we stood there , the lava came oozing out . Holy toledo it was so HOT in that area. You couldn't get too close. Bo started poking it with his bamboo pole and it caught on fire. So yes, you can poke it. I have a picture of me poking the red molten oozing lava. I was about 6 feet away. crazy, huh ?
As we walked further into the lava fields , it got hotter and hotter and hotter. Did I say hotter ? Imagine the summer sun shining brightly onto the black lava rocks , the sun's intense heat bouncing off the rocks, right back at you ! There's no dirt , no sand , no rocks . Its all hardened lava rock . Some of it was still crispy . There was zero shade . You can see miles and miles of craggly jagged black lava rock . An inhospitable land indeed. And it was HOT. I know I already said that .
We finally came upon an active lava flow. In fact, several . Oh, to be so close and feeling the intense heat. I couldn't believe that I was seeing the lava so close . Contrary to Hollywood's portrayal , lava flows slowly . It isn't like you see it and you run for the hills. You can't run on lava rock anyways. As mentioned, lava rock is sharp and you foot may get stuck in a crevice.
One of the hikers started putting an action figure right in the path of the flow. She started taking pictures. I was thinking about the morbidity of it all. Immediately , I knew that she was doing this for the sake of ' art..' I've been around a lot of artists this past year. Yes, and she is going to show her photographs in a gallery somewhere else except Hawaii. She complained that if it wasn't Hawaiian Art or Graffitti Art , Hawaiians were not very accepting of other art. She forgets that she is in Hawaii. Why is it that there are so many people that are not respectful of the culture of the place that they are in ? Why do they want to change it ? Why does everything have to turn ' white bread ' ? Go back to where you are from if you don't like the culture. Enough about that. She did say to us to not post the pictures that we took on the internet as that is her ' work. ' It was on the tip of my tongue to tell her that she should have taken a private hike then. I did take some wild pictures of action heroes in the path of lava , slowly getting consumed and burned. Superman was the bravest one of all . Although, Captain America stood valiantly facing the lava . Quite a few Super Heroes sacrificed their Lives to try and stop the Lava flow(s) .
It was so very very hot where the lava(s) was flowing. I had had enough. We had to wait around for a long time in the intense heat while all the action heroes were slowly burned in the lava flow's fiery inferno , one by one. I made a grill cheese sandwich on the molten lava. On one side , it was nicely browned, on the other, it was charred. I was so hot that the thought of eating a grill cheese sandwich made me nauseous. I didn't end up eating it but I did photograph it. One of the most spectacular was witnessing the red molten lava flow into a crevice. I can't believe I was so close to the lava flows. At one point, I was about 5 feet away. You can get a serious burn from being too close to the lava, just by the heat it gives off. What was I thinking ?????
Oh, and someone stupid was going to throw a semi- empty aerosol can into the flowing lava as he didn't want to carry it back . The Lava Hike Guide said it was O.K . I said otherwise. We could have been blown to Kingdom Come. At that moment , I seriously questioned the sensibility of the person who was guiding us through the hazardous lava fields. I was also concerned about the toxicity of the burnt plastic left behind by the deceased Action Heroes.
Heading back was even more challenging as the sun was getting more intense. The lava rock turned from sparkling silver to glittery bronze and gold. It was hard on the eyes. There were sparkly blue specks and rainbow sparkled thin shards on the lava rock too . Everywhere , there were lava braided ropes . It is so very interesting. It literally looks as if someone braided the lava. This braided lava is called Pele's hair. Its wild looking and hard to walk on as there are so many ' grooves.'
Jackie told me that there was a huge magnetic field on the lava fields. It zaps the energy out of us. We were all so very tired . As soon as I got back to Kalani , I took a shower and went straight to bed to take a nap. We got back around 11:00 a.m. I didn't make to lunch as the thought of walking up to the Lanai made my knee hurt more. Its a bit of a walk. Distance wise, its probably equivalent of 4 long city blocks. I was so tired and tried to nap but i couldn't sleep . I laid in bed , and watched the geckos go up and down a tall palm tree outside my window. I watched the palm fronds rustling and swaying in the summer breeze.
Going to dinner was challenging. I was really hungry by dinner time and I dreaded walking to the Lanai . Prior to me heading to the Lanai , Beth gave me some Arnica drops and pills . Tara gave me a bottle of Gatoraid as it had electrolytes and she said that would help me with me ' groggyness. ' Someone else gave me 2 pills of extra strength ibuprofen.
During dinner, it started pouring heavily . Oh, great, I was going to get completely drenched as I had no umbrella and I am walking ever so slowly. I was able to find a very large golf umbrella and I jokingly said that I would use it as a cane instead of an umbrella. It made everyone laugh as I was walking around the covered Lanai using the umbrella as a cane. As I headed back to my room, Mark gave me a bag of ice to ice my knee. Karen has bandaged me up to help decrease to impending swelling. She is a nurse. And as I am writing , my right knee is feeling a bit tender and sore .
I feel incredibly lucky to have experienced being so close to lava. I will not do this again. Once was enough.
Life is telling me to take it one step at a time.
With much Aloha,
x0x0x0x0x0
Molly
I survived the 6 hour Lava Hike ! I went on a 6 hour lava hike this morning. I hurt my left knee , and each step that I now take is ow , ow , ow ! Walking up the stairs to the Loft is a big challenge . Walking down the stairs from the Loft requires a two step on each step process , but I survived ! yes, I am doing the two-step ! I talked with a bunch of Kalani people that went on the hike previously and some of them blew out both their knees, so I am grateful that I only hurt one. I am extremely grateful that I didn't fall as that would had been the end of me. Falling on lava rock is like falling on glass. It is extremely sharp and there are fine sharp granules that go deep into your hands if you fall. 100% guaranteed that you will be bleeding profusely on any part of the body that accidentally lands on the lava rock. It is easy to fall as the terrain is so rough and uneven . We are walking on lava rock , after all. I had a few near mishaps. One 16 year old boy was cut up pretty bad from a small trip of his foot . His t-shirt was used to mop up the blood. It was bleeding that much.
We left Kalani around 5:00 a.m. It was still pitch dark. We drove to Kalapana and met the Lava Hike Guide at the gate to the lava fields. By then the sun had started rising . Dawn was breaking and there was a softness of daylight all around. Although it is said to be a 8 mile hike , it is , in reality , a 10 mile hike due to the terrain . There is no path . You are literally walking on the lava rock , with its jagged breaks and crevices to the under world . Watching each step that you take was imperative and not an option.
We all started out not knowing really what to expect other than we will get up close and personal with a /some lava flow(s) . It was a most arduous hike. DO NOT wear hiking boots as you will not have the range of motion and the flexibility required for you to walk on the extremely uneven terrain which is completely all lava rock. By rock , I mean big shards and chunks of hardened lava . It is not like big round rocks, by any means , Your feet bend and twist in all directions as you maneuver carefully through the terrain. I had wondered why Bo was carrying a very long piece of bamboo . I would soon find out.
In the early morning , when the sun shone on the lava rock, the lava rock looked like molten silver. It shone brightly in the soft sunlight. As we walked, there was a strong warm wind blowing and I was thankful for that as it got really warm. Actually, really HOT. There was zero shade , With the exception of a few tiny ferns peeking up through the craggly cracks in the silver black lava new earth and a few Ohia lehua trees that were about 2 feet tall , it was all hardened black lava . As we hiked further in , there was no plant life at all.
The first sign of Pele welcoming us was a heart shape hole in the lava rock.
The first sighting of lava was a lava tube that we had to bend almost to the ground in order to see that lava. We could see the red hot molten lava , thick and glowing ! As we stood there , the lava came oozing out . Holy toledo it was so HOT in that area. You couldn't get too close. Bo started poking it with his bamboo pole and it caught on fire. So yes, you can poke it. I have a picture of me poking the red molten oozing lava. I was about 6 feet away. crazy, huh ?
As we walked further into the lava fields , it got hotter and hotter and hotter. Did I say hotter ? Imagine the summer sun shining brightly onto the black lava rocks , the sun's intense heat bouncing off the rocks, right back at you ! There's no dirt , no sand , no rocks . Its all hardened lava rock . Some of it was still crispy . There was zero shade . You can see miles and miles of craggly jagged black lava rock . An inhospitable land indeed. And it was HOT. I know I already said that .
We finally came upon an active lava flow. In fact, several . Oh, to be so close and feeling the intense heat. I couldn't believe that I was seeing the lava so close . Contrary to Hollywood's portrayal , lava flows slowly . It isn't like you see it and you run for the hills. You can't run on lava rock anyways. As mentioned, lava rock is sharp and you foot may get stuck in a crevice.
One of the hikers started putting an action figure right in the path of the flow. She started taking pictures. I was thinking about the morbidity of it all. Immediately , I knew that she was doing this for the sake of ' art..' I've been around a lot of artists this past year. Yes, and she is going to show her photographs in a gallery somewhere else except Hawaii. She complained that if it wasn't Hawaiian Art or Graffitti Art , Hawaiians were not very accepting of other art. She forgets that she is in Hawaii. Why is it that there are so many people that are not respectful of the culture of the place that they are in ? Why do they want to change it ? Why does everything have to turn ' white bread ' ? Go back to where you are from if you don't like the culture. Enough about that. She did say to us to not post the pictures that we took on the internet as that is her ' work. ' It was on the tip of my tongue to tell her that she should have taken a private hike then. I did take some wild pictures of action heroes in the path of lava , slowly getting consumed and burned. Superman was the bravest one of all . Although, Captain America stood valiantly facing the lava . Quite a few Super Heroes sacrificed their Lives to try and stop the Lava flow(s) .
It was so very very hot where the lava(s) was flowing. I had had enough. We had to wait around for a long time in the intense heat while all the action heroes were slowly burned in the lava flow's fiery inferno , one by one. I made a grill cheese sandwich on the molten lava. On one side , it was nicely browned, on the other, it was charred. I was so hot that the thought of eating a grill cheese sandwich made me nauseous. I didn't end up eating it but I did photograph it. One of the most spectacular was witnessing the red molten lava flow into a crevice. I can't believe I was so close to the lava flows. At one point, I was about 5 feet away. You can get a serious burn from being too close to the lava, just by the heat it gives off. What was I thinking ?????
Oh, and someone stupid was going to throw a semi- empty aerosol can into the flowing lava as he didn't want to carry it back . The Lava Hike Guide said it was O.K . I said otherwise. We could have been blown to Kingdom Come. At that moment , I seriously questioned the sensibility of the person who was guiding us through the hazardous lava fields. I was also concerned about the toxicity of the burnt plastic left behind by the deceased Action Heroes.
Heading back was even more challenging as the sun was getting more intense. The lava rock turned from sparkling silver to glittery bronze and gold. It was hard on the eyes. There were sparkly blue specks and rainbow sparkled thin shards on the lava rock too . Everywhere , there were lava braided ropes . It is so very interesting. It literally looks as if someone braided the lava. This braided lava is called Pele's hair. Its wild looking and hard to walk on as there are so many ' grooves.'
Jackie told me that there was a huge magnetic field on the lava fields. It zaps the energy out of us. We were all so very tired . As soon as I got back to Kalani , I took a shower and went straight to bed to take a nap. We got back around 11:00 a.m. I didn't make to lunch as the thought of walking up to the Lanai made my knee hurt more. Its a bit of a walk. Distance wise, its probably equivalent of 4 long city blocks. I was so tired and tried to nap but i couldn't sleep . I laid in bed , and watched the geckos go up and down a tall palm tree outside my window. I watched the palm fronds rustling and swaying in the summer breeze.
Going to dinner was challenging. I was really hungry by dinner time and I dreaded walking to the Lanai . Prior to me heading to the Lanai , Beth gave me some Arnica drops and pills . Tara gave me a bottle of Gatoraid as it had electrolytes and she said that would help me with me ' groggyness. ' Someone else gave me 2 pills of extra strength ibuprofen.
During dinner, it started pouring heavily . Oh, great, I was going to get completely drenched as I had no umbrella and I am walking ever so slowly. I was able to find a very large golf umbrella and I jokingly said that I would use it as a cane instead of an umbrella. It made everyone laugh as I was walking around the covered Lanai using the umbrella as a cane. As I headed back to my room, Mark gave me a bag of ice to ice my knee. Karen has bandaged me up to help decrease to impending swelling. She is a nurse. And as I am writing , my right knee is feeling a bit tender and sore .
I feel incredibly lucky to have experienced being so close to lava. I will not do this again. Once was enough.
Life is telling me to take it one step at a time.
With much Aloha,
x0x0x0x0x0
Molly
Tuesday 10 July 2012
I'm going on a lava trek !
Aloha !
I am really excited as I will be doing a lava trek this Thursday. We leave Kalani around 5:00 a.m. Apparently we will be walking right alongside of the lava , so close that you can poke it ! Hmmmm, that sounds a bit dangerous . It is approximately a 2 hour trek in and the same coming out . I can hardly wait !
Arno left for Kona early this morning on his bicycle. He's one heck of a guy. Its gonna be some tough terrain that he will be riding through. I found his knife in my mailbox this morning . That was very thoughtful of him. I had told him yesterday about needing a knife to make deep cuts into the hau branches so that I could strip the bark. He told me that he would lend me his knife and we both kinda forgot about it .
Arno had wrapped his knife with different small pieces of paper just enough to cover it and disguise it so that it wouldn't be taken. He had wrapped a note inside . " Molly, the knife is very sharp . Ask Clint how to use it . " That's sweet of him . I work with knives almost every day in the kitchen. I will be using Arno's knife tomorrow to finish stripping the bark of the hau branches. I know Arno will have a challenging and an amazing bicycle trip to Kona and back ! He will be gone for 4 days .
Sami , the Head Honcho and one of the Kitchen Managers said to me a few days ago , " Molly, can you stay at Kalani forever ? " She was all excited when I told her that Kumu was tempting me to stay longer so that I can perform in Volcanoes National Park. Kumu said yesterday that there will be an upcoming performance on July 28th and also one on Aug, 15th . The big one is on Sept . I will see. Kalani is tempting me to stay too as the cost will only be 400.00 / month . So very tempting.
Well, last night , when I was at Hula class , we were all sitting around in a circle , practicing all the chants. Kuani was also passing around the West Hawaii Newspaper . Both he and I are on the front page of the newspaper dated July, 2nd. They had taken a photo of us making the ti- leaf sandals at Puuhonua O Honaunau . Isn't that something ? Being on the front page of a Hawaiian Newspaper.
At breakfast this morning, I asked Crandle where I can get a copy and I told him that i was on the front page. " Oh, that's a second city newspaper. " I hit him in the arm and he starts laughing. It is Kona's newspaper. The newspaper that the men read at breakfast is the Hawaii Tribune Herald which is a Hilo newspaper.
" You may be famous in Kona, Molly , but you're just Molly here ! " Barcus chimes in. " I only want to be just Molly ! " I smiled . The men were all teasing me.
Andre was talking about going to an art class this morning. " There's no art class today " said Johnathan looking at the board that posts all the classes/events of the day . " Its an extra class besides the Figure Drawing class on Saturday. Its not a posted class . You will be painting nudes today, Andre. You can sketch if you want , but today is focused on long poses and painting instead of sketching " I responded.
" Oh, you are going to paint naked people ! " Johnathan laughs. " No, not naked people , nudes. There's a difference. In Art School , we call them nude , not naked . " Andre said. " What's the difference ? " Emily asked.
" The difference is intention . Naked versus nude. When one is naked , there is intention implied. "
Ah, food for thought. Intention. I told Johnathan that when I draw nudes, it is very clinical for me. There is no sexual attraction whatsoever. I study the lines, shapes , curves, angles . I love bone structure. The human body is beautiful , in all shapes and sizes. Its a marvel how we are put together .
" We should hang this weekend ! " Johnathan said to me. " Go for lunch , go holoholo ! "
" Juanita wants to do something with me . You are welcome to come ! We plan to go to Maunakea to see the observatory and to watch the sunset . " That is the plan and its all subject to change without notice. The challenge will be getting a car that has 4 wheel drive. I spent a crazy Sunday last week with Marianne . I went into Hilo with Marrianne last Sunday and we laughed ourselves silly the whole time . I said to Marrianne that she needs to keep her eyes open to see the road that she is driving . She was laughing so much that her eyes were barely open. She had me laughing when she pulled out a teeny tiny roller to roll her cigarette . I didn't know that they make those. I mean, its not hard to roll a cigarette as I have done a few, although I do not smoke. I roll coin at the Bank , and its the same principle/ procedure. The roller that Marianne used is a smaller version of a coin roller. " Can you use an open book ? " I asked her. Marianne has been smoking for years. It is less expensive to roll your own versus packs of cigarettes. She has found that since she started rolling her own , she has smoked less. Good for her !
When Barcus was heading out for the day from breakfast, he reached over to me and started pawing me and touching my hands. " Oh, oh , I can't believe that I am touching you ! You are so famous ! I'm touching Molly, the star ! " I slapped his hand and we were all laughing . Johnathan puts his arms around me " Oh , I'm touching Molly, the star ! Can I have your autograph ? " And Crandle chimes in laughing , in the background " Its a second city newspaper. "
All in good fun.
With much Aloha,
x0x0x0x0
Molly
I am really excited as I will be doing a lava trek this Thursday. We leave Kalani around 5:00 a.m. Apparently we will be walking right alongside of the lava , so close that you can poke it ! Hmmmm, that sounds a bit dangerous . It is approximately a 2 hour trek in and the same coming out . I can hardly wait !
Arno left for Kona early this morning on his bicycle. He's one heck of a guy. Its gonna be some tough terrain that he will be riding through. I found his knife in my mailbox this morning . That was very thoughtful of him. I had told him yesterday about needing a knife to make deep cuts into the hau branches so that I could strip the bark. He told me that he would lend me his knife and we both kinda forgot about it .
Arno had wrapped his knife with different small pieces of paper just enough to cover it and disguise it so that it wouldn't be taken. He had wrapped a note inside . " Molly, the knife is very sharp . Ask Clint how to use it . " That's sweet of him . I work with knives almost every day in the kitchen. I will be using Arno's knife tomorrow to finish stripping the bark of the hau branches. I know Arno will have a challenging and an amazing bicycle trip to Kona and back ! He will be gone for 4 days .
Sami , the Head Honcho and one of the Kitchen Managers said to me a few days ago , " Molly, can you stay at Kalani forever ? " She was all excited when I told her that Kumu was tempting me to stay longer so that I can perform in Volcanoes National Park. Kumu said yesterday that there will be an upcoming performance on July 28th and also one on Aug, 15th . The big one is on Sept . I will see. Kalani is tempting me to stay too as the cost will only be 400.00 / month . So very tempting.
Well, last night , when I was at Hula class , we were all sitting around in a circle , practicing all the chants. Kuani was also passing around the West Hawaii Newspaper . Both he and I are on the front page of the newspaper dated July, 2nd. They had taken a photo of us making the ti- leaf sandals at Puuhonua O Honaunau . Isn't that something ? Being on the front page of a Hawaiian Newspaper.
At breakfast this morning, I asked Crandle where I can get a copy and I told him that i was on the front page. " Oh, that's a second city newspaper. " I hit him in the arm and he starts laughing. It is Kona's newspaper. The newspaper that the men read at breakfast is the Hawaii Tribune Herald which is a Hilo newspaper.
" You may be famous in Kona, Molly , but you're just Molly here ! " Barcus chimes in. " I only want to be just Molly ! " I smiled . The men were all teasing me.
Andre was talking about going to an art class this morning. " There's no art class today " said Johnathan looking at the board that posts all the classes/events of the day . " Its an extra class besides the Figure Drawing class on Saturday. Its not a posted class . You will be painting nudes today, Andre. You can sketch if you want , but today is focused on long poses and painting instead of sketching " I responded.
" Oh, you are going to paint naked people ! " Johnathan laughs. " No, not naked people , nudes. There's a difference. In Art School , we call them nude , not naked . " Andre said. " What's the difference ? " Emily asked.
" The difference is intention . Naked versus nude. When one is naked , there is intention implied. "
Ah, food for thought. Intention. I told Johnathan that when I draw nudes, it is very clinical for me. There is no sexual attraction whatsoever. I study the lines, shapes , curves, angles . I love bone structure. The human body is beautiful , in all shapes and sizes. Its a marvel how we are put together .
" We should hang this weekend ! " Johnathan said to me. " Go for lunch , go holoholo ! "
" Juanita wants to do something with me . You are welcome to come ! We plan to go to Maunakea to see the observatory and to watch the sunset . " That is the plan and its all subject to change without notice. The challenge will be getting a car that has 4 wheel drive. I spent a crazy Sunday last week with Marianne . I went into Hilo with Marrianne last Sunday and we laughed ourselves silly the whole time . I said to Marrianne that she needs to keep her eyes open to see the road that she is driving . She was laughing so much that her eyes were barely open. She had me laughing when she pulled out a teeny tiny roller to roll her cigarette . I didn't know that they make those. I mean, its not hard to roll a cigarette as I have done a few, although I do not smoke. I roll coin at the Bank , and its the same principle/ procedure. The roller that Marianne used is a smaller version of a coin roller. " Can you use an open book ? " I asked her. Marianne has been smoking for years. It is less expensive to roll your own versus packs of cigarettes. She has found that since she started rolling her own , she has smoked less. Good for her !
When Barcus was heading out for the day from breakfast, he reached over to me and started pawing me and touching my hands. " Oh, oh , I can't believe that I am touching you ! You are so famous ! I'm touching Molly, the star ! " I slapped his hand and we were all laughing . Johnathan puts his arms around me " Oh , I'm touching Molly, the star ! Can I have your autograph ? " And Crandle chimes in laughing , in the background " Its a second city newspaper. "
All in good fun.
With much Aloha,
x0x0x0x0
Molly
Saturday 7 July 2012
The Making Of a Hau Skirt, Also Known As A Hula Skirt
Aloha !
I am pooped ! I just came back a short while ago from gathering some of the Hau branches that I needed to make my hula skirt.
OMG. I'm too tired to even put an exclamation mark as that looks more energy involved that a simple period , even though all it takes is the same effort of a finger. What can I say ? Intense might be a good word. Extremely strenuous would be another two words.
Here's some info about the Hau tree.
http://mauimike6.wordpress.com/2010/02/18/hau-hibiscus-tiliaceus-not-just-another-hawaiian-hibiscus/
The place where the Halau went for the branches is about a 20 minutes drive away from Kalani. It was a drive over hill and dale , black lava ones, that is. The roads were mini roller coasters , undulating up and down , cresting , falling and disappearing , dipping and dropping , one's stomach along with it. It was not simply just up and down , the roads were also narrow , swervy and curvy too.
I went with Ayako , Max and their beautiful boy , Ariya. It was a procession of about 7 cars, each following one another, with Kumu leading us . When we arrived at our destination , it was so beautiful . It was a jungle of Hau trees , crisscrossing everywhere , a jigsaw puzzle of branches in a maze where it challenges one to see where the beginning is, or where it eventually ends. We went down a ways , walking carefully along a very muddy path . I could see some of my footprints being left behind as I walked. Along the muddy path were roots crisscrossing on top and below . Ah, the most beautiful of all , and this will be forever imprinted in my heart and mind , is the deep red orange Hau flowers everywhere along the muddy path . It was magical and so very beautiful to me. Hau flowers only last for a day . They start out yellow , and when they become deep red orange, they fall to the ground below.
At the beginning of the path leading into the Hau tree jungle , We joined hands and did two Hawaiian chants One of them was E Ho Mai.. It was very spiritual and I felt a very deep connection to the aina . ( Land ) Kumu told us that where there are mounds of rocks , do not step on them or disturb them as they are burial sites. There were burial sites everywhere This was sacred land . I was surprised that it didn't give me the heevie jeevies. All I felt was a great calm and a wonderful peace. The only sound was the birds singing .
Kumu showed us what the best branches were to cut .. The best ones were straight , curving a wee bit is o.k. too , and with very few if any , knots. The branches have to be at least the circumference of ones' wrist or bigger. The best ones are the ones approximately 3 inches in diameter .
It was daunting, as I soon found out. First, I had to hunt for the perfect branches , then came the cutting down of the branches. Beth had lent me her hand saw that she used in the Horticulture Dept in Kalani. I started sawing away and soon found out how difficult it was with a small collapsible hand saw. It took all of me to saw one single cut , and the saw kept getting stuck part way through. I found myself giving myself silent pep talks. :" I can do this ! Yes I can ! I can do this ! Slowly but surely , for sure slowly, I can do this ! " We were to cut 20 branches. We were also advised that we would have to come back 2 more times another time to do a total of at least 40 plus more . It requires approximately 65 to 75 branches for the hula skirt and the leis. I felt the physical energy drain out of me when Kumu told us this. I didn't know how I was going to even do 20 branches. As it turned out , I ended up doing 12 branches only . :( Two of the branches
were gifted to me by one of the guys. They cut the thickest branches for me. There was no way that my little handsaw would cut through the size of branches that they gave me. I was so grateful . I forgot to mention too that each branch had to be at least seven feet long or more. Ha ha ! I have to laugh . And then came the demonstration of the stripping part. Stripping the bark, that is.
OMG again. The seven plus feet long branch had to be lean against something for leverage. In the jungle, that would be another tree. So, you have to lean the branch against another tree, cut off the top of the branch with a sharp knife , cutting approximately a inch and a half wide splits. From the splits, you pull with you right hand , stripping ( pulling )the bark , while using your left hand simultaneously to perpetuate the stripping and to assist in the lifting of the bark from the tree. You cannot remove too thick of the bark as that would bring along with it thick fibres. What you want to do is to lift enough bark so that only the finer fibres come removed with the bark. Meanwhile , I am also straddling the branch . Oh, and that's not even the end of this.
So once you have stripped the bark perfectly in loooong straight strips ( that too can be challenging ) it will go through a 3 week long salt water bath . On the first day , you soak the fibres in a salt water bath in a big tub . On the second day , you add two more tubs . ( Where am I gonna put all these tubs ???) Out of the first tub in which the fibres were soaked in the previous night , it goes into tub #2 which is filled with salted water . In tub # 2 , you remove all the slime from the fibres , rinsing thoroughly in tub # 2 . Then you put it in tub #3 which has clean fresh salted water. It will sit in tub # 3 overnight. And the process gets repeated on a daily basis for approximately 3 weeks with daily fresh salted water...........Once the fibres start separating from the bark , we separate the brown barkish fibres from the whitish fibres and put them in bunches to make it easier to de-slime , otherwise, it will be all in one huge tangly mess. So, sytematically , you would untie each bunch , hold the bunch in the middle , and dip and rinse and de-slime , lomi lomi with you hand , as Kumu called it. The brownish fibres will be used for cordage , while the whitish fibres will be used for our hula skirts .
The fibres will eventually, through this process, become soft like raffia , and wills separate naturally into thin strands. After all of this minimum 3 week procedure, the soft fibres are hung outside to naturally dry.
Kumu has asked us to not work on the hau when we are not right with our hearts as that would be transferred deep into the fibres. It should be always full of good mana.
So, I left Kalani approximately 8:45 this morning and came back around 2:00 p.m . I can feel small callous forming on my soft city hands. I am covered in moss and mud and dirt all over. I am also soaked as it started raining heavily towards the end . It would have been worse without the tangled canopy of Lau branches semi -sheltering over us.
In closing we held hands and did a Hawaiian chant before we left the jungle. It took me three trips to bring all my branches out of the jungle to Max's car. I was happy and extremely grateful that I didn't injure myself in this process. Ayako got hit hard in the face as a thick branch rebounded and hit her when she finished cutting one branch , and Max had a deep cut on his hand from his saw that slipped. And Molly, the City Girl , using a small hand saw for the first time ever in her Life, was spared. There truly is a God. Mahalo, God.
Wow , Wow and Wow !!!!!!!! What an experience ! What can I say ? It was truly special . I have to admit that a part of me is dreading repeating this two more times , perhaps three more times or even more. I have only gathered 12 branches out of the necessary possible 60 plus branches..........So far, I have only stripped one branch............ Please send me thoughts of strength and fortitude !
This is only the beginning .......................Where there's a Will, there's a Way . A great sense of humour helps too ! What am I getting myself into ?????? :)
With much Aloha ,
x0x0x0x0x0
Molly
I am pooped ! I just came back a short while ago from gathering some of the Hau branches that I needed to make my hula skirt.
OMG. I'm too tired to even put an exclamation mark as that looks more energy involved that a simple period , even though all it takes is the same effort of a finger. What can I say ? Intense might be a good word. Extremely strenuous would be another two words.
Here's some info about the Hau tree.
http://mauimike6.wordpress.com/2010/02/18/hau-hibiscus-tiliaceus-not-just-another-hawaiian-hibiscus/
The place where the Halau went for the branches is about a 20 minutes drive away from Kalani. It was a drive over hill and dale , black lava ones, that is. The roads were mini roller coasters , undulating up and down , cresting , falling and disappearing , dipping and dropping , one's stomach along with it. It was not simply just up and down , the roads were also narrow , swervy and curvy too.
I went with Ayako , Max and their beautiful boy , Ariya. It was a procession of about 7 cars, each following one another, with Kumu leading us . When we arrived at our destination , it was so beautiful . It was a jungle of Hau trees , crisscrossing everywhere , a jigsaw puzzle of branches in a maze where it challenges one to see where the beginning is, or where it eventually ends. We went down a ways , walking carefully along a very muddy path . I could see some of my footprints being left behind as I walked. Along the muddy path were roots crisscrossing on top and below . Ah, the most beautiful of all , and this will be forever imprinted in my heart and mind , is the deep red orange Hau flowers everywhere along the muddy path . It was magical and so very beautiful to me. Hau flowers only last for a day . They start out yellow , and when they become deep red orange, they fall to the ground below.
At the beginning of the path leading into the Hau tree jungle , We joined hands and did two Hawaiian chants One of them was E Ho Mai.. It was very spiritual and I felt a very deep connection to the aina . ( Land ) Kumu told us that where there are mounds of rocks , do not step on them or disturb them as they are burial sites. There were burial sites everywhere This was sacred land . I was surprised that it didn't give me the heevie jeevies. All I felt was a great calm and a wonderful peace. The only sound was the birds singing .
Kumu showed us what the best branches were to cut .. The best ones were straight , curving a wee bit is o.k. too , and with very few if any , knots. The branches have to be at least the circumference of ones' wrist or bigger. The best ones are the ones approximately 3 inches in diameter .
It was daunting, as I soon found out. First, I had to hunt for the perfect branches , then came the cutting down of the branches. Beth had lent me her hand saw that she used in the Horticulture Dept in Kalani. I started sawing away and soon found out how difficult it was with a small collapsible hand saw. It took all of me to saw one single cut , and the saw kept getting stuck part way through. I found myself giving myself silent pep talks. :" I can do this ! Yes I can ! I can do this ! Slowly but surely , for sure slowly, I can do this ! " We were to cut 20 branches. We were also advised that we would have to come back 2 more times another time to do a total of at least 40 plus more . It requires approximately 65 to 75 branches for the hula skirt and the leis. I felt the physical energy drain out of me when Kumu told us this. I didn't know how I was going to even do 20 branches. As it turned out , I ended up doing 12 branches only . :( Two of the branches
were gifted to me by one of the guys. They cut the thickest branches for me. There was no way that my little handsaw would cut through the size of branches that they gave me. I was so grateful . I forgot to mention too that each branch had to be at least seven feet long or more. Ha ha ! I have to laugh . And then came the demonstration of the stripping part. Stripping the bark, that is.
OMG again. The seven plus feet long branch had to be lean against something for leverage. In the jungle, that would be another tree. So, you have to lean the branch against another tree, cut off the top of the branch with a sharp knife , cutting approximately a inch and a half wide splits. From the splits, you pull with you right hand , stripping ( pulling )the bark , while using your left hand simultaneously to perpetuate the stripping and to assist in the lifting of the bark from the tree. You cannot remove too thick of the bark as that would bring along with it thick fibres. What you want to do is to lift enough bark so that only the finer fibres come removed with the bark. Meanwhile , I am also straddling the branch . Oh, and that's not even the end of this.
So once you have stripped the bark perfectly in loooong straight strips ( that too can be challenging ) it will go through a 3 week long salt water bath . On the first day , you soak the fibres in a salt water bath in a big tub . On the second day , you add two more tubs . ( Where am I gonna put all these tubs ???) Out of the first tub in which the fibres were soaked in the previous night , it goes into tub #2 which is filled with salted water . In tub # 2 , you remove all the slime from the fibres , rinsing thoroughly in tub # 2 . Then you put it in tub #3 which has clean fresh salted water. It will sit in tub # 3 overnight. And the process gets repeated on a daily basis for approximately 3 weeks with daily fresh salted water...........Once the fibres start separating from the bark , we separate the brown barkish fibres from the whitish fibres and put them in bunches to make it easier to de-slime , otherwise, it will be all in one huge tangly mess. So, sytematically , you would untie each bunch , hold the bunch in the middle , and dip and rinse and de-slime , lomi lomi with you hand , as Kumu called it. The brownish fibres will be used for cordage , while the whitish fibres will be used for our hula skirts .
The fibres will eventually, through this process, become soft like raffia , and wills separate naturally into thin strands. After all of this minimum 3 week procedure, the soft fibres are hung outside to naturally dry.
Kumu has asked us to not work on the hau when we are not right with our hearts as that would be transferred deep into the fibres. It should be always full of good mana.
So, I left Kalani approximately 8:45 this morning and came back around 2:00 p.m . I can feel small callous forming on my soft city hands. I am covered in moss and mud and dirt all over. I am also soaked as it started raining heavily towards the end . It would have been worse without the tangled canopy of Lau branches semi -sheltering over us.
In closing we held hands and did a Hawaiian chant before we left the jungle. It took me three trips to bring all my branches out of the jungle to Max's car. I was happy and extremely grateful that I didn't injure myself in this process. Ayako got hit hard in the face as a thick branch rebounded and hit her when she finished cutting one branch , and Max had a deep cut on his hand from his saw that slipped. And Molly, the City Girl , using a small hand saw for the first time ever in her Life, was spared. There truly is a God. Mahalo, God.
Wow , Wow and Wow !!!!!!!! What an experience ! What can I say ? It was truly special . I have to admit that a part of me is dreading repeating this two more times , perhaps three more times or even more. I have only gathered 12 branches out of the necessary possible 60 plus branches..........So far, I have only stripped one branch............ Please send me thoughts of strength and fortitude !
This is only the beginning .......................Where there's a Will, there's a Way . A great sense of humour helps too ! What am I getting myself into ?????? :)
With much Aloha ,
x0x0x0x0x0
Molly
Friday 6 July 2012
Gnin Rom Doog
Aloha !
As I sat down for breakfast today , I heard Crandle calling my name, " Molly Molly Molly ! " He likes to say my name three times. " Gnin Rom Doog " he says to me . I looked at Crandle. " Is that Hawaiian ? It doesn't sound Hawaiian. " Crandle looked at me as if he was surprised that I didn't know what he was saying . " Gnin Rom Doog " he said again . " Translate. I have no idea what you are saying or what that means. " " Don't you know ? " " Should I ? " " You say it all the time ." " I don't think so. I would know. "
By now, I could see Crandle bursting with delight , wanting to tell me what I should know but don't know and what he was saying to me should be so obvious.
" Its good morning spelled backwards ! " he says with glee .
I responded by looking off into space, visually spelling out good morning backwards . Barcus starts laughing and said, " I think Molly's going to be thinking about this one all day ! " Yes, as if. They think they are so witty , these older boys. " No. I was just thinking about how Crandle's brain works . I won't even ask if he thought this all up by himself. "
Bud the Barbarian , as he calls himself , walks by. Bud doesn't want to be called a gentleman , he wants to be called a barbarian. He was delighted when I told him that I will call him Bud the Barbarian. " Crandle , say to Bud what you just said to me. " So Crandle says ' Gnin Rom Doog ' to Bud. Bud too, looks blankly at Crandle. Bud is also known as a walking encyclopedia . Crandle explains. " Yeah, yeah, whatever " responds Bud and changing the subject.
Arno is planniing to go to Kona on his bike next weekend. By bike, I mean bicycle. It is a 3 hour drive by car over some challenging terrain and parts of it is simular to the Sea to Sky Highway to Whistler in British Columbia. I told Arno about the Manago Hotel where I stayed . The Manago Hotel was built in 1917 and it remains within the Manago family still . " That's the year I was born ! " Arno said when I told him. Everyone laughed. " I said 1917 , not 1970 ! 1917 is closer to when your Dad was born, Arno ! " Arno's Dad turned 90 this year. It will be a most challenging bicycle ride indeed . Arno wants absolutely no weigh on his bike when he rides and plans to Fedex a change of clothing to the Hotel. I will update you as to how long it takes Arno to ride to Kona from Kalani once he does his Tour de Hawaii next weekend Hopefully, he won't run into a pig ! Or worse yet, a donkey !
Tonight, as I sat down for dinner , I said to Crandle , " So, what is good evening backwards ? Have you thought about that ? " Crandle went into deep thought and I laughed. No, he hasn't thought of that yet.
With much Aloha,
x0x0x0x0
Molly
Thursday 5 July 2012
Ceremony at Puuhonua O Honaunau Thurs, June 28th to Sun July,1st
Aloha !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I haven't been able to update my blog as the computer that I normally use in the Loft has been out of commission now for a week . I am using the guest computer at Hale Aloha , so that I don't forget all the wonderful experiences that has happened over the last week. This is , in essence, my open diary.
Thurs, June, 28th , 2012
We headed off to Kona around 11:30. It was pouring rain in Kalani. We were all hoping for better weather in Kona. It was a good thing that I went in Kumu's van as there was so much stuff to pack. There were 4 of us in her 7 seat passenger van and it was packed full of costumes , and drums and an ipu. As we headed out the rolling roads out of Kalani,( the road is like a gentle roller coaster , seriously ) the rain slowed down . It was a 3 hour drive to Kona and we made several stops along the way, one of which was a famous malasada bakery in the most southern part of USA. The bakery's name is Punalu'u Bake Shop. Here's the link.
http://www.bakeshophawaii.com/
Below is info about the bakery.
Yummmmm, I had a mango flavoured malasada and I bought some bread for the Halau BBQ that was going to happen the following day.
Along the way , Kumu went over the chants with us. They are called oli (s) . Oh, I really butchered the chant. At one point , Bonca said huli huli when it was hulu hulu . Iit was quite funny. Kumu said , " You're thinking about the chicken ! Kalani served huli huli chicken a few days earlier so I knew what Kumu meant. Huli huli chicken was yummy ! And then , after hearing her say that , and me knowing better, I said the same thing. Mayumi messed up too . It got to be a tongue tying oli , with much much laughter and a wee bit of embarrass on my part . It was challenging to get the inflections in the right place and to say it the right way. We had to say quite a few sentences with one breath , and that was most challenging indeed. A chant voice , as explained by Kumu , is not your regular voice or your singing voice. A chant voice is one tone lower that your regular voice.. I believe Mayumi and Bonca and I were somewhat relieved when we stopped reviewing the chants . Kumu was very strict with us, and corrected us frequently , but she was very kind and patient with us too. I learned a lot from that car ride session of chanting. There was a lot of laughter !
So, the following was one of the chants Kumu worked with us on , while enroute to Kona. It is called I Ku Mau Mau. On the left is the Hawaiian and on the right is the translation . Kumu said the leading part and we were the responding part . This link also tells you about the chant at the bottom of the page . We had to chant back in a deep and very strong voice.
http://www.huapala.org/Chants/I_Ku_Mau_Mau.html
We arrived at the Manago Hotel close to 4:00 p.m. The Manago is a very basic Hotel , very reasonably priced and we had a great ocean view from our 2 floor room. The Hotel was built in 1917 and has remained in the Manago family all these years. I shared the room with Mayumi. We quickly got ourselves settled and went for a hula practice at Amy Greenwell Botanical Garden which was across the street from the Hotel. We went over all the dances that we were to perform the following day . We were to perform in the opening ceremony at Puuhonua O Honaunau. What an honour !
Oh, I forgot to mention that the Hotel was paid for by the Parks Board . We were all fed lunch while we were there . How great is that ? We were also given a Puuhonua O Honaunau commemorative t-shirt , a beautiful red sarong designed by famous designer Sig Zane that has conch shells on it, and a commemorative poster of the event. Yes, how great is that ? :) Simply fabulous !
http://sigzane.com/home/
After practice, some of us stayed and ate dinner at the Hotel. I had read reviews earlier on line that Manago was famous for their pork chops. That was exactly what I had. I had their pork chops with pan fried onions and gravy . Oh, it was mega yum !!!!!! The meal came with rice, pickled vegetables, potato salad and black eye peas , served on big plates, family style. It was the first time that I ever ate potato salad with chopsticks ! The pork chops were smothered with an abundance of rich brown gravy and fried onions. Most delicious homestyle cooking indeed !
After dinner , we started making our fresh ti leaf leis to wear for the following day opening ceremony performance. I had picked 3 dozen ti leaves at Kalani for the lei making. Oh, it took a while......We started the lei making around 9:00 p.m. and I did not finish until past midnight. First, we had to tear the ti leaf into 2 pieces , leaving the centre bone of the ti leaf, which was not used for the leis. The ti leaves are about one and a half to two feet long , not including the stem , so the leaves are fairly big. For the head lei, we braided 6 ti leaves together . For the wrist leis and the ankle leis , we braided 3 strips of ti leaves and the braids had to wind around our wrist and ankles 3 times each . It was a lot of braiding and it was my first time ever so I was not speedy Gonzales by any means. Still, I was faster than some others as I am very good at braiding . I braid my long hair a lot.
I went to bed around 1:00 a.m. and Mayumi kept me awake as she decided to blow dry her hair beside my bed at 2:00 a.m. She would not use the electrical outlet in the washroom but insisted on using the only other electrical outlet which was beside our beds. What can I say . I was too tired to be pissed off but the inconsideration of some people never fails to surprise me. I couldn't believe that she did that. I was so happy that I finished all my leis . We also had to iron all our regalia . That in itself took a while too .
Friday, June, 29th , 2012
Wow ! The day has arrived ! We piled our regalia and leis into Kumu's van. Thank goodness she has a van. We arrived at Puuhonua O Honaunau and Kumu quiclky parked. The whole Halau was parked close to each other. " O.k. We have to change into our regalia ! " said Kumu. I looked around to see where we were going to get changed and I quickly realized that we were going to change right where we were parked. No shyness here. Off with civilian clothing and on with the regalia ! Even the dressing was a ceremony in itself. We dressed from the bottom up , with the head lei going on last. In our parking area, we were quickly organized to walk in procession . First, it was Kumu , then the ones designated to carry the instruments ( drums and ipu ) then it was me . I was given the honour of carrying the two huge lahala mats . The two mats are laid down where we will be performing the opening ceremony and the instruments are placed on it and Kumu plays the drums and ipu. I walked behind Kumu , and one of the other dancers walked beside me carrying Kumu's large drum. Then, everyone else walked in single file behind us.
We walked from the parking area, on very hot asphalt pavement, down a rocky path , along a large pebbled path onto a gravelly sandy beach to where the tikis were in Puuhonua O Honaunau , in bare feet. :( It was a very long walk and was very painful in barefeet. When we arrived in f ront of the tikis, the sand was gravelly and so very hard and very hot under my feet. We were going to be dancing on this hot gravely sand. :( We did five full performances from 11:00 to 1:30 ( every half hour ) with a 10 minute break in between the performances where we went under shade to re-cupe and drink water . It was a very hot and sunny day. It was unbearable and so very painful on my feet. It was truly mind over matter and I did not know how I was able to last 5 performances . During the last performance , I could feel sharp multi pin prick pain on my feet with every step I took. I could feel every single piece of gravel sand digging painfully sharp into my feet. I knew then that I had burned my feet. I really dreaded the procession going back . We had to go back the same way we came, and in the same order. Kumu walks very fast. I walked behind her and beside me was another dancer holding Kumu large drum. I was carrying the two large mats rolled up, trying so hard to keep up , at least with the dancer carrying the drum (I have forgotten his name ) . I looked at him from behind my mat and he looked at me with concern. I was in such pain and was fighting back tears . " Are you o.k. ? " he silently mouthed the words. I shook my head, still fighing back tears. There were so many tourists lined up along side watching us as we left in our procession. He slowed down for me, realizing that with each step that I took , I was in great pain. At that moment, I really wished that I was not in the front of the procession, ( which in itself was a great honour ) but in the back where it was not so obvious that I was struggling to keep up . By the time I reached the very hot asphalt pavement and there were no longer any tourists , I could not take another step more. I stopped and the tears were pooling in my eyes. I was in such incredible pain. I knew that I had burnt my feet. Bonco came up to me and said, " Let it all out . Go ahead and cry. It was torture for us too . Its o.k. Go ahead and cry. " She put her arms around me. I shook my head . " I won't let it all out in front of the whole Halau. " In spite of that , the tears came down fast and furious. I really could not walk. Maxwell, one of the dancers' partner , came up to me. ' Do you want me to carry you ? " pointing to his back, indicating that he wanted to give me a piggy back. As much as that would have been great, I asked one of the dancers to get my flip flops out of Kumu's van. I will try and walk the rest of the way in my flip flops. I was quickly surrounded by the whole halau and they were so loving and concerned. " You can lean on me, Molly. " Oh, that brought the tears more. I truly was in incredible pain. My feet are super sensitive and I have thin skin . One of the dancers said ' You gave the best offering of all, its called the flesh offering ! " and he made me laugh. Yes, I gave my flesh for this Ceremony. It was still very painful but better walking back to the van in my flip flops. We got changed out of our regalia and back into our civilian clothes. As we were heading back to the Hotel right away , I quickly went into the ocean to cool my feet off. The cool salty ocean water felt so wonderful on my hot burnt feet . " Poor tender foot Molly ! You must have burnt you feet ! " said Kumu. On the drive out of Puuhonua o Honaunau , Kumu stopped and picked a very ripe noni fruit and gave it to me. " Here, rub this on your feet when you get back to the hotel . It will help . " Oh, the fruit smelled like blue cheese. It was stinky . As soon as I got back to the hotel, I went out to the balcony , put my feet up and started rubbing the ripe noni fruit pulp onto my very badly burnt feet. My feet were red and raw. I was very grateful that in spite of how my feet felt , I did not have any cuts . By the way I felt, I thought that I had some very deep cuts in my feet. The damn fruit stunk. It did really help.I showered to washed the stinky fruit off me and went for dinner. I could barely walk. My feet felt really raw .
We had a pot luck BBQ at the Botanical Gardens. The Botanical Gardens was beautiful. Kuani made some tender bbq chicken ,grilled veggies and there was fruits and salads galore. It was a great BBQ.
After the BBQ, we went back to our rooms and I started braiding furiously . I was braiding brown ti leaves that I had gathered in Kalani. I had to braid two 10 feet ropes, and two 25 feet ropes with the brown ti leaves ( a total of 70 feet ) . It took me about 3 hours to braid the 70 feet that I needed to make sandals . Everyone joked and said that they all know who would be the first to finish the sandals . Me , of course. " I am definitely motivated to make the sandals as quickly as possible ! " I responded, looking down at my painful burnt feet. " You have beautiful feet ! " Mayumi said to me. Beautiful small feet with burnt soles.
We were to make the sandals the following morning as part of a demonstration for the Cultural Festival . The sandals look amazing , very ancient and earthy and incredibly comfortable. I finished my braiding for the sandals at midnight . Mayumi did not finish until 2:00 a.m. I was grateful that she did not turn on the blow dryer as I would really let her have it then. Enough was enough. We both had the same amount of time . It was how the time was used that made the difference as to when we were both finished. I didn't know that there was a electronic tweezer . It makes an interesting noise. It does eyebrow hair and chin hair , and probably other places too. I'm just saying from personal observation. I was still awake at 1:30 a.m. Laying in bed, having a conversation with Mayumi , I heard a rooster crow. " Wow ! that is one messed up rooster . It is no where near dawn ! " I said. Mayumi laughed. We had both read on line that there were roosters crowing at all hours of the early morn , before daybreak. It was a good thing that the rooster was off in the distance and not under our hotel room window. It crowed on and off throughout the early morning hours.
Saturday, June, 30th, 2012
Today was our demo day at the Cultural Festival at Puuhonua O Hanaunau so we didn't perform . There were demos for everything from weaving to lei making. The Halau was demoing making sandals out of brown ti leaves, as worn in ancient times. I was very excited. It is a process of weaving the ropes left to right and right to left, over, under, under, over. They look really cool. The brown ti leaf ropes are incredibly strong . Good thing to know how to make , especially if one is stranded on a deserted tropical island. You can use the rope for many things.
We were fed lunch which consisted of chicken in a gingery sauce with white rice on the side. There was lots of watermelon. I must have eaten half a watermelon ! I love watermelon and it was so thirst quenching. It was another really hot and sunny day. By the time we were finished lunch, there was only about an hour left free time for me to see who the other Hawaiian cultural crafts were. I wanted to make my own ipu but unfortunately, I just missed the last session for the day. I was lucky enough to be put on their schedule the following day. I went to another cultural demo and made my own flower lei by using rafia to wrap flowers around a brown ti leaf. My last stop was palm frond weaving. Fortunately, I just made in in to be included to weave my own basket. It was 5 minutes to 3:00 p.m. . The Cultural Festival closed at 3:00 . Although I did not weave my own palm frond basket, I was most lucky indeed to have one made for me. It was kind of the weaver to make my basket for me instead of turning me away. She even put a palm frond rose on the basket ! It is such a lovely basket.
On the way back to the Hotel, we stopped at a grocery store . I was so happy to stop there as I had a mission. My mission was to look for very large bandaids. Oh happy happy day ! You cannot imagine how excited I was when I saw LARGE bandaids. It came in a 10 pack , more than enough for my feet. It was my saving grace. Hallelujah ! Thank you God for the large bandaids !!!!! One banaid covered 3/4 of my foot. I cut one of them in half to cover my heels. I was so very very happy as the bandaids would cut the pain factor in half when I perform again the next day. It will prevent my feet from getting further burnt too and also act as a bit of a barrier against the sharp gravel. Oh happy happy happy day !!!!!!! I gave some bandaids to Ayako ( one of the dancers ) too , as she also was in great pain and has thin skin like me. She too , was so very happy to see the bandaids.
We quickly freshened up and off we went to the Botanical Gardens to have a full practice / rehearsal for the following day's performance. Kumu is a perfectionist and she corrects us as errors arise. This is evident as her Halau 's dancers are some of the best that I have ever seen. She helps us be the best that we could be as hula dancers. Her knowledge, musicality , drumming and ipu , choreography are the best that I have ever seen / experienced.
Once again , we had another yummy potluck BBQ. After the BBQ, it was back to the Hotel to make fresh leis for the following day's final performancses. We made fresh ti leaf leis for our head, wrists, and ankles. The lei around the neck consisted of breaking the bone of two ti leaves , and splitting each side of the ti leaf into approximately eleven splits. the two ti leaves are then tied around one's neck. This was always done just prior to performance, and not the day before. I was only up till 11:00 this time , making my leis. I have become good in braiding ti leaves.
I quickly packed and got all my regalia organized for the following day. We were checking out of the Hotel first thing in the morning. After our final performance at 3:00 , we were heading straight home, back to Kalani.
Sunday, July,1st, 2012
After checking out of the Manago Hotel , we loaded the Van up and headed straight to Puuhonua O Honaunau for our final performances. In the morning, we did our demonstration of how to make the ti leaf sandals. I was able to take 20 minutes to go make my ipu ! I now have a small ipu that makes a lovely faint sound , but is best being a decoration that being played .
We performed at 12:00 and also did the closing ceremony at 3:00 . This time, I was prepared. I had huge bandaids on the soles of my feet. It really helped a lot even though me feet was still super sensitive to every tiny pebble. I feel like the Princess and the Pea ( fairy tale ) , only instead of pea , its a pebble , and instead of laying down , I am standing up and/or walking. Everything happened so fast.
I thought that I could wear one of the regalia back home but because what we did was a ceremony , I was not allowed to wear part of my regalia . Well, all my clothes were packed in a suitcase . Thank goodness I packed my p.j.s in the front pocket of my suitcase . It was not easy to take my suitcase out of the van due to how the van was packed . Basically, my p.j. was a flowery top and p.j. shorts. Heck, no one really knew and if you saw me, you wouldn't really think that it was p.j.s
Kumu knew that I love horseback riding . She was so kind to drive me to Parker Ranch in Wamea. The terrain is so very different from Kalani to Kona to Waimea. I love Waimea's landscape best . There were desert areas that looked like you were in America's south west and then all of a sudden , beautiful lush green rolling hills. They are technically mountains , but compare to the mountains in B.C., they are hills to me. Oh, it was so beautiful. I could definitely live in Waimea . So, I had my picture taken right at the gates of Parker Ranch , in my p.j.s .! I love the " whoa " signs that take the place of " stop " signs on the road. So, the perfect Life would be to own a ranch in Waimea for me . Kumu said that maybe , we could go riding together one day . I believe that is a high possibility . I said to Kumu that I will come back to Waimea. I feel it deep within me. She agreed. She too believe that I will go back to Waimea. The scenery in Waimea was spectacular. Waimea , in some ways , reminded me of B.C. ( British Columbia )
We stopped at a local favourite eating place called Tex Drive In for dinner . I had the best malasada ever there ! I had the boston creme malasada and it was still warm . Oh, one of the best things in the world is to eat baked goods when they are still warm , fresh from the oven or however they are prepared . I was in heaven ! I savoured every bite of my Bavarian creme malasada . I ate it before my Hawaiian burger and fries ! I couldn't wait. The burger was huge , hand made with a big slice of fresh pineapple. Oh, so good. The fries were thick cut and hot out of the fryer. Fries are their ultimate best when just out of the fryer , very hot and crispy on the outside and soft on in the inside.. The malasada that I had was the best ever . The place had a 60's feel to it . Here's the link:
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g60585-d519160-Reviews-Tex_Drive_In_Restaurant-Honokaa_Island_of_Hawaii_Hawaii.html
Night had fallen on our drive home. It was such a beautiful night. The moon was almost full and there were many stars in the sky. Kumu and I shared our Life stories. We have both lived challenging lives and endured hardships. I felt as if I had known Kumu all my Life.
The whole weekend was so full of many beautiful memories that I will cherish always . I feel so incredibly blessed . I am bursting with gratitude and aloha .
Kumu is tempting me to stay longer in Hawaii........She has asked me to perform at Volcanoes National Park , on the volcano....... This is the information off the website and the link about the upcoming performance..
http://www.volcanoartcenter.org/component/content/article/79-supplemental/269-hula-kahiko-series
September 15, 2012
NA MEA HAWAI'I HULA KAHIKO PERFORMANCE - HAWAI'I VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK
This outdoor presentation of traditional hula and chant featuring Halau Hula Ka Makani Hali 'Ala O Puna under the direction of kumu hula Ehulani Stephany, will take place rain or shine at the hula platform located near Volcano Art Center Gallery. Audience is encouraged to bring sitting mat and sun/rain gear. On the same day, there are hands-on cultural demonstrations from 9:30Am to 1:30PM on the gallery porch. Free; park entrance fees apply. Call (808) 967-8222 or visit www.volcanoartcenter.org
This Saturday ( July, 7th ) I am going out into the jungle with Kumu to gather fibres from a certain type of tree. First I have to strip the bark , then gather the fibres under the bark. The fibres will go through a 3 week salt water bath that has to be changed daily . I will be making my own hula skirt from these fibres. I am told that the fibres , after the salt water processing , become very soft and pliable like rafia.
I am exactly where I should be , right at this moment . I am now at the right place , at the right time.
With much Aloha ,
x0x0x0x0x0
Molly
I haven't been able to update my blog as the computer that I normally use in the Loft has been out of commission now for a week . I am using the guest computer at Hale Aloha , so that I don't forget all the wonderful experiences that has happened over the last week. This is , in essence, my open diary.
Thurs, June, 28th , 2012
We headed off to Kona around 11:30. It was pouring rain in Kalani. We were all hoping for better weather in Kona. It was a good thing that I went in Kumu's van as there was so much stuff to pack. There were 4 of us in her 7 seat passenger van and it was packed full of costumes , and drums and an ipu. As we headed out the rolling roads out of Kalani,( the road is like a gentle roller coaster , seriously ) the rain slowed down . It was a 3 hour drive to Kona and we made several stops along the way, one of which was a famous malasada bakery in the most southern part of USA. The bakery's name is Punalu'u Bake Shop. Here's the link.
http://www.bakeshophawaii.com/
Below is info about the bakery.
At Latitude 19 degrees, Four Minutes north of the equator -The Punalu’u Bake Shop and Visitor Center is the southernmost bakery in the U.S.A. Located on Mamalahoa Highway (Route 11) in the town of Na’alehu, midway between Kailua Kona and Volcanoes National Park, the Bake Shop welcomes more than 200,000 visitors from around the world each year
The most visited bake shop in the state of Hawaii is situated on a lush four-acre landscaped estate, that includes a wide variety of tropical palms, flowers, fragrance and culinary gardens, and other floral exotica from Hawaii.
Yummmmm, I had a mango flavoured malasada and I bought some bread for the Halau BBQ that was going to happen the following day.
Along the way , Kumu went over the chants with us. They are called oli (s) . Oh, I really butchered the chant. At one point , Bonca said huli huli when it was hulu hulu . Iit was quite funny. Kumu said , " You're thinking about the chicken ! Kalani served huli huli chicken a few days earlier so I knew what Kumu meant. Huli huli chicken was yummy ! And then , after hearing her say that , and me knowing better, I said the same thing. Mayumi messed up too . It got to be a tongue tying oli , with much much laughter and a wee bit of embarrass on my part . It was challenging to get the inflections in the right place and to say it the right way. We had to say quite a few sentences with one breath , and that was most challenging indeed. A chant voice , as explained by Kumu , is not your regular voice or your singing voice. A chant voice is one tone lower that your regular voice.. I believe Mayumi and Bonca and I were somewhat relieved when we stopped reviewing the chants . Kumu was very strict with us, and corrected us frequently , but she was very kind and patient with us too. I learned a lot from that car ride session of chanting. There was a lot of laughter !
So, the following was one of the chants Kumu worked with us on , while enroute to Kona. It is called I Ku Mau Mau. On the left is the Hawaiian and on the right is the translation . Kumu said the leading part and we were the responding part . This link also tells you about the chant at the bottom of the page . We had to chant back in a deep and very strong voice.
http://www.huapala.org/Chants/I_Ku_Mau_Mau.html
We arrived at the Manago Hotel close to 4:00 p.m. The Manago is a very basic Hotel , very reasonably priced and we had a great ocean view from our 2 floor room. The Hotel was built in 1917 and has remained in the Manago family all these years. I shared the room with Mayumi. We quickly got ourselves settled and went for a hula practice at Amy Greenwell Botanical Garden which was across the street from the Hotel. We went over all the dances that we were to perform the following day . We were to perform in the opening ceremony at Puuhonua O Honaunau. What an honour !
Oh, I forgot to mention that the Hotel was paid for by the Parks Board . We were all fed lunch while we were there . How great is that ? We were also given a Puuhonua O Honaunau commemorative t-shirt , a beautiful red sarong designed by famous designer Sig Zane that has conch shells on it, and a commemorative poster of the event. Yes, how great is that ? :) Simply fabulous !
http://sigzane.com/home/
After practice, some of us stayed and ate dinner at the Hotel. I had read reviews earlier on line that Manago was famous for their pork chops. That was exactly what I had. I had their pork chops with pan fried onions and gravy . Oh, it was mega yum !!!!!! The meal came with rice, pickled vegetables, potato salad and black eye peas , served on big plates, family style. It was the first time that I ever ate potato salad with chopsticks ! The pork chops were smothered with an abundance of rich brown gravy and fried onions. Most delicious homestyle cooking indeed !
After dinner , we started making our fresh ti leaf leis to wear for the following day opening ceremony performance. I had picked 3 dozen ti leaves at Kalani for the lei making. Oh, it took a while......We started the lei making around 9:00 p.m. and I did not finish until past midnight. First, we had to tear the ti leaf into 2 pieces , leaving the centre bone of the ti leaf, which was not used for the leis. The ti leaves are about one and a half to two feet long , not including the stem , so the leaves are fairly big. For the head lei, we braided 6 ti leaves together . For the wrist leis and the ankle leis , we braided 3 strips of ti leaves and the braids had to wind around our wrist and ankles 3 times each . It was a lot of braiding and it was my first time ever so I was not speedy Gonzales by any means. Still, I was faster than some others as I am very good at braiding . I braid my long hair a lot.
I went to bed around 1:00 a.m. and Mayumi kept me awake as she decided to blow dry her hair beside my bed at 2:00 a.m. She would not use the electrical outlet in the washroom but insisted on using the only other electrical outlet which was beside our beds. What can I say . I was too tired to be pissed off but the inconsideration of some people never fails to surprise me. I couldn't believe that she did that. I was so happy that I finished all my leis . We also had to iron all our regalia . That in itself took a while too .
Friday, June, 29th , 2012
Wow ! The day has arrived ! We piled our regalia and leis into Kumu's van. Thank goodness she has a van. We arrived at Puuhonua O Honaunau and Kumu quiclky parked. The whole Halau was parked close to each other. " O.k. We have to change into our regalia ! " said Kumu. I looked around to see where we were going to get changed and I quickly realized that we were going to change right where we were parked. No shyness here. Off with civilian clothing and on with the regalia ! Even the dressing was a ceremony in itself. We dressed from the bottom up , with the head lei going on last. In our parking area, we were quickly organized to walk in procession . First, it was Kumu , then the ones designated to carry the instruments ( drums and ipu ) then it was me . I was given the honour of carrying the two huge lahala mats . The two mats are laid down where we will be performing the opening ceremony and the instruments are placed on it and Kumu plays the drums and ipu. I walked behind Kumu , and one of the other dancers walked beside me carrying Kumu's large drum. Then, everyone else walked in single file behind us.
We walked from the parking area, on very hot asphalt pavement, down a rocky path , along a large pebbled path onto a gravelly sandy beach to where the tikis were in Puuhonua O Honaunau , in bare feet. :( It was a very long walk and was very painful in barefeet. When we arrived in f ront of the tikis, the sand was gravelly and so very hard and very hot under my feet. We were going to be dancing on this hot gravely sand. :( We did five full performances from 11:00 to 1:30 ( every half hour ) with a 10 minute break in between the performances where we went under shade to re-cupe and drink water . It was a very hot and sunny day. It was unbearable and so very painful on my feet. It was truly mind over matter and I did not know how I was able to last 5 performances . During the last performance , I could feel sharp multi pin prick pain on my feet with every step I took. I could feel every single piece of gravel sand digging painfully sharp into my feet. I knew then that I had burned my feet. I really dreaded the procession going back . We had to go back the same way we came, and in the same order. Kumu walks very fast. I walked behind her and beside me was another dancer holding Kumu large drum. I was carrying the two large mats rolled up, trying so hard to keep up , at least with the dancer carrying the drum (I have forgotten his name ) . I looked at him from behind my mat and he looked at me with concern. I was in such pain and was fighting back tears . " Are you o.k. ? " he silently mouthed the words. I shook my head, still fighing back tears. There were so many tourists lined up along side watching us as we left in our procession. He slowed down for me, realizing that with each step that I took , I was in great pain. At that moment, I really wished that I was not in the front of the procession, ( which in itself was a great honour ) but in the back where it was not so obvious that I was struggling to keep up . By the time I reached the very hot asphalt pavement and there were no longer any tourists , I could not take another step more. I stopped and the tears were pooling in my eyes. I was in such incredible pain. I knew that I had burnt my feet. Bonco came up to me and said, " Let it all out . Go ahead and cry. It was torture for us too . Its o.k. Go ahead and cry. " She put her arms around me. I shook my head . " I won't let it all out in front of the whole Halau. " In spite of that , the tears came down fast and furious. I really could not walk. Maxwell, one of the dancers' partner , came up to me. ' Do you want me to carry you ? " pointing to his back, indicating that he wanted to give me a piggy back. As much as that would have been great, I asked one of the dancers to get my flip flops out of Kumu's van. I will try and walk the rest of the way in my flip flops. I was quickly surrounded by the whole halau and they were so loving and concerned. " You can lean on me, Molly. " Oh, that brought the tears more. I truly was in incredible pain. My feet are super sensitive and I have thin skin . One of the dancers said ' You gave the best offering of all, its called the flesh offering ! " and he made me laugh. Yes, I gave my flesh for this Ceremony. It was still very painful but better walking back to the van in my flip flops. We got changed out of our regalia and back into our civilian clothes. As we were heading back to the Hotel right away , I quickly went into the ocean to cool my feet off. The cool salty ocean water felt so wonderful on my hot burnt feet . " Poor tender foot Molly ! You must have burnt you feet ! " said Kumu. On the drive out of Puuhonua o Honaunau , Kumu stopped and picked a very ripe noni fruit and gave it to me. " Here, rub this on your feet when you get back to the hotel . It will help . " Oh, the fruit smelled like blue cheese. It was stinky . As soon as I got back to the hotel, I went out to the balcony , put my feet up and started rubbing the ripe noni fruit pulp onto my very badly burnt feet. My feet were red and raw. I was very grateful that in spite of how my feet felt , I did not have any cuts . By the way I felt, I thought that I had some very deep cuts in my feet. The damn fruit stunk. It did really help.I showered to washed the stinky fruit off me and went for dinner. I could barely walk. My feet felt really raw .
We had a pot luck BBQ at the Botanical Gardens. The Botanical Gardens was beautiful. Kuani made some tender bbq chicken ,grilled veggies and there was fruits and salads galore. It was a great BBQ.
After the BBQ, we went back to our rooms and I started braiding furiously . I was braiding brown ti leaves that I had gathered in Kalani. I had to braid two 10 feet ropes, and two 25 feet ropes with the brown ti leaves ( a total of 70 feet ) . It took me about 3 hours to braid the 70 feet that I needed to make sandals . Everyone joked and said that they all know who would be the first to finish the sandals . Me , of course. " I am definitely motivated to make the sandals as quickly as possible ! " I responded, looking down at my painful burnt feet. " You have beautiful feet ! " Mayumi said to me. Beautiful small feet with burnt soles.
We were to make the sandals the following morning as part of a demonstration for the Cultural Festival . The sandals look amazing , very ancient and earthy and incredibly comfortable. I finished my braiding for the sandals at midnight . Mayumi did not finish until 2:00 a.m. I was grateful that she did not turn on the blow dryer as I would really let her have it then. Enough was enough. We both had the same amount of time . It was how the time was used that made the difference as to when we were both finished. I didn't know that there was a electronic tweezer . It makes an interesting noise. It does eyebrow hair and chin hair , and probably other places too. I'm just saying from personal observation. I was still awake at 1:30 a.m. Laying in bed, having a conversation with Mayumi , I heard a rooster crow. " Wow ! that is one messed up rooster . It is no where near dawn ! " I said. Mayumi laughed. We had both read on line that there were roosters crowing at all hours of the early morn , before daybreak. It was a good thing that the rooster was off in the distance and not under our hotel room window. It crowed on and off throughout the early morning hours.
Saturday, June, 30th, 2012
Today was our demo day at the Cultural Festival at Puuhonua O Hanaunau so we didn't perform . There were demos for everything from weaving to lei making. The Halau was demoing making sandals out of brown ti leaves, as worn in ancient times. I was very excited. It is a process of weaving the ropes left to right and right to left, over, under, under, over. They look really cool. The brown ti leaf ropes are incredibly strong . Good thing to know how to make , especially if one is stranded on a deserted tropical island. You can use the rope for many things.
We were fed lunch which consisted of chicken in a gingery sauce with white rice on the side. There was lots of watermelon. I must have eaten half a watermelon ! I love watermelon and it was so thirst quenching. It was another really hot and sunny day. By the time we were finished lunch, there was only about an hour left free time for me to see who the other Hawaiian cultural crafts were. I wanted to make my own ipu but unfortunately, I just missed the last session for the day. I was lucky enough to be put on their schedule the following day. I went to another cultural demo and made my own flower lei by using rafia to wrap flowers around a brown ti leaf. My last stop was palm frond weaving. Fortunately, I just made in in to be included to weave my own basket. It was 5 minutes to 3:00 p.m. . The Cultural Festival closed at 3:00 . Although I did not weave my own palm frond basket, I was most lucky indeed to have one made for me. It was kind of the weaver to make my basket for me instead of turning me away. She even put a palm frond rose on the basket ! It is such a lovely basket.
On the way back to the Hotel, we stopped at a grocery store . I was so happy to stop there as I had a mission. My mission was to look for very large bandaids. Oh happy happy day ! You cannot imagine how excited I was when I saw LARGE bandaids. It came in a 10 pack , more than enough for my feet. It was my saving grace. Hallelujah ! Thank you God for the large bandaids !!!!! One banaid covered 3/4 of my foot. I cut one of them in half to cover my heels. I was so very very happy as the bandaids would cut the pain factor in half when I perform again the next day. It will prevent my feet from getting further burnt too and also act as a bit of a barrier against the sharp gravel. Oh happy happy happy day !!!!!!! I gave some bandaids to Ayako ( one of the dancers ) too , as she also was in great pain and has thin skin like me. She too , was so very happy to see the bandaids.
We quickly freshened up and off we went to the Botanical Gardens to have a full practice / rehearsal for the following day's performance. Kumu is a perfectionist and she corrects us as errors arise. This is evident as her Halau 's dancers are some of the best that I have ever seen. She helps us be the best that we could be as hula dancers. Her knowledge, musicality , drumming and ipu , choreography are the best that I have ever seen / experienced.
Once again , we had another yummy potluck BBQ. After the BBQ, it was back to the Hotel to make fresh leis for the following day's final performancses. We made fresh ti leaf leis for our head, wrists, and ankles. The lei around the neck consisted of breaking the bone of two ti leaves , and splitting each side of the ti leaf into approximately eleven splits. the two ti leaves are then tied around one's neck. This was always done just prior to performance, and not the day before. I was only up till 11:00 this time , making my leis. I have become good in braiding ti leaves.
I quickly packed and got all my regalia organized for the following day. We were checking out of the Hotel first thing in the morning. After our final performance at 3:00 , we were heading straight home, back to Kalani.
Sunday, July,1st, 2012
After checking out of the Manago Hotel , we loaded the Van up and headed straight to Puuhonua O Honaunau for our final performances. In the morning, we did our demonstration of how to make the ti leaf sandals. I was able to take 20 minutes to go make my ipu ! I now have a small ipu that makes a lovely faint sound , but is best being a decoration that being played .
We performed at 12:00 and also did the closing ceremony at 3:00 . This time, I was prepared. I had huge bandaids on the soles of my feet. It really helped a lot even though me feet was still super sensitive to every tiny pebble. I feel like the Princess and the Pea ( fairy tale ) , only instead of pea , its a pebble , and instead of laying down , I am standing up and/or walking. Everything happened so fast.
I thought that I could wear one of the regalia back home but because what we did was a ceremony , I was not allowed to wear part of my regalia . Well, all my clothes were packed in a suitcase . Thank goodness I packed my p.j.s in the front pocket of my suitcase . It was not easy to take my suitcase out of the van due to how the van was packed . Basically, my p.j. was a flowery top and p.j. shorts. Heck, no one really knew and if you saw me, you wouldn't really think that it was p.j.s
Kumu knew that I love horseback riding . She was so kind to drive me to Parker Ranch in Wamea. The terrain is so very different from Kalani to Kona to Waimea. I love Waimea's landscape best . There were desert areas that looked like you were in America's south west and then all of a sudden , beautiful lush green rolling hills. They are technically mountains , but compare to the mountains in B.C., they are hills to me. Oh, it was so beautiful. I could definitely live in Waimea . So, I had my picture taken right at the gates of Parker Ranch , in my p.j.s .! I love the " whoa " signs that take the place of " stop " signs on the road. So, the perfect Life would be to own a ranch in Waimea for me . Kumu said that maybe , we could go riding together one day . I believe that is a high possibility . I said to Kumu that I will come back to Waimea. I feel it deep within me. She agreed. She too believe that I will go back to Waimea. The scenery in Waimea was spectacular. Waimea , in some ways , reminded me of B.C. ( British Columbia )
We stopped at a local favourite eating place called Tex Drive In for dinner . I had the best malasada ever there ! I had the boston creme malasada and it was still warm . Oh, one of the best things in the world is to eat baked goods when they are still warm , fresh from the oven or however they are prepared . I was in heaven ! I savoured every bite of my Bavarian creme malasada . I ate it before my Hawaiian burger and fries ! I couldn't wait. The burger was huge , hand made with a big slice of fresh pineapple. Oh, so good. The fries were thick cut and hot out of the fryer. Fries are their ultimate best when just out of the fryer , very hot and crispy on the outside and soft on in the inside.. The malasada that I had was the best ever . The place had a 60's feel to it . Here's the link:
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g60585-d519160-Reviews-Tex_Drive_In_Restaurant-Honokaa_Island_of_Hawaii_Hawaii.html
Night had fallen on our drive home. It was such a beautiful night. The moon was almost full and there were many stars in the sky. Kumu and I shared our Life stories. We have both lived challenging lives and endured hardships. I felt as if I had known Kumu all my Life.
The whole weekend was so full of many beautiful memories that I will cherish always . I feel so incredibly blessed . I am bursting with gratitude and aloha .
Kumu is tempting me to stay longer in Hawaii........She has asked me to perform at Volcanoes National Park , on the volcano....... This is the information off the website and the link about the upcoming performance..
http://www.volcanoartcenter.org/component/content/article/79-supplemental/269-hula-kahiko-series
September 15, 2012
NA MEA HAWAI'I HULA KAHIKO PERFORMANCE - HAWAI'I VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK
This outdoor presentation of traditional hula and chant featuring Halau Hula Ka Makani Hali 'Ala O Puna under the direction of kumu hula Ehulani Stephany, will take place rain or shine at the hula platform located near Volcano Art Center Gallery. Audience is encouraged to bring sitting mat and sun/rain gear. On the same day, there are hands-on cultural demonstrations from 9:30Am to 1:30PM on the gallery porch. Free; park entrance fees apply. Call (808) 967-8222 or visit www.volcanoartcenter.org
This Saturday ( July, 7th ) I am going out into the jungle with Kumu to gather fibres from a certain type of tree. First I have to strip the bark , then gather the fibres under the bark. The fibres will go through a 3 week salt water bath that has to be changed daily . I will be making my own hula skirt from these fibres. I am told that the fibres , after the salt water processing , become very soft and pliable like rafia.
I am exactly where I should be , right at this moment . I am now at the right place , at the right time.
With much Aloha ,
x0x0x0x0x0
Molly
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)