Don't judge a book by its format

I cracked open the book and found that it was a series of letters. Bleah...boring...tedious. But The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society was number #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. There must be something to it. Endure...continue on.

Indeed, indeed...this was an enjoyable book with twists and turns, tears, surprises. I highly recommend this book for long airplane trips when you have the time to immerse yourself in the island life in the Channel Islands. It ain't Hawaii but the close knit island mentality is apparent.

Life without cell phones, telephones. People wrote letters in standard English and yet the voice of the each writer was apparent. Tidbits from others in the community painted the characters in 3-D. If only we were privy to see how others see us...would we be glad or disappointed? There were characters I loved and characters who set my teeth on edge. Oh, how I loved the snappy answers and swift (and sassy) rebuttals!!

Worthy, worthy of your time.

Recession...nothing but a hype?

With all of the media hype of how we are doing so poorly economically, all families should be living off of their home gardens, walking to work and school, and eating frugal meals. Yet the traffic seems steady past our house of cars whizzing to and from Hilo...20 miles away. The supermarkets are full of people, even on nonFood Stamp weeks, buying carts full of food and drink. Walking along the highway is the occasional hitchhiker in dreds or flowing skirts. And the fast food restaurants take out lines have snakes of cars with people too lazy to get out of their cars to order food.

At the recent Merrie Monarch festival, the craft booths had a range of products and prices and not all cheap. If you want to buy a handmade lauhala hat, plan on spending at least $100. If you would like a string of pearls, consider $500 for gleaming chocolate pearly baubles. How about $50 for a scarf? These artisans deserve the money to produce these items. What amazes me is the people who have the money to plunk down several thousand dollars for strands of Ni'ihau shells.

The recession must not be as debilitating as the media is reporting. There is still money for the fine arts. Or, are the damages from the economic downfall affecting only a certain class of people? Those that did not have much to begin with?

If scarcity bring clarity, perhaps the scare is good for us to reprioritize what is really important in our lives, make adjustments, and go on living.

Deceptive Appearances

Bread is my enemy!!

I have to rant and rage how unfair it is that delicious food is often riddled with one million calories.

I have to rant and rage how unfair it is to work so hard to get rid of 50 calories by exercising and how easy it is to consume 50 calories in one bite.

Cruelest of all is how calories seem to lurk and hide in waiting for the unsuspecting diner.

Did you know that 1 burrito sized flour tortilla is 120 calories? A premium slice of nutty bread is 110 calories.

Thought that having a tortilla would mean consuming fewer calories so had two wraps of my own making.

Calamity! Disaster!! Tortillas have more calories than bread.

Torillas are my new enemy!!

Relinquishing Responsibility

As parents, we try hard to shelter our children from hurt, disappointment, and rejection. Yet, somehow they need the skills to handle these negative incidents in their lives. What is the balance between our counsel and life's lessons?

Some kids do not welcome sage advice or suggestions from their parents or elders. They need to experience the hard knocks before they can understand what was being relayed. We cringe and feel the pain that they will experience and yet these kids are determined to be on a crash course of their own determination.

Some kids will listen to advice but too often, when they begin to ask for help, it may be too late and some of the negative consequences are inevitable.

Then there are some kids who are afraid to stray from the path of the known. They are cautious to the extreme, fearful of the unknown, and small minded. Of all the kids, these are the most dangerous because they are unwilling to experiment and experience life.

The best thing we as parents can do is to give our children the courage to jump in with both feet and the skills to swim to shore or safety. There is a point in which we have to acknowledge kids' decisions and let them take the consequences of their actions. If the consequences are positive, we celebrate with them. If the consequences are negative, we sympathize and look for ways to help. We cannot and should not do everything for our kids...we only handicap them when we try to do this.
Let the kids live life on their own terms.

Overpreparing in a Disaster

This weekend, there was a tsunami alert for the Hawaiian Islands. Although we were sequestered at the Kilauea Military Camp on the slopes of Mauna Loa, we were kept updated by folks with iPhones about the panic going on.

This morning's paper showed a family buying emergency supplies but 3 20-pound bags of rice, isn't that gluttony? There is some logic to the Mormon practice to keeping extra supplies at home. Then there is no need for greedy emergency buying when the prices are highest.

We are so lucky to live the way we live. We have our own water supply. We process our own biodiesel so that we don't have to rush to buy gas from stations with long lines of anxious drivers. We raise our own beef. We have food in our freezers. We have generators. There is wisdom in low tech living.

The Valentine's Day Hype

Retailers pounce on our frailties and bombard us with merchandise to cure the ills in our lives. Medicines you can request to self medicate. Chocolates, cards, balloons, jewelry, and even kitchen cabinets to grab the attention of a loved one. We are such puppets to these wallet robbers, eager to snatch our hard earned cash.

Valentine's Day was no exception. By buying the rich, dark, two-pound box of chocolates, you will surely get the affection of someone.

But it's not about buying but rather the considerations of love. Doing something without being prompted. Doing something sweet and unexpected. A kind word. A gentle gesture. A memory shared and replayed in quiet conversation.

These are the gifts worth a million dollars but can be given freely.

The Price of Stupidity

'Refusing to admit defeat, I shouted loudly to them again, "Where is Sunamei? Sunamei?"

They responded with the silence of a ten-thousand-year-old, snow-covered mountain. I wished they would curse me, see me, or hear me. Standing in the yard, I howled desperately,"Sunamei! Sunamei!"

No one heard my howling but a flock of scared chickens that fled noisily. Their flight proved that my vocal cords still worked.' p 367-368

from The Remote Country of Women by Bai Hua.

The character Liang did a foolish, foolish thing. He insulted the cultural practices of his wife's people, the Mosue, a matrilineal society in which the women are their own masters on earth.

The punishment for his misbehavior was unspoken among the villagers. He became an Invisible...not worthy of being seen, being heard, being considered a living entity. What a torturous existence...Indeed!

A very lyrical book worthy of reading several times. The book sways from one point of view to another with constrasting timbre of each speaker, views from different worlds. The surprising ending is not surprising upon reflection however, one is left with the proverbial, "Hey, wait a minute...What happened here?"