Private Property, Public Spaces

     Being raised in the country where a hedge or a line of ti leaf plants might mark the boundary, I cannot get accustomed to people fencing off their properties.  I can understand if one is a farmer or rancher and the fencing is necessary to keep out packs of wild dogs or marauding wild pigs.  But to have a house built in a subdivision sparsely settled, then erecting a chain link fence with a gate and then putting a big sign "PRIVATE PROPERTY" seems to be an overstatement.  What public property would go to such measures.

     But on second thought, there are schools that fence people out during the nonschool hours.  Consider Mountain View Elementary with its maze of chain link fences and many gates.  How much does it cost to fabricate and install these gates?  In a district with so few public parks in Upper Puna, we need to work on creating public spaces where people can come and enjoy recreational pursuits such as picnics, sporting activities, or open areas when the children are allowed to run around in the sun.  Being on the Windward side, picnic pavillions would be great.  Is it too much to dream of a swimming pool heated by photo voltaic panels?  Dreams are the inspiration for action.  With community support, we can do something about this issue.

Holiday Hatred

I am beginning to hate holidays.  On Valentine's Day, one should look forward to chocolates, flowers, and sweet, sweet kisses, not surgical procedures, days in the hospital, and pain.  So, let's check of Valentine's Day 2012 as an unromantic holiday although I did fall in love with my orthopedic surgeon, the nursing staff at Queen's Hospital, and the support staff.  I must also admit that my love affair with my husband was renewed as he took such good and thoughtful care of me during my recovery.  So maybe this holiday was not a total washout.

Then as we began to look toward Easter, the Sunday services, the Easter luncheon at church, the Easter dinner at our friends, our outcome was stymied by a pain in the lower right quadrant of my abdomen on Saturday.  Things were not quite right as I lay in bed trying to sleep off the pain.  We went to the Emergency Room to find out that I had appendicitus.  So I had an appendectomy and spent the night at the hospital.  Easter morning came and the blessing was that I was able to go home.  We did not make the Easter Sunday service, the Easter luncheon at church (which I heard was simply fantabulous), or the Easter dinner at our friends.  (I was going to make Ina Garten's panzanella - bread salad, pickled beets with pickled eggs, and deviled eggs.)  Instead we went home and had some quiet time.

If Easter is the marking of a new day, I would say that it is the marking of a new understanding that things happen and that we cannot control all the circumstances.  There is a plan that defies human understanding and there is no such thing as a coincidence.  Everything happens for a reason and our challenge is to discern the reason and take action that is prescribed by our Heavenly Father.  We often jam things up by trying to do OUR own will.  That is when we get in trouble.  We have to surrender to do HIS will.  When we humble ourselves and Follow THE Plan, the outcome is always good.  When we try to do OUR own will too often, we get humbled by circumstances.  When this happens, we should not lament but rather accept that perhaps we thought too much of ourselves and our roles in life.  Surrender to the will of God and blessings will follow. 

This is what I have learned.  But just in case, when I have my second knee replacement surgery, I hope that it will not fall on a holiday.

The Titah Ain't What She Thought She was

     For the last year, I have been suffering because of achy knees which the othropedic surgeons suggested needed replacement.  At first, I tried to do the stop gap method by cleaning out the left knee.  Brief relief from the pain which came roaring back.  Finally, I decided to have the knee replacement surgery done.  For months, I went to water aerobics to strengthen my muscles and exercise my knees.  Then in weeks before the surgery, I added a core and crunch class to the exercise regime.

     I thought that I was ready.  Guarantee, the day after the surgery, I would be walking, albeit slowly, on the treadmill.

     Ha!!!   Not!!!  I was flat on my back enjoying the pain meds.  Going to the bathroom on the second day was a triumph.  But then the physical therapist wanted me to walk to the exercise room on my crutches...I darn near fainted.  You must understand that I am not a dainty, fragile girlie girl.  Back in the day, I earned a black belt in Aikido and practiced mainly with men.  The thought of fainting or puking from pain is not on my list of behavioral responses.  But there I was in the hallway with my head swirling, my face pasty white and my skin a clammy wet reptilian imitation.  I had to get on the wheel chair for the rest of the way.

     I learned that although the mind is strong, the body is weak!  Weak!  Weak!  A little exertion and I was out like a light.  Physical Therapy is another seque to the story which reiterates the chasm between the mind and the body.  "Suck it up," my PT cheerfully encouraged at the more difficult and torturous exercises like straightening my knee or bending it in a lunge.  Easy for you to say, I shouted in my mind and I gritted my teeth and refused to let the drop of salty water out of my eyes.

     "Things are going to get better," everyone who had any experience personally or second hand reminded me.  My question is simple...."When?"

     I now see why my orthopedic surgeon looked at me with disbelief when I told him that I was planning to do my second knee replacement in three months.  "Are you crazy?" he said.  This is major surgery.  And indeed it is.

Hawaii, Island of Diversity

If you are a resident of the east side of Hawaii island, you know that it has been raining steadily for the last three weeks. If you are a resident of Glenwood, Hawaii, you know that it has been raining buckets over the last three weeks. While it is lovely to see snow on Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, these sights also mean that if you live on the east side of Hawaii island, it has also been very cold. If you are a resident of Glenwood, Hawaii, you know that it has been very wet and cold. So wet that the gutters are overflowing and there is a river flowing down the pasture, under the stable and ranch garage, and then down to the highway. Welcome to the Big Island. Sick of the cold, wet weather, we decided to drive over to Kona for some sunshine on Dec. 22. The morning was gray and dreary and it was raining. We decided to take the southern route through Ka'u to avoid the Hamakua landslides. When we passed Namakani Paio Park, we could see blue skies over Ka'u. As we drove through Ka'u, we noticed that the pasture land had some green grass which meant that the rains did reach Ka'u. Heading toward Kona, we began to take off our sweatshirts as it got warmer and warmer. When we finally got to Kona, the air was clear and the skies were blue. Sweat glands which have been dormant for several weeks began to do their thing. While it was 46 degrees in Volcano the next morning, it was 72 degrees in Kona. This is the beauty of this island. You can see snow and surf. Hot weather and cold climates. The eastsiders look for sunshine. The westsiders look for rain. On our return home, we decided to drive on the Saddle Road. From the Kona side, we could see gray clouds on the mountain tops. We drove up and saw a bunch of sunshine on the highway although we still did see the gray clouds on Mauna Kea. Near Pohakuloa, we saw Mauna Loa with a mantle of snow, glittering in the sunshine. After we left Mauna Kea State Park, we began to drive into the rain clouds. It was socked in with fog and rain all the way down to Hilo. What happened to the sunshine? We could see it in our rear view mirrors. Returning to Glenwood, we were greeted by the status quo...gray skies and rain. Hawaii has something for everyone if you have the fuel to travel from one place to another.

Losing Weight is Costly

Since my daughter and son-in-law were on the Eat to Live vegan diet, the issue of losing weight is heavy on my mind. So I went to the super market to look for foods that will help me to lose weight. It is hilarious to notice how many things which are attractive contribute to weight gain...colorful juices, bags of chips in fluffy bags, butter, cheese, huge bags of candy, colorful boxes of cereal, ice cold soda, exotic wines with gnarly names, and cartons of beer selling the cool relaxation under the palm trees. Don't forget that when you want to go to the reefer that stores the low fat yogurt in KTA, you have to pass the bakery department with cream filled croissants, donuts, cakes, and pies. This is torture!! The other consideration is that going on a diet is costly. Buying fruits and fresh vegetables can add up to a pretty penny. Regular fruits and vegetables versus ORGANIC fruits and vegetables. The sign says, "Try it and taste the difference!" For 75 cents less, I will settle for good old non-organic fruits. What is the problem with us??!! If we are so fat, why don't we eat less? People are starving in Africa for goodness sake!! They don't have much money and they don't have to worry about obesity. What is our hangup? Do we have to pay Jenny Craig to lose weight? Just eat less. But it seems that this common sense answer is not working. Look at the weight loss industry in America. The companies must make millions off of the jiggling fat of millions of people who just won't eat less. I am going to solve this problem for myself...I am going to use a smaller dinner plate. Do you think I will be successful?

A Quick Decision - A Lengthy Repercussion

One weekend in February on the way to Kona, my husband and I came upon a spontaneous decision..."Let's convert our BIG house into a vacation rental" in time for the Merrie Monarch Festival to follow in March, 2011. We talked it over and decided that we would not do a bed and breakfast but rather just a rental for vacations, meetings, gatherings, and retreats. "WooooHoooo!!" we can do it we exclaimed. And so our trip to Kona became a shopping trip. At Costco, we loaded the truck with pillows, sheet sets, and numerous other things. Then the hard work began. Suddenly, everything in the house looked so old, so dirty, so worn. Paint the house...inside and out. A huge task since a complete paint job had not taken place since 1986. A huge task since the house is three stories tall with cathedral ceilings in the living room. A huge task my husband and I knew better than to tackle. Okay...get a painter. Know a parent in Mountain View who has a painting business AND he is Portuguese so we knew that he would do a neat job!! OMG...the metal roofing suddenly got so rusted!! When did that transformation happen? This is another job we were not going to do so we got a nonJapanese roofer who chose a Japanese name for his business. Great! We've had work done by him and we knew that his crew would do a great job!! Okay!! My husband suggested that we replace the floor covering. "Nah," I pooh-poohed. "No need!" That is until I went up to the house and REALLY looked at the flooring. The aging linoleum flooring was cracked and curling around the edges. The carpet, though still thick and luxurious, was faded and stained. "Okay, okay," I finally conceded, "we need to change the flooring." We drove to Kona to a Big Box Store with lowe prices only to find that the salespeople weren't really into helping us nor were they willing to sell their stuff to a couple of scruffy looking people in shorts, t-shirts, and rubber slippers. We were devastated since we had such good service from them the last time we had work done. Okay...back to Hilo and to another Big Box Store. We picked out the flooring. When it was time to schedule the flooring, the store said they had assigned expediters. Don't believe them. My husband became the expediter, calling back and forth between the installers to schedule the carpet and vinyl flooring. And wouldn't you know it...the installers scuffed the newly painted walls to the tune of $200 to repair. We called the Big Box Store which supposedly has TRAINed employees and to this day have not resolved the problem. This is only a six week wait. So much for this store!! Now our newly painted walls look so bare!! The pictures I had barely fit the quota. We are not going back to the local framers who charged us hundreds of dollars to frame a signed poster...don't care if it was Pegge Hopper or Jane Chao or Phan Nguyen Barker. So I went online and found a poster website what was willing to frame the images for such a low price. I was looking for images with coconut trees and as things happen...I found an image of a coconut grove from my hometown of Lahaina from 1910. I knew that that image was waiting for me!! I can see my beloved West Maui Mountains...I can be home without leaving Volcano. Scrounging around, I found images in the most unlikely places...Kilauea Kreations - I found native bird pictures and postcards which I framed using Wallymart frames. I went to a local gallery and found photos of more native birds...hurray...back to Wallymart for more frames. In my quest for signs to remind people to remove their shoes, more bizarre places to find things. Don't go to the places on Kamehameha Avenue which charge $32 for a tile sign. Walmart had little tiles for $13. KTA supermarket had big tiles for $13. But Dolly's Handcrafts near the Hilo Farmers' market had a slew of different shoe signs including ones made with carved bamboo. Well, I am surprised. I learned that one should shop around to find the thing that is really needed. So eight months and tens of thousands of dollars later, our Maluhia Guest House is ready for guests. We learned a ton of stuff and in a weird sort of way, we enjoyed the process. We hope that this facility will be a place that brings joys to others. I am certain when our bills are paid, it will bring joy to us too.

Vegan Diet...New word for the food of the poor

Our daughter and her husband are on a vegan diet in a process to build a healthier lifestyle. For six weeks, they will eat no meat or animal byproducts, no oil, little salt and a whole load of vegetables. Since our families get together on Sunday evenings for supper, I really had to think about what I would cook for this past Sunday. Moussaka? Tagine? Bean casserole? Exotic, foreign food in our book. But then I was not secure since I usually don't cook those foods nor use those spices. What to cook? what to cook? Then it hit me! I can cook the food from my childhood. We were pretty poor and my mom made the most of the dollar a day she earned teaching sewing. Very little processed meat, very little protein as a whole and a lot of vegetables. Although my parents did not have a garden, we had a lot of neighbors who shared with us pumpkins, beans, and other vegetables. In thinking back to what we used to eat, I decided that our vegan Sunday dinner would be an old fashioned Japanese meal. Nishime - vegetable stew made with aburage (fried tofu), potatoes, carrots, onions, kombu (seaweed), hasu (lotus root), daikon (Japanese turnip), and konnyaku. Wakame and cucumber salad with lemon-miso dressing. Broccoli and cauliflower with peanut butter dressing. Brown Rice. Miso soup with tofu. The irony of this meal is that by the time I finished purchasing all the ingredients, it cost over $100 to feed six people. Of course, I had a lot for people to take home. One cannot make stew or nishime using stingy portions. However, what was cheap then is no longer. It is cheaper to eat $1 McDonald's McChicken or McDouble burgers full of fat and calories than it is to buy broccoli and cauliflower. No wonder America's people are suffering from obesity. The former diet of the poor is no longer accessible for the poor of today.