Boxes

Living room:
Dining room:
Note the white boxes with the flies on them. That's what happens when you marry a geneticist working with fruit flies. They are the best moving boxes, though.

I Don't Sweat, I Glisten

Jason walked into the bedroom last night where I lay prostrate from the heat, and proclaimed there is nothing left to pack in our house. Not exactly true, but I let it slide since my nod to packing yesterday consisted of dumping most of the contents of my dresser (which I'm trying to sell) into a box and calling it good.

Jason on the other hand spent last night detangling and packing the corner of our living room dedicated to entertainment, and all of its assorted cables.

The heat index was 97 yesterday and even though it eventually cooled off outside, our apartment retained all of the day's heat quite nicely. I sat perfectly still on the couch and sweat still rolled off of me.

I'm not going to say that we have it rougher than those in, say, Tucson, but it's just different. I don't ever say "But it's a dry heat" because I know exactly what that dry heat feels like in the middle of the summer. Like a blowtorch. Or a very hot oven right after you open the oven door. That's what 115 degrees on a summery desert day feels like.

But in the desert you have air conditioning, or at least a swamp cooler. Most homes in the Northeast do not have air conditioning. So when it's 94 with 70% humidity outside, that's exactly what it is inside.

My point is, I excused myself from packing last night. The truth of the matter is, there ARE still things to pack. I made a little list for us and emailed it to Jason this morning. Tonight we pack!

For Future Reference

Yesterday we had a luncheon to raise money for the Young Women to go to camp. I didn't make enough food. I mean, everyone got firsts, but there wasn't enough for seconds or thirds, which everyone wanted.

So, note to self, next time make about twice as much food.

One thing we did have a lot of were two huge green salads. And you know what - the kids kept coming back for more. Usually we have lots of desserts and the kids come back for more cookies and brownies and such. However, apparently when presented with extra food, kids will come back for whatever is left. One kid said he was going to eat ALL the cucumbers. Another one was picking out tomatoes (I made sure she used the tongs).

Second note to self for future reference when I have kids: hungry kids will eat salad.

Farm Share Weeks 3 & 4

THIS year I was going to take pictures of my Farm Share every week to show you all how awesome it is. Last year I missed some weeks and then kind of petered out, but THIS year was going to be different.

Then we decided to move.

I did take a picture last week, but it was only of half of the Farm Share because I had already used the other half to make us dinner salads. But posting the picture would involve actually finding my memory card reader, which I have a sneaking suspicion I threw in a box labeled "Misc." last night.

(You know those Misc. boxes. They're the ones that get all the detritus left over after you finish packing up the rest of the room. As my assistant just said, those boxes are like Christmas when you get to the new place. Who knows what's inside?!)

So anyway, Farm Share Week 3 consisted of another lettuce as big as my head, scallions, beets, and mesclun mix. I feel like there was something else, but I can't remember what...

Farm Share Week 4 (which I picked up last night and just threw in the fridge when I got home from madly running errands) has TWO head-size lettuces, pattypan squash, summer squash and sugar snap peas.

Also, in home gardening news, I have one tomato, one zucchini, one cucumber and one pepper plant that are all thriving. I planted them in containers, then put them outside, so they are fully portable to the new place. They love being outside in the fresh air and sun. I haven't even had to water them yet since we've been getting so much rain. All of the plants have blossoms and the pepper plant has 2 baby peppers on it. So exciting!

Losing Steam

I have decided that I'm just inherently lazy because I'm already tired of moving. And I haven't done THAT much. Jason has been a total rock star, and has packed up his desk, which is a major undertaking, and finished up the built-in bookshelves in the living room and another bookshelf in the dining room.

Wait a second. I've emptied out my desk, most of 3 bookshelves, most of the built-ins in the living room, most of our sideboard in the dining room (the Ingo, for those who know Jason's IKEA names for things), most of the other storage in the dining room, and packed two boxes of kitchen breakables. OK, maybe I'm not such a slacker after all. It's just that there's still soooo much to do.

Last night the neighbors were thumping away until pretty late. Usually on weeknights, the noise is fairly confined to over our guest room, but last night, we could hear it in our bedroom too. Jason and I concurred that, yes, we made the right decision.

Tonight is dedicated to packing (and selling my Barbri books. I never thought I would find a buyer for the Rhode Island ones, but he's coming by tonight). I plan to finish up the dining room and my desk, and start on the kitchen. I'm going to Wal-Mart tonight to get some disposable utensils and cups. The plan is to wash the dishes in the sink, leave out a couple of pots and pans so I can cook for the next couple weeks and pack up the entire kitchen.

I'm curious as to what will be uncovered. When Jason first moved into the apartment 4 years ago, his method for dealing with stuff he couldn't fit in the cabinets was to fling it on top of the cabinets (there's about a foot of space in between the cabinets and the ceiling) or on top of the refrigerator. I think there may be 2 or 3 waffle irons up there. So if anyone local wants a waffle iron, I bet I can hook you up.

Day 4: The Big Island, April 28, 2010

On Day 4 we went south a bit to Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Park, or Place of Refuge. This was the site of a palace and temple complex.

The replica of Hale-o-Keawe, the royal mausoleum:

Hawaiians in the sixteenth century under Kamehameha followed a complex system of laws. A person could be executed for relatively minor offenses, unless he managed to swim across the shark-infested waters of Kealakekua Bay to the Place of Refuge. If the offender reached the shores of the Place of Refuge, he was absolved of his crimes.

The park provided a pamphlet with a self-guided tour around the site. I acted as tour guide and read about each of the designated spots.

Carved wooden figures (kapu ki'i) watching over the grounds and warning away those who might try to invade from the sea



Carving the kapu ki'i


Marissa and Taylor
Jason
Lorraine and Steve
Lorraine and Steve apparently feeling the influence of the kapu ki'i
Behind a wall and past the Hale-o-Keawe is an expanse of black lava rock with altars and the remains of a foundation


Also, honu!

Love.

The bay off the Place of Refuge is a well-known snorkeling destination.
And if you pay to get into the National Park, they will let you park there even if you're snorkeling. After walking through the park on a warm and muggy day, jumping into the water was a welcome relief.

I wound up mostly snorkeling by myself since I inadvertently left Jason behind. He said he tried to keep up with me, but couldn't. Whoops. Sometimes I forget I'm a good swimmer.

Jason's typical view of me, swimming away, often down toward the bottom

I love going deep and being beneath the water.

If you look at a map of the snorkeling area (like the one in this book (which is a fantastic book, by the way. More on that in a future post)), there are two areas to snorkel: one that's deeper and for all levels of snorkeler, and one that's more advanced because it is shallow and you run the risk of a wave crashing you into the reef if you're not careful. After I paddled around the deep part for a bit (and it did get pretty deep. Probably at least 30 or 40 feet or more if you swam out), I headed for the advanced area.

Hawaiian greetings via cinder blocks at the bottom of the bay:
There were fish everywhere in the bay, but I think the majority of them congregated in the shallow area, moving up and down, back and forth on the waves as they came in. So I joined the fish, bobbing up and down over the rocks and swimming through the caverns in between the rock walls. It was great! Seriously, I could stay in the water, swimming with the fish, pretty much all day.

So I went and found Jason and brought him (and the camera) back to the shallow area.

Then we told Jason's dad and little brother to go check it out, which they did, and Jason's dad wound up getting smashed into the rocks and cut up a bit. Eek. I felt bad about that.

We didn't see any sharks despite the Place of Refuge materials that said the Hawaiian people had to swim across the "shark-infested waters" to get to the Place of Refuge. But there are spinner dolphins in the area and we saw a few of them toward the end of our swim, leaping and spinning out of the water. We saw even more a couple of days later, which I'll write about later.

Lorraine took a picture of us all, post-snorkeling
Gratuitous happy Anya shot
On our way back to the condo, we stopped at St. Benedict's Painted Church.

The pretty graveyard in front of the church. It looked peaceful.
I wanted to do a bit of shopping for some family and friends and the Young Women, so Steve, Lorraine, Marissa and I headed down Ali'i Drive to the shops. I think some of the best things were in the big outdoor farmers market. I found some cute trinkets and when we came back a couple of days later they had avocados as big as my head. We should have been shopping there for produce the whole time we were on the Big Island.

After shopping, we walked out behind the shops to the ocean and posed for some pictures.
Another lovely Hawaiian sunset.

Day 3: The Big Island, April 27, 2010

(Slowly but surely, I'm getting these done)

On Day 3, Lorraine (Jason's mom) needed to grade finals so the rest of us headed north to Kohala and back down the coast to Kona. We drove up through Waimea and Hawi, then over to the Pololu Valley Lookout. The first plan was to possibly go north and hike in some valleys with waterfalls and such, but what with such a large group and a 3-month old baby, we scaled it back to more of a car tour, but still got to see some beautiful sites and play in the ocean at the end of the day.

The Big Island is a land of contrasts (why do I feel like I'm narrating a National Geographic special?). It is the youngest island and still boasts an active volcano (more on that in Day 5). We headed north on a road that looks over the desolate valley toward the ocean, where there are relatively recent lava flows, and plants are just starting to grow. It's very dry and brown and desert-like and reminded me a bit of Tucson.

However, once we got up into Kohala, it started looking a bit more like what I always thought Hawaii would look like. You know, lush and green and jungley.

Pololu Valley Lookout, at the top of The Big Island:



These mules were standing at the side of the road, grazing on the cliff over the ocean
Not such a bad life, I would think








After we took a little walk down a path toward the beach, and took a ton of pictures, we got back in the cars and headed toward Hawi, stopping first at a local park to eat lunch. Then we went in search of Tropical Dreams, a local ice cream company.
And we found it, which thrilled Marissa (and me too, if I'm being perfectly honest):
Coconut and mango. Fabulous!

After our ice cream, we headed out of Hawi and down the coast road. We made a quick stop at Pu'ukohola Heiau, since it is a national historic site, after all.
Heiau means temple in Hawaiian
Says Wikipedia:

Kamehameha I took control of western and northern Hawaiʻi island (the Kona and Kohala districts) in 1782, but for eight years since then fought in a number of inconclusive battles. After returning from Maui in 1790, he was attacked by his cousin Keoua Kuahu'ula who still controlled the East side of the island. He returned to the village of Kawaihae, where he had spent some time earlier. A respected kahuna (priest) named Kapoukahi suggested building a luakini leiau (sacrificial temple) to gain the favor of the war god Kuka'ilimoku. Puʻukoholā Heiau meaning "Temple on the Hill of the Whale" was the result, probably on the site of an older temple from about 1580. It was built entirely by hand with no mortar, in less than a year. The red stones were transported by a human chain about 14 miles long, from Pololu Valley to the East.

When we went in, a park guide was telling a big group of kids about King Kamehameha and the unification of Hawaii under him. The kids were enthralled.

We walked around the visitors center a bit, and then got back on the road to our final destination, Hapuna Beach. Jason, Brandon, Sarah and I had come there for a little bit the day before and decided we needed to end our day back at this beach.


I know you can't really see it, but Anya is licking my chest. Just call me Auntie Salt Lick.

Anya liked the beach ok, as long as there was someone to play shadow puppets on the roof of her little beach tent. Steve was happy to oblige. I have to give him a lot of credit. Anytime Anya needed tending, he was right there asking, "Do you need me to take her?" He definitely got a lot of quality time with his granddaughter in Hawaii.
(with Anya's other best friend, the ceiling fan)
As we were leaving the beach, the full moon was rising from behind the mountains. Taylor leaped out of the car and snapped some lovely pictures.