Returning to Moku o Keawe

At the airport now, waiting for my flight to board. There are no notices of a delay for any flights due to Tropical Storm Fausto; its sustained winds have now decreased to about 60 mph. It is about 400 miles easterly of Honolulu & about 265 miles northeasterly of Hilo & moving westerly at about 14 mph. Tropical storm force winds extend about 140 miles out from the center so it should not impact me at home. The main impact at this time is from high surf over the next few days. Kai's flight is delayed about 30 minutes but it does not appear to be due to Fausto.

 

Tropical Storm Fausto

As predicted, wind speeds in Fausto have decreased so it is now a Tropical Storm with maximum sustained winds of about 70 mph with storm force winds extending about 150 miles out from the center. It is about 415 miles easterly of Hilo & moving westerly at about 16 mph. Tropical Storm Fausto is predicted to weaken over the next few days, becoming a depression by Thursday evening.

When we checked in for our flights this afternoon, there were no warnings about potential delays of our flights tomorrow. I think that is because the prediction shows Fausto being about 300 miles easterly of Honolulu around the time our flights take off & also following a more northerly track than previously predicted.

Hurricane Fausto Update

As expected, the cooler, less humid air has decreased Hurricane Fausto's sustained wind speeds to 85 mph; it is now a Category 1 hurricane. Currently, it is about 740 miles easterly of Hilo & moving westerly at about 15 mph; it is expected to decrease in strength over the next few days. Hurricane force winds extend about 35 miles out from the center; tropical storm force winds extend out to about 150 miles. The models are currently predicting Fausto will be about 300 miles easterly of Honolulu at the time our flights are scheduled to leave on Tuesday; Fausto is also much further north than earlier models predicted. So far, we have not been contacted by the airlines saying that we might be delayed. Stay tuned for more news!

  

Hurricane Fausto

In case you have not heard, there is a hurricane heading our way. It is still a long ways off, about 4 or 5 days before it is close enough to make landfall. But I wanted to update those of you who have heard about it & might be wondering whether there will be a problem here. Right now it is about 1385 miles easterly of Hilo & traveling westerly at about 14 mph; it is expected to enter the Central Pacific region, where Hawai'i is located, in about 2 days. Once it crosses in to the Central Pacific region, there is usually about 2 or 3 days before it reaches the closest island, i. e., Hawai'i Island where I live. But don't start worrying yet. A lot of things can happen in the next couple of days; the most significant being that Hurricane Fausto will be crossing over a mass of cooler ocean water that is also less humid. This will remove some of the energy that fuels hurricanes, lessening their intensity & frequently reducing them to tropical storms. Currently Fausto, which has sustained winds of 105 mph, is classified as a Category 2 storm on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. We just have to wait & see what happens. Stay tuned! 

The Hawaiʻi County Civil Defense sent out alerts today about Hurricane Fausto. They are getting prepared for Fausto's possible arrival. Even though I am not at my house & I won't be until the day Fausto potentially arrives, I am comfortable with my preparations. Over the years I have cleaned up a lot of the various loose things around the yard that could become projectiles. And I have changed all the windows to be impact-resistant. I have a minimum 14-day supply of food that does not need cooking to be edible. And I also have an MSR Pocket Rocket Deluxe camp stove & fuel canister in case I need to heat up food or water. I only have about 7 days worth of water but that is because the 14 days that they say you should have includes for washing dishes & flushing toilets. I can set out 5 gallon buckets under the drip line of the roof & fill those quickly to supply water for those needs. 

This afternoon Kai helped Jackie fix a problem she was having with her Gmail account. He was able to give her a couple of work arounds to get past the issue, but this kind of software is not his main focus working on computers. He's more of a hardware guy. 

For dinner I had leftover Hawaiian food. With a salad (with no iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms!).

Kai & I watched Episode 7 of Chief of War called "Day of Spilled Brains". The American ship fires upon a peaceful village since they were not allowed to land & begin stealing sandalwood. We also watched several episodes of The Apothecary Diaries & Judge Dee's Mystery. I am watching way too many videos since there is not much for me to do here. (I have put watching Fights Break Sphere on hold since I can easily get that at home. The series I am watching here are on Apple TV+ which I do not have & Netflix which is sometimes not too cooperative when I try to watch it on my laptop in Kohala.)

There were no clips of ʻŌhuna on the security cameras early this morning or during the day. But I would not bet against her showing up sometime after I stop checking the cameras this evening. 

I finished Section 2, Unit 1 in the Mandarin lessons on Duolingo today! I did the Unit 1 Review lesson.

These flash cards are still my weak point.

Tomorrow I will start Section 2, Unit2, which is called "Explore Beijing". 

I am now using a Beginners level video in Lingopie called, Institute of Traditional Chinese Cuisine. It is not as delicious-looking as Good Morning, Breakfast, which is at the intermediate level. But the beginner videos are shorter, each of the 8 episodes is about 2 minutes long. Though I still can't listen to too much of the video without being overwhelmed by new words added to my deck of flash cards; I have been trying to add about 10 per session & review them using the spaced repetition before I move on to the next set of 10 or so. 

The next episode of the eruption at Kīlauea has been narrowed to be between the 26th & the 30th.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Shirley!

IASA #4-24

Pineapple bun (bō luó bāo, 波萝包) on front plate.

Bō Luó Bāo (波萝包)

We went to lunch with Jackie & Lois at Happy Days Chinese Seafood Restaurant which has dim sum (點心, diǎnxīn) as well as a regular menu; Alan was unable to join us today. When the dim sum dessert cart came to the table, Kai recognized the pineapple bun (波萝包, bō luó bāo) from the criss-cross pattern on the top of the bun, so he ordered it. It was definitely filled with jackfruit & not regular pineapple. Besides that, for dessert we also got jiānduī (煎堆) with coconut filling, egg tarts (dàntǎ, 蛋撻), & a triangular-shaped flaky pastry filled with char shiu (chāshāo, 叉燒) that the server never told us what it was called, but I figured out later, it is chāshāo so (叉烧酥).

Bō luó bāo (波萝包, pineapple bun) on front plate. Photo by Kai.

Clockwise from front plate: chāshāo so (叉烧酥), jiānduī (煎堆), & dàntǎ (蛋撻 egg tart).

Kai talking with Jackie & Lois towards the end of lunch.

 

Our main meal included luóbo gāo (蘿蔔糕, turnip cake), nuòmǐ jī (糯米雞, lotus leaf rice), chāshāo bāo (叉燒包), fǔpíjuǎn (腐皮捲, tofu skin roll), páigǔ (排骨, pork spare ribs), &  steamed gai lan  (芥蘭, Chinese broccoli). The food smelled so good I started eating right away & forgot to take photos until we were almost done with everything.

 

Obviously I forgot to take a photo before we started... 🙄

Interestingly, if you Google "pineapple bun" or even "bō luó bāo", you will be directed to recipes that say there is no filling in the bun & that it was created in the 1940's by a Chinese family that was deported from Mexico. I trust the information in Good Morning, Breakfast more than I trust Google on this one! After all, Good Morning, Breakfast is a video made by native Chinese in China, so they should know more about the history of their own food & how it is made in their own country. The show is very clear that bō luó bāo is made with tree pineapple (aka jackfruit) as the filling & that is exactly what we ate today. 

I also discovered Wikipedia has a list of several dozen dim sum dishes (there are thousands) &, along with the English names, includes the Hanzi & pinyin names! (As well as Cantonese & Jyutping.) I will have to learn the Mandarin names & Hanzi of the dim sum they list & be ready for our next visit to Happy Days! (I should probably make a chart that also includes the Cantonese & Jyutping since it is mainly Cantonese that is spoken in Hawai'i.) 

I took a photo of the ticket they note down what you ordered; I will see if I can figure out what it means. I also picked up a newspaper that is in characters. I am hoping the newspaper is in the Hanzi that is common to both Cantonese & Mandarin; though I think the ticket is more likely to be in Cantonese. 

Hanzi is fairly straightforward, might have a chance with this one.

Highly unlikely I will be able to figure this one out!

I started the morning by walking with the Neighborhood Security Watch group; I used to do the weekly walks when I was still in Honolulu. Today the group was made up of Ron, Sue, Mark, & myself; we walked about 1.5 miles. Sue led us on the walk; we passed near the intersection where she was hit by a truck in May! (The driver was apparently not paying attention to the pedestrian in the crosswalk that he was stopped at.) Fortunately it was only the mirror that clipped her shoulder & twisted her around so she suffered only minor injuries from which she is still recovering; her back injuries from the twisting will likely take the most time to heal. 

While we were waiting for our ride to lunch, I walked around to see what landscaping changes had happened since my last visit. It was mainly potted plants being rearranged. I was glad to see the 2 water features are still here & seem to be doing well.

Later in the afternoon, Kekai came by after work to drop off the State Parks swag that Dane requested when we were visiting him at Wailoa Art Center. Since I was going to be here anyway, I offered to pick it up for him & take it back. Had a great time talking with Kekai while he waited for rush hour traffic to dissipate before he started his drive back home.

Today both Moʻo & ʻŌhuna were active in the early morning. At one point it looked like Moʻo had picked up ʻOhuna's scent; they never did cross paths.

ʻOhuna.

Moʻo.

ʻŌhuna.

ʻŌhuna headed towards cat yard back gate.

ʻŌhuna headed towards driveway.

Today I realized that earlier in the week I was only looking at the South & East cameras when I found out ʻŌhuna was escaping from the cat yard & was checking up on her. I checked all the cameras today & discovered she has actually been getting out every day since the 6th! Pōpoki kolohe! (Naughty kitty!)

07/06.

07/07.

In front yard on 07/08.

07/09.

07/10.

07/11, I think she encountered Olomea in Jessie's back yard.

Coming through fence to get out of Olomea's territory.

07/12.

07/13 early morning.

07/13 in the evening.

07/14.

07/15 early morning.

07/15 evening.

07/16.

07/17.

07/18 early morning.

07/18 late evening.

07/19.

07/20.

07/21.

07/22.

Here's a photo of a kitty who is not so kolohe. I adopted Keala about 6 years ago; the vet said she was about a year old which would make her 7 years old now. I left her in Kaimukī because she was the peacemaker between Luna & Smorsie; who both mellowed out when she arrived. They have mellowed out even more from what I remember they were like 4 years or so ago when I was last living here. And Smorsie is also less afraid of visitors; although I am not sure if she thinks of us as "visitors" or "housemates that are not around a lot". 

Kai & Keala in cat run; she is cat who likes being cuddled the most.

Kai & I watched Episodes 7 & 8 of The Apothecary Diaries & Episodes 5 & 6 of Judge Dee's Mystery. We try to watch things on the large TV in the living room; since it is mainly in use after the nephews get home from work, we try to use it in the morning. We did not have enough time to watch an episode of Chief of War before we left for lunch.

I reviewed ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi on Duolingo today. I want to do as much as I can to keep what I have learned so far intact. I sent a request to the contact email for ʻŌleloflix to find out exactly when the ʻŌlelojam is; the website says November/December. I sent it about a week ago & have not had a response. So I checked on other links they had & found the last post on their Facebook & Instagram pages was in 2024; so I won't be holding my breathe for a response. 

Been repeating these lessons for 6 months now, I had better be good at it!

Later in the day, I did a Mandarin lesson on Duolingo.  This lesson talks about rooms in an apartment & the furnishings.

Notice water radical in "ice" (bing) character.

In Japanese culture exposing feet like this is rude; I thought it was same for Chinese.

I also did a few minutes of Mandarin on Lingopie. Each slide contains so much information, I am moving so slowly towards completing the video.

The window for Episode 51 of the eruption of Kīlauea has been narrowed to between the 25th & the 29th. 

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Beverly!