Uncle Art

Today was Uncle Art's service. When the reverend came out to start the service I thought he looked rather young; it turns out Tomioka Sensei is 28 years old! He has been serving in Hawaii 3 years. Unlike a Christian service, he spoke about compassion and the departed always being with us; it was much more positive. During the chanting of the nembutsu it was interesting to hear my brother's in-laws chanting along with Tomioka Sensei; it was one of their old memories that is still intact. The Music and Memory folks use music to reach people with severe dementia.

It is also Aunty Daisy's birthday today. We called her in the morning (about 1 pm her time) but got no answer, so we sang Happy Birthday to her message machine. We have not heard back from her. Hope everything is all right with her.

Before we left for the service I had time to peel a jabon so we could find out if this year's crop was any good. As you can see the rind is rather thick. It helps protect the fruit but it sure is tough to peel.


The jabon tasted good and was also juicy. So Aunty Florence and I picked more fruit this morning; they need to sit for a couple of days to develop the best flavor. Besides having the largest fruit of any type of citrus, I think it also has the largest spines; its almost as long as my index finger.

While up in the tree picking jabon, we found a nest. There were 4 tiny white eggs in it. I guessed from the size it must be a mejiro nest. Mejiro means "white eye" in Japanese. Later in the day, I was able to confirm that it was a mejiro.

Mejiro (Zosterops japonicus)

I finally found the local PBS Hawaii station. Yay! Tonight I watched 2 parts of a series called, "The Story of Women and Art." It was really interesting, I wish I could have listened to all the segments.