2nd Round Clean-up, Days #3 & #4

First thing in the morning on Day #3 I found the remains of a gecko egg in the bathroom closet. It is most likely from a house gecko, because, you know, they live in houses, hence the common name. Usually there are 2 eggs laid together. Usually they are touching so they stick together when the shells harden, but this one was all by itself. (I remembered to put something in the photo for scale this time!)


Lem and Fran came by in the morning to visit. Fran is here for a longer visit this time. This is the first time she has seen the house since I started the renovation. Lem came for dinner in July when everyone was here but he had not seen the new floor, the new shower, or the screened panels in the outer doors. They helped me put the sliders under the feet of the safe in the kitchen. (I think they are usually called "hutches", but in rural Hawai'i they are called safes".) They were pleased with the progress so far. We discussed the Phase 2 work with the garage and the kitchen cabinets. Lem also showed us where the rats have been running along the garage rafters. It does not look like they are entering the attic from the garage. 

After they left I was going to go to the post office to mail a small package to Tomiko. It is the experimental package of salted lemons. I found that 25 lemons packed in a ziploc bag within another ziploc bag will fit in the smallest corrugated cardboard Priority Mail box. While they were here Fran was noting that they also tried to go to the post office to mail some things back to her in Honolulu, but it was closed for Veterans Day!

On Day 2, I was listening to KNKR LPFM 96.1 and heard about a sustainability event called Kohala Aina Festival that was happening on Saturday. I decided to check it out so I went in to Hawi town on Day #3 to pick up a ticket at the Kohala Grown Market. I met one of the owners, Jeannievie (she's the lady in the photos on the website). While there I also found out that they take produce on consignment so that is an option I can look in to once I move here so that the large amounts of fruit that the trees are producing do not go to waste. Unfortunately, pre-sale tickets were no longer being sold, so I had to pick up a ticket at the gate.

I spent the day moving boxes and some furniture out of the back bedroom. I also tried searching for the metal shelving unit for the kitchen, as well as other things I had not yet seen but knew should be there. Like my old Compaq color monitor that I use to view DVDs. Here is what the back bedroom, sewing room, and kitchen looked like at the end of Day #3. (I have also included a photo of what the kitchen looked like at the end of the October clean-up.)

Back bedroom, end of Day #3.

Sewing room, end of Day #3.

Sewing room, artwork at the end of Day #3.

Kitchen at the end of the October clean-up (safe against back wall).

Kitchen at the end of Day #3, package for Tomiko in lower left on table.

Counter at the end of the October clean-up.

Counter at the end of Day #3.

I started out Day #4 by sending an instant message to Kai: Happy Birthday! Mary Ellen got him a chocolate cake for his birthday which they celebrated at the Diversity Diner. I sent Kai a birthday package before we went to Las Vegas. Mary Ellen sent me photos of Kai and his cake. Amelia sent me a video! Almost like being there. Not.

Later in the morning I went to the Hawi Farmers Market, which is held under a huge banyan tree at the intersection of Akoni Pule Highway and Hawi Road. I only bought 2 things, both from Gary. The bitter melon pickles are for Mom since she likes bitter melon, not sure how she will like these. I bought ulu chips for me; they are basically your deep fried starch like a potato chip. (Gary is in the top right of the website home page photo; Jeannievie & her family are in the photo to the left of his photo.) There are a lot more prepared food vendors there this year than there were last year when Mom & I went there. I will have to check them out on my next visits, the market is open year round.

Since there was still time after the farmers market I went to Keokea Beach Park, which is a little past the site for the Kohala Aina Festival. We would go to Keokea to swim in the protected pool just behind the breakwater. One of the few early pictures we have of Uncle Kazu was taken at Keokea; he was kind of camera-shy back then.

Keokea swimming area.

Here is a shot of Keokea Bay and the waves crashing on the opposite shore and along the coastline further west.

Keokea Bay and coastline

The Kohala Aina Festival was interesting. The festival is put on by the Hawai'i Institute of Pacific Agriculture, more commonly known by its acronym HIP Agriculture. HIP Agriculture's mission is, "To practice and teach ecologically conscious agriculture, empowering individuals and communities to cultivate alternative systems of living that restore human and environmental health." They apparently do a lot of teaching in the local middle schools. Those of you who helped on social justice events with me know that one of my pet peeves is making sure that events are accessible to everyone, meaning we find ways to offer the event for free to all. The admission to this festival was $50 at the gate ($45 pre-sale), which is rather steep; however, the purpose of the festival is to raise funds to support their school programs (and they are very up front about it), not to make the information accessible to everyone. So I paid the money. I will reserve judgement on their programs until I have more time to examine what they are doing and how they are doing it.


The event took place on property next to the HIP Agriculture farm, in the middle of pasture area that was once cane fields; it was attended primarily by people who looked to be what Mom would label as "hippies" and who appeared to me to be privileged. As far as accessibility for differently-abled people it was doable but not easy. (I met Keone, a wheelchair-bound wood-carving artist, who got around well. But someone like Mom would not do well here.) Since the event was scheduled to go until 10 pm and included amplified music as well as food booths, power appeared to be supplied by generators - not very sustainable. Though I did see one food vendor whose equipment was pedal-powered by a bicycle generator. I had lunch there from the Conscious Culture Cafe. I had the falafel burger with ginger beet kraut.


On the way back, I stopped in at the Rankin Gallery to see if they knew who might own the property where the old Halawa Camp was located and Greenbank. Halawa Camp is where Mom grew up. It is also where I spent my summers (and those infamous couple of years when I refused to go back to Honolulu before I started grade school). I had a great time talking to Patrick about the changes in North Kohala he has seen since he moved here in 1998, the recent election, trust fund kids, and more. He also told me where to start asking questions regarding the current ownership of the property. He also invited me to stop in again and chat.

Here's what things looked like at the end of Day#4. Got important stuff done even though I did not work as many hours on it. One of the biggest accomplishments was cleaning off the entire kitchen table. I invited Jessie over for Holy's Bakery apple pie and Tropical Dreams ice cream to motivate me to clean it up!

Back bedroom end of Day #4.

Sewing room end of Day #4; I've also started to take things out of the closet & return them to their previous places.

Sewing room artwork at the end of Day #4.

Kitchen at the end of Day #4; cookware on the stove is usually stored in the oven.

Counter & table at end of Day #4.

Happy Birthday to Alan & Sili! Happy Belated Birthday to Carolyn & Nancy!