Black Lives Matter

The background of today's Papa 'Ōlelo Hawaiʻi live feed was black in honor of George Floyd who died last last week while being arrested by police. The class started with information about the Black Lives Matter movement around the nation. For more information about the recent history of violence against black people in the US listen to NPR's A Decade of Watching Black People Die.




Kumu Paige & Kumu Ākea also talked about the similarities of racism against Hawaiians who, since they weren't white, were considered black. I know that King Kamehameha IV was treated poorly in Washington, DC, because of his darker skin; he had just returned from Europe where he was treated the same as everyone else. Nā Kumu stressed that experiences of Hawaiians were similar but not the same due to the much longer oppression and enslavement of people of African ancestry; thus Hawaiians can understand and be powerful allies for Black people but should not think that the treatment of their ancestors means that they have been equally oppressed and the outcomes should be the same.

Queen Liliʻuokalani as depicted in a racist cartoon and as she actually was.

They also discussed the Hawaiian terms for African Americans, both the modern slang term as well as the actual Hawaiian word. They also provided information on a local organization, The Pōpolo Project , that celebrates Black identity in Hawaiʻi.




Class started with the 'Ōlelo 'Noeau, "He pūkoʻa kani 'āina." Kama, who assists with the class behind the scenes, had chosen this one. He said this class is the small beginning and as class grows the group can come together and fill Hawaii with Hawaiian speakers. Kumu Paige elaborated that as one learns a language there is a shift in looking at the world through multiple lenses of different languages; it gives you a different perspective. Having a Hawaiian perspective helps one to become a better steward of the ʻāina.


As usual, we reviewed what we had learned previously. Then went on to new material.

They stressed how one word can have different meanings, citing pua which 6 meanings other than "flower".

Pronounciation matters!

Another common mispronounciation.

They showed us shapes of countries; I only knew this one.

Itʻs harder when it is part of a land mass. Only 1 other person got Madagascar; no one got any of the other 3 shown.

After reviewing kēia, kēnā, and kēlā we had to write a sentence for each in the comments section about this picture. I wrote, "ʻO kēia ke kiʻi.","ʻO kēnā nā wāhine pāʻele.", and "ʻO kēlā ka papa heʻe nalu."

Then we moved on to the "what" question.

We had to write answers in the comments section for these, too.

Many people thought this looked like a hipopōkamu. 

The class ended with a line from the song Kaulana Nā Pua, written in support of Queen Liliʻuokalani after she was the overthrown by American businessmen and Marines and imprisoned in her palace. It is one of the mele I played on my Da Coconut Wireless shows on Hawaiian sovereignty.



There was a lot to do to clean up after having the new refrigerator moved in yesterday. But I still did not get out of bed when the birds woke me up; I like there to be a little more light when I finally do get out of bed when I am only working and not birding.

Birdrise, twenty-nine minutes before sunrise.

It looks a lot more welcoming eighteen minutes after sunrise.

I needed to get things out the kitchen that were temporarily there. I also needed to declutter the hallway and bathroom.

The kitchen sink.

In the kitchen.

In the hallway & bathroom.

Last night I finally salted the limes I had picked about 10 days ago. I knew they were in the refrigerator, but out of sight, out of mind. I could not ignore them any longer after needing to remove everything from the old refrigerator. Today I had to get them off the sink counter; I packed them in to jars and started setting them out in the sunlight to ferment. (They don't really ferment because of all the salt, but I don't really know what to call what they do at this stage.)

Salted limes sitting on the sink counter.

Packed in jars & fermenting in the sun.

You can see them in the mirror at the end of the ramp.

I saw Gecko #2 in the kitchen window again this morning. This time I could easily tell it was her from the calcium sacs and the red bars on her back. I did not see Geckos #1 or #3 this morning. After the early morning sunlight was no longer shining on the window Gecko #2 left.

When I went to put out the catfood this morning, I was wondering how the cats would react to the jars of salted limes sitting at the end of the ramp.

I forgot I moved the mirror so Shane & Kurt did not accidentally knock it off the bench yesterday.

OK! Back where it needs to be!

Mom Cat showed up about 30 seconds after I went back in the house.

She only sat on the ramp for a couple minutes before she started walking away.

She exits from view in the mirror and never returned during the next 5 minutes or so.

When I returned from feeding the cats, Gecko #1 was on the edge of the kitchen table. It took a little bit of doing but I was finally able to confirm that this was Gecko #1.


About 30 minutes later Gecko #1 ran across the kitchen floor, headed for the underside of the refrigerator. Even though this one has been coming around a lot, I know this is not Martin because Martin did not have roundish red spots on his back. It is also bigger than Martin.


I started a load of laundry and found a few more geckos in the garage. Gecko #4 was on the east wall near the step ladder and Geckos #5 & #6 were on the window over the laundry sink; I could not get a good photo of #6. I tried to get good flash photos of all of them and noticed they had a much more violent reaction to the flash when it went off; their bodies actually jerked, they looked like they had been shocked. Although I can tell they don't like the flash, I think the indoor geckos are more used to the lighting suddenly becoming much brighter when someone turns on the room lights.

Gecko #4 might be a female.

Gecko #5 is larger than Gecko #6; I think this might be a male.

Gecko #6 is in the upper left, Gecko #5 is on the edge of the window at the lower right.

While I was in the garage, I saw Mom Cat sitting at the edge of Jessie's back yard. The food still had not been touched so I did not put any more out for them.


While I was working on cleaning up the kitchen, Mike called; he said he and Leslie would be over shortly to finish the diverter valve on the outside shower and talk about the other work I wanted done. Since the kitchen consisted mainly of washing things I had removed from the old refrigerator and putting things back on the door, I finished it before Mike & Leslie arrived. It was relatively easy to get it looking more normal again. I also checked and found that the vacuum fit in the space at the side of the refrigerator. Since I don't need to disassemble it to put it here, I think I shall make this its new storage place.



In an earlier email I had told Leslie that I wanted to have a small electric demand heater installed at the bathroom since it took 2&1/2 minutes for the hot water to get there. I also asked her to install a hand held shower head on an adjustable rod in the indoor shower. Leslie said she had specifically installed the fixed shower head and diverter valve so I could easily use it. The hand held shower head was set at a higher height for taller people to adjust and use as needed.

The diverter valve is usually mounted at the shower head; Leslie mounted it just above the handles so I could reach it easily.

Main shower head on.

Hand held shower head on.

Both shower heads on.

When they arrived, Leslie started talking to me about my 2 new requests, while Mike installed the permanent diverter valve. She said first of all, my heater was set way too low; it should be set at 120 degrees F, so she adjusted it up from 106. She then went to check the flow rate in the shower and bathroom sink. The sink volume was great but the shower head was anemic. She said that might be the problem and not the distance to the heater; which she said was not that far. Mike pointed out another potential cause; he said 3/4" line was used for the hot water while 1/2" was used for the cold. He said with 3/4" you have to move 5 times as much water as with a 1/2" in order to get the water you want, so it actually makes the issue worse. Leslie then opened up the valve to see how it was set and found another problem; one of the sets on the valve was incorrect, the water would momentarily go off as you rotated the handle to get to the hot water control. When she opened it up she said it was apparent that a plumber did not install the valve; the water shut offs were blocked by the opening cut in to the wall so the water had to be turned off at the incoming line to the house. After much adjustment, Leslie & Mike were able to get the valve to work better; with the proper adjustment and higher temperature, it now only takes 1&1/2 minutes to get hot water to the shower! I think I still might find out how much it would cost to change the 3/4" pipe to a 1/2" pipe.

Leslie checks the work in the closet to make sure the hot & cold are plumbed correctly.

Leslie shows Mike the problem with the valve.

The towels are on the floor because of the splashing when they test the adjustments.

Leslie checks the final adjustment.

Tonight I decided to use the outside shower since it was still early in the evening when I decided to take a shower. I put a mosquito punk out there about 30 minutes before I went out to shower; I have asked Chris to put screening up at the top of the wall to keep as many mosquitoes out of the outdoor shower as possible. I really enjoyed the new shower! It was much easier to use than the old one. I just need to get some hooks put up for hanging towels & clothes and a small shelf for the soap and shampoo.

After reviewing the earlier photos I had of Martin, I think Gecko #2 and Martin are the same. Which means Martin is actually Martina. I will have to watch more closely when the peanut-butter-loving gecko comes back to eat! The red blotch on right side of Gecko #2's back is somewhat rectangular rather than an inverse tear drop shape that they normally have; Martin has the same shaped red blotch on the right side.

Martin on June 1st.

Gecko #2 on June 2nd.

There was 2 new COVID-19 case reported today but due to a correction on test results a previous case was removed so the total number of known cases remains the same at 653. The number of deaths, hospitaliztions, and percent of people released from isolation remains pretty much the same.

Cases reported in the last 28 days.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e John & Huynh!