Learning to Count

Today in Papa ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi we learned to count! We also learned how to negate a locative. We started with a review of past classes then went in to counting. Next week they are going to add words for telling time. They mentioned that they were not yet sure how fall classes would be handled; the university will have in person classes. But this class had 200 people back in March, there would be no easy way that they could physically distance that many people. Except for not seeing friends I have made through class like ʻAnake Healani, I prefer the online classes since it is easier to follow along with the slides.

We had to pick someone in the Comments to "talk" with; Beth chose me.

Māhoe means twin.

Lei haku is a braid of 3 pieces.

These are the 4 major gods.

There were 5 leaders named Kamehameha.

Hawaiian canoes have 6 paddlers.

A photo of the Kahanamoku brothers.

Ka lei niho palaoa is only worn by royalty; 8 human hairs make up each braid.

Las Vegas is frequently referred to as the Ninth Island.

ʻUmiʻumi is a beard like a goat.

These number bases are used in many other words.

10 plus 1 = 11.

This kidʻs website has a song to help remember the numbers.

I slept through my wake-up alarm. Again. So no walk today. Again. Aue!

Ten minutes before sunrise; I should  be walking right now.

Myron and I made a small delivery to Case C this morning; he will be taking over as the MRC contact for this case. There was a traffic jam on the way back; the first one I've seen since the middle of March!


I stopped at Don Quijote on the way back to pick up some things to finish off the box to Kai, plus pick up a gift for Toto. They had scented hand sanitizer in various colors. They also had face shields; I think this is the only place where I have seen face shields being sold. You can be infected by virus-laden droplets, which is why medical professionals have eye wear when they are doing a procedure that may cause someone to sneeze or cough; like sticking the swab up your nose for the COVID-19 test. They also had a bunch of Hawaiian print face masks; I got a few to send to friends.


While there I also picked up a plant called Hearts and Flowers  (Mesembryanthemum cordifolium syn. Aptenia cordifolia). I put it in the rain gutter planter in the cat run; I wonder how long it will be before The Roommates notice it's in there?

Do you think they will notice it?

Here it is.

The soil in the pot was somewhat dry when I planted it & the flower looked like this.

Two hours later, after the irrigation system watered it, it looked like this.

Four hours later the flower was even larger.

I also took 2 cuttings from The Potential Most Favorite Roommate's succulent garden and planted them in the gutter; there was an already sprouting leaf of donkey tail (Sedum morganianum). I snipped off a long piece of ruby necklace (Othonna capensis) that was crawling on the lawn.

Donkey tail..

Ruby Necklace; do you think they will notice this one?

Besides the box for Kai, I mailed off COVID-19 survival kits to 3 friends. I included a mask & hand sanitizer in some and a cooling scarf in others. I hope they like them.

After Papa ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi I had a short break before the webinar on the creation myths of the Society Islands started. It was very interesting hearing the myth in Tahitian and recognizing the words that are equivalent to Hawaiian words that I know.

They talked about 2 out of the 4 types of creation myths.

After I was done with the online learning, I checked-in on the Hawaiian Airlines site; then went to the health department site to fill out the new travel form. When I was done I got the QR code that I will need tomorrow at the airport.

I blacked out part of the QR code so no one else can use it.

The low pressure system is now about 900 miles southeast of Hilo and moving westward at about 10 mph. Over the next 5 days it has a 10% chance of becoming a storm.


There is a system in the Eastern Pacific that has become Tropical Storm Cristina. It is headed out way but is predicted to fizzle out before it crosses in to the Central Pacific.


There were 23 new COVID-19 cases reported today; so about half of what we had yesterday. The 7-day average for this latest spike is 24 new cases. Our total of known cases is now 1094. There were no new deaths but there were a couple more new hospitalizations. About 74% of people have been released from isolation.

Oʻahu is turning red again!

Bad news. Because we are doing so well with keeping new cases low in comparison to the rest of the country, we are going to be penalized by having testing resources redirected to other areas. Currently the state had the capacity to do 5000 tests per day; now that will be cut by about half. And all but the tests for the most severe cases will be sent to mainland labs which will mean about a 10-day lag in getting results.


Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Zsophia & Jill!