My Summer Vacation: Ohta-san's 13th Nenki

Today was the 13th nenki of Arlene, Joy, & Wayne's dad. In the Buddhist tradition there are certain death anniversaries that are important; this is one of them. Because of COVID-19 restrictions, this was an invitation only service; there were 13 of us there.

It rained really hard last night & well in to the next morning. The clouds were so thick, even though the moon was completely full very early this morning, I could not see it like I have been for the past few nights.

The moon at 2:14 a.m.

Both birdrise & sunrise were impacted by the heavy cloud cover. It was a lot darker than it has been.

Birdrise 33 minutes before sunrise.

Wake-up 5 minutes after sunrise.

Here's my list of Things To Do for today.

Today I finished the final load of laundry that was left over from July. Taking it a little chunk at a time works well for me. Besides, even with 5 clotheslines I would still not be able to do everything all at once.

I had a waffle for breakfast this morning, along with 1/4 of a dragon fruit. The waffle was one that was left after Sarah & Kaia's visit in May. I had moved the lone waffle from its box to a plastic bag & included the box end flap so Sarah would know it was her waffle. She had bought another box when she arrived in July; I assumed because she knew there was only 1 left from the previous box. But instead of using the lonely waffle, she opened the new box & began to use those 1st. I put the old waffle on top of the new box but she still did not use it. When I let her know it was the one she bought in May she said, "I know. Don't worry about it." But she refused to use it. So I am eating it now to get it out of the freezer before it becomes inedible. I don't know if that behavior was part of her mania but I ate the waffle this morning. It was still delicious!

There was a lunch following the nenki service. It was quite a large lunch for 13 people! I knew all except 3 of the people there. After lunch Jennifer & Trudy picked a bunch of avocados for everyone; I took 2 smaller ones. It was a good thing they picked them when they did; about 30 minutes later the 1st of the downpours from the remnants of Tropical Storm Linda arrived! People on the outer edge had to move to keep from getting wet.

The white container at the bottom right is a mosquito punk holder.

My lunch plate.

Rain coming in to the eating area.

The 3 new people I met were Jennifer & her grandfather Isamu, and Sally. Along with Trudy, all 4 of them live on Kynnersley Road in the lower half. And it turns out, when Trudy was living in Honolulu 3 years ago, she was living about 1/2 a block away from Dad's house! Jennifer moved here earlier this year to help take care of her grandparents as well as do her student teaching internship year at the middle school. Because she is working with students who are currently too young to be vaccinated she is especially careful about wearing a mask whenever she is around her grandparents & other kūpuna; she was wearing a double mask today when she was not eating.

As usual, lunch became a talk story time & the gathering broke up around 3 pm. When I went to start up the Tahoe the started clicked but the engine would not turn over. Fortunately Glenn was also at the gathering; he came over with a portable charging unit & started the Tahoe. Glenn left the charging unit in the back of the Tahoe just in case it did it again; but I took it for a long drive to charge up the battery.

Since Hamakua Nut Factory was open, I drove the half hour to pick up the toffee covered mac nuts Kai wanted for his co-worker Alexis. The folks at Hamakua Nut said they have never had toffee but to try the Kona coffee ones; they said a lot of people think it is toffee. So I got a can of those for Kai. Plus some Ka'u coffee.

It was quite late when I returned, so I just hung out the laundry that had been sitting in the washer since this morning, took a shower, & ate dinner. I did not do much today except take care of social obligations.

Dinner courtesy of Jessie.

This evening I checked in with Laurel to see if any of their dogs like the Chicken Crisps. It turns out their dogs did like them!

I finished 4th on the Duolingo leader board I was on. Which is just out of the reward positions.

Here's a close up photo of one of the maiʻa that was harvested yesterday. It gives a better idea of what to look for when harvesting nā maiʻa. You can see portions near the blossom end & along the ridges that are dark green, the rest of the skin has started to turn a lighter, slightly green with a yellowish hue. If I remember, I will try to provide a daily photo as it ripens.

This is the same on as in the photo above.

The Aix weather app forecast a whole lot of rain for Kapaʻau for the entire 24-hour period along with lightning; I think it is the remnants of Linda that everyone has been talking about. There was only about a 30 minute period when it rained heavily, at the end of lunch at the church. The Honomū weather station recorded 0.13 inches by 6 p.m.

Kapaʻau looking southerly at 6:34 a.m., light drizzle.

Kapaʻau looking northerly at 6:48 a.m., no drizzle.

Forty-five minutes after sunrise in Kapaʻau, no drizzle.

Kapaʻau looking northerly at 9:12 a.m., light drizzle.

Kapaʻau looking southerly at 9:13 a.m., light drizzle.

Kawaihae looking northerly at 4:01 p.m.

Kapaʻau looking southerly at 5:54 p.m.

Kapaʻau looking northerly at 5:54 p.m.

Kapaʻau looking southerly at 5:55 p.m.

Kaimukī looking westerly at 6:01 p.m.

Honomū looking northerly at 6:02 p.m.

Marysville looking northerly at 6:03 p.m. HST.

Even though the remnants of Linda's wind are well below hurricane level, they are still strong enough to affect the surf. Waves are expected to be 6 to 10 feet high along east facing shores like Keokea.

Dr. Mike Hansen has a new video about the level of protection afforded by vaccines & getting COVID-19 naturally & combinations of those. He cites the latest studies regarding this issue.