Making Mochi at Kohala Jodo

Today was the annual mochi making day at the Kohala Jodo Mission. There were 14 people present with about 10 of us actually working with the mochi. The mochi "pounding" is now done by machines; very few communities both here & in Japan still use the stone mortars & wooden pestles to make mochi. Not only is it a lot of work but it also takes skill to turn the rice mass in the mortar without getting hit by the pestles! Pounding with the pestle also takes skill since with each strike the rice mass is also kneaded up against the side of the mortar; a mistake could break the stone mortar. Usually 3 men are pounding while a woman adds the water & turns the rice mass.

The steamed rice is now ready for kneading.

Almost pau with kneading.

There were 2 types of mochi that we made. The main reason was the kagami mochi, the rice cakes made as offerings placed on the grave sites & butsudan. Apparently we made about 100 of those; half were the larger bottom piece, topped with a smaller piece. We also made about 40 pieces of mochi filled with an & about a dozen pieces filled with peanut butter. 

(L to R) Fran, Billy, Joy, Glenn, Susan, Leslie, Joshua from New Zealand, & Trudy showing Joshua what to do.

(L to R) Trudy, Glenn, Susan, Leslie, Joshua, & his grandma Kathy.

Balls of an waiting to be wrapped up in mochi.

Joy & Glenn taking mochi out of machine, while Fran & Billy make an mochi & Joyce gets her apron on.

All the volunteers were given kagami mochi for their butsudan & an mochi for eating. We also ate some of the an mochi as a snack while there. 

Fresh made kagami mochi on our family butsudan.

The mochi making was followed by a potluck lunch; I forgot to take a photo of the potluck. Just know that, as usual, it was pretty tasty! During lunch, we learned more about Joshua. He & his family are visiting his grandparents Dan & Kathy who live in Kona. Dan was raised in Kohala & several of his family ancestors are buried at the Kohala Jodo Mission cemetery. Joshua just graduated from high school & will be enlisting in the New Zealand army next year; he & his family would visit Grandpa Dan & Grandma Kathy every 3 to 5 years & stay for about 3 weeks so he is familiar with life in Kohala but had never helped with mochi making. 

I usually get up at 6:30 am & usually take a photo of what the weather is like when I wake up. At certain times of the year, like now, I am waking up before the sun rises. Here is an example of what it looks like when I wake up versus when the sun rises.

Twenty-eight minutes before sunrise.

Sunrise!

The next episode at Kīlauea is still predicted to be between the 7th & the 14th.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Bria! 

IASA #3-46

Had holiday celebration with Billy & Fran at Tuesday Night Special kiawe-smoked prime rib.

 

2025 Holiday Greetings!

Dear Family & Friends,

As anticipated, Chris finished the renovation of the last room needing work essentially by the end of March. Furniture & books have been moved in & the room is now ready for guests who donʻt mind sharing the space with 4 cats! All the windows in the house are also now impact-resistant so they are more likely to be able to withstand a hurricane.

Fred & his sons installed a new fence along the east & west ends of the anthurium garden & enhanced the height of the fence along the property line, creating a safe, escape-resistant, outdoor area for the cats. They now have their own hurricane-resistant room with a cat door that goes out to a large outdoor cat yard to play in. There is also a small deck with just enough room for a small table & chairs for me & my guests to have a pleasant outdoor meal along with Paʻipaʻi, the friendliest cat. 

The banana keiki that I replanted on my side of the back fence are doing well. The replacement dwarf coconut though, seems to have succumbed during the drought; I am now seeking a replacement for it. The laʻi that is now growing too close to the fence have been munched on by the cows in the pasture; I have replanted the others farther from the fence. I occasionally throw dropped fruit over the fence for the cows.

At the end of 2024 I was elected to be vice chair of the Leeward Planning Commission for 2025; I have now been re-elected for 2026. It has been a great learning experience & my 30+ years working for either the planning or public works departments has been very helpful. We usually meet once a month, but have just started looking at amendments to the Planning Department Rules which requires the Leeward & Windward commissions to hold a joint meeting when we are voting on the amendments. We had one meeting via Zoom in December & anticipate at least one more next year in-person in Hilo.

I made 2 trips to Washington state this year. The trip in August was to attend the 40^th Anniversary Celebration of the Adopt-a-Stream Foundation that I helped with during their inaugural year when I was pregnant with Kai. The 2^nd trip was in October to attend the annual conference of the Hawaiian Council (formerly Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement) that was held at the Tulalip Resort in the county where I worked for 30+ years. I had also worked on a large wetland mitigation site on the reservation; the forested area is now doing so well it is hard to believe it was just bare dirt when it began.

I had a little more time to harvest fruit this year. I harvested 20# Meyer lemon, 8# dragonfruit, 112# calamansi, & 87# jaboticaba; as usual, I gave about 85% of it away. This year the drought affected the mountain apple so there was no fruit. I also joined a canning hui to learn how to pressure can items; we made the salsa seen here as well as calamansi marmalade with fruit from our tree.

My 1^st visitors for the year were Tony & Taren from CA via WarmShowers.org in January, followed by Gage from SD in March; they all camped overnight in the backyard since the renovation was still in progress. Later in March I met Barbara & Bruce for a luʻau & took them on a tour of Kohala & whale watching. In April Shabbir & Ruqqyi (in photo) stayed for a week. Brendan from Australia stopped by for a night in June while on a motorcycle tour. And in November Barb stopped in for breakfast while their ʻohana was visiting the island. 

Kai was here for most of July; he came to help with the Kohala Reunion which is a 3-day celebration held every 5 years on the 4^th of July weekend. Cousins Tomiko & Rei also came to help with the Reunion. The Obon festivities were included in the Reunion so there was no separate event at the Kohala Jodo Mission. When he visited for the Thanksgiving holiday week, Kai helped install security cameras so I could keep an eye on the cats & dog even while I am off-island.

The ʻohana lost 3 kupuna this year. Cousin Lem (97 y.o.) passed away in late April. In late October we got a big surprise when Aunty Judy (84 y.o., #5 from left in photo) passed away. Then just two days later Aunty Daisy (96 y.o., #2), who had been in hospice care, passed away. On a happier note, Tomiko had a great opening of her photo exhibit Hatsubon at the Kahilu Theater in Waimea in June that a lot of ʻohana were able to attend. 

Hope all is well with you & your family!

A hui hou! Mālama pono! 

East Cam Now Live!

After we put up the very 1st camera in November at the very top of the roof gable, then found out while we were back on the ground that it didn't work, I now turn on my phone & check out the feed right after I connect the camera & am still at the top of the ladder. Here are a couple photos from that test. The 1st shows what the view from the camera is by itself.  The 2nd is what it looks like on the Unifi Protect app on my phone with the 3 cameras functioning. And the last photo is what it looks like on the monitor. The last camera I need to connect is the south one that will have a direct view up the driveway to the gate. I hope to get that done tomorrow. 🤞

The individual photo on the phone app.

The 3 functioning cameras.

What it looks like on the desk monitor.

It took me about 1&1/2 hours this morning to get the east facing security camera up & running. The extra time was to bend the metal siding & remove about 1/4 inch of wood from the backing for the solar panel hardware so I could push the connector for the camera through so it was inside the garage & less exposed to rain. 

The final result connecting cable to camera.

Initially, I had started to run the cable along the sides of the beams. But I noticed that the lines for the solar panels were attached to the top of the beams. Duh ... makes sense. Why fight against gravity? So I installed the cable on the top surface where ever possible.

Cable before installation.

After installation next to solar panel cables.

 

This morning it looked like it would be sunny today & it was. Which made it kinda difficult working on installing the cable for the camera; the east side of the garage wall heats up really fast on sunny days & today was no exception. I am kinda looking forward to see what the sunrise will look like on the latest security camera which faces east.

Twenty-three minutes before sunrise.

This morning Dena's daughter & son-in-law dropped off a flatbed truck at the house; it will be there overnight. Later I saw Hedge Woman checking it out from across the street. I have discovered she is far enough away that the camera does not identify her as a person so it does not record her; I just happened to see her so I took a screen shot.

The flatbed truck.

Hedge Woman contemplates the new truck.

Close-up of Hedge Woman checking out the truck.

On Thursday I brought back a bale of orchard grass for Trudy for her goats. Unfortunately I did not have the large sheet in the car that I usually use to line Moʻo's seat in the back so I ended up with a lot of bits of grass all over the back of the car. Today Trudy had me go over to her house so she could help vacuum it out with her shop vac; she kinda has a routine since she is always hauling hay for her goats. I forgot to take photos when she was done cleaning.

Definitely need to do something to contain the little pieces.

The next eruption episode at Kīlauea is still expected to begin somewhere between the 22nd & the 27th.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Lembi & Jacqueline! 

IASA #3-45

Dane laying out pipe to get water to Lapakahi.

 

IASA #3-44

 

Cleaned out east side of garage so Crosstrek can be parked next to charger again.

Camera #2 Up & Running

Today I worked on getting the camera on the north side of the house operational. First, I needed to build the cable to hook the camera up to the server. That actually took longer to do than hooking the camera up to the server! For me it was the portion where you need to straighten out the kinks in the 8 individual wires so that they can feed properly through the terminator. My thumb joint was really sore after that. (It still is!) Running the cable under the house was the easiest part. Then I had to set up the extension ladder & take the cable up to the camera that Kai mounted before he left. Threading the cable through was also time consuming because of the parts that are made to seal water out of the connection. But I did it! And now there is a 2nd functional camera!

On the phone app.

On the monitor.

As soon as I got the camera hooked up & determined that it was operating properly I headed out to pick up my CSA bag. Then I went the to NKCDP Growth Management group meeting. Before I could step out of the car though, Kai called. He had seen the screenshot I sent him after the camera was hooked up, but that wasn't why he was calling. He wanted to know what types of things he should have at the house for an emergency. An alert was issued for the City of Anacortes where he lives, warning people living in the 100-year flood plain to plan to evacuate. Anacortes is also located on Fidalgo Island, he is concerned if all 3 of the bridges to the island are impacted it may mean limited supplies; though all going out at the same time is highly unlikely. The specific location where Kai lives has a very minimal chance of flooding; for him it is more the inconvenience of not being able to drive anywhere & whether he will have enough food & water if the flooding affects services & infrastructure.

When I returned home I was pleasantly surprised to find that the camera was sensitive enough to pick up ʻAlani walking through the cat yard. Now I can keep an eye on part of the cat yard & see what's going on there.

The sunrise this morning indicated it would be a nice day. And it was! I was glad it was not drizzly; would not have been pleasant to be at the top of the extension ladder if it was.

Three minutes after sunrise.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Debbie & Lynda! 

IASA #3-43

Had fried ice cream for dessert after dinner with Tricia.