Archive for May, 2006
May 31, 2006 at 3:36 pm · Filed under island life, home education
That’s what E said today. He was talking about picking up people at the airport. And he’s right. Traversing the Kona airport is a piece of cake compared to SFO – it only has a few gates – but we have the layout of the whole thing memorized. We pretty much know where to be for any of the different airlines arriving; tonight we’ll be picking up a new graduate at the Aloha Airlines gate.
But greeting guests in Hawaii goes beyond that. When we pick up a guest, he or she is greeted with a flower lei and a kiss on the cheek. In most cases visitors to the islands get the basic plumeria lei – it’s beautiful and smells wonderful. But we’ve learned in our time here (by making the mistake!) that flower lei* are for ladies, while men should receive a more masculine lei. Most commonly, men’s lei are made of ti leaf. These are things that we did not know a year ago! We don’t worry about this too much for visitors, but if we go somewhere on the island that requires a lei, we feel quite silly if we don’t follow that custom.
We have yet to make lei ourselves, except for the lei made at a local festival. We simply stop at a little honor system roadside stand on our way to the airport. We drop $4 into a cardboard box and then pick a lei out of the old soda refrigerator that keeps them fresh. This is pure Hawaiian style!
The boys have embraced the customs of the islands and are very serious about doing things “right”. And B especially loves the fact that there are honor system stands scattered throughout the island. All of the reading in the world couldn’t replace the life lessons we are learning here!
*Lei is both singular and plural
May 30, 2006 at 6:03 pm · Filed under My Musings, publishing
As I’ve warned you already, this blog will at times reflect my position in the world as an author. You’ll hear me crow when I receive a box full of author copies, or learn about the process of making a book. Today, you’ll hear a little rant that really should be heard by everyone who has ever bought a book, not just the few people who stop by here to see pictures of my beach escapades.
In January when she hosted me for my blog book tour for Team Challenges, Jennifer Margulis addressed a problem that authors face, unbeknownst to their readers. Go into your local big box bookstore and you’ll see great stacks of books. Those, right up front by the door that catch your eye. They look great, don’t they? Maybe you’ll decide you must have one. If you do, you’ve been duped. Those books didn’t get there solely because they rock. They might, sure, but they got there with cold, hard cash. The stories and memoirs and histories sitting prominently at the front of the store are all but guaranteed success. Those books stacked in the coveted storefront position have a leg up on every other book in the store, many of which are excellent – perhaps even better – books with a really bad in-store location. Those front-of-the-store book tables are prime real estate, and not everyone can afford to get into the market.
Books produced by small presses with a limited budget simply do not have the chance to shine in the eyes of the consumer. The authors of those books, the ones written with a passionate hand and a dream, hope for a kind review and thrive on word of mouth recommendations, because their book will never sit front and center.
If you’re not sure you want to believe me on this one (after all, I am an author hopelessly dreaming of a prime piece of real estate), check out this article. The money mentioned is in pounds and the stores in question are across the pond, but the same holds true for bookstores on American soil. Tainted book reviews and product placement are shaping the way people buy books.
Shocked? I hope so. I hope that as a book buying consumer you are shocked enough to step up and lend a hand to the authors that make your day. Instead of simply feeling frustrated about this stilted practice, I’d like to offer some suggestions that anyone – anyone – can follow to make a difference. Better yet, I challenge you to make a difference. Do any one of these, and add a comment telling me what you did. I’ll make sure you get something nice in your inbox. Beyond your favorite author’s gratitude, of course!
- Tell a friend about a book that she might like, to begin that word of mouth talk that authors so dearly love. (simple, eh?)
- Recommend a book to a stranger in a bookstore. (maybe a little harder)
- Take the time to write a review of your own. Many of you are bloggers – use that space on occasion to recommend a good book to your readers. Or, maintain a list of recommended books on your blog.
- If you don’t blog, visit an online bookseller like Amazon, Barnes and Noble or Powell’s and add a comment or review for the books on your shelf that you enjoy. Buyers count on those reviews to help them make a good decision. Bonus points if you add a review to more than one site.
- Write a letter to your favorite author telling him or her why you enjoy a certain title. Give permission for the author to use your letter as an endorsement.
- Shop at your local independent book store. Even if you can’t afford it all the time, make an effort to do so once in awhile.
- Buy books as gifts. Kids love ‘em. Grown ups love ‘em. The author will love you.
- Is there a local author that you appreciate? Ask your bookseller to carry those books. And then ask again. And again.
May 30, 2006 at 11:28 am · Filed under home education
To enter to win one of two great books for homeschoolers! Details here.
May 29, 2006 at 8:03 pm · Filed under island life, home education
A fifteen minute hike over a’a lava brought us to this beach - we had it almost entirely to ourselves. The beach is black sand/pebbly and gorgeous. We snorkeled out over some amazing coral formations, and saw some fish, too. Not as many as we’ve seen in other places, but beautiful nonetheless. At the northern end of the beach, there were some tide pools to explore. The boys found some 3″ long snails in beautiful shells (they called them tiger shells, though I don’t know if that’s an official term or not!). B made the grand discovery of the day - an empty shell that came home with us. Shells are hard to come by on this island, so the find was a good one.
Palm trees laden with coconuts:
A sea urchin tucked in the crevice of a lava rock. There were tons of sea urchins - different kinds - underwater, too. We also spotted an eel that was about two feet long, white with brownish spots.
Our pile of beach gear
Happy feet
B stepping out on the King’s Trail. Built between 1836 and 1855, this trail extends for miles and miles. Imagine walking this trail for miles in the hot sun without the aid of modern day footwear! The black lava holds the sun’s heat and the only water available is what we carried. Walking on it feels like a bridge to long ago.
May 26, 2006 at 1:37 pm · Filed under island life
…are poinsettias! In May! Outside! The discoveries I make in this new climate continue to amaze me.
May 24, 2006 at 10:39 am · Filed under publishing
It looks like I’ve got another book in the works! This one will be Medieval in nature and include (just like my Greek and Colonial books) 15-20 hands on activities for kids to do while learning about the time period. It will be geared toward kids 9 & up. I’ve already got some great ideas for activities and I’m working on how to structure it. My kids have spent much time entrenched in the Medieval period already, so I’m not coming at this completely uninitiated!
All of the activities in the book must use (for the most part) items that are easily found in the average home, so this limits my choice of materials. At the moment, I’m testing a method to create a stained glass project.
Now that I’m getting into this, I’m curious. As a homeschooler, if you and your kids were delving into the Middle Ages, what would you look for in a book? Are there certain aspects of medieval life that are intriguing to your kids? Is there one activity that just lit a fire for you kids?
May 22, 2006 at 5:53 pm · Filed under island life, home education
When we decided to embark on this Hawaiian adventure, “schooling” was the least of my worries. There will always be time to practice multiplication; the time we will be here is (we think) finite. What I want to be able to offer my kids is the opportunity to experience the lifestyle and culture that is around us, to experience the different climates, geography and topography, and to experience different foods.
Our shopping excursions – whether to the grocery store or farmer’s market – usually find us coming home with something different to try. The kids have been great about this; they want to try everything! They’ve enjoyed the fruit that is available here.
A plate with avodado, soursop, lemon, and things that I can’t recall the name of:
A baby pineapple on a plant:
A bunch of baby coconuts (removed for safety):
A dragon fruit. These come in pink and white flesh and taste a bit like a kiwi, but not as flavorful.
The boys have also come to love malasadas (Portuguese doughnuts), arare (a rice cracker snack mix), kalua pig, and even white rice. They’ve politely tasted some things that they found not so great: dried cuttle fish, nori (sheets of seaweed) and spam musubi (a slice of spam wrapped in white rice and seaweed, sushi style).
May 22, 2006 at 7:46 am · Filed under island life, home education
I spent the day at the beach yesterday with my family and my oldest son’s friend. Not long after we arrived, it started to rain lightly. Not wanting to leave the beach and make the trek back to the car so soon, the boys came up with a plan. They collected palm fronds and began building. Without any other building materials, they fashioned a shelter, ala Gilligan’s Island.
It stopped raining shortly after they started their building project, but they were having so much fun that they kept at it, working together until it was complete. I didn’t snap any shots of the completed hut, unfortunately!
May 20, 2006 at 6:57 pm · Filed under home education
Spunky has a great post up about homeschooled kids and socializing. She says in part,
The myth that children who are homeschooled are not going to learn to socialize has been largely dismissed. It is obviously necessary for our children to learn to get along with many different kinds of people. However, I don’t think you need a large social circle, or a classroom, to learn proper social skills. In fact, I actually believe that can be a hinderance. How many of us interact with 20-25 people who are all the same age everyday for six hours? A classroom is a manufactured environment with little resemblance to the “real world”.
My kids are far from unsocialized and we’ve been homeschooling for eight years now. They are comfortable talking with and enjoying the company of people younger and older than them. They manage to hold their own in conversations - real conversations - with adults. Because of their ability to do this, I find that for the most part adults will treat them respectfully and not talk down to them.
May 20, 2006 at 3:37 pm · Filed under island life, home education
Petroglyphs at the Puako Petroglyph Field
Hiking in to Akaka Falls
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