Well, for a day, anyway. We spent Saturday at the Wine Country ‘Ukulele Festival in Napa. There aren’t too many things I’m willing to get up before dawn and drive long distances for, but the chance to touch base with some island friends, listen to Hawaiian music, and hook Brad up with a few workshops? That’s one.
Konabob jammin’ with Uncle Kimo Hussey
The rain is here. The cold is here. Not the bone chilling cold that I know will shock me again in another couple of months, but the cold weather that reminds me that we are ill equipped for the upcoming winter. Long pants haven’t been a part of our wardrobe for over three years now. The heavy winter coats that I stored are laughably too small for both boys. All of our shoes are open-toed. And Evan came in today, asking for slippers. The fuzzy kind, not the rubber slipper beach kind. I daresay we’ll be forced to actually shop within the next week or so, which is nobody’s favorite activity around here.
The boys are (in shorts) reveling in the cool weather, taking the opportunity to modify their mountain bike track while the ground is soft, and without breaking a sweat.
The garden is wet and limp, with green tomatoes begging to be rescued from the cold. I managed to pick one last batch of ripe tomatoes, and the canner is bubbling with jars of salsa. The green tomatoes, once they come in, will become chow chow. I’m feeling very much like a squirrel, getting ready for the winter. If only I had such a nice coat!
And I’m not talking science, here.
California differs from Hawai’i in so many ways, but one difference has been noticeable to us more than any other: the negative attitudes of the people around us. Not every single person, certainly, but when I head out into the fray of grocery stores and gas stations, the negative energy is palpable. Smiling people are rare, as are people who take the time to make eye contact or greet us with a simple hello.
Having lived in the land of aloha for three years, this has been the hardest thing to take. I want people to greet me as if they are happy to meet a fellow human being. I want people to understand that life is short, and to spend it on a continual downer is not the best use of that time. I’d just like to see more smiling people sharing a little warmth toward new acquaintances or customers.
I’m conscious of my own attitude as I deal with these people and I work to share a smile and make small talk. Unfortunately, not everyone is thrilled with my attempt to spread a little aloha. I actually had TWO people roll their eyes at me the other day.
I don’t remember it being this bad before we left. As a matter of fact, when we moved to this community we all raved about how friendly everybody was compared to our previous location in relatively close proximity to San Francisco. Maybe it’s the economy? Maybe it’s gas prices? Certainly, it’s a frustration.
The sky was amazing last weekend, just before all of the lightning strikes that started so many fires.
Oh, how you make me mad!
I love to have birds around, except for when I have a fruit tree that is nearing harvest time. We came home in time to find my persnickety pluot (plum/apricot cross) tree loaded with fruit. Thrilled I was. Until I discovered this:
Which prompted me to do this (surely, the neighbors think I’m nutty?):
It worked well for a while, but the birds seem to have seen through my scheme over the weekend. After sampling a few pluots, we all agreed that they were ripe enough to harvest. I’d prefer to leave them on the tree and eat them fresh off the branch as they ripen, but honestly? I’m just not benevolent enough to share any more of my crop with those pesky birds. As it is, they’ve ruined about half the crop. Here’s what we managed to save (you’ll see on the left that I even picked a few lightly pecked fruits, scavenger that I am):
…you played in the mud? I mean truly got in the mud and felt it squish between your toes? Mucking through puddles in boots going about your adult business doesn’t count.
When we moved into this house - the first time, ten or so years ago - we decided it would be grand to have a pond. The boys and I spent countless days excavating, sometimes with shovels, sometimes with Tonkas. It’s about 8′x10′, and three feet deep at it’s deepest point. We realized that it could become a mosquito breeding ground so we tossed in a half dozen goldfish, not knowing if they’d survive or not. Certainly not expecting them to thrive. But, year after year the fish multiplied and the pond became a science experiment and a great place to muck around.
Our tenants managed to keep the fish alive and the pond relatively full, but upon our recent return we decided that it’s not a very good use of our limited water supply. We allowed the water to start evaporating and Evan went in with a net, in search of the surviving goldfish. He caught one and couldn’t find any more.
Today, I passed the pond and noticed movement. Mind you, there is maybe a half gallon of water left, and it’s floating atop six inches of slippery, dark brown mud. In the middle. My kids were not here, so I tossed off my slippers, put on my cape, and stepped into the muck (only two of those are true) to save the flailing fish. I’m pretty sure the stuff that was oozing between my toes was made up primarily of fish poop.
Turns out, I rescued half a dozen full size fish that were struggling to survive in the muddy water, along with a bunch of babies. What we’ll do with them, I don’t know.
…that the people I know in Kona are not wondering where the mountain lion is that left a deer carcass less than a hundred feet from their house.
When we left California three years ago we got rid of a ton of stuff. We purged. It felt great. What we decided to keep, we stored in a container on our property.
After living for three years in a relatively minimalist style, I am utterly shocked at some of the things that we opted to keep AFTER purging. Why so many bowls? FIVE cookie sheets? Enough bath towels to dry an elephant? Puh-leese! Time to purge again.
- My neck is killing me from working without a desk - looking down at the laptop is really not very ergonomic.
- There is a young man here digging post holes to repair the fence that was damaged when the tree fell on it last winter. I do not envy him. It’s like digging in concrete.
- The gopher population here has been reduced by at least a half dozen. Yes, I am ruthless, all in the name of summertime tomatoes.
- Brad is sad today, missing Hawaii. So am I.
- Listening to Hawaiian music doesn’t help. In fact, it makes it worse.
- New carpet is in - and it’s made of recycled soda bottles! How cool is that? Much cooler than our reduced bank account, for sure. There’s an expense we weren’t counting on.
- Can I continue to post to a blog called Paradise Found when I’m no longer in the stereotypical paradise? I’m thinking that paradise is portable, even if the palm trees are not.
- I’m hopeful that someday soon I’ll be able to formulate entire paragraphs again.
