yes, indeed, it has been a while. I'd be embarrassed to say I am posting 19FEB09 on 06MAR09 if it weren't for the fact that about 25-30 lbs of office paperwork has been manually processed page-by-page in the interim. A very boring version of busy indeed, but it is over now, and we are dragging a substantially lighter burden as a result (a good thing since we leave for Tahiti in a month). In an act of celebration, the last of the personal privacy papers went on the backyard pyre (a.k.a. BBQ) yesterday after having been successfully scanned, massaged, and digitized. It is truly amazing that computers never seem to gain weight from all the data we incessantly keep pressing into their endless memories. But...they don't, and that is a very very good thing!
So, where were we? Oh yes, the new house (which we have entered and exited since last post). This was one awesome beach house. We kind of knew because we picked it with 'nice' in mind and - it delivered on par with expectations - and then some! Here is the lovely lana'i cum 'virtual office' - oceanfront and outrageously outstanding! When I say kudos I mean it!
And for a closer look at the 'interior aspect', here is a quick little house tour a'la YouTube:
On this afternoon, after having settled into the new abode, we went exploring a bit. The area has been inundated by various lava flows over the past few decades and this is the sort of thing that creates 'history in the making'. Lava can change one's existence pretty permanently when it suddenly threatens to bury the town you live in. But Pele is a goddess capable of producing substantial peril and the Hawaiians in this area have learned (or have never un-learned) to 'go with the flow' as one cheerful resident said. In the 1990 flow, this little building - very dear to the local community - was doomed. So they got together and moved the wretched thing - yup, up on the truck and driven away (see below for truck pix):
And, as promised, the church on truck pix:
For a better look and a little story about it, here is a video clip:
And anyone who saw our Kalaupapa blog entries will recognize these folks, who appeared in a stained glass window in this very church. Father Damien, began his work on the Big Island. Only later, did he head to Kalaupapa to take care of Hansen's Disease patients:
Mother Maryanne was the person who inherited Father Damien's role once he became unable to continue his work at the colony. The poor fella, it was discovered, possessed the very gene that made him one of the few people susceptible to contracting Hansen's Disease (a.k.a. leprosy). He died from it right alongside his very own patients. If that isn't dedication, what is? He is due for sainthood in October of this year (2009).
Ironically, right across the street stands a processing plant for Noni - The Cure-all Tonic of The Pacific:
It supposedly heals all ills (except perhaps leprosy) and smells like shit. In fact, we even witnessed an Apache medicine man take a bite of a nice ripe one last month, only to utter - rather disgustedly - that it tastes like, you guessed it: s-h-i-t!
In fact, we have our very own little mnemonic for NONI (pronounced Nohnee): NONI=NONEED.
Ok, enough food for thought - for now...(Pun intended? Oh, hell yeah!)
Noni nui...ahem, Aloha nui,
Kepani & Kamila
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