There's Silver in Them Thar Hills

It was a dark and stormy….okay, I’m not Snoopy sitting on my doghouse with a typewriter trying to write the great American novel, but it was gloomy and gray today.

Low clouds hung over town as I watched the fuzzy bands of rain move across the windows of our apartment. I moped about the weather at first, thinking of the San Francisco days of fog for weeks on end and how the gloom could bring me down. Then I thought about the past few days and how great the weather has been, after all, we went to the beach late afternoon yesterday and watched the dogs sprint across the waves, happy to be on their evening walks. A couple, visiting from somewhere, took photos of themselves on the beach with the sea-blue ocean behind them. Then they kissed and hugged, obviously happy and in love.

Every time Mark and I go to the beach, I’m instantly in a better mood, and yesterday was no exception. The water temperature was 82 degrees. It was like stepping into a saltwater bathtub, but with kids, surfers and dogs sharing the big tub with me.

So this morning, I realized it can’t be perfect weather all the time and I resigned myself to today being a gloomy day, which will remind me to appreciate the nice days.
But I forgot, I’m in Hawaii.....(nature always has a surprise)

I had to drive around the island for a few meetings today. With windshield wipers on, I first gazed out at the cloudy grayness in front of my car. Then I looked up the mountains. The rain had created ribbons of silver, rustling streams of water, falling between the lush greenness of the mountain peaks. Waterfalls were everywhere!

(Sorry, no photo, since I was driving.)


After appreciating the scenic drive, I had to stop at Queen’s Hospital for a test. It’s like driving up to a hotel. Queen’s is the main hospital in Honolulu, yet it doesn’t seem very big. I guess I’m comparing it to San Francisco Hospitals and Stanford Hospital. The landscaping is kept up with native Hawaiian plants. The parking lot was full, so I had to go to valet parking at the entrance. People were crowded around the drop-off area and not one person honked or yelled. Everyone quietly sat and waited and appreciated the moment, even in a stressful place like a hospital.

I asked for directions and only one person knew where I needed to go. I asked for a certain wing, but apparently no one uses its name. There’s very little signage in Hawaii. Street signs are tough to find and addresses are almost non-existent. Once I told them what department I needed, everyone told me, "Go down the hall to the elevators and get off on the third floor."

As I wandered the hospital hallways, I was struck by how clean it was. There was no run down furniture, no gum on the floor or cigarette butt smashed into the pavement outside, maybe that’s because outside is not pavement. Nope, it’s stone.

A beautiful hospital, surrounded by tropical vegetation, with clean surroundings and calm, smiling people; is this why people live so long in Hawaii?

Even in Hawaii, We Won't Forget

Sunday morning I opened the blinds to find a nice Hawaiian day greeting me. Then I saw the American flag flying off my neighbor’s lanai across the street and I remembered. 9/11. Ten years later.

I was asleep in my San Francisco apartment that day, when my sister called me at 6AM. “A plane flew into the World Trade Center.” In my sleepy head, I pictured a small plane with a student pilot who made a horrible error.

When I turned on the TV and saw the images, I couldn’t imagine it was really American soil where this was happening. But it was. Being on the West Coast, I felt so very far away from the people of New York and Washington.

Here, in Hawaii, ten years later, I feel even more removed from the East Coast. I watched the TV coverage sporadically throughout the day. At 2:00 I saw the two shining beams coming from Ground Zero and for a moment I thought they were showing coverage from last year. Why? Because it was dark in the images the TV was broadcasting and it was the middle of the day here. I never really comprehended how far away Hawaii is from the whole Mainland.

When Mark and I watch the end of the 11:00 news, we see CNN starting their morning shows. The anchors have their morning cup of coffee, and Ali Velshi talks about the stock market for the day. The upcoming day. The one they are just starting while we head off to sleep.

At least the woman across the street reminds me first thing in the morning that I am an American. And in case anyone on Oahu missed her flag, the Fire Stations won’t let Hawaiians forget. The sign is still hanging in front of the Fire Station, complete with dried lei from last Sunday.

Football, Five-0, and a North Shore Sunset

Last Saturday Mark and I watched the USC game with the USC Alumni Club of Hawaii at Jimmy Buffett’s in Waikiki. I thought the plates were fun. Look at the shaker of salt! It was a crazy ending for a football game, with the NCAA, two hours after the game ended, granting USC a touchdown the refs had said didn't count. Oh, and I won the halftime raffle! I never won before because I was always the one hosting the raffle in the Bay Area Alumni group. I'll be writing soon with my new USC pen.

After the game, we had a few errands to do so we didn’t try to view the Hawaii Five-0 premiere on the beach. We'll wait until September 19th for the season opener on CBS. Last year we had a party and invited everyone over for dinner and viewings of the original show, before watching the series opening. This year, it will be just us. Our friends are back in the Bay Area.

Remember that friend of mine who grew up here? Well, her sister is an extra in this year's season. She's in the opening scene for the Governor's funeral held at Punchbowl. I guess it was a long day for the extras on that shoot.

We also visited the North Shore last week. Mark had asked a few people where to go and we found ourselves on a beautiful, open beach with only two people on it for miles and miles. We left the locals on their beach area and headed to Waialua and the old sugar mill to check out the local artisans and see their wares. It wasn’t much to see. Unless you are a surfer and want a specialty surfboard, most items can be found on other parts of the island. Don’t let the video on Hawaiian Airlines fool you. It looks larger in the video than in reality.

After Waialua, we headed to Haleiwa for dinner. Check out the sunset that night! We hoped to find Hawaiian turtles (honu) on our day trip. We didn’t see any. But standing on the beach, we saw the sunset in front of us, a rainbow behind us, and a group of little girls to grown women practicing the hula to a drum to our right.

We walked to our car saying, “We get to live here.”

USC Football Amnesia

Football season started without me. I’m a USC alumna and for the past few years, I planned game watching parties for the USC Alumni Club in the North Bay Area. Each season, Mark and I would fly down to a game or two at the Coliseum in Los Angeles and, of course, attend the game when USC played Cal or Stanford. But this year, football season snuck up on me. The weather is in the high 80’s, there’s very little tradewind breeze blowing, there are no changing of the leaves to autumn colors….how am I supposed to know it’s football season?

Last Saturday, I had plans to meet a friend at 10:00. At 8:55 AM I was reading the morning news and drinking coffee. Mark turned on the TV to find the USC-Minnesota game. I had completely forgotten about the game. I checked in on Facebook and found post after post from USC friends. Many friends attached photos from the Coliseum, the tailgates, a photo of Traveler (the horse).

There was no planning for a game watching party here in our apartment. No wearing USC shirts and hats. No cardinal and gold pom-poms to be seen.

I watched the opening drive of the game, then left to meet my friend. When I reached home and checked my cell phone, there was a text from the gang at our North Bay game watching party, saying they missed us.

With tropical weather and geography outside our door, I forget about Mainland rituals and traditions. But USC is important to me. It’s a great school that does great things and I want to be with my Trojan Family during football season. It’s what binds us together. So, this Saturday I will be with the USC Alumni Club of Hawaii, watching the game at Jimmy Buffet’s in Waikiki. Join us. I’ll be the one in the USC shirt.

Fight On!

Update: Hawaii Five-0 has their Season 2 premiere on the beach in Waikiki this Saturday. I don't know the time yet. What do I do if they schedule it during the USC game? Such are the awesome choices when living on Oahu.

The Garden Isle

It's a swampy day on Oahu. I raised the shades on our living room windows around 7:30 this morning and found water (or extreme condensation) on the inside of our window sills. Eighty-four percent humidity creates water puddles on the INSIDE of our apartment.

After turning on the air-conditioning, I sat down to a smooth, rich cup of Kauai coffee, purchased at the Kauai Coffee Company last weekend. Mark and I journeyed to the Garden Isle, where one of his friends, born and raised on Kauai, gave us a "local boy" tour.

Kauai lives up to its name. It's green, lush, open and relaxed. I'm not one to sleep easily unless I'm in a dark, quiet room with a comfortable bed. I fell asleep on a lounge chair at the Marriott pool late Saturday afternoon. But let me back up to the beginning.

Mark and I flew from HNL to Lihue on Friday, a 20 minute flight. We stayed at the Marriott. I highly recommend it. It's an easy shuttle ride down a back road through the Marriott golf course to the hotel.

Twenty minutes later we were having drinks and appetizers at Duke's, watching the NCL cruise ship leave the harbor, bound for Honolulu. We waved goodbye and made dinner reservations for the following night.

Saturday morning, Mark's friend picked us up and took us to breakfast at Kalaheo Cafe & Coffee Company in Kalaheo, his hometown. The Paniolo (cowboy) breakfast of eggs and bacon and hash browns filled me up for our sightseeing.

We drove to Poipu to see the Spouting Horn. Most tourists know the Spouting Horn is a blowhole where waves come through an opening in the lava and "spout" water high into the sky. But they don't know that the blowhole used to be much larger. Back in the days of sugar cane fields that reached from mountain to sea, the owner of the Poipu sugar plantation was upset that the blowhole spouted sea water 1/2 mile inland and covered his sugar crops. "So my uncle and the plantation foreman came here and cut the blowhole in half," said our "local boy".

Hanapepe is a small town where Lappert's ice cream started. No ice cream for us, we went straight to the swinging bridge over the Hanapepe River. Yes, river. Kauai is the only island in the state to have rivers.

The swinging bridge was used by sugar plantation children to cross the river and climb a trail up the adjacent hill to reach the schoolhouse. The bridge is still used although I'm sure there's another school somewhere. Near the bridge we saw two gravestones, one etched in Hawaiian from the year 1910.

Others might recognize Hanapepe as the setting for the mini-series, The Thorn Birds, although we didn't.

Much of Kauai is homesteaded; lands were passed down through families over generations. We saw areas which I won't write about because I want to preserve the old way of almost communal-style living. Families have goods from their lands that they won't sell, they will only give away to friends or trade for other goods.

I came away with a new appreciation of giving to the land and each other, in order for the land to give to us and as a way of helping our own communities. I wish we had more of that kind of living all over.


The weather was spectacular both Friday and Saturday, with noticeably less humidity than here on Oahu. We took advantage of the weather to attend the Kauai County Fair. We sat under the tent to watch the keiki talent show and eat a plate lunch. The garden section was my favorite. Tropical flowers filled the area with bright colors and fragrant air. It's a small fair, compared to most others I've been to, but with the standard exhibits; two or three rides, high school booster booths, and community and state organizations. We didn't make it to the livestock area.

I don't know if I could live on Kauai, it's a little too small for me, but it sure is a place to visit and relax. Every single person we met was friendly, nice, helpful and easy-going. I can't wait to nap on the pool lounge chair again.



Photos are of: Hanapepe bridge, Menehune Pond, Kauai Marriott, Lihue Sugar factory where sugar cane was loaded onto boats in Lihue harbor, view of valley on the way to Kalaheo.

Home

On my way back to SFO, I stopped to visit Mark's parents and to see a furry friend who's getting on in years. I didn't have much time. I needed to return the rental car and get to the airport.

Later, I walked through SFO to my departure gate and came across this exhibit from the show, Beach Blanket Babylon. If you haven't seen it, go the next time you are in San Francisco. Big hats are an understatement in describing the show's props.


During my visit, people asked if I missed California. I had to say, "Yes". California is where my roots are. I'm a third generation Californian, it will always feel like home.
I told them, "Hawaii is beautiful, but I haven't been there long enough to say it feels like home."

I was in a state of limbo in regards to where home was. A five hour flight gave me time to realize "home" is a state of mind. My roots are in California, but home is where I feel welcome and safe. I landed in Honolulu where Mark greeted me with a lei, a hug and a kiss.

The following morning, the golden sunrise greeted me in the comfort of my home.

Tahoe Highlights

A few other highlights from my three days with my Community of Writers friends, include dinner at Plumpjack cafe where Johnny Moseley, the Olympic Skier, sat at the table near us and again at lunch on the deck at Sunnyside Restaurant.

The lake is stunning this year. The epic snowfall from last winter has created a full, healthy, deep "Tahoe Blue" lake. The Truckee River dam was opened three days before I arrived. Full water in the lake and the river created a summer water spectacle all over the area.

After saying goodbye to my writer friends, I ventured over to the North Shore and said hello to friends I've known since I lived there. These wonderful people let me stay with them for another three days. When I lived in San Francisco, these friends had a key to my place and were welcome anytime. I, too, have a key to their place. It's like they are my Tahoe brother and sister.

I took a morning to have a cup of coffee by myself and enjoy the blue sky. A full schedule of visiting friends came after my coffee break. Nothing fills me up like spending time with friends, especially Tahoe friends. They are down-to-earth, friendly, "California casual" type of people.

The nights I stayed at my friends' house, the sunset washed the blue sky with shades of pink. The last night, the full moon rose over the mountains to the east and reflected like scattered diamonds on the lake. Beautiful.

The California Native Returns

I made it to Lake Tahoe. Since I landed late at night into SFO, I checked into a hotel before attempting to drive up the mountain. From the airport cop, to the shuttle driver, to the woman who checked me in at the hotel, all of them spoke so quickly, I had to ask multiple times for them to repeat what they said. I couldn’t listen fast enough. All this “talking story” on Oahu the past few months made me an attentive and patient listener. Hawaiians take their time when speaking.

The next morning, I couldn’t wait to drive on Interstate 80 in four lanes and have the speedometer reach something higher than 50 MPH. After picking up my car at the rental center, I meditated while driving 65 on the freeway with other cars and watched open fields and sunflowers and almond trees whiz past me. I was reminded of when I was a kid.

California back then was mostly agricultural. We used to pick apricots in the lot next door to us. We’d drive as a family to a field nearby and pick cherries on land that is now Apple Computer headquarters. My great aunt and uncle lived next to Adobe Creek in Los Altos, where I grew up before we moved to Newport Beach. Many Sunday mornings my mom and dad would ride us on the back of their bicycles (without helmets) to the family house in Los Altos Hills. After riding down the long driveway and passing fruit trees along the way, we’d enter through the kitchen door at the back of the house where my great-aunt’s homemade hot cross buns sat on the counter waiting for us. My sister and I would sit at the table and pick up a bun to find it still warm. Then we’d walk into Adobe Creek and pick blackberries.

THAT is the California I remember.

So when I found myself on I-80 following this Chevy Truck, I really was transported to the California of the 70’s. It has the old black and gold license plate. I can’t believe this truck is still on the road. Hey, it’s for sale too!

Of course, I HAD to stop at Ikeda’s in Auburn. It’s a family owned restaurant/farm/fruit stand. I almost cried when I saw the half flat of organic, fresh picked strawberries for $8.29. A small clamshell of organic strawberries is sometimes $8.99 on Oahu and that’s after sitting on a ship for a week.

I picked up strawberries and peach muffins and continued to Squaw Valley where I was meeting members of the awesome group #9 from the 2007 Squaw Valley Community of Writers.

Lake Tahoe has a distinctive smell, it’s of pine, but nowhere else have I smelled the pine trees like I have in Tahoe. When I arrived in the parking lot and stepped out of the car, I inhaled a big lung-full of Tahoe air. Ahhh! I love Tahoe. Have I mentioned I lived there for a few years? It’s a magical place.

And speaking of magic, the people who run the Squaw Valley Community of Writers manage to create magic year after year. Four years after attending the conference, my friends and I found each other in our rented condo. Happy to be together, we laughed and screamed and hugged. We’d come from as far as Vermont and Hawaii to meet up once again. We’ve reunited a few times before and it’s always great, like we’ve never been apart.

This time we came to support two of our own - Sara J, Henry and Jessica O’Dwyer. Both of these ladies read from their published books to the 2011 participants, alumni and local folk who came to hear past participants read.

Sara’s book, LEARNING TO SWIM, came out in February. Sara was first of the alumni readers to address the group. She spoke to the audience about how her confidence was shattered the first time she attended the conference and how she went home and didn’t write for a year. The audience gasped. Sara then shared about her experience in 2007. When she said she’d found her writing family at the magical conference that year, I wasn’t the only one who, for one second, stopped breathing and felt tears in my eyes.

A few readers later and Jessica was reading from her memoir, MAMALITA. I’d heard Jessica share stories that aren't in the book at her book launch last November. Even though I’d heard one of the stories before, it touched me again about how much struggle a mother will go through to adopt the child she loves.

At the end of the alumni speakers event, I turned to another of our 2007 group alumna and said with pride, “Our girls were great.”