Farmers' Market

KCC Farmers' Market opens Saturdays at 7:30 (with a gong!) and I was told to get there by 7. Made it by 8, and saw why--parking! The entry promised rows of goodies, and yes, there were LOTS of flowers, here only two stalls' worth. Cooked food of all kinds, local drinks, fruits, vegetables, bread, coffee, plate lunches, fried green tomatoes--row upon row of goodies! People meandering, on Island time, and long lines at the two vegetable stalls. 100% Kona coffee sells out in the first 15 minutes! The curly leaf lettuce was already gone at 8:30! Almost got bitter melon, but held off, maybe next week.

Drummers and Lion Dancers, a white-maned one and a black-maned one, with people sticking dollar bills into their mouths for luck in the New Year of the Rat. Of course I got a cup of coffee, Molokai, said to be as good as Kona, from the same sort of red berry, but I am going to stick with Kona (luckily I found 100% Kona coffee at Long's later in the afternoon, and at half the price--but who knows about the real value). At my choice of food stalls, I got the Egyptian Chicken Vegetable Curry plate lunch for a couple meals. May get several different dishes next time as the person next to me was doing--food through Monday! The market's bounty: got Ho'omaluhia honey after tasting 3 types; Ho'omaluhia is from banana blossom, java plum and coconut! Perfect with Country Olive bread.
Basil, mint, chives, edamame, fruits and veggies, fresh from gardens, a treat! The sweet lemons are as big as a tangerine and have green peel. Yum yum.

Donkey for Shopping

One of my readers commented off-blog on February 1st post about bringing the shopping back to the house with this article on an English village raising money to buy a donkey to carry the shopping home--brilliant! But then, they don't have a lovely flower-strewn gentle slope of a path to enjoy on the way up. The donkey I might rent would just meander while eating the flowers the whole way, wouldn't it?! On the other hand, coming back from Farmers' Market would be a good time to load up the donkey!

So far 2/6 has been the only day with sunshine all day! Glorious glorious sunshine. The 7th, the downpouring rain returned.....it will be necessary to have all ready for the beach for the next time the sun comes back to us!! And now, on the 8th, forecast is for rain through the weekend. But they lied . . . the 9th, Saturday has been hot and sunny (the clouds are rolling in now, at 3 p.m., but hey, 2/3 of a day hot and sunny is good!

Sans Souci Beach ... finally

Sunshine very promising this morning so took off for the beach I know, Sans Souci at the New Otani. Stayed sunny for the two hours I was there, moving my mat back as the sun moved forward, until lunchtime. So good, at last! Reading The Echo Maker and swimming and looking at the sky. . . .
Thinking about lunch in the Hau Tree Lanai, one of my favorites! I remember it was the first restaurant my friend took me to so many years ago....I still see the impressionist painting of my first view of this tree as we were seated.
Then lunch: Ahi Cobb Salad ... yum yum! Lovely leisurely lunch. If I can figure out parking (weekends may be out for the beach!), mornings on the beach are the ticket...the sun is from behind so sun-phobics can really enjoy! Not so crowded and safe to leave belongings while swimming, this is the perfect beach. But I'd like to try some others, too--if only I could teleport! When I came back to the house at 3, it was raining. More showers in afternoon, but mostly clear today! Beach/lunch was enough for me, could not tack on my overdue shopping....next week!

Kona Coffee

Been wishing I could run into some Kona coffee in this Land of the Starbucks. Oops, my friend has Kona coffee in her fridge and a coffee maker on her counter. Duh. So, Day 9, the treat at last! Yes, it does take a week (or longer) to "settle" enough to live large!

The Kona breakfast coffee seems to have reminded the sun to come on out and banish the rain from the night and early morning, of course with the usual rainbow just outside the French doors. Alas, dryish for only a couple of hours until just after lunch, when torrential rains, not just tropical showers, began again. They seemed to have stopped in the early evening so I went for a walk to get some exercise and got soaked by more torrential rains instead. Waded through ankle-deep rivers coming back up the hill--I give up, gym here I come. Honolulu Club (has similar machines, etc. to Alaska Club) is $250 for one month short-term! So, Curves it'll be, at only $61. Cardio? Maybe wet walks will be the way? My friend says she's walked on the beach under an umbrella--may just have to go that route!

To top off the day, the neighbors must be Chinese-related because they set off massive fireworks about 7:30--I thought it was a shoot-out and ducked down from the windows and heaven knows where Piha is--she scooted out of here fast! Then I saw the fireworks in the garden just below and got it--Happy Year of the Rat!

Cozy Mysteries

Cozy-mystery genre--who knew? For some time now I cannot handle thrillers or even "real" murder mysteries, and stumbled on these cozies here in the public library. A Cozy Mystery is set in a lovely place, among good people, and has to do with more mystery than murder. There are bad guys, but lots of good guys and delicious dinners, too. The detectives are usually women, but not always, Hamish Macbeth is a delightful exception, and so is Inspector 'Reg' Wexford of the Ruth Rendell cozies. Understanding 3-dimensional human nature and believing in the best of others is a cornerstone. Nothing hard-boiled. If anyone had ever told me I'd be devouring these sorts of books I would have snorted. No longer. The psyche craves cotton wool!

But I did get The Echo Maker, by Richard Powers, at the library yesterday, too. Epigraph: To find the soul it is necessary to lose it.--A. R. Luria A novel about an accident, and the injured man's ending up with a rare condition called "Capgras syndrome," when the person remembers events but not emotional connections. How the brain works after injury is the real thesis, and because of so many things around me, including The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, this is an intriguing read. The first page and a half is a blindingly beautiful description of sandhill cranes gathering in late February on the Platte, when suddenly into their midst a truck corkscrews and lands. I read these opening pages twice before going on. You can read them, too, on Amazon--just click 'Excerpt.' Stay tuned......

Meanwhile, there's a cozy mystery right here in this house; when I got up at 4, there was a lamp lit in the back room! Eerie, because the photo looks light from the flash, but the place was pitch dark except for the lit lamp! I don't use anything but the closet on the near wall and had never been close to that side of the room! I didn't go turn it off, wondering if whatever poltergeist turned it on would turn it off again, but no. Wish Hamish Macbeth were in the neighborhood!

Aha! Cozy mystery solved! When I went to turn off the lamp this morning, I couldn't find the switch, but as I fumbled around the lamp went to brighter, then off--a touch-sensitive lamp! So I bet Piha was exploring and touched it!

Watch Party & Writers' Workshop

Up way before dawn responding to very inventive kitty, then drinking exquisite green tea flavored with grapefruit and listening to the pouring rain and driving gales. May have to go have brunch at my favorite beachfront restaurant, the Hau Tree Lanai just to just look at another version of lots of water--the ocean!

Rain, rain, rain--what better than to do laundry on a rainy day?! Especially passing these beauties to take the laundry path to the left.

On the calendar: Super Tuesday Watch Party in the same small mall as a writers' workshop this evening! The watch party was fun--so many people, lots of good food, circulating, and drinks to order. All kinds of people there, young and hip, older and energetic, and friendly. Fun to be in a crowd for lots of big-screen news!













Obama's (half) sister was at the watch party and spoke to the crowd!











The workshop was fun, the Honolulu chapter of the National Writers' Association--here's John Frederick leading us to review 10 famous writers' first 100 words. The we each wrote our own, read them, and got 3 critiques. I learned something and there were 15 people there, almost all regulars.