nice afternoon and evening

Ahh! I got off of work. The kids in school are just purely hairy and I took a walk down the hall to keep my cool! It's gonna be a long time till the 21st of the month--the last day of school.

Between The Da Vinci Code and X-men, I chose the X-men movie. It was pure escape for me and I enjoyed it. We went out to late lunch/early dinner and then headed to the hardware store to pick up another weedeater. These things are becoming another disposable machine. It would cost as much to fix it as it would to get a new one.

I was able to pickup a few petunias and will stick them in the planters tomorrow. I found a hemming gauge for sewing, but not the drafting curve I need to make patterns. I think I'll go to an art store and pickup some architecture drawing triangles and a french curve or borrow a set from one of my brainiac kids! I can use them for ukulele patterns too.

So, all in all, nothing new, but I had a nice afternoon and evening! I'm not really tired but I'd better try getting to bed and save this energy for tomorrow!

Na Pua O Wakinekona- the flowers of Washington State

Flowers are blooming everywhere! I can't wait till fall and separate a lot of these plants out so next year there will be more and more. I estimate it will be 8 more years for my yard to be filled. I got these little pots and dug up plants from friends when I started. I only have 3 peony plants and will split them in the fall.

While we were at hula Wes went riding with friends. John is one of my favorites. This is safe to say because all of Wes' friends are named John. There's Johnathan from Silverdale fire, and John who lives in Belfair and John the guy who runs a fire training business and John, the welder. John the welder is awesome. He's smaller than I am, but really good at what he does. He makes security gates and spiral staircases and welds structural things too. I guess I think of his creative talents in working with iron. It's a plus too that he has nice Japonica plants and I can pick there any time!

Anyhow, as I have a flower name and gave a flower name to my 2 daughters and the little grand girls are flowers also, I guess it's pretty cool we all like to garden. The akulikuli cousins are blooming, the roses are huge, my first peony bloomed and it is white, the next ones to bloom should be pink and that tree one is a lady in waiting for another couple of years. Japonica is doing okay, I should get another variety. The pansies are thick in the planter and so far they seem to have been saved from the deer. The carnations are thick with buds and someones animal decided it was a good place to lie down and flattened a plant or two! All of the lilies have buds and the day lilies are in bloom. If I'm diligent in deadheading them, they will continue all summer. It takes so much effort to have things blooming throughout the season. In Hawai'i, they just grew and bloomed!

Well, it's hump day and there are places to go to and things to do!!! Oh yeah, I'm still on the hunt for a green laceleaf Japanese maple!--

free time

Wes wanted to come to hula on a Tuesday night. I understand what Kumu says about boyfriends and husbands. In the first place, when he's at halau I'm worrying in the back of my head that he is okay and having a good time. How could he not, halau is a wonderful place. In the second place, I have been reviewing chants and going through hula motions and I take my memory vitamins before we leave for halau (ha!). My mindset is to try and concentrate on the numbers and I really don't like being distracted by other things. It is horrendous to arrive to class and not be able to remember stuff I've been practicing!

He would want to go to late dinner afterwards. Tuesday is not a good night for me. It is too close to the beginning of the week and if I have a late night then, for the rest of the week I am toast and my productivity and motivation is down the tubes. On Thursdays I'm okay because I can make it through Friday and recuperate.

I suggested Thursday night but Wes works on Friday morning and he wants to be fresh for his shift. I wonder if it will always be this way, I'm going in one direction and he's going in another. We do have a safety net this week--Wednesday night is generally free for my craft night. Wes and I go out to late lunch, early dinner and sometimes even an early matinee and get home in time for craft night--between 6 and 7.

Well, to continue. The choice was between Da Vinci Code and X-men. I chose X-men. I liked the movie! Then we went to Clearwater for dinner and had a nice time. Now he's off visiting with a firefighter buddy and I'm doing quiet things at home. We bought a weedeater (him), some petunias (me) and stopped at 2 places looking for a hemming gauge and a drafting curve. It's been a really nice evening!

what to write

These e-mails are good practice for me, you know, in case some day I want to be a writer. In the mornings I just start writing. If my mind flows in several directions, I jot things down and save them as drafts to work on for another day. Some days I can have 5 or 6 things in my drafts. Then for the next few days I open one of the drafts and finish the e-mail. I figure everyone's tired of the Kamehameha Schools segments so I'll go on to other things. Almost daily, something will come up to write about.

Wes turned down a promotion to be a fire captain. Although at first it may seem a strange decision, I understand the train of thought. If he was a fire captain he would work a regular and normal 40 hour week. Those of you who don't know us as a couple may be surprised to find that with his current schedule, I spend several nights a week alone. The nights can be kind of bad and lonely in an empty house. The afternoons and evenings though, I can fill those with starting and finishing projects and going to halau. Then he gets 4 days off seemingly out of the blue. These days are treasures because we can take off to places during the times when most people are working and thereby avoid the heavy traffic times and the crowds.

The other day I called the station. Wes was taking a nap and I told Matt, "Oh by the way, today is Wes' birthday."
When Wes got home yesterday he said it was so nice of the guys to "surprise" him with some kudos and a birthday cake. I probably should have made the trek but I'm too lazy! I figured celebrating the day before and the day after would be okay.

You see, as one of 3 shift lieutenants, Wes is in charge of a bunch of guys. The reason why the chief asked him to go out for captain is because Wes has the smoothest running of the 3 shifts. The guys on his watch are very protective of him and don't ever want to switch shifts. The other shifts have problems with discipline and just plain old getting along. Wes is a good leader.

Promotion would mean more administrative stuff and less of training and going out to calls with the guys. Promotion also means no overtime. Think of this, if your base pay gets you (just for an example) $60,000 a year, add in overtime and you could be up to $90,000. A single 24 hour overtime shift is in excess of $500. And that's why I wanna quit work! If I was working fulltime at my job, I'd have to work for 2 weeks to receive that kind of a paycheck he would get in a shift.

We often discuss who has the more difficult job. Suffice to say, he is good at his, and I am good at mine. He could never do my job. I had a glimpse of what he's involved it when I volunteered at the fire department for 5 years, but that was being on call for nights and weekends and going to a lot of training!

Well, I love the long weekends! Yesterday was borderling gorgeous and we went on a nice barbecue picnic! Today, I don't wanna get ready for work!

memories of Memorial Day

Today is the day. My Hawai'i family has cut the ginger and picked all of the flowers, and packed a lunch to make the annual trek to decorate the graves of family members. My sister is at Diamond Head. My Daddy Sterling is at Nu'uanu near the Mausoleum. One grandpa is in Hale'iwa at Lili'uokalani in the little cemetary next to the church. My Daddy Eskaran is at Mililani with my grandmas and my Auntie Evelyn. My cousin is at Punchbowl. Recently they moved people from an old graveyard in Waialua and the remains of my great-grandparents on the Mahoe side were moved to Mililani.

When we were in elementary school we were asked to each bring in a couple of plumeria leis. These were collected from all of the students and taken up to Punchbowl. I don't think they do that anymore. You know, where have all the flowers gone?

Our yard had gardenia bushes all the way around the front fenceline. For a week or so before Memorial Day we would pick and refrigerate the gardenias (aphids! all the food smelled and tasted like gardenias!) for my sister's grave at Diamond Head. She was born on March 11, 1957 and she died on December 17, 1959. We would clean things up and trim around the headstone and wash her headstone down. We put flowers in the containers and then we lined the area in gardenias. We poured all of the flowers out to cover the lined area. We would eat lunch there. Now that I'm a parent and a grandparent I cannot imagine the kind of grief my mom and dad went through.

My mom is in Vegas, my brother in Arizona, but I'm sure that on this day, our thoughts are united in this tradition

about the kulolo

the taste is good. the color could be darker and the texture? well, I should have used a grater with smaller holes for the taro. next time I'm gonna steam the taro a little, cool it off and then grate it. i guess you could call this a success, but what I picture in my mind does not look quite the same. I ate taro for dinner--I wish I knew more about the varieties. this taro seems sandy when it's cooked. when you bite into it it falls apart in your mouth. I was hoping for more solid and sticky. beggars can't be choosers. next time I go to Hawai'i I'll try making kulolo there.

I'm on my way to the annual breakfast at the church. My kitchen is the pits with all the dishes from making butter mochi (finally!), chocolate cake, and potato salad. I still need to make some barbecue sauce and on the way to the picnic we'll pick up the Lilly grand-daughters (their parents have been roofing all weekend) and something to throw on the barbecue. I feel like eating pulehu fish or short ribs and some shoyu chicken wings but I'm betting we'll decide on pork ribs--depends what's on sale here.

The weather should be good by afternoon. Well, I'd better check with my family and see if anyone's showing up besides me. I know they want to play softball but the park we reserve isn't that big! I think it will just be nice to play some games, eat, maybe get in some exercise and wander at the water and see what there is to see! Yeah, like the girls are gonna give me a chance to take a break?! I hope they have fun too!

going coconuts? In search of Kulolo

Ahh--what a wonderful outing Wes and I had yesterday, to celebrate his birthday. We had dinner at the Crab Pot. But, before that, we went to Uwajimaya and found some taro and grated coconut. Fresh taro, frozen grated coconut. Fine with me, I thought I'd had to pay an arm and a leg for coconuts and then try to grate them. We picked up our favorite Chinese greens--gai lan. They go along with all the "choy" stuff--bok choi, kai choy, ung choy. We had taken the foot ferry across the water and I had the back pack. We arrived at the Crab Pot with our groceries in the back pack! 5 pounds of taro, a bag of poi, the greens and the grated coconut.

So, today I'm searching my old files in my cluttered mess of a mind to try and remember how to make kulolo. Convenient for me is the lolo uwila (computer) and the Star Bulletin/Advertiser stories of how they made kulolo in Kalapana. I also found several recipes and selected one that is as close to the original that I can remember. It seems fairly easy once you have the ingredients and the taro is grated.

I must have sent my little food processor down the road, and had to grate taro by hand. My grater has big kine pukas (holes) and I'm hoping that is good enough for what I'm trying to do. If it needs to be grated finer, I will have to do this all over again sometime soon.

The goofy thing is, the recipe is not calling for grated coconut. It's the coconut milk. I don't have access to Mendoncas, but used some canned stuff and stubbornly added some grated coconut in with the taro. A taro root of 2 and a quarter pounds will yield enough grated stuff for 2 recipes. Oh, about recipes, I love it when they say 1 large taro and 3 coconuts--I really need measurements!!! The older Hawaiians gathered honey from the beehives. Well, I just got some in a jar.

Do I have a steamer to set on the gas stove for 4 hours? Ah-uh-ah-mmm--Not really. I decided to transfer the mixture from the breadpan to a ceramic dish and placed it in the crock pot. It will probably take longer, but good things are worth the wait. I will let you know the results. I'm keeping the other taro to experiment further in case this one is all wrong. What I really think is all wrong is the recipe that tells you to use a bag of poi, vanilla, coconut milk and brown sugar and butter!! I want the true texture that I remember, not the instant Jell-o pudding version. Well, right now the whole house smells like taro! I will let you know how it turns out.

songs and prayers for Sunday

When you entered Kamehameha you received a student handbook. Along with learning about the code of conduct and what was expected, in the first few weeks of school you had to memorize the prayers for grace (Doxology in Hawaiian and English, The Queen's Prayer, and others), Hawai'i Pono'i, Hawai'i Aloha and some other songs to sing at dining hall for guests. There were tests on all of this material. At Kamehameha whether you could or not, everyone sang. There was a medley of songs (one for each of the islands). We all learned the Kamehameha alma mater , "Sons of Hawai'i" and the fight song, "I Mua, Kamehameha". At graduation the entire class would sing "Sail On My Soul". The music just gives me chicken skin, even now, as my class will celebrate our 40th reunion in 2 years.

Each year a class is in charge of a huge alumni luau. If it also happens to be your reunion year, your class plans a week of reunion activities for your class. In the past it has involved people being housed at the dorms, going to golf tournaments and picnics and dinners. I've never attended. At first it was because I was either pregnant or had just given birth. Around the 15th year after graduating, I went to a dinner at someone's home. That was fun. Since coming here and working in the schools it's not possible to be in Hawai'i in the beginning of June because our school year here keeps going longer and longer. This year we don't get out till June 21!

At the upper campuses months before song contest a student directors were selected. The competition songs were chosen, the song leaders would hold sectional rehearsals. Although we were co-ed in Prep School, when we hit high school the guys and gals were on separate campuses and almost never the twain would meet! ....Exceptions were special classes like Russian language. Few students elected to take Russian and so the guys would come to class at Girls' School. In my 10th grade year, that all changed and we had all classes with boys.

There was Founder's Day music too and students were selected to go to the Royal Mausoleum and listen to speeches both by students and by staff and to sing the songs. The entire student body used to attend until there wasn't room at the Mausoleum grounds to hold all of the students. The beautiful music was written and performed each year to honor the Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop for having the foresight to set up her monies to benefit the Hawaiian race through education. My personal favorite was "Aloha Pauahi" which sounded like echoes throughout the grounds. It was an all girls piece.

I learned to sing in parts. The upper classes had representatives to help the under classes and that's how the free harmony parts were passed on when singing in the dining halls. We learned to sing in 3 and 4 parts just as girls. Song Contest was separated by girls against girls in grades, and guys against guys and then we began to compete as girls combined with boys against the different classes.

If you wanted more music you would elect to be in glee club classes. If you auditioned and were selected you would be in Concert Glee Club. If you wanted to perform and travel, there was a travelling part of the Concert Glee Club. For instance, in 1966 Concert glee went to Japan. In other years they performed in Europe and entered choir competitions. By then, we were allowed to dance the hula, under the direction of Auntie Nona Beamer. We thrived as musicians. My Uncle Auggie (same class as Vicky Holt) was in the group that went to Japan, along with Robert Cazimero. The Beamer brothers were a year and more under my class and at one of the school talent shows, Jerry Santos (of Olomana fame) did an Elvis impression. If you can imagine, he was smaller than I was at the time. Ed (Ka'ipo) Hale was also in our class. The thing is, if I run into any of these people in public, they still remember ME as a classmate or schoolmate. We are Kamehameha Ohana, even to the classes way before us, and those of today!

When I was in Concert Glee I auditioned for the State Select Choir and was able to go to rehearsals at McKinley High School and later, a huge concert venue with choir students across the state of Hawai'i. Although it seems like a big deal to be one of about 50 from the entire state, not too many students auditioned that first year. I was lucky! In concert glee we performed everywhere, including with Robert LaMarchina who directed the Honolulu Symphony. I volunteered to usher for operatic and musical performances and also sang at the governor's inauguration. One year we made the trek to Tripler Army Medical Hospital and sang for the soldiers injured in Viet Nam. I was in the hallway when a guy came out of recovery and they were ushering him to his room. He looked up at me and thought he died and went to Heaven! Our concert choir outfits were long white dresses with leg-o-mutton sleeves. When people ask why is Kamehameha so different from any other school I just don't think there is a simple answer.

One year the powers that be suggested an all-girls group travel inter-island and perform. Roland and Tootsie Cazimero were in our class and Robert came up to help a gal learn to play the bass. They wanted us to be an all student performing group. Roland taught me some guitar chords and we practiced some Hawaiian music, along with our choir music repertoire. Some girls danced the hula too. It was a ball as we went to Moloka'i, Maui and Hawai'i.

I have to mention that the campus was all inclusive. We had Kamehameha School buses to take us to off campus activities (football games, basketball games, song contest rehearsals, Founder's Day, etc.). The high school campus was so large when we joined with the boys' school that the buses ran us from the top of the hill to the bottom of the hill. One year I had a class down by the swimming pool at shop and my next class was at upper campus. The stairs were gruelling and we tried to pass to classes quickly and efficiently. Hence, aside from the heritage, our legs got muscular and strong.

For boarders church services on Sunday were mandatory. We sat by dorms in the auditorium and listened to Reverend Mulholland's sermons. We were ushered out quickly and the housemothers made sure we weren't hanging out to talk to the boys! As a high schooler I found it more fun to sing in the choir with Mr. McClendon playing the organ and leading the choir. We learned the Lord's Prayer in Hawaiian, a capella. He was also my freshman English teacher. His face reminded me of an eagle, with a long and pointed nose and he had squinty eyes. He used to tell us his wife was beautiful and looked like Betty Davis. The man would play the organ with one hand and 2 feet at the pedals and lead with his other hand. If the music was too high or low he could automatically transpose us into a different key. I used to imagine him at the Phantom of the Opera, with his low and booming voice.

Local leaders of the LDS (Mormons) church petitioned the school for us to attend services off campus. When permission was granted we were bused to those services set up especially for us. This meant that I went to church twice each Sunday. Actually, it was a chance to see who the good Mormon guys were!

You know, I think I'll take a break on my Kamehameha story and talk of other things.

More teachers at 7th and 8th

At one part of our seventh grade year the guys took Home Ec and the girls had woodshop. Our teacher was Mr. Dwight Bowman. He died a few years ago. He was extremely knowlegeable and made an entire model of the schools. Later he would go on to fashion models of ancient voyaging canoes. He had a son to whom he tried to pass on his knowledge, but his son passed away before him. As my brother is a master carver, he had occasion to meet with Mr. Bowman through the years.

Mr. Bowman had more patience than anyone! Our first project was a cutting board in the shape of a pig. He'd guide us along on the band saw. We made wooden spoons and forks for serving salads. I much rather have been in wood shop than at Home Ec. Home Ec was good too, the teacher was a middle aged woman from the south with walnut colored hair and a southern accent to her speech. Mrs. Wilkinson.

The librarian was a bit strange. She was pasty white fair, with her eyebrows shaved, and re-painted in way above the normal line!!!

P.E. was awesome. Mary Jo Freshley was petite but athletic. When we warmed up around the field she would tell us if she lapped us we had some consequences. Later in life we ran into her here on the Mainland and she was with a Korean drum group. Not unlike the Taiko Drummers. We had gymnastics and other of general P.E. activities, including sex education, though I don't remember it being heavy on the Human Reproduction part, more on personal hygiene. Prep School had a Ho'olaulea and I was the gymnast at the ceiling on the ropes with the others below me. There was a competition for the highest fitness and I was up there in percentages for the girls (softball throw, pull ups, situps, sprints and distance runs standing broad jump, etc). Unfortunately, while racing to science class with my coral piece for classification homework I tripped and fell down the stairs to the library wearing my black and white oxfords. Had to go to the school hospital (Hale Ola--with head nurse Miss Mathews, former military nurse) and missed the last part of the P.E. trials due to my first sprained ankle. Crutches are hard to get around with in a school filled with stairs! Susan Adams beat me out for most athletic.

It still bothers me now to think that whatever you are tagged and labeled as in junior high, follows you through high school (Which is why I pushed Jr. High sports with my kids so they could have the JOCK reputation when they hit high school - they were smart enough for other things too, but I didn't want them to be nerds or unpopular). I was fortunate to make the best team in track the following year where we were the girls' state champs. Not that I did so terrific, I was one of few freshman on the team with Coach Mrs. Jan Murchison, who was way prego at the time! The state meet was at Punahou and though I was a sprinter, the team was short a distance runner and I volunteered for the 880 yard run (yes, that was BEFORE things were switched to metrics). I was 3rd to the last of 8 runners in the event. My fastest sprint time was 6.6 seconds for the 50 yard dash. Kealoha Simeona was a great runner--faster than I was in most events!! I cracked a tailbone trying the high jump and just never could get my short legs cleanly over every hurdle! I figured I got a state champ medal and didn't go out for track the following years. One of the senior guys was a good friend of mine and he and his friends would bet on us like horses at the horse races!

Although volleyball was my favorite I was too shy to try out for the team (cheerleading and hula dancing too!) and I played intramural sports instead. Till this day I don't like participating in competitive sports. I get extremely aggressive. I don't like how intense I feel--the heat is amazing-- and there is always a loser. I tried out for gymnastics but we didn't field a team, and I was on the first girls' rifle team. I couldn't even tell you how to take a rifle apart now, but back then, I could!

I think because it was my first stint away from home, my 7th grade memories are more vivid than those of 8th grade. In 8th grade, however, we were the top class on the Prep campus. That means we had attitude. Although I had a few crushes in 7th, I felt too awkward to make my feelings known. I played a lot of physical sports with the guys and was generally considered to be one of them. By 8th grade I had a sort of shy reputation, but I was getting into tiffs with boys.

Take for instance, Edward Ka'ahea. He was a royal pain in the behind. Back then I used to swear a little. I felt it scared off and warded off trouble by talking rough. Picture me, in 7th grade. I was all of the height I have now, 5 feet, 2.5 inches! But, I weighed 89 pounds! In 8th grade I was 98 pounds. Well, that didn't deter me from protecting myself when I saw fit. My hair was really long--down the back to mid 'okole. Edward used to like to tug at my braid. One day he was playing around and I sent out a voice warning for him to knock it off. We were cleaning erasers and I had an olive green "A"-line skirt on. He hit me with the eraser, leaving a chalk mark on the skirt. It was the newer 2 sided extra long eraser. I grabbed it from him and shoved it in his mouth! Of course, in high school he became the quarterback of the football team and later evolved into one member of the comedy team "Boogah Boogah". I also found out he was sorta related--through my dad's first wife's family, the Pa'oa clan.

As to further family notes in regards to Al Ma Mater, my dad graduated from St. Louis High. Apparently after his mother died he was taken in by the priests at St. Louis. His grandchildren attended Punahou (arch rival of Kamehameha--us being the Hawaiians and them being the Haoles). They were attending Punahou around the same years I was at Kamehameha and it wasn't odd to see the Sterling name on the sports pages of the Honolulu newspapers. Wayne Sterling held the state's shotput record, his father, Wayne, Sr. was named All-American out of WSU or UW (I need to get that one straight for the records). Leon Sterling Jr. was of football fame out of Oregon State, and small Leon gained his fame in the Hawaiian Voyaging Society as the steersman for the Hokule'a. My brother is famous for being a master carver, and attached to the BYU voyaging canoe the IOSEPA and me??...I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up! Ha!

the morning after/breakfast of champions

You know what's good about leftover chili or stew? Breakfast the morning after! On Sunday evening our family celebrated Cinco de Mayo (we're Hawaiian, like to celebrate everything--And, it's a reason to cook and eat Mexican style). We never know who is going to show up and sometimes that throws the planned potluck way off the charts. Take for instance last week--Italian. But the salad people brought chocolate chip cookies (always welcomed at any family affair!). This week the dessert people had an early Mother's Day committment and the drinks people--well, sometimes they come, sometimes they don't--and that's why they have the drinks!

So Kanoe brought enchiladas. I, of course, couldn't make up my mind - I made a pot of chili and set out some tortilla chips. My house is low fat everything--our problem is that we LEAVE the house to eat a lot of the times! Wes bought some 0 transfat tortilla chips, guacamole and sour cream. The chips are new from Tostitos and are multi-grain--taste really good! So we set out 2 bags of those with peach-mango salsa and some cheese. I draw the line for no fat at cheese. One time I tried to melt some over a dish of something and they looked like Cheetos cheese puffs and tasted nasty! The chili was warming in the large crock pot and I made a pot of rice. That way people could have chili with rice or make chili nachos in the microwave. The salad people brought chocolate chip cookies again, so, we had no veggies! I would fire the salad people, but they make great chocolate chip cookies!!

On Monday morning I fried up half a Portuguese sausage, added it to the chili over rice and fried an egg over easy to put on top of the chili. Forget the steel cut oats, the yoggurt with fruit, there is no substitute for this breakfast! Well, writing about food first thing in the morning is making me hungry!

ahh! Another week!

There is always yardwork, housework and work-work. I hope this week is smooth and peaceful, but I should know better than to think this is going to happen. Maybe it would be too boring. I mean, I've had a peaceful weekend in the workshop, and look what's happened just me, myself and I! I even had a mini adventure I didn't write about. I saved it for these times when my mind is taking a vacation!

So, whenever Wes takes the bike, he grabs a garage door opener from one of the vehicles (usually the Beetle) and normally there is a house door key on the key ring that he leaves behind. I decided to run the errand to Lowe's and that was a useless trip. I got home and reached for the door-opener. No door-opener. Then I look on the key ring. There is no house key on his key ring. This is when a person who doesn't normally curse and cuss does a Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde thing. I realize I locked everything up except for the sliding door-the one that opens up to the enclosed deck, whose railing is about 10 feet high. Mr. Muscle has been working around the outside and left the ladder leaning up against a wall. How safe is this if someone was trying to break in? We have just made it easier for a criminal! Lucky for me, the ladder is there because in former times of missing a key I have had to find a way to get my less than limber body (especially the rear end part) up and over the deck railing. This time, I just opened up the ladder and climbed it to get to the rail and then leapt to the deck floor. Now, when I was younger I was pretty agile, at this point in time, there is no grace! Now here it is again--I think I need to make another copy of the key and store it someplace secret outside.

I thought it would be fun...

Carmella was telling me about different sewing things and I found myself interested in creating my own dress form inexpensively. One of the techniques involves putting on a long t-shirt, getting wrapped in duct tape, cutting the t-shirt and tape off of your body, and then taping it back together, stuffing it and securing it to a stand. I know there must be a lot of funny stories from women who have done this at workshops or with friends. I decided to save the embarrassment and just have Wes do it for me. WRONG!

In the first place, it takes patience. When a man has had the car worked on, paid the bills and ran the errands plus he'd been doing yardwork for a few hours on a warm and sunny day, then decided to take his wife for a long walk on a new trail, maybe a wife should call it good for one day!

I mean, Wes was a good sport about it when I asked for his help. His first question was, "what's in it for me?" and I told him this wasn't "let's make a deal". Not being one to quit while I'm ahead, I decided to keep working with him. He is so strong. I kept telling him not to wrap me too tight or I'd be passing out soon--I might be a size 8 in duct tape! I tried not to stress him further before he'd want to duct tape me from the neck up, making sure to shut me up!

Next thing that I know, he was DONE. Done in 45 minutes when maybe it should take an hour and a half! So, it isn't perfect, but it IS what I needed. And I guess I can work out the other things when I'm finishing the dress form. He wasn't too careful and I got some hair taped, I was also taped where the t-shirt should have been in the underarm region---OUCH! I'm glad I only had to get through the pain of removing an inch or two of the sticky tape from my skin! The t-shirt should have been below my butt, but in the end we wrapped the lower part in saran wrap to finish the taping. And this is the reason that I usually do my silly projects on my own when he's at work--like tomorrow!

Oh BTW, this form should help when I'm sewing for myself. The fittings should be accurate and when I put it on a stand at my correct height, the hemming will be good too, avoiding the constant trying on and hem measuring by my not so willing assistant! One day I may invest some good money into a nice dress form. Another choice would be to make a cast of my body, have it cut off of me, piece it back together and fill it with a plastic foam. When the cast is removed from the foam, it would be my twin (like one of this isn't enough!). I would need to find a new assistant for that project. Anyway, it is something funny to write about.

passing the creative torch

Ever the project gal, I can't imagine what my kids remember about the kind of mom I was back in the Waimanalo days! I remember wanting new floors and not having money. That gold and mustard sculptured hi-lo carpet was ever on my last nerve! One day my girlfriend told me about making lollipops. Now, how lollipops relate to carpets will be expanded on.....

So I went to Kane'ohe to meet with someone selling lollipop supplies. For like $20 I got started. The kit included these metal clips in different shapes. The lollipops would be a half an inch thick. There were different flavors. Besides this, all you needed was PAM, sugar, water and a cookie sheet. Eventually I went to a headstone place and got a marble slab to help cool the lollipops. I made and sold lollipops by the hundreds. It was the beginning of a rage that lasted quite long. When more people got involved and lollipops were everywhere, I got out and found something else to make money in. If I could have made thousands, I would have, but it was humanly impossible. I hired my kids, neighborhood kids, and sent the lollipops to sporting events in team colors, to Honolulu Boy Choir by the hundreds. Our house always had that sugary smell and you could taste sugar when you breathed! I had to make sure the last flavor of the day was something I liked because that would linger in the air until the following day. In the end, I yanked out all of the carpet, purchased some peel and stick tiles from Sears (on sale, of course) and had a work party of neighborhood kids armed with dinner knives. They helped me take up all of the old tile flooring under the gold carpets and we got new floors!

I know I did craft shows and made miniature 'uli'uli from kamani nuts I picked at Kailua Park. There was always something going on to have "side money". When we moved here I found I liked to paint. I have been painting some sort of something since 1988. Yesterday Kanoe dropped by looking for watercolor paint in tubes. I happen to be getting rid of my bottle paints (hundreds of them) to go to a few tubes and mixing my own colors, to cut down on all this storage junk. She is taking watercolor classes from a gal friend of mine who became a friend when we both went to paint class together in 1988!

Konohiki approached me on Sunday. He pulled me aside to look at a poster in the foyer at church. The poster has been printed. The artwork is by his own hand. Well, talent abounds! I know it when I see purple paint stains under my worktable. These are from budding artist Lehua at age 3. She found the paint and a canvas and handpainted (with her hands) a purple butterfly--on the plastic wrapper of the canvas! Then, of course, she had to clean her hands, so she rubbed them on the carpet! I never was upset about the acryllic purple, I didn't want carpet in the workroom anyway. One day, I will pull the carpet and paint the OSB underlay into something. It can't be peonies because there is 'ilima and mailelauli'ili'i on the walls!! I have mentioned this to Wes, but he is not amused.

a funny thing happend at guy's night

Merrie Monarch tape was in the VCR and the guys watched during their breaks. Alaka'i was trying to point out one gal he is in lust with but everytime he tried to show which one she was, the dancers would rotate and a heavier set gal would be dancing in her place!

When everyone was getting ready to leave that could take a half an hour) and still milling around when all of a sudden Uncle Pete launched himself at Kawika. You can see the picture now--Uncle Pete, slight but muscular build, and Beeker--6 foot 4 and over 300 pounds. I was standing there with my jaw to the ground when Kawika said, "What are you trying to do?" You should as Uncle Pete what he was thinking at the time. I saw him just bounce off of Kawika. Beeker told him, my belly is fat, but the rest of me is still solid!

Prep School

How you entered Kamehameha was gruelling way back when. There was a master map with all of Hawai'i nei divided into sections. The statistics of Hawaiian population in each section was considered and a certain percentage of students was accepted from each section. In Central O'ahu they allowed 2 students from the Wahiawa area. I wanted to attend from Kindergarten but there was no transportation to Honolulu back then and it was impossible to think that my family would drive me each school day from Wahiawa Heights to Kapalama Heights.

Instead, I attended a small private school to get me ready, and then transferred to the local public elementary school until 6th grade. In the sixth grade we sent off the necessary applications, proof of Hawaiian ancestry, etc. Then I had to take one of those fill in the bubble standardized tests. We waited to hear and got the appointment for the board interview. Along with that interview (keep in mind, that although I dearly wanted to attend, I was PAINFULLY SHY) I had to hand write an essay. Then too, they wanted all of my previous school records. I had been getting good grades but wondered how I did that! We waited for acceptance. Eventually that came too. I had to be a boarder because, back then, there was still no transportation to Kapalama Heights unless my parents put me on a bus with multiple transfers and I started off at 5 in the morning!

I remember being so homesick! There were no phone calls home for the first couple of weeks. Home seemed so far away. It was 25 miles away!! But you know, from a Wahiawa pineapple fields country girl, it was far. We had only gone to Honolulu three times a year up until then (Christmas shopping, yearly physical and school shopping).

I waited to meet my roomate. Her name was Maile Shaw and she was coming from Paia, on Maui. She didn't show up the first day so I spent my first night alone in the room. I kept thinking she would be hapa haole--WRONG! Like me, she was very Hawaiian and happened to have a haole last name (HELLO...my name was Sterling!). And so began the biggest adventure of my life.

7th grade education

Prep school was a weird part of the whole Kamehameha campus. I never even thought of where the lower grades would be. Teachers were recruited from across the US. Some of them were housed on campus.

The day students arrived at the breezeway, near and under where the principal's offices were. As a boarders we just never made it "down there" unless we got into trouble during the school day. The music wing was closeby. There were 2 stories to one of the buildings. Oh, and each building is named for an ali'i. 7th grade was on the lower level, rooms and eighth grade was above. It seems they were able to keep things so separated. Boys from girls, seventh graders from eighth graders, boarders from day students. There was a long wide stairway to the library and the science wing was down to the right. To the left was home ec, art and woodshop. I didn't know those would be a favorite of mine! At one point of the year we were studying classification in biology phyllum, class, etc. and Mr. Science Smith was the teacher. I think there was a math Mr. Smith. Science Smith was a slim red-headed freckled man. I don't know how stuff gets around, but many in the student body identified him as "itchy balls" for one obvious reason.

I was in Miss Gill's room, 75. She was short and wide with massive but short arms and tiny hands with the fingernails chewed down. She wore a lot of khaki and olive colors, had a cute face and was the best and challenging teacher ever. Her hobby was horseback riding and we oftened wondered what size her horse would be.

When I left Wahiawa schools as a 6th grader, we were into adding and subtracting decimals. When we arrived at Kamehameha it was the time of the NEW math--I equate to algebra that you get in first year high school. I didn't know term papers from essays and we had all of that the first year. My grades were average and I was so mad at wasting my parents money! I stayed up late and studied by flashlight under my bed in the dorm to keep up. When the standardized tests came up I scored high, but my grades didn't reflect that.

Teachers of great influence were everywhere at Kamehameha. Our choir teacher was AWESOME and when we went into competitions with the high schools we scored as high as they did. He had us doing all kinds of voice exercises and was amazed at the blend and harmony of the young Hawaiian voices. He had very high expectations and we excelled because of this. When we were in 8th grade it was the same. He would zip into school just before class having come from the beach in his little sports car with the surfboard sticking out from the back seat. He put on his shirt and tie and was all business for the day! The following year Punahou offered him a position and he was gone from our campus--man, was he handsome! Mr. Peters.

$25 hula dancer

Oh...WOW! Is the short part of what I can say about the Na Palapalae concert. I had so much fun participating. Luckily the nerve-wrack of ho'opa'a (thanks to Kamaile's turbo speed) lasts for only minutes and then I was able to go out front and watch the performance.

You all may be more critical about the numbers you performed, but all that hula really MADE the concert. I think Na Palapalae is entertaining in itself, but whoever paid to see that performance got more than their money's worth! I about died listening to the comedy! Good day, biday! Ha!

I love the getting ready part--not so much the nerves, but watching everyone sharing tattoo cover up, scissors, hairspray and helping with each other with lei, hair and make-up is just awesome. It was funny when Lynn couldn't find her red hula panty because, as Jessica told her, "you're looking in MY bag!"

It was cool to hear some band members singing the numbers as the soloists practiced out under Bernie's tents. Very fun people-- they showed up with Alaka'i at Muckleshoot afterwards. Heaven knows I didn't bend my ears to hear the conversations at the Youthful end of the table! I believe there were more than 30 people--small kine party!

Each segment coupled with the hula were just icing on the cake. Kahiko always stirs up pride of heritage. Men in malo stir up other things too. Alaka'i was too funny, wondering about the cool breeze blowing up his legs and lifting his malo flaps. Silly guy, he was standing over the air vent! Then it was hilarious to hear him say, "Wow! Just like Marilyn Monroe (and the red dress)!" Crack me up! There is no lack of humor when we are all together.

When Albert and Puamohala did "Ka Pekepeke" there was such an uproar! That is one sassy and playful song and they did such a great job! "She loves me, she loves me not; he loves me, he loves me not!" Tanya's dress swayed with her movements and I know she grumbles about being large, but when she is on that stage, she is larger than life, and very "into" that hula. Bernie was her usual exuberant dancing self. There were many, many comments on the costumes--both from the people watching, and especially from the band itself. Icing on the cake was the 2 hula numbers by Kamaile, and believe me, hula mai'i is HIS thing!!

Those little keiki were just too good and too cute!!! The saddest thing I've seen in years was when the two little hula sisters Kamana and Tyanna were hugging each other in tears backstage at the end of the evening. I had to walk away. Actually, I shed quite a few tears last night--some in joy, and some in sadness.

A Day to Relax??---WRONG!

I thought I'd sleep in and have enough time to get my music lesson stuff ready at church. BUT...in checking my messages I found out that the mucky-mucks were gonna be guests at church today and they sent me a list of 7 songs to be sung TODAY. I hurried myself to get up to speed and called my pianist who seems to be MIA (missing in action). I went over the songs and drew up some visual aids, having a plan and being the least bit prepared has always been an advantage.

I made it in time for choir and had 2 NEW sopranos show up for TODAY'S performance!! We did okay and then it was time to lead the kids' music. It was pretty hectic, but NOT on my end. The woman yacked with good stories to entertain the kids and I got to lead a couple of songs, using some volunteers and my visual aids for the first session. The second session found the woman in charge MIA and I took over reviewing a song from last week and playing a game with more volunteers. The kids sang well, WHEW! The woman finally showed up and took us 10 minutes over time.

Next was going to pick Kiaha up. We had a nice session baking cookies. My house is a pit right now from all the busy-ness of throwing and going to the Na Palapalae concert! Him being a clean freak, he was offering to mow my lawn, wash my dishes and clear the counters! I just moved everything from one place to the next, had him help me wash down the counters and in an hour and a half we had the cookies cooling and ready to go.

Then it was out for an hour or so with Carmella to visit a church lady. It was a nice visit. When I got home, still in my church clothes, I snoozed on the couch and woke up just in time as 2 guys from church rang the doorbell to visit in our home. Now Wes is watching the motorcycle races and I have some laundry going and need to unload and reload the dishwasher. I think it's time to figure out that crochet pattern so I can finish the throw before the couch comes--maybe I have 2 weeks. If they take longer than that, we may need to visit the floor model again!

The new armrest came for the Element and it's been installed. We are waiting for the new sissy bar (back support for ME) for the bike and that should keep us busy till the couch comes! But, we are still having problems installing the license plate for the Beetle!

Last night was another thunder snorer night and I woke up and taped it! When I played it this morning, Wes thought it was ME snoring. Now, I ask you, how would I tape my own self snoring?? When the new couch comes, I plan to use it and sleep in the reclining position, with headphones on!

Sweetie called and now I'm ONO for crab, but it is too far a drive for a TIRED girl like me! Gotta get ready for the work week and go from there!

Kidney Stone Fame

You know about OLD people, always talking about their medications, doctors, surgeries and health problems? Well, I guess lately that would be ME!

I heard a good one from my daughter! Since I feel that my family practice doctor is very thorough at tracking down symptoms, and interviewing patients on the whys and wherefores of their particular ailments, Kanoe went to see Dr. B. When he met her he scratched his head and asked her if she has any family in the area....I guess the resemblance was uncanny to him. She told him she's my daughter. Since I'm recently of kidney stone fame, he said, "Well, I hope You drink more water than your mom does". Whatever happened to that doctor/patient confidentiality thing??

Chicken with its Head Chopped off

Pick greens, make lei, sew costumes, check bondo box, memorize chants (make them pa'a inside the brain!) make sure everything is ready! Where's that potluck going to be? What should I make or buy? Will it need refrigeration or heating up? Plus I have home stuffs to do. Like, can you believe the license plate fell off the front of the Beetle? It cost $31 and some change to get replacement plates. Add to that I had to change my bankcard too. I just wanna stay home so nothing really drastic happens! Kumu says, "Don't worry, have fun with it!" I just DO worry--that my voice isn't the one and only one going in the wrong direction!

And then there was this kid at work.....

I'm supposed to be leaving the workplace at 12:30 and a teacher drops a kid off at my class at 12:25 so he (the teacher) can go to lunch. My room teacher is also out to lunch (in more ways than one). Mr. C tells me that this 4th grader has forgotten his math book (he's been "forgetting" all year long and they should have found a solution by this time!). I ask the kid what time his lunch is and he gives me this smart aleck attitude:

"Well, let's see (he says sarcastically), I'm in the fourth grade, you have fourth grade students and I go to lunch the same time as they do." I could have rung his neck right then and there. So I tell him, "Well, since I don't have fourth grade students, and I don't know what time their lunch is, I guess you have to stay in here till I decide it's time for your lunch and maybe I won't even remember until after recess." I really wanted to say, "Well, you know, some people have been in fourth grade for this whole year and still haven't learned how to remember to bring their math book to school."

I tell myself not to take this stuff personally, I guess that's why I still have my job. I stayed till 1--there's no overtime.....and this is another reason why I only work a 3 hour day (going in early and staying late makes it more like 4 hours a day). At report card time I bring work home and it takes another 2 or 3 days of doing grades and documenting stuff for reports. In the fall they will pay 4 different people at different hours, to do the job that my girlfriend and I did last year and she was working 3 hour days too!

I have seniority and will probably interview the prospective job seekers. The last time I interviewed 5 people and it took 2 afternoons after school. When they are hired, I will train them (at no extra cost to the school district or the taxpayers). Right at that point in time is the California E Hula Mau trip. I know the staff is wondering why I don't help more with different activities, call me crazy, I'd rather drive in traffic and be at the halau. I'd better check on my retirement! Welcome to my life, it is quite wonderful, REALLY, that I'm able to do it all with little regard to stress or strain, and with strong support from the man I love to complain about! He's awsome too!--

is it NESTING time?

I'm still recuperating! My kitchen is clean and now to get rid of this pile and that pile of stuff. I need my workroom back to organized because I can't do any work in this condition! The yard is looking better and better and it's nice to look out the window (now that I cleaned those too!). What is the use of having a view if the windows are dirty?

On weekends I try to call home, call my Mom in Vegas, catch up on laundry and housework (it's never done) and I need to visit or have grand kids come and mess up things! I wrote an e-mail to my brother and that was so-o-o long because we both are so busy and don't keep up with each other. I miss him. He is special to me. If we were living in Hawai'i I would be so into the PROJECTS mode and always running to Kahuku for this and that. As it is, when I go home he gives me hints of projects to begin and then I research and try to get them done. Now that the performance ipu heke is finished, I have the la'amia from last time and they have been calling my name. Also calling is the bone I collected and the instructions and directions for carving. I know the process, the designing and actually doing the hands on is what I've NOT done aside from preparing the bone and collecting hand tools. I think Kawika will take this on. And--of course, there is the ukulele!

My shop is all set up and now to go through the step-by-step and see if I have everything I need. Believe it or not, I've actually been working at this! I have wrecked a few pieces of wood in the process, and am excited at the challenge to do better.

Well, I guess I'd better get going to work!!!--Leona