FISH ON!!

Great variety of fish to choose from -- Each fish is about $28 (Larger pieces by commission.)

Wood Shop Assistant, "Princess I'ilani"

Announcing a new line of wood creations by Phil.  Phil draws each fish by hand from reference material and cuts them using a band saw.  He uses a fine Japanese carving tool for the details.  Lunel helps by attaching hangers and applying their names on the backside.

Snow on Mauna Kea

Snow isn't political, scientific, or cultural.  Snow JUST IS!  As you may have heard in the news lately, there have been some thoughtful and peaceful protests on the Big Island against the plans for a new telescope atop Mauna Kea.  It is not an easy issue to address.  It goes to the question not only of the sovereignty of the Hawaiian Kingdom, but of an issue facing many original people whose sacred lands are now considered (legally or illegally) federal land, state land, or private land.


Amidst some of the first court appearances for the arrested protestors, it seems like everyone is being forced to take a break for a few days -- protestors, contractors and scientists, who by the way had to be evacuated (along with the protesters.).

Scientifically, the weather patterns that prompted this unusual July snow are remnants of tropical storm Ela.  Culturally, Poli'ahu, Goddess of snow, ice and cold, may just be telling everyone involved to pause and take a breath.  These are not mutually exclusive concepts; they are different languages -- different ways to view and express human perspectives we can treat with respect, no matter our point of view.

Underneath a beautiful stand of ohia trees near the house we have planted a bed full of WHITE flowering plants as a tribute to Poli'ahu.  There are over a dozen kinds of flowers that bloom throughout the year including gardenias, iris, white Crown Flower (for the monarch butterflies) and my personal favorite, a miniature poinsettia with tight clusters of tiny white blossoms  that bloom for Winter Solstice.

(Both snow photos are views from webcams on July 17, 2015.)

Haute Hot!

Prayin' to get outta here before the mower comes!

Summer is HOT in Puna right now, and our weatherman (and local celebrity) Guy Hagi says it's gonna stay hot for a few days, with a reduction of the trade winds that normally keep us so delightfully comfortable.


So, as "Punatics" know, you rearrange your schedule.  Early this morning, I decided to mow -- and it is not a crazy as it sounds.  With our nightly rain, and this kine sun, the grass grows an inch every day!  So, mowing is sort of a self-preservation strategy; better to do it now than wait 3-4 days until it cools back down, BUT, when its height makes it twice as hard.


While Phil was using the Super-Duper-Pooper-Scooper (the three corgyn gave him for Father's Day) he found and rescued this seven-inch long Praying Mantis in the grass.   I also included an artistically rendered mantis I created from a photo from my friend Dhiresha.

A little later we found another lovely white pineapple ready for harvest -- and how amazing to sink your teeth into a Haute Hot, locally grown white pineapple.   (Of course what follows are COOLER ways to enjoy fresh pineapple!!)

For the Good of Mankind?

Friends who have visit us here in "Punaland" on the Big Island have often remarked that is is like a "different country" -- and so it is.  We find we have to relearn some of our history -- as it relates to the "Kingdom of Hawaii" and as we see history through the eyes of these island people, we want to share it with you here on our blog...

So, "For the Good of Mankind"...

Sound pretty noble, except perhaps, if you lived on one of the tiny atolls in the Marshall Islands – tiny dots of islands covering over 350,000 square miles in Micronesia.  An article in the newest edition of PBS Hawaii Program Guide caught our interest, as did the sign at the Hilo Home Depot introducing three staff members who speak Marshallese and who are able to assist customers in their native language.

Thursday, July 30^th PBS Hawaii aired “The Land of Eb,” written by Jonithen Jackson who lives in Ocean View here on the Big Island.  His Marshallese grandmother recalls the story first-hand.  (“60 Minutes” did a segment on this Bikini Island bombing that is available on U-tube.)  “The Land of Eb,” is a fictional film and story about families who were forced to leave their beloved island home of Enewetak and the terrible price these Marshallese people ended up paying -- for the good of mankind.  The story is also about current residents of Ocean View (here on the Big Island) who are descendants of these displaced islanders, and are also first-time actors in the film.**

A book by Jack Niedenthal,  For the Good of Mankind, tells another part of the story.  At the end of WWII, President Truman, together with the Army and Navy, decided these islands would be appropriated as targets for a nuclear testing program called “Operation Crossroads” with Bikini Island being ground zero for the tests.  The islanders were moved 125 miles to the island of Rongerik, only 1/6 the size.  Niedenthal’s book says, “As the food supply on Rongerik quickly ran out, the Bikinians began to suffer from starvation and fish poisoning due to the lack of edible fish in the lagoon. Within two months after their arrival they began to beg U.S. officials to move them back to Bikini.”  

Two nuclear bombs (the size of Nagasaki), however had left the area uninhabitable.  Starvation and illness and radiation forced several subsequent migrations to different islands, in an attempt to survive, but the “good of mankind” did little to address the devastation of these islands and their inhabitants.  The US (according to Wikipedia) even set up medical testing of the islanders to study the effects of radiation poisoning…again, of course, for the good of mankind.

 To learn more from a very personal perspective, please visit The Marshall Islands Story Projects.  (From variety of sources, hopefully all with correct info.)

Totem Tree

Platform builder and helpers

Phil strips off bark

When our tree guys cut down our dying ohia trees last week, we asked them to just top a couple of them, thinking that maybe they would become garden art of some kind.  Today we decided to take the left over logs and build a platform so that the resident wood artist would have something to stand on while carving.


There were lots of 2-3 foot lengths we could use to build up around the base of the tree that we stabilized by pounding re-bar around them so they would not roll or slide.  Then we placed sheets of plywood on the top, leveled it all, and screwed down the plywood for a platform.

 It will be fun to see just "who" or "what" is in the tree wanting to come out. Phil has not worked with anything this size for a long time and is looking forward to the project.