Sometimes I Wish...

the magic trick

2010-08-17T13:47:00.001-07:00

and just like the most magical magic trick of all... the baby was born!

and the belly grew...

2010-08-17T13:36:00.000-07:00

and grew!

and the tiny baby got bigger and stronger...but still she wanted a
little more time so we waited and waited and then waited a little more.
and one morning we asked the baby (down by a very special beach with tide pools and rainbows and big soaring birds) to please please come out already! and lo and behold, she did! that very afternoon.

lavender mountain

2009-05-06T19:48:00.001-07:00

I've always loved lavender. I put the oil on anything and everything. (My grandmother has the same passion for WD40, she once told me she put it on everything but her toes!) So when I heard about the lavender farm in Upcountry, Maui I really wanted to visit.

Upcountry on Maui is such a treat on its own. It has that summer feeling that I'm always looking for in places--wide-open, wild, horses, honeysuckle, slightly unkept, sun-drenched, a little bit lazy, a little bit tended (you can find this feeling on country roads in Virginia particularly if you're on a swimming hole adventure).

The lavender farm was spectacularly peaceful. If you ever find yourself on the subway needing to imagine somewhere far far away, I'd suggest lavender mountain.

Papaya

2009-02-20T18:56:00.000-08:00

Isn't papaya pretty? It's kind of an acquired taste to be fair, probably due to the healthy digestive enzymes in them. But they are pretty much nutritional rock stars, I eat them with a twist of a lime.

Oh tiny fruits! We are getting these lovely little eggplants, mandarin oranges and as always the small avos and apple bananas... aren't they just sweet looking? I thought years ago that if I ever designed a fashion line it would be fruit and vegetable inspired and seeing all these little ones makes me think about such a line even more. Maybe I'll try to work on some sketches. I embroidered a banana onto one of my dresses, but most people think it's a moon.

yard to table

2009-02-20T18:43:00.001-08:00

More on food as a social issue...

I get such a kick from having all kinds of food growing all around us here... Here are some shots from the trees in our yard. I probably eat two apple bananas and an avocado every day.

The apple bananas are incredibly delicious and nutritious, they are also quite darling. The banana tree isn't really a tree at all, it's just a very large herb. Each stalk only fruits once and then it falls over.

Avocados are such a nutritionally rich food, and they also help with nutrient absorption. They get a bad rap in our calorie conscious society, but as far as I'm concerned the more avos the better.

Heddles Farm

2009-02-20T18:15:00.000-08:00

As far as I'm concerned it's darn near criminal what's happened to our food supply. If loading down the soil with all kinds of petroleum made nitrates wasn't enough, now they are genetically modifying the seeds. It's really tough to sit by and watch our country bloat up like balloons... Not to mention the cows and the chickens all hemmed in sucking on antibiotics and things they they'd never imagine eating themselves.

We've been trying to eat local for years now but thanks to the infinite life force of Kauai we are taking local to a whole new level...

enter: Heddles Farm

I started Heddles Farm off fairly modestly on a small patch of land about 5' by 6', the soil is very rich in our little town (it's been river silt for hundreds (maybe thousands?) of years), but it's also quite sandy. I mixed in our compost humus mixture to try and give our little crops the nutrients they need... hopefully it'll be enough.

I'm growing: lettuce, kale, tat soy, bok choy, chard, beets and basil.
In a few weeks I hope to plant some cherry tomatoes and hot peppers.

My biggest challenge so far has been pet traffic... the neighbor's dog even stole my sign!

holiday cheer

2008-12-19T14:35:00.000-08:00

I really wasn't feeling too filled with holiday cheer... it's so strange to think about Christmas in your bathing suit, but last night I painted my toenails bright red in honor of the holidays and it really got me excited for Christmas and our big sojourn on the mainland...

We don't have too many Christmas decorations in our little hale, but what we do have I really treasure. Last Christmas my grandma gave me this little apron that was handmade in the fifties (ric rak! polka dots! small bows!)... I wear it around the clock during the holidays... last Christmas I even wore it to church on Christmas Eve.

p's and q's

2008-12-19T13:59:00.001-08:00

We have so many things to do before we go on our big trip... my list mainly includes mold removal and general housekeeping, but Andrew needed to tend to something a little more high stakes, identity theft prevention.

unicorn valley

2008-11-17T19:34:00.001-08:00

If you keep driving north on the small road past our little town over a few more one lane bridges right along the ocean, you'll happen upon the most magical place I've ever seen, unicorn valley...

caterpillars and cocoons

2008-11-17T18:52:00.001-08:00

For a while we were practically running a caterpillar farm here on Elua Street. It all started when I was teaching first grade last June, the class was learning about insects and got to raise their own caterpillars. I couldn't resist and took home a very tiny caterpillar (they are really darling when they are so small with their little stripes and antennas). But caterpillars can really go through some leaves, so that little catey quickly went through all the food I had.

Caterpillars can only eat a few plants (poisonous ones with milky sap, mainly milkweed) so I drove all around looking for tropical milkweed, the poor guy was starving! Finally I manifested a ton of tropical milkweed at unicorn valley, I literally followed a butterfly to it. (More on unicorn valley later...) I took home heaps of milkweed, which meant that I took home a heap of caterpillar eggs (that's where the butterflies lay them, right on the food source). The cycle went on like this for months. It's really an incredible thing to have all kinds of metamorphosis going on in your kitchen.

eat your heart out christo

2008-11-17T18:30:00.000-08:00

The owners of the house next door got tired of their termites.
I've never seen them do this on the mainland but here they wrap a house up in bright rubbery cloth before they put poison inside.
Now I know that it's not really a festive occasion, but something about how a house looks all wrapped up makes everything seem really fun... like a circus party or a jack in the box.

I always loved Christo's wrappings, more the trees than that one gates project.
so dreamy right? they kind of remind me of spider egg sacs though. speaking of cocoons...

so many things...

2008-11-17T17:58:00.000-08:00

So many things happened at once (and I've got the pictures to post to prove it), but now the days are back to their normal sneaky, slow then slippery pace.

In the meantime this blog has been utterly neglected, and I'm sorry for that.
To be fair, monsieur blog, our relationship is a little bit complicated and I'm still trying to figure out how exactly we'll work together and why.

It's my second November on Kauai and so, so many things have changed.

One thing is still certain though, in November on Kauai it rains.
Have you ever spent time in a rainy season? Let me just tell you rainy season means rainy rainy rainy days.
They are kind of nice in a tropical dreamy/malaisey way.
They are absolutely perfect for whiling away with a certain small cat.

it's lovely to have something so small and soft fall asleep in your arms.

democracy now!

2008-11-03T10:13:00.001-08:00

Barack Obama!
Be still my heart
Change, optimism, progress!
Monsieur it was indeed an honor to put a check by your name.
My fellow prisoners, Barack is hope, VOTE!

my koko lies over the ocean...

2008-07-28T16:34:00.000-07:00

(the cat jumped over the moon)

I'm packing up to ship out back east.

It's gonna be such fun, I'll get to:

see my dear family and friends, oh how I've missed you!
dress up
eat delicious food at fancy restaurants
ride in an airplane and a train
explore new cities- California you are the state of dreams and wonderful municipalities
make a life commitment to the one and only Big D
have a huge party with lots of cocktails and desserts in a big old Virginia mansion

But as I start to fill up the old suitcase it occurred to me how much I will miss my little sugarlump of a kitten cat, my special soft friend Koko Kukui Knut aka Mr. Wu.

So this is for all the lonely kittens:

Oh Koko when I am far far away doing the activities I have listed above please know that a little piece of my beating heart resides with you. While you go about your day bathing yourself and hunting chickens in the yard, little kitten I'll be sending you my love!

massacre on elua street

2008-07-22T15:28:00.000-07:00

While I was posting about our serene day yesterday I heard an unusual amount of hen squawking.

(Background: for some reason on Kauai there are an incredulous number of wild chickens. Beautiful shiny, multicolored roosters and hens with their baby biddies can be seen roaming the streets and country side any time--day or night.)

When I went outside to investigate I happened upon a horrendous scene. Mama hen clucked and ran about like a you know what--the undeniable signs of a mother's grief. When I spotted none other than the Harrington's golden retriever Ozzie nosing about nearby I knew we'd lost a baby. But dear reader, nothing could prepare me for what I was about to witness. The cold callous canine dismissively urinated on the dying chick, right in front of both me and the deceased's mother.

Now I know there are certain laws in nature, but really isn't enough enough?

afternoon adventure

2008-07-22T13:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was shaping up to be a tough day. A. felt like this...

So we devised up a plan to take a cookie and ice tea picnic to a beautiful spot and while away the afternoon soaking and reading short stories.

The beach is called Lumahai, which I've heard translates to "rough waters" but I just did a little research and Lumahai can either mean: "A certain twist of the fingers in making string figures" or "to destroy, overwhelm, as with trouble". Anyway take your pick.

We walked to where the river meets the ocean, I always love the spots where the river meets the ocean, and this one is particularly mana (supernatural or divine power) filled. We forded (oregon trail?) the river, and made our little fort on a nook in the lava rocks.

(the cookies were the most valuable thing we had so I devoted an entire river crossing to them. they were delicious. I made up the recipe:peanut butter/chocolate chips/cinnamon/ and an apple banana)

sailing

2008-07-21T00:45:00.000-07:00

My interests in this movie are purely stylistic . I love his white pants and her ruffled bikini... and I just love the way they have these elegant little picnic meals on their boat... the little radishes, the small porcelain cups. (More on chic picnics later...)

I guess my idea of sailing is created by movies like these, you leave the kauai coast during a beautiful sunset, you take a sleep and wake up and have a wonderful breakfast (eggs, toast, french press coffee) then you arrive in the bahamas or the carribbean or venice. It's really more of a mix of a Fellini movie and The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe than actual sailing... but shouldn't that be how it is?

Once I went on a sail boat and it was nothing like that elegant picnic or the ruffled bikini. There were all sorts of calls and actions that you had to take and we didn't really make any kind of journey at all.

But I hope one day to experience my magical form of sailing. I'll have all kinds of little tools tacked neatly to the wall in the galley, and they'll be a cozy bed with one of those circular windows to look out of. I'll have maps and and a cat on board and an old fashioned telephone that I use to ring up friends on the islands we're visiting to let them know what time they should meet us for camparis on the deck.

sunset salutation

2008-07-20T13:26:00.000-07:00

Got the flip up and running. Hopefully I'll be posting lots of videos soon. Here's our little bay (well recently we've been sharing it with some pesky hammer heads! fo' real) This is the part of the bay past the pier called Black Pot. Black Pot is the spot for night life on the north shore. Particularly around sunset, everybody loads up a six pack lights a bon fire and "talks story". The sail boats are a lovely addition to the bay, they somehow add a little humanization to the vast expanse (the abyss?) of the open sea. Anyway I love them and always think how nice it would be to float around the ocean with a small boat for a home like a turtle or a baby kangaroo.

gardenia

2008-05-05T18:18:00.000-07:00

In honor of Lei Day (which is how Hawaiians celebrate May Day). I'm posting about the most wonderful little jewel of the natural world that blooms in early spring, the gardenia blossom. I don't think I'd ever even seen one before coming here, and the blossom is a little humble in it's appearance (compared to the bigger, more colorful blooms of the island).

But the flower is really beautiful, just rich little creamy petals and the scent is incredible. Such a delicate floral... Oh little gardenia I'm so happy I found you this May.

all i want to be is...

2008-04-29T14:45:00.000-07:00

west side story

2008-04-25T23:16:00.000-07:00

This week we drove all the way over to the west side of the island. There's a part of Kauai that doesn't have any roads, instead it has big cliffs and hippies living in hovels. Sometimes we see the hippies if they venture far far out of their hovels to say go to walmart and buy water purification tablets or tarps or something. Anyway so in order to get to the west side of the island we have to drive on the small two lane highway all around the island, even though we live on the north shore. It's fine though because the island is beautiful and it's nice to drive and drive on a open, empty highway. (shots from the car)

The west side is extremely different from the north shore. The sun is so bright there it shines and shines until everything is bleached and glinty, and it's dry so the red dirt soil covers everything. It kind of feels like you just walked into a soft fire of sorts. The culture is so different too. The west side feels kind of like a mix between Mississippi and the Philippines, lots of agriculture and ranching. We happened upon this idyllic little street (broad tree lined boulevard--from the 50's?) with houses for the sugar can workers (foremen?) and the sugar mill still pouring out sugar and smoke at the end of the road by the ocean.

sugar cane lane... tennis anyone?
the mill

phoenix

eat your vegetables

2008-04-25T22:45:00.000-07:00

Let's see... our vegetables.
Our main goal each week is to eat the ridiculously honest and carefully grown (no gmo, no pesticides, none of any of that nonsense that somehow has found it's way into way too much of the food we eat) vegetables we get from our c.s.a. (community supported agriculture)

Just sprout, tend, pluck and we pick them up in a pineapple crate each week. The crate overflows with the brightest, juiciest, most prana filled vegetables I've ever seen... and we try and try to eat them all.

A. heard a nutritionist on the community radio station here, (the community radio station is pretty far out as you might imagine) and her bumper sticker said "eat more kale".

We also got a daikon radish, which I've never seen whole before, it's huge, like bigger than 4 carrots together. I was totally at a loss for what to do with it... but we've pretty much figured out with any vegetable that we can either eat it raw, or put it in a stir fry. I did a little of both with the radish. Here's the chard I stir fried with it.

mmmm... greens.
but potato chips are good too.

oh yes, the eggs

2008-04-19T15:25:00.000-07:00

The eggs we get from the little farm on the hill are just incredible, they are delicious and a wonderful shade of delicate sea foam greenish blue. We enjoy them with crispy toast and jam.

two by two

2008-04-19T14:48:00.000-07:00

Our friend has the world's most amazing little farm on top of a hill in Kilauea, when we went this time he'd gotten two baby goats that were only two weeks old!
they are so sweet and soft.Love birds from the start! Can you see the baby rooster in the back? They have the most amazing bouffants at this age.

Oh my little loves, how I wish you'd be my friends for life.