Quick, while it's still November, time to update my blog! It's not that nothing is happening: We have been busy with Life and I haven't taken the time... At the moment I'm trying to cool down with a tall glass of lime-water, after spending a long hour in the Outback (beyond the fence) pulling out tanglefoot fern and in-sensitive plant (see previous blogs for descriptions of these). The mosquitos and biting gnats are fierce this afternoon. So it's a good opportunity to finally spend some time here again. I've transplanted several of the birthday orchids into my garden areas, some wired to ohia trees and some set in between big lava rocks. This is a perfect climate for growing orchids inside or out, and they seem to be enjoying their new locales. The tomato seedlings have just about all succumbed to rot from too much moisture here. But my squashes and chayote are growing well in their beds, the green beans are starting to climb the chainlink fence, and I can hardly keep up with the basil! Still need to transplant the bananas, ulu, and cacao, hence the work in the Outback.
Mike's brother, Matt, flew over from Maui for Thanksgiving weekend. We had the big turkey dinner with all the trimmings, and for an island touch I cooked the local sweet potatoes - they're purple inside! A wee bit drier but with the usual delicious flavor. For dessert, we had a pumpkin pie and a pineapple cheesecake. It took us several days but the 15# turkey is but a fond memory. While Matt was here we had great weather the whole time, perfect for doing a few sight-seeing things, soaking in the warm ponds, and getting most of the beams up on the roof of the new studio.
We didn't get the huge storm that hit the other side of this island and some of the other islands yesterday. In fact, it was a lovely day, overcast a bit with nice tradewinds. We spent the afternoon at Panaewa Park with friends from the homeschool group. Mike & Kerry both got a little worn out playing soccer with Pohaku, and I had a wonderful neck & shoulder rub from Molly, and we all got in some good visiting.
Kerry's job search has yielded nothing so far and she's starting to get discouraged. But we have been finding other ways to occupy our time. We're both taking a tai chi qigong class twice a week, just up the road in Pahoa Town. We've been learning some interesting Chinese Traditional Medicine, practicing good gentle exercise, and meeting new people who live close by. That's a big plus right there. And soon she'll be getting her first aid/cpr certificate from the Red Cross, and is looking into the possibility of CNA training, too. Seems like something will come through for her sooner or later.
We found some gorgeous 16" ceramic tile just north of Hilo through craigslist, drove up and bought 4 boxes of it for the studio bathtub surround. I guess we'll be learning how to do tilework before too long! Well, it actually may be a while before the finish work gets done. The roof beams have slowed down Mike's rapid progress. He's at the part now where each beam must be measured separately and tied into the existing roof; very time-consuming work and a very long slope to work on. Meanwhile, that part of the roof is protected from the rain by a high canopy. It's working well, but we're all looking forward to getting the tin up so the whole place can dry out.
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