Flower/Flour

At the farmer’s market in Hilo yesterday, we met quite a few artists who sell there twice weekly. I have a different sense about local artists since becoming one myself. I don’t usually buy jewelry since I make my own, but couldn’t resist a couple of pairs of studs (earrings, not men) now that my hair is short. I almost bought sea-glass from one woman, but decided if I want sea-glass I need to see my friend Annette and get some California coastal glass.

I really liked the miniature painter’s work too. Hmm…she’s not miniature, but her work is. She paints pictures with two bristles of a brush for pendants in necklaces and bracelets. She also had necklaces and bracelets strung with Venetian beads that are size 26. I use size 6 or 8 and have some 11s which to me are very small….and she’s using something that’s more than half that size. They were so delicate. Younger and better eyesight… Her website is www.smallscalemagic.com

Thurs. 7 am.

Anyone who knows me, knows I go to bed after midnight and get up around 8. Not so in Hawaii….bed by 10:30 or 11 and up around 6:30 or 7. And I eat breakfast at 8 instead of 10. That works better here and when I get home, where it’s 3 hours ahead, my schedule will resume back to normal more easily.

This morning I tried to watch the sunrise at 5, but it was cloudy and I opted back to bed for 2 hours instead. I woke to Matthew holding up our pressed coffee pot to show me our visitor.

He let him out and rinsed before making coffee.

Had a great dinner with Steven last night—Matthew and Steven grilled ribs, sweet onion slices, and corn. Salad was sliced tomatoes and cucumbers we also bought at the farmer’s market. Steven told us to avoid buying lettuce there because rat lungworm disease is a real problem here carried by worms that get on the lettuce. He said buying it at the grocery store that comes from the mainland is the best bet, so we opted for non-lettuce salads.

Before dinner, we walked around the property to see all the fruit-bearing trees. He’s planted a few of his own already and since he’s only been here since March, it’s pretty impressive to see how fast they’ve taken off. Quite different from El Granada, where we plant something and if the gophers don’t eat it, it grows at a snail’s pace. Some of Steven’s are already flowering so he’ll have fruit before the trees are even close to maturing.

I had a funny sort of deja vu yesterday when we walked around the property. Steven was barefoot and I recognized his feet…they look just like my sister’s did. Poor Marianne—they’re about the same size too! But the shape of the feet and toes were very familiar. Needless to say, she hated her feet ever since she was young. They were too big and would grow so fast, her toes would poke through not long after getting new ones.

Their dogs have calmed down after our initial visit. I wore the torn pants just in case they wanted to greet me the same, but they stayed down and only hassle me when I pick up the cat. Sibling rivalry.

After dinner, Steven took a flashlight outside to the upper grassy area looking for the poisonous cane toads. He found 3 of them, so while Matthew held the light, he took a shovel and flew them over the ridge. He doesn’t like to kill them—blood and noise—but doesn’t want them up where the dogs go out to pee. They wouldn’t kill larger, full-grown dogs, but these are puppies. We did see one as we were driving back to the cottage, and Matthew did his best to run him over. He disappeared before we could get him.

After we returned to the cottage last night, I took a flashlight outside and found another noisy coqui frog in our ‘bathroom.’ Matthew came out and after a few attempts, grabbed it and removed him from there…just tossed him over the wall so he’d stop making noise right there. Then we only had another dozen to contend with for the night.

I mentioned Mary has the cat and two dogs, which I thought would be a bonus since we always miss our cats when we travel and enjoy being around animals. Trouble loves to be held and petted. This morning, he joined us having coffee outside the cottage and insisted on being held and petted by Matthew, and once he was done, he came over and jumped uninvited onto my lap (which was fine). He didn’t last long since his needle-sharp claws were kneading my leg and I was only wearing a thin kimono. She obviously loves attention and is very sweet.

We bought Steven and Elise a house-warming gift that arrived at the post office on Monday. It’s now Thurs, and even though I had done a great job of timing everything arriving when we did, what I didn’t realize is his post office is only open from 8-11 during the week and he can’t get there if he has clients in Hilo until 11 or 12. Hopefully he will get it today so we can plan something that goes along with it while we’re here. And Elise left last night, so she won’t get to be part of what we want to do… Best laid plans….

I hope I can get a picture of the PO in Ninole…it’s a tiny little white house on the road. So the boxes arrived, Steven picked them up today and one missing item...crucial to the whole thing. We sent them special Italian pizza flour...and it's not there. So the stone, peel, and kitchen scale aren't much help without the flour. Matthew and Steven ran back down the hill to our cottage and we'll try it with regular flour. Damn..

The best part of our cottage is the location in regards to Steven’s house. We are off a long road and down aways on a bumpy, unpaved road. Steven and Elise are another half mile straight up that road where we make a turn and park at the end. Steven has to pick us up from there because our little rental won’t make it. We’d need a jeep with clearance and 4-wheel drive to get up get up the steep, unpaved, bumpy, and sometimes muddy road that leads to his house. He has to chauffeur us up, which works. We were going to try to trade in our rental for a jeep, but they weren’t sure they’d have one available, so we all agreed this worked fine. Today we just hung out until Steven was off work and driving by, then we joined him at the corner, but it was pretty boring at the cottage.

It was hot today and humid...we finally took our plastic chairs over to the shade where it gets more breeze than our front porch. Here's some of what surrounds us on the property: