Merry Christmas with lightning

Seems like not long ago I wrote about thunder and lightning being an unusual event here in Hawaii. That's is what we still are told and, I guess, like all weather events around the world 'shit happens'. So this a.m. as at least 3 dozen of us gathered to take our early Christmas morning paddle lightning flashed out over the ocean. A long 7-8 seconds passed before we hear mild thunder but it was enough to keep us ashore. Too many people and too many boats to take a chance. Not all was lost though as the after paddle brunch was just held a little early. As we were exchanging holiday greetings and eating at Kahaluu beach the clouds moved further out and another beautiful day appeared.

Oh yes, now back at the farm, I am still unpacking. I think this is going to be a longer job than usual because I keep getting so many interuptions. Like yesterday when friends called and asked us to join them snorkeling and then lunch at Big Jakes BBQ. Who could pass that up?

I miss being with the grandkids. This is one of the first times we have not spent Christmas in Michigan. I think there was only one other time and that was at least 20years ago that we were in FL for Christmas with Ron's parents. So family is constantly on my mind today. I called all of them earlier but didn't get the greatest connection on the cell phone so right after this blog I'm calling again. I'm thinking we all need a webcam now so I can enjoy the presents being opened with them. And no, Glen & Shirley, we do not miss the snow. Okay, snow is nice, but to me the warm ocean is better!!!

Whales and other noteworthy happenings

Yes! We saw a whale yesterday! Paddling out from Kahuluu beach area we saw the water spout so we stopped and watched the tail several times and then a full breach. Beautiful for such a large mammal. Whale season is here as they come to the warm Hawaiian waters to birth their young and some to breed for next years return. Ron is absolutely excited as he picked and pulped our first very own round of coffee. Picking season is basically over and the former owners received the whole crop already. Since se needed stock to continue selling Kona Lisa Coffee we are buying what is called the parchment from them (very expensive way to do it). Anyway there are pockets of areas where the trees are still producing ripe beans that the pickers missed or felt the area too small to bother. Ron picked 113 pounds Mon and 126 pounds Wed. We did our first pulping by ourselved (successfully). Yesterday after the last batch fermented we rinsed them and loaded them off the converyor and on to the drying deck. Mondays coffee is already there drying (takes about a week). I had saved this blog to draft to finish later but this is now way later. At least a week has passed. Last Thurs. I was rear ended by a flat bed coffee truck. Luckily I am okay. They took me to the hospital as I had quite a whiplash and did xrays. I was plenty sore for about 5 days but again I feel very lucky. Now,Dick, you know why I haven't blogged in a few days.
Meanwhile, we have bagged the coffee (it looks beautiful) Ron picked more, that is now drying. We got about 26 pounds of parchment from the 113 cherry. Then you loose more when it is milled and roasted. And that is from a full day of picking. You can see why we will be hiring a crew to pick next year for picking season. We are still moving in and unpacking. We knew we brought too much and now we are lookin for places to put it all, but we love being down here now. Last night we ate our first dinner out on the lanai and celebrated. Oh my, less than one week till Christmas and very, very few cards went out. Well, there's always next year! Hard to believe Christmas is already here sitting here in shorts and tank top. Winter is here though, we don't need the fans on and I did pull a blanket up during the night a few nights (windows are always open). We will be sharing Christmas cheer with a few freinds on both Christmas eve and day and will be thinking of all of you (our friends and relatives) and wish you could be here too!!!
p.s. One more thing, our coffee WON 1st place "Peoples Choice Award" at the Sat. market coffee tasting 2nd anniversary. There are seven coffee vendors there and the customers vote. We are new there so we were very excited to win. Today I'd better get busy making a sign for the market and getting something ready to put up on our website. Always something isn't there..............??

Time to blog

Our container arrived, was unloaded, Ron painted almost the whole inside of the house, I packed coffee for Christmas orders and washed windows. Not bad for a weeks work. And all while we were having a bit more rain than the norm. Luckily the farm sets in an area that didn't get flooded but plenty of other places did. Of all the islands Maui seemed to get hit the worst. We are now driving back and forth between the condo and the farm daily. I love the drive and am actually going to miss it when we move down there. To me it's one of the prettiest drives in the whole state. Oh yes,we'll still get to drive it just not daily. Actually we have already had people stop by the farm and we aren't even totally moved in yet. A Japanese couple came by and wanted to buy coffee but that day I had it all up to the condo waiting to take it to the market the next day. Then a few days ago a couple came by with a fellow I recognized. He is one of my customers from the market and he had brought them down as they wanted to see a live operating coffee farm. And coincidently they had met Kelli & John at a luau in Honolulu the week before. K&J had told them about us and of course Mark & Jen's friend John knew us. Mark & John are both photographers so we saw pics of K&J at the luau and John made me a CD already of the visit. I'm getting so good at packaging so this year I've sent the Christmas package to Mich and TN and getting ready to send some more. Maybe if I get that done I'll get to writing out Christmas cards......Ah, don't hold your breath. So to all Ron & I wish you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. And lastly there is a nice article about Kona coffee in the newspaper. Here is the link http://starbulletin.com/2007/12/09/news/story08.html. Sorry you have to copy and paste, I haven't figured out how to make this blog take links yet.

Storm

Wow, we had quite a storm here yesterday afternoon and into the evening. Lots of rain which washed out roads. Even thunder and some lightning (very unusual to get t&l here). Went down to the bay to paddle this morn. Not happening, the flooding left us with a crevice in the launch area, washed out most of our sand and washed some canoes out into the bay. We will need a work crew and some repairs to the bay and the boats if they even hope to paddle Sat. Everyone down there said they have never seen anything like the storm we had yesterday. More thunder than anyone has heard and tons of rain. Well some places needed it but not all at once. I have heard reports of 3-7 inches depending on where you live. Mike called us from the B&B down in the Napoopoo area and said their power just came back on but all seems back to normal now and it is sunny and calm. So he was hopeing we could bring up some freshly roasted coffee today. I am getting on that right now as I have orders to fill and coffee to package for the market Sat. so gotta go. Take a look at the web site at www.konalisacoffee.com.

Milestones

Unbelievable that we have milestones already!! First milestone is one year. Yes, one year since we developed this crazy idea to come to Hawaii and coffee farm. Not in my wildest dream did I ever think we would be doing the things we are doing right now. Second milestone.....we were honored by our first visitors. Kelli & John were here for four fast paced days. (Ron & I are still recovering) But it was the best. Let's see we paddled Thurs. morn (saw dolphins), then visited the farm and picked coffee, bananas, papayas & avocados and then had dinner at Sandra's beautiful home. Fri was the trip to Hapuna Beach, a bit windy there but great swimming and on to Hawi for lunch at Luke's Place. Then the hike down to the black sand area of Pololu. On the way back we took 250 into Wiamea and on the way had perfect views of Maui, Mauna Kea, Hualalai, & Mauna Loa. The drive was indescribable, right K & J? Sat. everyone helped set up the market and R,K&J went for a bike ride. I don't know what Ron did to them but the afternoon snorkel got cancelled for a leisurely rest on the beach with dinner at Kona Inn on the ocean. Does that describe the absolutely great time we had with our lovely first guests? I hope so as we thoroughly enjoyed their company. Milestone number three would be papayas. Yes, I believe I just finished my 1000th papaya since arrival. Boy those fruits are tasty!!!

Around the island, literaly, the Ultra Man just finished. Yes, there were ladies in it too. In fact on my way to Costo Sun. afternoon the only ones jogging were three gals. The crews were finishing a grueling weekend of 6.5mi. swim from Kailua pier to Keauhou Bay, where they boarded their bicycles for the 100 mi+ ride to Volcano. They got a twelve hour break and then it's up the highway on the bikes to Hawi for a two day total of 261.4 miles. Then they get to exchange bikes for running shoes as they complete the 52.4 mile run back to Kailua. Awesome way to tour the island, huh!!

The Store.........

.......seems to be working fine. Ron worried that we wouldn't have enough parchment(what coffee is called before it is milled and roasted). I thought that would be the best of our worries, that we would sell it all! Turns out right now parchment isn't the problem, roasting enough is. But that's okay, you just keep those orders coming in & I'll let you know when I run out. You see, being so new at this we have no idea how much coffee to roast each week and that is the core of our coffee retailing. Our niche comprises fresh, fresh and fresher coffee so we roast as much or as little as traffic bears. Only we don't know the traffic patterns yet. So I thought I had enough coffee for this week and for Sat. market but I am really running low and company is coming so I planned another roasting day next Mon. to fill the rest of the orders. I know this is Chrismas shopping time and all retail says that this is the most active time so I guess if I get through this I will be experienced. Today I realized what a back order is. Be happy if your order went out yesterday. And by all means if you are ordering for Christmas get the order in soon. Also thanks for all the feedback on the website (www.konalisacoffee.com), it was wonderful to hear from you.

You can buy coffee now & Snow

No you don't need to buy the snow. Probably some of you in Michigan have already had some snow. Maybe, maybe not, but we have had it here. SNOW in Hawaii?? Yes, I forgot to mention that we saw it on our trip last week over to Hilo. Taking the Saddle road you pass very closely to the peak of Mauna Kea and they had to close the road up to the peak last Sun. because of snow up there. On Monday morn cars were parked early waiting for the opening as locals like to go up there and play in the snow, make snowballs and bring them back and put them in the freezer. A magnificent picture is to stand in the water at Hapuna Beach and look east toward the mt. in January and take a picture of all the sun bathers with the snowcapped mt. behind.
Now that's explained and I can talk about the website and coffee. You can take a look at our website at www.konalisacoffee.com. It's not finished yet but I don't have the patience to wait for help to complete it so it will remain a work in progess for a bit. You can click on Mona to get in and then click on the 'about us' link and any other link at the top. Only the Zen Cart isn't set up yet so you are welcome to order coffee by emailing me at konalisacoffee@yahoo.com. I also don't have the shipping prices in yet so I can quote those if you email me. Prices are on the website if you click on the products to the left on the 'company store' link. Next I was able to give many of you a sample when we were back in MI & TN and then some I was not. So, if you don't believe this is the best coffee in the world and you want to order anyway, I will send your sample along with the order. Just ask. That's all I can think of now. Oh, how do you pay for it, ya, that's a thought. I can take a check and by today sometime I am supposed to be having a secure site set up for credit cards.

 
 
 
 

Hilo

Ron's happy! He finally has his truck here. There is lots to be done as we transfer the business and property down in Captain Cook so we really need 2 cars now and especially the truck. To get the truck we took a little overnight trip to Hilo going over on Tue. on the Saddle Rd. Saddle road is the only cross island road and it needs loads of improvements. The west end is curvy and narrow but after the Mauona Kea State Park it's being widened so there's quite a bit of construction. Most of us islanders can't wait for it's completion. For the first time since our honeymoon we cruised down Banyan Dr. The banyan trees are bigger than ever and the hotels a bit older. We didn't stay there 30 yrs. ago so with a Kama'a'ina rate and a chance to chill for a bit we checked in. I took pictures of the lovely Hilo Bay and Coconut Island that I'll post when I get them downloaded later. Our main reason to stay was to visit the Hilo market as it's supposed to be the best on the island. I liked it and if it's not the best it sure is the biggest. Managed to buy a couple Chrismas gifts, some fruits (our first time to try rambutans) and veggies, had lunch at Ron's favorite place, Cronies, and then headed home along the Hamakua Coast. Wow, I had forgotten how lovely that drive is along the ocean. I think it's my favorite coastal drive here. Mostly high coastline views with smashing waves and thick tropical forest. We wound around at least 3 named gulches and then all of a sudden you seem to pass into another land as the landscape changes to look like possibly upper NY state, then in a few miles like southern Calif, and then maybe Colorado like as we head into Wiamea. Remember we have 11 of the 12 climate zones on this island and you can visit them all in a day. You wouldn't see much but you could do it. Best thing is to take some time here and enjoy the spectacular diversity. After we got back today we picked up our roasted coffee and packaged some of it. We are green at this and to tell you the truth have no idea what we are doing. We only planned on getting a coffee farm, not selling it!! Never thought, what the heck do you do with the coffee cherry after you grow it, did we???

Two clarifications needed, while I'm thinking about them. First I wondered why the old Japanese carried lanterns with them while they picked coffee. Didn't they do it in the daytime like we do. Well not exactly. They picked and picked until it was all picked and this usually went into the night. We are closer to the equator here than any of you so we have close to equal day and night year round.(In the winter it does tend to get darker a little earlier). And today hand picked coffee is still what you get in Kona. Everyone tells me it is about the only place left in the world still doing it this way. Even in Maui and Kauai they machine pick. The difference is beans don't ripen all at the same time. So a machine, and they use them in So. America and Africa too, strips all the beans from a branch both green and ripe cherry. Green beans make the coffee bitter. Our pickers are instructed to only pick the ripe cherry and we pick 3-4 times a season, by hand. So that's the story as to why Kona coffee is a mellow, not bitter coffee. That's one of the reasons and it only is available in 100% pure Kona coffee. I guess I'll get into more at a later time. And now I forgot what the second clarification was so I guess I will get to that at a later post too. Good Day all........

Coffee festival and other activities.

Yes, lots of activity going on. The Kona Coffee Cultural Festival runs from Nov. 2-11 and includes all kinds of local color. Fri nite Ron and I were in the lantern parade. A friend once mentioned that a Knoxville parade was Americana at it's best, but she never saw Hawaianna at it's best. I carried an old Japanese lantern and Ron a coffee pickers basket. Ahead of us was a Filipino group with drums, and behind us was a very vocal cheering group from a local school. We had an excellent singing group, dressed and sounding like the 40's-50's Andrews Sisters, of course Hawaiian costumes and a Japanese rock group. What is hoot it was, yet culturally complete. Then there was music and food at the Hale Halawi Rec center for the rest of the evening. Then it was head home to get coffee ready for brewing in the morn as we were setting up for the Keauhou market on our own for the first time. Ron had picked some bananas, papayas and avocados to sell along with the coffee, so we were on our way. It's a fun little market and only goes from 8am-12noon. Probably the hardest thing for me is getting up so early, but I'll need to get used to it. I was whipped when we got home but I wanted to go to the Holualoa walking tour at 3 and I did. Saw some beautiful artwork, ate more goodies and bought a Hawaiian cookbook and a painted Holualoa tank top. Last nite we went to the Kona Coffee Farmers Assoc. dinner and silent auction with friends. Linda and Al also just bought a farm here and we eagerly traded infomation. They both, like Ron, enjoy picking coffee. I guess I will have to try it sooner or later, but I was never to much into picking blueberries so I may stick to the racking and roasting part. Mark has part of the website up. I sent him some pictures, but he said the clarity needs to be worked on and then we will be good to go. Ron's truck is in Hilo, so tomorrow we are going over to pick it up and probably spend the nite to take a look at the Hilo Farmers market on Wed. Then it's back home to package the coffee on Thurs. Right now I can hardly type as I went ocean jogging this morn got completely wore out from the big swells. We had rain yesterday for the first time since we came back and are now having Kona breezes so the ocean was a bit stirred up and cooler in spots. There are underground fresh water rivers running into the bay and with all the water coming down from the mountains every once in awhile you hit a cold spot which makes you jog a bit faster. Today is turning out to be another beautiful sunny calm day so we are off to the farm to pick up some parchment to get milled and roasted for this weekend.

Oh my, that last picture looks like the moon doesn't it. But it is a lime. No one has even given me a hint as to what kind it is. Hey, this is an interactive blog and sometimes I need some help.
This week has been big for us. Ginny wanted to turn over the business so she could be on with packing and moving. So this Sat. I will be taking over the Keauhou Market shop. Little did I know what that involves. First I had to sign up for the State farmers organization to be allowed to sell there and then join the local Kona Farmers Market organization, then get a license for the GIT tax, and get a VISA/MC machine. Meanwhile I had to have coffee inventory and have it roasted to package and label. Whew, I'm tired just writing all that and all this week. And did I tell you that each of those orgs & tax entities charge a fee.....Just what I came to Hawaii for; to offer my retirement for the betterment of the State of Hawaii. Many times ago I warned my kids that I was going to have a good time on their inheritance. And they still were supportive of our coffee farming fantasy. Crazy kids!!!
I think hawking the coffee may be easier on my body than ocean jogging and lava walking. I did that this week and am totally sore. Monday Ron dropped me off a few minutes late at the pier and the gals were two bouys out already. It took me till the turnaround point to catch up with them and they had an Ironwoman with them! I also beat her back because I had an appointment with the tax man (see above). Not completely healed, but yesterday I went to check out a new trail while waiting for Ron to finish a tile job he was doing. No, no, no, I had sandals on and shouldn't have done that. Tomorrow is a paddle day so I'm really looking forward to the upper body workout this time, ha ha.
Then I have to deal with Ron debating on running the Hilo marathon. Today was the last day to sign up at 1/2 price. I remembered to remind him and he is still in oblivion to an event to be held in March. He has visions of coffee trees, coffee beans, pruning & fertilization, walkways, harvesting fruit. Can't blame him. Who knows what life will be bringing us in March anyway.

 

 

Today, is Friday. Last nite was a gorgeous full moon. This a.m. I went to the pier for my morning ocean jog and Ron ran his usual 10 mile route. He says he is going to miss that route when we move, which should be soon. Ginny & Dick are wanting us to take over all aspects of the farm & business soon, soon soon. So I began connections with shipping to continue the process of getting our belongings here asap. I got an email today from a tourist that I met downtown asking about coffee already. I still am not set up to sell over the internet yet. Hope that comes together fast. Today I ordered a new FAX,copier,printer so I can get some more learning time on the computer, ugh!! We both will be glad when we are moved in down in Capt.Cook as Ron travels the 13 mi or so there quite often to work and learn on property. He's met some neighbors, one named 'Turtle' who picks excess fruits and veggies. Ron has been bringing home bananas, avocados and papayas daily. Like all plants, when harvesting time comes you always have way more than enough.Turtle told Ron he'll bring fish in exchange. The other day a friend from the Outdoor Circle gave me some limes. Actually the best limes I've ever tasted. But I have never seen this kind before (pictures posted here). The ones on our farm are greener, smaller and very tangy. These are just right but I don't know what kind they are. All for now, Sat. is already here.

Maui sharks, paddling w/dolphins, Akaka Bill, DL's & coffee

Just all kinds of stuff going on right now, so had to form a title so I'd know what I was talking about this am. Yes, shark sightings in So. Maui. Had to close a few beaches this week. One was one of our favorites, Wailea's Ulua Beach. But locals think the hammerhead may be sick as it just cruises close to shore. People are even taking pictures of themselves by shore pointing at the shark as it's not being aggressive. Others are mentioning seeing it as they take there evening walks, very unusual. (Like the little squirrel that kept coming to visit Ethan and his friends under the swingset,very strange). Then today Ron finally went paddling with me and the rest of the Keauhou group. I had to go at least a month before we sighted dolphins but Ron saw them on his very first trip. What's up with that!! We have a breakfast after paddling on the last Thurs of every month so Ron got to meet some new friends. One was a longtime coffee farmer so he (Ron) liked soaking up all the info. We also met Lisa who is bringing her dog over from the mainland, although they only plan on living here about 7-8 months of the year. Since I miss Zeke so much we may work out a plan for us to dogsit 'Sparky'. Sparky is part Australian Speepdog and Blue Herder.
And we are now officially Hawaiians. That's because we passed the test. We have our DL's with our pictures and all. Only took us 4 hours yesterday. Then something I haven't formed an opinion on yet but I think is worth pondering. The US House passed the Akaka Bill yesterday which is a Hawaiian sovereigns law. Census says there are about 400,000 true Hawaiians in all the US and this law would give them approximately what the native Indians and Alaska indigenous people have. There is much controversy over the law here and in Washington, I guess. Because Geo. Bush says he will veto it if the Senate passes it. Bush says it would be racist and divide the very stable and ethnic society that we have here in Hawaii. I understand that, as ethnically things go very well here. But I can't see how we can say it is all right to give sovereignty to other peoples on their homelands and not the Hawaiians. Got opinions???

Fire Girl

Oh we went down/or I really think it is up to Michaels place this eve for pupus and drinks.(Their place is only a couple of miles from where we will be living soon.) He & Greg had guests and company plus a new arrival to the island who works with him. She spins fire. Like the Samoans and Hawaiians do. So she showed us her talents out in the yard. What a show! I told her I didn't know how much Mike paid for the show but King Kamehameha productions had a job waiting for her. Amazing, a haole doing a fire show. We asked her where she learned the art. She answered, in Amsterdam! Who would have thunk!! As always we met many interesting people tonight and talked about all the fantastic sights on this island. They were interested in our coffee knowledge. You know, how it's grown, how we process it and one of the guys was in marketing and wanted to know how we were going to market it. Well I dunno!??! I did run a few ideas by him and he seemed to think I was headed in the right direction. Who knows..............
Most if the ironman tourists have headed home and we are back to almost normal. So funny, I saw so many ironmen participants. They get their number painted on their arm and when they wash it off it is distinguishable in plain white with tanned skin surrounding it. So they are so easy to pick out.
The farmers market really seemed to be picking up this weekend. While up there with Ginny, the seller from our new farm, I noticed many new faces and they said they were just arriving and will be spending the next 3,4 or 6 months here and they came up to purchase Hawaii grown crops and coffee.
Tommorrow I will be sending our Kona Lisa Coffee label in to the Hawaii Food and Drug Adm. to make sure it passes label inspection. For those of you who got a sample, the lable basically will stay the same but I may need to make the name font larger and change the border a bit. Then I can get on with ordering stationary and business cards to match.
Meanwhile Ron keeps reading and researching all the proper techniques to coffee growing. Soon he'll be up there pruning. And so it goes, he does the hands on part and I do the marketing part. And neither one of us knows whether it will ever work but so far we are having fun trying.

Ups & Downs

Let's give the down side first and then get to all the ups. Went to the DL bureau today. Both of us left without Hawaii DL's. First you must have a SS card. We showed them our passports, our TN voters reg card (which has our SSN on it) and our birth certs. No dice. I have those cards, I just saw them within the last month and I know they will show up or...we will stand in line to get new cards next week (on the 24th that is or else we go to Hilo or hopefully I will find them.) Then we will get to take the written test. Everyone say,"hope you pass". Cuz if you don't it's come back next week and try again, no kidding!!
Meanwhile all the up stuff as I went paddling with an Ironwoman. She was a 27 yr old German girl who finished 99th woman in 10:52. It was good to see her laughing and enjoying Hawaii after hearing about some who are still having trouble walking. We also had some Kiwi's with us (from NZ)plus lot's of dolphins. We actually had to stop paddling once as we seemed to be running into them. I think it's just that they like to be around us because as they came along side and we started paddling again they swam with us. They were so close that I could see them swimming with us underwater. Spectacular!! We've been able to go down on the farm and Ron's been soaking up info on maintaining, processing and even taking some time picking the beans. So far he loves it!! Good thing, huh!

More IronMan news

Good grief, I had 13 pics uploaded and only 4 posted onto the blog. If you want the rest here's the link. http://picasaweb.google.com/laker2m/IronMan2007. Good picture of the winner is included. He wasn't ahead at that time but wasn't far behind. Maybe 10 mins at the 10k mark. What a day! I could never imagine seeing over 1700 athletes do a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mi. bike ride and the run a marathon all in one day. I found it almost sci-fi except I did see it with my own eyes. 34 yr. old Australian, Chris McCormack, won in 8:15:34. Chrissie Wellington of Britain won the women's race in 9:10:00. It was a windy day for the bikers up in Waikaloa and then a skorcher down here in Kona for the runners. Ron's friend finished in 11+.

IronMan Pics

 
 
 
 

Ironman highlights

You will probably be sick of my Ironman blogs before this is over. But you can just feel the excitement in town even as we arrived back yesterday. Here is a video site that is awesome. Click on the arrow and play the video. More to come as we move towards the big day, Sat. the 13th. http://www.youtube.com/IronmanTriathlon. This is just one of the inspirational stories.

WNBA in Hawaii????

Small world it seems. On our connection from Phoenix to Hawaii, next to me sat Ashley Robinson of the Seattle Storm. Many of you will remember her from the 2000-2004 Lady Vols. No I did not ask that tall drink of water (6'4") if she played basketball, but it came up as soon as she heard we were from Knoxville. That broke the ice though and we reminiced about Pat Summit & Knoxville while I learned about WNBA and Texas, where she is from. She was on a little vacation and was joining some players who had gone to UConn and then next week will be off to Madrid to play in the European league. So as you can tell we are home and it's 5:30am. I never get up that early!!! Guess I'm just not back on Hawaii time yet. Flights went better than average as we arrived in Phoenix to an overbooked flight to Kona due to the Ironman passengers. USAir asked for two seats to bump and we grabbed 2 full round trip tickets back to the mainland to use within a year. Meanwhile they put us up at the Sheraton in Tempe. Since it was early afternoon our driver took us in to downtown Tempe, home to ASU, and we had a leisurely time shopping around, seeing the sights ending with dinner at Gordon Biersch Brewery for dinner. They served garlic fries there, yummy, and everything else too!! We'd always thought it wise to be able to stop over in a west coast town when traveling to/from the continental east to Hawaii. It's a definite 'do it if you can' now. After a relaxing day in Tempe and a good rest it made for an easy flight home. So gotta go as it's 6 am. and paddle time!!!

Return to Paradise

Ron & I wondered how we would feel coming back to the mainland. Would it be weird, would we miss Hawaii, would we want to stay here?? The flight seemed to go very fast and we were in Nicki's car and off to Walled Lake last Friday. The weather was perfect for a warm Michigan fall day and everything was green and full with a few trees turning and the smell of autumn in the air. We shared dinner with the grandkids and 'talked story'(that's a Hawaiian phrase) with them and learned about Haley's new school, listened to her practice her bit for a play tryout and listened to Casey's campaign speech as she is running for student counsel. Sat. & Sun. we attended soccer games for all of them and saw Chloe score the first goal for her team. Back home we met some of Ethan's friends, all girls. Yes, he is a ladies man already at only 4. Spent time with some friends, my mom & sis, and gave them samples of our soon to be coffee. It was really lovely and I think I was homesick for MI for the first time in a long while. That time was all too short and we were off to Knoxville. It would have been easier if all the 'stuff' in our storage unit had just 'poof' magically dissapeared. We have been without it for 6 months now and knew it would be difficult in all sorts of ways to decide what goes to Hawaii and what cannot. We know we probably don't even need 50% of what we decided to take and are already laughing about a few things we mistakedly threw out. Emotionally it can be hard to do that, but we are now through it and ready to move on. We've decided that Sept. must be a good time to visit both TN & MI because we are truly enjoying most everything we grew to love here (except the traffic). Ron is off right now bike riding with a team of his friends and I took off for a 45 min. workout walk here in Sheila's neighborhood. I wasn't out 1/2 a block when a car passed me and the driver waved, and then soon another car, driver waved and of course I waved back. I didn't know them nor they me but that is just TN and is part of what we miss about it. Sydney is studying about places and cultures and mentioned Machu Piccu in Peru. She said she would like to go there sometime and it reminded me that everyone has goals and I encouraged her to keep that goal although many others may supercede it at times. Now back to paradise. Ron & I never really had Hawaii as a dream to move to, we just kinda developed it as we moved on with our life. Certainly producing coffee there sounds adventurous to me but not what would have kept me there. But I know just the ocean, beaches, and always warm weather was not enough to keep Ron there so the 'coffee shack' will become our next new home because paradise is different for all and can be different for each one of us at various times. One thing that still holds true is, we go back to our curent utopia, you'all get to spend the cold winter here. And that's why we feel we will be living in paradise!!!!

Today was my last 'paddle' for awhile so 'Sarge' took me out on the single hull outrigger for a great ride. We surfed a few waves and paddled over to thread the needle. We even stopped once to see the sun rising over the mountain. I guess they wanted to make sure I remembered all I have grown to love here on the island. Also I wanted a better workout as I'll have no ocean to do them on for a few weeks. I seem to get a much better workout on a single hull canoe than a double hull. Tonight we leave at 11pm from Kona to arrive in Detroit tomorrow afternoon with only one stop in Phoenix. We don't have a Honolulu stop either way this trip and that saves us a lot of time. It seems like I should be packing more but everything is really still back in Knoxville and I have not been out of tank tops, shorts & sandels since we arrived. (So what is it I need??) Oh, furniture............ We are trying to bring back an empty suitcase to load it up when we return. Do you think that might work? As you see there is a lounge chair in some pictures I sent. Maybe that's all we need. And right now it's hard to remember what we stashed in the storage unit. I think we are in for a surprise when we open it. Most of all we are looking forward to seeing everyone possible. If we don't see you this trip there will always be another and just maybe some of you will see us here before then. Wouldn't that be nice???

Coffee samples coming to the mainland

Yesterday we filled and sealed about 25 four oz. bags of Kona Lisa (our new label) coffee beans. We will be bringing them back with us, so if any of you want to sample some 'to die for' coffee put your order in now. Let me know so I can save you a sample.

Trolley, the Farm & flights reserved

Hey, big week here. This week was my last week up at the pier as I told them I just couldn't be there anymore. I will miss all the lovely people up there but said I would come and visit. On my last day Ron had to go south to a coffee class so he couldn't pick me up. They have an open air trolley from the pier up to Keauhou and back, so I finally got a chance to ride it. Not bad, 20 mins. and I was nearly home. It was a 3 block walk downhill so I enjoyed that. Thurs. we met the owners again for more info on the coffee farm. So far we have picked, pulped, dried, milled, roasted, bagged and sealed the coffee beans. Ron went out on the grounds and learned a bit about trimming, planting, and weeding. We don't know if we will ever remember the names of all the fruit trees planted there. The ones I currently remember are lillikoi(passion fruit), banana, lime, dragonfruit, papaya, avacado, mango. If you like fruit you will never go hungry here. On the other hand we hear it can be hard to grow veggies. No wonder they are so costly at the supermarket. We usually buy them from the local farmers market. Then best of all we got flights to Detroit, will visit with the kids, grandkids and drive down to Knoxville to sort out things and plan to be back here by Oct. 9. We are really excited to be able to see everyone as it seems so unreal to us. Hope we get to catch up with as many of you as possible when we get there. See ya soon.

 
See my new paddle....!!! It worked very well today on its virgin paddle.

 
There it is!! Orchids!!

Orchids and Paddling this week

 

Well I didn't manage to get all the pictures on. But the one showing is our crew today coming back in from a 2 mile tour. Click on the picture to get it full screen. I am third back on the left side. Friends & I went to a commercial orchid farm on Tue. and I will try to follow with at least one pic of my orchid bouquet.

Coffee farming is moving along. Right now we are in the middle of picking and pulping season. This week we visited with the sellers of the farm and Ron got a lessong on pruning. They invited us for dinner and later a neighbor came up with 600 pounds of cherry and we watched as they ran the pulper. The beans then soak in the water for 18-24 hours and then they are shuttled on the converyor to the drying deck. You should always have dried parchment ready for milling and roasting if you want to offer fresh coffee. So the dried coffee is rotated and the coffee pulped this week will probably not be milled and roasted until next year. The next day I met the seller at Greenwell's where they mill & roast for her. I went through the process as her coffee went from her bag and right back to her bag ready to be packaged. All coffee farmers are guarenteed that they get their own coffee back. No beans are mixed. Kona Lisa is an Estate coffee. Many of the big coffee growers do mix beans from all sorts of orchards or else how would they get enough coffee to supply their wholesalers. And we made a plan. We will be moving into the house on Jan. 1st.

Hawaii loves Holidays

Holidays are big events in Hawaii for several reasons. Mostly it's for family time and getting together to 'tell story' and relax. We have been here for Memorial Day, 4th of July, Statehood Day Aug.18th, and Labor Day and there is always something going on to enjoy. This weekend was the largest outrigger canoe long distance races in the world. Teams from all over the world, like New Zeeland, Haiti, Samoa,and the list goes on come to Kona for an 18 mile endurance race/paddle from O Honaunau to the Kailua Kona pier. Sunday were short distance races which Ron & I watched. The colors were spectacular with canoes of red, yellow, turquoise, blues and greens lining up for a short siren and they were off. Summer is such a great time for these races as the ocean cooperates by being fairly calm. My big event was to paddle with our Keauhou club and bring one of the boats back to our bay. Boats from everywhere are brought in for the races to use and we get to paddle them back the 6 miles. That was my longest distance so far and our steerer was 'Sarge'(will have to tell you about Sarge later). I knew this would be a challenge for me but the awesome dolphin show was well worth it. Dolphins were swimming with us at 1 o'clock and jumping and spinning for a show I'd never seem before. These islands are the only place they have spinner dolphins. Several boats had seen them and we saw them spinning from aways. They seemed to wait for us and when we were near they started putting on their show. They spun and splashed for us and we clapped. Scientists say they spin to shake a parasite off them but today they were spinning just for us as they waited for each canoe to come by and spun for each of us. Stopping to watch them was a good rest for me. I had wondered how I was going to endure the six mile paddle. Also Sarge gives us a rest occasionally. About half way back she barked "No.1 paddles up" you can take a break for 2 sets." A set is 15 strokes on one side and 15 on the other. I was in seat no. 5 so I sure was ready when my rest came. The canoe is now put onshore and I await tomorrow when I can go for a more relaxing paddle but always and interesting one.

Starting our 4th month here and so much has happened it's hard to get it all down. Ron wrote this little verse in one of his emails and I thought it was worth sharing.
What you won't see there:(I think he means where you are......
Grown men riding a skateboard to work.
Mopeds with surfboard racks and beagles on the handlebars.
Guys with blue hair riding mopeds and singing with their I-pods.
Surffers doing situps and then having a smoke before getting on their boards.
Old Japanes guy power-walking with two tennis balls and a flower in his mouth.
Paddling a surfboard while standing - down the beach.
One bedroom condos for over half a million dollars.
$3.39 for gas - nowhere to drive though.

In wrapping up my time at the coffee shop in town I worked 2 days this week and waited on my first non-English speaking couples (they spoke only Japanese). Amazing how when someone wants to buy and you are selling it's a world wide language of pointing and shaking heads and using our hands for numbers, etc. Both couples did manage to get their point accross and ask for a discount which I immediately replied with an up and down head shake. We laughed alot and one couple pointed and laughed at the package of one product as it had instructions in Japanese on it.(They in turn bought 5 packages). Upon leaving they did say one English phrase 'thank you'.

Things seem to be moving well on our coffee farm purchase. So well that they are projecting closing sooned that we expected. This requires a fast trip back to Knoxville to either dispose of more furniture and things or shipping them. We are still in a dilema as to what we will be doing. It will break the bank to ship too much but then you know how much it can take to set up a household with everything new. Does $10,000 weight itself either way? I wish I could figure it out as then I would know whether to ship or buy. Either way I am still holding firm that that's a small price to pay for paradise.

Ohhhhhhh the fins got their workout yesterday. Went snorkeling with some friends down at Two Step which is the snorkel bay near O Honaunau National Park. It's a beautiful area full of native fish, pretty almost transparent blue eels, turtles, baby barracuda and dolphins. It also has some of the most proliferant coral to see. All colors and some of what they call cauliflower coral.(Yes it looks just like big heads cauliflower) It's also only about 2 miles from our new place. I was able to swim out much farther than I usually do as I had partners to swim with (didn't use a swim belt). After looking around we came up and 'wow' we were out past the Zodiac boats. The Zodiac boat boats bring tourist/snorkel trips from downtown and the cruise ships to this area. Back on shore at the picnic table I found out I'd also been snorkeling with a RedHatter. I put on my RedHat birthday present(the bathing suit cover up with the slim figure and Maui skirt and lei)and got some laughs. So now I am invited to go to the nearby orchid farm with them next Tue. Luckily I brought along one red hat and I now have a purple aloha dress I had been wearing to work. Although I have not been working the last couple of weeks, my choice, I guess I will go back in and do some final restocking of coffee for them as I told them they need to get someone else in as soon I will have my own coffee to merchandise. And yes, Rich, I stopped at the Macadamia Nut Factory on my way back from Two Step and picked up a pound of macnuts for you. As soon I as I get my coffee I'll put it together and send it to you. My brother has reminded me that I need to send supplies to the UP. In the evening we went to my favorite restaurant here, 'Jackie Rey's' for dinner. BTW I only was able to stay up last nite for part of the lunar eclipse. I saw the beginning at 11:20pm so I laid down to rest when Ron awoke at about 1:10 and it was at it closing so I never did get to see the orange glow of the total eclipe which probably happened between 12-12:30am. Guess, I'll have to do that next time in 2010.

Birthday presents

Ron said 'how would you like a new paddle for your birthday" and off we went to the Polynesian Paddling store to get my birthday present. They have the most beautiful paddles there (I will take pictures). Always all wood. The expert was out training for her next reace and they didn't seem to have my size there. The other owner said he could cut one down for me but we decided to wait until the expert was in to make sure of the right size. The length of the paddle to your arms is very important as you twist a little with you shoulder while you reach out and then dig that paddle in and quickly pull back with the other arm. So if the paddle is not the right length you do not get the right power. If it's too short you will lean forward too much and tire you back/not good when going 6 miles. If it's too long you will go too deep in the water which is inefficient. So no paddle yet, but still 2 days before birthday. I am going snorkeling with some friends on Tues. and my fins did not fit me right so we stopped at the snorkel shop on the beach and got some new fins. I also want a new water jogging belt as the one I have seems too big and ends up rubbing against my arm. I saw a very small one and debated, but looks like I am going back as I believe I can also wear it snorkeling. I have never worn a flotation device for snorkeling but most of our friends here are great swimmers, which I am not, and after awhile I get tired and can't keep up. I think the flotation belt will come in handy for those times and I will be able to stay out longer.
Ron ran 16 miles this a.m. and wanted to get a big breakfast at his favorite place, Aloha Cafe. That's on the way down to the Keei area and we could drive by the land. At the Cafe you get to have breakfast with the geckos. The are all over here but at the cafe one came up on the top of the railing next to our table and crawled right up on Ron's shoulder and looked at him, begging for a treat. So we did our usual, opened up a apple jelly packet on the rail and the whole fam damily came for breakfast. (Have to write nicely, my grandkids read this blog.) The couples in the tables next to us were so tickled I think they took dozens of pictures. Just like we did when we first came. Whoops, will have to send some when I find them. The geckos are easy to spot. They look just like that little guy on TV! They are bright green with blue eyes and a splash of red on their backs now and then, usually anywhere from 2-5 in. long. They seems to take care of the bug and jelly population around. Once while out on the lanai I spotted a pretty spider. It was black and yellow stiped with some blue in the center. When I went around to the other side to take a picture the spider saw me an moved quickly and boom out of nowhere the gecko jumped. Spider gone.

WOW!!!

We did it, we signed the papers today!! We will have our coffee farm!! We are very excited so here are only a few details. It's on Painted Church Rd. near Honaunau, Two Step snorkel area. At an elevation of about 800 ft. with a view of the prettiest bay in Kona from the lanai. Has 7 acres of coffee with a pulper and a drying area. It also has a established coffee label and business. Almost too much to believe isn't it. The house is small but so much better than many of the others we looked at. (I wanted small). It's 2 bdrm, 2 bath what more do I need!! They tell us that it takes long to close (like 3-5 months) but the sellers are great and they offered to let us come and work with them to see how the farm and business runs while we are waiting. Seven acres of coffee will sure keep Ron out of my hair :>)

So who wants to buy a 2003 Saturn Vue, like new condition, new brakes and new tires just installed before we left. Been parked in my daughters garage in Michigan. That will be only one of many, many things that will need to be sold. That part sounds daunting but will be totally worth it. If we can figure out what to bring and what not to bring, that is the question!! So much to figure out. But it will all come together.

So coffee picking time is from Aug- Nov, don't be shy, sign up for the 2008 season now!!!

Lava Delta Fell

http://starbulletin.com/2007/08/19/news/story03.html
The above story tells about the recent fall of 44 acres into the ocean and contains a couple nice pictures.

Pono

Oh btw 'pono' means 'goodness, the best, all good things, etc' in Hawaii. So I am sending you all the best things from Hawaii not porno!!!!!

The Market

After paddling with the dolphins this am, Ron & I headed up to the Keauhou outdoor market. Came back with tomatoes, red sugar lettuce, papaya, bananas, lilikoi bars, mac nut choco raisin snack mix, and our favorite, Lychee. I had heard of lychee nuts before and I'm not sure how they are alike because here you are warned not to eat the nut inside. They are only available from about June-August and now are bigger than the first we tried. Actually, now they look like big strawberries. You rub your thumb on the outer shell and peel it off. Inside is a wonderful sweet grapelike fruit which you pop in you mouth and then spit the seed out. Yummy.

Coffee trees (cherry not ripe yet)

Coffee

Well, coffee picking season has arrived. The trees are lush and green and filled with cherry. Cherry is was the fruit is called when it ripens. It doesn't ripen all at once so you only pick the red cherry and leave the green on as they will ripen soon. Trees need a first, then second and usually a third picking. We looked at a farm today that had a pulper and a drying area. The pulp is immediately rinsed and washed off to get the bean out. Since the pulp is sweet you can imagine the smell in the heat. Some like it, the bees sure do, some don't. I find it a bit like an overripe fruit market smells on a very hot day. Bearable, but not my favorite smell. Once the beans are out of the pulper you just spread them out on a drying area and rake them over a couple times a day and let them dry for a few days. You then have green beans or parchment coffee beans that can be put in 100 lb bags and store until you are ready to roast and bag it. It is seeming pretty busy in the coffee picking farmland areas as they bring pickers in to pick all the farms. Ron tried it one day last week. He needed to see for himself how much he could pick. He picked about 70-80 lbs but said it didn't pay enought for him to do it except on his own farm. Everyone hires Mexican, Costa Rican and such laborers around here. They seem to like the work and are also very good at it. Soon the small towns down the roads will be smelling of roasting coffee. Now that is a wonderful smell to behold!!!

Ocean

Two trips to the ocean this week. I love this ocean (the Pacific). Wed. after the hurricane passed I went to the pier to do my water jogging. No cruise ship, no snorkel boat, no tourist/party boats (they were still up in the marina hiding) and the bay was calm and clear. So clear that it was, as I call it, Tidy Bowl blue all the way out to the 1/2 mile bouy. I was introduced to new marine life. A vonna? urchin in the sand near shore was making his way back out to sea. They tell me those are the only unchins that sting if you step on them. On our way out the bright yellow tangs where swimming with us and you could see bottom all the way. On our way back one of Hawaii's sea turtles was swimming right near us. As he came up for air and faced us it looked like he nodded his head and said 'hello' just before he swam off. This a.m. I took off with the Keauhou paddlers on a double hulled outrigger canoe and paddled out a couple miles into some small swells. I only say this because I have been paddling for about a month now and it's always been very smooth, sometimes almost glasslike, as is common for the summer. So these baby swells are only a touch of things to come. Members say that in the winter we will be surfing the waves with the outrigger. Quite a thrill I think I will need to build up to as the fall months come. But our reward today was the dolphins swimming right with us while we paddled. Also need to mention a third ocean wonder of the week. Ron & I walked up to the rocks near the Sheraton a few nights ago to see the manta rays. Ron was a little sceptical until a couple swam in to say hi. In fact one came in right up to the rocks, tipped it's wing up and delighted everyone .

This is serenity

Hurricane Flossie

8/16/07: Wow, me blogging, this should be a real experience!!!! I am trying this out and learning as I go. Hopefully the pictures will post as and the info will go out. I will try doing it this way instead of sending it out in an email. Please comment on how you like this. I may get better as time goes on. Who knows!?!?! The pictures here at from the evening that Hurricane Flossie passed by. We were lucky to not have to deal with here but she gave us a spectacular sunset. No wind, no rain, no high surf. I'll take the sunset anytime.

Hurricane Flossie

8/16/07: What a new aspiration this is going to be. Me learning how to really blog instead of sending out all the stuff in emails. This will sure be a trial and error endeavor but I think if I have patience it will be a better way to send info out. Hopefully I will also tend to get to it more often. Here is the latest. As Flossie, the hurricane, was passing south of here I took these pictures right off Keauhou Bay here where we live. It was a very spectacular sunset. Also most surprisingly there was no wind, no rain, and no high surf anywhere near us. We were spared. I tried to attach the referenced pics to this blog. Again, new at this so hope it works. (I wrote this first, then lost it. So posting anyway) remember a new learning curve for me. Then I figured how to get the pictures on. Whoa, can I hold all this info until next time? "Only the 'Shadow' Knows...............................