Looking toward the left from my balcony
Waking up to this sky over Makaua in the district of Koʻolauloa on the island of Oʻahu.
Looking toward the my right
Morning sky
21 05 2019Comments : Comments Off on Morning sky
Tags: Makaua Valley
Categories : Hawaiian
Mothers Day 2019–I kept my commitment
12 05 2019
When the pool is filled and the fountain spurts high, Thomas Square is even more of an oasis in mid-Honolulu.
Mothers Day 2019. I kept my commitment to serve the homeless and needy in Honolulu today. The venue was Thomas Square (photos below).
My friend’s hobby is to cook and serve a delicious buffet meal to the homeless on a fairly regular basis for free. Today she added a free store. The recipe ingredients and pre-owned store inventory are largely donated. She has a handful of helpers who pack, drive, unload, unpack, set up tents and tables, serve, and break down from about 9 in the morning to 4 in the afternoon. It’s rough work. The venue might change from time to time, but her regulars find her by word-of mouth.
In the morning Thomas Square is neat and tidy; public restrooms are clean, thanks to a dedicated City & County crew. However, the park that is one square city block and planted with mature banyan trees around a circular fountain gets a little trashed during the day, I noticed, and it looks like it’s a growing hangout for folks looking for a place to sleep at night. Before, it was refreshing to see the pool with water in it and the fountain operating. Today it was dry.
“Customers” waited patiently for the food and store to be set up and then were grateful, mostly, to fill their bowls and plates. Some looked disheveled. Some were very tired. Hot soup, several kinds of salads, a meat-and-rice dish, Greek dolmas, macaroni and cheese (Gouda with bacon!), yogurt, corn dogs, chips, cold tea and water—are you hungry yet?
For me, it was a rough day in terms of interacting with this particular public. It is not in my repertoire. I returned home to read that the homeless people in Chinatown made the front page of the daily newspaper again.
It’s too bad. I think I can do this only about once a year. God’s blessings to my friend and her regular team.
Thomas Square’s refreshing-looking lawn
Mature banyan trees
Shady spot
Old sign
Fascinating aerial roots
Thomas Square, with dry pool and fountain in the foreground
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Tags: feed the street, free store, homeless, Honolulu, soup kitchen, Thomas Square
Categories : About me, Travel
Today’s menagerie
9 05 2019
These four creatures have names and depend on the people for food, so I guess they are ours: Massimo, JJ, The Fat Dove, and Willy the Peacock.
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Tags: dachshund, dove, peacock, terrier
Categories : Friends & Family
Foster Garden Plant Sale
27 04 2019
By the time I post this, the Annual Foster Garden Plant Sale will be over, but you can make a note of it for next year. It has been a long time since we came to this event, and I suggested it might be a good place to look for hanging baskets to decorate the newly covered deck outside.
We came away with some tillandsia and and many photos.
First I had to pay homage to the baobab tree (center). It’s the one Le Petit Prince hated because of all the leaves he had to rake up.
Tillandsia
Bedding plants
The open bulbs trap insects, perhaps!
Groot
Hibiscus varieties. Wow!
Lime puff
Love the color
Vanda orchid
According to Wikipedia, Foster Botanical Garden, measuring 13.5 acres (5.5 ha), is one of five public botanical gardenson Oahu. It is located at 50 North Vineyard Boulevard, Honolulu, Hawaii, United States, near Chinatown at the intersection of Nu’uanu Avenue and Vineyard Boulevard. Foster is in a highly urban area with strip malls, schools, and both Buddhist and Methodist religious facilities nearby.
No need to wait for next year’s plant sale. You can stop in for a visit to the rest of the garden anytime!
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Tags: Foster Botanical Garden, Foster Garden, Honolulu Botanical Garden, plant sale
Categories : Travel
Eggs
18 04 2019
Our neighborhood is having a nighttime egg hunt on Good Friday, so Maundy Thursday’s secular activity was dyeing eggs—real hard-cooked chicken eggs.
I recall the children being so excited to find “a real egg” last year. It’s been the fashion to hide plastic candy-filled eggs. Sheesh.
Ayla got right into the decorating while we noticed how competitive her Papa was in his designs.
We dye Easter eggs every year, delighted to pass the tradition on to the next generations.
After the eggs dried, I buffed them with a little salad oil and a soft cloth for shine.
The kids are advised to bring flashlights, but they won’t need them at our place. Motion sensor lights will make the night bright as day.
Happy Easter!
~ Rebekah
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Tags: Easter, Easter egg, egg hunt, tradition
Categories : About me, Friends & Family
Made it through the day
13 04 2019
‘Twas a long day, and we made it.
We’re home now with two granddaughters, two dogs, and a take-and-bake pizza in the oven—too tired to make dinner.
The day out started with a fundraising luncheon event for the Hawaii Youth Opera Chorus at a ballroom in downtown Honolulu. Parents, friends, and supporters kept checking their bids in the online auction while the different sub choirs entertained, and people waited their turn at the buffet line. Some started with dessert!
We left early to arrive late at the artists’ reception for the exhibit of paper collages and ceramics on the windward side of the island 30 minutes away.
I had packed up a basket of cookies for the refreshments table and a bunch of pink ginger to decorate. What a joyous gathering of friends and colleagues!
My friend Joy Ritchey, artist
Visitors in front of collage paintings by the late Susan Rogers-Aregger, our mentor
More friends: Peg Hoefer, (from left), Dan Rogers-Aregger, and Barbara Guidage
Pete had childcare duty tonight, so our granddaughter Perrin met us at the reception and took in the exhibit until closing. She occupied her time drawing and socializing with the adults. Then we went to fetch her older sister Ayla from a birthday party and get the pizza.
Perrin and her freehand drawing after a Bernadette Chan collage in the background.
We drove home, stopping first to pick up Massimo, their dachshund, so he could have company and play with our dog JJ. A scary movie on TV, baths, pajamas—I for one will call it a day.
~ Rebekah
P.S. – It was also a lucky day. I won the bid at the HYOC auction for a one-year membership for four people at Hawaii Theatre Center and the bid for a stunning turquoise pendant. Grateful!
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Tags: artists, day in the life, Fine Art, Hawaii Youth Opera Chorus, HYOC
Categories : Fine Art, Music
Spring equinox 2019 update
20 03 2019Greetings, studio fans ~
What’s happening? For me, Spring is better than welcoming a new calendar year. I like to survey the garden around the house as well as the garden in my mind. It’s a time for trimming, plucking, and weeding out the old; and for planting new, more desirable seeds.
This morning I tended the basil, pinching off the flowers from most of the sweet herb because I want to use it instead of letting it go to seed. I left some of the flowers on the plant for the bees. Everyday I check the side yard to see if any of the avocados from my neighbor’s tree have fallen, and to pick up and toss old breadfruit leaves from the ground. I strip off the bottom layer of all the ti leaf plants that I’ve cultivated mostly to make lei. The kou tree, planted for its shade and orange lei flowers, makes a lot of rubbish with its palm-size leaves and ball-bearing-like seeds, so there’s raking to do. Looking up, I see the avocado tree is finally flowering!
Actual Ma‘afala breadfruit tree
Then, I’m revisiting the studio’s purpose “Old-fashioned letters, painting & healing.”
Letters. I’m honored to be invited to coach the Ko‘olauloa Hawaiian Civic Club members tomorrow night in writing autobiography. I intend it to be a fun activity as we write individual anecdotes and craft pretty booklets. I have chosen as jumping off points these questions: “What was your best birthday?” “Who is your strangest family member?” “What is your greatest fear about falling in love?” “What is the craziest thing you have ever done?” And then for the brave, “How?” and “Why?”
Painting. My collage group (painting with hand-dyed paper) is exhibiting its artworks the month of April starting April 3 in the main gallery at the visitor center of Ho‘omaluhia Botanical Garden, on Luluku Road in Kaneohe, Oahu. I’ve agreed to design the look of the “Collages & Clay” that also includes ceramics. I’ll draw on the memory of observing how Susan Rogers-Aregger and Noreen Naughton placed pieces for a show.
Hand-dyed paper collage of breadfruit leaves by Rebekah Luke
Healing. It has been exciting to teach, attune, and certify five new Reiki Masters and Reiki Master Teachers. The Reiki Intensive training spands eight days, with the current program ending next Sunday with “Journey into Mastery.” I am team teaching with Reiki Master Teacher Lori A. Wong. I am reminded that “Yes! I am a Reiki Master!”
Aloha,
Rebekah
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Tags: art show, autobiography, Breadfruit, Hoomaluhia Botanical Garden, Kaneohe, paper collage, Reiki, Spring equinox
Categories : About me, Fine Art, Hawaiian, Memoir, Reiki Healing
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