Guest dog is here and Ula meows no thanks

9 10 2010

Alice Brown and Pua

Pua is at the studio. I call her guest dog, but she’s really Alice Brown’s cousin and part of our extended family. On most days DH stops by her house to take both of them and Miss Marvelous for a walk down the beach. Yes, we’re dog sitting.

The one most inconvenienced is Ula the cat. She hates it. When Pua arrived, the cat made a mad dash to under-the-bed in the guest room. You might wonder, if Pua is the guest, then why doesn’t she get the guest room? Well, she doesn’t fit under the bed. Ah, now you understand why Ula hates it. And besides, Pua comes with her own bed. And food.

Pua chasing her mom chasing Miss Marvelous

She’s a good guest, and we make her welcome, though. As soon as she arrives, she immediately gobbles whatever is in Alice Brown’s dish and slurps up the cat’s food on her way out to the dog run to relieve herself. This, while the cat makes her escape.

Ula under my easel

How did we do it the last time? asks DH. Pua stayed over on the Fourth of July. It was some combination of a child gate and, hmm, what did we do?

We started with the gate to cordon off the second floor. Then we moved Ula’s food and water station to the guest room. Now, picture the cat having the use of the whole upper level and the rest of us on the main level.

When it was time to turn in for the night, I looked all over for Ula, as she was not under the bed anymore, and I finally found her under my desk behind a curtain. She’d been right there by me most of the evening.

Not a peep did she make. Ordinarily she is very talkative. A big brown bossy New York cat who meows loudly and frequently. Let me in. Meow. Let me out. Meow. Feed me. Meow. Now! She’s old now, still healthy as far as we and the vet can tell. But she’s also aloof. She won’t let anyone touch or pet her much. Please don’t try it; you might get shredded.

I reminded DH who was watching TV downstairs with the dogs to make sure he separated the animals when he came to bed. I fell fast asleep. At 4 a.m. loud barking and scurrying and hissing! Pua had found Ula and had cornered her! My guess is that Ula had come out of her hiding place and was hoping to make her way to the litter box.

Okay, so now we separate the animals. DH takes the dogs out to the dog run, and the coast is clear for Ula. My last act of service before starting this blog post was to move the litter box to the guest room, coax the cat back into the temporary quarters, turn the lights down low and close the door.

You see, at the studio Alice Brown is the Princess (see the masthead), but Ula’s the Queen.

Copyright 2010 Rebekah Luke

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Categories : Friends & Family

Not sure how to sum up Thursday, but …

1 10 2010

… That was fun. A nice ending to a full day! The venue for my cousin Toy’s going away party was Terry’s Place in Honolulu Chinatown where another cousin, Sunway, and her band performed last night. I stopped by the bar after my glee club rehearsal and caught a couple sets with the relatives. Really good pop music. Good eats and fine wine.

Sunway giving it her all

The day started with driving four neighborhood aunties and the baby (Miss Marvelous) from our moku (district) on the windward side of Oahu to Honolulu.

I skipped my usual morning of painting. Aunty Cornelia, Aunty Mercy, Aunty Ramona and Aunty Dot wanted to see the milestone exhibition of the three wooden images of the Hawaiian god Ku on display together at the Bishop Museum through October 4—just three more days.

One carved image resides at the Bishop Museum, one is on loan from the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, and one is on loan from the British Museum in London. Museum literature states that two hundred years ago the Ku stood on heiau (temples) on the island of Hawaii.

Bishop Museum

DH (darling husband) who volunteers as a docent was delighted to give the aunties a tour, and we both were happy to provide the rides.

I used the time they were at the museum to grab some lunch, get my hair cut by Arlene and have photos taken for a new passport. I came back in time to catch Lokomaikai’s very enjoyable moolelo (story) about the hula before heading back over the Koolau mountains.

It rained some today, and as I drove down Palm Drive at Punahou on my way to glee club practice, I saw the rainbow over Manoa Valley.

Rainbow over Manoa

Copyright 2010 Rebekah Luke

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Categories : Friends & Family, Hawaiian, Music, Travel

Gathering kukui nuts and re-landscaping for a play space

18 09 2010

Aged kukui nuts prior to cleaning and polishing into Hawaiian jewelry

The studio and its surrounding garden of fruit trees and raised vegetable beds is not my choice for a toddler to play in, so I’ve cleared out the heliconia under the avocado tree to plant a soft thick green ground cover of clover with Miss Marvelous in mind. She likes to explore and play in the outdoors.

Those following the progress of Miss Marvelous may see what she looks like at 16 months this September. I snapped this image in the car on a shopping trip. She loves shopping!

The heliconia patch was there since purchasing our place. It has survived with not much care for more than 26 years. When the patch was full and thriving, gathering the fallen avocados in August was like hunting for Easter eggs in a forest.

Off and on since trimming the plants to the ground I’ve dug up roots, runners, sprouts, as well as rusty iron pieces from the old VW bug, now in its last disintegration phase.

Just by running my fingers through the coarse soil, I found lots of old, old kukui nuts, whole ones and halves of different colors—black, brown, white, multi—from the neighbor-in-the-back’s tree on the other side of the panax hedge. They were easy to find, a meditative search akin to shell seeking.  In all our years here I never gathered many.

Today I thought I’d rescue the nuts for my friend Kamakea who turns them into jewelry, and I saved them for her.

The kukui fruit with its outer skin covering or husk still intact. On the tree they are a gray-green color.

Next I looked for kukui nuts that were freshly fallen for another friend, Cathy, who makes inamona, a roasted nutmeat relish mashed with paakai (salt) and used in Hawaiian cuisine.

It is a long process to prepare inamona, about as long as it takes to make kukui nut jewelry. Cathy said, as long as the outer covering is still intact, it’s good for inamona. Kukui nuts are seasonal, and they are starting to fall now.

Sure enough, in and among the fallen dried leaves in the corner of the lot were these round fruit. So I scooped those up too. When I have a few more, I’ll deliver them to Cathy.

The kukui tree (Aleurites moluccana) is amazing. It has many uses. It is a canoe plant originally brought to the Hawaiian Islands by Polynesians who arrived here by canoe. You can spot the tree in the mountains by looking for light, mint-green-colored leaves.

In Hawaiian culture the kukui is one of the kinolau (forms taken by a supernatural) of the Hawaiian pig god Kamapuaa; the shape of the leaf resembles the head and ears of a puaa (pig). Freshly plucked leaves with stems on are arranged together by knotting the stems make beautiful lei (wreaths). In laau lapaau (Hawaiian medicine), the mashed kernel, as in inamona, is a laxative and prescribed for relieving constipation.

It is often called the candlenut tree. Kukui means light. Hawaiians skewered the oily kernels and burned them for light. The oil is the preferred oil for polishing wooden utensils for food, such as umeke (bowls) and platters. You can now find the oil on the commercial market as a cooking oil and in cosmetics.

The kukui tree also provides wonderful shade. Mahalo e ke Akua! Combined with the canopy of the avocado tree and a ground carpet of hardy clover, I envision a delightful play space for Miss Marvelous. She’ll just have to duck during the month when the fruit fall.

Copyright 2010 Rebekah Luke

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Categories : About me, Friends & Family, Hawaiian

Three sisters in Shanghai: is one my mom?

13 09 2010

Shanghai, June 9, 1935: Maybe my mother, Aunty Inez, and Aunty Yun

Hello Family (Mom’s side),

While reorganizing and recycling things from the studio, I came across this photo. The handwritten caption reads, “The 3 sisters — who is the tallest? My pumps didn’t help to make me the tallest. Ha! Ha! June 9, 1935.”

Beloved Aunty Yun is at the far right, Aunty Inez is in the middle, and at first glance I identified the sister on the left as my mother, age 18. But looking again, is it she? Maybe, maybe not.

In the 1930s after my grandfather Chong How Kong died, my grandmother Siu Chin and many of her 14 children and their young families went to China from Hawaii, mostly as tourists. Some taught at the university level or worked. With my Uncle Fan’s and Aunty Yun’s tuition and room & board support, my mother went to the University of Shanghai to study music, English, and education.

They were all there until World War II broke out in China, and they made their way back to the Islands. Otherwise they may have stayed in China, and probably I would not be here. Mom continued her college education at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago, returning to Honolulu to teach and direct music when she finished.

My mother was a member of the Mid-Pacific Institute Class of ’34. According to J. H. Kim On Chong-Gossard’s writing, our family genealogist, she traveled alone to Shanghai in September 1935. If she is in the photo, then one of the dates is wrong.

I emailed the photo to Cousin Millie, asking what she thought: Fo-Tsin (my mother) or Lois (Millie’s mother)? For Lois was in Shanghai too. Of course neither I nor Millie was born yet. I just haven’t seen a picture of my mom that full of face, but perhaps at 18 she was heavier than I’m used to seeing her in other photos. I usually recognize her high angular cheek bones. Photographers loved using her as a model.

While waiting for Millie’s opinion, I went through mom’s letters, photos, and other papers I still can’t throw away, even though I have no real heirs to save them for. I guess I’ve saved them for me, for a day like today.

I found one of her report cards from the University of Shanghai dated February 19, 1935. Another records that she entered the U. of Shanghai in Spring 1935.

I also found a letter she wrote to Aunty Nyuk in California, dated January 12, 1934, from Peiping [now Beijing]. Aunty Nyuk kept all of the correspondence, and after she died, the letters found their way to me. With all of my 14 aunties and uncles and their spouses now passed, it’s like piecing together a puzzle to get a fuller picture.

Some things are nice to keep. Unless Cousin Millie thinks that’s Lois on the left, I’ll gladly say, that’s my mom and my aunties!

Copyright 2010 Rebekah Luke

Epilogue: Millie says not her mom.


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Categories : About me, Chong Hee Books, Friends & Family, Memoir

A little piece of paradise . . .

8 09 2010

. . . AND SOME HAWAIIAN PLACE NAMES

Not only am I lucky to live in Hawaii, I’m lucky to live in Hawaii to go sailing!

This past Labor Day DH and I spent most of the day on Kaneohe Bay off Oahu with our good friends Ken and Georgia aboard their 38′ sloop Mariah.

We sailed with main alone, and not having a headsail up meant wider unobstructed views of the shore. This is the view from the bow after leaving the yacht club mooring and passing Moku o Loe (aka Coconut Island). Puu Ohulehule is the triangular peak on the left, and the peak and ridge named Kanehoalani is about 10 degrees to port (left) of the bow.

We’re headed toward Ahu o Laka, a 3.1 acre islet off Kahaluu popularly known as “the sandbar” that is awash at high tide. It’s a popular destination for boats and various water craft on weekends and holidays, and last Monday it was a “zoo!” We opted to sail on by to a quieter spot farther north to anchor for lunch and some kayaking before continuing on to Hakipuu and Kualoa.

Passing the sandbar, from left, Georgia, DH, and skipper Ken. The hill beyond the sandbar in the distance on the left is Puu Hawaiiloa.

Kaneohe Bay is full of reef and shallow areas. In addition to spotting the white reef stakes, the red and green channel markers, and noticing landmarks, local knowledge is a must for piloting one’s way to where we were going. No worries, skipper Ken knows the way!

We sailed among a herd of honu (turtles), big ones. Every few minutes we passed another one. Fresh breeze, calm sea. What a lazy afternoon!

Honu enjoying the habitat of Kaneohe Bay

Soon we could make out Mokolii . . .

Mokolii

. . . and some activity at Hakipuu and Kualoa.

The tallest peak and the ridge extending diagonally left to right from the peak down to the flat land are Kanehoalani. The ridge points to Puu Hawaiiloa across the bay. Hakipuu is on the left of the ridge, and Kualoa is on the right.

Sailing in to Hakipuu beneath majestic Puu Ohulehule. Local knowledge required. We're careful to not run aground!

Ken tells us this little piece of paradise in Kaneohe Bay is just like Tahiti. You wouldn’t have known it was Labor Day weekend.

Copyright 2010 Rebekah Luke

For another look at sailing on Kaneohe Bay, view the video on https://rebekahstudio.wordpress.com/2010/02/28/flying-moths-over-kaneohe-bay/


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Categories : About me, Friends & Family, Hawaiian, Travel

September babies

3 09 2010

Hauoli La Hanau (Happy Birthday) to all of the September babies! Yup, must have been the cozy winter holiday! Greetings to all of my cousins and friends celebrating this month. Too many to list here, and I’m afraid I might miss someone if I did!

Here’s just one: Miss Marvelous’s daddy had a birthday dinner with family on Wednesday, and I snapped their photo. He’s 40-something, and she’s 16 months.


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Categories : Friends & Family

The One-ders of Facebook from my point of view

31 08 2010

Count me among the growing number of so-called older Facebook fans reported on in the broadcast and print press this week. I’ve been persuaded by my younger and smarter friends and family members to hop aboard, presumably to promote my work and stay connected.

In a few short weeks, Facebook did that and more for me. It is definitely social, like being at a party. It’s a great medium for keeping abreast of what the younger folks (and now older folks) are doing and thinking. As a networking tool, its extent is far reaching, and the type of information exchanged is surprising and intimate.

If you’re beginning to feel a little behind the times, just take a leap of faith and get on FB. You’ll be up to date in no time.

THE COUSINS

One of my initial objectives was to keep up with my younger relatives. I asked Miss Marvelous’s mom to tutor me in Facebook. Then with a curious interest  I “friended” my first cousins, and my first cousins once- and twice-removed online. And I’m not speaking of email. The medium of FB itself is friendly and as private as you wish, with encouragement to not just connect, but to interact too.

It’s plain to see through the conversation threads these features:

How well one can build and maintain a fan and fund base if you are a professional entertainer or filmmaker, as my cousins Sunway and Titus do day and night.

Parents use FB as another way to “talk” to their kids, and vice versa, about subjects they may not be able to discuss face to face, i.e., subjects they are likely to read on FB and not hear in person. 😉

Many of my FB friends appreciate fine food, posting photos and details of their most recent culinary adventure. Could be we’re friends because of our similar tastes!

My cousins on FB were the subjects of “The Cousins,” a collection of fresh stick figure drawings by cousin Toy.  I scored an adorable caricature of “Artist Cousin” for my profile photo on my fan page. I think Toy, encouraged by the positive feedback from her relatives online, might pursue her art further.

FB is immediate, so you can get the news headlines before the paper publishes it tomorrow morning.

The words and images some people choose to share are  fill in the blank .

For many people FB is the communications medium of choice or necessity. I re-connected with a young friend now a medic deployed to Afghanistan, and I was alerted via FB’s chat feature by my hanai sister who didn’t have my phone number handy that she fell with her horse and was in the hospital.

THE COUSINS GATHERING

Facebook is immediate and in real time. Not wanting to wait for the next big family reunion of the sort that takes months of planning, I wanted to get to know my younger cousins who already formed a network on FB. They comment on anything and everything and with everyone. I thought, too, it might be nice for them to get to know each other in a different venue. What kind of experience would it be to have them meet and converse in person?

I sent an evite to the cousins who lived on the island, (and who used email — duh), to an informal get-together at the studio, saying, “Log off the computer, it’s time to party!”

Surprisingly to me, while the conversations on FB are very chummy, Sunday’s “Cousins Gathering in the Country” was the first time several of the cousins met each other face to face!

With three generations of adult cousins present, we oldsters realize it’s time to tell the “kids” who’s who in our genealogy.

I brought out the silver gelatin prints that our late cousin Anson made in the 1950s (I inherited them from his widow Ann), and invited my cousins to have the images that had meaning for them. At the end of the evening most of the photos were on their way to new scrapbook albums. Some have already been posted to FB by cousin Tim, I see, and tagged (identified). Imagine having a photo of your great-great-grandmother for the first time!

Cousin Titus brought the short film “Lychee Thieves” (written & directed by Kathleen Man), that he co-produced, about the cast of characters’ individual desires for lychee from a certain tree and the conflicts that ensue. We all concurred, well done!

We talked, ate potluck, cracked jokes, just got to know each other a little better, and everyone went home with some of this season’s three-pound avocados that they watched us pick. It was fun!

Facebook remains a most intriguing social media. I find it enhances the times when you can still pick up the phone to hear your friend’s voice or meet and see your friend in person.

THE WONDER

My teacher AliceAnne Parker said the internet is just practice for what we all will be able to do eventually with our psychic ability. As the Light grid around our planet becomes stronger we will just know. Everything. I wonder if eventually is now. I wonder if Facebook is a means to understanding Oneness. We are One.

Did I say “leap of faith?”

Copyright 2010 Rebekah Luke

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