Last year was quite a year, wasn’t it? While we may have lost friends and relatives, we will not be sad for too long, because the new year has blessings for us. We used to set new year’s resolutions. Then there were affirmations. This year I would like to suggest setting intentions. Here are mine, on a vision board reminiscent of a bubble chart. You can make one, too, as fancy or as unfancy as you like. Here is my vision board.
“Did your mom always give you a birthday party?” I asked Pete, because he was born on December 20, so near to Christmas. “Always,” he said. And tonight we will celebrate a big birthday with dinner for eight. This begins our December holiday season.
Actually, it started on the 16th when high school friends and The Band Tantalus augmented by Ned on second guitar and Wendall on keyboard came over sing “carols at the spinet,” so to speak, to play music or kanikapila as we say in Hawaiian.
Kanikapila
Tonight is the birthday dinner at home. Three other couples are coming, meaning table settings for eight. We will sing again, I’m sure. Four are choristers eager to practice Handel’s “Messiah.” Two of us will sing sections of it Sunday evening with our community choir at our director’s home. It is a performance for ourselves, unless the plan changes at the last minute. This year we are mindful of the pandemic viruses.
Monday, Pete’s actual birth-DAY, our two granddaughters come over for the whole day. They are on winter break from school. We’re baking sugar cookies (easy peasy with store-bought refrigerated cookie dough) and making fresh Christmas garlands.
For Christmas Eve day, a friend is hosting a party for another friend whose birthday is coming up. Party, party!
Looking at the Christmas tree, I see presents await. That’s the countdown to Christmas Day!
Today and tomorrow I am happy to share space at ARTS at Marks Garage, 1159 Nuuanu Ave., in Honolulu Chinatown. Bernadette Chan and I are peddling ceramics and repros, and Nathan is here serving fancy coffee at his Cool Beans Coffee Shop. come and see us! ~Rebekah
We are so very blessed and grateful to have family and friends with whom to share a Thanksgiving Day meal. Mom is in her mid-90s now. Everyone helped to prepare the food. Love to all.
The plants around me are catching my attention these days. On this drizzly morning I took a walk along the lane and noticed the trees. Only the avocado thought it might be Autumn as it is in North America. But in Hawaiʻi, it’s Hoʻoilo, or the wet season.
How does your garden grow? Do you know where your food comes from? In North America, the fall season is harvest time. My hubby Pete and his family harvested peaches, apples, tomatoes, and cucumbers; they ”put up” or preserved the surplus to eat later.
Here in the Islands, in our own small garden, we are thankful for these fruits and vegetables:
Ma’afala breadfruitStarfruit (carambola)CalamansiSweet potatoAvocadoNoni (Morinda citrifolia)Red hibiscus for teaHaden mangoLilikoʻi passion fruitFigKukui (candlenut) treeKukui nuts for ʻinamona
There you go! If you don’t have room for a garden, consider growing in pots, perhaps even a tray of herbs in your kitchen. Or you could go to the local farmers market and support a local grower. 👩🌾
This Rebekah’s Studio is the blog created by the Rebekah who lives in the small village of Kaaawa on the island of Oahu. A journalist, artist, and healer by training, I invite you on any part of my journey shared here. I use a full palette, so come along, let’s see what unfolds together!
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