Almost Paradise

I hiked the Mānana Ridge Trail yesterday with the Hawaiian Trail & Mountain Club. More to come, once I recover.

More manapuas seen at 7-Eleven.

Ack! I spoke too soon. The IAU’s twelve-planet idea was a proposal, not a final decision. Today the astronomers of the world actually voted on the proposal, and decided to add one more criterion to the definition of planet: you can’t be a planet unless you’ve swept your orbital path clean. That rules out Ceres… and Xena… and Pluto and Charon. So much for an expanded planetary family!

Today marks two years that I’ve been biking to work. In the past year I biked to work 66 days and drove to work 132 days, quite a decrease from last year. I chalk it up to a busier life: shuttling the kids to and fro, running errands, etc. But 66 days a year is still at least one bike commute a week, and that’s better than none at all.

It’s been in the newspapers this week: the International Astronomical Union has decided that it’s time to welcome a few new members into the solar system’s roster of nine planets. And while they were at it, the astronomers’ union decided to clarify the definition of exactly what counts as a planet.

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Seen at 7-Eleven.

“Chunky Peanut Butter with grape jelly. Everyone’s favorite snack!”

I am not sure if this is more wrong, or less wrong, than the sloppy joe manapua a few months ago. Either way, I feel kinda sick.

Last Sunday I hiked the Lanipō Trail, above Kaimukī. It’s been almost two years since my first time on that trail, and more than six months since the last time I did a Koʻolau ridge hike. Oh, my aching thighs. For the next three or four days I winced as I climbed up and down stairs, and when I got into and out of chairs.

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We have had family in town for the past week visiting from out of state, so we’ve been going out and doing stuff. Last Friday we headed to Makapuʻu Lighthouse for a morning hike. Straight up the cliff face to the top of the hill, then back down on the access road, just like Stuart Ball suggests in his book. I’ve done it probably four or five times in as many years. It’s a fun and fairly easy hike.

I hadn’t been up to Makapuʻu for about a year and a half, and things have changed up there! DLNR has enlarged the lookout parking lot, added a separate lot for hikers using the access road, made them both ADA-compliant, etc. Problem is, they’re not quite done.

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And just like that, B&S Store is now Shimazu Store. They opened last Friday, according to Mr. Shimazu himself who was operating the shave ice machine. His teenaged son was manning the counter. I had a li hing mui shave ice — it was sweet and salty and sour and really great on a hot afternoon. Yup, still the same shave ice.

There was a sign up on the wall near the door from the Higas:

I know the text is illegible in my crappy photo, so here’s what the sign says:

WE HAVE RETIRED!

With warmest ALOHA, we wish to thank all who have become more than just customers to us over our 55 years of operating B & S Store. It has been a pleasure to serve our many FRIENDS from all over the island as well as from the mainland. As we now enjoy a long and restful vacation, the memories of seeing generations of families enjoy our shaved ice will always be with us.

Please welcome and patronize the new proprietors of the Shimazu Store in the coming years.

May you all enjoy a life of continued happiness and good health.

All our love,
Mom & Pop Higa

Aloha, Mom & Pop. And aloha, Mr. Shimazu and son!

B&S Store was on School Street, near Frog Lane, between Aʻala Street and Liliha Street above the freeway. We used to live nearby, and when I took the kids for walks at Liliʻuokalani Gardens I’d invariably make a detour and we’d all have shave ice at B&S. I thought their shave ice was just as good as the shave ice at Waiola Store — it’s just that B&S didn’t get all the publicity.

Now that we live in Kalihi, I rarely stop there any more — although I pass by in the mornings and afternoons on my bike route to work. It’s been open less and less in the afternoons the past year or so.

This afternoon, as I was pedaling past, a sign caught my eye:

Ai-yah. They’re closing? Curse this sudden but inevitable turn of events! It’s the way things go with mom and pop stores; eventually mom and pop decide they’re tired and want to stop running the store. “B&S” meant Betsy and Seiko Higa, the owners. They were always nice to me when I went there.

Well, at least the new owners will still have shave ice.