Mokihana’s Garden

Ho, I wen get so caught up at da Farmer’s Market, and we still dea! Nah nah… hea da rest of da photos from dea. Read the rest of this entry »

The other afternoon, shortly before the sun was going down, I went outside on our lanai just to enjoy the view and see if any of my tomatoes or beans were ripe. The sun was just beginning its final descent over the mauka [toward the sea] hills, and I stood there enjoying the last of its warmth, very aware that soon it would be dark, and the view lost to me.

Because my mother’s death and all that surrounded it have continued to take up so much of my time and energy these past weeks, I’ve often said to my closest friends, “I missed summer!” Ordinarily I look forward to Autumn and its glorious colors even though it signifies that the rains will soon be here, and gray days will replace the bright ones of summer. But this year I have been wishing that I could be like the legendary Hawaiian demi-god Maui, who captured the sun and made it slow down for six months out of the year so that his mother could have more time for her kapa to dry. I have been craving the bright, sunny days of summer, knowing all too well that just as night was coming as I stood there out on my lanai, winter was coming and with it, the shorter, darker months that I wanted to somehow delay.

As I stood there, suddenly I saw a spider spinning her web, its delicate strands caught in the rays of the setting sun. I just stood there, in awe, and I realized that God was speaking to me as I watched the spider making her way from one end of the web to the other. He said, “Mokihana, you resent the coming darkness, but look at the treasure I have for you in the midst of it! You never would have seen this spider if the sun hadn’t been setting!”

I realized then that what I was seeing and hearing had much bigger implications. I also saw that so often I tend to see only the darkness in my life, forgetting that along with it, are moments bright and shining, if only I’ll take time to stop and look for them. Too often I miss the miraculous.

Mahalo, ke Akua, for speaking to me this way. For helping me learn to be transformed by the renewing of my mind, and for allowing me to see your humble creature dressed in royalty even as darkness begins to settle over the land.

Last month when Nolemana and I went down to my mom’s for the memorial service, clean out da hale [hah-leh = house] and be with my ‘ohana, we went to the Farmers Market there in Los Gatos. The color of all the fruits and veggies, mostly unlike what I can get up here in the cooler Northwest climate, inspired my latest offering for WFW.

I love gardening! I love planting the veggie seeds, seeing them pop through the surface and begin to grow. I love harvesting the crops. I even love pulling weeds that take nourishment from my “babies”.

I bet God is equally delighted with the variety of colors and textures that He has created. I bet He is pleased when I get speechless over a vendor’s displays at a farmers’ market, as I did with this one. Sometimes, when I see a display like this, I wonder if He even says, “Wow! Look at that!”

(The photo is huge… that’s a server problem… sorry for the distortion. Hopefully it’ll get fixed later.)

*** Alla stuffs hea on my blog stay copyrighted. Dat means photos, words, typos, hamajangs of any kine. If u kakaroach [steal] um, den I going hunt you down and give you da giant slippah and whack u wit um until u promise u nevah going do dat again. And eh! I whack hard and I get plenny menehunes can track u down. And eh! I whack hard and I get plenny menehunes can track u down. Copyright © 2008. The content on this blog is the sole property of the author. Dat would be ME! ***

When my dottah and I stay down my mom’s da first time, we wen notice had one Farmer’s Market across da street from our hotel. But was aftah my mom wen mahke [die], and everything stay so hamajang I neva even wen try go dea. Read the rest of this entry »

Da first couple of days in Los Gatos, we wen get started on da enormous job of deciding who was going get wat, how we going hando if two peeps like have da same ting, and how much we going do. Our maddah was not one packrat (like me, but I wen learn my lesson!), but still had plenny stuffs. Read the rest of this entry »

As an experiment this year, I ordered some pole beans seeds from University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. Read the rest of this entry »

Here is my offering for today. I took this photo of an old barn up near Lyle, Washington, when Nolemana and I took a drive up in that area. I love the look of the barn, and thought this scripture went perfectly with it.

*** Alla stuffs hea on my blog stay copyrighted. Dat means photos, words, typos, hamajangs of any kine. If u kakaroach [steal] um, den I going hunt you down and give you da giant slippah and whack u wit um until u promise u nevah going do dat again. And eh! I whack hard and I get plenny menehunes can track u down. And eh! I whack hard and I get plenny menehunes can track u down. Copyright © 2008. The content on this blog is the sole property of the author. Dat would be ME! ***

In her closet, foa alla years dat I can remembah, my mom kept one old, old, hand-carved Chinese chest. Inside it she kept all her treasures, like letters from my papa-san, old photos, stuffs lidat. Read the rest of this entry »

I am speechless… which is a pretty difficult thing to do foa one Portagee. LOL. Read the rest of this entry »

We wen decide to stay and wala‘au wit Nolemana’s ‘ohana even doe we knew it meant we were going get into commute traffic. Cuz we neva know when we going see dem again, and ‘ohana is ‘ohana. If we had known wat was going happen, den we woulda stayed chru dinnah. But u know wat dey say about hindsight. Read the rest of this entry »

Amy over at The 100-Acre Woods has this neat thing she does every Wednesday.

This is my first offering; I love the idea, and though my Photoshop Elements skills are only at the beginner stage, I hope to learn more as I go along.

I took this photo of my hibiscus just before I left for California for my mother’s memorial service/clearing out her house time. We were gone for 11 long days, and while going through everything I was going through, it helped to know that ke Akua [God] never let me stray from His shadow.

*** Alla stuffs hea on my blog stay copyrighted. Dat means photos, words, typos, hamajangs of any kine. If u kakaroach [steal] um, den I going hunt you down and give you da giant slippah and whack u wit um until u promise u nevah going do dat again. And eh! I whack hard and I get plenny menehunes can track u down. Copyright © 2008. The content on this blog is the sole property of the author. Dat would be ME! ***

I wen leave da motel reluctantly; I coulda watched all nā manu and da koi much longer. But we had to be in Walnut Creek around noon foa visit Nolemana’s sistah dem and have lunch. So off we wen go. Read the rest of this entry »

I had one hard weekend. And da buggah no stay pau yet. So I offer some comic relief.

Gotta be local to fully appreciate Rap Reiplinger but.

I wen try make da video come right hea, but no can.

At about 10:30 p.m., we wen pull into da motel wea we had reservations, da Best Western in Red Bluff, CA. We alla time get good experiences wit Best Western, and I coulda chosen one in Redding. Read the rest of this entry »

K’den. By dis time, we had been on da road foa five hours. Poor Musubi. He no stay used to alla travelling, and he wen decide… Read the rest of this entry »

Warning, graphics intensive. K’den. I know I like to take ukubillion photos. Everytime we go holoholo ka‘a I take plenny. I know when I go odda peeps blogs I love seeing plenny photos. Adunno how many chapters dis journey going take… but going be plenny! So hang on! Enjoy da ride. Read the rest of this entry »

We are back home in Oregon. Back to the green, the mountains, the clean air, the rivers… and where I don’t have to pump my own gas! Read the rest of this entry »

Despite the fact that my mother just died and my life is full of conflicting feelings… Read the rest of this entry »

Every year, all our veggie gardening has to be done out on the lanai. We had such a cool spring in Oregon that I’m not sure how the veggies are going to do, but the flowers sure are nani! Read the rest of this entry »