Frances invited me to provide all of you with a window on Hawaii and things Hawaiian. I'm barely qualified to do this because I have lived here on Oahu for only a year, but perhaps fresh eyes see more. It all looks new to me.
I know Frances from an Internet writing workshop where Frances has submitted interesting stories of life in Australia. My stories were about my job as a secretary in a large corporation in Los Angeles, California; about living with a passionate trombone player; about retiring; about polishing up our little bungalow for sale; selling it; and moving to Hawaii--a place chosen by my husband because, being originally from Tokyo, he has a lot of family in Japan. He hopes that, the trip to Hawaii being shorter than the trip to Los Angeles, they'll visit us more frequently. I hope they won't. Oh, I like them all just fine, but I'm not very social and my idea of a good time is a whole, quiet afternoon in which to write.
We live in the small (about 50,000 souls) Oahu-windward town of Kailua, within a fifteen-minute walk of a very nice beach and a five-minute walk of Kailua downtown, but fortunately a half-an-hour's drive from the bright lights of Waikiki. We've got shops and restaurants and doctors and lawyers and car repair garages, and a Buddhist temple here, just about anything you'd want. But, if we need something fancy (like a mattress or a computer or shoes), we have to drive over the Pali (the spectacular pass over the Ko'olau mountains) up, up, and up--zig zagging up the face of a nearly perpendicular lava escarpment, and then down, down, down a lovely straight-away through a wooded valley, toward the high rises of big-city Honolulu with the sea in the background. This place is full of contrasts. 'Our' beach looks toward two gum-drop-shaped island just a few hundred meters off the point. People have weddings and parties on the little beach on one of the islands. There's quite a contrast between our beach and Waikiki.
I know Frances from an Internet writing workshop where Frances has submitted interesting stories of life in Australia. My stories were about my job as a secretary in a large corporation in Los Angeles, California; about living with a passionate trombone player; about retiring; about polishing up our little bungalow for sale; selling it; and moving to Hawaii--a place chosen by my husband because, being originally from Tokyo, he has a lot of family in Japan. He hopes that, the trip to Hawaii being shorter than the trip to Los Angeles, they'll visit us more frequently. I hope they won't. Oh, I like them all just fine, but I'm not very social and my idea of a good time is a whole, quiet afternoon in which to write.
We live in the small (about 50,000 souls) Oahu-windward town of Kailua, within a fifteen-minute walk of a very nice beach and a five-minute walk of Kailua downtown, but fortunately a half-an-hour's drive from the bright lights of Waikiki. We've got shops and restaurants and doctors and lawyers and car repair garages, and a Buddhist temple here, just about anything you'd want. But, if we need something fancy (like a mattress or a computer or shoes), we have to drive over the Pali (the spectacular pass over the Ko'olau mountains) up, up, and up--zig zagging up the face of a nearly perpendicular lava escarpment, and then down, down, down a lovely straight-away through a wooded valley, toward the high rises of big-city Honolulu with the sea in the background. This place is full of contrasts. 'Our' beach looks toward two gum-drop-shaped island just a few hundred meters off the point. People have weddings and parties on the little beach on one of the islands. There's quite a contrast between our beach and Waikiki.
I would not have moved to Hawaii without the Internet. I need community and contact. But, that said, and my high-speed DSL in place, I'm quite happy here. I can talk to Frances and my other writing friends anywhere in the world any time I like.
When we moved here, I though too that the Internet was also a great place to shop, that I could buy anything I couldn't find here. Not true. Yes, I can go to catalogs and store sites, BUT, many companies do not ship to Hawaii, even if you plead with them and promise to pay any extra shipping costs. They're just not interested. That was a shock that gave me my first little dose of 'island fever.' Suddenly, I felt isolated. Back in Los Angeles you could get anything, ANYTHING. I'm spoiled. But, I am learning about all the things I don't really need. I mean if the million or so people on this island don't need whatever it is that I wanted, do I really need it? Probably not.
We were looking forward to the clean air in Hawaii. Many of you may have heard about Los Angeles Smog. Yes, it's as bad as they say it is. Clean island air was a big draw for me here. Another surprise -- we have VOG instead of smog. The Big Island has a couple of big volcanoes, one of which, Kilauea, has been erupting now and again for the past 20 years. It's also been spewing out gas, sulfur dioxide, in regular spurts. It used to produce VOG only once in a while, but the episodes have been getting longer, stronger and closer together, and, when the trade winds die down, the VOG drifts to the other islands, causing people to experience asthma-like wheezing and burning, itching eyes. Sometimes the VOG is invisible, but sometimes, the islands are draped in a veil of stinging mist. Farmers on the Big Island are losing crops - the acidic sulfur dioxide withers the leaves and stunts the plants--flowers, fruit, vegetables. No one knows what to do.
When we moved here, I wanted to move to the Big Island--so pristine, clean, quiet, safe. . . . Boy, am I glad that my husband insisted on Oahu.
When we moved here, I though too that the Internet was also a great place to shop, that I could buy anything I couldn't find here. Not true. Yes, I can go to catalogs and store sites, BUT, many companies do not ship to Hawaii, even if you plead with them and promise to pay any extra shipping costs. They're just not interested. That was a shock that gave me my first little dose of 'island fever.' Suddenly, I felt isolated. Back in Los Angeles you could get anything, ANYTHING. I'm spoiled. But, I am learning about all the things I don't really need. I mean if the million or so people on this island don't need whatever it is that I wanted, do I really need it? Probably not.
We were looking forward to the clean air in Hawaii. Many of you may have heard about Los Angeles Smog. Yes, it's as bad as they say it is. Clean island air was a big draw for me here. Another surprise -- we have VOG instead of smog. The Big Island has a couple of big volcanoes, one of which, Kilauea, has been erupting now and again for the past 20 years. It's also been spewing out gas, sulfur dioxide, in regular spurts. It used to produce VOG only once in a while, but the episodes have been getting longer, stronger and closer together, and, when the trade winds die down, the VOG drifts to the other islands, causing people to experience asthma-like wheezing and burning, itching eyes. Sometimes the VOG is invisible, but sometimes, the islands are draped in a veil of stinging mist. Farmers on the Big Island are losing crops - the acidic sulfur dioxide withers the leaves and stunts the plants--flowers, fruit, vegetables. No one knows what to do.
When we moved here, I wanted to move to the Big Island--so pristine, clean, quiet, safe. . . . Boy, am I glad that my husband insisted on Oahu.
And as the sun sets on Oahu... until next time.
1 comment:
Hello Alice...it is so nice to "meet" you.
I have just enjoyed a delightful read re your move to the islands.
I am looking forward to seeing more of your writing.
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