Extras To Read All About !

  — Brief Notices and Status Reports —

One aim in coming to Hilo was to have a bit of my own private ukulele camp in Hawaii. And to take away more motivation to play and improve. I describe myself as the worst possible combination when it comes to ukulele: truly mediocre at playing, and incredibly enthusiastic. After filling my backpack with groceries at the KTA Super Store, I came to this shop, Hawaiian Ukulele and Guitar, tried out a bunch of ukuleles, and then came back the next day and bought one. I bought a pineapple ukulele, the shop’s own HUG brand, laminate rather than wood, restrung for playing left-handed, soprano-size for travel, and it cost $90. I will have a lesson, too, with the shop owner on Sunday, Christmas Eve.

The shop owner’s son, Dominic, was working the day I came in to buy the uke, and he gave me a nice bit of perspective moving forward. “Don’t say ‘practice,’” he said, “Because ‘practice’ is something you have to do. Just say ‘play,’ because that is always something one wants to do.” I like that. The slight spin in how to look at it feels like a real insight.

Hawaiian Vocabulary

The cabins at the Green Sands Oasis in Na’alehu each have names. There’s Surf ‘n’ Sand, Ocean Emotion, Mahi-Mahi, and mine, No.2.

“Mauka Kane” translates from the Hawaiian as: “Man Up.”

A New Era of Gecko Photography Begins

Yesterday I moved to a different condo here at the Kona Islander, as that is how my reservations worked out, and this new one on the 2nd floor is closer to the ocean and surrounded by trees and birds. And now geckoes hang out with me on my new lanai (outdoor terrace). I give you: Today’s Gecko Gallery.

I find it very comical that geckoes seem to think that if they stop moving, they are completely invisible.

BREAKING BICYCLE NEWS !

I rented this bicycle for 5 days here in Kona.

This concludes our latest Breaking Bicycle News. (I know. This bike matches the sky.) I rented it from Bike Works Kona, 75-5660 Kopiko St, Kailua-Kona, HI, www.bikeworkskona.com, and I can recommend them as an incredibly friendly, no-attitude, really welcoming bike shop which sells bikes, clothes, items for other water and land sports, and a truly excellent range of sports snacks. (Pineapple Scratch Labs Drink Powder! I had never seen this flavor before. It is great mixed into coconut seltzer.) Bike Works Kona is a major supporter and equipment renter for the annual Kona Ironman. And they just sent an entire shipping container of donated bikes and equipment to the wildfire survivors on Maui, and they have a food collection currently in the shop for pets in shelters. Hawaii seems to have the most excellent bike shops.

Fish Stories

An “Extra!” for all anglers, professional and amateur, and also for all the fish nerds. (I count myself among the latter.) I found these pictures and facts, displayed here in Kona, so fascinating! Gigantic fish lurk in the Hawaiian waters, and although it is sort of sad they get caught, it is amazing to get to see them in their enormity.

I would like to make a strong case that this is a picture of my beering-biking-fishing pal Walt Parrish in his Hawaiian Big Fish Heyday!

Updated to add a new picture for Captain Walt:

More Dismal Forays in Wildlife Photography

I had to be careful that header did not imply that the wildlife were somehow dismal. It’s not Dismal Wildlife Photography, as the subjects are all splendid! But the resultant pictures sure are lousy. I give you: only vaguely identifiable parts of swimming, grazing Green Sea Turtles.

I am reasonably confident that these are various turtle parts. I can supply no additional details beyond that. I do know that these turtles were all at the beach at the Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park yesterday, snacking on the algae which covers the rocks along the shore. A nearby nature guide called the place ”A Turtle Buffet.” Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)

I just went over to the Park’s website and found this alert there for today: “Helicopter Operations in the park on January 12th – In order to remove invasive species from the park there will be temporary closures. This will include Hale Ho’okipa Visitor Contact Station and parking lot and the main trail from Hale Ho’okipa to the shoreline. The Visitor Center will open at 11am.” I was planning to return today by bike to see more turtles; I will have to slightly alter my plans to avoid the helicopters removing the invasive species.

Now, that is the sort of circumstance one pretty much never has to be concerned about in Philadelphia, in my experience. Things shutting down for Helicopter Operations. But Hawaii is very unfixed in its nature, and its relationship with Nature. With little notice there can be serious maintenance, eruptions, or storms here. Hawaii, unlike Philadelphia, is not a static place.

Christmas Cartoons from Local Hawaiian Papers

Forgot to post these earlier, but they are both pretty good.

DECENT SEA TURTLE PICTURES!

Some fragment of Hell has definitely frozen over, because I took these pictures of Green Sea Turtles. And in each picture, taken at the Turtle Site beach section of Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park just north of Kona, there is an actually visible Green Sea Turtle. Behold, in the gallery I made for you to click through to see all the turtle photos:

The turtles in this Slide Show Of Turtle Pictures I Still Can’t Believe Were Taken By Me, are, as noted previously, here to eat algae from the rocks. Green Sea Turtles begin life as omnivores, and unusually for turtles, at adulthood become dedicated herbivores. The Park Rangers said that some three dozen or so Green Sea Turtles are at this beach at any time.

The species is endangered, and the cheloniologists who study them still don’t know everything about their life spans, reproductive spans, navigational skills, and migration patterns, as Green Sea Turtles always try to return to the beach where they were born to mate and create nests for their eggs. The largest Green Sea Turtle ever recorded was 5 feet long and 871 pounds. I am 5 feet long. (All cheloniology info here is from “Green Sea Turtles” at www.americanoceans.org.)

Time To Bid “Aloha i kēia manawa” to Hawaii (“Bye for now”)

My time in Hawaii had to end sometime. After a month here, it is time to fly to Seoul, South Korea.

Most sadly it was time to return the bike (the Specialized Sirrus 2.0 aluminum urban hybrid in Arctic Blue and Cool Grey with hydraulic disc brakes) to Bike Works Kona. But I brightened when I got to taste some of their own Bike Works Kona Coffee at their coffee counter (locally organically grown, single-estate, hand-picked, small-batch, egalitarianly provided in both Mountain Bike Blend and Road Bike Roast).

I spent a final morning at my regular spot at Andy’s Coffee in Kona. Some signs still say Oceanfront Coffee & Ice Cream Café, but Andy has bought it. Andy’s mom bakes the tropical banana bread, and makes Lilikoi butter from fresh passionfruit to spread on your bread. (First floor, Waterfront Row Shopping Center, 75-5770 Ali‘i Dr, Kailua-Kona, HI.) I did a lot of writing and banana-bread-eating here.

Then I headed to a flight back to Oahu, a night at an airport motel, and the 3-to-4-entire-movie flight to Seoul. (Why not measure flight-length in movies? I watched Bohemian Rhapsody, the biopic of Freddy Mercury, which was superb; then Ocean’s 13, which was the same as all the other Ocean’s, but still fun because Carl Reiner and Elliot Gould were having a blast; then I found Korean ASMR cooking videos of these incredibly complicated multi-step winter desserts which would have been served to royals at a Korean palace.)

Breakfast in Seoul

At the Zip Hotel, you prepare your own breakfast from the ingredients in the breakfast room. Which means, as it did today, that breakfast in Seoul could look like this, after you scan it with your Papago translation app:

I hope your breakfast, too, was rich in the traditional way of eternity.

And now it’s time to play:
Snowman? Or Syllable in Korean?

Your task is to identify if this is a picture of a Snowman, or a Syllable in Korean. You have 5 seconds for each one.

That is a Syllable in Korean: eung.

Total Snowman.

Syllable in Korean: the letter that makes the “H” sound.

You’re doing well! Round 2!

Syllable in Korean! I think it’s “euhh.”

Syllable in Korean! This one is “ool.”

Absolute Snowman! You did great! I think.

Winter Pastries

I learned that it is traditional to eat fish-shaped pastries in the winter here. So I am doing my best to be traditional.

A Truly Mad Cat Cafe in Suzhou, China

You approach thinking this is just another charming Suzhou row of shops in the attractive old city center.

Study the picture.

It’s a truly mad cat cafe, with cats pouring out onto the roof! One comes right to the edge and peers down, calmly measuring the jump.

Then you hear barking. There is a dog cafe up there too!

The Latest Bicycle News

My bicycle here in Rome no longer makes a super-loud scream when I apply the brakes. The gratitude for this development pouring in from people in my neighborhood is overwhelming. With some help at the Macchia Rossa, a free bike workshop with tools one can use, and some knowledgeable volunteer mechanics, at Via Della Pieve Fosciana 56, which I think is in the Vian Due Torri area of Portuense, my bike now has new brake pads which both work to stop the bike, and don’t make any noise at all.

Just: Silence/ Silenzio.

Birds of Rome

Both parakeets and pigeons wander around in the parks. The parakeets, an invasive bird, are nonetheless a wonderful, colorful surprise.

Italian Word of the Day : merende

I just discovered that Italian has a word for “snacks.” This is important, because I am having difficulty getting to the bottom of whether there is a word for “cookies.” There is the word “biscotti,” which is sort of “biscuits,” but which also refers to a specific kind of a cookie, one that is super crunchy and in a slice shape, and twice-baked (bi-cotto).

So if you go look up “biscotti,” you get notes on a specific kind of cookie, i.e.., almondy, super-crunchy slices, which are related to cantucci, which are also almondy crunchy slices but which seem to me to be smaller, and which also come in the much smaller cantuccini size.

Other cookies in Italy are identified by highly specific, often regional, cookie names, like “Ricciarelli di Siena,” which are these soft, almondy, oval-shaped cookies from Siena, dating back to the 14th century. That’s just an awful lot of cookie information to have to keep in mind, especially when one is hungry.

It would be like if you always had to request a “Massachusetts Toll House Inn Chocolate Chip Cookie,” when all you want is whatever chocolate chip cookie is geographically the closest.

There is always “dolci,” but that is “sweets” or “sweet things” or “desserts,” so now we are in the realm of cakes, tiramisu, and things the size of your head stuffed with cream. There is another word that also means “snacks,” which is “spuntini,” but that seems to really be about bar food: the sorts of mostly savory things you’d have with your beer or aperitivo/ aperitif in a bar. If you ask a group of more than zero Italians about the differences between “merende” and “spuntini,” make sure you are sitting someplace comfortable, because the discussion and inevitable debate will be full of nuanced details and will go on forever.

Anyway, I am really happy to share with you the Italian Word of the Day: “merende.” It means “snacks.”

Where No Mangoes Can Be Your Shopping Headquarters

If anybody needs to know where to pick up a Hot Priests Calendar for 2025, just let me know.

Getting Your Bike Through The Doorway

I have almost enough pictures to craft an entire blog post on the subject of getting a bicycle through the many-sized doorways of Italy. This is because door sizes are totally unpredictable in a place with buildings from so many different historical eras. The doors in your path could be narrow gates, tiny-framed, or a massive ton of ancient carved wood.

What do you mean, “Thank Goodness she wrote ‘almost!’ “

I heard that!

The Final Postal Delivery

Since I had a last week in Roma, I got to pick up my remaining mail. Cats, Moms, and Amish People! Thank you to Theresa, Susan, and Hillary! (And thanks Susan for all the news in your note! I feel all caught up now.)

A sincere thanks to all the pals who sent me mail in Italy. It made me feel, as the owl-eyed man in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby says: “Gonnected.”

The Moka Motion

It’s a long story, but by the time I moved out of my apartment in Rome, there were 5 Moka Pots for making coffee in my kitchen.

The place came with (moving from left to right) the one-cup Moka Pot and the rounder two-cup Moka Pot. These I deemed to be too petite to produce an adequate amount of morning coffee. Then through an escalating series of dramatic events, I added the three-cup Moka Pot, which turned out to be too small, and the four-cup Moka Pot, which turned out to explode, before I went and bought the six-cup Moka Pot, which turns out to deliver an eyeball-busting amount of caffeine. I won’t go into detail regarding how exactly I have come to know all this; I will just conclude with the information that I eventually returned to relying on the three-cup Moka Pot each morning, and shutting the hell up about needing more coffee.

I am convinced that this is what it looks like when your coffee pots are laughing at you.

A Final Bike Ride In North Yorkshire

On my last day in Great Ayton I decided to ride to Swainby for a scone at the Rusty Bike Cafe. It was a lovely day for a ride.

I rode through Great Broughton, Busby, and Kirkby. The Rusty Bike had no Almond-Apricot scones, so I chose a Rusty Rascal, which is scone-esque, with clotted cream and strawberry jam.

Then I made the mistake of reading how many calories are in that container of clotted cream. So for the return ride I pedaled at top speed down the A-172 road to blast through as many as I could, arriving quite out of breath at Low Green in Great Ayton. These are my last shots of Great Ayton, taken from a footbridge over the River Leven.

And it doesn’t get much more picturesque than that.