gotta hele on
today i finished up my work trade by painting this table:
yes, those are nekkid ladiez in two of the petals. it’s an aesthetic of which mojo (the owner of hedonisia) is quite fond, and hey i aim to please.
also, by the way, the finished floor in maiʻa hale (slightly awkward photos due to limited space in which to take them):
it’s already a little grubby by virtue of being, you know, a floor. i did the lettering and i’m pretty pleased with it–though i did learn soon after we finished this that the apostrophe in “maiʻa” is actually an ʻokina, which looks more like an upside-down apostrophe, like so:
ʻ
oh well! you probably can’t tell, but every ʻokina in this entry is actually a proper ʻokina, thanks to my mad html skillz. and google.
this afternoon i packed most of my things, shaking out all my dirty laundry just in case, because i’d hate to be accused of attempting to illegally transport millipedes to the mainland when my bags go through agricultural inspection tomorrow morning. hah!
here are some things i will not miss about living in puna:
there are lots more things i will miss, of course.
last night i think i accidentally killed two tiny coqui frogs–maybe a quarter-inch long each–while trying to sweep them off of my computer screen. last night while sitting around a bonfire i was startled when a snail crawled across one of my toes (yes, startled by a snail). but mostly i’m cool with everything with four or fewer legs.
tonight as the sun set i went for a walk down the street with all three of the kids currently living here (two, four and seven years old), just me and them. i think i need to get a dog or something, friends.
i’m leaving here at 6:30 tomorrow morning. see you soon, portland!
thank you
i gotta take this space to write some thank yous.
first, to madame pele, for welcoming me to her island with such generosity and plenty.
second,
to lauren, who has been incredibly kind, generous and welcoming.
to her family, especially her mother kathy and her grandfather dick.
to mojo, lloyd, lee, josh, joe, elesha, saffron, sage, alice, chris, christian, richard, claudia, sam, max, stone, kelly, bastian, thi and everyone else at hedonisia.
i generally haven’t been attaching anyone’s names to my blog posts here, though i have been posting pictures that include the people i’ve met. i’ve kind of been assuming that people sorta figure that digital photos might or even probably will end up online, but that blogging is another can of beans. i’d like to respect everyone’s personal boundaries, and i hope they don’t mind my listing their names here… but i really do want to acknowledge everything that the people listed above have done for me in my time here in puna. they have all been incredibly warm and welcoming and i feel privileged and lucky to have stumbled into their acquaintance.
lastly (but of course not leastly)…
though i am here in hawaii independent of my family and friends in the pnw, i feel in some ways that i have a partner here, though he is actually on the other side of the world. i hope he doesn’t mind me posting this here. i would not be here in hawaii if not for him (for better or worse–hah!) and he has been a big part of my healing here. he’s helped me learn how to forgive myself, him, and everyone/everything else for the unfortunate events of this past summer, and, i hope, vice versa. regardless of how things shake out, i know that he’s incredibly important to me and i hope we can remain in each other’s lives.
you know who you are. mahalo and namaste… and happy birthday (i think it’s the 13th where you are!).
i go home in less than a week. i think it’s about time. still, hawaii has been good to me.
i’m working on painting the ceiling in the barn for my work trade today. i’m pretty sure i have paint in my hair, and i know i have paint in one of my eyebrows. a lot of the clothes i brought here will come home with paint stains and splotches; i think that obviously the “solution” to this “problem” is to paint more when i get home.
