The Dawning of the Age of Aquarius

All four of us at our house are Aquarians...

You might think we are water babies, since the Aquarius sign is a lady pouring water, but Aquarius is really an air sign. And I feel that sometimes, air headed—am speaking for myself of course.

First Aquarian to have a birthday: Daughter D turned forty last Sunday. And this year she and I will be the same age.

On February 2 Baby Darling will be one year old. In his first short year he has traversed eight states with Daughter D on her and my road trip looking for a place to live, and for fun of course. He listened to our exuberance when we decided that Hawaii was our place to land. He made those numerous trips down the Oregon hill to load the POD with us, and then he traversed our lumpy Hawaiian road 19 times to unload it. He flew to Hawaii twice, once to view this property, and once to move here. He has learned to eat, to crawl, to chase after Mommy, to wave to Grandma, to grow curls, and to give the biggest smile in the world to Fuzzy Fur face, that is Grandpa. He has a busy pointer finger to push buttons and to point to the sky where the moon and stars grace the night, and in the daytime, the clouds poof, and the green leaves flutter against an azure sky. He’s been a busy boy. And we believe that one pointer finger is reminding him and us that there is one thing in life to remember. The trouble is we haven’t found it yet.

In the meantime, for Daughter D’s birthday we went to Hawaii.

Oh, we live in Hawaii? Yes, but we live in the jungle, where we don’t even know there is an ocean out there. Going to Hawaii is traveling to the other side of the island to Kona, and eating at Bubba’s shrimp house, and spending the night in our favorite Condo, The Holua Resort at Mauna Loma Village, and having birthday cake and watching an in-room movie, and going next door to the Sheridan Hotel and having lunch and swimming in their pool.

My hair is clean, my fingernails are clean, I could even wash my hands singing two versions of Happy Birthday to You-- if I wanted to do such a thing. We bathed in abundant hot water. We availed ourselves of their stackable in-room washer and dryer—doing around 10 loads took us about the hours we spent there, but we came home with clean clothing, clean sheets, clean towels, a clean body, and a rested spirit.

Here at home we have two washers and two dryers, but not enough electricity or water to use them. And eventually we will have a propane refrigerator, and a propane range we can trust. In time says Husband D.

Our 12 new batteries for the solar system put us in an extended state of exaltation. So far no power outage. Daughter D and I are ragged from our previous experiences with no electricity though. Husband Darling gets the brunt of our panic. “Conserve power,” we say. “Turn off the computer when you aren’t using it.” “Turn off the light.” Fear turns a person into a royal pain.

Here we are living in one of the rainiest places on earth, but are having drought conditions. El Nino is giving California more water, and giving Hawaii less. Driving home from Kona, though, we found that there is a water fill-up station, where people can fill up a tank in the back of their pickup truck and truck the water home. It’s free. People with water catchment systems have trouble when it doesn’t rain. Little known facts you don’t hear before you move here—like, “It works on Television, but not when you get it home.”

Okay back to Aquarians, it’s the dawning of a new age right? We’re been hearing about that ever since the play Hair hit the scene back in the 60’s, we just didn’t know what that meant. Still don’t, except it means something wonderful. Maybe that’s the one thing Baby D knows and we are trying to find. Be happy.

Four days after Baby D’s birthday mine will come, then four days later Husband Dear’s.

To my girl friends back in Oregon, I will sadly miss our birthday lunch. Can I have a rain check?

Sign in a stable we visited: "Wranglers, don't change a thing. You are wonderful."

Same to all you wranglers out there no matter what you wrangle.

A Baker's Dozen

The Estuary adjacent to Black Sands Beach

“Never forget that regardless of where you are on life’s journey, something unexpected and amazing can lie just around the bend.”

Sometimes this Island is like taking an EST training where they lock you in a room, don’t let you go to the bathroom, and then process the heck out of you.

Good things happen though; yesterday the powers that be didn’t charge us taxes on our Prius. Halleluiah. That car was considered a part of our household goods and thus not taxed. [Appreciation Number One.]

Continuing down our list or errands: Husband Darling needed a new phone as Verizon doesn’t work on our property, so we go to the ATT store. There I find that I have exceeded my minutes by an enormous amount, and have an exorbitant bill. All those phone minutes I used were not for fun either, some were-- talking to wonderful friends and daughter, but mainly they were used handling business. You know, “The menu has changed, please select from the following options.” One, two, three, four, five. “Okay you chose three, now chose from the following, one, two…“Your call is important to us please hold…” “Thank you for your patience.” It took one hour to get my Direct TV disconnected and a box sent from our old address to my daughter’s...except they sent it to the old address. ATT lowered our bill when we signed for a family plan though. [Appreciation number two.]

Coming home, attempting to connect to the Internet, we discovered that somehow, in the process of adding a phone, and more minutes, they turned off our Internet service. I wrung my hands, didn’t want to part with my computer, did anyway.

Husband Darling found a computer repair man who repaired it in his home during one afternoon. I’m back online! [Appreciation three]. This man has connection to a broadband antenna we might avail ourselves of. [Four.]

Daughter Darling and I have decided that the hang loose attitude here is because there are so many irritations, like small parking lots, and small parking spaces, and 35, 45, and 55 mile an hour speed limits, and it taking about three hours to get a checking account, so eventually you give it up and hang loose.

Drivers are nice here. [Appreciation five] They wave you into spaces, wait for you. In Oregon many drivers keep their faces straight ahead and pretend they do not see that you have been signaling for 6 miles.

People here are nice. [Appreciation six]. They are nice to each other and to their Keikis (children). Did I tell you that we have a school on this road? One would never know unless told for it is tucked into the jungle. You wouldn’t believe that people drive this road to deliver their children, but they do. From what we hear it is an alternative school, rather Montessorish, although not Montessori. In driving around, one sees a school on almost every corner, but apparently there is a great draw to the alternative schools and an attraction to home schooling as well. We joked that Baby Darling could walk to school, and if he didn’t like it he could walk home. He’s at the crawling stage now, but the speed in which he travels; he could cover that distance in two shakes of a goat’s tail.

There is wonderful Island grown produce here sold at Outdoor Markets, and Natural food markets abound. [Appreciation seven and eight].The temperature is wonderful, [Nine].and there is no frost on any pumpkins, [Ten] and no frozen pipes, [Eleven], and when it rains, it waters the grounds and fills our catchment system, and cleanses us. [Twelve].

Right now, we need rain, as our water tank is WAY down. We hear there is an El Nino. California gets more rain during an El Nino, Hawaii gets less. Rain baby and you can make the appreciation list a baker’s dozen.

Greetings From The Big Isalnd

Go for too long without food here on the Island and you fall on your face or butt whichever hits the ground first.

Strange, the blood sugar seems to drop before the hunger sets in, but we are learning. Don’t let yourself go too long without food.

On the home front:

The man and his cat arrived—that is Husband Darling and Zoom Zoom our cat who was on a different schedule than the other animals—quarantine, rabies shots, Vet health certificate, all that. Now that is done, and we are all here, two dogs, two cats, three adults, one baby, and the recently acquired two baby goats.

There may be another addition to our family for Daughter Darling is interested in a horse. Yesterday, for the second time, DD and I drove the necessary one and one half hours to view a horse for sale. I was the designed rider. First time I have been on a horse since my fall two years ago. No fancy riding, a safe horse. I felt fine.

In the house, the living room is painted. Now I understand why people paint every wall the same color. You paint one wall and smear the one next to it. You paint that wall and invariably mark on the previous one. I had to do it. I painted all four walls a different color, well a slightly different color. One wall is lime green—lime green is so island--no one will get this color, two custom colors mixed together by me. The first coat was a light green that was too light, I cut it 50/50 with a lime green that was too dark—the result? Perfect. The other wall began as a yellow that was too light. I cut that one 50/50 with an orange that was too dark, and the result was a wonderful Sedona light sunshine yellow/orange. The next wall, same color lightened, I think, 3 to 1, the next 5 to 1. The room looks kissed by sunlight. And the room actually contains a couch, a coffee table, bookshelves, pictures, just like a civilized house. And we have so much vegetation here that I can keep a bouquet of greenery in a vase. We don’t use the room. Might mess it up.

The pickup truck is legal, that is it has its Hawaiian license plates. First you must have the vehicle inspected, and if the insurance isn’t switched to Hawaii--ours wasn’t—you do that. Next you go with the proof of insurance, the vehicle inspection check list, and the Registration to the DMV, get license plates, to back to the inspector, he sign’s off on the insurance and puts an inspection sticker on the vehicle. Repeat with car.

The trouble is, yesterday Husband Dear tried to license the car, that was after I searched boxes and boxes for the Registration—I had all the car papers regarding the purchase—but couldn’t find, until I did, the Registration. Husband Dear took what he thought he needed to the DMV only to find that they will charge us TAXES since that vehicle is a 2010 issue. Yipes. If we had known that we might not have shipped it. Heavens, we wouldn’t want anyone to go to Oregon purchase a new car, have it shipped to Hawaii, go through the process of inspection, insurance, licensing, just to get out of paying taxes.

Enough sarcasm.

I have tell you about the Noni fruit.

I mentioned earlier that we have a Noni tree growing in the back yard. I finally got one fruit off the tree that seems okay, not black rotten. I think I will put it in the food dryer. The tree is losing its leaves which I hope is a winter condition. Sunday at the Sunday Market I met the owners of Estate Noni, and bought a couple of samples. Noni’s nutritive and healing qualities are astounding. And although Noni normally it tastes horrible, the lovely lady said that babies love it. She was right. Baby Darling did. (And their’s really doesn’t taste that bad.)

Noni is high in Vitamin B’s—that ought to help fend off mosquitoes.

Long ago when the courageous voyagers were traveling by canoe from the Polynesian Islands to Hawaii, they brought with them animals and plants for building, for clothing, for dyes, for weapons, and plants for for food. There were 27 “Canoe Plants” among them taro, breadfruit, coconut, and for medicinal purposes, Noni.

This company is the first to us the Chrystosurfactinization Method™ thus improving the taste and preserving the nutritional properties of the plant. While other companies have 10% fruit in their juice, this company puts 5 tree ripened Noni’s into 62 capsules.

The benefits of Noni are astounding, allergy symptoms decreased by 84%, arthritis by 81%, cancer symptoms lessoned, energy increased, heart disease and high blood pressure decreased, mental acuity increased--that was a big study, in 2,983 people, there was a 72% increased alertness. Noni helped people sleep better, stop smoking, reduce stress –wow, I need to go take a slug. (Noni needs to be taken on an empty stomach; otherwise the effects will be nill.)

I would be happy to ship Noni products to you. Maybe start with a sampling of products I can put in a Priority mailer, that way we will know shipping costs. Shipping for a small box, about, VHS sized, it is $4.95. That is the best price for mailing, I mailed a small envelop the other day and it was plus $5. If and when you decide you want a large batch, maybe of capsules or powder, it can go in the medium box for $10.95.

I suggest a small bottle of Noni concentrate that I will sell for $2.50 plus shipping. Maybe include a box of capsules containing green papaya, ginger and Noni that, so they say, will take an inch off your waistline. I think that is $5.00. I will check on this. I suggest filling up one mailer, and Sunday at the Sunday Market I will purchase a sampling to fill up a mailer, and then list the price. Capsules would be the easiest to take and to ship. They are more expensive, $25.00 for 62 capsules. If interested respond to this site or go to my webpage at http://grannyshootsfromthehip.com I will post prices there eventually.

Aloha from our house to yours.

Cleavage

In a Hawaiian parking lot the fellow in the car next to me had his personal rear so close to my door I had to wait while he mooned me. He didn’t mean to, it was just that his pants were so low about 6 inches of cleavage showed.

This was a young man, not a heavy one, a man in shape, one in keeping with the current dress style of low- slung loose pants. I just wondered what was holding his pants up.

DD and I began wondering about cleavage. What is it these days, women have half a breast showing and men have half a butt showing? I have nothing against cleavage, I appreciate it, but sometimes it seems inappropriate, like for a bank teller. And television, a lawyer is discussing her briefs while her college tries not to look down. Is this similar to the phenomon of skirt lengths rising and falling in reverse proportion to the economy?

This is trivial, I know, but I need some triviality. Better than me worrying about how old I am looking.

First on the agenda:

My website http://thefrogssong.com, doesn’t work. My site is still http://grannyshootsfromthehip.com To change it means a new domain name, etc. etc. I don’t want to do that right now. I can title it The Frog’s Song, I suppose, or Maybe Big Island, small world, or Life on the Big Island. What do you think? Any suggestions? I like Meredith’s suggestion of “There’s a Pod in the Papaya Field.”

When we drive past the spot where the shipping container was once parked we feel nostalgic, and miss the Pod. Just seeing it, not unloading it.

Second: An epiphany:

If you have had as many spiritual teachings, listened to as many tapes, followed as many disciplines as I have you might think, too, that you ought to have it together. You ought to be able to take life’s bumps with grace. In fact, according to many teachings, you ought not to have any bumps, for you ought to focus on what you want, keep your mind on the task at hand, ask, and all good things will come to you. Well, I think it works more this way, yes, we ought to keep a positive attitude, yes, a strong belief will carry you though, yes, thoughts create, yes, indeed, go for what you want, but there is another side.

You have probably heard this story of the person talking to God. Says the person: “In looking back I see two sets of footprints, one set is mine, the other is yours. We walk side by side. However in times of trouble, I see only one of prints. Does that mean you have deserted me?”

“No, during those times, I was carrying you.”

I think when we have done the action, when we have struggled, thought, made every effort to find an answer, that we do not need to harangue ourselves that we are not doing it right. We aren’t focusing enough. We aren’t positive enough. We aren’t holding fast to the principles. It is during those times that the great spirit–call it what you will--springs forth, and carries us.

Okay, a day in Hawaii:

On January 2, Baby Darling’s 11th month birthday, we drove to a farm and looked at baby goats. Daughter Darling decided to buy two adorable little baby girls. They have been bottle fed, and are thus are attached to people, are friendly, and climb all over you. (You can tell the difference between momma fed babies and bottle fed kids, for, those raised on a bottle are much more people friendly.) Both kids have about two more weeks of bottle feeding, and today, after preparing an enclosure, and purchasing milk replacer, we brought them home.

The owner has a number of goats, and she will give the little does a free breeding in about a year. The owner purchased three kids with the intent of donating them to a third world country where the infant mortality is 40%. With a nanny goat a family can help feed itself, rather like Heifer International.

However, there was so much governmental red tape that it didn’t seem possible, and thus she is selling them to us.

Oh my goodness, while I was writing God turned up her rheostat again and it is light outside.

A new day in Paradise.