5.0 Thanksgiving

My thanksgiving day started big-island-style with a 5.0 earthquake, centered just north of Kailua-Kona on the Kohala coast – same place the last one was, a month ago (though that one was considerably larger). My condo was rattling and shaking – though i am from California so earthquakes are nothing new. I thought my kids […]

My thanksgiving day started big-island-style with a 5.0 earthquake, centered just north of Kailua-Kona on the Kohala coast – same place the last one was, a month ago (though that one was considerably larger).

My condo was rattling and shaking – though i am from California so earthquakes are nothing new. I thought my kids were doing some sort of smackdown wrestling on the stairs above my head, until I realized the shaking was in waves, and coming from behind me, not above.

Later, sipping coffee on my lanai, I heard the woman in the condo below me calling home; she was describing the ‘quake to someone on the mainland, and said ‘…and at first I thought, what are those people upstairs doing now?

‘Quakes are not a big deal around here; it’s a volcanic island, some of the newest land in the world. But still, it got people’s attention. If got mine, certainly.

My original plan for this holiday included my in-laws (you remember, in-law vs outlaw), though they wound up having to cancel for medical reasons, and a luau though we found that no one seems to run a luau for thanksgiving (imu roasted turkey sounds like a great idea to me, but what do I know.) When we didn’t find a thanksgiving luau, we consulted the in-laws and chose an island-style thanksgiving buffet at the Mauna Lani Orchid to satisfy the in-laws desire for something traditional.


If it had been all up to me, I’d have been making grilled Opah, huli-huli chicken, ahi or ono poke, and some sort of rum concoction or bloody marys. But the reservations are made, and damn if this menu doesn’t sound good.

There’s one week left in my trip. I have my stack of books mostly unread, i’ve written little, and my list of things i want to do is smaller, but not done. I’ve had that sort of trip, busy in a good way, with lots of diving, lots of beach time, but almost zero stress. I could get used to this.

As usual, i picked up a local real estate magazine and am thinking, what would I do it i move here? And I know there’s something. I can dive master (i am a fucking good diver, and I forget how good); i can boat captain. And there has to be an employer who will let me do engineering work from here.

As usual the thing that stops me in schools. My kids laugh when I say home school and i laugh with them, for home-school is another word for infanticide, if practiced my me. The schools here are terrible, in general, with a very few exceptions, those being just not-very-good.

But each year as the kids grow older that issue gets smaller, and i tell you, one of these times I’ll go meet a real-estate guy instead of a bartender and I’ll cash in some investments and i’ll have a new mailing address.

I’ve done a bit of writing; i have a story brewing in my head, based on a friend’s fantasy, which I’ve re-worked slightly. I’ve only written outlines, but maybe, before I leave, I’ll work on it. Again, too many ideas, not enough time, but the creativity is back, which is what matters. I have things i want to write but no time, vs. time with no ideas. I prefer the former.

But now it’s time to go lie in the sun for a bit and rest up for this evening’s feast; eating, as the Hawaiians at a luau, not ’til I’m full, but until I’m tired.

6 thoughts on “5.0 Thanksgiving”

  1. Hon, your vacation is doing JUST what it’s supposed to… Destressing you.
    And the muse has decided to pay a visit. This is very cool, hon… Very cool. Have a beautiful time, ‘kay?

  2. Some Hawaiian neighborhoods have a common imu pit where they pitch in their foil-wrapped turkeys. The cool thing is, during the cooking process, all the different seasonings kind of form a communal seasoning, which your turkey absorbs.

    Someday I’ve GOT to go back.

  3. …the creativity is back…

    I’m so glad. Now, remember…go after it with a club.

    Write as much of that story as you can while you’re steeped in the right feelings and conditions; who knows where you’ll be when you get back and if as a result you’ll lose time and focus. Don’t let it escape.

    And hey, now you may have some clue of what you need in order to get it and keep it going, no?

    And hey again…now that you’ve got it, howsabout givin’ me some of that.

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