The Adventures of LitBoy: Bill Brent's Blog

I AM INWINCIBLE!

GAH.

I go for my usual half-hour walk around 5:30 p.m. It is my first time this week without any head covering, so of course I get hit by a raincloud about eight minutes in. I run most of the way back home. The rain stops. Frustrated but determined to do something with my now pumped-up heart energy, I yank our shovel out of the ground, where it has been propping up a new sapling purchased at last week's Plant It Hawaii sale; the young potted tree is prone to falling over until I can get it in the ground.

I start digging into the lava cinder soil in the corner of our front lawn, a hole I have been digging for the last several days. Eight inches down, I have hit solid rock, as with everywhere here, so I decide to go for width rather than depth. Something tells me that if I persist within this particular spot, I will be rewarded.

In frustration, I start banging the metal shovel head against the rock floor, chipping away at an angle. The floor starts to give, breaking up a bit to yield several chunks small enough to fit within my palm. I excavate the chunks, along with the copious lava cinder generated by my widening. Then I sense a larger, looser chunk of rock at the base of this hole -- the true mother lode here. By digging on all sides, and widening out the hole even further, I determine that this boulder is nearly a foot across and quite deep. If only I could get Madam Pele to give it up.

So I get a small trowel to prop this giant, loosening chunk on one side while I attempt to pry it out with the shovel. It is growing dark, and so far I have a few small rocks, several shovelfuls' worth of cinder, and one mosquito bite to show for my efforts. Yet I persist; this is no longer about a hole in the ground; it is about my frustration with the Hawaiian elements, and my fierce determination to move on with my life. I am tired of digging holes. I want this bounteous Hawaiian earth to sustain us, and I especially want to enjoy someday a tall glass of lemonade taken from the tree that I am resolved to plant within this niche.

Five minutes more, and I feel a small blister forming beneath these garden gloves. I dig into the earth with my fingers and yank at the boulder. It yields. The hole is now a good six inches deeper, enough at last to plant this lemon tree. It is dark now. Tomorrow I will return to put this tree into the hole and nurture it within Pele's stubborn yet fecund earth.

--BB ... Angry White Male?

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Wishing you a beautiful day,

Bill Brent

[this page last updated: 2008.05.08, 8:30 p.m. Hawaii time]

LitBoy.com is a professional blog. If you enjoy this blog, please use the Tip Jar at the top of this page. Your two-dollar minimum donation helps keep this banner-free site alive. It's quick and easy!

20.00 / $200.00 (10.0%)

This meter displays this year's contributions to date in U.S. dollars and my annual goal of $200. Make a donation, watch the meter rise! Usually I post your contribution on my next blog post.

All original materials here on LitBoy.com (writing, photos, drawings, graphics, etc.) belong to Bill Brent. If you want to re-use something here, please ask. Higher resolution images are available.

2008.05.01, Picture of the Day, Big Island of Hawaii

A LITTLE GREEN BIRD FLEW BY THIS MORNING.

Anyone care to I.D. this elusive one? He usually shows up around 8 a.m. Very fast, flies around the yard, and then disappears. It took me many months to get pictures this good. Not a lot bigger than a hummingbird. He is quite iridescent. Sometimes I see one or two of his kin flitting through the woods here and there late in the day.

UPDATE: This bird is a JAPANESE WHITE EYE. Thanks to Gary and Jacqui who both identified it quickly. Here are links to more pictures and info:

PICS

INFO

The last picture has no bird in it; this is just some kind of non-native tiny evergreen tree that was planted in a row outside this window. It is barely six feet tall, yet it looks huge when taken at such close range. It's funny how everything here looks enormous and Hawaiian when you have no context. And that's just the front lawn behind it.

By the way, I still owe pics from last month's Merrie Monarch Festival. I'll get back to those when I can; they're a lot of work and I've been trying to avoid aggravating my repetitive stress injury, so my blog time on the computer is catch-as-catch-can.

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Wishing you a beautiful day,

Bill Brent

[this page last updated: 2008.05.05, 10:09 p.m. Hawaii time]

LitBoy.com is a professional blog. If you enjoy this blog, please use the Tip Jar at the top of this page. Your two-dollar minimum donation helps keep this banner-free site alive. It's quick and easy!

20.00 / $199.90 (10.0%)

This meter displays this year's contributions to date in U.S. dollars (after the funds processor takes its cut). Make a donation, watch the meter rise! Usually I post your contribution on my next blog post.

All original materials here on LitBoy.com (writing, photos, drawings, graphics, etc.) belong to Bill Brent. If you want to re-use something here, please ask. Higher resolution images are available.

Not quite blogging about the weather.

Checkout time is, um, yesterday.

No golf today, either.

So far we've been spared; generally, the winds blow away from here. Likewise, this area is rated as the highest risk zone on the island for lava flow, but the lava ain't flowing this way, either.

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Wishing you a beautiful [koff, koff] day,

Bill Brent

[this page last updated: 2008.04.24, 11:10 p.m. Hawaii time]

LitBoy.com is a professional blog. Keeping it online costs me $200 per year. That's before paying me for my writing, photography, or anything else I do here. If you enjoy this blog, please use the Tip Jar at the top of this page. Your two-dollar minimum donation helps keep this banner-free site alive. It's quick and easy!

20.00 / $199.90 (10.0%)

This meter displays this year's contributions to date in U.S. dollars (after the funds processor takes its cut). Make a donation, watch the meter rise! Usually I post your contribution on my next blog post.

All original materials here on LitBoy.com (writing, photos, drawings, graphics, etc.) belong to Bill Brent. If you want to re-use something here, please ask. Higher resolution images are available.

2008.04.10, Picture of the Day, Big Island of Hawaii

CARDINALS, FINIS.

ALOHA! We've all seen a picture of a red male American Cardinal at rest, I'm supposing, so here is one that I photographed in flight, from my window this morning. That's his beak peeking out between the plumeria tree's branches, and those are banana leaves in the background. Enjoy!

You can view more pictures of birds in Hawaii by clicking on the "birds" category link on the left sidebar.

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Wishing you a beautiful day,

Bill Brent

[this page last updated: 2008.04.10, 6:30 p.m. Hawaii time]

LitBoy.com is a professional blog. Keeping it online costs me $200 per year. That's before paying me for my writing, photography, or anything else I do here. If you enjoy this blog, please use the Tip Jar at the top of this page. Your two-dollar minimum donation helps keep this banner-free site alive. It's quick and easy!

20.00 / $199.90 (10.0%)

This meter displays this year's contributions to date in U.S. dollars (after the funds processor takes its cut). Make a donation, watch the meter rise! Usually I post your contribution on my next blog post.

All original materials here on LitBoy.com (writing, photos, drawings, graphics, etc.) belong to Bill Brent. If you want to re-use something here, please ask. Higher resolution images are available.

2008.04.09, Picture of the Day, Big Island of Hawaii

CARDINALS, ENCORE.

ALOHA! Well, I had a new bird visitor outside my window this morning, and since yesterday's cardinals evoked such positive responses, here you go! I'll get back to posting my favorite pics from last week's Merrie Monarch Festival soon enough. Here is a different kind of cardinal, one we've probably all seen before (perhaps on this very blog, even! ;-) — a female American Cardinal.

Thanks to Doug's frequent and generous feeding of the local bird population, we are blessed with a near-constant display of beautiful males and females flying through our yard. Plus, they are lovely to listen to, with a surprisingly large repertoire of sounds.

You can view more pictures of birds in Hawaii by clicking on the "birds" category link on the left sidebar.

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Wishing you a beautiful day,

Bill Brent

[this page last updated: 2008.04.09, 6:05 p.m. Hawaii time]

LitBoy.com is a professional blog. Keeping it online costs me $200 per year. That's before paying me for my writing, photography, or anything else I do here. If you enjoy this blog, please use the Tip Jar at the top of this page. Your two-dollar minimum donation helps keep this banner-free site alive. It's quick and easy!

20.00 / $199.90 (10.0%)

This meter displays this year's contributions to date in U.S. dollars (after the funds processor takes its cut). Make a donation, watch the meter rise! Usually I post your contribution on my next blog post.

All original materials here on LitBoy.com (writing, photos, drawings, graphics, etc.) belong to Bill Brent. If you want to re-use something here, please ask. Higher resolution images are available.

2008.04.07, Picture of the Day, Big Island of Hawaii

TWO YELLOW-BILLED CARDINALS!

ALOHA! I am taking a brief break from posting last week's pictures of the 45th annual Merrie Monarch Festival in Hilo, to share this lovely image of two birds who happened to be in our yard this afternoon. (Thanks to Gary, who commented below, with a positive ID as to this type of bird.)

You can view more pictures of birds in Hawaii by clicking on the "birds" category link on the left sidebar.

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Wishing you a beautiful day,

Bill Brent

[this page last updated: 2008.04.09, 9:35 a.m. Hawaii time]

LitBoy.com is a professional blog. Keeping it online costs me $200 per year. That's before paying me for my writing, photography, or anything else I do here. If you enjoy this blog, please use the Tip Jar at the top of this page. Your two-dollar minimum donation helps keep this banner-free site alive. It's quick and easy!

20.00 / $199.90 (10.0%)

This meter displays this year's contributions to date in U.S. dollars (after the funds processor takes its cut). Make a donation, watch the meter rise! Usually I post your contribution on my next blog post.

All original materials here on LitBoy.com (writing, photos, drawings, graphics, etc.) belong to Bill Brent. If you want to re-use something here, please ask. Higher resolution images are available.

2008.04.06, Picture of the Day, Big Island of Hawaii

MERRIE MONARCH HULA FESTIVAL, 2008

ALOHA! These are pictures of the April 2 ho'ike (in essence, a show or exhibition) from the 45th annual Merrie Monarch Festival in Hilo, March 30 to April 7, 2008. I have many lovely ho'ike pictures here for you to enjoy, from both 2008 and 2007 — to see them all, just click the "hula" category tab in the sidebar to the left.

This is my second set of photos of the evening's events. Here are more pictures of the traditional hula kahiko, performed by Halau O Kekuhi:

The kahiko is the ancient hula with mele, or chant, which are records of cultural information. By contrast, the 'auana (not pictured here) is the modern, song-accompanied hula. Kahiko portrays the raw life force. Highly primordial, kahiko conveys power, sensuality, sexual prowess, and a deep reverence for natural balance. It is a worship of the gods.

Above and below, we see the 'olapa, who execute the dance movements. They are accompanied by the ho'opa'a, who chant the text and provide the percussive accompaniment for the dancers.

This group is Halau O Kekuhi, who also opened the ho'ike at the 2007 Merrie Monarch Festival; my pictures of that ceremony (with better lighting!) are HERE.

The kumu hula (source, origin, teacher of hula) of Halau O Kekuhi are Pualani Kanaka’ole Kanahele and Nalani Kanaka’ole. You can learn more by clicking HERE — it's a lovely site.

I have also found a summary of the evening's show, which you can read HERE. (You may have to register to view the summary. But the pictures are right here!)

This continues my series of photos from this year's Merrie Monarch Festival. If you enjoy this blog, please check back, or sign up for email updates (using the sidebar element beneath my picture and bio) to see what's new.

[PLEASE NOTE: I respect the cultural traditions of indigenous dance forms and strive to provide accurate information and context regarding those traditions whenever possible. If you feel I have made any errors of fact, or wish to supplement my posts with additional information, feel free to leave a comment with any suggestions, corrections, or enhancements. MAHALO NUI LOA!]

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Wishing you a beautiful day,

Bill Brent

[this page last updated: 2008.04.05, 3:35 p.m. Hawaii time]

LitBoy.com is a professional blog. Keeping it online costs me $200 per year. That's before paying me for my writing, photography, or anything else I do here. If you enjoy this blog, please use the Tip Jar at the top of this page. Your two-dollar minimum donation helps keep this banner-free site alive. It's quick and easy!

20.00 / $199.90 (10.0%)

This meter displays this year's contributions to date in U.S. dollars (after the funds processor takes its cut). Make a donation, watch the meter rise! Usually I post your contribution on my next blog post.

All original materials here on LitBoy.com (writing, photos, drawings, graphics, etc.) belong to Bill Brent. If you want to re-use something here, please ask. Higher resolution images are available.

2008.04.05, Picture of the Day, Big Island of Hawaii

MERRIE MONARCH HULA FESTIVAL, 2008

ALOHA! These are pictures of the April 2 ho'ike (in essence, a show or exhibition) from the 45th annual Merrie Monarch Festival in Hilo, March 30 to April 7, 2008. I have many lovely ho'ike pictures here for you to enjoy, from both 2008 and 2007 — to see them all, just click the "hula" category tab in the sidebar to the left.

This is my first set of photos of the evening's events. Here is a traditional hula kahiko, performed by Halau O Kekuhi:

The kumu hula (source, origin, teacher of hula) of Halau O Kekuhi are Pualani Kanaka’ole Kanahele and Nalani Kanaka’ole. You can learn more by clicking HERE — it's a lovely site.

I also found a summary of the evening's show, which you can read HERE. (You may have to register to view the summary. But the pictures are right here!)

This begins my series of photos from this year's Merrie Monarch Festival. If you enjoy this blog, please check back, or sign up for email updates (using the sidebar element beneath my picture and bio) to see what's new.

[NOTE: I respect the cultural traditions of indigenous dance forms and strive to provide accurate information and context regarding those traditions whenever possible. If you feel I have made any errors in fact, or wish to supplement my posts with additional information, feel free to leave a comment with any suggestions, corrections, or enhancements. MAHALO NUI LOA!]

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Wishing you a beautiful day,

Bill Brent

[this page last updated: 2008.04.04, 8:30 p.m. Hawaii time]

LitBoy.com is a professional blog. Keeping it online costs me $200 per year. That's before paying me for my writing, photography, or anything else I do here. If you enjoy this blog, please use the Tip Jar at the top of this page. Your two-dollar minimum donation helps keep this banner-free site alive. It's quick and easy!

20.00 / $199.90 (10.0%)

This meter displays this year's contributions to date in U.S. dollars (after the funds processor takes its cut). Make a donation, watch the meter rise! Usually I post your contribution on my next blog post.

All original materials here on LitBoy.com (writing, photos, drawings, graphics, etc.) belong to Bill Brent. If you want to re-use something here, please ask. Higher resolution images are available.

Mega-storms

I took the stat below from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. <-- Click on the NOAA link to see how localized this series of storms is, by comparing our side of the Big Island (east -- "windward" on the NOAA chart) with the Kona side ("leeward" = west of the volcano, drier) and the rainfall of the other Hawaiian Islands.

- This chart gives accumulated rainfall for monitored points throughout the Hawaiian Islands over the 24-hour period effective as of 8 a.m. HST Monday morning. Here are the stats for the Pahoa monitoring site:

:ISLAND OF HAWAII     INCHES

:ID LOCATION          3-HR    6-HR   12-HR  24-HR

: WINDWARD SITES

PHAH1 : PAHOA (HI83) : 1.53 / 2.74 / 6.55 / 10.26

- So we had over 10 inches of rain in the 24 hours ending at 8 a.m. Monday morning. Probably more, since here it is typically rainier than at the Pahoa monitoring site.

Lest I make the other Islands' weather seem trivial, I hasten to add that as of this writing (Monday night), the NOAA elsewhere states:

335 PM HST MON FEB 4 2008
...FLASH FLOOD WATCH CONTINUES FOR ALL MAIN HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
THROUGH LATE TONIGHT...
.A NEARLY STATIONARY UPPER LEVEL TROUGH JUST WEST OF THE MAIN
ISLAND CHAIN WILL MAINTAIN THE THREAT FOR HEAVY RAINFALL THROUGH
LATE TONIGHT.

COASTAL HAZARD MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HONOLULU HI
330 PM HST MON FEB 4 2008
...HIGH SURF ADVISORY FOR EAST FACING SHORES OF KAUAI OAHU
MOLOKAI MAUI AND THE BIG ISLAND...
.OVERVIEW...STRONG TRADE WINDS CONTINUE TO GENERATE LARGE AND
ROUGH SURF ALONG EAST FACING SHORES.

In any case, this is the most extensive rain I have seen here since moving from the mainland over two years ago. Thunder and lightning woke us up at various intervals throughout the night. Surge protectors blipping off and on, etc. One of my healthcare providers canceled all his appointments today, as he drives in from Hilo, where his receptionist informed me that 19 inches of rain had fallen within the same period.

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Wishing you a beautiful day,

Bill Brent

[this page last updated: 2008.02.04, 7:25 p.m. Hawaii time]

LitBoy.com is a professional blog. Keeping it online costs me $200 per year. That's before paying me for my writing, photography, or anything else I do here. If you enjoy this blog, please use the Tip Jar at the top of this page. Your two-dollar minimum donation helps keep this banner-free site alive. It's quick and easy!

0.00 / $199.90 (0.0%)

This meter displays this year's contributions to date in U.S. dollars (after the funds processor takes its cut). Make a donation, watch the meter rise! Usually I post your contribution on my next blog post.

All original materials here on LitBoy.com (writing, photos, drawings, graphics, etc.) belong to Bill Brent. If you want to re-use something here, please ask. Higher resolution images are available.

the giant Black Witch Moth, our newest house guest

This character (I'm pretty certain it's a male of the species) has been hanging out for quite a while now (hanging FROM, actually, ha ha). I've been seeing him more regularly over the past week or two. Usually he flies past this window around ten in the morning. Today he finally alighted in the eaves for long enough to snap some pictures. He must be catching a great nap, as he has been in this same place and position for the past couple of hours.

It took several rounds of attempts with the digital camera, but finally I got one nearly perfect shot. Here is the same shot, both as original and as altered. In the altered version, I have increased the brightness and contrast, so that you may see his markings more clearly.

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Here is further information on this unusual moth. Quoting from the link:

"The Black Witch (Ascalapha odorata) is the largest moth, if not the largest insect, north of Mexico .... It is often mistaken for a bat which it somewhat resembles. It has a wing span up to 7 inches. The females are slightly larger and lighter than males and have a pale median band through their wings."

Here is info on the Black Witch Moth in Hawaii proper. It is a member of the insect family Noctuidae.

He really does look like a little bat. His wingspan (above) looks to be six to seven inches across.

Wishing you a beautiful day,

Bill Brent

[this page last updated: 2008.1.12, 12:15 p.m. Hawaii time]

LitBoy.com is a professional blog. Keeping it online costs me $200 per year. That's before paying me for my writing, photography, or anything else I do here. If you enjoy this blog, please use the Tip Jar at the top of this page. Your two-dollar minimum donation helps keep this banner-free site alive. It's quick and easy!

0.00 / $199.90 (0.0%)

This meter displays this year's contributions to date in U.S. dollars (after the funds processor takes its cut). Make a donation, watch the meter rise! Usually I post your contribution on my next blog post.

All original materials here on LitBoy.com (writing, photos, drawings, graphics, etc.) belong to Bill Brent. If you want to re-use something here, please ask. Higher resolution images are available.