Virtual-tour Wednesday update

Ok, so ya'll have your sunscreen on right?  Weather forecast today is Wednesday: Partly cloudy. High 76F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. Wednesday night: Mainly clear. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low 67F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. Let me tell you about my little hometown, Waimanalo, on the SE coast of the island of O'ahu.  It's only 6 miles from one end to the other & has a population of a little over 4K people.  I told you it was tiny.  There are 2 public schools (to which I attended both) from K-9th grade.  The nearest high school is Kailua High in the next town north.  I graduated from there in 1973.  My house is on the corner of Hihimanu St. & Kalanianaole Hwy (the main road through town).  I lived on what's called the beach side or Maka'i side.  Toward the Koolau Mountain range or Mauka side is where the homestead & farmlands are.  I lived litterally 1 block from the beach so each night, when I went to sleep, I could hear the waves crashing on the shore & could smell salt in the air. We lived in a small, 3 bedroom brick house with a big yard & lots of coconut trees.  It got pretty cozy with 6 kids, Mom & Dad, Grandma & an assortment of pets...dogs, cats, birds, guinea pigs,  mice, geckos, ****aroaches (the really big ones that crunch when you step on them...yuck).  The 3 bedrooms each had a name.  There was the blue room (it was painted blue...go figure)...at first it was my G'ma's room but as our family grew & she finally moved out, it became mine & Cyndi's room.  We were the eldest so we only had to share with each other.  Next came the cool room, named that because it was the room that caught the most tradewinds since it was a corner room with big windows.  Most times my dad, brother & a couple of the other kids slept in there.  I remember one time when a hurricane blew in, while Mom had all us kids sleeping on the floor in the hallway that ran down the center of the house, there was my dad, sacked out in the cool room with the windows wide open, loving every minute of it!  Then there was the kids room...bunk beds, of course.  The younger kids pretty much slept wherever they felt like it, sometimes with Dad in the cool room & sometimes in the kids room.  Mom slept on the couch most of the time.  Whenever she & Dad wanted to...errr....ummm...well...YOU know, they'd just relocate whichever kids were in the room, did their thing, then moved 'em back...lol.  This arrangement obviously didn't slow them down since there are 6 of us & none more than 3 yrs apart in age. We walked to school up until we reached high school, then we took the school bus.  Shoes were optional until you reached 7th grade.  We used to tease Cyndi about her tough feet...she didn't have skin, she had tire treads!!  But we could all walk on hard, hot surfaces.  No wonder I'm such a freak about the condition of my feet now & I'm such a shoe *****lol! Shorts, t-shirts, light weight short sleeve or sleeveless shirts/blouses was the usual wardrobe, mixed with muu'muus (short or long) for us girls, aloha shirt for my brother.  Long hair, of course. Music & dance were prevalent.  While I do both, I excelled in dancing...hula, tahitian, maori, etc.  Dad was a singer & musician & had formal training in opera when he was a kid, but oh how I remember singing duets with him in Hawaiian.  I was notorious for picking up tourists on the city bus & bringing them home.  Poor Mom never knew who was going to be sitting down at her table.  What those tourists got at my house would have cost them plenty in Waikiki! Almost every night the main staple was rice so we all learned how to cook rice at a young age & that was before rice cookers.  To this day our favorite meals are canned corned beef cooked with onions, served over rice with soy sauce or shoyu, as it's called.  Or fried spam slices & rice (you can even order that at any McDonald's today).  Teriyaki chicken was a biggie too.  Being in a large, poor family, we had to choose meals that would stretch alot & fill alot.  I remember the first time, as a new bride, making spaghetti for my new husband.  Oh my goodness!  We ate it for a month!!!!  Every now & then, when M & D would get a win-fall they would buy a side of beef.  We got so SICK of steak!  All our friends thought we were crazy to complain about having to eat steak...AGAIN!! The beach was an important part of our lives.  During the summer, after our chores were done, us older kids would head to the beach & hook up with our friends.  And yet, I can barely swim!!  But I could body surf like a champ!!  Many of you may remember in the opening scenes of Magnum P.I. where he's got that gal's fanny in his face as she's floating face down?  Well, that's the cove where I failed swimming lessons 5 years in a row!!  But boy oh boy, did I look good in a bikini.  It's still legendary today when I talk to my childhood friends...LOL! Mel's Market, a small Mom & Pop grocery store was 3 blocks N of our house.  We spent a lot of time there.  Mom would send me there with $1.37...I was to get a pack of Pall Mall ciggs for her, & a dollar's worth of penny candy for us kids!  Whenever we got lucky enough to find soda bottles, we could take them to Mel's & exchange them for candy or soda or chinese dried fruits such as li hing moi (dried  plum, very salty), lemon peel, or my favorite...shredded mango!  Once a day the manapua truck would roll down our street & we could buy manapua, almond cookies, or shaved ice cones. Broken english, known as pidgin english is spoken by us all.  Even though I speak with a southern accent today, I can flip into pidgin in a heart beat & do that often when I chat with my siblings.  More fights have been started by simply saying, "Eh!  Watt brah?  Like trow??"  That means, "Hey man!  You wanna fight?"  Tough guys are called blah-lahs, tough girls are titas (tit-ahs).  Oh, almost forgot...another fight starter would be, "Eh! Why??"  Kinda of like "yo mama" here...lol.  Bellybutton is piko, eyes are maka, you didn't go pee, you went shi-shi, if you didn't want to go somewhere it was, "nah, I no like go." You never arrive anywhere on time, but on Hawaiian time which was whenever you could get there & nobody would be upset.  It's a big insult to walk into someone's house with your shoes on.   Anyone older than you were instantly "Uncle" or "Auntie" whether you were related or not. The scenery...breathtaking.  Everywhere you look, lush, hundreds of shades of green, flowers everywhere...plumeria, gardenia, crown flowers, orchids, various kinds of ginger, ti leaves, just to name a few.  When it rained heavily there would be waterfalls in each of the crevices of the Koolau's.  There's nothing so wonderful than to wash your hair with fresh ginger & clean rain water!  There's a particular flowering bush found both at the beach & at the ocean.  Legend tells that a royal & a commoner fell in love, even though their love was kapu & they could never marry.  They're families seperated them, sending one to live in the mountains & one to live by the ocean.  As the two lovers tearfully said their final goodbyes to one another they picked a flower & split it in half, each lover taking a half with them.  To this day, if you try to match up 2 flowers from the ocean or two flowers from the mountains, they will not go together.  But put together a flower from each place & they match perfectly! The Hawaiian people are a loving, warm & loyal sort.  Once they take you into their heart, you are there for life.  But **** one off & you'll have to deal not only with that individual, but with the whole family!  Our heritage is of great importance to us as well as our ancient customs & beliefs.  While Christianity is strong, there is still strong ties & respect for the ancient gods.  Ancient temples still exist, simple rituals still performed.   Ok, I just reread what I've written so far & now I'm all teary-eyed & homesick.  All I can say is there's no place on earth like my little hometown & I hope you enjoyed tripping down memory lane with me.

Oh Ann I do hope you will consider doing this again in later Spring or Summer. I haven't signed up because of the knee surgery.  Didn't want to over do anything as I always seem to do.  I think this is a fabulous idea and kudos to that hubby of yours. I will however enjoy reading the travel updates

With any luck this will continue on for a long time...who knows, right?  In the meantime, starting with the next trip, I'll ride for you too, ok?  And by all means read along with us. I hope your knee is healing nicely & with a minimum of discomfort!

Well I added another 4 miles to my treck, now up to 8 total with 6 more to go.  What a feeling.  I can picture the beach, smell the flowers, see the waves from all the friendly people.  Definitely checking out all the hot guys in the bathing suits.  Working on my tan....