Wind and Rain and Shave Ice

After two big days, we had a small day. We finally had a rainy day, and it was windy and wet enough to keep us from attempting anything outdoors. In Hawaii, it can be pouring one minute and sunny the next, and it was one of those days. Lots of rain up in the mountains, the wind brought sheets of showers down the valleys, the sun poked out to bring moments of hope, followed by more wind and rain. We didn't even see any rainbows.

By the time we got ourselves into the car it was already about 10:30. Checked the map and discovered that the highway was bright red with traffic all the way into town. Rebecca used Google to help us wend our way through whatever side streets there were (and her phone helpfully told her that the farmers market would be closed by the time we arrived, without even being asked). We got to the KCC market at 11:00, just as the closing horn was sounded. Walked around while they were wrestling their tarps and tents down and bought some snacks and pineapple. That was a good enough taste of the market. We know exactly what it is like to sell in windy weather, and we could completely empathize with their readiness to pack up and go.

Toured around the semi-deserted areas near Waikiki and found our way to Wailoa Shave Ice.  CLOSED because no power. Drat -- this was Rebecca's most important goal for the day, in addition to eating at Zippy's. So we braved the traffic to the Zippy's in Kaimuki. This is a fast food restaurant with a local menu. Becca wanted spam musubi and loco moco. We had a fine lunch, sitting in a semi-protected area. Said hello to a couple of ladies who were wearing T-shirts from today's Women's March in Honolulu (should have gone but didn't know anything about it and didn't even imagine there would be one here) and thanked them for marching.

Still raining so we headed to the original Waiola Shave Ice and found it open and not busy. Room on the bench outside for us to sit and eat our yummy new flavors.

Charles will be so jealous.

Bought T-shirts for Charles and Ella (because we sent him a photo of ourselves and he said he needed a new shirt. Perfect.) from the grumpy old proprietor. Again, customer service doesn't have to be stellar when you have a business that has such momentum that the product is what people want, and the grouchy worker is just a part of the experience (memories of Attman's Deli in Baltimore from my youth). Very few businesses have that luxury. Also, it is not okay if the grumpy service person is young. That is just insulting. It has to be an elder who has earned the right to be a bit of a curmudgeon. In fact, there has to be someone there who is in contrast to the grumpy one in order for it to be okay. That's my theory.

We decided that we would rather be at home, so we took a breath and headed back into the traffic. The problem was that there was a water main break at the east end of the freeway and the whole road was closed. The entire southeastern quandrant of the island was affected by this road closure. All roads red, including the coast roads. We wiggled our way home, thanks to Google. Most everyone else just sat still in traffic, from what we saw.  

The wind gusts got more powerful and loud, rushing through the house all afternoon and evening. One huge gust blew one of the shoji doors apart, leaving a big gap in the living room wall (Jon spent part of the evening replacing it with another door from Annette's bedroom. It did not fit perfectly but it was better than a big hole.). Gusts were reported to be 50 - 60 mph.

After lying around in the living room for a while, I called Berta and tried to lure her over here. She had just spent hours getting home, and her husband had been stuck for three hours, so they were not much interested in going out again. But we were downstream of the blockage so Berta eventually agreed to come, since Rebecca was making dinner and she didn't have to bring anything. Berta and Jon and I spent a little while following a paper trail in Auntie Annette's files, and completed that minor administrative task. Berta and her sisters have been organizing their mom's papers for months and they are getting much closer to the finish line. Before they got in there, Annette's office looked remarkably similar to my mom's office. Sigh. I think both sisters are excellent filers, they just don't want to throw away stuff. 

Rebecca made a big pot of shakshouka (Benjamin's favorite Israeli dish with tomatoes and onions and red peppers, soupy enough to soft cook eggs on top). It was a hit.

As always, there is a wide variety of choices to eat. Fred, Berta, Rebecca.

We were waiting and waiting for my cousin Scott to arrive, but he was super stuck in that traffic and eventually, without telling us, he must have turned around and done something else. He eventually said he would be there by 9. Meanwhile, Becca had to leave for the airport and Berta went home, giving up on Scott.

But Scott did show up at 9, with his son Jett, and we had a rollicking conversation while they had some late night snacks. It was so much fun to see those two together -- Jett is 16 and is so much like his father, it's amazing. They laugh and laugh. It only took me about 5 minutes to talk Jett into coming to the farm this summer, but he doesn't have any better summer plans anyway. We watched the PVF movie from the website, which gave him a sense of what it all looks like.

Jett and Scott, helping to make a dent in the leftover desserts.