East Hawai‘i, of course, has so much interesting history, and one of the fun things about our tours is that we can sneak people into places one doesn’t ordinarily get to see.

I wrote about vog recently and the article is out in the current (August 2009) Honolulu magazine.
Here’s how it starts:
It comes on the Kona winds—the dreaded yellow-brown haze of vog that makes eyes burn and lungs protest. On the Big Island, of course, it has done far more damage. How bad could it get? And what do we really know about vog and its effects?
Three-thousand, eight-hundred people lived on Miyakejima, a small island off Tokyo, until one day in September 2000, when the Japanese government ordered the island evacuated because …

Local excursion #2 of our Summer of Exploration was a slow, winding drive down the four mile, scenic route that diverts from the highway and runs along the coast, more or less, between Pāpa‘ikou and Pepe‘ekeo.
This used to be the main road, I told my 5-year-old. This is the way people used to go to get to Hilo town a long time ago, I said, and we talked about how the road is smaller and much more winding, and how they must have driven much slower than we do now.
I …

We live on the Hamakua coast, a little ways outside of Hilo, and almost every time I drive into town I think about my grandmother, my Tutu, telling me offhandedly once that her great-grandfather had known every twist and turn of that road.
Even when he was in his 80s and 90s and fully blind, she told me, he knew where he was by the turns and feel of the road, and he would call out the name of every small bit of land as they drove by.

In the old times from …

Macario will teach a continuing Beginning ‘Ukulele class at the East Hawai‘i Cultural Center starting Saturday, June 6.
The series of 1.5 hour classes, which will meet on five consecutive Saturdays at 10 a.m., cost only $25 total for the public and $20 for EHCC members.

“You don’t have to know anything about the ‘ukulele,” says Macario, who played music professionally in Honolulu and on the mainland for 16 years. “You need to have your own ‘ukulele and bring a pen or pencil, and that’s it.”
He says he will teach some basic theory and chord …

We learned yesterday that our daughter was accepted at Kamehameha Schools for kindergarten in the fall. 

This is huge. There are only two kindergarten classes at the Big Island campus, so they only take 20 girls and 20 boys. The application process, therefore, is very competitive and admission is far from a sure thing.
I know there are a lot more than 40 smart, talented kids on this island and I feel for every one of them whose families really wanted this opportunity for them. I wish the school could take them all.
It …

Edited on 4/21/09 to add: And an earthquake, too! My visiting friend is having the full Big Island experience.
From the USGS: A light earthquake occurred at 4:58:09 PM (HST) on Tuesday, April 21, 2009 . The magnitude 4.2 event occurred 7 km (4 miles) NNE of Ka`ena Point.

I have a dear friend visiting from the mainland, and today there is big time vog here in Hilo. It look as if you might have to push through the voggy air with your hands in order to walk.
I feel terrible when a friend is visiting our …

Aunty Dottie Thompson and George Na‘ope, together credited with starting Hilo, Hawai‘i’s Merrie Monarch Festival 46 years ago, are both looking frail this year, and both attended the festival briefly on the final night in wheelchairs.
Still, one can always count on Uncle George to look absolutely resplendent.

Re·splen·dent   (rĭ-splĕn‘dənt)
adj.
Splendid or dazzling in appearance; brilliant.
[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin resplendēns, resplendent-, present participle of resplendēre, to shine brightly : re-, re- + splendēre, to shine.]
Splendid. Dazzling. Brilliant. He definitely still shines.
 

Because I like multi-tasking, I will again be tweeting live from the Merrie Monarch tonight (Fri. April 17th) during the Kahiko competition.

Follow me at @LeslieLang, or follow #merrie.
Off I go to pick some orchids for my hair! We’re leaving for the Edith Kanaka‘ole Stadium soon.

 
One of my many hats has me, along with Kris Bordessa, operating the website Big Island On The Cheap, a place for all things free/cheap/discounted on the Big Island. And right now, in honor of Merrie Monarch week, we have some contests going on. All you have to do is follow the links to the contest posts, and then enter your name in comments there to possibly win one of our random drawings.
We are giving away a beautiful, and I do mean beautiful, hand blown glass vase from the Volcano glass studio 2400 …