Better Living Through Literature

Oh yes, I am now moved in and very stiff. (Heavy things? I don’t want to lift heavy things!) I love my new place and would love to share pictures, but someone was unrealistically hoping to pirate wireless internet in the new place, which is not the case. So I have no way of getting them uploaded at the moment, unless I want to go to the library and do it. (Which I might, by the end of the week–we’ll see how this “living alone” will go.) But so far, so good.

So I bought a muumuu on vacation but was so filled with delight while wearing it (it’s flowy! it’s bright! it has a pocket! and a flounce!) I didn’t get a modeled shot. So here’s a staged one:

When you wear a muumuu in Hawaii, you feel like putting a plumeria behind your ear. That’s what I did with this one:

In fact, I loved my muumuu experience so much we found a Hawaiian fabric store and I bought both a pattern for another muumuu:

and the fabric:

Apparently, other people (well, coworkers) think it’s strange to go to a fabric store on vacation. But what better souvenir to get? Because this summer I can put on one of my muumuus, sit on my porch, and remember this:

What, you may ask, is a nene (“nay-nay”)? A nene, my friends, is the Hawaiian goose, a distant relative of the Canadian goose, and the state bird of Hawaii.

Because it has the best name ever, the nene captured my heart on this vacation. Sadly, I didn’t see one, but the signs about them were awesome. My favorite: A nene silhouette with the words “GO SLOW” beneath it. My second favorite: A sign proclaiming “A fed nene is a dead nene!” (I’m still mad I didn’t get pictures.) I guess I’ll just have to go back.

This is not a nene:

It’s a rooster living in the parking lot of:

And what does Akaka Falls look like? Big and damp:

And remember–A FED NENE IS A DEAD NENE. Don’t feed the nene.

Subtitled: And You Thought The Ocean Could Kill You.

So picture an approach to the shore in Volcano National Park, around sunset. Um, is that shoreline smoking?
Oh, I think it is. Don’t breathe in the smoke!
In spite of MANY warnings from the Federal Government…

…we want to get closer to the lava. Where is the lava?


We do not view the 4-minute lava safety video.
On our way to get closer to the lava, we pass some old lava that had happened to just, you know, FLOW ACROSS THE ROAD. In 2005. I am amazed and point at it:

The adventure continued as we hiked across some old lava (avoiding the steam plume) and hunkered down with the lava rats (no, really) and let it get completely dark. Of course, my camera couldn’t focus in the dark, so you’ll have to imagine the best part: seeing the lava flowing down the hillside and entering the ocean. We were a mile away, more or less safely, and it was just incredible to think that new land was being formed right before our eyes. Because who else gets to see new land being formed? Pretty much only God.

Lava. I like it as much as I like the ocean.

I had never really spent any time by the ocean until this trip. And let me tell you, I like the ocean. It smells nice. It makes the horizon really big. It does cool things with waves. It’s a pretty color:
However, while I like being by the ocean, I learned I am afraid of being in the ocean. It’s big. There are waves. And if you’re not a strong swimmer, the ocean can kill you:

And things live in the ocean! Sometimes really big things, because the ocean is big! Things like whales:

And sea turtles:

And twenty-year-olds from the Coast Guard! (Hello, boys!)

Yes, I like the ocean.

Oh, Hawai’i…land of vowels, feral cats, tropical drinks, signs about the nene…oh, how I miss you already.

There could be a book from this trip, but for the rest of the week I’ll focus on the highlights: the ocean; lava; the nene; and muumuus.

(Vacation starts in less than 24 hours, so this will be the last post until March.)

“A bug in my vermouth!”

That was said by me, to me. The roommate was asleep. Have I mentioned that I’m worried about living alone? (At least there was a bug and I didn’t imagine it. I guess it could always be worse.)

But maybe I can blame the cold meds for talking to myself. The crafting frenzy of the last three weeks would wear anyone out, but on top of it I had a work deadline and then ate only candy, essentially, for two days. So I caught a cold.

However, if I can make it to Friday I can board a plane (pretending I’m Lauren Bacall in To Have And Have Not! Or Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca! Can you tell I’ve been on a Bogart film kick!) and go to Hawaii, where I will sit on the beach and drink cocktails. With or without bugs, I don’t care.

February has been a very busy month, both good and bad. Between planning a move, planning a vacation, an AWOL not-so-significant-now other, a friend’s health issues, and oh yeah, shootings at the mall, there’s been a lot on my mind. So of course I cope by doing lots and lots of crafts.

I finished the cable scarf for my roommate (miles and miles of it) and then used my mad cabling skillz to make a pair of fingerless gloves for myself.

Because of the move, I don’t have any disposable income this month but wanted new things for the vacation. So I sewed two tops:

And a dress.
(The dress was really just a seam and a hem, since the top was already smocked. But it took a long time to hem.)

I will be meeting up with an acquaintance on vacation and I wanted to have a little something for her. So yesterday I finished this purple chenille flower-shape washcloth and bar of Chinese soap combo. (Because every elderly lady wants purple flower washcloths and Chinese soap.)

And oh my god, I’m tired just reading this post. Let’s hope I can put some of this energy towards putting stuff in boxes in two weeks.

As depressing as this week of posts may have been, I’m still optimistic about relationships–that in general they can be good, that I will learn more and more from them (Lesson 1: No crazies. Lesson 2: Make them be nice to you.), and that, if they do turn out terribly at the very least I will have more material for the novel.
I remain optimistic about candy, too.

So let’s all take this picture to heart–it’s not so bad.