Our last full week has been somewhat uneventful. One day we went back to Volcano National Park with Stan and Karen, hoping to finally get in a good hike. Alas, it was the stormiest day yet --rain, thunder and lightning and quite cool. No hiking. And to think the prior week had been warm and sunny most of the week!
Since they have a lot of contacts here, we invited one of their friends over for lunch one day. Keliko is a professor of Hawaiian language and culture at the University. Very interesting to hear his stories. He was the MC at a community event we went to on Sunday afternoon.
On Karen and Stan's last day here, they took us to another beautiful area on the island that had great snorkeling, but we were too late in the day to get in the water. And we were on our way to a "last supper" with them at a restaurant in Pahoa -- a funky little town not too far from us. Great dinner!
I was privileged to be part of a welcoming lunch for a missionary from Japan who flew into Hilo this week. She and her husband are Filipino but she has served at a University in Japan for 25 years. Another great global exchange.
Friday evening we invited Geoff and Lyn over to dinner (the former Harvest for the Hungry gardeners in Santa Rosa who now have an eco-farm in Hawaii. -- We did a field trip to their place with members of the church here.) It was a little unnerving as to what to serve for dinner, but I think the macadamia-nut mahimahi, eggplant-tomato-pasta, soy bok choy and salad did okay. They brought wine they had made from their farm products, so we were all happy. It is so great to re-connect with them here.
On Sunday the Church of the Holy Cross congregation did a great farewell for us. We were given leis (homemade), gifts, coffee, paintings (Pastor Tom Olcott is a wonderful artist), framed art--so many things, including a reception with more food! One of the women made a haku lei (head ring) for me that was gorgeous. I just wish I had long brown hair and darker skin to make it look as gorgeous on me as it was just by itself! The whole congregation sang the beautiful farewell song, Aloha Oe, to John and me at the end. Very touching. This congregation has been super welcoming and gracious.
Mother's Day afternoon we went to a "Mother's Day May Day Mele" at one of the theaters -- lots of hulas, guitars, ukeleles and singing. Such beautiful voices and graceful dancing. We planned to close the afternoon out at one of the beautiful beach parks, watching the waves crash, drinking a glass of champagne and eating macadamia nuts. It looked like it was sunny when we started, but by the time we left the theater, it was cloudy and threatened rain. Oh, well--that's been our Hilo experience!
We have a couple days of R&R before flying home on Thursday. I'll do one final wrap-up, and then this will all go into the "precious memories" file!
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