Waipahu "Open Market"

I grew up in Waipahu quite a few years ago... before I went away to college, before I married and before I left for Illinois some 34 years ago. We returned to go to the Farmers Market. In Hawaii, they call it the Open Market.
We passed by this mynah bird who was in an awful hurry.

Tif wanted to buy some Filipino mochi (rice cake) that she really loves. KC was quite patient and was rewarded with some delicious buns.

The Open Market begins at 8:15. This is taken quite seriously. Money does NOT exchange hands until the 8:15 horn is blown.

It's fun to see all the local island veggies and fruits.



On the way back to the car, we noticed all the flowers on trees and bushes. This is a crown flower plant. Monarch butterflies begin their lives on it. The flowers are used to string leis.













The pikake (Jasmine) is so fragrant, it actually smells delicious. Jasmine tea? The Filipinos tell me it's their national flower. My friend complains that the scent is so strong that pikake leis give her a headache. Not me!






I have no idea what this is but I thought it was beautiful.










My mom always called this the bozubana flower. I don't know what the English word is. Bozu means priest or monk (who are bald) in Japanese, bana means flower.








And here's another mystery flower. My mom tells me many Filipinos have this flower in their yard and that they eat the beans from it. (Later: My brother says this tree is called Malungguy.

July 1st, Tuesday! Hawaii!!!

We had a very lovely complimentary breakfast at the Marriott and then were out the door to catch the free shuttle to the LAX (Los Angeles) airport.


Things continued to go smoothly. The Hawaiian Airlines plane left 9 minutes early and arrived on time in Hawaii. They did not lose our baggage.

And then it hit me. We were given agriculture declaration forms on which we had to write our names, addresses and phone numbers as well as the length of our visit. I realized that in the blank asking for our home address, I could no longer write my Illinois address. The home that I would be staying at would now be my permanent address. I don’t know why but that somehow overwhelmed me finally. I realized keenly that we had a one way ticket. I know we’ll be going back to visit but now my home would be in Hawaii. I had not allowed myself to feel the emotional trauma of our move because there was so much to do but now…the floodgates opened up.

When we got to my mom’s place she had a long list of things that went wrong with the house in the last week. We’re going to be mighty busy doing repair work.

My mom had a terrific dinner of our favorite foods and we got to sit with my brother, Dennis and catch up with our lives. Seeing him at the airport had perked me up immensely. We spoke to our daughter and son on the cellphone and suddenly, we were all together in spirit again.

Tomorrow, we’ll be busy.

You Know You're In Hawaii When....

1. nobody knows where north is.
2. on the street where you live, every refrigerator has a bottle of shoyu (soy sauce) in it.
3. your cousin is Japanese-Chinese-French-Filipino-Korean-Scottish-Portuguese-Hawaiian plus some stuff too manini (little) to mention.
4. to go out on Saturday night and impress the girl, you wear your bestest shorts.
5. gobos is just a bunch of vegetables, not a rallying cry for the home team.
6. the most important thing to know about a person is where they went to high school.
7. the second most important thing to know about a person is the year they wen' grad (they graduated).
8. your second home is the beach.
9. birds walk more often than they fly.
10. it rains buckets on your picnic and everybody agrees. "It's a blessing."
11. you're nobody until somebody says you're part of the ohana (family).
12. the legislature is a daycare for troubled adults.
13. stopping to smell the flowers can take all day.
14. nobody knows where the "fast lane" is on the freeway.
15. the best cooks all use lots of Best Foods mayonnaise.
16. an approaching hurricane means only one thing...."Surf's up brah!"
17. The name Duke means royalty.
18. Las Vegas is Mecca.
19. White rice is sacrament.
20. Spam is for special occasions.
21. Beans (azuki) are the perfect condiment for ice cream.
22. the ukulele is a classical music instrument.
23. the weather report says "mauka showers".

Someone gave me this list a long time ago. To this I have to add...

24. you take your shoes off before you enter a house.
25. children call all their family friends "Uncle" or "Auntie." Hawaii children have a lot of ohana.
26. formal dinnerware are paper plates and plastic forks.
27. you don't honk at anybody in traffic because it could be your cousin.