Though born in San Francisco, Hawaii has been my home since 1964. I like to blog about the things that go on in Hawaii that the everyday tourist often misses.
I am a docent at Bishop Museum here on Oahu. I’ve been with the museum since 2005. Often I photograph and discuss what goes on at the museum and behind the scenes.
This sperm whale has hung in museum since the early 1900’s
Ku was not only the god of War but he was also the law giver and god of prosperity
I formerly had a blog called Holo Holo Hawaii with blog spot but because I’m not really computer savvy I managed to lock myself out of it.
So I guess to sum it up, I’m an old lady who loves Hawaii and likes to take photos of the islands and blog about them.
Everyone is welcome to comment and I’d appreciate any feedback you may have. Also if you are interested in any part of the island (mainly Oahu) and would like me to cover it, please let me know.
kareninhonolulu 
Aloha Karen! I’m an independent Kahu here on Oahu and I came across your article while conducting an investigation for one of my clients. I’d like to speak with you if at all possible. Could you email me and we can communicate that way. I’m just looking for a little more information that I believe you may be able to help me with (or at least point me in the right direction). My email is oiwi3275@gmai.com
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I really enjoyed your stories. Thank you for your insights
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Thank you for dropping in Gail. I’m glad you enjoyed them
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I really enjoyed your article & pictures of old Ewa. I was hoping to see an old picture of a restaurant that was there and famous for their banana cream pie. Someone burned it down and they never got it rebuilt or relocated. Can’t remember the name. I would appreciate it if you had the name, pictures or any info on this restaurant. It was a favorite eating place for our teachers at Ilima Intermediate School that was located down the street in Ewa Beach. Thank you.
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Dear Karen, Thank you for your kind words re the stanza for the hore hore bushi section of my poem. It is a book-length history in verse and only one section of it was published and if it interests you I send my email: danohawaii@gmail.com.
A couple of comments/inquiries:
1) here is a site for July 4th on O’ahu. I was wondering why you’d go down to Waikiki (I noticed the Kaimana in the background of one of the photos), a place, even when I was growing up was always crowded. Can you see fireworks from there? According to article enclosed, the Ala Moana Center puts on the largest display. But there are several others, including the North Shore. http://gohawaii.about.com/b/2012/06/26/fourth-of-july-festivities.htm
2)for possible blog entries:
l–Honouliuli Internment Camp. I think there was interest in making it a national landmark but with so little there, is it possible? I think it would be great for the UH 2nd campus is there, it is near the Plantation Gardens and Disney’s Aulani and your homeschooling grandchild (does it surprise you that I homeschooled my child? –you can talk about homeschooling in Hawaii; I understand it is a big thing now.)
2– the karst and sinkhole geology of Ewa (amazing science and uh-oh political implications that can be covered with that; Alan Ziegler of Bishop Museum affiliation, was mentioned in an about the site, wow! wouldn’t it be neat if the science community, inc. Bishop Museum got together and promoted programs and outings to the site (which I think would also include caves with stalactites and stalagmites oh! my!).
3– the Natural Conservancy work in the Wai’anae;
4) the controversy about the Waimanalo Land Fill as well as others on the island –one of the gov’t officers is saying every disrict should have its own landfill. I wonder what that means to the ground water as toxins from these landfills seep down into the ground eventually.
3) can you tell me if those are Koa trees on the mauka side of the Family and Child Services property there on Fort Weaver Road? I remember riding down that road when it was a countryroad: hot, and hotter with the sun shimmering off those canefields all around until a slight dip in the road in front of the FCS: the air seemed cooler and with a different, sweet fragrance, with trees that look like what’s in the google map photo with the height and leaf shape being the same. I am not sure what koa is, believing for some odd non-thought that Oahu did not have Koa. And I didn’t know until recently that there was Koa on the lowland forest; that’s just about where FCS would be in. I thought Koa only grew high in the mountains.
Well, I’ve chewed your ears off. Excuse me.
Again, thank you for your blog. I think you might enjoy a blog by another Hawaiian resident:
Nate Yuen who writes about hiking and not just into the mountains but at Pouhala Marsh in Waipahu, out to Ka’ena Point, and the outer islands . . . http://hawaiianforest.com/
Aloha, Helen
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Hi Helen, There is a lot of food for thought that you have sent. Some I would have to try and get special permission to see such as the internment camp, which I hear, unfortunately runs through Monsanto land. But I will look into what I can. That is very interesting about that sink hole. I’m going to do research on it to see what’s up.
Yes, Koa does grow on this island. But the biggest Koa grows on the big island. I’ve read a theory that Kamehameha was able to build large canoes from these trees that held so many warriors it made him hard to defeat.
Thank you for the suggestion to look into the Hawaiian forest blog. I will check into it today.
Aloha
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I came upon your blog and lo and behold read that you arrived in Hawaii about the same time I left. I lived in Waipahu, too. I am so enjoying your site, I went through all your entries within two days and was deeply moved by so many of your entries, this one in particular: the ‘Ewa cemetary and the marker for the loss of four children in one family, all of very young ages. (I wondered about those babies being strapped to their mother’s back and being out there in that hot ‘Ewa sun for all those hours and you should me what I feared.
I am writing this long long long poem and thanks to you created this stanza for it:
(and oh, alas—
in the cemetery, lay the babies
who were not strong like their mothers,
not strong like the hot days);
it makes the section on the hore hore bushi songs and the women who sang them even more poignant. Made me feel even more for these people who came to Hawaii looking for a “better life.”
Where is that cemetary located? I don’t think I ever saw it.
Thank you so much for your blog.
Mahalo nui loa, Helen
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Thank you so much Helen. I love that stanza. It fits so beautifully with that blog. I’ve tried so hard to convey what having been through so much, and then to end in a box, in an overgrown cemetery with cars whizzing by and not a soul knowing where your final place of rest might be, would be like.’
I had no idea that this place existed until a friend told me about it. I had read about the cemetery but could not find the site because it was totally covered over with grass. There was no identification what so ever other then to “keep out.” (which I didn’t) Anyway, I’ve been doing some research about the plantation and found very good information that I will be blogging about.
If you remember driving on Fort Weaver road and know where Renton is you will find the cemetery one block Mauka of Renton on the railroad side. It fronts Fort Weaver Road.
Is your poem going to be about the plantation time? I would love to put it into my blog if you have already published it. Otherwise I would think you would not want to put it out to the public to protect it until such time.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read my words and I am very happy that you enjoyed it. Look forward to hearing from you again.
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Hi Karen, I enjoy reading about Hawaii on your blog and hope to return as a tourist in the not-to-distant future, thanks to you I can experience a side of Hawaii that most visitors don’t. I’ve nominated you for the Genuine Blogger Award and the Sunshine Award!
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Hello, Karen. I am very pleased to nominate you for the Versatile Blogger Award. You can read about it at http://sheilatphotography.wordpress.com/2012/02/22/versatile-blogger-x-2/
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