Slowing Down......

I think perhaps Monday was a turning point for us. We may be done running around trying to take it all in as fast as we can. We woke up yesterday feeling like we had been beat up. We took it easy until mid-afternoon, then went up to the Ethno-Botanical Garden, for the 3rd time.

There is so much to learn there, but it doesn't shout at you. One has too walk slowly, read slowly, and look around, slowly. The garden is planted in regions, ranging from coastal to upland woodland. Down in the coastal region I read something that just stuck with me. There is a plant there that was used to stun the fish in the constructed fish ponds. Yes, there were huge fish ponds maintained to supply easy access for meat. When it came time to harvest some fish, the Auhuhu plant was picked, pounded into a sort of mash or meal and thrown into the pond. In a short time the fish started swimming around without purpose or direction, and could be easily gathered up. The big ones that were wanted were taken, and the rest left alone. In about 2 hours the poison wore off and the fish went on about their business of growing larger. This practice is, or was, used in a number of cultures. Here's a very brief article about that:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_toxins

Auhuhu Plant

Further uphill in the gardens is the Koa tree, who's wood is currently highly valued for Hawaiian Ukeleles. Long ago, it was valued for canoes the Hawaiians would build, sometimes to lengths of 100 feet. The master canoe builder would come along and take part in a ceremony to select the proper tree to be used for the canoe. Part of this involved watching the actions of the 'elepaio bird around the tree.

If the bird landed on the tree but did not peck at it, then this was a good tree. If the bird pecked on the tree, this meant there were insects inside. Not a desirable quality for canoe wood.

Koa wood currently sells for hundreds of dollars per board foot. A board foot is 1 square foot of wood 1 inch thick. It is estimated that a log large enough to build a 100-foot long canoe out of Koa would cost $500,000 at current prices!

Then, today, we simply took a hike at Manuka Park again. I (Mari) learned that my CD was going to be featured on a local (Macomb) radio program, so we came home in time to listen to that on the Internet.

We were able to look around and find several types of free fruit in the area: regular guava, strawberry guava, and passion fruit, mainly. Plus some oranges from a tree in the yard where we are staying. We will make some juice from these, and maybe try a tropical fruit glaze for chicken.

The afternoon beckoned us down to the ocean, so we drove down the hill and hiked to the secret beach. Someone else called it that, but it isn't a complete secret, because each time we've gone, there are already a couple of people there. In order to not harsh their mellow, we went a little further to the rocky shore and listened and watched as the waves crashed. A person can take a lot of that without getting bored! Especially when the sun is beginning to set.

                             

                             Crashing Waves

Sunset