Diario de MsWahine

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22 enero 2010

5 Wonderful Things:
- a cell phone signal
- white-sand beach, perfect temperature azure & turquoise ocean, blue-sky weather
- a tree-ripened papaya for breakfast
- tradewinds
- missing my husband

(my middle 3 are dedicated to Dawn)

(9 comentarios)

20 enero 2010

Aloha my FS Ohana! I have a quiet moment to myself AND a signal - what a coup. Thought I would share a few very random photos. First was my view one morning from the loft at my folk's house as I was drinking coffee. The second is the most amazing garden snail I have ever seen...apparently they are poisonous if their slime is ingested. The third is a beach on the Hilo side of the island where we had a picnic on Monday. And the last is a gecko I came across this afternoon in Kona. You canLt see them, but the markings in red were amazingly vivid.

I have been reading Michael Pollan's The Botany of Desire, which is proving very intriguing reading. After reading Erikag's comments about his books, I decided I needed some quality nonfiction since tackling War and Peace is proving a tad unrealistic at the moment. I somehow haven't yet figured out that reading needs to be "light" when there's a toddler in the mix...anyhoo, Pollan's Botany has some thought-provoking insights.

I found the following paragraph particularly interesting:
There may or may not be a correlation between the beautiful and the good, but there is probably one between beauty and health...Evolutionary biologists believe that in many creatures beauty is a reliable indicator of health, and therefore a perfectly sensible way to choose one mate over another. Gorgeous plumage, lustrous hair, symmetrical features are "certificates of health," as one scientist puts it, advertisements that a creature carries genes for resistance to parasites and is not otherwise under stress. A fabulous tail is a metabolic extravagance only the healthy can afford. (In the same way, a fabulous car is a financial extravagance only the successful can afford.) In our own species, too, ideals of beauty often correlate with health: when lack of food was what usually killed people, people judged body fat to be a thing of beauty. (Though the current preference for sickly-pale, rail-thin models suggests that culture can override evolutionary imperatives.) (p. 74-75)

I have read this before, that bodyfat in cultures where starvation is a real fear are cultures in which a degree of heft indicates a probable gene pool to which a family lineage can be attached and nearly guaranteed a family tree with multiple and lush branches. The caveat here seems to be in cultures where starvation is a real issue. For the American sensibility, starvation (other than self-inflicted), is a rarity. We have all manner of food available. Not necessarily healthy food, but food nonetheless. For $1.00, you can buy a hamburger or taco. Most people can find $1.00 worth of change on the ground and then go eat something. Where starvation is an issue, the transaction of money for a hamburger is as foreign as the idea, for many Americans, of actually needing to hunt for meat or grow or forage for plant foods. Food is in abundance = fat is in abundance = the crave for a beauty ideal that trades in metaphors of starvation. The irony being, in many cases, that when one is "thin" and "fit" it is because they can afford the "luxury" of that lifestyle. How often do we bemoan the time it takes to work out and plan healthy meals? How often are the foods that are actually good for us (organic, fresh, unprocessed) the more costly choice?

The western world and it's requisite & accompanying abundance have turned the idea of beauty and health on it's head. This I find fascinating. It speaks volumes for priorities as a culture...our struggles to right this imbalance are recorded and hashed out and discussed daily right here on FS.

Anyway, that is my thought for the day. I hope everyone's week has gone swimmingly :) Thanks a million for everyone's words of encouragement about my weight woes. I know it's temporary, so I am trying to remain conscientious, give in to the situation when I need to without going to crazily overboard, and sticking to my guns when I can.

<img src="http://i904.photobucket.com/albums/ac247/mswahine/1264040051.jpg" border="0" alt="Morning Gaze" width="400" height="600">
<center>Morning Cuppa Joe</center>

<img src="http://i904.photobucket.com/albums/ac247/mswahine/1264040008.jpg" border="0" alt="Now that's what I call escargot!" width="400" height="600">
<center>Hawaiian Garden Snails</center>

<img src="http://i904.photobucket.com/albums/ac247/mswahine/1264039758.jpg" border="0" alt="Honoka'aka'a Beach" width="600" height="400">
<center>Honoka'aka'a Beach, Hilo</center>

<img src="http://i904.photobucket.com/albums/ac247/mswahine/1264041937.jpg" border="0" alt="Gecko" width="400" height="600">
<center>Kona-side Gecko</center>

(4 comentarios)

19 enero 2010

It's been amazingly difficult to get online since being in Hawaii. On the east coast of the Big Island, our house is located on a little jutting tip of land called Kaloli Point. My phone carrier apparently can't get a signal out there ::MUTTER:: We now are on the west coast of the island at a resort where my folks have a timeshare, so we're here for a few days. And I get a signal here. Yay!

So, the party was Sunday and fantastic. Saw a ton of family and friends. Had live Hawaiian music, hula dancers, orchid leis, "ono kine" real Hawaiian grinds to eat, and decent weather. My best friend flew out for 4 days and worked her butt off helping with everything. It was so great to have her there. My favorite part was that she totally sympathized with me about my mother. I love my best friend :) Don't get me wrong, my mom is a great lady. But it is almost par for the course that these irritants crop up between mother & daughter. Especially when we're travelling together.

So, uh, yeah. About my diet? Um, it's been totally hit and miss. I am so accustomed to travelling either by myself that I didn't remember the unexpected changes in plans or lack of communication that exist when large groups of friends & family travel together. O.M.G. Today's weigh in showed a gain of about 4 pounds. I've been retaining water like crazy and I can't tell if it's because there's so much salt (maybe MSG?) in the food, or something else. And my TOM is totally off. Between those things the weight gain isn't a surprise, but it's still causing a lot of sighing on my part. I have 4 more weeks, we leave here 2/12, so I hope to make better use of my time so far as eating timing and exercise.

I hope everyone is well! I miss reading everyone's journals. I hope I have a day while i'm here to actually get on my computer and catch up. We shall see. If not, I shall remain reduced to this tiny keyboard. Pictures below are from breakfast this morning. Oy vey! I should have taken a picture of the plates, but it didn't dawn on me until after the fact, darnit.

Aloha!

<img src="http://i904.photobucket.com/albums/ac247/mswahine/1263942031.jpg" border="0" alt="Breakfast at Ken's" width="600" height="400"></a>
<center>Post-Breakfast @ Ken's House of Pancakes</center>
<img src="http://i904.photobucket.com/albums/ac247/mswahine/1263942033.jpg" border="0" alt="Sumo Size Eating at Ken's" width="600" height="400"></a>
<center>How You Feel Post-Breakfast @ Ken's House of Pancakes
</center>

(7 comentarios)

14 enero 2010

UPDATE: I suggest reading entries with photos in Full Journal view since the formatting is off with the pics. I have no way to edit pictures on my phone. So sorry! To see the full photo, go into individual journal entry. Ok, enough technical info :)

just erased my last entry...GRRRRR! I shall try this again. WARNING: I am typing on a phone keyboard and can barely see anything, so please pardon my typos. And I can't read joirnals to comment, I am so bummed! I don't get reception at Kaloli Point, where the house is located, so I am currently sitting in the Safeway parking lot, frantically retyping everything I already typed. I figure most entries I manage will be photos so I can share my adventures with you all. I just figured out how to do this on a phone app on Photobucket, so I really hope it works.

So far my trip has mostly consisted of getting irritated with my mother as we race around and try to get everything pulled together for the luau on Sunday. I have eaten horribly, my timing totally off. I forgot how difficult the first few days are as you grocery shop for all of the basics, like salt & pepper and oil and eggs, etc. Even water since the water in the house isn't potable. Needless to say, my first few days have been a total bust from a weight loss perspective. I finally broke down and bought a scale at WalMart today (ugh, consorting with the enemy!). I knew if I didn't get a mode of weiging myself, and fast, it was going to be much too easy to get out of control. Already I am unable to log my food daily on FS so it's not in front of me the way it should be. Hope to be back on track soon.

Went to the Hilo Farmers Market yesterday and went wild. Oh, can I just tell you how amazing the fruit is? Pineapples so sweet; rambuttans (the red, spiky things & the brown things that look like nuts in the photo below) are perfect (they taste like lychee); the papaya are sun-ripened, pink & fragrant; the mangoes are drippy and golden; the bananas are like custard; and the tangerines are like a burst of sunshine in your mouth. Delicious, tropical, succulent.

<a href="http://s904.photobucket.com/albums/ac247/mswahine/?action=view&current=1263527499.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i904.photobucket.com/albums/ac247/mswahine/1263527499.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<center>Hilo Farmers Market</center>

<a href="http://s904.photobucket.com/albums/ac247/mswahine/?action=view&current=1263527349.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i904.photobucket.com/albums/ac247/mswahine/1263527349.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
<center>Market Haul</center>

(9 comentarios)

11 enero 2010

Stayed up until 1:30 with my husband watching movies last night, sharing dark chocolate with one another as I sipped a mug of hot tea. The movie was terrible, but we let it go and just sat on the couch together, something that hasn't happened for over a month.

We are back on more stable footing. Tempers haven't flared. Egos are less bruised. Tonight is our last night before Gretchen and I leave for 5 weeks. It is a long time to be away from another and as a family. It wasn't meant to be that way. We were meant to spend some of that time together on the islands - splashing in waves and getting sticky with the juice of mangoes from the farmers market. But decisions were made, and that is now in the past, and we mustn't dwell in timelines that serve no purpose. I know he is sad to stay behind, but it was also his decision. This is the first time in a very long time that I did not cave and cancel or rearrange schedules to accommodate him. It was a very awful and heart-tugging decision, but it's one I have stuck with and am allowing to happen. Today we took Gretchen to the mini-golf course in town - I've not been there in aeons and I've never played. We had a hoot and I see that outing becoming a family fave. Reconciliatory, we laughed as our cheeks turned red in the afternoon air.

I do need this time away. It isn't meant to be an escape from my husband; more than anything it was an escape from my office. But it has become, in my opinion, not so much an escape as a marshalling of energy and thoughts. I am determined that this should happen at some point during that 5 weeks. I am travelling and staying with my parents in <a href="http://hawaiihale.com/">their home</a>, which is small, but very sweet. There is, however, the opportunity for me to stay and house-sit at a home nearby, which I may do just to have a bit of alone time. I am taking Tostoy's "War and Peace" which I have never read. I may take some knitting. I am taking a few journals.

I will visit the <a href="http://www.hilofarmersmarket.com/">Hilo Farmer's Market</a>, probably multiple times while we are there. I'm sure we'll make it at least once or twice to the Maku'u Farmer's Market. We'll make a stop for the insane plates of food at <a href="http://kenshouseofpancakes-hilohi.com/index.html">Ken's House of Pancakes</a> and I hope to be able to take Gretchen to the <a href="www.hilozoo.com">Pana’ewa Rainforest Zoo and Gardens</a>. I plan to get treats for my staff at <a href="www.bigislandcandies.com">Big Island Candies</a>. And I think we'll make it to the Kona side of the island and get a chance to visit <a href="http://www.hawaiistateparks.org/parks/hawaii/index.cfm?park_id=44">Hapuna Beach</a>. The air, the smells, the warmth, the tastes, the beauty - perhaps these will be enough of a change to recharge me.

I plan on walking every morning, with the possible exception of the first week which will be spent on insane preparation for my 100-person birthday luau next Sunday. The caterer is an Auntie and the hula dancers are also Aunties. I may just buckle and get a karaoke DJ so I can belt out some 90's tunes that da yout of today have never heard. I figure 40 is a one shot deal; I may as well make it count. But other than that week, I hope to walk, and my I am taking Gretchen's jogging stroller. My incentive is below, Shipman's Beach, the pot of gold at the end of the 3-mile trek. I'll keep ya'll posted if that happens!

<center><a href="http://www.hawaiihale.com/pictures/shipman2-b.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.hawaiihale.com/shipman_2a.jpg"></a>
(Click on photo to see larger)</center>

P.S. Thank you everyone for your comments about yesterday's post. I know those who have been here for awhile feel the community at a much deeper level than I can in only a month. But I truly feel blessed to have such insights to draw from. And from people who have made it happen, are making it happen, and who will continue to make it happen. Ya'll are magic :)

5 Wonderful Things:
- Expectation (my Aunties doing the hula!)
- Reconciliation (mini-golf on a Sunday afternoon)
- Cooperation (Gretchen helping mama pack her suitcase)
- Rehabilitation (taking time to regroup)
- Satisfaction (being ok with food even if it means a short-term gain)

FOOD TIMING:
Bed time: 1:30A
Wake time: 9:15
Weight: 239.8

10:30 - Coffee/water
11:00 - Breakfast
12:00 - sandwiches
1:30 - water
2:30 - lunch/tea
4:00 - 7:00 - tea/water
7:00 - dinner
7:00 - 12:00 tea
10:30 ice cream

Didn't have tea this morning, in fact got too dehydrated in the AM. Tried to work at timing a lot more today. Loaded carbs in the morning/early afternoon. Lunch was a cobb salad, no dressing. Ate 2 1/2 of Gretchen's fries. WANTED ALL OF THEM, but desisted since it was already late. Ate another salad for dinner, lite dressing. Broke down and had ice cream when the crave wouldn't leave. Have been packing & organizing all day. Another weight gain this morning, not a surprise considering the havoc I wreaked Friday & Saturday with timing. Period is any day now, but that's not the whole reason for the gain. Time to reconnoiter. Will work on actually forecasting meals/activities while in Hawaii.

(14 comentarios)

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