WE HAVE ARRIVED!

Aloha!

No pictures on this post. We have arrived on the island and we are getting settled in. But I promise many pictures are to come!

Our "goods" are on a container ship and won't be here for a few weeks yet. It was quite an ordeal deciding what to bring and making sure that it all fit in the container! Our movers, West Point Relocation specialize in oceanic moves and most of their customers are moving to/from Hawaii, Japan and Thailand. They did a terrific job and were superb at packing up our art and high value pieces of furniture.

We had a series of very successful garage sales in November and December. We also donated hundreds of books (they don't do so well in our humid Hawaiian climate) and clothes to charity. It is amazing how many things we really will not need in Hawaii. We got rid of many cold weather clothes as well as most of our leather goods. I could not bear to part with a few hand bags and sandals, so they will get a frequent wipe down to help preserve them. But leather jackets and most shoes went out the door. Finally as we were packing we discovered many other things that we really did not need and had a final pile of donations that filled an entire 1 car garage. After living here just a few days now, we are discovering that we need even less than we thought we would.

Hilo had over 30" of rain since we were here in November. It is very green and lush of course. The stream and water fall on our property are flowing too. On Monday when we arrived, we were delighted to find a bright sunny day! Tuesday was another sunny one and then we had a good rain Tuesday night and it cleared in time for me to go to the farmer's market at 9 am.

Speaking of the market... THIS is one of the reasons we love Hawaii so much! The market in Hilo is small by California standards. What it lacks in space, it supersedes all California Farmer's Markets in abundance and fantastic fruits and vegetables. I have to say only the Mercados in Mexico City & Cuernavaca have impressed me more than our little Hilo Farmer's Market. I brought home so many wonderful things. I will be sharing about each of our local fruits and veggies in the future. Some I have never seen before and others, like the fern fronds were only seasonal treats we had to forage for on the mainland. Here they are available year round.

We find that as each day passes we affirm the notion that we really do belong here and that some unseen force has drawn us to this beautiful island. It is hard to adequately describe the affinity I feel for the land, ocean and people of Hawaii. Living so close to the ocean, surrounded by sights, sounds and fragrances of such incomparable beauty brings me to the conclusion that this is truly one of the most special places on earth. I am honored to be one of Hawaii's newest citizens. I hope that I can make some contribution to this island and her people, whom we love already.

Sunrises!

Everymorning in our Hawaiian Home brings a different view of the sunrise.

These pictures were taken the first few days of November.

Sunrises on Hilo Bay

Fun Saturday in Hilo Town!

We had a great time with our friends Marsha and Ray on Saturday November 8th. They had spent the night at our new house the night before because we had gone to Black and White night in downtown Hilo (see pictures above of Ray and Marsha as well as our great friends Sharon and Kelly and one of many local bands who were playing in many venues).

On Saturday morning we went to the Hilo Farmer's Market and then went to Mo'oheau Park in Hilo for the E Malama 'Aina Sustainabilty Festival. There we ran into our friend Sonia Martinez who was running the Freecycle Booth at the festival. Freecycle is a network of people who post items that they have available for free to takers. Living on an island makes sustainability extremely important and Freecycle keeps things out of the land fills while also providing needed items to people.

The Hilo Veterans Day parade went right past the park and there were free folding chairs to use, so we sat and watched the parade, clapping for the various soldiers as they came by. The marching bands were also fun and I especially liked the ones in bright shirts and white pants or shorts... so Hawaiian.

It is great to be part of a town that is such a close knit community. While Hilo has 50,000 residents and it is the second largest town in Hawaii, it retains a very small town feeling. It is like going back in time at least 40 years. There are very few tourists and those that are there fit in with the locals, not your typical tourists, instead they are people interested in the volcano or other natural wonders that you can hike or kayak to around the East Coast of Hawaii. It is a land of adventure and incomparable beauty as well as lovely people from so many cultures.

Aloha au i Hawai`i,
devany

It's all about Aloha

Come along with us as we embark on a new adventure of life in Hawaii. As the stock market falls and the war in Iraq continues, we have made our own place in the world, far from the turmoil and craziness of corporate life on the mainland. It is the culmination of dreams and research, hopes and desires for a life with less stress and an abundance of aloha.

Let me first share with you about the culture of Aloha. I am just beginning to truly understand the many meanings of the word Aloha and at the same time learning to live and walk in the Aloha Spirit.

In the ancient Hawaiian language, Aloha means love, compassion, hospitality, peace and mercy. Since the 19th century and since Americans came to live on the islands it has also become a greeting of hello and good bye.

The word aloha derives from the Proto-Polynesian root *alofa. It has descendents in other Polynesian languages, such as the Māori word aroha, also meaning "love."

A folk etymology claims that it derives from a compound of the Hawaiian words alo meaning "presence", "front", "face", or "share"; and ha, meaning "breath of life" or "essence of life." Although alo does indeed mean "presence" etc., the word for breath is spelled with a macron or kāhako over the (hā) whereas the word aloha does not have a long a.

Before contact with the West, the words used for greeting were welina and anoai. Today, "aloha kakahiaka" is the phrase for "good morning." "Aloha ʻauinalā" means "good afternoon" and "aloha ahiahi" means "good evening." "Aloha kākou" is a common form of "welcome to all."
In modern Hawai’i, numerous businesses have aloha in their names, with more than 3 pages of listings in the Oʻahu phone book alone.

And so we embark in a life filled with aloha. Our new home is just North of Hilo on the big island and is on an acre of oceanfront land. This blog will document our new life and both the challenges and blessings of living on an island and directly on the ocean. We hope in many ways to give back to the island and her people and this blog will also be about that adventure in a very personal way.

We will be learning more about Hawaiian culture, history, agriculture and geography. I plan on taking classes in lei making and local culture. Since photography is a huge part of what I do, I also will be posting many pictures.

We are heading to the big island for the closing on our new house and a few weeks of prep work, then we return to the bay area to pack up and by January we will officially be Hawaiians. We are both counting down to the day when we and our pets start our new life in Hawaii.

Aloha au i Hawai`i,

devany

Devany Vickery-Davidson

East Bay Potters

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