Caroline comes for a visit

June 07, 2014

Caroline comes for a visit

Aloha people! We continue to express gratitude to Madam Pele for this opportunity to live and adventure in and on her birthplace. It continues to be one of the best years of my life. Please find enclosed some photos of what we have been up to for the past several months:

My daughter, the always lovely and poised Caroline Leake, recently came for a ten day visit. Here is her first day at Kehena Beach.

After a seventeen hour flight from Charlottesville and landing in Hilo, this was her first view of the Puna coastline Hawaii.

Caroline's first morning in Hawaii. Starting to think that she might be able to adjust to this lifestyle.

But first, a few shots of what the chef formally known as Ted has been up to. We had an excellent Mother's Day Dinner featuring the above menu. Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

I handled the Prime Rib and Mariana here prepares her organic Kalani made seitan. You have met Marianna before in other posts; she is my compadre and in charge of most of the vegan dishes in the kitchen. At times, she is also a lapsed vegan, ripping a piece of succulent pork here, dipping her bread into the prime rib drippings there when she thinks I am not looking.

That would be Ellard in the middle,, originally from the Bay area and 43, eight time habitué of Burning man, surfer, musician extraordinaire, philosopher and quantity beer drinker. Ellard first came to Kalani 15 years ago and recently returned.. He has a travel food blog: Ellard's Culinary Edge Blog

Chef Marc, who you have also met before, made the Yorkshire pudding in front and the sourdough bread on the racks in the back. Meet Marc Here: Chef to Royalty, Dictators and Despots

Here we show off the Mother's Day Prime Rib.

Mariana, a former bankruptcy attorney from Pittsfield, Mass, shows off her new tribal number.

Isa and Juda show off their handiwork making "hearts of beet" Mother's Day "made with love" salad of tomatoes, organic beets and Kalani grown watercress

Mike and Becky have returned from Sedona and you have met them in other posts. Here Becky gets ready to take those sideburns off with one svelte cut in our jungle barbershop.

I recently volunteered to work at the Puna music festival as a parking lot attendant. Here is Mike Love, a local favorite and the headliner: Learn about Mike Love here

They gave me this yellow vest to demand compliance from errant parkers. My first customer was a Ram 350 full of burly, shirtless, tattooed, local Hawaiian tuna fisherman. The truck reeked of weed and was full of empty beer bottles. Decided to let them park where they wanted. My second customer was an older white guy in a small car; this seemed like the perfect person to test my authority. Let's face it, a parking lot guard in a yellow vest, has just a smidgen of authority above a citizen. I told him that he couldn't park in a certain area because he would block the tuna fishermen's boats. He pulled out a card that identified himself as the Harbor Master of Hilo. He calmly explained that he knew every fisherman and every boat on the Big Island and these particular fishermen had finished for the day and weren't going anywhere. With that he locked his car and went into the festival. Batting 0 for 2 in my new career, I took off the vest and went to see Mike Love, leaving the parking lot to sort itself out as it may without me.

That would be Drago on the right with Jaime and Caroline at the snorkeling tidal pools. Drago, 38, is an electrician, originally from Bulgaria and is now an electrical inspector in London. We had many wild, far out and intellectual conversations and adventures during his six months here.

Leigh is a brand new volunteer from the UK. She works as horse trainer in Sarasota Springs in the summer and Del Ray Beach in the winter. She knew all about Charlottesville and had participated at Foxfield. She dwells in the rarefied world of the Kentucky Derby and such. As she was as new to Hawaii as Caroline, she joined us on several adventures to get acclimated.

Special thanks to Kalani management for providing a rainforest A-frame for Caroline, a luxury normally reserved for long term volunteers and management. You will also remember that they welcomed my brother Charles and Rebecca as the only guests on campus when the campus was closed for the Baron Baptiste retreat. Mahalo!

One day Caroline and I headed to Volcano National Park to visit the birthplace of Pele.

Caroline in front of Kilauea crater. Halema'uma'u is smoking and glowing in this crater within a crater in the background and said to be the home of Madam Pele

Pele repaved 12 miles of roadway with this Mauna Ulu flow 1969-1974.

A'a lava flow Volcano National Park

We hiked down into the Kilauea crater, where in 1823, the caldera floor collapsed as magma drained out of a crack in the side of the crater causing the 500 foot collapse of the caldera floor. Here we look up at the wall of the rim from inside the caldera. A rainforest has developed since that time.

Rainwater seeps through earthquake caused fissures and rifts and issues forth as steam.

A century ago, visitors used the Sulphur Banks as a health spa. Created when the caldera collapsed and hydrogen sulphide gas and steam formed deposits of sulphur.

Pu'u Pua'i erupted in 1959. It was quiet and eerie when we visited here

Except for this Hawaiian goose, the Nene.

The Sea Arches at Volcano NP.

On our way to Volcano, we stopped at Ken's, an iconic staple in Hilo, that has a vast menu that is difficult to absorb.

Lava Tree State Park. Molds of trees form as the lava passes and covers the trees, setting them on fire and leaving these impressions. Leigh reads about it in the background.

So we headed to the Kona side of the island for a three day road trip, stopping for a break in Punalu'u Black Sand Beach.
As always on the Big Island, the micro-climates change by the mile. On our way to South Point, we pass by what, Nebraska?

Texas?

Kinda windy at South Point.

Kinda lonely too, where are we now, some African plain?

Didn't have time for the hike to Green Sands Beach....yup, besides black and white sand beaches, the Big Island offers a green one too.

Local Ahi and Ono fishermen

and worst food.

So we get to the cliffs of South Point. As the whole area has had a reputation since ancient times for exceptionally strong currents, Jaime took the leap first. If the current goes the wrong way, you'd better have a good map of Antarctica.

Where she waited 35 feet below for Caroline as I counted one for the money, two for the show and proceeded to miss the shot of Caroline making the plunge. I think someone else captured the leap to certain drowning and it is posted on Facebook.

A long climb up a rickety ladder and there she was!

Thanks Jaime for letting me be a wimp.

After that jump, Caroline has a little RE-ward.

Breakfast with Jaime and Lily at the Coffee Shack, outside of Kona

Outside the Coffee Shack overlooking the beaches.

Hapuna Beach, Kona.

Tikis at the Place of Refuge, Kona.

Kua Bay, Kona.

Lily and Jaime, buddies of mine that you have met in other posts. We are all shift leaders in the kitchen and have indefinite departure dates. Thanks for organizing this trip, ladies.