Favorite Hawaiian Song

First of all a big thank you to Kayla for helping me get this song on our blog.

Many of you know that we listen to Hawaiian music even when we're not in Hawaii. We love it so much and have purchased many CDs. However, one particular artist has become our favorite. This music you're hearing is by Keali'i Reichel (Ka-ah-LEE-ee Rye-shell) and entitled Ka Nohona Pili Kai. The song extols the beauty of Keali'i's grandmother's home by the sea.

I have tenuously started making a study of the Hawaiian language. I find it beautiful and lyrical. I know I will never speak Hawaiian, but I'm trying to learn mostly how to pronounce the many varied words. This will be a long and (hopefully) fun journey.

Hope you enjoy our Hawaiian song as much as we do.

What's wrong with Jury Duty?

Today I went up to Fairfield to report for Jury Duty. This is not the first time this has been a necessity for me. I say necessity because we really have been given no choice in our being selected for this obligation. Now many of you might see the words necessity, obligation and duty and think negative thoughts. I just want to give you the flip side of things. We live in a free country. We may not like all the things about our country, but you have to admit, we are a free people. That greatest of all freedoms is ...choice. Yes, that jury duty summons appears to negate that choice, but if we could only see jury duty as a choice to learn, a choice to expand our thoughts, a choice to see new things, a choice to experience new thoughts, a choice to anguish over injustice, and a choice to show our gratitude for a country that gives us the right to a fair trial. I know the system is flawed, people don't want to serve, and it can be an inconvenience, but I've served on one jury and found the experience to be eye opening and (believe it or not) fun.
I was excused today after 26 people were questioned. I was glad, only because I have been ill and some of my symptoms continued on into today and I was having trouble concentrating. I was, however, also sad because I would have liked to experience this part of life's journey again.
I guess what I'm getting at is this... when you receive a jury summons, try not to be so negative about it. And especially, don't whine and carry on about it in front of your kids. They are facing a scary world out there. Crime will always be there and we need responsible people to be willing to serve on juries. Help them take pride in serving. I thought it was ironic that the Asst. DA today kept asking people she interviewed if they were glad to be there. Sadly, no one gave a positive response.
Darn...wish she had been able to ask me!

New Floors

I just had to show off our new hallway and stairs. We had a friend of Carol and Craig's come over and do our hallway and stairs going from the family room downstairs to the garage. After that we debated whether we could do the stairs and hallway upstairs ourselves. I was sure that we could, but Stan was a little hesitant, mostly because of the stairs being open on one side. After consulting with a handyman friend of ours we decided that we could indeed do this job together. It took a number of days, but we were so delighted with the results. It feels good to do something like this together. We had some intense moments of consultation and discussion as to what would work the best, but in the end it came out exactly like we wanted it to. We gave each other a huge "high 5" after this project was done. If anyone is considering do something like this, we're available for consultation. Ha Ha !!!

Pilialoha - what does it mean?

Many of you know how much we love Hawaii, its people, the music and the language. We wanted to to incorporate this into our blog. So we've chosen Pilialoha - Still Believing in Forever as our title. The word Pilialoha means "close friendship, beloved companionship, beloved relative, loving association, to have a loving or tender relationship, to be in a bond of love, romance. That explains pilialoha. Now for the second part. Our song is Look at Us by Vince Gill. In the lyrics there is a line - "Still believing in forever." I thought these two thoughts went perfect together. So... in our loving associations we will continue to always believe that it's forever. Hope you enjoy our blog.