7. 'ehiku

tHe qUakE. A week of stories..and everyone's question "...and where were you?" seemed to be endlessly interesting. I was in the driveway loading up the truck to go painting and thought it was "just a little quake" at first, then literally saw our wooden house (on stilts) rock and roll and twist every whichway, creaking and groaning and shuddering (the house, that is!) It's an unreal feeling thinking your house will crash to the ground before your eyes. I heard my daughter screaming above a deep and very loud rumble in the earth - and that was just the first one! Natalia, on the other hand was experiencing the shaking and shuddering from inside the house as she was standing in a doorway ( oh we've heard all the "earthquake rules") while the paintings fell from the walls and cupboards opened up around her, sending their contents tumbling or flying though the air. The place where she stood was littered with stuff! But we are unhurt and our house is unhurt and what broke can either be thrown away or glued back together.

I talked to a few surfers who heard "the rumble" and felt both quakes- in the water. And two different stories of people who were up in helecopters touring the island- one saw a waterfall go brown , and another saw the waterfall stop all together, then start back up. A woman on the highway saw the asphalt come in big waves all around her as their car jumped and bounced all across both lanes. Some 29 house have sadly been "red flagged" on this island, and over a thousand buildings incurred damage throughout the islands. The irrigation ditches around this island were badly damaged, with the farmers suffering losses or setbacks until they are repaired. Our hospital was in disrepair, and rooms evacuated. Several art galleries lost a lot in ceramics, wood and especially glass pieces. Many rock walls just crumbled, and there were some landslides triggered. The next few hours were wierd, with no power and no radios up to inform us what was happening, on all the islands. Very "twilight-zoneish" as folks chatted in small groups wondering what to do, wondering what was happening or whether there would next be a tsunami. Thank goodness it was daylight, Sunday morning.
But wonderfully, amazingly, no lives were lost (well yes-there was one...aww Kathleen I am sooo sorry about your cat. Maybe he's in cat heaven, rolling around in catnip.) There was no tsunami, and people were so warm and helpful to one another. Everyone you talk to just keeps saying, "we are so lucky...we are so blessed...it could have been so much worse."
My heart goes out to those who were so scared and who suffered damage and loss.
The price of paradise, n'est c'est pas? And pins and needles at the slightest little shake, at last for a whle...
.
Life goes on, back painting, back sailing and surfing. My plein air class met last Sunday to paint the rugged beauty of the beach down by the Old Airport. A gorgeous day, with the tinny little mosquito drone of model airplanes (from the flying club beside us) buzzing the treetops -and our heads! And faint "halleluja "strains of songs as we were downwind from the "beach church".

A serene evening spent motoring by sea on the catamaran NoaNoa,-a two hour trip back to Kona from Anaehoomalu. The silhouette of the mast, stars in my hair, a sliver of a moon in a blueblack sky. A sweet evening spent "nightdreaming" on the bow. (You know, not asleep, but daydreaming in the night.)

My "Place of Prayer" painting, oils on wood. A blessing made of stones I saw on the beach in Waipio Valley. I am drawn to these small sculptures made of rocks, and wonder about the people who made them, and what they had in mind.

My mahalos for a blessed life, and aloha
"elle"