I had wondered, since last August 2, after our last lūʻōniu (collapse explosion), when we might feel another ʻōlaʻi. It was a bit unnerving, but dwelling on What If serves no useful purpose, so on we go.
There are our friends the Webcams:
HVO Webcams
Recently added was the K3cam, perched on the rim and peering into the abyss:
This view is vertiginous. I get dizzy when I contemplate being there. So steep and hundreds of feet deep and surfaced with loose rock, you cannot see the bottom. Much of the time the K3cam doesnʻt provide a good view because of poor lighting, steams and vapors, rain... But there are windows of opportunity.
Maybe because Iʻm so visual, I enjoy looking at the weathers, the lighting as the day progresses, where and when the sun and moon rise and set, what our ao lewa, our cloud-floating-above-lua are up to, all that. Some may think "Oh just look the cam! No need go outside!". And of course my reaction would include:
be outside...pay attention! noho i waho...a maliu!
You must be outside. To smell, to feel on your skin the chill, the heat, the mists and torrential downpours. Gotta. Otherwise itʻs like watching somebody eat the ono-ist food and not being able to taste or smell it. Torture...
OTHER NOTES:
The Hawaiʻi Board on Geographic Names has kindly posted a link to a sheet listing proposed names for Fissure 8. The link is under the green HGBN:
TryLook at the submittal by Larry Kimura. He and others propose "Papalauahi", as not the name for Fissure 8, but as the name for the entire eruption in Keahialaka. The packet submitted is chockfull of archival information, and makes for informative and provocative reading.
Pepeʻe do their thing:
As mentioned last time, growth burgeons. Hāpuʻu, ʻamaʻu, uluhe and other ferns are sending out pepeʻe...uncoiling fronds. Iʻm looking forward to watching again their young tender bright green lau tremble in breezes. The understory of the forest always looks fresh and clean when fronds are young.
All three pics above are of hāpuʻu pulu. Pulu is the golden fur covering the pepeʻe. Birds sometimes use it to build nests, and in the old days, pulu was used to dress wounds, and to prepare bodies for burial.
In the 1800ʻs, pulu was an export from the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi to America, Australia, etc. It was primarily used as stuffing for mattresses and pillows. The Ahwahnee, a famous hostelry in Yosemite used it as such. But. While pulu is soft at first, it isnʻt particularly resilient and breaks down relatively quickly.
Thrumʻs Hawaiian Annual
It still boggles my mind that hundreds of thousands of pounds were picked, dried, bundled, and exported. Boggling. Hawaiʻi Volcanoes has remains of a pulu processing area along the trail to Napau crater. It was an open field with stonewalled accessory buildings. Pulu from there was shipped from Keauhou Landing, also in the park. Amazing to contemplate, but pulu was harvested from many different rain forests.
About ʻaʻaliʻi:
He ʻaʻaliʻi kū makani mai au; ʻaʻohe makani nāna e kulaʻi
I am a wind-resisting ʻaʻaliʻi; no gale can push me over
The above is an oft-cited ʻōlelo noʻeau from Mary Kawena Pukuʻi alluding to how the people of Kaʻū are resilient.
ʻAʻaliʻi are among many plants in bloom now...Many mistake their seedpods for flowers, perhaps because the flowers are so small and insignificant, while the pods ripen to showy masses.
Iʻve been perplexed by their flowers and pods and what grows on which plant. So I asked a friend:
This is I think female with a teeny tiny pod developing, I think:
Mature red capsules. Thanks, ac!
And my bestest favorite from Hualālai, what I call "black" though itʻs not. Dark dark dark red. Junk picture, but you get the idea:
OK. Nuff for now. I gotta get dressed and holo.
Till soon. As always, with aloha,
BobbyC
maniniowali@gmail.com
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