Monday, December 28, 2020. Of places we adore...

 Yet another dazzling winter day.  Chill air, sunshine, all is good...

Apropos my comment Saturday about alohaing our ʻāina, it occurred to me to mention that songs celebrating place are an integral part of our culture.  If so inclined, one could sing ones way around each of our fair isles, recognizing the bestest aspects of place.  Sadly, many songs are being forgotten.  Theyʻre too old-fashioned; not current or in vogue.  Iʻm old-fashioned, and I adore them.  Many make for the best hula ʻauana...

Kaluapele sits proudly in the Moku (District) of Kaʻū, a vast area on the south part of the Island of Hawaiʻi.  And the song "Kaʻū Nui" is dear.  A few (several?) years ago I had the pleasure of being part of a UH Hilo huakaʻi (field trip) visiting places around the summit of Kīlauea.  We ended on the lānai at Jaggar Museum where the group sang...

"Kaʻū Nui" by Keauhou

I LOVE this!!!  "The wondrous beauty of Kīlauea" indeed...

And then, getting geographically specifically apropos, and slowing down somewhat, we enjoy Napua and her version of "Halemaʻumaʻu".  Ahhhhh

"Halemaʻumaʻu" by Napua

Apologies for differently sized text...I trust that they suffice.

So here we are...Grateful for the monitoring and documentation of HVO staff...

Sunrise today on the rim, shot by a geologist with the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, posted today on the HVO website...The area is CLOSED because of HAZARDS.  Including no moʻ road, uahi ʻawa, etc.

Pay Attention when you Go Outside!!!

The National Park Service posts signs and erects barricades to inform visitors and to educate them.  Unfortunately, too many visitors are seemingly illiterate, or think warnings donʻt apply to them.  "Ainokea.  I do what I like."  Thatʻs the mentality.  Then rescuers are put at risk... Cʻmon people.  BEHAVE...

But of course Iʻll guess that miscreants donʻt read or pay attention to this.  Gotta try but...

So The Tilt:

Going up but not too fast...This is for the last week, the blue depicts ground motion at Uēkahuna.

And I admit that Iʻm kinda obsessing over F1 webcam images...watching the island drift and the lake level rise and fall.  First, the ledge (lower right) cooling after being overtopped.

Then a couple hours later, being overtopped again... Amazing what you can decipher about the works of Pele by looking remotely at these thermal images...

and todayʻs Update...No big or notable changes...

Iʻm a fan of haiku, that poetry form of Japan.  I favor the 5/7/5 syllable lines format.  Observations succinct can be recorded, I think, fairly easily.  And ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi and English versions can be constructed too.  "Translation" is not a word I like, mostly because languages and their imagery can be unique, and one should be able to shift cultural thinking from one to the other.  Does that make sense?   Letʻs see, me ka mahalo piha iā ng for editorial comments:

moku lana au

ʻā i ke kai hulili

one ʻā mani

island adrifting

atop a silvery sea

cinder cooling

The HVO image above, a closeup of the then-active North Vent (with horseshoe spatter rampart), a shiny ropy pāhoehoe lake surface, and the rough-textured island on December 23, 2020.  In my minds-eye, when Pele first appeared at the shore of the water lake, her 2,000dF lava interacted with relatively cool lake.  Explosions ensued.  Solid pele accumulated in the vaporizing water lake, and tephra (cinder, Peleʻs hair, tears, and limu) rained and accumulated.  Thatʻs what happens when you have pele + water.

And a final, current views of Halemaʻumaʻu, from webcams more or less in the same position in the CLOSED AREA on the rim...

Below, what looks like white mineral deposits on the lake surface, Iʻm pretty sure is sunlight reflected off a thin layer of fragile glass.  A he nani maoli nō...truly beautiful...

And a map image from a similar vantage, for those concerned that She might overflow hither and yon, wreaking havoc and destruction...

probably not... But as weʻve repeatedly been instructed, over time:  Never predict or assume what Pelehonuamea and her kin have in store for us...

Till next time (probably Wednesday), as always, with aloha,

BobbyC

maniniowali@gmail.com