Dispatches from Volcano: Friday, January 1, 2021. Hoʻomaka Hou! Begin Anew!

Look toward the future. Most of us would agree that 2020 was...challenging. But. As much as I can grump and grouch, no sense grumble about what was. Use whatever lessons were learned to better tomorrow, and the days and nights to come. "Maka" is one of many many words in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi with many meanings. See #3 below for Hoʻomaka: "To begin, start, initiate, commence".

Shall we?

Tis a classically wintry Volcano morning. Chill, damp and blustery. Winds and rains come in fits and starts, and the Maunaloa Strip Road cam showed us a pastel early day. Unlike previous images, the winds seem to have torn apart the wispy plume, blending it with windblown mist.

I decided to spend early morning driving a short distance toward Kaʻū to deliver nishime to a friend. Though the lee of Kīlauea wasnʻt rainy, it was nevertheless overcast and windy. Couldnʻt discern the plume from the highway, though I did note lots of blooming ʻūlei just past Nāmakanipaio. Growing happily and productively in the lava, white flowers will be followed by white rosehips (seed pods of people in the Family of Roses). From Wikimedia Commons:

ʻŪlei is very useful...though if one is attempting to walk through an area it favors, often on lava substrate of some sort, the ankletangling tripping hazards are quite unpleasant.

about ʻŪlei: Bishop Museum

2020 ended with a spectacular photo by FTrusdell from the HVO website:

Late afternoon, the rising slope of Maunaloa in the distance on the left, and Kapalikapuokamohoaliʻi in deep shadow; the highest terrace on the wall of Kaluapele, above the West Vent. Strong trades blew mists toward the photopoint, the sun was shining, and we appreciate ānuenue (rainbow).

As moku lana au rotates:

from the Pukui and Elbert Hawaiian Dictionary:

poahi: To revolve, spin, go around; to rotate, of hips in a hula. Rare.

Another "Rare" word, but it sure seems apt. I welcome comments from those fluent in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi.

Almost as though thereʻs an irresistible attraction to the spigot. And the rest of the pae ʻāina remains paʻa (fixed)... If one were able to view this in person, pretty sure the impact wouldnʻt be the same. Moku lana au moves so slowly (look at the time stamps) as to make it imperceptible to our eyes.

And from the HVO Video Photo Chronology yesterday,

Photo and Video Chronology

several photos documenting foundering of crustal plates, wherein sections of cooled crust are torn apart and sink, with hot molten pele rising to fill and overflow crack boundaries.

On 123120, HVO, by MPatrick... A very thin sheet of very very hotfluid silver pāhoehoe oozes over a cooled, darker surface.

And the forno from yesterday??? Itʻs almost as though MPatrick read my mind, providing a closeup of West Vents.

The angle...looking down from atop the precipice, with the surface of lokopele, silvery and satiny and rippled pāhoehoe in the background. Lovely juxtaposition of colors shape and texture. Yay for telephoto lenses and great compositional eye.

From HVO: