E komo mai

E komo mai.......Come in, come in.

Welcome to a new Maui sharing spot. Here I hope to share my mana'o, my thoughts, with you. Mana'o is a Hawaiian word that I like a lot. It means "to think, to wish."

On Maui we have a very special listener supported radio station called Mana'o Radio. You can find it locally at 91.5, it is also on the web at www.manaoradio.com The music is very eclectic as the d.j.'s are all volunteer.. Many of the folks at this radio station are musicians as well. If you want to get tuned into local events, listen to a great Maui station.

If you are a visitor to Hawaii, or a new resident, the Hawaiian language can be a bit tricky. Something that may help you correctly pronounce a daunting Hawaiian word, is apply basic phonetics. This will get you closer to sounding like you've been here before.

The Hawaiian language allows for one to take a moment and really look, listen and feel. There are many ways to describe the rain of Hawaii. It can be gentle, or strong, come from the mountain, or the sea. This is the in depth approach I hope to have as I share my mana'o , my stories and experiences of living in Hawaii Nei with you. I was not born in Hawaii, and the first 20 years that I lived here, I was in awe of the beautiful place I called home. I am close to completing the next 20 years of living here now. During this time, I have begun to scratch the surface of what it means to be "of Hawaii" . I am a part of the latest waves of immigrants fortunate enough to land on these shores.

I've begun to see deeper into the stunning, breathtaking beauty of Hawaii. The soles of my feet are now stained red from the clay soil of Maui. I eat and serve fresh fruit from my garden every day.I feel blessed, and, I am grateful. In Hawaii, we live closely aligned with nature . We spend a lot of time outside. For me, this is a more complete way to experience life. When we have Kona weather, it means our weather comes from the south. People can get a little edgy when the weather is Kona. Big, wild storms could be on the way, or, there is not a breath of air moving. The trade winds keep our Maui air clean and fresh. Without the trades, the "Vog", volcanic particles in the air from Madame Pele on the Big Island, end up blanketing most of the islands. This week we have had Kona weather, hopefully it will bring some much needed rain for the garden.


In this journal, I plan to serve up a fresh little slice of paradise to keep you coming back for more.

A hui ho, until later.