Weavers Of Worlds and Dreams

I've spent the last four days with people who weave dreams and worlds with words. The Writer's Weekend near Seattle was a combination of work, excitement, and laughter. Attendees included the elite of the world of books, editors and agents, along with those wonderful inspirations, published authors, and those of us who hoped to find that magical moment that might push us across the great divide from unpublished to published writer.

You who are out there struggling to publish that first book, story, poem or play might be surprised to learn that agents and editors are really human. They laugh; they impart information; they become exhausted; but most of all, I found them to be incredibly patient with all of us as we asked question after question both in and out of the workshop sessions.

My conference experience went stratospheric when an agent said, “I want you to send me your book.” It took all I had not to scream right there in the room. Someone was willing to give my book a serious read. Those are words of gold to an aspiring writer. Another golden moment was when an editor spent her lunch hour helping me to understand the workings of her publishing company and assuring me that my manuscript wasn't lost in the piles and piles filling the acquiring editor's office.

Old friendships were renewed and new friendships were made. Long conversations were held over drinks, during meals or while standing in a hall holding up the walls. We laughed, some of us may have cried and all of us were inspired. It was a wonderful, wonderful weekend.

Now the work begins. I'm winging my way back to Hawaii with words singing in my head. I have a manuscript to send off and a new one to start. Would I change things? Not for the world. Words are alive; life among them is magical, and my journey is just beginning.

Color, Color, Color

I am starting on a new fiber adventure. I have dyed my own roving before, but I've never blended multiple colors together to form a yarn that was totally unique and my own. I'm following the information in Deb Menz “Color In Spinning” and doing lots of playing. The colors above are my choices to make my yarn. The wool is Blue Faced Leicester from Ashland Bay. The white is dog hair. I'll keep you posted as to my progress.

Memorial Day 2006

Kea`au, the town I live near, is a small plantation town. Although most of the old plantation buildings are gone, the plantation people are still here. This area was a Japanese camp. Most of the plantation workers in old Hawai`i were separated by race. One of the oldest churches in the area is the Buddhist temple. That temple has hosted an interdenominational, inter-cultural Memorial Day service since 1946. This year I attended.

I find that the two holidays set aside for our veterans are honored more here than in other place that I have lived. Maybe because so many of the people here are immigrants themselves or the children of immigrants. I was told by one of the Japanese Americans that on December 7, 1941, many citizens of Hawai`i but especially the Japanese had only minutes to decide where their loyalties lay. Think of it – your mother, your father, maybe your wife and children were in Japan and you must decide in an instant how you are going to live out this war. And most of them threw their future with their new land. The 100<sup>th</sup> Battalion of the 442<sup>nd</sup> Regimental Combat Team was made up of Japanese Americans from Hawai`i. Because they were not trusted, they were sent to the European war where they became the most decorated battalion who fought in WW II. And some of them did not come home. (Check out this web site for more history on these remarkable young men - http://www.katonk.com/442nd/442/page1.html )

These were the names first read in the roll call of honor at the service. The roll call progressed through the fallen from Puna, our district, for the Korean Conflict, the Vietnam War, and the current conflict in Iraq. With bagpipes playing Amazing Grace in the background, each name was read and a member of the family, or the community representing the family, took a bouquet of antheriums to the Veterans Memorial which was already decorated with large bouquets placed by many Veterans organizations. It was a stirring moment that for me was the center of the whole service.

Yes there were patriotic songs and speeches but having those names read and seeing the families come forth really spoke to me of what this and every Memorial Day is about – a time to remember our history and honor those who walked that lonesome road for all of us. My father was a veteran from WWII, the Korean conflict and Vietnam, but we were lucky. He died peacefully in his sleep at the ripe old age of 82. I pray that will be the fate of our men and women in uniform today.

At Home In The Jungle

It's almost noon and the trade winds have died to almost nothing. This Pacific Northwest gal is sitting here doing a minor grumble about the weather – sticky. But it's hard to do more than a minor grumble about the weather here in paradise. It really is never too hot nor too cold and our humidity, though more than I like, never reaches the levels of much of the South, Midwest or East Coast. Puffy white clouds are floating in and will back up against the mountains soon to cause rain in the higher elevations. We may not see any.

Last night we had a termite swarm. They are early this year. I hate them. Besides the damage they can potentially do to the house, it means lights out as soon as we see them. If they have no light to be attracted to, they are less apt to land and settle in. So I'm reading my book by flashlight under the covers after going to bed at eight o'clock. Talk about flashbacks to teenage years.

Today we put in a new water system. We live in an area with no public nor private, as in community, water supply. Our water is supplied by what lands on our roof with the rain. It is collected into a large tank and stored for future use. This means that my water is literally rain water soft but there are possible hazards from contamination. So today we added a new system that runs the water through two filters and then an ultraviolet sterilizing process. We drank the water before this system but I'll feel more comfortable doing it with this change over.

We live on six acres of barely controlled jungle outside of Kea`au, Hawai`i on the Big Island. We are about eighteen miles from the Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. Our land is covered with ohia, palms, guava and a variety of other trees. We also have a large collection of orchids, anthiriums, tree ferns and vireyas growing on the property. Vireya are tropical and sub-tropical rhododendrons. The picture is of the vireya Veryl Ann and it was hybridized by Mitch Mitchell of Volcano Hawaii. And yes, it was named after me.

Our family consists of myself, my husband Glenn, two dogs Hoku and Kip, and a flock of eight chickens. Hoku and Kip are what we call poi dogs here in Hawai`i. Anywhere else they would be called mutts. Hoku has Rotweiller and German Shepherd in her but I think she also has terrier in her mix. I always swore I would never live with a terrier and I find that all the behaviors of Hoku's that drive me nuts are those that I can attribute to terrier in her background. Kip is a bigger mystery because she was found wandering in the forest near Volcano but we think she looks like she has a lot of Australian Cattle Dog in her. She is our self appointed watch dog and overall cuddle dog.

So now you know a little bit about us and where we live. Oh and the fiber part. My creative passions are worked out in two areas – fiber arts and writing. You will hear much about both as this blog continues.