The Kahilu Theater 2014-2015 season

            The Kahilu Theater in Waimea kicks off its season on Saturday September 20, with a concert by John Cruz. If you haven't heard him, he is a legend of Hawaiian music.

            In October there are two dance performances followed by the Kamuela Philharmonic Orchestra's Tribute to Hawaii. In such a small town such as Waimea, it is truly amazing that a truly fine symphony orchestra exists for our pleasure.

            November highlights the annual Ukulele Festival, a truly fantastic two-day affair featuring some of the best ukulele and slack key artists in the State. This is followed in December by an evening with Jake Shimabukuro, perhaps the foremost ukulele artist in the State. His performance is followed by a virtuoso violinist and the annual Waimea Community Chorus Christmas concert. The chorus is a fantastic gathering of local singers doing an excellent concert.

            2015 brings Makana to the stage. His performance is a highlight as he is an up and coming power in Hawaiian music. February seems to be jazz month featuring the Harlem Quarter and the Honokaa Jazz Band. The Honokaa group of school kids go an amazing job.

            March brings the Kamuela Philharmonic back to the stage, followed in April by a piano concert by Sean Chen. May highlights Hawaiian music with performances by The Brothers Cazimero followed by Kealiՙi Reichel. Both are extremely talented artists.

            The season concludes in June with the Spring concert of the Waimea Community Chorus.

            Information on all performances and tickets are available at: http://kahilutheatre.org/Home.

A weather observatory on Mauna Loa

            If you head North on Route 190 and on to Daniel K. Inouye Highway. As soon as you pass the Mauna Kea access road there will be a narrow road on the right. This is the Mauna Loa Observatory access road. It was built to access the Mauna Loa Observatory which is a baseline station for the Global Monitoring Division of the Earth System Research Laboratory of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration which is at 11,141 feet. It is an almost 18 mile drive to get to the Observatory. Drop in visitors are not welcome at the Observatory, but you can make prior arrangements for a visit through their website at: http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/obop/mlo/index.html. This Observatory made the original atmospheric carbon dioxide measurements which alerted scientists to climate change. They have been monitoring carbon dioxide since 1958 and have the longest continuous record of atmospheric carbon dioxide in the world. In addition they also monitor other aspects of atmospheric chemistry as well as solar and infrared radiation.

            The road to the Observatory is paved all the way, so if you are only going to that point a 4-wheel drive is not necessary. However, there are a couple of interesting side trips on unpaved roads which do require 4-wheel drive vehicles if you wish to explore them. To find out what to explore download my Kindle book at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GYJRJ6Y. This road is really a one lane road, so you need to be very careful driving it. There are occasional areas to pull off to let oncoming traffic pass, as well as bikers coming down the mountain. It is wise to put your lights on to alert oncoming traffic that you are on the road. As with Mauna Kea make sure you have drinks and food with you, as well as a full tank of gas, as there are no facilities on the mountain. The lower portion of the road has been repaved recently, so the ride will be smoother than it used to be. There are several blind curves on the road so be careful.

            Follow  the road up the mountain and you will eventually come to a parking area on the left side of the road at the bottom of the driveway to the Mauna Loa Observatory. If you have previously made arrangements, you can have access to the laboratory. This parking area is also the trail head for a hike up to the summit of Mauna Loa. The road that continues straight ahead leads to the hiking trail. It is a long, strenuous hike at this elevation and not one to embark on whimsically. There are hiking books which describe it, and you should make careful plans should you decide to make that hike. We have always found the parking lot at the Observatory a great place to have lunch, with a spectacular view.

A parade and fireworks in Kailua-Kona

Independence Day is just around the corner and Kailua-Kona is gearing up to celebrate. If you will be in the area at the time, come on down. Aliʻi Drive through town will be closed to traffic to allow for the festivities. It all begins at 5:50 PM with a race for the children – a keiki run – heading out before the parade. The parade will begin at 6:00 PM proceeding through the center of town. Over 60 groups are expected to march. 

After dark the fireworks will begin at 8:00 PM. The organizers promise a spectacular display. Aliʻi Drive will remain closed to traffic to allow people to congregate and watch the fireworks which are set off on a barge in the bay.

We are fortunate in that our house looks down on the bay. So a group will gather after the parade for a barbeque and whisky tasting on our lanai. We look forward to that get-together each year.

A unique restaurant in Kawaihae

If you are staying at a hotel on the South Kohala coast or are up that way for dinner, a truly unique place to eat is the Blue Dragon Restaurant and Spa. The restaurant bills itself as Coastal Cuisine and Musiquarium. When they are open for dinner, which is Thursday through Sunday, they feature some of the top musicians on the island and a menu you want to work your way through.

We recently went there with some friends who hadn’t been to the Blue Dragon. We specifically went to enjoy our favorite slack key guitarist, John Keawe, who was playing and being accompanied by hula dancers (his wife Hope and two grandchildren). We have been enjoying the performances of John and Hope for the past 15 years.

As usual, we began the evening by sampling the scotch menu. We all selected the Glenmorangie Nectar d’Or, which is a delightful whisky. It has an excellent nose and a delightful fruity flavor. 

Then the really hard part of the evening began. We had to choose from the menu. The first thing that caught our eye was the Living Salad. The chef grows salad greens in small containers of vermiculite and serves them with a pair of scissors for clipping off the leaves and an excellent dressing for dipping. Accompanying the greens are baby carrots, daikon and cucmelons which are tiny melons with a cucumber taste. We had one container for the table and enjoyed clipping off the greens and dipping them in a Kiawe Honey Dressing. It is a truly unique salad that we had never seen before.

For appetizers Betty had Kohala crayfish which are raised in Kohala and were excellent. I had fried oysters which were equally good. For entrees Betty had lamb chops with a truly outstanding pomegranate-port wine-fig sauce. I had Cajun angel hair pasta with crayfish. We both savored our dishes which were again unique. I keep using that word, but the preparations are unlike anywhere else on the island.

To keep using the unique theme, we had a half mango with mango ice cream sprinkled with li hing mui. If you haven’t had that powder on anything it adds a wonderful flavor to sweet items. It was the perfect end to a delightful meal.

Our server, Nathan and his assistant Makani, were very attentive and knowledgeable about the menu and preparations. We and our friends will definitely be back to work our way through the ever changing menu.

Lake Waiʻau is recovering

In early April I posted a hope that the winter snows would help Lake Waiʻau near the top of Mauna Kea recover from years of drought. For those of you who don’t have my book, Lake Waiʻau exists at an elevation of 13,400 feet. It is a sacred place for Hawaiians and I can well understand that. It is unique, beautiful and the site of some interesting experiences that Betty and I have had. We first saw the lake in 1982 and although it was not large, it was breathtaking.

When we were putting the book together in the summer of 2013 we hiked into the lake to take a current picture of it. Much to our surprise the lake was almost non-existent. Years of sparse rain and snow on the mountain had taken its toll. The beautiful lake was then a mud puddle.

Well the snows and rain have come back to Mauna Kea. This year was a reasonable winter, the wettest we have had in many years. I am happy to report that the water level in the lake is much higher than it was last summer. It is probably at about 75% full. Another good year and the water level should be back to normal. That is welcome news to those of us to whom the lake is special.