Above Kamuela 5 August 2017

Rochelle greeted me with this wonderful card this morning. Happy 73rd birthday to me. I thought to avoid email today, but the email greetings were welcome. Certainly, no FaceBook today (or this trip, or maybe August. Something about FB gives me the creeps. 73 is okay, a prime number, I think; maybe it will be a prime (in the sense of indivisible) year for me. Certainly off to a good start, with none of the usual prefatory questioning. 

Dinner tonight at Merriman's, once the pride of Waimea, but now he's submitted to the lure of Maui and has places there and in Poipu. Can a good owner/chef restaurant survive this? Maybe we'll know tonight.

...jump to M-77 in 2021 – same day, same island...

Went down the steps to where the vehicles are parked, and found this four legged happily munching his morning treat. More appropriate for this mountainous place.

Went to market in Waimea, bought wonderful salad ingredients, a quart of home-made lemonade, a little cup of lilikoi sorbet (yum!) and some Hawaii-made chocolate for future ice creams. 

Clear this morning, and I discovered that the mountain we see from our lanai is Mauna Loa, the still angry southern sister to the taller mountain, Mauna Kea, towering 10,000 feet above Waimea town. In the sunshine, the human eye easily resolves what doesn't lend itself very well to pixels (see below): the most capable terrestrial concentration of telescopes, together called the Keck Observatory (see below).

They talk about this island having five mountains. Each is volcanic, with the North Kohala mountains being the oldest, then Mauna Kea, Mauna Loa (still deemed active), Halemaumau, actively streaming lava into the sea, and finally Lo'ihi, off the south coast, likely to break through the surface and connect with the Big Island at about the same time.

So here's my question: the hot spot that has pushed up each of these islands, starting far to the northwest and punching out islands 32,000 feet above the ocean floor: is it slowing down? And if so, is the whole planet slowing down?

Afternoon of quiet reading and napping, then back down for early dinner at Merriman's. It's still got its groove. Ahi and mashed avocado poke and purple sweet potato chips, then a local fresh green salad, then Ono and jalapeno mashed potatoes and greens ...and then this chocolate purse with aleae salt caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream. No pictures except the dessert, because I was on birthday duty.