Even though she demanded some, I did not give Leilani coffee. She got fresh orange juice from our own tree instead. And not only the juice is fresh, these are the freshest-ever photos on the blog, about 10 minutes old.
And I just enjoyed a big cup, ice cold, sweet espresso with coconut and honey. Probably the last in a while…
A friend posted the following link on Facebook
I only watched the first few minutes, which did make it seem that there is a very high rate of “sneaky” abductions by strangers. I’m not so sure. I heard that most danger comes from family friends, acquaintances and relatives. And drive-by, grab-the-kid and pull-her-in-the-car type abductions.
But the amount of time we spend teaching our kids never to talk to strangers is huge, compared to the other 2 scenarios. I guess one is not as easy to talk about, and one we try to prevent by not letting our kids walk anywhere…
That said, of course I did talk to Leilani about it, multiple times, staring when she was two or so. Even about the lost puppy and injured kitten part.
I remember when I was her age, the baker once gave me a ride to school. He recognized me and stopped and offered me a ride, halfway to school he realized I had not recognized him. He kind of lectured me, but then somehow let my parents and/or my teacher know. And there was a lot of lecturing and yelling…
But we personally experienced situations where children had been taught not to talk to strangers: Not to kids they did not know. Not to their friends parents. And what about complete strangers when lost on a hike…
Leilani goes to a home school study group that we really like. She has a nice teacher and friends to study with 2×4 hours a week. Thursday was the last day before fall break, and the hike leaders did not pay close attention. A group in the front started running, Leilani was to far from the group in the back, front teacher took off after the kids, and Leilani and an 8 year old boy took the wrong turn, the one you’d take hiking back to our house.
It took a few minutes for them to realize they had not seen the other kids in a while, so Leilani asked a complete stranger, a female hiker if she had seen a group of kids, when she said no Leilani asked to borrow the cell phone and called me. I was still on the phone, by then with the owner who offered to bring them back up to the picnic-tables and already driving out of the houselots when one of the teachers (a marathon runner) came running down the trail…
So the 8 year old boy hadn’t approached the hikers. Had he been over-warned too? How much of a good thing is too much? How much of a risk do I create by letting Leilani talk to any stranger as long as we are close by? How much opportunity are the kids missing who believe most strangers are evil and would snatch them in a heartbeat. And how much fear do we create…
Leilani once scored a beautifully woven coconut leaf basket, a pair of barley used shoes (too small though) and some pretty corrals when she saw a beach bum going through trash and litter and getting recyclables. She knew where a bag of cans was, let me know she was going to bring it to him and did. They were far enough that I could watch, but not understand what they talked, then Leilani ran off with her friends (and I kept an eye on the bum) who wove his basket, then came over to me and brought me the stuff to give to Leilani.
Leilani needed to tell that story at show-and-tell in the study group. I stressed that she should tell I was right next to her the whole time…
The second silent morning… Our chickens have the best possible home chickens can have. With vegetarians, who had (and have) chickens for 10 years, have an amazing property, are nice people, and Leilani has a playdate with their 7 year old daughter at their house tomorrow.
But I’m sad. When I was talking to someone yesterday about them I teared up (and felt really embarrassed about it), but I really enjoyed these pretty, funny birds.
When I stepped out, they made me feel like a Roman Emperor. They’d hear the door, or my steps, and they’d all come running from all directions, looking up to me, squawking and bok-bok-boking excitedly.
It sometimes was hard to walk through the yard, I stepped on more than one chickenfoot, and in more chicken poops than I can count. Opening coconuts was equally hard. Sometimes we had to guard the coconut-opener with a hose – the one thing they respected, they don’t like showers, but the machete didn’t seem dangerous to them.
But the crowing in the morning always made us cringe… The neighbors… Depending on the weather they smelled bad. They got into and onto and out of everything. For chickens they were pretty curious I thought. But also afraid of the strangest things, like Leilani jumping on the trampoline. They were smart in their own way, and having good instincts.
Mikey seems to miss them, although he likes that the catdoor is open again and he can leave the yard freely.
Mikey communicated with me yesterday. Not quite like Lassie but close enough…
Since we have chickens (they are still here until Monday) the garden doors / gates all have to be closed. During the day so the chickens don’t go out, at night so no predators come in. I suppose it works against territory-rival cats too. Our visitors don’t know about that, and sometimes leave the gate open, and luckily so far I always caught it in time. This time I almost didn’t.
When I put Leilani to bed I noticed Mikey was not there. He usually snuggles with us at bed time. I went outside to call him and he cam to the bottom of the stairs, meowing, very unusual. I tried to talk him into coming up, he walked a few steps, then down again, looking intensely at the garden door, then at me, meowing again, until I came downstairs, then he ran to the door, sat down next to it, and looked at me. I told him how smart he was, closed the gate, petted him (and he scored a special can of cat food a bit later too).
It would impress me sufficiently on a dog if they did that, but on a cat it’s at least blog-worthy.
Leilani has a pottery class on Olohena Rd, just 1/4 mile from the other Nuonou trailhead… Andy walked to get her a few times.
Mountain Apple – Ohia Ai
That’s how they get there:
Andy drew all trails on this map that he and Leilani hiked recently, but usually they go Haleilio – Kamalu/Olohena trailhead