Friday

Yesterday I worked in the Allerton garden down by the visitor cottage out near the beach. The crew only gets out there rarely so it was a treat to work in that historic location not on the garden tours. We cleaned up the sidewalks, hedges, pulled weeds and vines, trimmed back excess growth, and cut back the bougainvillea along the road.

George dropped me off to work with Howard and Mike in the morning. Howard has been gardening at Allerton since 1989 and is a fountain of knowledge about the place. Mike is relatively new there, and it turns out lives in Hanapepe right next door to the rental I was in when I first arrived here.

Hauling the waste out was actually the most interesting and interesting part of the job that day. Most of the bulk was the bougainvillea which has huge thorns. Using two pitchforks we rolled a tangle of the bougainvillea cuttings onto the back of the pickup truck and I rode along with Mike to one of the dumping areas. Each load they grab several old dried palm branches that fall from the trees here and there in the garden and put those in the truck bed. At the dump, we both just grabbed the palm leaves and pulled and the whole load slides right out. On the way back we scanned the grounds for fallen palm branches, dragging back a few right through the middle of a tour group that looked surprised but not unhappy (I'm sure they had no idea why we were gathering them.) Loading the rest of it onto the truck the fork piece of the pitchfork I was using pulled out and stuck -- turns out it was quite loose. Howard took the tool to show me how to use it anyway and swinging it around into position the fork flew out right into the river. (I was very glad that I hadn't done that!) After a few minutes they fished it out and we got another tool to finish the job.

Work ends early on Friday and I have been going to get a beer at the local brewery in Eleele just a few miles down the road. The Cane Fire Red is quite good. Did some grocery shopping - I moved to my January/February location in Kalaheo - and went in to Hanapepe.

Had an early dinner - Ono plate: 3 pieces, mac salad, rice - at Bobbie's right next to the Hanapepe Cafe. While waiting for the food I fell into conversation with Willie, a retired cop working in the area doing private security. He told me about his career in law enforcement, interest in flying airplanes, time on the mainland, gangs in Hawaii, and more. Quite a character and like many folks here, young looking for his age (62) which as in Japan they tend to mention.

Bought some sweet potato filled buns from Midnight Bear Bakery stand that was excellent: filling is slightly sweet with a touch of spices.