Summertime

It's summer on Kauai: mostly sunny days and a little warmer than usual. We are in the middle of hurricane season and had a recent scare - although the Big Island was serious hit in places - and possibly more storms are brewing. Follow the latest here.

On a recent walk after a couple miles I was coming in to town, the sun was overhead, and I was quite thirsty … What more could one ask for than a homemade lemonade stand right there by the road: they even wrote the "D" backwards. If you look carefully at the sign you can see their business strategy is to sell to the high end customer (the price is 25 50 c). They didn't have change so I gave them a dollar. Good to see that some things like this that I remember from childhood have staying power.

Summer also means bon dance at the local Buddhist temples. Originating with the Japanese community here, bon dances are popular with locals of all backgrounds, inundating one of the temples every weekend through much of the summer. Bon dance is loosely based on Japanese bon odori where the dancers proceed with proscribed steps, circling a raised dais in the center of a circle. There are organized groups of dancers as well as lots of audience participation. Serious dancers go to practice sessions to learn the numerous varieties of dance but most people just watch the people near them and follow along.

Lots of people are at the beach and in the water. A friend who recently visited made a short video featuring lots of water sports.

Summer also means an extra plentiful supply of local fruit. The mango trees are starting to ripen - I just peeled several pounds for freezing and will back mango bread (with mac nuts). Soursop is also coming.