Yes, saying “Happy new year” is a very lovely way to usher in my 100th blog entry! May it be a gentle one and a peaceful one for all.  And may your year be filled with enthusiasm and love!  

A friend’s text alert from the mainland blared the disastrous news on Friday night as we were quietly awaiting a lecture about our nation’s space plans from none other than NASA’s ebullient administrator, Charles Bolden. Forget about our future vacations to Mars —  this very second, a Category V Tropical Cyclone was on the loose!  And it apparently had signed in with my name!  “Look what you did,” screeched another pal’s email the next day — it seemed like I’d destroyed the Vanuatu Island chain. Pam was all over the news … Cyclone Pam this...

I’m just about to climb a bandwagon that’s been turning its wheels in my brain ever since a much loved family friend championed TM, years ago, trying to convince all of us to give it a try. I  was curious enough back then and whipped up a mantra to help me past the gates. But I never got there.  Like the time in my mid-twenties when I tried to fill up a small notebook with all the members of the Greek alphabet, coasting past pi, but never quite making it to omega. I failed. At least a part-time contrarian, I tend to avoid coming attractions. But now I’m about to try to catch up with...

Maybe it was my yellow cotton gardening gloves from the Puako General Store that made the difference. They mottled up right away,  which made it seem like I’d been digging up carrots with Peter Rabbit since childhood. Which is hardly true … but I’m guessing a few untrained but eager to learn tomato seeds may have been coaxed into believing that I was well-mentored in the by-laws of cultivation, which gave them the confidence they needed to survive the harrowing underground route past the lava layer and on through the compost to get a closer look at the beaming Sunlight above. Not...