The last time I was at nacos was a little more than half a year ago. I was about to graduate from KCC and go on a long journey. I traveled to San Franciso, New York, Ireland, Austria, and Amsterdam. Initially I was hesitant to be traveling with my boyfriend for so long of a period and to Europe. I’m happy that I was given the opportunity to travel for three months but I wasn’t sure at the time If I really wanted to go to Europe. I didn’t actually want to go there. I wanted to go to New Zealand or Japan. But my boyfriend had family in Europe that he really wanted to see, so we went. I’m glad that it worked out and that I was still able to find beautiful animals in the winter time in Europe. We decided to move to the Big Island after the trip. Living in Waimea is very different from living Moiliili.  The stars are amazing and its is freezing up here. There is often snow on mauna kea which I can see from my lanai. I try to keep busy to keep warm. We are raising Serama chickens and Nigerian dwarf dairy goats. Right now we have 4 cats, 3 dogs, 3 chickens and two parrots. I forgot to mention the 4 goats, including the new kid that was just born last month. The cats and two of the dogs sort of came with the house but the rest are our responsibility. Going to school, building fences, wrangling goats and taking care of that many animals takes a lot of time but it is very rewarding.

Austria is very interesting. I met a Sushi chef here who is Japanese but has lived in this city all of his life. He is very nice and polite but has never eaten many of the dishes that I eat often in Hawaii. At his restruatn the tako comes from the black sea.

Take care, Talk to you later. Paty.

I am in Ireland right now and it is very cold but beautiful. I hope all is well with you. I’m missing Hawaii already. I’ll contact you when I get to Vienna in a couple weeks.

Mahalo, Paty

Here is a link to a very interesting video

about dyslexia, music and new learning techniques.

My boyfriend and I are growing a garden. In the last nine months we have collected numerous native plants including Ihi , Ko’oloa’ula, Uala, Na’u and Ilima. I hope to soon raise a Wiliwili tree from seeds from my mother’s tree in Kona. The native plants that I am growing are fairly hardy but extremely rare. Na’u for example has less than a dozen species left in the wild. Ko’oloa’ula, which has a beautiful tiny red flower and sliver leaves, has no more than five hundred, while Ihi is native to the cliffs of the tiny island of Molokini. We are now also starting a vegetable patch. Our vegetable patch is hilarious mostly because it is made of blocks and is located right out side of our bedroom window below a porch on Kahala Avenue. We are just about to start planting our new Japanese cucumber, three different types of mint, time, and strawberries. I am exited to see that the Negi cutting that I put in a cup of water last week after eating the rest that had been stored in my fridge for two weeks is actually growing.

I am a very lucky person. I have a wonderful life, a wonderful family and an amazing car. My car is a 1977 Westfalia camper VW bus. My Westfalia is one of favorite possessions because it is unique, no other car is like it.  My Westfalia is completely restored and entirely lime green. My bus fits two people in the pop out camper bed above and two people in the bed below but I hardly ever use them. My car is equipped with two tables, a  propane stove, a sink, a refrigerator and subwoffers. I enjoy camping at the beach and in the mountains in my car with my dog and my boyfriend. My sister told me that buying this car would be a waste of my money. However, I love driving it and also when Hawaii experiences a tsunami warning I am able to  jump in my westfalia and camp out for the night with my family as I have on many occasions.