10/12/08: simple and natural

-

In Oahu now. We walked across the street from our hotel, the Queen Kapiolani, to the Honolulu Zoo. While we were looking for the entrance, we saw a guy open a side gate to let some people in and he waved us in too. Suddenly we were in the zoo. For free.

We looked at each other and shrugged: Slowly some kind of thoughtful volcano goddess was making up for our expensive cab ride.

We spent a couple of relaxing hours looking at endangered nene geese, tropical gardens, Sumatra tigers and elderly lions. We listened to a Galapagos tortoise roar like a dinosaur as it humped another tortoise…for quite a long time. Turtles don’t have a rep as the studs of the animal kingdom, but they should.

Then we ate vanilla/lime and strawberry/banana shave ice and watched kids on the playground, little zoo animals themselves.


Jamie and Lee-Roy’s wedding was beautiful: next to a pink house formerly owned by Dolly Parton, just feet from the water. It was very Jamie-and-Lee-Roy: elegant and simple and natural, with white roses for the bridesmaids and pink flowers over the archway thingy they got married under. I got a little misty when I saw Jamie walk down the aisle, but I managed to refrain from crying buckets (I guess I save that for funerals of people I’ve never met?). Mostly I felt plain old happy.

And the food was amazing: It turns out I even like potato macaroni salad, and I heard the roast pig—caught and killed just two days ago—was good too. We were happy he was an Oahu pig, not our dopey friend from the Big Island.

I knew more people than I usually do at weddings, which made it extra fun. I finally got to meet Jamie’s brother and adorable flower-girl nieces and her mom, who laughs just like her.


Comments

Jesi said…
i finished that, pink flowers over the archway thingy, for jamie, she was decorating it herself when i got there.
October 15, 2008 at 4:09 PM
Cheryl said…
Excellent bridesmaiding, lady!
October 15, 2008 at 5:04 PM
Peter Varvel said…
Loved this! I'm not a very cultured traveller (I may have mentioned, before) in that I immediately look for any zoos or aquariums when I'm a tourist.
October 16, 2008 at 10:21 AM
Cheryl said…
In my book, that doesn't make you uncultured, that makes you a proud supporter of animals around the world.
October 17, 2008 at 2:08 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

soleil for a day

-
Image
1. cirque love Since starting gymnastics at age five—or at least since reading Geek Love in college—I’ve wanted to run away and join the circus. Actually, the problem was that I wanted to join the circus but I didn’t want to run away. How fortunate, then, that AK found out about Cirque School , where you can lea rn the trapeze arts without ever leaving L.A. She gave me a class for my birthday, which I finally redeemed last night (after reading up on it, I decided it sounded kind of hardcore, and that I needed to build up some flexibility and upper body strength before going—I’m not sure that happened, but a month passed, I was a little closer to reuniting with my left splits and I was itching to take the class). The classes are held at Absolution L.A. , a small West Hollywood studio walled with honey-colored wood and stocked with pilates machines, trapezes, a climbing wall, red vinyl chairs and other items of expensive-looking fu rn iture. It reminded me, I told AK later,...
Read more

seasons of love

-
Image
Everything Cheryl does, she’s totally joking and completely serious.             --AK 2,628,000 minutes 2.6 million moments so dear 2,628,000 minutes How do you measure, measure five years? In new jobs , in boob jobs , in blog posts, in cups of coffee In coffee, more coffee, in coffee, and tea In 2,628,000 minutes How do you measure five extra years? How about love? How about love? How about love? Measure in love Seasons of love 2,628,000 minutes 2.6 million plans gone awry 2,628,000 minutes How do you measure public places I’ve cried ? In grants that I wrote, and novels on the side   Facebook rabbit holes are no source of pride It’s time to kiss Dashaboo Though he’s sticky with jam Let’s celebrate, remember five years Of making people deal with who I am Remember the love Remember the love Remember the love Measure in love Rent rent rent rent reeeee...
Read more

a fairy tale with my name in it

-
Image
I don't think anyone has ever heard about the Hart family without being horrified. But if the story hasn't faded into the True Crime file folder in your mind since it happened in 2018—if it has instead stayed fresh and insidious—maybe you are an adoptive parent. Maybe you are a foster parent. Maybe your children are a different race from you. Maybe you are a parent whose children were taken into foster care under the guise of safety, only to encounter its opposite. Maybe you survived foster care yourself.  If you don't remember: Two white lesbians adopted six Black children (two sibling sets) from foster care. They were the picture of social media love-makes-a-family perfection. A photo of their son Devonte hugging a white cop went viral for its "Black AND Blue Lives Matter!" vibes, presumably. Jennifer and Sarah Hart moved around a lot, leaving a trail of abuse accusations and open CPS cases behind them, but white savior narratives and the failures of inter-agen...
Read more