The Day of the Dead ... Greenwell's Coffee Is Open!

 Dia de los Muertos fuses with Halloween.  Mexico City 2018

     In the United States we celebrate Halloween, which is mostly a holiday revolving around children, costumes and candy.  To quote Alex Karras as Mongo in Blazing Saddles, "Mongo likes candy."  And so, many adults relive a bit of their childhood on this day, donning a bit of a costume and enjoying a piece of chocolatey goodness   Elsewhere, mostly in Europe and Latin America, the first and second of November are known as the Day of the Dead.  Families remember their departed and spend some extra time in the cemetery, cleaning, placing flowers and even partaking of their favorite foods and beverages. 

   Since Halloween is fun, almost anywhere that one finds himself in the Westernized world on October 31st,  he is apt to see children and young adults cavorting in costumes and getting candy from caring adults.  Meanwhile back in the U.S., as our Hispanic population has expanded,  many of us find ourselves observing the Dia de los Muertos.  The world has become a smaller place and, as we see here, sometimes for the better.

Omphisa anastomosalis, the sweet potato vine borer. Kona 10/20

   October 31st dawned bright.  I was recovering from my exertions in the garden in front of a fan with a glass of ice water in hand when Sandra summoned me.  She had found an unusual moth resting in our carport.  It was a smaller moth, perhaps an inch and a half in wing span, mostly white with some brown markings that made the front wings appear to be sculpted like bat wings.  On careful examination, this proved not to be the case.  We took pictures, me with the Olympus and Sandra with her Samsung phone.  Comparing our efforts, it was obvious that the phone was carrying the day.  We returned to the moth for another round, only to find a gecko eyeing him from a distance of only five inches.  Well. I shooed the lizard away and we took more pictures. 

    Over breakfast, Sandra noted that at the after end of the thorax there were white markings that looked very much like a Death's Head.   I thought that it looked a bit like Darth Vader and we invite you to contribute your impression.  After breakfast we went  out to the carport,only to find a gecko literally licking his chops and, not surprisingly, no moth.

  In any event, it was so distinctive that we repaired to the computer to see if it could be identified. Suffice it to say, we had no luck.  So the next day (it was now the Day of the Dead)  I emailed our pictures to Daniel Rubinoff at the insect museum in Manoa. 

   That night we experienced a milestone in our Hawaiian experience in the form of a sweet little girl named Ramey, dressed as a a fairy princess.  Our first trick or treater in almost two decades of living here. 

   Dr. Rubinoff wrote back the next morning, saying that he could not put a name on that moth, although he did have a guess that it belonged to the family Crambidae.  The following day, when he was back in the lab, he showed out pictures to a colleague who was able to name it as Omphisa anastomosalis, the sweet potato vine borer.  If you check this out, you will find that in some of the photographs on the internet the markings on the dorsal thorax are even more skull-like.  This is an agricultural pest introduced from South East Asia.  So when we go through the agricultural check points at the airport, it is not without reason.  Even Daniel Rubinoff can not keep up with the onslaught of introduced moths!

The Devil Scorpionfish  Kailua Pier 11/20

    Later that day Sandra took me swimming at the pier.  On the way down, we had to avoid a lady of color as she was wheeling her rolling suitcase down Alii Drive.  As I was preparing to enter the water, the suitcase wheeler arrived at the pier.  The poor thing was in another place, cursing the voices in her head at the top of her lungs.  Of late, a gentleman in a wheelchair has taken up residence in the shade of the building that contains the restrooms.  At this moment he took it upon himself to maintain order, bellowing at the lady to quiet down.  This didn't create peace, of course, but it did allow the troubled lady to ignore, for a moment, the voices in her head, and focus verbally on someone real.  On that happy note, I slipped into the bay.  

Devil Scorpionfish showing the fins.  Kailua Pier 2016

    The water was clear, pleasantly cool and mercifully quiet.  I swam out as far as the palace and back along the outside of the swim buoys without seeing anything of real interest.  I had made my final turn and was swimming right in front of the spot where, until six months ago, cruisers hopped onto the tenders to return to the mother ship, when I spotted a Devil Scorpionfish.  This was a nice big fellow in six feet of clear water.  He permitted me to approach and take pictures to my heart's content.  I even took a movie from a distance of a few feet, in hopes that he would swim a bit, showing off his colorful fins.  As it is, I have a wonderful movie from 2016.  The trouble is, it runs 44 seconds which is too long to fit
in this blogger's format.  In its stead, I am showing you a picture from the same day which displays those fancy appendages.   In the words of Nathan Lane in The Birdcage, "One does want a hint of color."

   It has been a year or two since I saw my last Devil Scorpionfish, impressive beast that they are.  The same can not be said for schizophrenics at the pier.  They have become permanent residents.  Give them their space and be prepared.  I guess that's the best we can do.

   On November 2nd, which is still part of the Day of the Dead, we attempted to mail a package of

Back in 2014 Sandra shares a kiss with Lola.

Hawaiian themed goodies to our grandson in Oregon.  At 9:30 the line at the post office was out the door.  (Presumably once the voting is completed the post office with be permitted to return to normal staffing.) We thought about going home but Sandra convinced me to drive up to Kealakekua. At that tiny post office, there was no line at all.

   Having sent our package on its way, I noted that it was only another mile to Greenwell's Coffee Farm.  We had noted a sign a few days earlier proclaiming a re-opening and so we headed over to check it out.  Indeed, they are open.  The tasting room has been remodeled and not for the better.  I liked the traditional Old Kona ambiance.  Perhaps virus related safety issues had something to do with this.  The pleasant shaded picnic area is still there.  Missing, however, was the friendly old dog named Lola, with whom we have shared many a sandwich.  The young lady behind the counter broke the news of Lola's passing and allowed that, on many an occasion, she, too, had shared her lunch with Lola.   We'll miss you, girl.

The remodeled tasting room at Greenwell's.  Now Open!

   Another thing that is missing is some of the coffee trees that until recently were both ornamental and produced choice berries.  This row of trees just outside the tasting room had been hit by coffee leaf rust, a fungus disease only recently found on the Big Island.  Apparently the only thing one can do is rip out the trees.   Bummer.

   There had to be some good news.  Indeed, the same gentleman who told us about the trees and the leaf rust took notice of us under the nearby orange tree.  He recognized what we were after and pointed to an area of the tree where he had recently seen a Jackson's Chameleon.  It took my sharp eyed sweetie only a minute or so to find the little green lady.  Whipping out her phone, Sandra was able to capture the picture you see here.   As an additional treat, while we watched the chameleon shot out her tongue to nab her breakfast.  What a delightful way to way to cap off the Day of the Dead.  

Jeff

A female Jackson's Chameleon smiles for the camera.  11/20  Photo by SKG