Saturday, Feb. 25…Tattoo (Van Halen)

 Got back to our room after dark last night…looked up in the sky and noticed something different about the moon.  I was too tired last night to investigate it, but this definitely needs explanation.  Kim helped with the research.

   What I saw:  The apple slice moon had slipped!  Instead of an upright apple slice, it looked like a smile.  Oh, my gosh!  Kim, look at the moon…What happened to it?! Turns out it has to do with proximity to the equator. In Charlevoix, we’re near the 45^th parallel so the apple slice moon stands upright; the island of Hawaii is near the 19^th parallel so the apple slice looks to be laying on its side…like it had gotten tired of standing and just slipped down to rest on its curve.  Put two stars above it and it’s a smiley face. 😀 I never considered that other areas of the world would have a different perspective on the phases of the moon than I do looking at it from my back deck. Always learning!     

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   Spent the morning driving south from Kona on Route 11, heading for the southern end of the island. We had an appointment at noon so we had to keep an eye on the clock.  But we made it to the little town of Na’alehu where Punalu’u, a highly recommended bakery, is located.  And we discovered it’s also billed as the southernmost bakery in the USA.  We were fighting the clock but stood in line for a ‘malasada’ which is also called fried bread or a Bismarck.  We each got two: one had passion fruit frosting and one had a pineapple filling.  Both were oh, so tasty…and we were only a minute late for our appointment.

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   I was immediately struck by the difference between ‘north of Kona’ and ‘south of Kona’.  The area south of Kona has green, lush vegetation of many varieties, crowding the road. Even saw macadamia nut groves. The green landscape does open up into a lava bed created years ago by the volcanic action of Mauna Loa but it's not very wide. It’s more populated also…lots of houses next to the road as well as driveways going up or down from it. The road was hilly and curvy…oh, so curvy!  Kim said it reminded him of the Tail of the Dragon in the amount of curves but not necessarily the depth of the curves.  These were wider curves, not switchbacks like on the Dragon. To date, we’ve driven as far north as Waikoloa on Route  11 and the road is flat with a few sweeping curves. The landscape is bleak but there is a beauty to it also. There are miles and miles of black lava rock.  The rocky areas looked like chopped up Oreo cookies but without the white filling; the flat areas of lava just looked like gigantic, dried cow patties, the size that maybe Babe the Blue Ox would leave behind. The lava beds do have the occasional plant poking up between the rocks but comparing the two regions I’d say the northern area is barren whereas the southern area feels tropical.  There are homes to the north of Kona but mostly up in the mountain area, not down along Route 11.  So, a night and day difference.  

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   Our appointment at noon was with Lex to get tattoos.  She had several designs waiting for us to see on her i-Pad, two that we had talked about on Thursday and one that we had talked about that she couldn’t make work so it had morphed into another design. Instead of using the state outlines of Michigan and Hawaii, the new design incorporated the state flowers instead: the apple blossom for Michigan, which was the 1^st state we rode in and the hibiscus for Hawaii, which was the 50^th state.  Kim and I both liked the basics of the state flower design; then the three of us fine-tuned it.

   Then it was time to decide where to put this permanent piece of art.  Kim has always known that he wanted it on his arm, below his Dragon tattoo. I, on the other hand, was a bit more unsure of where to

put mine, especially once I saw the size of it.  I knew it could be resized but making it too small would clutter up some of the design and I didn’t want that. Ankle, maybe shoulder were my thoughts.  Kim suggested my forearm which I was having trouble visualizing…and besides there’s that crepey skin thing happening on my arms.  So, Lex offered to put the transfer on my forearm so I could see how it would look. If I didn’t like it, she’d do the same on my shoulder or my ankle. I have other tattoos, but the two bigger ones are on my back and not readily visible.  It’s accurate to say that I’m a little discreet about showing them off and there’s no way my forearm would be discreet.  So, I was very surprised that the forearm appealed to me. Go figure. And even though we both picked the same design, there is one difference…I wanted a little color on the flowers.  The same yet different. 

    Some might say that it’s a risky proposition to allow a total stranger to draw on us with permanent consequences and I would normally agree with that.  But after meeting her on Thursday and talking about what we wanted and why, her passion for her craft came through loud and clear.  Plus, she showed an enthusiasm for our purpose for being in Hawaii…getting that last state ride…and seemed almost honored to be able to help us celebrate it in this way.  So, when we walked out of her studio, I felt totally at ease about having her do this. As I said before, talking to her and watching her quickly sketch some design ideas rekindled my enthusiasm for getting another tattoo.  We walked in at noon, walked out about 5 ½ hours later and in an odd way, I feel like we made a new friend in the process. 😊

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   40 Days of Lent challenge (although Chris has been using the word ‘opportunity’ instead of challenge): Mail a card of gratitude to a non-family member.  Call me a rebel but I also tweaked this one. Back in July, I reached out to a recent widow by sending her a copy of a book dealing with grief that someone had sent to me when Jeff died.  I also wrote a letter explaining why and a few other things; she responded with a text thanking me which started a series of texts between us over the next 6 months. It’s been about a month since I’ve either talked to her in person or via text, so I texted her today to inquire about some things I knew were coming up soon.  We texted back and forth several times throughout the day, so I feel that I kept to the spirit of today's challenge.

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