tikitomtom

Go girlie.

When Lisa introduced the Funky Flamingo as her “girlie tiki bar,” I was curious. Women building home tiki bars is less common than men. At least in my experience, it is. Of the seventy eight home bars I have visited, only 13 (16%) of those bars have been created primarily by women. So when Lisa …

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We missed the point.

You’re not supposed to get antsy in paradise, but that was me – at least for a short time – today. Yesterday, we arranged to go to a remote restaurant that is located on a tiny island just across the lagoon from Mo’orea. When I made the reservation, it clearly stated that we had to …

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It’s midnight in Mo’orea.

I sat outside tonight in the South Seas darkness, looking for unfamiliar stars, but found few due to the sea cloud cover. The nights are quiet and dark here, unlike nights at home. At first, the darkness was a bit overwhelming. Small spots of illumination come from Hale (house) lights, scattered throughout the steep valleys. …

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Please. Just a little longer.

Tiki bars come. Tiki bars go. Although we Polynesiacs see this natural cycle happen time and time again, we intensely dislike it. Something deep within us holds on to the belief that our sacred “tapu” spaces are permanent. We want to believe that our public or private escapes are here forever, that they exist in …

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Donald was a good man.

When Aaron told me that his dad, Donald, loved The Big Lebowski, I couldn’t help but re-envision the final eulogy scene with Dad in the role. “Donald was a good father, and a good man. He was one of us. He was a man who loved Martin Denny and his family, and as a surfer …

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Yojo is still smiling.

Each day, I find more vessels filled with water. My collection of string art ships peers down at me while I pour one more cup of water down the drain. It seems all too natural a process now, one week after the waters came pouring down through the rafters above. In my past musings on …

Yojo is still smiling. Read More »

Do you like piña aloha?

I suspect that Kimo the Pineapple Mermaid, Sandy the Face of Exotica, and Rosie the Riveter would have been best friends forever if they’d lived in the same time period. Rosie the Riveter, with her red and white polka-dot scarf and navy blue shirt bicep curl, symbolized the ingenuity and strength of women. Rosie got …

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