paradise ali

Okay, I know I’m not the only one that does this.  I really like to look at other people’s houses, yards and garages.  Not in a peeping Tom or stalker way but as I drive by, sometimes I catch a little glimpse into the lives of the people who live there and it’s interesting.  There are families sitting around the dinner table laughing and enjoying what I imagine to be a fantastic meal, Tata patiently pulling weeds one by one out of an immaculate front yard, six custom Harley Davidsons all lined up in the driveway, huge garden filled with colorful petunias, Sponge Bob on a  big flat panel TV, fishing poles and huge ice chests in the garage, homemade picnic tables and benches underneath a double wide tarp, big trampoline with an enclosure, hunting dogs in kennels next to pickup trucks — the nice list could go on without end. 

Every now and then, though?  I like to hear my neighbors yelling at their children to clean their rooms or see a dining table piled with papers or boxes stacked in the garage threatening to overflow into the driveway or an overgrown jungle of a yard or a rusty roof or a house painted an off color.  Why?  Purely selfish reasons!  I like to see that other people also love their children but sometimes want to hug their offspring really, really hard . . . around the neck. Other folks have problems with clutter.  We’re not the only ones who need to save money to replace the roof.  Someone else out there picked the perfect paint sample in the store only to find out that it looks 10 times brighter on the house than in the store, too.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not judging anyone or taking joy in the misfortune of others or sending out bad vibes.  I guess what fuels my voyeurism is I want to remind myself of the good things that I already have and that are to come in the future and to also have the assurance that we’re all only human.  I’m not the best or the worst or the only one to take missteps and make mistakes.  We all do.  It’s a common experience.

I signed up with the user name “paradiseali” for a Twitter account a little over a month ago just to check it out and see what the buzz was about.  I started out following a few Hawai`i people that I remember from back in the day and it just expanded from there. 

And guess what?!  People tweet about family, what they’re eating, about traffic and weather and surf, share cute things about their children and pets, confess that their house or office is a mess, that they unclogged a toilet, where to go for KC Drive Inn waffle hot dogs or sushi or Hawaiian food and then some. Sometimes these tweets are linked to audio/video clips, pictures, books, event sign ups, and all sorts of juicy online tidbits. 

The best part is . . . I get a peek into other people’s houses/yards/offices/cars/lives without getting into my car and taking out a loan to cover the price of gas! 

I haven’t watched American Idol since Fantasia was on in Season 3!  Got this clip of Jason Castro performing the Israel Kamakawiwo`ole version of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” via Neenz via Twitter.  I think he did a good job!  Probably won the hearts of many Hawai`i viewers.  Since when do they let the contestants play ukulele? 

It began when I was trying to think of ways to downsize our food budget.  We already drastically reduced the frequency of our takeout meals and eating out.  That, in and of itself, was a huge savings.  (I ain’t gonna lie.  We still hit the evil McD’s dollar menu on rare occasions.  It keeps the kids on their toes.)  So the next step was, what my hanai mom called, “stretching it.”  You know, instead of one steak per person for one meal, we’d have five or six meals of stir fry or stew or soup or something?  So there I was at our local grocery store craving stir fried green beans and when I saw the sign that said, “$6.00/lb.” I just about fainted!  I knew it was expensive but that was just ridiculous!  Ever since then, I’ve wanted to plant a garden in my backyard. 

When I was growing up we had a “hippie garden.”  Guess that was the unofficial local slang for organic?  I remember a lot of digging, long rows and rows of all kinds of vegetables and my folks weeding and fertilizing and watering and picking off any insect brave enough to snack on their crops.  To this day, I’m not sure if they gardened out of necessity and made it seem like an enjoyable hobby or if they truly enjoyed the hard work and the whole process.  I suspect the later.

A few years ago, the previous renters of our old house left an empty raised bed garden.  I planted mostly herbs like basil, thyme, lemon grass, rosemary, Thai basil, lemon basil, fennel, several types of mint, oregano along with the ever present green onions.  Once I planted them, they just grew like weeds on their own.  No maintenance.  It was gorgeous and the aroma wafting on the breeze was heavenly.  I didn’t really know how to use all of those herbs but I gave it away to friends and neighbors and savored what I could.  Now, I wish I would have grown vegetables.  I thought it was too work intensive and you know I was a couch potato back then.  But I digress . . .

The soil in my backyard is poor to nonexistent with lava rock patches here and there so I knew I’d have to do up another raised bed.  I started researching it and found this method called “square foot gardening.”  What I like in this method is that it utilizes a raised bed, there’s very little weeding, watering or fertilizing, and you can grow more in less space.  No need for those long row plantings my folks slaved over!  According to “All New Square Foot Gardening” by Mel Bartholomew, it uses (for the most part) only six inches of a growing medium called “Mel’s Mix.”  The garden can be placed in small spaces like on  an apartment lanai, on a patio, in boxes on steps, even on a table to allow for gardening while in a wheelchair.  How cool is that?!  There’s an official site, too.

I’ve started the string beans by a window in the laundry room and we should be able to transplant them and be up and running with the garden this weekend.  (Crossing my fingers and toes for good weather.)  We’ll see how it goes! 

April 2, 2008 And here she/he is! This was taken at about 10 weeks. Ultrasound technology sure has improved since my childbearing days. Not that those days are ancient history or anything. What a difference a decade makes.

I’m testing out blogging via cellphone using Jott.com. It is supposed to transcribe your voice into text and then post it to Twitter, or WordPress, or Google Calendar, or a whole bunch of other services. It can send text message reminders to your cell, and e-mail reminders. You can use it to keep To Do list by just calling and dictating. You just can take an e-mail and send it to a group of people all at once, too. The only thing I’m not so sure about is that it real showing me (will show a link) to actually hear your message, if it supposed (posts) to your Blog, or Twitter, or whatever, and I’m not so sure I want my voice all over the internet. (There was a link here to listen to the message but I deleted it!)

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It was fairly accurate with the transcription! I’m impressed. The only parts that were not right are bolded with the corrections in parenthesis.

April 1, 2008 We’re having another grandbaby in November! He/she will be my oldest daughter’s second child. I think “Zeta” is a girl. It’s been quite a while since we’ve had a baby in the house. Lots of babyproofing to do but we’ve got time. My daughter is doing well, no morning sickness. Yay for her!