Ana'ole - Green Sea Turtle #4: A Turtle Tale

Bittersweet and melancholy were the two words that I though were going to color my mood this past Thursday as I attended the release of six juvenile green sea turtles into the clear blue-green. As you may remember last year I entered a contest sponsored by the Maui Ocean Center (MOC) to name the baby honu (turtle). My name, for turtle number 4, Ana'ole, was chosen and ever since, I have had a special connection with the flippered-and-hard-shelled hatchling.

Green sea turtles can live in excess of one-hundred-years old, so Ana'ole, pictured below, is no more than a mere infant: 46 pounds and about 18 inches long, from top to tip of the shell. Microchips imbedded in the back flippers were scanned and recorded, measurements taken, identifying markings retouched and Dremelled into the shell all in preparation for the  return home to the sea from whence her ancestors came.

The tail measurement seems an odd piece of data to record but quite vital (I discovered) when I asked of Ana'ole, "Male or female?"

They didn't know. The sex of the turtles is not apparent until they are about twenty to twenty-five years of age, and is determined by the length of the tail: females having shorter tails and males longer ones.

After a chanted blessing in Hawaiian to sanction the event, each honu was taken down one of two lanes leading to the water and set free.

I watched Ana'ole disappear quickly as if becoming one with the ocean to begin a new life in the waters surrounding the Hawaiian Islands. Aloha, Ana'ole. A hui hou kakou (Aloha, Ana'ole. Until we meet again).

Megablog

I know I've gone AWOL. Life has been keeping me busy, and it won't really settle until I return from visiting family for the holidays. So here's a month's or better worth of things I need to catch up to date...

Santa's Land at the Queen Ka'ahumanu Center - the turtle with the fuzzy red hat reminds me of my logo for the holidays

One of the few pics of me - here with my sister Dana at Makena Beach

Here's Ana'ole - turtle 4 - the hatchling that I named in the contest at the Maui Ocean Center

A sea urchin spiny thingy

One of my hats on display in the gift shop at the Maui Ocean Center

A puffer fish. He's endearingly cute but was about 18"-24" long and has sharp spines on his body that spike out pin cushion-like when he inflates himself

Just a peaceful beach shot

This place has been around since the creation of the islands. It's an institution in Wailuku

They serve onion rings - tempura style - at a chinese restaurant

Sweet and Sour Chicken with Chow Fun noodles. These noodles are actually sliced like carrot sticks and made from potato dough - YUM!

An offering at the Home Maid Bakery shop

Lunch at Leoda's in Olowalu - Spicy (fresh) tuna salad on thier bread with tomato and butter lettuce. Served in a metal pie tin lined with brown paper

Some of the best fries I have ever had! With an aioli - and ketchup of course

Dana's lunch was Fried Mac and Cheese with a marinara - we both had leftovers...

On the road leading to mine, I see a long neck serpent in the grass

Wild lilikoi (passion fruit) flower

The serpent again

This is how my hats were displayed in the booth for the Haleakala Waldorf Holiday Faire. We had a great location - on an end, at the bottom of a hill and by the second entrance to the event - that really helped with traffic 

The hats are all my fabrics - Surf's Up, Seal Pups, Mermaids of Hana Bay, Hibiscus - and the pillow cases - Cotton Couture, Shell Dot and Gingerbreadtown

Mac and Cheese with Peas, please! Red pepper flakes and Kiawe smoked Hawaiian sea salt. The background is Siren Song - color Rainbow

Grilled Shell-on Shrimp  skewered on fresh Rosemary twigs

The morning of October 15 - my mother's birthday 

Comfort food for lunch - when it rains there is quite a damp chill in Haiku and a lunch like this hits the spot!

Rooster Rumble

This wasn't too violent just two roosters plucking the feathers out of one another - but what a display!

These are boneless version of the  bone in ribs I made when Dana was here. Both were preseasoned with the smoked sea salt and crushed black pepper. Next I smoked them over macadamia nut wood then glazed them with Maui Brewing Company Root Beer Bar-B-Que sauce. Last they cooked slowly to dry them out a bit like chinese roast pork.

 Another ornate rooster and hen

One of several gingerbread boy doll fronts drying before construction

Maui Ocean Center - I'm In!

The children's reversible, pre-washed bucket hats that I have been producing for the last year have not taken the world by storm but I have placed them in some very fine shops and boutiques on 3 islands: Trudy's Island Arts in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, The Growing Keiki on the North Short of Oahu, and Designing Wahine, Makawao and Hale Zen, Lahaina on Maui... and now I'll have a test order in the gift shop of the Maui Ocean Center.

The pattern I am using for the outside of the hats is from my latest collection TIKI-TINI LOUNGE and called Fish Tank. The hats, in 3 sizes (newborn, infant and toddler), will be lined in orange, violet and red 21-wale corduroy.

Keep our fingers crossed that they have a good sell through in the 30-day test period to be followed by a nice reorder!

Well, I'm off to cut more hats!

Children's Reversible Prewashed Bucket Hat in Fish Tank print lined in orange corduroy and sold exclusively at the Maui Ocean Center gift shop.