Kōlea: thinking about it

A lone kōlea — golden plover (Pluvialis) — seemed to be testing the water and thinking about a trans Pacific flight from Kaʻaʻawa beach to Alaska this morning. I pretended to be a nature photographer snapping many frames and hoping to get some good shots. Alas, nature photographer I am not, but I thought you would like to see what I made with DH’s iPhone as we walked the dogs. I applied the noise filter in Adobe Photoshop for the effect in the large photo.

Is this a good day for flying?

Shall I go now?

Umm, nope! Maybe later.

Actually, it’s a gorgeous day. The migratory bird no doubt was distracted by my presence and waited until I left. I hope it decided to take flight because conditions are beautiful! Aloha, a hui hou, e kōlea!

Copyright 2012 Rebekah Luke

Burning the money!

Welcoming the New Year and a New Decade. Cheers! from Kaaawa.

New Year’s Eve 2010

Home is the safest and most comfortable place for me on New Year’s Eve. I’m watching and listening to the New York Philharmonic play “The Nutcracker Suite” on PBS, Live from Lincoln Center.  Alice Brown is doped up and hiding under a blanket on DH’s lap. At least she is not trembling from the boom-booms,  pops, whistles and crackles of the fireworks that started on Christmas Eve and are building up to a crescendo tonight. Less than a couple more hours until 2011!

Kathryn's bouquet from her garden—yellow lehua, a vanda orchid, and hibiscus

I had a lovely day with three girlfriends who live here in Kaaawa. Dorothy, Kathryn, and I have birthdays around the same time, and Andrea has tried to get us all to celebrate together year after year. We live less than a mile from each other, one would think it would be easy. Not so with our busy lives.

I took a chance today and invited everyone over for lunch, conversation, and a round of board Scrabble. When our kids were young we used to play almost every Sunday at the beach. Well, they made time and came over! Dorothy brought champagne, Andrea brought pomegranate juice, and Kathryn brought her fried chicken, a lovely bouquet of flowers from her garden, and her Angel Cards.

I fixed a salad vinaigrette of Manoa lettuce, watercress, fennel, orange, and dried cranberries; turkey sandwiches, and my favorite lemon cheesecake. We played one game, drank up the champagne, then everybody left to do their New Year’s Eve thing.

Our thing was to spend a gift certificate for dinner at Haleiwa Joe’s with the rest of Miss Marvelous’s family (Mom, Dad, and Tutu) and my first college roommate Becky and her niece Katie, in town from New York. Becky gave me a box of Sparklers.

Alice Brown’s happiness at seeing DH and I arrive home must have temporarily overrode the benefits of the tranquilizer we gave her before we left, for she greeted us jumping up and wagging her tail as usual — so joyful!

I closed the windows, not wanting the smoke from the firecrackers to trigger my asthma. I opened a box of Island Princess Mele Macs and sat down to reflect on the end of the year and a decade. I’m so interested in seeing what we will all create in 2011! The Angel Card I pulled was “expansiveness.” I like that notion.

Well, I think I’ll take my Sparkler’s and champagne down the road and say Happy New Year to the neighbors. They were already burning the money as we drove back from dinner. (A ban on fireworks in the State of Hawaii takes effect on Jan. 2, so a lot of people are taking advantage of the last chance to burn them legally. Firecrackers will be regulated by permit.)

As the clock clicks toward midnight, I wish all of you every happiness, love, light, and gratitude! This is my last post for 2010. I hope you will continue to visit Rebekah’s Studio in the new year. All the same characters will be here, but we’ll have new experiences to share. I’d love to hear from you. ~ Rebekah

Copyright 2010 Rebekah Luke

Season’s greetings from Rebekah

The moment I made this photo of Miss Marvelous and her mom, I knew I had our Hawaiian greeting card for this year.

Everyone at Rebekah’s Studio—DH (Darling Husband), Alice Brown, Ula and I—wish you a Happy Winter Solstice!

I hope you don’t mind a re-post from 9-11-2009 that tells how we celebrate:

“With the winter holiday season upon us, most families are starting to get into the spirit. The signs include that real or imagined cold snap on Halloween night, slick merchandising catalogs overflowing from our mailboxes, store mark downs everywhere, and the lure of local craft fairs and festive events.

“Conversations now include, “What are you doing for (fill in the holiday)?” and newspaper features carry tips on how to remain stress free. We want to remember family and friends and hope no one is left alone. As families extend generationally, geographically, and by marriage, there can be many decisions to make.

“DH and I have a couple of philosophic ideas and old-fashioned traditions that give us a sense of peace. They link to our respective roots—Hawaiian Islands for me and Pennsylvania (Delaware County) for him.

“One is to acknowledge and be mindful of the Hawaiian Makahiki season, roughly from mid-November through January (exact dates depend on the moon). The planting season is over, work is pau (finished), and warring ceases. It is the time of the god Lono.

“The best of the harvest is dedicated to Lono in the form of ho‘okupu (offerings). The people give thanks, relax, socialize, play outdoor games, and generally enjoy themselves. No stress. It’s officially okay to play!

“The other is adopted from Winterthur, Delaware, not far from DH’s birthplace. As tourists we visited Winterthur, a museum and the former country estate of Henry Francis du Pont. During his life H. F. du Pont collected whole room interiors of various periods, not to mention whole street fronts, and installed them in his mansion.

“The museum decorates the rooms of this big house for Yuletide, and visitors can tour them around the same months of Makahiki in Hawaii. The holiday decor matches the period style of each different room. It’s educational and very festive.

“When we visited, our favorite room showed how du Pont’s own family celebrated in the first half of the 20th century. The story was told that Yuletide, the time around the Winter solstice, was a time to visit and entertain friends, to rest and to celebrate a successful harvest. Children were seen but not heard.

“Decorations consisted of a small table-top evergreen—adorned simply with cookies, candles and strands of popcorn and cranberries—that was set atop a pie crust table. Gifts were exchanged among immediate family members only and placed in a basket for each person. If the children behaved well, they could have the cookies!

“We liked the idea so well that we brought home a furniture piece similar to a pie crust table for ourselves, in a nod to the East Coast style and DH’s regional heritage. Each year we hang on a small tree the wooden ornaments crafted by DH’s parents for their first granddaughter on her first Christmas.”

Copyright 2010 Rebekah Luke

View of the art market—what will tomorrow bring?

Shall we pick this one . . .

... or that one up there?

No one bought much art today at the Native Hawaiian Arts Market, but there were plenty of art appreciators.  I am happy to show my work and talk about it with others. I met some very nice people, and some friends stopped by.

The artists are expecting a Sunday crowd tomorrow, the 23rd, at the Bishop Museum, on the last event day of Maoli Arts Month. (Please see two posts earlier for info.)

Miss Marvelous liked “Gas Pumps in Paradise,” an earlier work painted in 1993 of the 7-Eleven and gas station in Kaaawa the day Bula Logan led a sovereignty march along Kamehameha Highway.

The painting was part of my “Painting the Town” collection of all the public structures in Kaaawa: the post office, the fire station, the school, the bath house, the library (bookmobile), and two bridges.

I remember organizing with Pat, the then director of Swanzy Beach Park, an art show reception to open the new covered lanai for the park facility. I showed the paintings with environmental portrait photography of the people who worked in the buildings. The only advertising was a hand-painted roadside sign by the summer fun kids that read, “Everybody come.” And everybody did!  Times have changed.

Rather than keep “Gas Pumps in Paradise” as a leaner becoming shop worn in the studio, I’ve marked it down to $200.00, solid koa frame included. The amount is half the original price.

Miss Marvelous enjoys the art show with her mom

Copyright 2010 Rebekah Luke

Beach swings

No sooner than I reported the rope swing gone (see my painting “The Rope Swing”), several new ones appeared! We ran into them on a morning walk along Kaaawa beach this week with our almost-seven-year-old puppy Alice Brown. The large white rope must have drifted ashore.

Driftwood Swing

Tire Swing

Board Swing

White Rope Swing

Ready for buyers

Aloha! Today I picked up two paintings from the framer. You’ve seen them before in previous posts, but now the canvases are dry and the frames finish them off nicely. I chose a classic linen liner and koa for “The Rope Swing” and a simple antique silver-colored frame for “View of the Koolau Mountains.” If you wish to invest in any of my paintings—these are originals—I can work out a payment schedule with you. Please click on PAINTINGS tab in the menu bar. I would love for you to see them in person. Just contact me for an appointment. Thank you for visiting my gallery and studio! Rebekah