Sunday Salon -- Updates on Hawaii and Readathon

Our last night on Hawaii, just minutes before we headed to the airport, we dropped by a beach to experience the only pretty sunset we had the whole week. It was the beautiful ending to a wonderful week.

Weather: Beautiful. It snowed this week so I was expecting this beauty this weekend.

Hawaii: My whole immediate family vacationed together for a week on the big island of Hawaii and returned last Sunday morning after a red-eye flight across the Pacific in the middle of the night. I thought I would have time to put together an update of highlights of our week but instead I went to bed and slept for five hours. Here are those highlights now:

Our time on the island of Hawaii (The Big Island)  was divided in two. We started on the wet side, landing in Hilo and visiting the Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park. Then we moved to the dry side and stayed in Kona and explored beaches and historic sites every day.

That is Kilauea smoldering in the background. She erupted in March and was giving off signs of another blast to come. 

This is what she looked like at night. She erupted again two days after we left the area. We were glad to have missed all the tephra (volcanic glass) which spews out and falls everywhere like hail.

While in the National Park we visited the Holei Sea Arch, walked through a lava tube tunnel, went on a botanical hike through a tropical rainforest, and the boys hung out on wind-shaped palm trees.

Before we left Hilo we caught a free hula exhibition, part of the Merrie Monarch, a week-long hula competition. Later in the week we tried to catch snippets of the competition on TV at night.

This is a view from our condo in Kona. The weather looks ominous and, in fact, it was raining torrentially on the other islands (Kauai got 15 inches one day we were in Hawaii) but it generally missed the big island where we were. There was no sand on the beach off our condo, just lava and then ocean but we watched surfers who came by every day.

Carly and I especially like to do bird-watching when we travel to new places. This trip we identified 11 birds we don't have where we live (at least as wild birds): Saffron Finch (pictured above); Zebra Dove; Kalij Pheasant; Yellow-billed Cardinal; Northern Cardinal (a transplant); Gray Francolin; Common Myna (everywhere and very noisy); Red Junglefowl (aka - chicken); Pacific Golden-Plover; and the Ruddy Turnstone.

Our days were filled in with lots of adventures: swimming in the sea pool (or the regular swimming pool), visiting National Historic sites, horsing around at the beaches, trying to stay 20 feet away from tired turtles, playing old and new games, enjoying our time together. Don and I felt so blessed to be with ohana, our family.

Don and I on our only "date night". What a lovely setting at Huggo's Restaurant. Yes, I had shrimp.

Readathon: This is my first time participating in the Dewey 24-hour readathon. I have never officially participated in one before. Below, in black, is what I set out to accomplish. In red, is what I actually did. And no, I know I won't make it all 24-hours. I'm dashing off this post on Saturday, mid-event, but I still know I will go to bed so will at best read for 16 hours, likely less.

I'm wearing this shirt today in honor of the readathon

• Finish Theo of Golden, an audiobook.Yes, I finished this, the last 2 1/2 hours of it and I think I cried the whole time. I loved this one!!!!
• Finish Little Alleluias: Poetry and Prose by Mary Oliver. I started this book in Hawaii and managed to finish it. The last section or two were mainly prose and essays, even literary criticism. It took me longer to read than I expected but I still loved it. Oliver can write prose like she writes poetry, no matter what she says.
• Why Fathers Cry at Night by Kwame Alexander. I actually finished this memoir full of poems, recipes, letters, and remembrances on Thursday. 
• Start the audiobook Things in Nature Merely Grow. No. I didn't start this audiobook. I picked another one instead. See below.
• Other possible books from the library currently sitting in a pile:
• Goldenrod: Poems by Smith. Yes. Completed.
• Women Without Shame by Cisneros. Started. Shocking, sort of. Currently at 35%.
• Pilgrim Bell by Akbar. No. I put this on the bottom of my pile.
• This is Not About Us by Goodman. I haven't started this book yet, but will at least start it before the end of my reading readathon. 
• Read at least 30 pages of Moby Dick -- My One Big Book Challenge of 2026. Yes, I am proud to say I got a good start of over 100 pages. It isn't anything like I imagined so far.
• Also read/started these books, not on my initial list:
• For Such Times As This: An Emergency Devotional by Hanna Reichel. I thought I'd just skim it and I ended up reading the whole thing minus the study questions. Very helpful for times such as this.
• God's Very Good Idea: A True Story of God's Delightfully Different Family by Trillia Newbell. A children's book just purchased for our church library. What a gem. Such a powerful message to love everyone, no matter if they look different than you.
• Telling the Truth: The Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy, and Fairy Tale by Frederick Buechner. A friend asked me to read this because he is a fan of this author who writes for Christian audiences. The book published in 1977 is and feels dated. I think my friend will disagree but that's okay.
• Heartwood by Amity Grange. An audiobook and a book that supplies two different categories for the Goodreads challenges this spring. 39% complete.
• Totalling up everything I've read so far: 6 books complete; 4 additional books in progress; one book finished before the readathon. Feeling good about my progress.

-Anne