Each day I notice a few more visitors from
kuu one hanau (the sands of my birth) here at Makua O'o. Welina, welcome. Though you visit without speaking or commenting, the comfort of your visits touch me where it matters when I see dots on our Vistor Map show up from Kahului, Lihue, Kailua. Mahalo for coming. My na'au needs the company. When I need to hear the sound of a voice that can trigger island kine harmony in these old bones I call my brother in Waimanalo. To hear his deep Sagittarian voice with the definitely pidgin twang is a taste as good if not better than eating a big slice of Ma's pineapple upside cake. We have been through the ups and downs of six decades and after all that, we still have each other and it feels like we have come to a place of accepting the other with grace and appreciation. I can laugh deepest with this guy when I hear that a small kid time friend who now lives in Georgia showed up in Waimanalo for a cruise down memory lane, Kuliouou Valley style. Man, what a journey life is.
To 'sense your place' ... that o'o has a different meaning for me each time I pick it up. This morning as I begin my day the pounding of hammers and nail guns next door reminds me the construction next door is happening. Just a few feet from our basement digs here in Everett, I dangle my carbon filter mask from my ear for awhile ... pull it back into place and continue to peck away with today's story. The huge big box of a house being erected next door is being built with particle board.
Particle board or "used to be wood" is one of the YUCKSTERS of contemporary construction. Particle board is loaded with formaldehyde, and I (as well as all folks with MCS and the rest of the world, too for that matter) am very sensitive to the chemicals in formaldehyde. I use the filtration mask to keep my exposure to a minimum, and in a day our
Austin Jr. Plus foremaldehyde-filtering air system will add to the quality of air in this basement, and in our tiny VardoForTwo.
