UleiRetreats.com

A New Paper

Geno's in Kona today, picking up accounts for his new venture: Big Island Healthy News. The first edition will be available in January 2007, featuring articles and businesses in support of the Big Island's  health promoting  qualities.

"We are home to year round warm ocean waters, the spirit of Hawaiian culture, the largest outrigger canoe race in the world, yoga classes of many types, the Ironman Triathlon World Championship, several quality gyms, youth sports clubs, community music, tennis, swimming, golf, biking, surfing, diving, horseback riding, running, hiking...need I say more?"

Don't prompt him, as he WILL SAY MORE! If you're interested in advertising, writing articles, or distributing his publication at your business, call Geno at (808) 960-9567 or e-mail: bigislandhealthynews@hotmail.com

Photo by:Rollerboogie

Team Hoyt

I saw the Hoyts in the Los Angeles airport yesterday and figured that they were on their way home from a race. As I boarded my flight home to Kona, they were on board too, presumably for the Ironman Triathlon which takes place on October 21 in Kona.

If you're in town during that time and want to experience the race as a volunteer, you can sign-up online. A word of caution: being a volunteer has ignited the desire in many people to train, qualify and enter the race themselves.

A Strong Case for Travel

All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.
-Martin Buber

I leave this Thursday for an 11-day trip and I need to buy a suitcase. As I write this, my physical body is the only thing ready-and-waiting.

I hem and haw, as I am not an exuberant traveler, but I enjoy the smells and colors of different places. Like a dog sticking her head out the car window.

Italy smells of sweet wood smoke and the light reflected off the country has a 24-karat gold sparkle to it. At home, I love the smell of the salty ocean and looking at the pure blue of the sky when the vog decides to go south.

On this upcoming trip to the east coast, I'm going to places I have never been so my senses are in for a surprise. Author Alain de Botton has a short video on his website entitled Holidaying at Home. He offers that what makes a fulfilled traveler has less to do with the destination and "much more to do with the way that you're looking at what you've come to see."

Sounds a lot like life. We can look at things as they appear to us and react and report our experiences. The places, and our reactions, remain the same as long as we remain fixated on what we see. That would be like sight-seeing. We could, however, decide what it is we wish to see and feel and it could be different everytime. That would be more like conscious travel.

Now if I take this trip in the spirit of what I have learned in the past few years, I would think first of all of the feelings that I'd like to experience. I would not anticipate anything but appreciation for a safe and comfortable flight, the joy of seeing the smiles of friends and family, and the freedom of sticking my head out the car window to smell the air and absorb all of the colors.

A strong case for travel, yes. I still need one for my clothes.

The Party

The four who made the climb:

Fred, Beth, Denise, and Geno.

The beginning of the climb.

Is that Fred in the red hat having second thoughts?

They made it to the top:

Denise, Beth, Fred and Geno.

All that's left is the descent!

Safe and sound(?)

Written by Geno (on the right, next to his brother Fred):

It is good to be home. I am playing, editing Half Dome pictures. It was
the most emotional, gratifying, physical (makes 8 Molokai Channel crossings
seem like kindergarten), exhausting, rewarding, frightening, family
bonding, exciting thing that I hope I NEVER do again!!!!

Our total time was 15 hours round trip.  We started at dark with
flashlights, and finished in the dark with flashlights.  My route ended up
being about 19 miles.  Total elevation gain, start to finish was 4,800 ft.,
top of Half Dome is 8,860 ft.  I was told that the elevation gain we
achieved is the same as Honokahau Harbor to the top of Kaloko, only 4 miles
less overall distance.  That means, the grade of our hike was steeper!!!

My legs feel great!!!  The Las Vegas buffets were a necessity!!!!

Memories of the Big Island

I think I learned to crawl to the music of Elvis Presley. Everytime I hear, 'I Want You, I Need You, I Love You' (scroll down the Amazon page to see the song choices), I feel as though I'm once again in a smaller body and my world is like a black and white photo that has been randomly color enhanced.

I loved Elvis, even before I started kindergarten! In 1962, he came to Kona to film "Girls, Girls, Girls!" and I thought I was at the end of the rainbow one day when the large bus that transported cast and crew barged through sleepy Kona. A few seconds later, a stretch limo sped by and I saw Elvis in the back seat, dressed as he is in the photo, with his arm around a blonde woman!

If that thrill wasn't enough, I got to spend a whole day down at Milolii where the movie was being filmed. When I gathered enough nerve to ask for an autograph, all I could think of offering was the white vinyl belt that I was wearing!

In the photo above, my brother Mel, is in the front row, third from the right. I'm in the second row on the far right. The umbrella pole seems to be sticking out of my head and I could have cared less. I was in heaven.

I am truly blessed to have had a happy childhood. As I look back, the joyful memories are the consistent re-runs: they comfort and sustain me. The bits and pieces of 'monsters and disasters' are like commercials, they're there, but I've learned to switch stations when they air (since remote controls were invented).

As I look forward, the rest of my life is full of dreams:they entice and encourage. The part that I'm learning to enjoy more is my present, my now. Right now, I have the power to decide which memories to replay (or even edit). Right now, I have the power to choose the life I want to move toward. Right now, is where all of my power resides.

I get to conjugate my existence:"I have had a happy life; I have a happy life; I will have a happy life." A lifetime of Elvis sightings!
Originally published in Kona Yoga News, March 13, 2006.

Mission Accomplished!

Good news from Geno today: four went up the mountain, and four came down. He's got photos, and every adjective and adverb that you could think of to describe a harrowing, yet exhilarating adventure.

We'll give him some time to come down from the high....

...a Green and Yellow Basket..

I came home with some sweet, sweet mangoes from Hale Ho'okena today, along with some homemade mustard with a "to die for" reputation! Owner John Griffey, was in need of some TLC for an injured back and I luckily had the time to drive down south to give him a massage .

I think I came out the winner: time spent in a beautiful setting, surrounded by mango trees, and mangoes to feed my soul! The photo shows only half my bounty. John had it piled high with twice as many mangoes and another jar of mustard. The other half, as he instructed, were for my parents. That's the local-style-for-the-family-aloha.

Half Dome, Whole Heart.

My friend Armand Singer, the notorious 91-year-old-freedom-seeking-world-traveller, is shown here with Half Dome (Yosemite National Park) in the background. As this was being taken, 'Ulei Retreats instructor, Geno Ortiz, was hiking up and around the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park in preparation for his Half Dome climb.

Tomorrow, Geno and his brother Fred, along with other family members, will scale Half Dome in honor of brother Steve Ortiz, who passed away last year. It was Steve's wish to have his ashes scattered in the park where he and his brothers spent many of their summers.

We'll hear how Geno's training paid off, after the big climb.

from Ventura, CA

Christine O'Neill (right), with her daughter, Caitlin, spent the last few days of her summer vacation in Kona. She first came to the Big Island from Montana in the early 70's to live, work, and play (tennis, mainly).  Christine returned to the mainland, got married, had 2 children and completed her master's degree. Today, she lives in California, where she's an English instructor at Ventura College and Santa Barbara City College.

She makes her way back to Kona, at least once a year. The Big Island lures, as Christine explains:

"Why do I return to Kona? The people-plain and simple. While I love the way the island saturates my senses in all ways pleasurable, the people are first and last on my mind. Seeing my friends is at the top of my list, of course!! During this trip, meeting Bob and Pam Cooper at the Original Hawaiian Chocolate Factory was a special treat. They seem to have landed in Kona for all the right reasons, primarily because of a great love and respect for what the land has to offer. Oddly enough I learned about the factory from a Ventura friend, Cindy Hood."

Kona, and the Big Island, await her return. Friends here also keep track of Caitlin O'Neill as she starts her second year at Princeton as a guard on the women's basketball team. I wonder if the island has a hold on her too.