WHEN I WAS A KID

"When I Was a Kid..." is the theme for the Honolulu Pen Women Biennial Art Exhibit at the Honolulu Country Club, opening on Sunday, May 22.  Pen Women members can enter art work based on, or inspired by, their childhood experiences, memories and dreams.  With that on my mind, I walked the beach today and found these precious scenes.

My earliest beach memories are of running on the sand along the beach of the Makassar Strait which runs between the Indonesian islands of Kalimantan Timur (formerly Borneo) and Sulawesi (formerly Celebes).  We lived in a place called Balikpapan, an oil city run by the Dutch Shell Co. 

My father settled in Balikpapan after surviving being a prisoner of war in Japanese concentration camps,doing slave labor in the coal mines of Nihama Island in Japan during World War II.  He started a construction business and built many of the houses, roads, offices and bridges in town. 

He also built churches for the Christian community there.  One of the churches was a small wooden chapel by the sea where we would sometimes go to after school and play on the beach.  I liked to sneak into the back of the church and touch the organ.  It was such a mysterious thing to me.  I can still remember the way it smelled.

Going into the water was a bit risky because of all the underwater coral.  Plus, the water always seemed scary to me.  I could not swim yet.  Wonder how old I was.  Must have been seven or eight.  I remember a friend of my parents getting hurt by the coral and bleeding profusely.  The medicine of choice for open wounds at that time was iodine.  Whew, that stuff stung. 

I got reminded of it today as I watched a life guard in Waikiki help a girl who got cut by coral.  I heard him say, "This is gonna sting a little."  I'm sure he wasn't using iodine, though.

I took 117 pictures today.  There was so much to see and enjoy.  People walking, sleeping, reading, playing cards, biking, swimming, smooching, exercising, walking their dogs, posing for pictures, playing volleyball...  There is no end to the delights.  I met a couple the other day who told me that when they retire they want to live in Waikiki.  They now live in Mililani.  Yup, that's where we used to live too and I am soooo glad that we're in Waikiki now.  Living here is so interesting and festive.  And it's all within easy walking distance.  Enjoy some of today's snaps.

 Check out this guy's puka lei that he made himself.  "It's heavy," he said.  Yeah, I bet.

I spend a lot of time just watching various games going on.  

 

 These guys were awfully good and great fun to watch.

Getting ready for the Sunset Sail!

 And they're off!

 Sunset was spectacular today!

I like this kind of moody picture

But going back to being a kid...

 What an art piece, just sticks in the sand.

 I am a kid again!