Cemetery Stewards: The Last "4th Sunday" of 2021

The Ancestors have a “way” of glistening  the “celestial” light in Shigeko’s Kukuihale pictures, and they did it again,  this final December 2021 Sunday.

O`okala

Whitney and Pam, daughter and mom, cut and sickled and cleared and  dragged and dumped and piled huge drop cloths of grass. Nikki and daughter Nova, first timers, cut and cleared openings for more cut itchy grass to be piled. Shirley, Vicki and Petra cut cut cut cut cut the almost 6-7 feet tall grass so that Odysseus and Phoenix could pick and dig out GIANT CLUMP  ROOTS opening up the Cemetery. And Sam weed whacked most of the cemetery creating  a carpet of green throughout the cemetery. 2 1/2 hours steady working, and then we were done!!! The Joy and Energy!! The Blue Sky. The Ocean!! The Winds!!
MAHALO KE AKUA!  MAHALO ALL ANCESTORS!!
 In the meantime, Bill and Glenn were at Honoka’a Cemetery – Bill weed whacking, Glenn lightly and gently cleaning the stones. We’re so thrilled they are caring and working at Honoka’a.
GIANT stretches of itchy grass cut! 8 grave stones came forth to the brilliant sunlight after being hidden for decades under tall grass. And for the first time in a while, these stones experienced Ke Akua’s  startling blue skies, sunshine and YES.. THE WINDS!!!!! Odysseus and son Phoenix, stood up-right a fallen one. ​

Kukuihaele

And at Kukuihaele, Marcus had weed whacked the driveway up to the cemetery in the morning, and then he and Shigeko came to weedwhack and weed in the afternoon, by the time we got there. ​
​The happy remaining Cemetery stewards after Luckana’s pineapple  curry, rice, pad thai, tumeri cold drink, Filipino noodles, soy beans, desserts-plus-desserts were eaten, and everyone was packing up, full of amazing food and Radiant Joy and total-body-healthy-hardworking-relief.
Our deepest gratitude for breathing, for living, for being here in Hawaii, on a MAGNIFICENT Day-after-Christmas.
Mahalo Mahalo Mahalo Ke Akua, and to all who worked.
For the Hakalau Kuleana, our responsibility is to care for the land, the people, and the culture. We are guided by cultural values of YESTERDAY: Engage in collective effort. Look out for each other. Honor hard work. Show respect for those who came before us. Aloha and Mālama `Aina. In 2021, Akiko Masuda added two more values to the list: Consistently show up. Whatever has to be done, jump in and do it!