Beginning on November 1, which is the date of my mother’s first letter from her Hawaii trip 84 years ago, I am serializing day by day, the book, Cecilia King’s Extraordinary Senior Trip, which you can obtain from Amazon in either Kindle or paperback.

I hope you enjoy the upcoming nine-months in Hawaii 1940-41.

Honolulu, Friday, November 15, 1940
Honolulu street car trip – Got on a block from the house & the little red kitten that has become quite attached to the King household followed us up and on. Didn’t seem to annoy the driver at all – he went right on drinking his pint bottle of milk & sandwich, his breakfast he eats every morning as he drives the 10:30 bus into town. We transferred cars about 3 blocks from the Royal Hawaiian Hotel – and the driver got the block number where he picked the cat up – held it as the passengers got on & off, made his u-turn & started back on the run. The busses have open windows & go so fast that a gale blow through all the time. Then into the outdoor of the Royal H. Hotel overlooking the beach – had a coke as an excuse to see what beach clothes the elite were wearing. Kay Francis was out on the sand with her director. The landscaped gardens, terraces, lawns, shrubs & tall coconut trees are too beautiful to be real. People walk the streets barefooted in shorts & scantly bathing suits. Japanese in native long narrow gowns & sandals with the straps between the large toe and other four. A funny little fat Jap with a tummy climbed on barefoot except for the “toe” sandals feet covered with ulcers. A short sleeved underwear shirt. A brown plaid shirt with the sleeves removed the collar trimmed down to a circle & not buttoned at all. A green silk tie held in front by a gold ring. A straw hat with the brim removed to a half inch brim and so small it covered only the top arc of his round head – horn rimmed specs.
Onto another bus headed for Shafter – very much like trying to ride a rodeo side show bronco – I think. The driver leans out the window and honks the different bus horns to other drivers & friends shouting greetings. A woman we asked about the bus transfer answered “no savvy” – no English. A truck carrying two elephants roaming the Honolulu streets. Bus driver stops to run into the drugstore & make a few purchases. 7 ½ cent tokens (native money) are the fare. I’m in the waiting room at the Tripler Hospital now while Aunt Susan is having a tooth doctored. We’ll go home afterward via town for lunch.
Honolulu, Friday night, November 15, 1940
Not much doing today. Slept late – got up & had breakfast & put on the striped sweat shirt & blue shorts you put a taboo on – and sunned in the back yard while Aunt Susan watered & pruned vines in the back yard. Had papaya for lunch but it was such a sickening odor I could hardly eat it. Wrote some bread & butter notes to El paso but still have dozens to write to cover my trip out.
A funny shy little Jap girl came to be interviewed for maid today. We have a Negro now but are a little doubtful about her after she dumped the salt barrel in the soup last night.
The Keharts came to call after dinner and he brought the loveliest corsage of orchids – since he hadn’t met me at the dock, he said. I have them on ice saving to wear Monday night to Shafter game night.
Uncle Ed is rather under the weather with a chill or cold & so went to bed right after the Keharts left. Then Col. And Mrs. McCarly came in (his assistant at Tripler). They are Scots – very jolly and nice.
I got my paddle tennis ticket for DeRussy today & will play with Mrs. Behraghs Sunday.
Aunt Susan is “hobbying” in amateur astronomy & quite interested in studying southern constellations so I am going to try to follow up & learn a little about it myself.
The household is still very unsettled – but fun. The front door stop is a can of grapefruit juice – and the side door Dutch Cleanser. It will be quite a relief to get my furniture in tomorrow and make a path through the boxes, papers & coathangers in here. My waste basket is a paper sack sitting in the corner.
Uncle Ed just can’t pass the Jap Piggle Wiggle without marketing a little so tonight he brought home some huge avocados.

Editor’s Note:
Kay Francis (born Katharine Edwina Gibbs; January 13, 1905 – August 26, 1968) was an American stage and film actress. After a brief period on Broadway in the late 1920s, she moved to film and achieved her greatest success between 1930 and 1936, when she was the number one female star and highest-paid actress at Warner Bros. studio She adopted her mother's maiden name (Francis) as her professional surname.