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, Sunday, December 15, 1940
Sunday night –
Slept till nearly noon today. About one we went out to the Iweili golf club  (one of the tourist attractions) It’s only about four blocks out from here – a large club – serves luncheons & a popular dancing dinner night place – the ceiling slides back & the dance floor is under the stars. The “dining room” is just out to the sea wall and water – walls decorated in “Tahitian” prints & pillars camouflaged as palm trees. We had a turkey lunch – the ice tea had a long square of pineapple heart in the glass.
Most fascinating of all were the hanging lights in the cocktail bar & lounge. They were like huge clusters of red grapes with green leaves on the stems. The “grapes” were grape-colored shades of tiny light bulbs.
From there we drove out to “Pali” the precipice where (when King Kamehameha came from the island of Hawaii to capture Oahu) he drove all the Oahu soldiers to & over. Now the Hawaiian natives “of ancestry” say their forefathers either were driven over Pali or were with the conquering Kamehameha. The drive up is lovely – the “deep Hawaiian forest” of mahogany trees, vanilla vines, remains of once giant tropical ferns, flowered, palm shaded winding drives to the beautiful summer homes of wealthy natives – the royal cemetery where --- once a year – the Hawaiians, in yellow feathered robes, hold ceremony over the past royalty.
Then from the high Pali cliff we looked down to the other side of the islands – waves breaking white against the rock coasts, some long sand beaches, miniature islets, banana groves.
Bak to town – called on the Keharts. She was out playing for a church doings so we chatted with him a while & got acquainted with Charlotte (cue little blond girl in blue-checked pinafore). Heard “Poppa’s in the taro patch, Mama’s making poi” on his new record player. He has a wonderful collection of shells from an island one or two thousand miles west of here. And an arrangement of what looks like graduated (in size) light blue bubbles – they were lovely!
But originated as being hand-blown glass globes made for fishermen’s nets in China & probably floated for years on the ocean & were finally picked up on this island where he had been stationed.
Banana tree in their front yard had a cluster of green fruit – and also a raisin-colored blossom hanging on what looked like a chain form the leaves of the tree.
Then drove by Punahou (missionary) school to see their famous lotus pond. Out to DeRussy club to watch the sunset over the water – beside a brilliant sunset, we saw the Thomas bride, a young couple of the wedding party & the ever present Randy.
So home for a quick snack & early bedtime. Tomorrow a big laundry, cleaning day.
So now a goodnight