Day 14 - Quilt Passions & Concert

Last evening we went to the free hula show at the Keauhou Shopping Center.  This time only kupuna danced - older ladies - all except one was 55+.  It was a really good show and we enjoyed it a lot.  When we got home no one was really hungry for dinner as we had eaten a whole 18" Costco pizza for lunch, so I fixed some mai-tais and we had snacks. We were all tired, so went to bed early.

It has been pretty hot - well into the 80s with lots of humidity - and it really saps your energy, plus we're always on the move.  Even though distances are relatively short, it seems like it takes a long time to go anywhere.  We are only about 4 miles from downtown Kailua-Kona, but it takes about 20 minutes to get there, so driving can be tiring.

Today, we went to the farmers market at the Keauhou Shopping Center.  It isn't a very big market and is almost entirely food items.  Mom & I bought some orange-lilikoi marmalade and some lilikoi bars, which we had for dessert tonight.

Today was National Quilting Day and I had received an email from the local quilt store saying they were having special discounts (percentages in balloons), and other activities.  We had been saving going to this quilt store (Quilt Passions) until Katie & Margie got here, so today was the day.  The owners are really nice and seem remember us from time to time.  They keep stock on the mainland and are vendors at many of the quilt shows on the West Coast.  I've seen them a couple of times.  One of the day's activities was to make a quilt block which would be put together and donated to charity.  We each made one of the blocks - everything was pre-cut and it was a pretty simple block. No points, no half-square triangles. I bought the kit for a wallhanging pattern I bought and a couple of other items, and got 10% off in my balloon.  Mom bought the fabric so I could make her another purse - she got 25% off in her balloon.

We had lunch at the Kona Canoe Club, which is owned by the same people who own the Kona Inn, but more casual.  I had a real good chicken salad and everyone else had calamari strips.  After lunch we went back to the condo to rest.

This evening was the free concert at the Sheraton Keauhou which celebrated the birthday of King Kamehameha III, Hawaii's longest reining monarch who was born at Keauhou Bay.  The concert is sponsored by the Kamehameha schools which were founding the 1880s for native Hawaiians.  As I understand it, a person still needs to be at least part native Hawaiian in order to attend the schools.  The local radio station KAPA 99.1 is also involved.  We stayed from 4:30 until a little after 6:30.  It was really hot when we got there and no shade.  By the time it got pleasant, Mom was getting tired, so we left -- probably missed the best parts, but it wasn't to end until 10:30 and I don't think we would have lasted that long anyway.  But, what we saw was good.  We saw about 4 different entertainers.