Leis, Kotos and Bangles

The other day I was rummaging around an old upright antique desk that used to belong to my mother. Last year, when my mom and dad were getting ready to move to a smaller home in New Jersey, she had the desk shipped to me. Before sending the desk out the door and on its one way to California, she managed to pack all the drawers full of interesting odds and ends from my childhood.

Here are a couple of the noteworthy items that were waiting for me inside the desk. In one of the long, narrow drawers, almost hidden from view, I found a brown envelope with the inscription: "K. Kaya, Fishing Supply, Honolulu, Hawaii. When I turned the envelope over I found my mother's handwritten note in pencil: "Needles for lei making!" Inside were two foot long needles with slight hooks on on end. This particular find brought back memories of the sabbatical I spent with my parents on the island of Oahu when I was a teenager. We lived in the hills above Kaimuki and had a fantastic panarama of Honolulu at night. Living in Hawaii was exciting, even for a bored teenager, and because we lived there and weren't just tourists, we got to see a side of Hawaii that only the residents of the island get to see. One of the fun things we used to do was to make our own leis. Our friend Kiki Mookini taught us how. I can still smell the fragrance of plumeria blossoms gathered from the trees in Kiki's yard, as we threaded them together using our fish hooks that we bought at K. Kaya's fishing supply store, while sitting on the floor of Kiki's breezy island home.

In another drawer I found a small box made of rice paper and inside were three flat shapped picks that slip on the fingers like rings, but in actuality rest on the tips of the fingers. Ah, yes, Koto picks! I took Koto lessons for a couple of years when I was in highschool, and here were the finger picks that I had used to strum the thirteen strings of the long Japanese musical instrument. I remember memorizing the Japanese symbols that represent the strings of the koto well enough so that I could play in a Koto quartet at the college where my dad taught.

Last but not least, in amongst drawings, school projects, and homemade Valentines Day cards, was also a photo my mom and taken of me on stage during a highschool performance of Carnival. I had the role of the belly dancer and as such, got to dress up in veils and bangles and performed a solo dance in front of a packed audience. What fun! In highschool, if I wasn't performing in a play or musical, I was painting sets and backdrops.


Yep, that was me making a lei with the help of mom and Kiki!


Yep, that was me playing the Koto. What form! What intensity! Looks like I kind of know what I'm doing!


Yikes! That was me on stage in my veils and bangles!