Kekipi Yell

I learned a few things today, and pretty much all of them are from this new book I bought the other day. It's a pretty good story that takes place in Hawaii, and I'm enjoying forgetting the rest of the world as I get more and more absorbed into it.

One of the things I learned is a new Hawaiian word. One character in the book is named Kekipi, which means "rebel." I love that.

I also learned what pikake is. In one chapter, the guy is describing his lovely Hawaiian yard and I didn't understand what he was talking about, so I looked it up. Pikake is a very fragrant Hawaiian jasmine, commonly used in lei making. It's named after a peacock, because the island princess Kaiulani adored both the bird and the flower.

Lastly, I've found that reading a book about a beautiful, tropical island that you miss terribly, at the same time you're fantasizing about escape, is horribly agonizing.