As the year 2008 wraps up here in one of the last time zones
on the globe, I wanted to wish you all a Happy New Year.

pohoiki road laundry day

For Christmas Arvin got me a trip to the summit of Mauna Kea, 13,600 feet above sea level. In his beautiful words to me: “There, on the first sunset of 2009, we will reflect and celebrate the amazing year we had in 2008″ and afterwards “gaze at the stars and imagine the beautiful and bright future together.”

Summit of Mauna Kea, Big Island of Hawaii

We’ve had beautiful days:

sunny day in puna

We’ve seen some rain:

the endless torrent of winter rain, 2008: puna, big island of hawai

We even had a surprise visitor we named ‘Ioke, who has taken to hanging out on our lanai:

Arvin and

Best of all, we had a wonderful year filled with friends and family—the best kind of year of all.

May the lava beneath your feet always be cool:

pahoehoe lava, big island, hawai

Have a happy, wondrous and prosperous 2009!

Love and Aloha,

jeff and arvin, kalapana, big island, hawai

–j