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Published: January 3rd 2019
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Well, we are into the new year and are settling into a nice routine. I am getting up around 6:30 each morning and taking a walk up the hill to the Keauhou Shopping Cente where I have found a lovely coffee shop. I sit outside, enjoy a good cup of coffe, perhaps a banana scone and listen to the birds chirp as they wake up. Going up the hill each morning I encounter a few runners training for the Ironman competition. They run full speed straight uphill for 2 light poles (about 200 yards), then walk back down. They do this several times.....it makes me tired just watching them. I think I’d rather be a “clay man”.....you are much softer but the training is not nearly so tiring!
I walk back home in time for the others to be stirring and enjoy a breakfast with the troops. Talia has wanted to go on my morning walk so about 6:15 this morning, a little figure comes out of the dark with a pencil flashlight shining on the bed to see if I had gone yet! She was all dressed and ready to go so I got up and off we went.
We had a good visit, enjoyed a hot chocolate before coming home. In the parking lot we came across a few signs that we thought were for handicap parking but they were the furthest away from the stores. Upon investigation they were signs encouraging people to park there and walk further for their health!
After breakfast the Slaters and Barbara headed off to Magic Sand Beach for a snorkel and beach time. Dianne and I decided to skip the beach today. We went to the Farmers Market and found a few things. Along the way we came across some signs of Chrisomas that really looked out of place. Then we headed toward Captain Cook. It was close to lunch time so we made a stop at Annie’s Fabulous Burgers where they make their burgers from the grass fed beef on the island. Believe it or not, you can taste the difference! As we ate, we enjoyed a cool beverage looking out over the flowering trees. After lunch we continued our drive , heading toward the Painted Church.
Perched on a hill, This Roman Catholic Church once stood at the shore of Honaunau and at that time was St.
Francis Regis Chapel. In the 1880’s the hot tropical climate motivated the local community to move further up onto the rise of Mauna Loa where the climate was temperate with productive soil.
Father John Berchmans Velghe, a Sacred Hearts father from Belgium who arrived in 1899 at the age of 41, followed the residents to congregate at the higher elevation. The chapel was dismantled; and each piece, by plank and pew was relocated on the backs of mules, to its present location where it was renamed St. Benedict’s Catholic Church.
Having served as a priest in the Polynesian Triangle, Father Velghe painted biblical narratives from both the new and old testaments on church interiors in his former parishes in Tahiti and the Marquesas; fittingly, he chose to decorate St. Benedict’s as well. As an admired preacher and self-taught artist, Father Velghe, painted the interior walls with significant passages from the Bible and utilized them as a teaching tool bridging the divide between the Hawaiian and English language.
The humble church building is small and rectangular, however, Father Velghe painted the image of gothic vaults over the altar, creating the appearance of a Renaissance cathedral, inspired by the
Burgos Cathedral in Spain. Using house paint as his medium, emerald green palm ferns sprout from the pinnacles of brightly, striped red-and-white columns, the vaulted ceiling is sprinkled with stars, and detailed Biblical scenes adorning the walls, make “The Painted Church” truly unique.
The Painted Church continues to be an active Roman Catholic church in the Diocese of Honolulu, parish of West Hawaii, holding five masses per week and is open to the public for viewing seven days a week. It’s adjacent cemetery is over a century old.
One of the nice things along this winding road are the fruit and vegetable stands. We stopped at one and bought some banana bread for a mere $3.00 on the honour system before heading home for a rest. Perhaps some shave ice is in order tonight After we enjoy another Hawaiian sunset.
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