#paniolos

[tallison46]

The Last of the Hawaiian Cowboys

[thelemonzone42]

North Shore

Star Robinson lives in Hawaii with her parents, her Grandma, which she calls Tutu, and her big sister, ‘Megan’. One day, Star was participating in the annual Hawaii’s Women Association Rode and she was competing in the Keikei Division’s horse show. She and her sponsor’s horse, ‘Sunshine’ were competing in it. Although Star was nervous, her mother assures that no matter what happens, she is proud of her daughter.

Star thought back to when her Tutu won a competition at age ten, and learned how to ride horses at an early age from her father. Now, she must continue the Robinson Family line in horse-riding. When she was called out, Star performed the best routines as she could. Everyone was astonished by her effort, including a camp sponsor named, ‘Maria Gonzalez’. The judges were so impressed that they declared her the winner of the Keikei Division horse show. 

Later, everyone congratulated Star for her effort. The whole thing reminded her father so much of the paniolos, which were Hawaiian cow folk. Megan is proud of her little sister, but hopes that she doesn’t beg and plead to buy Sunshine from Mr. Griffin, Sunshine’s owner. Maria came to them and offered Star a two-week stay at a horse camp, which includes a scholarship. Her parents figured that this would be a great chance for Star to get a proper education. Star, on the other hand, plans to earn the scholarship so she could officially buy Sunshine.

Operation Sunshine

Phase 1: Learn as much as she can from Maria.

Phase 2: Win the Hilo Rodeo

Phase 3: Use the money to buy Sunshine

The next day, Mr. And Mrs. Robinson filled out the application for horse camp. To pass the time, Tutu and Star decided to talk to Mr. Griffin to bring Sunshine to Horse Camp for two weeks. They arrived at his house covered in red hibiscuses and purple bougainvillea. He refused at first, but when they mentioned Maria Gonzalez he changed his mind and let Sunshine come with her, as long as the horse doesn’t injure herself nor get sick during the two-week stay.

On Monday, Star and Sunshine arrived at Horse Camp in Kawaihae. Star brought enough supplies to last for two weeks and a jacket her mom insisted she bring, in case she gets cold. Star wasn’t sure what the others would think of her due to her communication with horses, but remembers that her mother advised her to be her horse-loving self and things will be okay.

When Maria introduced Star to the campers, two kids named Liko and Heidi introduced themselves and Star seemed to like them. Maria tested Star’s horse skills out by letting her ride the most powerful horse in the camp: Pilinkia. He may be scary with his black fur and mane, but loves sugarcanes. Star rode him like she did with Sunshine. Everyone was amazed by how she pulled it off without falling down. 

After that, it was time for the kids to go to their cabins. Star, Liko and Heidi shared the same cabin that has the best view of the lake. Heidi explained their horses should meet each other. When Star mentioned how much she loved Sunshine and wanted to bring her home, Heidi explained that she wasn’t allowed to bring her horse, ‘Mango’ home to Maui. However, Star assures that she’ll be okay. 

On Tuesday, they were out riding horses, Star decided to ride butterscotch to show what she made of. 

Other bunk mates, Greg and Evan, they remembered seeing her at the rodeo and were pleased with the results.

On Wednesday, her family arrived with some bad news, Star has to return home because of an unexpected car crash in the family’s backyard.. This was sad news for Star. She said her goodbyes and returned home.

Back home, Star learned that a real estate agent was running late for work when he accidentally crashed into her family’s backyard. Luckily no one was hurt. She decided to get the neighbors help by letting her father share his famous lasagna recipe and doing their taxes for the next two to three years. Megan tried to cheer her up with some banana pudding, but to no avail. 

A week later, Star was fixing up the fences when she met a local horse trainer named ‘Bethany’ she heard about what happened to her backyard and thought she could train Star for free. With a big smile Star agreed to the free horse riding lessons. 

On the first day of her new horse riding lessons, Bethany decided to introduce her to her nephew and his best friend. When they got to the office Star met two familiar figures. They were Liko and Heidi. They lived right near Bethany’s horse stable all their lives. Star was thrilled to have her camp friends nearby.

A month passed and Star got better at her rose-riding skills. All thanks to her new instructor and friends.

On the day of the rodeo a parade was held to honor the occasions. There were plumerias and Ohi'a Lehuas all over. Then it was time for the rodeo. Star’s family, Bethany, and her new best friends were in the audience waiting nervously for her. Backstage, Star was making final preparations when her Tutu came in to give her a present. It was the horseshoe pin her late husband gave her when they started dating. Star placed the pin on her vest and felt The Robinson Paniolo Legacy inside her. 

After her performance, Star won the competition. For the prize she won six thousand dollars and new equipment. Star decided to use the money to help fix her family’s backyard and buy Sunshine.

She is the best Paniolo horse rider, indeed.

The end

[drag-tween]

You Know About the Wild West, but Have You Heard of Hawaii’s Cowboys?

Known as paniolos, Hawaii's cowboys have a rich history dating back decades. Now, the islands are working to preserve this important part of their culture

[puaposts]

What To Wear

Aloha Everyone!

Today I’m taking us to the Makawao Rodeo Parade that has been happening on the island of Maui for 53 years. It’s a celebration in honor of the paniolos (cowboys) of Makawao Town, it was founded by the Maui roping club and it happens on or near July 4th every year.

The Goa dress is perfect with flowing panels of linen to keep you cool as things start to heat up during the parade, CP Shades always gets it right. A cowboy hat is a must and this one from Treasure & Bond is made of raffia is perfect, plus it will look great on the beach.

Let’s talk about Irene Neuwirth 18k and diamond pave horse earrings, is any thing more perfect for a rodeo? She named them “little filly” I just love them. Finishing off this look are ankle boots from Marsell and a western style purse from Campomagi.

Speaking of Campomaggi, there are plenty of wonderful boutiques in Makawao Town so after the parade take some time and do a little shopping and be sure to visit the Makawao History Museum. Makawao is my favorite town on Maui, I think you’ll love visiting too.

XO

[eviloneills-blog]

If the only thing I do in my life is inform the internet that Hawaiian cowboys (and girls) were and still are A Thing, then I will have accomplished much

[mkydy]

What I learned in Moloka'i

  Moloka’i is a place that has a reputation for being the most Hawaiian of all the islands. So just what does that mean? It carries different ideas, depending with whom you speak. Some people cite the iconic images of mule rides, pristine, abandoned beaches, and plantation style buildings, while others point to examples of scarcity of modern-day resources like continuous wifi, affordable gas prices, or other modern-day conveniences. I believe Moloka’i reminded me of the true spirit of ‘aloha’ --the goodwill, the positive vibe that people here have for one another.  It’s a way of life that’s often missing from many communities these days. I saw the aloha spirit in action during my week in Moloka’i – in some stressful situations – which made me think from which greater society could benefit learning.

I mentioned a few weeks back that on my recent trip, I took a mule ride down to the legendary Kalaupapa Valley, which is a national park memorializing the surviving patients and community stricken with Hansen’s disease (leprosy).  While the experience was filled with amazing stories about the people of Kalaupapa and the spectacular vistas, we had a couple of slightly stressful times in the valley. The first was a mix-up with the delivery of our lunches on the tour.  A pilot with the local airline had accidentally forgotten to bring down the lunches promised for the tour, resulting in some annoyed and grumbling tourists.  Also, as there were intense storms that day, our travel back up the mountain on mules was restricted, leaving our return back to the topside of Moloka’i in question. For a second, I had thought we’d be stuck down in this little town of less than 50 people for several hours, or even, overnight. There are worse places to be, and for certain, worse problems to be dealing with. The people in the Kalaupapa community, including our tour driver and amazing paniolos who led the mule ride down into the valley, quickly convened with the park ranger, and a woman (who I kept calling the “Mayor of the town”, as she was everywhere we went on our tour), to create action plans on solving the problems of no lunches & getting us out of the valley.  They were able to quickly come up with a plan to ensure safety of the mules and the tourists and a quick departure out of the valley.  They ended up arranging flights to airlift us out of the valley during the storm, and within 90 minutes all of the tourists were out. As far as the lunches were concerned, the tour driver brought us to one of the two general stores in the valley to pick up snacks (at no cost) to help bridge the hunger gap.  This was after we had driven to the “Mayor’s” house to see what could be done for a solution for food for hungry tourists. I marvel at these seemingly simple feats. Where do we ever see people with different interests & points of view get together to quickly establish a solution these days? And… mind you, with the grumbling and complaints of annoyed tourists as a constant buzz in the background?   These decision makers dealt with the challenge with such grace, precision, and selflessness. I’m sure there were many options talked about as the decision makers met, but the fact that they put the tourists’ needs above everything else spoke volumes to me.  You wouldn’t see that happen in many places in today’s world. Especially knowing that the people that benefited the most from their efforts were pretty vocal in sharing their displeasure of conditions continuously.  Never mind that our tour driver was so quick to bring us to the general store to offer us free food just minutes after they told us as part of the tour that a barge of supplies & food comes to Kalaupapa just once a year for the residents.   These selfless acts show true spirit and concern for other people, and  the quickness in which they moved to place others’ concerns first is highly commendable.  This the true essence of ‘aloha’ and I hope to put this sentiment into all that I do this new year. Moloka’i reminded me of this, and I am grateful to have witnessed it in action.