Saturday November 26, 2011 AAUW Kauai sponsored a Holiday Brunch and meeting at the Hanapepe Cafe. Helen, the owner of the Hanapepe Cafe opened her shop just for AAUW. Other Saturdays, the place is closed. The brunch was outstanding and the pastries most delicious.

Melinda Montgomery, Exective Director of Circle of Life was the speaker. Their organization offers art and other cultural activities after school and on weekends to school aged children.

Cherie Mooy, Secretray of our branch, reported on the Vision 20/20 Conference she attended in October in Chicago. She is one of two delegates for the State of Hawaii. Of the 100 delegates (two from each state) at the meeting, 37% were AAUW members. Concerns of women and girls are being reviewed.

President Lenda Helser provided beautiful roses from her garden for table centerpieces.

Nancy Golden, member, spoke about Nana’s House which she started 15 years ago. It is a family Service Center in Waimea. She collected donations from the attendees. She will purchase a complete holiday meal for a family from Nana’s House and provide gifts for the six children and their parents. This is the fourth year we will be doing this project.

Friday November 4th, 2011 was the 15 year Anniversary Celebration held at Nana’s House in Waimea. It is a family Service Center started by our member Nancy Golden. Children who come to Nana’s House sang for the program. A board member spoke and musical selections on the ukulele and guitar were presented. A huge afternoon meal was served on the lawn after the program. Several AAUW members attended the celebration.

On Saturday October 29, 2011, members and friends walked for the Nursing Club of the Kauai Community College during the United Way Walk at Kukui Grove. Each non profit received half of the donations given in their name. The other half went to the agencies supported by United Way.

Saturday October 2 some of the members did the Alzheimer’s Walk at Kukui Grove Shopping Mall. A late breakfast was enjoyed by the walkers.

On Make a DifferenceDay, October 22, 2011 members planted red ginger, Ti plants and herbs at the Women’s Shelter. 12 herb plants were donated by Growing Greens. The potting soil, more herbs, red ginger and Ti plants were brought by member and their families.

On Thursday, September 29, 2011 members helped with the “Make A Splash” project sponsored by the Water Department. All fifth graders, public, private and home shcoolers were invited. Ten activities were offered. Each class attended 4 activities. Each activity was 25 minutes.

Pohai assisted with Water Olympics. One task was to see how many drops of water could be held on a surface of a penny. Holly helped in Aqua Bodies. The importance of water in the bodies was stressed. Jane assisted in Humpty Dumpty, a lesson on ow the environment can never be put back together exactly as before after a disaster such as a tornado, hurricane, tsunami, oil spill, etc. Preservaiton is important and we should try to protect the land. Students were given clay pots. They drew things from nature with crayons on the pot. The pot was then broken (by a disaster) into pieces using a metal spoon. The students worked on gluing back the pieces the best they could. Many could not be completed.

Sunday October 9, 2011, member Leilani Spencer’s daughters participated in the Celebration of the Royal Sovereigns, King Kamemhameha the 4th and Queen Emma at the All Saints Episcopal Church in Kapaa. The girls read the lessons for the day in Hawaiian. Several members attended the service.

On Saturday August 20, 2011, the AAUW-Kauai board members met at Scottie’s restaurant in Kapaa for breakfast then had their meeting at the Children of the Land Center. Plans were made for the remainder of year 2011. (Photo of board members. Education chair, rolling coins in wrappers, from the coin jar; monies for the Eleanor Roosevelt Fund.)

On Saturday September 24th 2011, members and guests had brunch at Ono’s restaurant in Kapaa, then attended the opening ceremony of the Pow Wow at the Kapaa Beach Park. The costumes were colorful and some were made by the performers. Music was provided by drummers around a big drum and the dances were round dances. Jewelry, baskets, beaded shoes, and other crafts were being sold.

Aloha Volunteers,

As you all learned last week, RK22, the mom who had abandoned her
past pups, successfully pupped April 25th.  The same day RH58, a
female that lives on Oahu, showed up also looking “ready to pup..or is
that pop?!”   And that she did!  We were all hoping and praying she
would pup at North Larsens, where it is safer and not interfering with
the fisherman’s camp where she pupped last year.  Well, we were
blessed….on the 27th, in the wee morning hours, Lloyd found RH58 up
in the trees with her new pup…and she was in the enclosure!!! She
made it so easy on all of us!
Over these last few days, RK22 and her pup “PK1″ (that stands for
pup Kauai #1 for 2011) and RH58 and her PK2 have peacefully nursed and
slept side by side.  We have been very careful to monitor and keep all
disturbances to RK22 to a minimum, because of her history of
abandoning pups.  Observations by all prove her to be hypervigilant of
human activities…especially people walking within her range of
vision.  Fortunately, she has is very protective and moves her pup
when she perceives any threats.  Of course it wasn’t long before we
had another pinniped visitor.  The “new male on the block” now, is
RK05 (bleach marked V30)…replacing RH40 who was the usual male that
hung out at Larsens when summer pups arrived. RK22 is not upset by
other seal presence, and will defend her pup and space if approached
which is great!
Compared to other moms, RK22 started to swim with her pup earlier
than usual. Day one, first morning, she even had the pup swimming!
With the first week she moved her pup further to the south(east) each
day.  She has kept us very busy to make sure no one would upset her.
With each movement out of the the enclosure we had to build another
new enclosure to protect the pair from dogs when we left at night.  As
a result, we have put up a very nice enclosure that  encompasses both
moms and their pups at North Larsens.
RH58 and her pup are also doing very well, and stay to the north
end of the enclosure….in fact she hasn’t moved at all hardly!!
Today RK22 swam with her pup around the rocky point to the south and
hauled out at the Fisherman’s camp.  Gary and Lloyd prepared to build
an enclosure there, and mid day she departed and swam back to the
north to haul out with PK1 in with RH58 again. (the equipment is
stashed behind the log where we keep signs).  We hope we will not have
moms and pups at Larsens, as this makes it very difficult to manage
two separate enclosures of moms and pups when we are so short handed
of volunteers.  In the past the public has not been happy when the
camp is occupied by seals.
If you are able to help with pup sitting, please either call the
hotline (651-7668) or sign up on the schedule (go to Documents in the
Gmail and look for Pup Event RK22 North Larsens).  We really, really
need more volunteers to help cover the schedule from sun up to
sunset…especially in the weeks to come.  Our faithful few have been
doing an incredible job, putting in long hours and proving their years
of experience and diligence.  I am so grateful for their
professionalism, commitment and shared joy…for without them we would
not be able to adequately care for all the seals!

The beach scenery is wild and beautiful, the Laysan albatross are
courting, and these moms and pups are so endearing and fun to watch
grow day by day!!  Please come and join us!!…with that I leave you
with Patty Sullivan’s parting shots of pup’s swim lessons…
aloha, Mimi

PS.    RK22 and her pup’s first swim lessons; full of maternal
sweetness and kisses!
“It sounded like this:
I don’t want to swim anymore!
Get back in the water!
Ohhhh alright…”

Patricia Sullivan M.S. Ed.
Education Director
Cetacean Society International
www.csiwhalesalive.org

Members and guests of AAUW–Kauai met at JJ’s Broiler on May 7 for lunch and a presentation by Pohai Kirkland, Hawaiian Monk Seals Protections Laiason for Kauai.  New officers , secretary, treasurer, and communications/publicity  were elected.  Cherie Mooy, Janis Benn, Dr. Kani Blackwell, respectively.  Sharon Ames Brown was honored for her outstanding dedication on keeping our web site current.