The other evening Nolemana and I were driving home from town along Tillstrom Road, which is probably our most frequently travelled road. That’s the road we take to get to Portland, to Clackamas, to church, and most everywhere else heading makai. I much prefer this road to highways, because it winds through the hilly forested areas around where we live and is semi-rural, similar to where we live.
When we first moved to this area, there was a woman who used to sell eggs on the honor system. Outside her back door she had plugged in a refrigerator in which she kept dozens of eggs. Next to the fridge was a small cash box with a puka ontop. There was also a small sign with the egg price written on it. If anyone wanted eggs, all they had to do was drive up the driveway, park the car and check to see if they were one of the lucky ones who was there when eggs were available.
We’d choose how many dozen eggs we wanted and put our money in the cash box. That was it. No ID check. No scanner to make sure we were putting in the right amount. Totally on the honor system. When my sister in law came up to visit from a large California city, she couldn’t believe that someone would actually do business that way.
I was sad when the lady no longer sold eggs. Back then, twenty years ago, I could get the eggs for $2.00/dozen. Now I go out to Boring and get them from another wahine for $3.50/dozen. But they’re organic and from free-range hens, and I like that.
Anyway, Nolemana and I were driving home that evening when suddenly I caught sight of a flash of white up ahead on the left. I immediately slowed down hoping it could be a photo op. And sure enough, it was. I pulled to a stop (no cars were behind me) and managed to snap off a single photo before an impatient driver suddenly came around the curve a quarter mile behind me and started blasting his horn at me. He was obviously not one of us local drivers, who never do that.
Yet another reason why I love living in daboonies…
A Mānoa Girl's Bloggie 
Look at that white peacock!! Like seeing a ghost! Beautiful…
How marvelous. Good karma on the person who takes care of that white peacock – it would never make it in the wild. We used to see them when I lived in Ahuimanu – they’d wander over from Valley of the Temples, and they’d often wake us up in the middle of the night.
Great shots… too bad the kane wasn’t trying to impress the wahine, then you would have gotten a photo to die for! LOL By the way, those birds also taste very good.
When I used to work in the Yucatan near Belize there was a place where peacocks were raised as food. Yes I know they’re beautiful and some people would frown on eating them, but hey, they are farm raised and just like chickens, ducks, geese and game hens, they were destined to drape the plate. Sorry if this offended anyone. I adore pot-belly pigs and little piggies too, but they’re basic food for most meat eaters.
This is why us Japanese say, “itadakimasu” before eating, which simply means ‘thank you, I receive.’ My grand-aunt told me that such a giving of thanks is directed toward the ‘animal’ that had given its life to sustain mine. It is said in the spirit of, “Thank you for sacrificing your life so that I may live.” So, itadakimasu in that context is more like a prayer rather than a comment of simple thanks giving. When I acknowledge the animal in such a manner, I no longer view animals as mere products, but I view them as supporters that sustain my existance. I have great respect for all feathered and furry creatures.