TGIKD
(Thank God it's Kamehameha Day!)

If you look through my blog you'll see there are some good reasons to live in Hawaii. Here's one more. King Kamehameha Day. It's that one day of the year I get off work when some other folks don't. It's like having a get-out-of-jail-free card. I have the whole day free...how shall I spend it?

King Kamehameha brought the Hawaiian islands under one rule for the first time in 1810, and his dynasty ruled the Kingdom of Hawaii for more than a century. I can't say I know much about this great king whose long ago efforts afford me a day of relaxation and fun each June.

Jim and I saw the original King Kamehameha statue in Kapa`au Saturday draped in lei. The bronze figure was made in Italy in the late 1800's and was on its way to the Judiciary buliding in Honolulu when its ship sank near the Falkland Islands. So they made a second statue and shipped that one to Honolulu. Later, the original was found, restored, and it now stands in Kapa`au near Kamehameha's birthplace.