Post #559405 by bigbrotiki on Tue, Oct 12, 2010 5:57 PM

Warning, the following post will have TWO more photos of Kate's urn in it (which, by the way Dave, I believe will be the beginning of a trend in Tiki Ohana burial customs!)

This was a wonderful event that Kate would have loved, no, DID love, because there was such a strong showing of TCers.
First off Redlands, where Kate grew up and lived nearby, is a marvelous little time warp. Blocks and blocks of old houses, I tried to take a characteristic photo:

Yet the neighborhood church was a little mid-century gem:

with mosaic tile work...

...even an ORANGE mosaic tile bible!:

At the service, all the girls bawled their eyes out. I respectfully refrained from taking pictures of such displays of emotionality.
I liked the piano player:

...and the above mentioned pagan idol on a Christian altar:

We all missed to snap that Kodak moment when the priest blessed it with holy water.
When we got to Kate's sister's house, after the service, there it was, on the mantle piece:

Hiya Kate! :)

One of the things I really appreciated was that her sister had set up Kate's carvings all over the house and backyard.
There also were things like this Kate quilt:

...many photos of Kate...

...and memorabilia like this sign:

...and this great mask, which I recognized as having been inspired by one at the TIKI Apts in Redondo Beach:

The most moving piece was this unfinished carving, I assume Kate's last project:

It rang a bell in my Tiki memory, and so I proudly proclaimed to know its ancestor....but my foggy brain could not pin it down:
Was it the Witco Tiki planter?:

Not. Someone suggested the Enchanted Tiki Room, and I cried YESSS!: It's Ngendi, the Earth Balancer:

But foiled by my intoxicated state, I was wrong again. Only much later did I realize that it was based on MAUI's assistant, the little guy that gets the japanese bamboo stick on his head -Tok-Tok-Tok!:

Aaaah, now I seee!:

Anyway: The moving aspect of this find was that Kate's sister had spoken about her life at the church service, lauding her dedication to Tiki, and how for Kate it had all had started at Disneyland -- and there, at the Enchanted Tiki Room. So to find that her last piece was an hommage to that place...

And here is the source of my aforementioned foggy state of mind:

In the foreground, Bongofury's Drifter's Reef, and in the middle, Sabu's Mai Tai, made from Kate's remaining rum stash - both were exquisite! And they kept on coming. I was overjoyed to see Marie King ....serving a cocktail again! :wink: :

And Babalu, with his excellent creation in action:

The fine booze certainly helped to make this a rather joyous gathering, like Kate had wanted it to be...

...for friends near and far!

Though I cannot fully agree with Grog's comparison made earlier on this thread:

On 2010-10-10 02:22, GROG wrote:
A little slice of Americana. This remind GROG of Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving illustration.

What rather comes to mind is this well known tableau:

:D Well, close...
I decided to continue to sacrifice brain cells in honor of Kate that day, and went straight to the Tonga Hut, to sample several of HipHipHula's (who had been to the service) yummy creations, and from there on to La Descarga, enjoying sipping 30 Year old El Dorado, and showing the place to Humu and Trott. It was good day, thank you Kate!

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2010-10-12 18:03 ]