Lee Cataluna: Turn up the heater! (There is no heater)

Friends and family in far-away snowy places might be laughing and rolling their eyes, but when it’s in the low 60s in Honolulu overnight, there is no denying that it’s cold.

It was colder than that in a few spots last week. It was in the 50s in Aiea. Makawao got to 47. And those pictures from the snowy slopes of Haleakala and the stories of Maui people heading up the mountain with a shovel and a cooler. Everyone is so excited! It’s so cold!

Sure, this is not a life-and-death kind of cold. But in a place where homes aren’t equipped with insulation or furnaces, where fleece jackets gather shoulder-dust in the back bedroom closet and where it can be hard to find long-sleeved anything for sale in stores past December, a run of days and nights with lower temperatures can catch folks off-guard.

Cold weather requires certain island-style ingenuity. Uncle who always wears shorts might have to put on pants. That morning iced coffee might seem better without the ice. Homeowners may need to round up a strong nephew and some WD-40 because some windows might actually have to be closed. For real.

When the weather gets rainy and cold, Hawaii residents get busy busting out the old thick blankets that always give off that hall-closet smell, donning socks with slippers, sleeping in sweatpants and double shirts, tumbling clothes through a hot dryer for a couple of minutes before getting dressed just to warm up a shivering body.

Some people confess that they resort to turning on the oven or keeping the hot water running in the shower. One has to be inventive when there’s no built-in way to warm the house. (It’s hard, too, when you aren’t sure how to work the heater in your car because it never gets used.)

Even if the cold spate lasts only a little while, those are shivery days and nights to get through. Most people don’t have cold-weather clothing, or when they take out the wool jacket every few years, they find it’s moth-eaten and too small.

Saw a kid running on the Kalani High football field before school with his friends last week. He was wearing full footie pajamas and for a second I thought it might be homecoming. But no, he was just cold and that was probably the warmest thing he had. Plus, the cold morning made for a great excuse to wear footie pajamas to school.

But mostly, Hawaii residents brace for winter weather with food. Ask around and you will hear a wide range of nominations for the perfect cold-weather meal. Pho. Ramen. Miso soup. Portuguese bean soup with hunks of ham and potatoes. Chicken tinola. Stew and rice. Hot cocoa and soda crackers.

Through all this bundling and eating, window-closing and more eating, note that no one is really complaining. Exclaiming, sure, because wow! Exciting! Most people are loving it, even if folks on the East Coast are rolling their eyes. It’s 66 degrees! Brrr! Cold!

Reach Lee Cataluna at 529-4315 or lcataluna@staradvertiser.com.