Find the Cardinal!

The cardinals who live here are not native, but were one of many species introduced to the island many years ago, specifically as song birds.  They have adapted to island life over many generations and their songs vary greatly from those cardinals with which most people in the mid-west and eastern states are most familiar.  We have mated pairs who sing a variety of songs throughout the day -- and their morning songs are different from those they sign in the evening.  (He's right in the middle -- with his both his tale and head showing on either side of the Ohia branch.  With the Ohias in full bloom, it seems like the trees are singing.)

Transformation

The trick is not to let the jungle and woods intimidate you.  Just start!  

This is an area in the front 1/2 acre adjacent to our driveway.  It is so thick you cannot even walk through it.  This is the understory that grows under and around the ohia trees -- lots of wild rhododendron, guava, ferns, vine and orchids. So, you begin with a chainsaw -- honestly!!  Only when you can SEE the contours of the land and trees can you know what is even there!   

After some initial rough clearing, we begin on the edges using the pruning loppers -- just to see what is really under all the overgrowth and debris. Opening up the area and thinning things down allows the plants to be more healthy and creates wonderful shady nooks.



The more you excavate, the more wonderful raw materials you find to work with -- especially lots of lava that can be used to edge the new bed.  Old logs (that aren't rotten) can also be used to line beds.  Phil is cutting this log up into sections to reuse elsewhere.  Below represents about two weeks work, and although there is no lava wall (yet) there is room to imagine a picnic table, hammock. and lots of room for healthy new plants to thrive.

Holy Holes!

It's taken some trial and error to discover this fabulous island landscaping secret!  And, I am willing to share it with you too.

On the mainland, when you are preparing to plant trees and shrubs, your first step would simply be to "dig a hole" -- but NOT in Hawaii!  Here, the easiest way to prep for a new tree or shrub is to dig OUT a few big chunks of lava.  Underneath you will find a rich layer of humus and wonderful worms!!  The bigger your new plant, the more chunks you dig out.  With the chunks of lava you've dug out, you have building materials for your next wall -- or edging around your newly planted trees.

Here's a spot I have leveled some, and removed some decent lava chunks for a row of rhododendrons we will buy at the Maku'u Market on Sunday.

Gecko

This morning while checking our emails I could see a little gecko on the tree just outside the window -- and he was doing his display.  Phil had seen one before, but this was my first viewing.

Directly behind him is the beautiful large mossy hill that I planted last October with a bunch of bromeliads.  The Ohia's overhead are covered with red blossoms, many of the bromeliads are red too, so his display was very striking!

My Couds

CLOUDS?   Really?  OK, probably to your eye, this doesn't even look like a cloud.  Those who know me best though, know most forms of realism don't interest me; for whatever reason I simply can't "get there from here" -- my "here" anyway.


So I do the best I can with abstract images, rich in texture, color and shape...and usually not symmetrical.



A few days ago I spent over two hours laying in our yard and hammock, just watching the clouds....which then prompted a 2-page spread in my art journal. Playing around with some of my fractal images, I was pleased to produce this -- working title "Cloud Key."

 

Dirty Harry Takes Aim

"Make my day, punk."  This picture was taken without Phil's knowing it as I was looking out the kitchen window while making breakfast.

The introduction of the  mongoose population was began as an attempt to control the growing rat infestation during the early years of sugarcane production.  Like many such attempts to "control" nature, this one didn't work so well, as the rats were creatures of the night, while the mongoose were daylight beings about the size of a small squirrel.

The result has left the island overpopulated with mongoose.  Most of the time they are not much bother,  however, recently Dexter and "dad" have decided that one local visitor was coming around too regularly and too closely -- checking out our compost pile.

Here's Phil with his air-pump pellet gun taking aim at the critter.  Dexter's solution was to do his "business" over on the north side of the property.  Together their combined efforts have effectively reduced the visits.

Surrounded by Blossoms!

 The Lehua blossoms on our Ohia trees are bursting out right now -- we are surrounded on four sides by these stunning puffs of red.  When we were here in October, many trees on the north side of the property were in bloom, but right now nearly every single tree is in bloom, and there are easily 50 trees on our property.

The Ohia trees are the most abundant native trees in Hawaii and are among the first life in new lava flows. According to Hawaiian mythology, the tree represents a young warrior. Pele, the goddess of fire, wanted to marry the warrior. When he refused, she turned him into a tree. The other gods weren't able to turn him back, so they turned his true love, Lehua, into the blossom so the two lovers could be reunited. It is also though that if you pick one of the blossoms, it will rain – the tears of lovers.

As new residents, we were thrilled to watch the activities of the 50th anniversary of the "Merrie Monarch Festival" in Hilo just a couple weeks ago, where many of the participants used these blossoms in their costumes and leis.

The Merrie Monarch Festival is (http://www.merriemonarch.com) dedicated to the memory of King David Kalākaua, known as the Merrie Monarch. King Kalākaua came to the throne of the Hawaiian Kingdom in 1874 and reigned until his death in 1891. He was a patron of the arts, especially music and dance. Kalākaua restored Hawaiian cultural traditions that had been suppressed for many years under missionary teachings.  He advocated a renewed sense of pride in such things as Hawaiian mythology, medicine, chant, and hula.  Ancient Hawaiians had no written language, but chant and hula served to record such things as genealogy, mythology, history, and religion.  Hula, the dance of Hawaiian people, was one means by which culture was expressed and passed down through generations.

Goddess of Dead Gloves

It took only a day or two upon our arrival to realize any gloves I used in Eureka would be unsuitable for gardening on the Big Island of Hawaii!  Today I was sorting through the gloves to toss the old ones which have now been replaced with "lava gloves" complete with leather reinforced fingertips!!

We live on land created from lava -- in the garden it is our primary building material.  Here in Puna, we generally dig right into the lava (red and/or black) to plant, and often have to use the pick axe to break up the lava down 2-12 inches.


In fact, now that we are clearing overgrown vegetation and excavating areas around the property, we have found a place where lava flowed across the property several feet deep -- decades ago.  To create our driveway many years ago, this flow area was broken up, and divided leaving large formations on either side.  It is a very interesting feature that we hope to enhance with flowers and shrubs.

The lovely statue is a Frank Lloyd Wright Collection reproduction that moved with us when we came.  And just in case you are wondering, YES, the green you see is our lawn -- growing on crushed red cinder.  Now that summer is here, we are going to have to mow a little more often to keep up with it!

Birds of a Feather

There are many kinds of birds who live in and around our property, and they sing throughout the day, but especially in the morning and evenings.  We have a pair of Laughing Melodious Thrush (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdlAMlOn4u4) who offer a huge variety of songs and who, like our Mynas can also sing variations on other birds' songs.  Mynas are a hoot to watch and we have a mated pair who are building a nest at the west side of our house.

We have a pair or Cardinals (this is the male) who sings several songs (different songs in morning and evenings).  The small Japanese White Eyes are little greenish birds who flit around quickly moving in small groups from tree to tree singing sweet little songs.  There are a couple different kinds of doves -- small and large with their coo-cooing.  A number of different "honey creepers" are regular visitors too.

One spectacular surprise a few days ago, was the arrival of a hawk (Io) who landed in the large Ohia tree just outside of our kitchen.  We spotted him while we were washing up the morning dishes, and dropped everything and each grabbed our respective binoculars (kept on a hook by the dining room table.)

This large predator was only about 20 feet away, and we had front row tickets!  He swiveled his head around for 5 minutes, just taking it all in (reading the menu actually.)  Then Mr. and Mrs. Myna started dive-bombing him trying to scare him away -- because their nest is so close.  We managed during the antics to get out the tripod and, balancing one leg in the sink, we managed to take several photos.  When he made a giant swoop down to make a kill, his wings fanned out to full width as he attempted to protect his catch.

After his morning snack, smug as you can imagine, he returned up to the very same branch -- maybe waiting for dessert.

Finally, though, with a powerful s-w-o-o-p of his enormous wings, he "lifted off" and Phil managed to get this amazing shot.  The hawks here come in a couple varieties, dark and light -- this one is a light variety.

Perhaps as a thank you for such a good meal, he left a lovely long feather in the Ohia which Phil rescued before one of the Myna's could carry it off for their nest.

Jade Vine Xylophone???

OK, what is she doing now learning to make/play the xylophone? No, but it has been a fun project.  You see, we saw this beautiful vine with purple and turquoise flower bunches and decided (in our ignorance) that this would be a cool plant to have.  The abundant blossom strands hang down 3-4 long and create an amazing show.

Then our wiser friends and neighbors informed us that we had bought one of the most invasive vines possible which created an opportunity to decide the next step.  Return the plant for something else, or make an arbor/trellis that would feature the plant's stunning display.

We opted for designing an arbor that would feature the trunk of a dying ohia tree near the driveway that had a sound base.  Of course, it couldn't be just a boring square trellis, so Lunel came up with the idea of doing a spiral....somehow.

We contacted a new friend, Paddy, and discussed the idea with him.  He is a creative problem solver who likes geometry, like Lunel, and together they devised a plan, with Paddy doing the math, resulting in 25 2x4 boards being cut (precisely) at graduating lengths.  These boards will spiral out from the tree into an ever expanding circle, and will be held to the tree with simpson braces.  At the end of each board a drilled hole will be used to thread nylon cord -- providing both stability to the structure as well as additional places for the vine to grow.

We think it will work -- Lunel has cut, painted and drilled the holes.  This weekend, with Paddy's help, we will begin the assemblage.

Lanai Transformation

When we first saw our house in February 2012, this room was spelled "potential."  It was screened but that was about it.  We both felt it would be a perfect space for a shared studio, but more critical priorities required our attention....until February when we had the huge 4x5' screen/windows replaced with glass/screen windows so we would both have a beautiful dry, well ventilated space for creativity.

Once the windows were installed, we began

to envision the new studio. 

 

We decided to use floor/deck paint for the floor and chose "Fine Wine" as the color.  Next we chose the wall color "Yellow River" which is amazing as that color bring the outside greens inside beautifully.  For a creative solution to the ugly metal roof, Lunel had the idea to hang fabric between the ceiling beams, so we found a beautiful fabric on-line -- requiring almost 50 yards for the project. 



The ceiling is 16' high, so we set up our scaffolding (which is also handy for cleaning the windows and screens on the outside, since the house is elevated off the ground.)



Finally, we removed the odd windows that looked into the house, and Phil did an outstanding job creating bookcases....four of them!  (The window that WAS on the left side of the top photo is where the newly built bookcases are.)  Two face into the house on the inside, but two (one on each half of the room) face into the newly completed studio space. Here's Phil on "his side" of the studio working on architectural drawings for the new addition (wood studio downstairs and guest/ohana upstairs.)

Gecko Patrol

Gecko Patrol is an important everyday task that Dexter takes  seriously!!  We have 3-4 geckos in the kitchen --  a cheap form of daily entertainment -- for some of us. 

However Dexter Dinkums Wigglesworth III is v-e-r-y serious about his assumed patrol duties.

"It just isn't fair," he said recently.  "In our old yard, I kept busy keeping the cats out of the yard on a regular basis -- keeping the birds safe. And, in Eureka, what I chased was on the g-r-o-u-n-d!!!  These gecko creatures climb the walls!  Can you see them, up there??  They love to hide behind the masks on the wall too."

Ohia Tribute

Moving to Hawaii meant leaving things behind...that's the simple truth, but there were some things that were just to amazing to leave.  Iris and Jeffery as well as Erin and Michelle helped us to reconsider the cast iron artwork which has been a prominent part of our yard for so many years.  Mahalo to them for being sure we didn't leave this amazing piece of art.


One of Phil's recent projects has been to incorporate that piece into our new space -- finding just the right location.  He chose to place it at the base of the largest Ohia tree on our property -- due east.  During the summer, the sun rises just to the left of the trunk and during the winter, that location shifts to the right of the trunk.


He began by building a raised bed at the base of the tree with some significant sized lava chunks from the yard.  We filled the bed with crushed red cinder mixed with some beautiful soil from up the Hamakua coast.

Next, he got rebar and began to build up the "frame" around the piece, using colored mortar to secure the lava into place.  He just finished it a couple days ago, leaving little niches and natural looking holes for plants to grow in.

We are slowly accumulating plants for all the beds we have been building.

YELLOW SUBMARINE!

During January it was clear that we were both missing the wonderful claw foot tub that was such a delightful feature of our Eureka house.

One evening Phil said, "Why don't you post a notice on Craig's List and see if you can find one."  I did so immediately thinking, as we have found that it never hurts to ask for what you want.  THE NEXT MORNING there was a reply from someone who was moving and had one, so I emailed back for details -- hoping it wasn't too far away for easy delivery.

WOW!!  Janet and Paul lived right here in Leilani Estates -- a few blocks away.  So we piled into the car and went to look at it.  We LOVED it, especially being painted yellow, so we said "YES" especially since we were assured of a delivery no less!  The bathroom in the new ohana addition will be designed to incorporate the tub -- which we can use too.

Since then, Janet, son Paddy, and Paul have become good friends, and since they have only moved to Hilo, we can see them regularly.  Paddy lives in a tree house here in Leilani that he built himself and is willing and qualified to help us with several building projects we want to do. 

Who's a "Punatic"

There's a saying that the sun rises first in Hawaii in Puna, and we say we live on the "lower east side."  Both are true!  The air here is amazing -- the caressing trade winds have traveled thousands of miles across the ocean. 

See the small yellowish spot in the middle? That's the town of Pahoa, and small as it is, the services include police, fire and DMV.  There are several markets, a Long's (not CVB...yet at least), a good used bookstore, senior center, skateboard park and olympic size community pool.  There are also restaurants, live music, boutiques, banks and a small weekly farmer's market.  There are both emergency medical and family practice available.  And just in case, our next door neighbor is both a mid-wife and nurse practitioner who (after many years of the corporate world of health care) is setting up her own women's' health center on our street!!  (Take a look:   https://sites.google.com/site/easthawaiimidwifeservice/ 

If you can see the sort of football shaped subdivision just south of the intersection at Pahoa, that's our subdivision -- Leilani Estates.  If you are interested you can do a Google search or Google Images search for either Puna or Leilani Estates to learn more.

Forest & Jungle

We live in a tropical rainforest here in PUNA, which means that no matter what, you measure growth in inches-per-day, and feet-per-month.  It is widely rumored that the invasive albezia trees (which we had on the property) grow 4-6 inches per day.

Obviously the previous owner's focus was on building this wonderful house -- not on the forest that surrounds the house.  Here is a typical shot of the edges of the property. 

 We are fortunate that when the land was cleared lots of the native Ohia trees were left, and the center of the property is pretty clean.  While waiting for the moving company to deliver our container, our working time was spent either working on the outside property building lava walls for new beds, or inside, making improvements to an "almost finished" house.

Here's Phil beating back the jungle.  When we moved in, for example, these palms were completely overgrown with vines, ferns and fast growing shrubs.  The driveway you see is bounded by forest, and trees surround us on all sides.  We also have a wonderful variety of birds living in these trees.

TWO MONTHS LOST!

What happened !!

We just lost February and March having fun with our new house and a significant number of projects -- like getting all our stuff moved in and arranged after delivery from the moving company.

Getting new windows installed in the spacious 16x28 dedicated art space -- led to a serious domino effect that included re-doing the floor, painting walls top to bottom, finishing the details like floor moulding, corner coving, sealing windows with quarterround, installing cupboards, and creating four (yes 4!) new bookcases.  And, best of all -- a novel approach 16' high ceiling treatment by Lunel.

So, hopefully, we can keep a little more current with the blog...for those sweet few who check in on occasion.  We will continue to post for a few days some of the creative projects we have invented for ourselves...and why we were really preoccupied.  Stay tuned!