"Return"

"Return" by Lunel Haysmer (C)

"Return"

In the beginning we are light.

Then we become solid and heavy.

Finally, we remember how to fly

and we return.

This year many of us have said farewell to members of our ohana, including Phil's mom, Margaret.

Down at MacKenzie Park on the ocean here in PUNA, there is a pohaku stone everyone knows -- moved by the power of the ocean waves to its resting place on the edge of a outflow of pahoehoe overlooking the ocean.  One day when I was meditating on it, I thought it moved!  Returning home I wanted to capture something of the transformation that my eye could not see, but that my heart felt. The meaning of the word "PO" includes Original Darkness.  However, like many cultures around the world, its meaning reflects a place of Infinite Potentiality, the birth place from which everything comes.  In physics it would be that space/moment just before the Big Bang. As we say goodbye to our loved ones, we are bidding them farewell on their return flight home.

Mountain of Wealth

20 yards of wealth

Here in PUNA on the Big Island of Hawaii, wealth is  measured in a variety of ways.  For native Hawaiians it is measured by their strong family relationships -- ohana.  Wealth is also measured by the relationship with the land and its gifts to us as we care for it -- aina.  Here, wealth is also measured by the rain water in our catchment basins and our garden produce.


In almost two years here, we have had numerous deliveries of soil and cinder to create rich beds for fruit trees, flowers and gardens.  And today, we received another load of rich dark cinder/soil.  The black crushed cinder is rich in nutrients.  As you may know, this land (particularly in PUNA) is so new sometimes there is less than 1/2 soil on top of lava, so building up beds, or breaking down through lava is the only way we can plant and grow.

POKO found the mountain of wealth too inviting  --- and who knows what might be on the other side!!

(Couple people inquired where we got it: Check out Sanfords website:  http://sanfordsinc.com

BLUE SKY!! Uli Lani

Doing art in grade school my favorite colors were BLUE.  I would always use PERIWINKLE wearing my crayon down to a nub.  That passion for rich deep blues has remained throughout my life.  Here in Puna where we have some of the cleanest air on the Big Island, I can watch the sky and cloud play for hours.  But, what color is the sky?  There are so many shades of blue!  I am reminded of the song lyrics we have all sung --

Mont Blanc -- Saussure's Blue Muse

Neil Young “Helpless Helpless”

Blue, blue windows behind the stars,
Yellow moon on the rise,
Big birds flying across the sky,
Throwing shadows on our eyes.
Leave us

Helpless, helpless, helpless.

The measuring device he used -- I printed out and use.

To early science, the sky was a puzzle and a challenge.  But Swiss born Horace-Bénédict de Saussure was undaunted by the challenge and through his ingenuity, he was the first to create a means by which to measure blue.  He grew up a naturalist, encouraged by his family and he was inspired particularly by the grandeur of Mont Blanc - the highest peak in Western Europe. 

At the age of 22 (mid 1700’s) he was appointed professor of natural philosophy at the University of Geneva. Excited as he was by his appointment, he winced at the prospect of having to teach students little younger than himself. Yet his brilliant lectures in mathematics, physics, geology, natural history - even philosophy - and his experiments, won him their admiration.  

 

He loved the scientific methods of measurement – and when he couldn’t measure things, he designed new instruments to do so. The color/s of the sky intrigued him.  Armed with his tools and a small chemistry set, he trekked round the valleys and beyond. As his trips carried him ever higher, he puzzled about the color of the sky. Local legend had it that if one climbed high enough it turned black and one would see, or even fall into, the void - such terrors kept ordinary men away from the peaks.  An expedition to the top of Mont Blanc allowed him to conduct his experiments. It was a thrilling moment when he documented the deepest blue he'd ever seen at 39 degrees blue. 

What I love about this story is his passion to discover, his indomitable curiosity and his ingenious invention that allows ME – 250 years later to walk out of my house and “measure the blueness" of the Hawaiian sky.  ULI LANI.

(Paraphrased from Wikipedia)

Rethinking Reality

We have been re-thinking a few things lately, particularly in view of our recent hurricane and current Lava Event.  Seems like disasters of any kind, no matter their “package” force us to rethink our reality  For many years the residents of Puna have had the common sense to realize that having only ONE road into and out of lower Puna was not enough – especially in a disaster; there are simply too many lives at risk.  Another example is the infrastructure of our power grid including the geothermal plant (less than 5 miles from our home) that could be providing power more directly to its immediate neighbors.

It seems that for decades these issues have not been seriously addressed at a governmental level.  As frequently happens, the common sense ideas seem to get lost in the bureaucratic process of government.  In the wake of hurricane Iselle and the new lava flow from Pu’u O’o, many of these issues are being readdressed.  Roads are being created where there were none; power grids are being viewed anew so that thousands of people would not be stranded without power. 

Similarly, many people are being presented with opportunities to examine their own participation and responsibility.  In an area often faced with power outages, investing in a generator becomes a higher priority.  Planting gardens, rather than a pleasant pastime becomes a viable source of food in an emergency.  And neighbors reaching out to neighbors are building better communities. 

Any challenge can be viewed from a variety of perspective that we choose. No one likes a disaster, but being new to this island way of life, we have been very impressed with the aloha spirit as demonstrated on our block, in our neighborhood – and in the pro-active responses by our county leaders, civil defense teams and many volunteer agencies and groups  ALOHA is alive and well in PUNA on the Big Island.  MAHALO

Pink Lemonade

We all know the old saying about making lemonade with “lemons” – here in Puna we take that a step further, using the invasive guava trees to make “pink” lemonade.  You will sometimes see locals alongside the roads picking both pink and yellow guava – from the top heavy branches.  Only problem is that everything here tends to grow to t-a-l-l so fast, you can’t easily reach them. 

Believe it or not, our dogs LOVE the guavas – but then again, they also love carrots, bok choy and cabbage!  We have several guava trees along the driveway, so walking down to get the mail, it’s always a dash between me and the three corgi dogs to see who can get to the newly fallen ripe ones first.  I always let them have a few.

When we first moved in a couple years ago, I decided to try an experiment with one of the too-tall-trees and cut it off 12 inches from the ground to see what would happen.  Lucky me!  It has grown into a guava “bush” instead, only 5 feet tall with branches loaded with pink guava.  Now that I know that works, I’ll do the same with the rest of them.

Island of PUNA?!

USGS Photo taken June 27, 2014

This is a photo of Pu'u O'o on June 27th -- the day the NE flow began.  As of September 18th,  according to Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, the leading edge of the lava flow is 300-500 feet wide and 1-2 feet thick. It can thicken, however, to 10 feet or higher as it builds upon itself.  Because the flow does vary, it is difficult to project the exact date that the lava will reach Pahoa and Hwy 130. Given the most recent average daily flow, HVO projects that the lava will reach Pahoa Village road around the end of the month, and Highway 130 around mid-October. *** These dates are estimate each day, based on flow activity and are updated by USGS. ***    From there it is only 4-5 miles to the ocean.



 "The Island of Puna" - home of the Punatics

The black X indicates the area of flow for the past 30 years down through Royal Gardens and Kalapana to the ocean; it is now many miles wide and impassible.  The BLUE lines indicates an old railroad path (not even a real road) and a beach road that is barely passable for most cars.  The county is going to open these temporarily for general traffic.  But the reality is there is nothing to stop the lava flow RED lines as it heads towards downhill to the ocean.  Very soon even those temporary roads will not be accessible.

The GREEN circle represents thousands of people who may will be living on The Island of Puna. (PS: One blog reader had an estimate of 8500 -- but we all know there's probably even MORE.)

Retired and REWIRED!

RETIRED AND REWIRED

Last August 2013 as we were finishing up building the ohana, we had a conversation with our contractor about eventually wanting to do an electrical wiring that would, in an emergency, allow us to utilize our generator most efficiently.  The reason I know this is because I wrote it down in our “bible.”  Now our “bible” is a reference book with categories and information about such Puna Topics as:  Bugs & Pests, Water Pump, Gutters (the cleanout debris schedule, which if we forget, clogs up with leaves), Propane (where to get it at what prices, and when we refilled our tanks), etc, etc.,  Since living here necessitates learning new skills and language associated with those skills, it has taken on the hallowed essence of "The Sacred Word of Life In Puna."

We are using our skilled contractor for this rewiring work, but we have to understand what he has done, and what steps we need to do when the power goes, how to switch the generator on, and switch on related systems like the water pump from solar to generator/12volt, etc.  Now we have dedicated lines for refrigerator, freezer, computer, phone and TV, as well as lines for the tenants in our ohana for their refrigerator and kitchen.  While we had it written down and knew it was important, The Lava Event has made it a high priority.  Mahalo to our Leilani friend Richard who gave us a personal tour of his own “smart house” to begin our power-full education.  All that’s left now is to finish the little generator shed and we have checked off another thing on our self-sufficiency list.  (Just wait ‘till you see the too cute shed.)

Pantry Done (check!) Dog Food (check!)

Day by day the checklist of "things to do" is getting done.  Hurricane Iselle was actually a good test run for some of our emergency preparedness systems, including use of solar panels and 12volt battery system to run the water pump and filtration during the days without electricity.  And, we got a good test drive with our generator too.  Hurricanes, however, come and go....and,

....preparing for a Lava Event is different.  In some ways it is simplified by the horror of it heading right at your house:  you get OUT fast!  But when it is slowly headed toward your only highway in an out, things take on a different perspective. Water is not an issue, power is manageable, but what do you do about food when your local market closes because it is in the path of the advancing flow, and the highway is closed?  STOCK UP on non-perishables.

The freezer is full of salmon, chicken, lamb, roasts, catfish, bacon, nuts, goat, cheddar and Havarti cheeses, breads and muffins.  After a mega-shopping spree in Hilo last week, this week it was time to sort, organize and label the pantry items.  We feel we could actually manage well on what we have for 5-6 weeks.

OF COURSE the pantry is well stocked with dog food!!

We have a neighbor on our street who launches down at Pohoiki (where I swim) and catches fish weekly -- yum!  We can depend on some "portable" local farmers' markets to provide us with fresh items weekly.

 This week with the help of our contractor, we will have our sub-panel system installed next to our electrical box; this system allows us to easily "switch" from electric to generator.  This week we also finish construction an insulated generator shed -- out 20 feet from the house to reduce both noise and exhaust.(check!  check!  check!)   As you may have guessed, plans for assembly and installation of the hot tub have taken a back seat to these priorities, but soon we will be doing that as well -- by then we will need it!)

Fire in the Sky

Late today after working to organize our pantry's big influx of food, we went down to Pohoiki for the sunset and so I could take a swim in the ocean.  This weekend the surf was very high, and it was a thrill just to watch the surfers on extra big waves -- while staying close to shore.  Blowing out over the ocean was a hazy layer of brownish pink cloud -- smoke from the fire, ash and volcanic gases. (Not currently at our house.)

Simulation of two colliding galaxies.

We've been so focused on looking at the ground, volcanic flow, gravity specific topo maps and such, when we got an email from a neighbor about the "glow" from the flow behind Pahoa, it was distraction to go outside on a deep dark (no moon) night to take in the sky.  From our house it is actually a very soft smudge.  On the other hand, the Milky Way was STUNNING.

www.capitalbay.com  PHOTOS

At our house, it is arcing across the sky like a shimmering scarf of diamond dust -- in an true North South orientation.  This has always perplexed me somehow as if I was seeing things sideways.  Then I remembered the recent entry Sept 4) about the discovery of our Galactic Cluster "Laniakea" where ribbons of galaxies enfold each other like a huge rose.  So, we are topsy-turvy so to speak, just hangin' out against a dark background (apologies to Iain Banks.)  Good to know our place in the scheme of things.