ENDINGS and BEGINNINGS

 

The "Haysmer Hale Herald" News

After a year of really BIG THINGS it is both comforting and normalizing to be finding joy in small and ordinary things, and to see them not small at all and life as  anything but ordinary. So a blog post about some simple but delightful occurrences in our week.

Birthdays and bananas - dogs and dedications and continuing to turn a house into our new home.

Lunel invited a group of girlfriends for a celebration -- and the cake!!! OMG. It was light fluffy sponge cake with many layers of whipped cream and lilikoi. We shared an outstanding dinner at the "Rim Restaurant" with window seats only a few feet from the edge of Kilauea Volcano. (Yeah, we know that might sound weird to some people, or the fact that we now live in a town called VOLCANO!)  We have always known we were living on "an edge" of a tiny island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean; we still love it here)

The dog-and-beach photo is one of our beloved Reba-Bo-Beba who is doing very well in her new home. (The trauma of our relocation and stress resulted in some sad dynamics between her our other corgi dogs.) She has been re-homed in Kona and we get periodic updates and are happy she is now doing well.

As for the dedication -- hopefully it is large enough for you to read; if not just click on the photo to enlarge it. A framed copy is hanging on the wall just as you walk into the art studio, dedicating the space to Phil's grandfather and Lunel's dad whose influence in our lives helped shape the people we are today.

AND LOOK GUYS -- we have bananas in our yard. The the flower of one of our many bananas looks totally alien. FYI: Bananas are not trees - technically the plant is an HERB, but the  banana is a fruit. We're lucky to have about 12 of them -- ranging from keiki (baby) size to this over 20' tall.


A nearly unbelievable set of circumstances and the involvement of many people lead us to our charming new home (Hale Le'a) for which we are grateful. It was hard to lose our home, 99% of all our possessions -- but finding this house which included buying all of the previous owners' normal home furnishings, meant essentially moving into someone else's fully-stocked home. It has taken many months, but we are feeling more settled and comfortable. The library and our art collection is gone which means we have been on the hunt for some haysmer-style art.

Part of the excitement these days is the conversion of this (photo) space into what will be a big lanai with a hot tub (where the light blue elliptic is.) We are envisionaries  - the transformation we created with our beautiful Luana home in Leilani Estates we can do again, albeit slower, with the help of our highly competent contractors.  We WILL post the after photos in a few weeks.

What's in a Name?

Nahelenani Street

It was during our 2011 vacation to the Big Island that we first got the idea to retire here. Many of the necessary logistics such as divesting a lot of our "stuff," finding a buyer for our 22-year old gallery, and selling our 1860's Victorian were just plain work. But one of the FUN things was discovering the richness of the Hawaiian language.

Some of the first words we learned were typical vocabulary like 'aina, mahalo, and aloha, or learning the different kinds of lava formation like pahoehoe or a'a. When we made the offer on our first home in Leilani Estates and found out that our street name was LUANA -- of course we looked up that word too: Luana: to be at leisure, to enjoy pleasant surroundings and associates and to enjoy oneself. 

Luana -2012 - Healthy Trees

At that time our lovely one acre of land was thick with Hawaii's native 'Ohi'a trees, but in less than two years most of the trees were dying from a fungus that was spreading rapidly - hence the name "Rapid Ohia Death" or ROD. The photos here show the difference in about 18 months' time.

Luana - 2013-14 - dead trees

That is just one of the reasons we are so delighted with our new street name of Nahelenani, because it means nahele (forest) nani (beautiful.) Once again, we are blessed to be safely snuggled into forest of beautiful 'ohi'a trees that are now bursting with lehua (lay-HOO-a) blossoms.

We loved "Leilani Estates" and are heart-broken over the lost of our home in May 2018. Leilani was a larger subdivision with dozens of streets -- all with beautiful Hawaiian names like Moku (island) or Hapu'u (fern), etc.. Our new subdivision of "Ohia Estates" however, only has two street which makes it easier to get acquainted with our new neighbors.

Trees on our new property

If you are interested in learning 
more about the ROD "Rapid 'Ohi'a Death" 
you can click on this link:

  ROD - great photos and explanation

Rainbows and Flags Over Leilani

For those of you who have been following our blog, you already know the story. Newcomers to our blog are welcome to browse back weeks or months -- especially to know more about the fire and then Kilauea lava flow that went through Puna's Leilani Subdivision in May.

First is a photo that appeared on our local blog forum and with permission, we are including it. The "hill" you see is the cone of Fissure 8. The other day we got an email that someone had placed a Hawaiian flag on top of #8 near our property in Leilani Estates (on Luana.)


We found it interesting that this event coincided with Hawaiian Independence Day, November 28th, about which you can read below. Like many issues, there are multiple points of view, but we found this well written short article instructive -- especially if you didn't know that Hawaii HAD an Independence Day -  or WHY!

Photo taken by Aerial Visions (our friend Clive Cardozo -  Mauna Loa in background).
Everything we owned is under that mountain of lava!! 200 feet high

 Hawaiian Independence Day!!

WATCH CLIVE VIDEO BELOW!!

The flag is there with our respect for the original people of this area who called it Keahialaka.

Aerial Visions LLC VIDEO of FISSURE 8

Phil and Lunel Haysmer (former residents of Luana)

Phil's Birthday -- Juxtaposition

Photo by our fellow evacuee, The Great Clive Cardozo, Hawaii Aerial Visions LLC, Licensed Drone Pilot

What a strange life we are living!

It's Phil's Birthday this week and while he's glad to have some tools to begin making some art, the reality of this New Life is continuing to shake us to the core.

On the one hand we have an amazing geological Lava Event -- a process of destruction and creation. And in the other hand, we are attempting to re-create our own lives after the mind-blowing obliteration of our retirement/investment dream.

Phil with his new purchases (with generous donations)

First stage: Rough Cut new fish

The photo above shows where we are living. We are living about 15 miles from Luana street in Leilani Estates, where Fissure #8 (current source of all the flowing lave) is spewing huge fountains out of  what was formerly our front yard. This is the view from where we live -- taken by our friend and fellow evacuee, Clive Cardozo with his high-tech drone. The plume on the far left is from lava (flowing at 15-25 mph) into a wide swath of ocean front. The inland plume is from Fissure #8. Watch for the "Night shot" coming soon...."

Just a sample of over 25 finished Hawaiian Reef Fish  ($30 + shipping)

More on the creative side of this equation, Phil was able to buy some necessary tools through a fellow artist from One Gallery in Hilo (where Phil's art is being sold.) He is moving back to California and was selling his good quality used tools.

See Phil's Art - Click HERE

Phil has now managed to gather enough pieces of equipment and tools (also through generous gifts) to continue making his beautiful Hawaiian reef fish again -- sawdust being in his veins from  his Grandpa Dorr Scott, who was a builder and worked with wood.

(PS - Phil is not overly sure about turning 77, but since he is now living here with a 96 year old WW2 decorated bomber pilot named Walter who is teaching him TiChi, he is a bit more encouraged.)

Pretty "Biblical" huh!?! We won't be following this pillar of fire to the promised land -- that's for sure!
(Clive Cardozo, Hawaii Aerial Visions LLC, Licensed Drone Pilot)

Visitors at Luana Ohana

Not everything that happens in our lives is as exciting as a walk out to see lava pouring miles down the hillside and into the ocean (our last post.) After four and a half years, we are still discovering and delighting in retirement. By the way, the Hawaiian word LUANA (our street name) has a very rich and appropriate meaning to us especially as it relates to our retirement!

LUANA: to be at leisure, to enjoy pleasant surroundings and associates, to live in comfort and ease, to enjoy onesself.    "E luana wale ana no" (Just enjoying ourselves)

Here's a photo of our front porch, with our beautiful gong (with the symbol for water) from Many Hands Gallery in Eureka.

Next to the porch is a dense bed of tropical plants that has some flowering spiral ti plants that look like aliens!!



Along the outside wall by the porch is an ornamental flowering passion vine that is home to dozens of geckos who find curious places to artfully hang out. (One in the mouth of the 'green man' sculpture, another on the head of the goddess.)

There's no way you can effectively keep them out of the house, but they are welcome guests because they eat small spiders and other insects -- especially in the kitchen. Last is an artfully-adapted photo I took in the kitchen with gecko silhouetted from light from the window over the sink.

Haysmers Living "LUANA" Style

Puna has an official international alien landing site -- so we painted an aloha welcome sign on our roof

Aloha from the district of PUNA on the BIG ISLAND of HAWAII! We are so excited to share this post with you! We have a friend who uses his drone to video properties for both real estate agents and property owners. In fact, we used one still shot as our Christmas/New Years card.

When we talk to friends who have not visited, they often have a mental picture of white sand beaches and palm trees, but our section of the Big Island also includes large swaths of ohia forest as well as dense jungle -- and sometimes a mix of both.

All streets on the island have Hawaiian names; ours is named "Luana."

LUANA means, To be at leisure; to enjoy pleasant surroundings, to enjoy associates, and to live in comfort and ease. 

When we moved in, the house was barely completed and there was no development of the surrounding property, no grass, just red volcanic cinder. The landscaping you see in the video, we have created. None of the lava you see was "brought in" -- just an inch or so down, we dug up all raw lava to create all the terraces and walls. Soil has to be trucked in because the "land" in Puna is very young land -- lava-land. Our friend, Clive (808 494-7686) was able to capture the "feel" of our property.   Just click on the link below:  ENJOY!

VIDEO OF OUR PROPERTY

Finding Your Way on Hawaii Island

Today we had a chuckle when we drove in for my doctors appointment.  When people first move to the Big Island they can experience a learning curve when it comes to directions and street names because 99.9% of all Big Island street names are Hawaiian.  First, that means that although there are some familiar vowels, they are pronounced quite differently, A = ah, E = eh, I = ee, O = oh, U = oo, and, there are only 7 consonants:  h, k, l. m, n, p, w.

Secondly, you learn that local folk don’t refer to north, east, south and west.  This is an island, and directions are given in relation to the five volcanoes (mountains.) Mauka means toward the mountain and Makai refers means away from the mountain.  Sometimes directions are also given in relation to a village or town.  For example – Kona-side, or Hilo-side. 

So, driving in for our appointment went like this:  Leaving our house on Luana in Leilani Estates, we drove mauka (toward the mountain) past Pahoa.  Once onto Kanoelehua we turned mauka again on Kekuanaoa until we came Kilauea and then mauka to Ponahawai, turning mauka once again up to Komohana, and finally onto Pu’uhonu. Got that??    (PS Yes, we can actually pronounce them.)

Mango Table and Rainbow View

Big smile for a BIG six-foot mango slab

Well, of course there is a story about our new mango table.  And, it's a really good one to illustrate the aloha spirit as well.  During a recent storm (which was actually 1/2 a hurricane) a friend and neighbor had trees fall on her charming au-naturale tree house overlooking two acres of jungle garden.  The repairs to the structure were significant, so several friends decided to host a fund raising party for her with guests donating lovely things for an auction. 



A good friend who just completed her new hale on Luana (just a few doors away) had a remaining mango slab which she donated, and when Phil and I saw it, we knew right where it belonged -- as a bar-height table in our new lanai!  So of course we agreed to outbid anyone else, and were delighted to bring it home. 

A whole universe of swirling galaxies collide majestically on our mango table top!

Under Phil's artistry, the true beauty of the wood slowly emerged after sanding, filling holes, and killing the remaining termites (to be expected.)  He used several layers of spar varnish; the top layer was a matte finish.  We found charming wood bar stools on line that are a perfect match, and now we have yet another exceptional place to enjoy our coffee -- overlooking the northeast view of our yard.

A real photo from our yard of a real rainbow!

Historic Note:  The window behind Phil is one that used to be in his grandma's house and cast rainbows on his bed where he took a nap.

Oh!  And, the rest of the story?  The "roof raising" gala event managed to provide our friend with enough money to cover the cost of materials AND labor!   Mahalo to Karin for an opportunity to have a great party, and to Helena who donated the slab...and to Phil for his consummate skills.