May Day, Lei Dey, May Remembring

 In May we celebrate our meeting for the first time in Santa Cruz in 1986, as well as our wedding anniversary. This year marks 38 years together.  The other anniversary we recall was the fire that took our home in 2018 and the year we spent being homeless while seeking legal help in handling the denial of our insurance claim. While we did, eventually, receive insurance funds and did relocate to a new home a year later, memories and emotions still surface. This year I created a collage that depicts the feeling of vulnerability and "nakedness" of losing everything, dealing with traumatic medical issues, learning about and living with PTSD and the lowest point in our lives. We were left with "empty bowls" and later had the chance to re-fill them though the many acts of kindness of friends, neighbors and the amazing support of our D9 team of lawyers. 

ANNIVERSARIES 10-20-30

 

In Living Color!

What a busy month! We've received a few emails checking in on us since we have not created a new blog entry lately -- so here's the scoop!  We've been busy!

Work on the art studio is progressing very well, sheet rock going up this week, railings will be done, and beautiful "Lehua Doors" will be going up soon too.

Lehua Blossom (Lay HU ah)

OK, you say, what are "Lehua Doors" -- well early this year we were surprised by the COLOR of the ohia blossoms as they were such a deep orange/red and were visible from every window in the house.



Phil is making art out of left over scraps of wood from the building project, and has just finished one of Poliahu -- one of Pele's sisters who is associated with the snow on the volcanoes.

Lunel continues to work in her art journals filled with drawings, illustrations, poems
and quotes. She continues to learn about and work with the effects of on-going PTSD symptoms. Working in a densely packed 4' space for over a year, she's thrilled to know the new art studio will be completed soon.

About the knees, since friends are asking: The plan, for now, is prolotherapy injections that admittedly may or may not work. The MRI images for both knees were graphic and depressingly honest, so surgery may be an eventuality. After the year we have been through, it is understandable that another 6-month "recovery" would not be anyone's first choice.

Designing a new lanai (again) that will be adjacent to the house -- when what we had was so beautiful is a challenge, especially remembering all the amazing art that we had placed so strategically.

Phil is getting bids on installing whole-house solar which will include the latest Tesla storage batteries.

Giant Rhubarb

Younger selves in Santa Cruz CA

Lunel is getting information on replacing the wonderful cedar hot tub that we both will be glad to have again.

And then there's Rhubarb for one of Phil's favorite treats -- grows amazing here at 3500 in Volcano

Both of us have experienced a slowing-down we have to acknowledge and honor. The last year of various kinds of trauma and recovery has taken its toll, and although we are enjoying our new home,  it is still NEW as are all the things we are slowly replacing from wedding rings to underwear, from books to art -- as we also acclimate to new cooler weather, new neighborhood and new colorful opportunities.

This week we also celebrated our 33rd anniversary -- goodness 1986 seems like a LONG time ago -- we were a LOT younger!

30 Years at High Noon

Us -- then.

His ad in the personals column said he wanted a “woman who would inspire his creativity and he hers…and who was ready for the love of a lifetime." In her journal she wrote “this is a man I could spend the rest of my life with.”   That was 30 years ago!  On May 18^th we celebrated that auspicious first meeting in Santa Cruz. 

May 18^th was marked by another auspicious event here on the Big Island of Hawaii. Called “Lahina Noon,” this phenomenon is evident only in the tropics when the sun passes directly overhead and when no shadows are visible.  Because the islands are not exactly at the equator, this happens twice…once before and once after the summer solstice.  At our beautiful Imiloa Astronomy center in Hilo, the atrium window directly over this beautiful tile mosaic causes the pie shaped shadows to fall directly on the center of the design. Imiloa Astronomy Center

We celebrated with a lovely dinner on the lanai of a favorite local restaurant that featured views of BOTH Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa followed by a lively evening of live blues music by Sugar Ray & the Bluetones ***.  I decided to create an art piece for our anniversary using 15 of Phil’s hand carved koa fish that now hangs above the hot tub on our lanai.

Us - now.

So, 30 years later, we show the same wear and tear as everyone else in our age group.  We are thankful that Phil's suit coat is no longer required, and that Lunel's wedding dress featured an elastic waistband.  All in all, life is good and we feel truly blessed and grateful for 30 years we have spent together.

*** Locals!! If you don't know about Lazar Bear Productions -- check out this website!  Lazar Bear Productions