Give Me COLOR!!

VIREYA (lots of colors)
Hawaiian Rhododendron

Ohia trees surrounded by ferns

"Give me color," she said!

Anyone who know Lunel, knows she is a color-queen!  And, now that our multiple building/construction projects are 90% completed the landscaping is moving ahead. We love our front lot which is full of beautiful ohia trees, so that landscaping area will mostly be ferns and trees.

Yes, we can grow iris!

Royal Poinciana 

However we are developing the lot our home is on which is about 1/3 -- much smaller than the fully landscape one acre we had previously in Leilani Estates B.L. (before lava)

Here are a few images of what we have in mind. All of the images are things we have planted or are in pots waiting. (Of course the photos are of fully grown trees.)

For Lunel's birthday, she asked for cuttings from friends, so many things have been in pots rooting for a few months. We thought being at 3500 feet elevation would limit what we can grow -- NOT SO!  We're amazed at how colorful our new garden will be.

These are just a few!! As the garden develops, we will include more photos! Excited to be seeing the building projects completed -- and best news of all -- escrow closing on our new home in a couple weeks.  MAHALO NUI

Angel Trumpet

Blue Ginger

of course bromeliads!

To Everything There Is A Season

One of the spacious carports -- beginning rock walls

...even for catching up our blog followers with the latest month of news. (Can't believe it's been over a month since our last blog update.)

From Ecclesiastics come the the words:
To everything there is a season...and
a time to every purpose under heaven..
a time to cast away stones, and
a time to gather stones together.

For over a year we've been "casting away stones"... from the lava/stones that changed our lives too suddenly and dramatically last year.

Now, both figuratively and literally, we are gathering stones together.

Things are moving quickly on the building projects and beginning landscaping. As our regular blog followers know, the art studio was completed many weeks ago; we are both spending happy times there.

Next came the carports: Completing both of the new carports meant also providing large spaces to work even if it is raining.

New table -- without the 3 leaves

Sheetrock done

The purchase of this house included all the furniture -- except a large dining room table. We've known what we wanted -- something solidly classic in wood, with leaves to expand space for dinner parties. We began what we expected would be a long search, but found the perfect table on our second stop!!

Work on the lanai (just off the back porch) began in earnest in September: framing in the space, exterior walls first, then windows, drywall inside, texture and painting. We have beautiful tiles for the floor and assembly has even begun on our new cedar hot tub.

Carving first on Monkeypod wood

Lanai walls textured and painted -
 Phil inspects the extra deep tub

Phil has been continuing his new art direction -- carving and painting -- similar to those we shared on our July 1st blog entry. The one pictured here is of the 'Apapane bird - an endemic Hawaiian honeycreeper who drinks the nectar from the lehua blossoms of our ohia tree forest that surrounds our home. They live in packs and their lovely songs echo in the forest. Their crimson feathers were once used to adorn capes, helmets and leis of the Hawaiian nobility.

Adding color

A time to gather stones together!!

Lunel still works on pages in her journals, but is spending more and more time in the yard; it's a whole new big canvas for her, but her approach this time will be tempered by wiser maintenance choices -- more trees and flowering shrubs -- less weeding.

One of her projects is utilizing the beautiful chunks of lava our excavator dug up for electricity and water to the art studio as well as clearing spaces for the two new carports.

During September we also sold and bought a different truck -- one day! Our contractor needed a new work truck and friends in Leilani just happened to be selling theirs. Even though we planned to eventually replace the older work truck -- we were pleasantly surprised when it all came together so easily.

Although cooler seasonal fall weather is slowing coming, we still have many bright sunny days with temperatures between 70-80 and we both are enjoying it. Nice that the lanai and hot tub will be done before winter season!
(yes, we DO have 'winter' here in Volcano, Hawaii -- at 3500 elevation)

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.

Gardening in Hawaii: Before & After (repeat) Before & After

In 2012 when we bought our retirement home in Leilani Estates there was virtually no landscaping and lots of encroaching jungle. Most of the lot was red cinder with little grass. It was a rather large canvas that we managed to turn into an amazing one-acre garden paradise...in six years. The photo below is just one of dozens of beautiful landscaped beds bordered by lava walls Lunel built.





We have been blessed to find a charming home in the little town of Volcano -- famous for its Volcanoes National Park Link to the Park, that is only four miles away. While the former owners kept the house in extremely good condition, they had little interest in landscaping.

Now, over seven years later, the challenge is no longer the fact that we have a new blank canvas, but that our bodies are also seven years older and that changes how we approach landscaping this time around.

After a few days of clearing -- oh, there's the trees!

Where are the trees??

Here, at 3500 feet elevation, there is less "jungle" and more forest, but there are still encroaching invasive plants and vines, and our lovely forest of ohia trees are suffocating with dense undergrowth that needs to be cleared out, as exampled by these two photos -- before and after clearing a small section.

Under debris -- layers of lava you cant see

With three corgi dogs, a fence is a must, particularly as we have a couple of neighborhood cat-visitors who the dogs will chase through the thick underbrush and out the other side. But getting TO the property line to install a fence is quite the feat. Here are a couple of photos of what we (together with some younger capable help) have accomplished so far.

Plants waiting: some gifts, some bought

The edges of the building are of our new studio but the photos show how many feet we have cleared from invasive plants, vines and weeds -- and some really thorny brushes. Temporary dog-fences are in place now and we can begin to imagine what we will be planting. This time around, the emphasis will be on flowering shrubs and less typical "flower beds" (our previous home had over 30 individual beds!)


These are not really "before" photos but show several weeks of hard work. The red lines show how far back we have cleared -- and the true property line is still about 12 feet, leaving a nice natural green barrier between neighboring lots. Under the debris in the photo on the left are beautiful layers of lava which we hope to feature once all the weeds, grasses and roots are cleaned out.

Good thing we are visionaries when it comes to terraforming and will keep the blog updated as we continue our landscaping improvements at Hale Le'a (House of Gladness.)  Stay tuned!

ta DAH!! The Newly Completed Art Studio

Walkway back to the studio

Phil on porch - with Monkey pod round

Front doors

To you faithful blog followers -- here's the moment we have been waiting to share with you.

Although the outside of our new art studio has been completed for a few weeks, it took time to move all of Phil's wood shop equipment inside and arrange shelves full of all of his tool collections. He has a wonderful work table that was a gift from the Macomber family who were our first host home when our home in Leilani Estates was destroyed. Our contractors also made Lunel a work table to her specs. We have installed an efficient Rinnai propane heater that will keep us cozy during Volcano Town's chilly winters.

Here's a photo tour of our new studio on the back of the lot, about 100 feet from the house (same colors, just inverted with some darker accent colors.)

Phil's sitting on the deck in a wicker bench we bought at a garage sale down the street. The amazing tree round is from a giant Monkey pod tree Lunel bought as a gift for Phil which he sanded and varnished. It is over seven feet tall -- and took three contractors to secure it in place at the left entrance to Phil's amazing shop.

Typical Monkey pod tree

Our two spaces are divided not only because of the sawdust, but Phil prefers listening to NPR while Lunel loves singing along to classic rock-n-roll.

Below is a photo taken from Lunel's work table with Phil sitting on the yellow fold-out sleeper. The other is the back wall featuring a 100-year old hand made Tibetan chest and a Thangka of Green Tara.

Single door separates our work space

Views out all the windows are of ohia forest, banana trees and a back yard that will eventually be fully landscaped -- a project that is in process currently -- during this beautiful summer.

Now we can spend time in the studio while our amazing contractors continue to finish up the lanai that will include a new cedar hot tub.

Holy Holes!!

Lunel's WISH HOLES

Now that we are settling into our new home in Volcano, and the art studio is complete, we can turn some of our attention to the landscaping. In our previous life (BL before lava) WE dug holes, WE broke up lava, WE built walls -- with pick axes and heavy steel o'o bar, literally moving hundreds of pounds to create beds for our beautiful garden in Leilani Estates.



That was nearly eight years ago, and honestly, neither of us has the heart (or body) to begin that process all over again. This time around, there will be less "flower beds" to weed, and more flowering shrubs and trees. I decided to lay out a plan for what I called my "wish holes."  ?? "Wish holes??

Remember we live on an island made of LAVA!  So, when you start digging down -- you don't know what is just below the surface. If it is hard lava -- you have to find a new spot. So above is my funny drawing of  "wish holes."  Lucky for us we've moved into a neighborhood full of capable professionals, like our contractors! We hired one excavator to come and dig holes for shrubs and trees -- now the yard looks like a scene from Jurassic Park!

One of two new carports 

Now that the studio is done, work has begun on one carport and da-DAH the new lanai where our hot tub will be -- just outside our back door!

We keep meeting new neighbors on our street. We went to a garage sale on our block where Phil bought a couple of steel tool drawers -- and met a young man who can help regularly with some of the yard work.

Starting over from nothing has been hard on every level -- we continue to be thankful for each new day, for all the blessings that have come our way!

Illegal Aliens! (in cages?!)** OK, bad pun!

Michel (with 3 'horns' -- and Janet Jacksons

After our home was destroyed (by fire and then lava)  back in May of last year, we were grateful to find two temporary living situations. While living in our second temporary home on the 6-acre farm we found out there is a population of green illegal aliens -- living right here in Volcano!

It appears that a pet store owner on Oahu in 1972 got a permit to import them from East Africa, but since that time with numerous escapees, their population has grown and they are now considered a pest with prohibitions on raising them to sell or transport between islands.

At the farm the local cats found them entertaining and would bring them inside to play with. We helped rescue a few, and decided they would make fun (caged) pets. Here's a photo of Michael and Janet Jacksons -- because they are "Jacksons Chameleons" -- Trioceros Jacksonii.

They live up to 10 years and grow about 13 inches long. It's hard to tell how old these two are, but they are obviously mature. This last week we have been watching their slow-motion courtship. We do NOT plan to incubate eggs when she lays them because we don't want to contribute to the population as they compete for insects in the native forests.

So, now our weekly grocery/shopping list includes buying crickets which they each eat every day. And, speaking of weekly lists -- here's a sample of what a "Hilo Day" typically looks like. Of this overwhelming list of 15 stops, we only we able to get 12 done -- but we at least managed to stop for the Jacksons' crickets and for us --  a tasty take-home dinner.

FINALLY!!!  We are moving into our newly completed art studio. Today we began to schlep boxes of tools and supplies from the temporary "shop" where Phil has been working with his wood art. We will be posting photos of the inside and outside very soon.

** Of course the use of 'cages' is a hot topic -- no offense or inference intended, just a bad pun. 

Haysmers' New Art

Poliahu

During the past year as artists the creative process has been an absolutely essential tool for dealing with our loss and grief. The day after Lunel came out of a coma and was released from the hospital Phil helped her by a few art supplies so she could begin a new journal.

With some of the go-fund-me money gifts, Phil immediately bought wood-working tools. Neither of us stopped creating; we found our emotions were channeled into the healing process of making art -- particularly in response to the enormous loss of our retirement home and 99% of the contents (including our art and art collections.)

Ai La'au  (Forest Eater)

"Moving Through Fear"

During July the Wailoa Center in Hilo, together with Hawaii Island Art Alliance (HIAA) is hosting an exhibit for artists' work specifically related to last year's Kilauea's lava eruption. During this time Lunel has created three journals full of art -- over 400 images in about 400 days; some of these images have been shared in previous blog entries; she has been asked to offer a class in July to share her unique process of  using images combined with quotes, drawings and poems.

Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.  Thomas Merton

This last year Phil has been experimenting with his latest tool -- a Japanese carving tool, and with it -- he has created four new bas-relief pieces. Three are directly related to the Hawaiian mythological characters, including Pele, Poliahu (Pele's snow sister) and Ai La'au who was the personage living in Kilauea crater before the arrival of Pele to the Big Island. 

"Deep Water Challenge"

Pele

His last image while more ocean-related still addresses the unusual "voyage" we have made in our lives this last year. The vessel is a traditional Polynesian sailing vessel "Wa-a."

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!