Last Friday, we had 6 electricians, 2 plumbers, our contractor and his carpenter, and excavation/driveway/lawn guy at our property doing all the little touches needed to make our house move-in ready. By the end of the day, we had, for the first time, electricity and running water! Only three major items are left, along with a list of minor ones, and the construction project will officially be our new home. First, we need our final inspection. After that, propane gas for the backup generator will be delivered. Then Jeremiah Augustine, our solar contractor, will come out to do his final tweaks of the solar system. We'll be spending our first night in the house before all that happens-yes, after 11 months of construction, we're ready to move in!
There's already furniture in the house. Our state of the art alarm and video system is up and running. All systems are (almost) GO!
With my husband Robert here, we're focusing on making the gardens sing. We have a great crew from the Gaia Yoga farm, and now that my great-nephew Nick Moll is visiting, we even have him helping in the gardens, too!
The travelogue has photos from our great-nephew Nick's visit to Uncle Robert's beach near us. There is bad news from Hawaii, though. He likes it so much out here he says he's not going back to Maine, and who can blame him? It's 60 degrees warmer here, and you can actually swim in the Pacific without freezing!
You'll see it all in the quick video followed by the pictures below. Aloha!
PS-Lava update: June 27th Lava Flow Observations: HVO, along with Civil Defense, is monitoring a narrow flow lobe that branches off the west edge of the flow field below the crack system. Civil Defense reported, this morning, that the leading edge of the flow was about 1.6 km (1.0 miles) upslope from the intersection of Pāhoa Village Road and Highway 130, near the Pāhoa Marketplace. The active lobe is following a steepest-descent path that takes the flow towards the intersection of Pāhoa Village Road and Highway 130, in the vicinity of the Pāhoa Marketplace. In addition to this active lobe, a breakout from the lava tube on December 5, about 2.6 km (1.6 mi) from Puʻu ʻŌʻō remains weakly active.
Our newest visitor, she's SO cute!
Our youngest inspector...the daughter of Jeremiah Augustine, our solar guy!
Final set up of solar panels
Howard Okon visiting, chatting with Bob Kirk
David Ellis chatting with Robert
Robert with the outdoor pendant lighting and sconces about to be installed
We have over 300 orchids, there's always a bunch of them blooming!
May from Gaia helping in the garden
Oven installation
My new hat
It's nice when all the design elements come together like the sconce and the Capiz shell door do.
Master hale
The gecko moved in before we did! He's lounging in our lounge chair.
Robert and great-nephew Nick
These orchids smell like cocoa
Nick, me, starfruit from our tree, and a stellar double orchid
Nick and Robert among the coconut palm trees
Stefano among the tree ferns
Gorgeous Staghorn Fern.
Moving a LOT of mulch
Nick and Mikhail moving mulch
Nick and Robert at Uncle Robert's beach
Robert at the beach
Nick at the beach
Rope lava, so named for obvious reasons
Great-nephew Nick. First of fourteen great-nephews and nieces to visit!
When we broke ground on our new house late in January this year, our contractor Bob Kirk promised us a move-in date by Christmas, 2014. With only three weeks left to December 24, it's looking very good for us to be sleeping in our own house for the holidays! No pressure, Bob, just keep the pressure on the subs that stand between us and moving in!
The construction site was a beehive of activity yesterday. Bob and his remaining carpenter Ramon were there along with 7 guys from Zen Woodworking installing the cabinets and countertops, and the plumber came by to set up his next day's work, too. After some questions about whether the cabinets would hold everyone else up, Miles, the owner of Zen, got us back on track. You'll see how nice they all look in their not quite finished state in the photos below.
All three bathroom tiles are pretty much done, and should be completed today. I had to make a last minute decision not to use the floor tiles for the two guest room showers. The material Robert Welsch and I picked detracted from the warmth and elegance of the Italian wall tiles. We are going to have Bob Kirk do a half-inch cement pour and try to match the finish of the acid-stained cement lanai decks that he did earlier in the project for us. It's better to decide now to make the change than to live with something you don't like for a long, long time!
Remaining to be done is the final hookup and testing of the solar system and backup propane generator; plumbing including installing the toilets, faucets and other fixtures; setup and testing of the water purification system (more on that in a future blog-we're completely off grid for water and electricity) and the final electrical work. Now it's the custom-made hand distressed copper sconces and pendant lights that are late arriving from Bali. We didn't really understand that they were custom and would take this long when we ordered them from a catalogue. But they're in Honolulu on their way here to Pahoa now, and with luck, they'll arrive in time for installation by Christmas!
This evening I pick my husband Robert up at the airport. He's staying for three months and can't wait to see the progress in person.
Today's travelogue and video are photos of my latest houseguest Joe Crea's and my outing with our friend and guide Paul and his friend Joseph to visit the tidal pools, then the mermaid ponds, near us in Kapoho. The tidal pools are accessible only with permission from the owner of the private land we traversed to get to them. The owner Carl built himself a typical beach shack where he lives right by the crashing of the waves on the Kapoho shore. His property looks like a Hollywood set for an abandoned home in post-apocalyptic Earth. The natural beauty of the coast and the tidal pools and ponds is spectacular, especially in the "magic hour" for photography when we visited (right before sunset). Oh, one more thing. Note that like most places we visit in the Puna area where we live, we're the only ones there. It's rural and desolate out here-please don't tell anyone how beautiful it is or it will become like Honolulu!
Here's a link to the video in case the one above doesn't show up on your mobile device
http://tinyurl.com/tidalpoolsinWaWa
Lastly, a little bit about the "June 27 lava flow". The flow that was threatening our village of Pahoa stopped magically 170 yards above the main street. After a quiet couple of weeks, a new river of lava is barreling down the mountain. We can smell the smoke many days, and see it in the distance. The lava is about 2.3 miles above our village. It's not an immediate threat, yet, but it's headed directly toward the Malama Shopping Center as of now.
Aloha!
River of lava flowing toward Pahoa?
Kitchen and bathroom cabinets crew.
Miles Sakane, the owner of Zen Cabinetry in Hilo, on our job.
Guest shower 1 of 2 before grout goes on. After that? I am Grout!
View into master hale/bedroom and bathroom in back.
Kitchen and bathroom cabinet installation in next set of pictures.
Kitchen cabinets going in.
Granite kitchen countertop
Plumber cradling a toilet to install.
Vireya, tropical rhododendron.
Double orchid blooming on our land today, just in time to greet Robert!
Tropical azalea
Next pictures are from our visit to the tidal pools and mermaid ponds in Wawa, Hawaii.
That's the owner's beachfront shack/home in blue ahead.
Joe at the tidal pools
Mermaid ponds at sunset
Tidal pools
Say "turtling" makes them laugh every time! Joe Crea, my houseguest.
