Two Weeks in Maui

Happy Camp.  A nine foot tall fir carved into a forestry firewoman based on Veronica Rasmussen, who had spent 23 years working for the Forestry Service.  Over the years Veronica has been a heli-rappeller, engine operator, brush disposal crew member, and a patrol captain.  I've decided to spend one hour a day as a volunteer carving sculpture for the town of Happy Camp, weather permitting.  

On March 7th I took off for a two week work exchange on Maui, where my good friends Fran and Patti now live.  They had just had a lot of work done on their house and needed help putting everything back together again.  I've done this for them before and my offering to photograph the house and put the photos up on a blog for them sealed the deal. I got an all expense paid, including airfare, room and board, trip with gourmet organic meals and a quiet beautiful ambiance included.  It worked - getting away always helps me to heal.  Things that made me angry before I just don't care about now.  I've got other things to do.

Below is the shrine I made for Fran and Patti.  They collect my art so I like to make things for them.  The hula ashtray was a crushed lava tourist piece from the 50's - the crow and the wren are their nicknames for each other.  May they have many happy days in Maui.

Below, some of my pictures of the property.  Patti's art hut is behind the fish pond.

Below, the back of the house.

Every fruit tree you can think of.  Below is one of 6 avocado trees and a bunch of bananas trees.

Below is Attila.  Being city girls, Fran and Patti originally called him Attila the Hen until a worker informed them it was a rooster.  He showed up with another rooster and after a big hurricane only a bedraggled Attila survived.  They fed him and brought him back and then one day Adonis showed up.  Pigs and chickens run wild all over the island.  The property is fenced because of the pigs.  The chickens just hop over the fence.  Fran jokes about living in a gated community all by themselves.

Mike, below, is the third partner in the Maui venture.  All old friends, they have decided to support each other and share the experience.

Fran and Patti are artists. The piece below is Fran's.  Fran and I originally met at a Cleveland Bead Society meeting 20 years ago and have been friends ever since.  Before she moved to California I helped her organize her house for the move and have photographed her houses ever since.

The front door.

Fran put in the square slabs and I love the look.

The front of the house from the gate.  To the right is Mike's house. The houses are connected by covered decks.

The sunsets were colorful.

The front entrance.

People are always visiting.  Below is Diana, an old friend of Mike and Patti's.  

When I finally left, all the boxes in the middle of the floor had been emptied and everything in its place.  We went from a mountain to a mole hill.

The guest room where I stayed.

Fran's glass studio.  A bead artist, she introduced Diana and me to fusing glass in her kiln.  Below are some of our pieces.

I managed to lose the piece I made above so Fran let me make the two pieces below.  I cemented the top one to the back of an OM pin and intend to make a nice necklace with it.

Fran has been making house numbers for her friends.

Patti, below, made the sculpture of her mother.  I think they look just like each other.  She had it cast into bronze.

Patti's Art Hut and sometimes guest studio.

Mike learned how to grow plants out of coconut husks and they eventually attach themselves to the tree they are hung on and the husks drop away.

Diana sprained her knee and ankle, so had to do some therapy to bring down the swelling.

I carved this statue of Mike's mother as a girl for him over 10 years ago. He brought it to Maui.

Mike's front door.  He has so much stuff he hasn't been able to unpack everything.

Mike at the pond, contemplating algae.

The local farmer's market

I think this was called Pig Beach -  a weird beach.

St. Patrick's day at the Dunes Country Club for dinner.  Only photo I'm in because the waitress offered to take our picture.

Aloha!