Hawaii, Hermosa Beach and a Mendocino Mountain Top

I hike down the mountain every morning to this spot, then hike back up again. Since I still don't know where to settle I'm settling here with my friends in Mendocino for as along as it takes for me to figure out what the heck I should do, where I should go. My cabin used to be Laura's office but has been turned into rustic guest accommodations. This will be the second time in five years I've lived here. Laura's animals like me and they are getting to be very old. Laura wants me to look after them when she travels. It was Laura who taught me about photographing flowers. I've set up a work area in my cabin and have been carving a mahogany book cover. What I love about this cabin is that if I wake up in the middle of the night, I can carve if I feel like it. I spent the whole last year looking for sharing situations so I wouldn't have to be alone all the time. Now I'm finding out that I really need my own space, but I need to find people to hang with during the day. Laura and I share a meal every day. I've only been here a week but the weather has been warm and sunny, before that they'd had rain and snow. I'm meant to be here.
Above is my cabin and below is my desk and the view from my window of a madrone grove. This is where I wrote my first book and intend to write my third book.


Janice, below, is the best tour guide. She always takes me places I've never been before. Whenever I visit we take her coffee can of coins to the supermarket and put them in a machine that counts them. This year the leaden mass turned into $144. This was our mad money - meals out at restaurants, movies and parking. She drove me down to San Pedro along the coast one week after the tsunami in Japan. I kept thinking, why are we hanging out along the coast?, but it was beautiful. She took me to see the Korean Friendship bell, then we stopped at White Beach where they have rocks riddled with holes. I found two small rocks with holes perfect for making into pendants for necklaces. I spent two weeks in Hermosa then Janice drove me up to Mendocino, after a short stop in Santa Cruz to see Fran and Patti. It all worked out amazingly perfect, especially because I'd bought a lot of books (60 books from the Hermosa Beach Friends of the Library Bookshop for $15.) I also bought a ton of hardwood to make a new series of my books: oak, black walnut, mahogany, and beach. Janice and I are into tools and she encouraged me to buy a router, which I'm now using on my first book cover.




The night before I left Maui the big earthquake hit Japan. The next morning Hawaiian Airlines announced that all of their flights were canceled - luckily my flight was on Alaska Airlines and took off as scheduled. Their hub was in Portland where I switched planes - to exactly the same plane and only one row off of my previous seat - and landed at LAX around 11:30. Every time I fly I swear I'll never do it again, well, until next time. The next morning Janice took me out for breakfast at Scotty's on the beach using our mad money, then to the Hermosa Beach St. Patrick's Day parade.

I hadn't seen my Aunt June (below - she'll be 88 soon) and cousin Ron for many years. Ron and Lynn invited us over to their place in San Juan Capistrano and we ended up having a great time. They constantly travel - I'm not the only wanderer in the family. We spent hours talking, then they took us out for a Chinese dinner and brought us home to teach us how to use their new Wii game. We had good fun.

Below are a few more shots from Hawaii. The bowl with flowers are from the plumeria (frangipani) trees found everywhere in Hawaii, filling the air with their powerful scent.

One of Deb's orchids, below.

The weekend before I left, Maha and Deborah took me to a wine tasting event (really delicious wine made from pineapples), then drove me down the coast where a massive lava field was created in an eruption in 1820.

Oh heck, I forget the name of the island.




Before I left for Hawaii my friend Janet told me to watch out for the deep crevices that are found all over the Hawaiian islands. These crevices, created from old lava flows, are very deep and usually filled with trees and other growth. Evidently there are cases where people went hiking and left the trail to never return again, falling hundreds of feet to their death. In back of Deborah's house was one of those crevices. In the photo below you can see the tops of some trees. They are dangerous also because they can fill with water in a storm and flash flood. It seemed to me like a lost country, hidden away, littered with bodies and dinasaurs (why not?).


The girls sitting on the Monster Tree, their name for the tree because it snakes along the ground long enough to provide a bench for three kids before bending up with its many eyes looking at you.


Pucalani, where Deborah lived, means hole in the heavens because it rarely rains on this part of Maui, but when it rained, it really rained.

Ram Dass, new friends, Saturday markets, and kids on Maui

When I heard that Ram Dass was going to speak at a Sunday afternoon spiritual get-together where a buffet of Indian food was part of the deal (suggested $20.00 donation), I knew I had to go. Ram Dass, in the center, has had a stroke but was still able to tell us about his life and meeting Timothy Leary. I'd forgotten that he was a friend of Mr. Leary. Years ago I met Timothy Leary in Los Angeles when I took a workshop he was giving. Later, a writer friend hired me to take his photograph for an article she'd written about him and I had to go to his home for the shoot. Below are some photos I shot Sunday. A funny story, I had no way to get home except the bus, but it was over an hour wait so I decided to hitch hike to Makawao. Three cars passed me and I was losing my nerve when a fourth vehicle pulled over. Kathryn turned out to be a Waldorf teacher - I only seem to meet Waldorf teachers here, it's so weird. She ended up taking me all the way home and met Deborah (a Waldorf teacher) for the first time. Small world but they hadn't met until now. Another coincidence is that Kathryn recommended Deb's pre-school to a friend with a three year old and that friend just called as I was typing this.







I haven't had time to be creative but I used a bit of left over, junk wood to make another "Facebook", this time using Lobo, my dog friend here, as my model.

Maha had her birthday on the 22nd so I made her a special manifestation necklace. I spent the day at a beach looking for a special piece of coral. When I found the piece that looked exactly like a heart I knew I'd gotten what I needed. I added crystal beads to make it a one of a kind necklace. Below, Maha had some of her friends over for a birthday party where we ate good food.



Every Saturday we go to the Saturday market where we can get organic produce. They sell giant avocados and grapefruit, macadamia nuts, strange looking flowers and lots of things I don't recognize.








A day at the beach in Paia.

I met Adele, below, while we were waiting for the bus. When I saw her violin case I asked her if she would play for me - and she did. A wonderful way to say goodbye to the beach. We sat beside each other on the way to the next stop, which was the airport. Adele had come to Maui to play for an event, then had stayed on with friends. She owns a home on the big island of Hawaii, about 12 miles away from the lava flows. We discovered that we both had been system analysts in Southern California. So many coincidences. One of the best things about traveling is the instant friendships that materialize along the way. She got off at the airport to fly back to the big island, while I waited for the next bus to take me home.

More shots of the kids. I spend four days a week with them so it's hard not to photograph them. From time to time they insist on climbing a small tree in the back yard. I decided to teach them how to climb safely and hold on. They are surprisingly strong. Below are some pictures of my "Monkeys".





My contribution artistically is a pair of "outdoor" horses the kids can ride, below. They've been road tested by some of them all ready.




More photos of the kids using the magnifying lens they play with.




While waiting in the car for Deb I was able to shoot a self portrait using the vanity mirror on the sun shield.

Beautiful sunsets guaranteed almost every night.

Aloha from Hawaii

Above, Deborah, shortly after she picked me up from the airport.

I shot this photo the day we decided to go to the top of Haelakala, the big volcano on Maui. We went up with Deb's friend Maha to have a manifestation ceremony on the new moon. I made Maha stop as soon as we got above the clouds.

At the very top the crater was spectacular, like standing on the moon.







Below, Deb with her new acquaintance, Baby.

Below, Iao's Needle and surrounding park.









Below are a few of the photo's I shot of Deb's pre-school. Deb is a Waldorf teacher, based on the teachings of Rudolf Steiner. Whenever she wants the kids to do things (clean up, wash your hands for lunch, etc.) she sings "clean up, clean up" or "wash hands wash hands" and they jump to do what she wants. No plastic toys are allowed, only things that are made of natural substances. At snack time she feeds them brown rice or millet or fruit and the kids love it. She only speaks to them is a soft, calm voice and they really respond to it. I've learned a lot from watching her.

























Below, the kids love the organic garden because they're allowed to eat the strawberries, carrots and beans whenever they want.











Last, but not least, a sunset from Deb's yard.