January 31, 2012

I'm having a tough time laying out this blog. It's difficult to get the text to relate properly to the photograph so I think I'll alternate written parts with images in separate posts. Sure wish it worked like facebook - so much easier. I think I've gotten the hang of it now though. Also didn't realize that to follow the blog you must set up your own account at blogger.com too. I'm sure there must be other simpler blog sites out there, but now I'm committed so will stick with it. Thanks for looking in!

Over the weekend Ferd and I visited the local big box stores to grocery shop and somewhat outfit our temporary home. Our visit to the downtown Honolulu Wal Mart on Saturday afternoon was a horrendous experience but, once done, no need to ever go back there again. Driving around in the little 2003 Sebring convertible that Ferd bought, top down, sun shining, through Waikiki and around Diamond Head, all made up for the shopping nightmare. Most of our groceries will come from the local Time Supermarket and Whole Foods at the Kahala Mall. Last night Ferd prepared calamari and I chopped up a big vegetable salad. Asian pear for dessert. Things are really expensive. I had thought that the savings at not having to buy so much hand and body lotion might help balance out the grocery budget, but not quite.

We've continued to walk to the bus stop every morning - Ferd crosses the street to catch the bus and I turn left into the mall to pick up something we need or something special for dinner that night. Last week I walked all around the mall and found the movie theater, so we went to see 'The Descendants', a George Clooney movie set in Hawaii. It has beautiful scenery and captures the howlie lifestyle on the islands. Later we learned that the young woman architecture student, Jamie Emberson, who care takes this property and lives in the attached apartment, is from Kaua'i and that a friend of her family wrote the book upon which the movie is based. She said the family in the movie is modeled upon a composite of her own family and others on the island. Amazing! The movie is worth seeing for the scenery and George Clooney's baffled puzzlement at what's going on all around him.

Last week I also mustered the courage to drive the car to the University to attend a party that Clark held to celebrate Ferd's becoming an AIA Fellow. Traffic is scary but the aloha spirit pervades and no one even honked at me, driving below the limit and squinting at street signs. It was fun to meet some of Ferd's colleagues and his 8 graduate students. His students presented him with a beautiful lei, the traditional celebratory gesture, in honor of his being a Fellow. I left the room when he exclaimed "It's about time I got laid".

Spent the afternoon today going over the Lonely Planet book on Hawaii. (Thanks Ben! What a great Christmas gift!) Have mapped out the hikes we'll be taking. Tomorrow I plan to walk to Waikiki and back along the beach. Someone said that I may have to swim around the cliffs at Diamond Head but I see there is a road so don't think that will be necessary. There are numerous botanical gardens that I've noted to visit when Popie, Steve and Alice join us here.

Charlot House Interiors & Kahala Neighborhood

A mug on the mug. Charlot woodcut.

This is Jean Charlot's coffin sitting under the open stair. It was recently delivered to the house. His body is not inside and we don't know why it was not used. It's made of beautiful wood and, fortunately, doesn't look too coffin-like.

Curved plaster wall at the entry

Moody Chimenea

Living Room mural by Jean Charlot

Living Room opens to side patio.

Living Room opens to back patio.

Entry hall

This is the apartment building where we might have been able to get a one-bedroom apartment, if this house hadn't been made available. (Thank you Clark!)

Kahala Mall where there is a bust of Jack Lord, who played Steve McGarret on the version of Hawaii Five-0 that ran 1968 - 1980. He lived in the Kahala area and the local people are very proud of him. His bust has recently been honored with leis and other indications of homage. He died in the late 1990s.

Charlot House and Canal

Ferd at dining table doing what he does best.

Driveway off Kahala Ave past two other houses. Golf course on the right and canal curves at the back.

January 27, 2012

This is my third day in Hawaii and I just want to say hello to all and let you know I made it across the Pacific.  The first day was very surreal.  After little sleep the night before leaving and almost no sleep the night I arrived, I wandered around the house with no ability to focus, take a nap or make a decision about whether to stay upstairs or downstairs.  Through a headache and fog it registered that this is a most wonderful house.  How very lucky Ferd and I are to be able to live in this gorgeous home for the next three months.  It also registered that there was an awful lot of dust and dirt everywhere.  Apparently the Univ of Hawaii has limited funds for its upkeep.  Eventually I was able to unpack my suitcases and start making improvements on the bedroom.  It felt incredibly much better and I was able to take a little nap to humanize myself for Ferd's return from work at about 6pm.

Yesterday I felt much more human.  Went with Ferd on his one mile walk to the bus station, which is across Waialea Ave from the Kahala Mall.  Even though the walk is along busy Kealaolu Ave, the beauty of the Bougainvillea and Hibiscus that line the golf course on one side and all the other foliage that fills the yards of the homes on the other side had my eyes popping!  The temperature has ranged from 65 degrees at night (very pleasant sleeping) to almost 80 degrees during the day - today is a high of 76.  Made a visit to the mall, which was reassuring.  In the morning it is filled with older Asian couples or groups of women doing their morning walks.  People were generally smiling and friendly and the mall could be anywhere in the US, although the dominant language overheard was Japanese or Chinese.  There is even a Macy's.  (So Rilla, if you are not going to use the coupons, could you send them to me at 4956 Kahala Ave, Honolulu, HI 96816?  If you can use them, please do, but Ferd said he needs two more Hawaiian shirts to get through a week without having to do laundry.)

I walked home on a more indirect route through the residential neighborhood and passed young parents walking their children to the neighborhood elementary school while gawking at the small yards chock full of palms, plumeria trees and tropical plants.  Soon I'll take my camera along and be able to post some photos.  Got back to the house, which has a name - The Charlot House.  It was built in the 1950's for an artist named Jean Charlot (pronounced Charloh).  There are mugs in the kitchen, which at first I thought were hideous until I read the fine print telling me that they are made from a woodcut by the artist himself.  Oops...  He was born in Paris (1898) and worked in Mexico on murals as Diego Rivera's assistant.  You can see Rivera's influence in his work.  He taught at various schools around the US and came to the Univ of Hawaii later in his life and retired as a senior professor in 1966.  There are local examples of his works that I hope to get around to seeing since the cup reproduction doesn't seem to be a good basis upon which to judge.  A few samples on wikipedia:   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Charlot 

The house was designed for him in the 1950s by a local architect, whom Ferd met at a School of Architecture function before I arrived.  He is fairly elderly and Ferd couldn't remember his name.  (As Ferd is also soon to be fairly elderly.)  I hope to be able to meet him and tell him how wonderful this house is.  It has a very intimate two story dining room with a table that cantilevers into the room, shoots through a glass window out onto the patio, where it also cantilevers.  I'm sitting at this table right now on the dining room side looking through the window across a small grassy lawn to a canal.  My view is framed by a low spreading tree with palm-like foliage on the right and a tropical tree with gnarly trunks and broad leaves on the left.  Yesterday I watched a heron fly in and perch on a bush across the canal.   I love sitting here, the space feels so comfortable and everywhere I look my eyes are pleased.  There are three patios too - so lots of choices as to where to sit and enjoy the tropical atmosphere.  Because of the design, there is not much difference between being inside or outside the house.  While home, all the doors are flung open and the sounds of birds are everywhere (along with a few leaf blowers and an occasional golf course maintenance truck).

The two story living room has glass walls on three sides and to the south looks onto the golf course.  It's floor is large sealed light rust colored concrete pavers and the rest of the first floor is concrete - stained black in the entry, red in the kitchen and brown in the guest room.  Walls are 4" x 12" cmu, exposed on the interior, some interior plaster walls but mostly wood paneling.

So through all the dirt and grime, it is a perfect place to be.  I already anticipate that it will be hard to leave here in April.  Yesterday was spent cleaning all day but there is much more for an obsessive compulsive person to do so I'm gearing myself up for another day of vacuuming and dusting.  But I have been to the beach!  It is beautiful - a little park and beach just one block from the house.  The big waves break far out at the reef.  The jungle-like greenery comes down close to the water on each side but there is a strip of sand between the jungle and the gently lapping waves.  As soon as the house is clean, I'll take my walk up the sandy strip southwest the 1 1/2 mile to Waikiki Beach or 1/4 mile north to the Kahala Hotel and Resort.  All the beaches in Hawaii are public - even the ones in front of the fancy hotels, so I can go mix with the gorgeous rich uppercrust if I want to.  Or I can lounge in this soon-to-be-clean shangrila of a house.

On another note, Ferd just telephoned from the University to let me know that he has been elected to The College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects!  A great honor.   There is only one other FAIA in the state of Montana.  We spent many many hours last spring on his application (he, compiling and writing and me, formatting into InDesign).  This seemed to be the final career hoop for Ferd to jump through and now it is a shining crown to his long career as an architect and educator.  I am so happy for him.  He sounded a bit happy too.  So he will be traveling to Washington DC to receive this award on May 17th and he is worried about needing a tuxedo.  (Ferd in a tuxedo!)

Not to worry.  This is the longest accounting I will write.  From here on out, this blog will consist mostly of photographs.  Hopefully, each will be worth 1,000 words so I can write a lot less.