Mary & Jim's Paradise

Flowers abound--in colors so vibrant they make neon pale in comparison.



Jim and Mary met us at the airport with leis.  From there we drove to their house, about 10 miles south of Hilo and on the far east tip of the Island.  We were close enough to the ocean we could hear the waves crashing on the shore.



It took us every bit of five minutes after arrival to get into that very relaxed 'Island Mode'....



And Mary's balcony off the upper floor living room was the perfect spot to mellow out.



Jim is a very fine builder as you can see from their lovely two-story home that he built.
Note the tapestry on the far wall....



It is a remarkable weaving they purchased last year on a trip to Peru.



 The upper floor has living room, kitchen, master bedroom and bath...
while the ground floor has two more bedrooms and another bath.



There is a full balcony off the living room that looks out toward one of the 14,000 foot volcanoes (I forget which one this is--on a clear day one can see two volcanoes).  They have several acres of land (volcanic rock) covered with lush vegetation that provides great privacy.

 

And everything grows!      

 


Their back yard is filled with fruit trees, flowers and....



a catchment tank they are converting to a swimming pool.  Jim has begun building a deck to surround the pool.

 

Did I mention privacy? Darn those pesky sisters and their cameras.

            

Boy Kitty      and      Girl Kitty



These are right from the back yard...

And so are the papayas.  We had fresh ones each morning.  Sorry about the crooked picture, just lean your head to the right.  The orchids were a gift from Marianna--a fellow blogger (Hattie's Web) that I got to meet face to face for the first time.

The arbor in the back yard was filled with speckled butter beans,

Which I eagerly picked and Aunt Louise shelled.

There is nothing I believe so good as the fruits and vegetables you grow yourself.



Did I mention lush?  Jim gave me a tour of the part of the property they still have not cleared....



It is total jungle with beautiful plants and flowers growing wild.



And smack in the middle of all this vegetation is a very large lava tube that has collapsed. One more reminder of how this island was made.

Jim took us down to the shore just a few blocks away and the, not-very-old lava gave me pause.



There is no sand, and no dirt in this area, just lava rock.  The soil Jim and Mary are growing their fruits and vegetables in is from the 1/2 dozen cooking composters they have throughout the yard.

 

And there is no guarantee that one of those fire-breathing volcanoes won't belch out more molten lava that could march right down to the sea,



and cover everything up again.



You can almost feel the heat.



In my last post I promised to tell you how Mary broke her knee.  Do you see the papaya tree in the picture above?  How about the ladder?  Yep, she was up there trying to snare one of those ripe melons when the ladder shifted.  Did I mention the privacy factor?  She had to holler until she was hoarse before her nearest neighbor heard her (as he was preparing to drive away for the rest of the day).  She now refuses to eat any more papayas from that tree.  But they were Aunt Louise's favorites.  Too bad that tree is going to end up in one of those composters very soon.