The Beech Called "Beach" - An Aviation Story

Being pilots and sometime aviation buffs, interesting facts grab our attention from time to time.  Being the proud papas of a Beechcraft Bonanza B36TC, anything ‘Beechcraft’ or Bonanza is of particular interest.  When we started looking for the ‘step up’ plane shortly after we closed the deal on our first plane, a trusty Piper Archer, 11 years ago…we identified the Bonanza as a real candidate for the next plane. Moving up is all a part of the aviation lifestyle.

Long story short, we felt that the Beechcraft Bonanza, the longest most successful production plane in aviation history, was the right one for us.  Its sleek design, high speed performance, reliability, and payload all spoke to our needs for a flying SUV.  How many times have we stuffed lamps and furniture in the backseats, brought a whole dinner party of utensils and food from one location to another….really utilitarian.

One interesting fact is that early in the production of this airplane, that began in 1947, a test pilot refitted a Bonanza and flew it non-stop from Honolulu to the West Coast of California.  Proving its long range characteristics and sturdy construction.  Aptly named ‘Waikiki Beach’’   William Odom flew the original V tail Bonanza in the first record setting light aircraft flight from Hawaii to the mainland.  With out penchant for period Hawaiian architecture and style (link to homes), this is of particular interest. 

A second record setting flight from Honolulu to Teterboro, New Jersey was flown by the ‘Waikiki Beach’ two months after the first transpacific flight.  The ‘Waikiki Beach’ now lives at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C., a well earned tribute to a remarkable aircraft and one that is near and dear to us personally….

Airbus A380: Luxury Travel - Compare Cabin Designs

Compare the Cabin Designs of the New A380 between Emirates Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Air France and Qantas in this LA Times Article.

Use Apple iPhoto or Blurb.com to Make a Great Gift!

Making a photo journalistic book of an experience that you shared with your family and friends can make a wonderful surprise gift, especially, if you can create something beautiful that will become a "coffee table" book, at least for a while. A photographer friend of ours turned us on a the idea of personal publishing a couple of years ago. Mostly we have used Apple's iphoto, to create and order the books we make. Currently though, we are using a platform created by Blurb.com, BookSmart. I'm loving the flexibility of this platform  as it allows me to customize any template or create my own. The book we are creating now is unique in that we have taken the photographs taken by our two good friends, their teenage and adult children as well as another couple, nine in all, and are creating a photographic journal of an Alaskan Adventure we all went on together. We are using a selection of EVERYONE'S photographs that were uploaded to the same website. This way everyone on the trip will feel like they participated in the creation of the book. 

We're trying to decide between these to photos for the Cover of the Book. Both evoke the spirit  of the unique adventure we experienced with our good friends. A quiet awesomeness.

Gregg and I have published a number of books via "on demand publishing" (for the general public) platforms.  We have done this mostly for marketing purposes for our real estate projects. On demand publishing allows us to select photographs that best describe our projects and provides us with a well designed  format to describe the projects and present them in a compelling and beautiful manner. If you haven't tried this type of presentation for your creative endeavors, give it go. It's a terrific outlet especially if you have an aptitude for creating visually beautiful compositions. 

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Holiday Gift Idea: The Most Beautiful Villages and Towns of the Southwest

Two wonderful books by Joan Tapper with Photographs by Nik Wheeler.  If you love travel, design and great photography these books are a visual travel adventure and make great coffee table books!  

The Most Beautiful Villages and Towns of the Southwest at Amazon

"From pueblos to Victorian storefronts to ski resorts: a vision of the southwest that evokes both America's frontier heritage and the expansive vistas of its future" Nik Wheeler's photo essays include Route 66, Native American Culture, The Southwest and the Movies. From Thames & Hudson.

The Most Beautiful Villages and Towns of California at Amazon

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Adventure & Environment - Have Fun and Teach the Keiki

Eia Mākou Mālama Maunalua

Eia mākou Mālama Maunalua! (We are Mālama Maunalua)

People of the ‘āina and ocean, those who dwell and care for beloved Maunalua

In the Kona district of O’ahu of Ali’i Kākuhihewa

Maunalua, where the ‘iwa flies above the clouds

‘Elepaio (native flycatcher) chatter and flutter among the koa

The twin feathers of the ‘auku’u (Black-crowned night heron) are tossed by the beach wind

And the schools of ‘ama’ama (mullet) swim below

From Kawaihoa (Portlock Point) where Kāne brought forth life-giving water

To the crashing waves of Kūpikipiki’ō (Black Point)

Kuamo’o-o-Kāne’apua (Koko Head) and Kohelepelepe (Koko Crater) are majestic

Maunalua extends to the cliffs of Pu’u-o-Kona (of Kuli’ou’ou) and Pu’u Lanipō (of Wai’ālae Nui)

To the reefs built by coral polyps, our kin, and the sandy flats where the sea grasses dance

Cherished is the fishpond, Ke’ahupua-o-Maunalua, its companion is Ka’elepulu (in Kailua)

Laukupu, a mo’o, is the guardian of Maunalua

The sea of Koko is for ‘Ouha, the akua manō (shark god) who stands guard

In honor of the akua (gods), our ‘aumakua (family gods), and kūpuna kahiko (ancestors)

We take on this kuleana to learn, share, laulima (work together), and persevere

Our spirits fly high like the ‘iwa above, our intentions, true and deep as Kanaloa’s seas

We will protect, honor, and mālama Maunalua to the last breath

Eia mākou ‘o Mālama Maunalua! (We are Mālama Maunalua)

Lance “Mahi” La Pierre, Maunalua, Kona, O’ahu, May 9, 2008

A remarkable effort led by just a few our friends and neighbors and a small core group of donors led to a partnership with The Nature Conservancy and to an award of Fed Stimulus Money (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) specifically for this Alien Algae Removal Project as reported KHON2 News. This grass roots local group put a grant proposal together for what really is a "shovel ready" project. We can personally attest to the fact that there is no wasteful or ambiguous allocation of funds going on here. See News video.

Be Green 2: Fed Stimulus Money Going to Algae Removal Project - KHON2.com. The stimulus money is specifically for a removal of invasive alien algae project that is under the  direction of Mālama Maunalua. MM still is a under funded organization that operates on a shoe string. Here is a link to their site where donations can be made to this fantastically effective non-profit group. Mālama Maunalua, in association with The Nature Conservancy and NOAA MM is really making a difference in the restoration and preservation of this Beautiful Bay.

Alien algae have been recognized as one of the top threats to our oceans’ health and recovery, in Hawai‘i and elsewhere. This threat is exacerbated by sedimentation from land-based sources which helps invasive algae get established and grow on reef flats. Compounding the problem, fishing pressure has dramatically reduced populations of plant-eating species like parrotfishes (uhu) and sea urchins. Once established, invasive algae drastically alter the seabed by smothering and killing corals and seagrass meadows, and overwhelming and destroying habitat for other reef life.

View of Maunalua By from our Lanai at our Black Point Property.

Aerial Photo showing a "Patch" of removed alien algae and it is not coming back!

Algea is removed like this, pick it up and stick it in the bag after inspecting contents for sea life.

Bags are transferred to Canoes or Kayaks then brought ashore and weight and carted off for bio reuse, such as mulching.

Teaching the Keiki (children) is a very important aspect of the community outreach. Getting them to the beach to watch and participate leads to an understanding that they will inherit this responsibility. Understanding the relationship between the Makua and Makai (the mountains and the sea) is something that Keiki need to learn early. Here Congressman Neil Abercrombie Representative of Hawaii's 1st District, instructs Keiki for a photo op.


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His Final Decades in Hawaii: Jean Charlot 1897-1979

Although he was born and raised in France, Jean Charlot spent the final decades of his prolific career in Hawaii. In fact a 1966 retrospective exhibition of his art was held at the Honolulu Academy of Art. We have collected Charlot original prints and incorporated the collection into the decorating of our Home in Montecito.

Jean Charlot, 'LOEA HULA', Oil Painting of Iolani Luahine

Image Courtesy of  Charlot Collection at the University of Hawaii at Manoa Library

Jean Charlot studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris before serving in the French Army during World War I.  His mother, with her French, Mexican and Jewish lineage, introduced him to Mexico in 1920, where he sketched for archeologists excavating Mayan ruins.  He became enthused with his Mexican heritage, as evident in a series of mural paintings in Mexico City assisting Diego Rivera and other members of the Syndicate of Painters and Sculptors.  Charlot is credited by Rivera for reviving and refining the fresco technique that he used.  After working from 1929 with lithography printer George Miller in New York, Charlot began a lifetime collaboration in 1933 with Lynton R. Kistler, master lithography printer in Los Angeles, reputedly making the first stone-drawn color lithographs in the United States.  Charlot devoted himself to themes of family and the working class, revealing the universality of human nature. Bio from,  Toby Moss Gallery, Los Angeles.

Jean Charlot, "The Spear Thrower" Original Silkscreen, 1974

During his career Jean Charlot received major awards from the Guggenheim Fellowship and Yale University. In 1966 a retrospective exhibition of his art was held at the Honolulu Academy of Arts and in 1968 a similar exhibition took place at the Museum of Modern Art, Mexico City. Today, major collections of Charlot's prints are found at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Smithsonian Institution, the San Francisco Museum of Fine Arts and at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Jean Charlot, LAUHALA, KAPAKAHI STREAM, KAAHALA OAHU, Serigraph, 1978

Jean Charlot, 'Hala Grove, Kahuwai, Hawaii', serigraph , Hawaii State Art Museum

For Additional information on Hawaiin Art.

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Island Exotica - Sexy Sounds of the South Seas

A bit of south seas trivia...from early 1950's and 1960's Martin Denny lived in our  Black Point Property in Honolulu.  This property has been a design project in which we worked to create a luxury home reminiscent of a bygone era where luxury travel and traveling to Hawaii in particular was an exotic destination and a privilege of few.

  

Many of Martin Denny's billboard top ten hits of the fifties and sixties were written at his piano in the living room of this home, overlooking the 7 miles of Kahala coastline to Koko Head.  We worked to keep the original architecture from the homes origin in 1930 and updated its interior design with art and artifacts that showcase local art and Who is Martin Denny and why should we know about him?  He was a media phenomenon in the post war years in the US and abroad.  He was a young bandleader who became entranced with the south Pacific and with his unique and innovative music sounds, blended them into a unique genre that became Exotica and started a music movement that is rooted in Hawaii and has inspired many, many artists.  
In January 1954, Don the Beachcomber brought Denny to Honolulu, Hawaii for a two-week engagement, this began his lifestyle in Honolulu, and the beginning of Exotica.  The Exotica album was recorded in December 1956 and released in 1957. In 1958, Dick Clark hosted Denny on American Bandstand. "Quiet Village" reached #2 on Billboard's charts in 1959 with the Exotica album reaching #1. 
Here's an Apple iTunes link to a playlist of Martin Denny, thanks to our friend Brian's suggestion at Maximum Value Group.


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Vintage Hawaiiana Up Next off to Hawaii Today!

We're off to Honolulu today to work on two Vintage 1930's Hawaiian homes we have there. Rental Seasons is upon us and we have some work to do. We will be posting this week about Hawaiiana and Hawaii, favorite places, hikes, shopping. Aloha and Mahalo!

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Sweating if off at Squaw Peak

Saturday morning I hiked Squaw Peak in Phoenix with friends who told me it would be a perfect morning cardio blast to sweat out the toxins after an evening out with them and their perfect cosmopolitans. After the hike I wanted to post about how terrific this hike is and found the photos of Robert Body

 
Robert not only captured the experience of  Squaw Peak beautifully he also is an incredibly creative and talented photographer. 

Squaw Peak, as it has been known to locals, is actually now renamed Piestewa Peak, I guess more politically correct. 

Flora in this area is typical of the lower Sonoran Desert and includes almost all varieties of Arizona cactus such as saguaro, barrel, hedgehog, pincushion, jumping cholla and prickly pear. Trees and colorful shrubbery include palo verde, mesquite, ironwood trees, creosote (dominate), ocotillo, brittle bush, desert lavender and giant sage shrubs.

Reptiles and wildlife that thrive in the preserve are gila monster, horned lizard and chuckwalla. Hikers also can encounter rattlesnakes. The mammal population includes coyote, jackrabbit, cottontail rabbit, ground squirrel and kit fox. There are more than 54 species of birds from the turkey vulture to mockingbirds, cactus wrens, gamble’s quail and several species of owls and hawks.

For me the hike took 35 minutes to ascend the to the summit and about the same to come down. As always, on a steep rocky trail coming down is tougher on the knees, not really a running trail. This trail is more like a stair master, in fact there are lots of stairs carved out in the stone. 

This is a beautiful Sunrise hike as captured by Robert. I was not an early rise. The trail is not too challenging, just a continuous climb, you can choose your own pace and heart rate. Piestewa Peak is at elevation 2,608 with a vertical elevation gain of 1,190 feet.




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I'm craving Salmon and Eggs

I'm craving Salmon and scrambled eggs this morning! Check out this beautiful presentation of a Silver Salmon we caught in Alaska this summer at Winter Lake Lodge. The very talented chef new we were leaving the next morning so she prepared our big Silver for breakfast. She presented the fish on a platter with salmon mouse AND individual servings of Salmon Hash with scrambled eggs and spinach. I thought it was brilliant to make a visual presentation of our gorgeous fish and separately prepare each serving. Talk about a visual feast for the Table!

Dropped in by Heli for Fly Flishing. Great way to go when there are NO ROADS! Naturally, most of our fishing was Catch & Release. Our Fishing Guide demonstrates his very soothing and compassionate method! I guess he was calming the big Silver down before releasing. We used special "no barb" hooks to allow for easier release

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