CUCKOO REVUE 2008

As 2008 exits and 2009 comes rushing in, we thought we would take a look back at the past year here at CFC. Mahalo to everyone who stopped by to read of our adventures in Haiku, Maui.

JANUARY
John made new doors for the tractor shed after the alteration to the structure.
(visit often to see this structure undergo further transformations in 2009)

We removed the door leading into the garage... as we did not ever use it... besides, it leaked.
After we altered the size of our tractor shed to conform with county permitting, we planted and created a natural stone pathway between the back and front yard. Notice how much the plants have grown in less than 1 year.

We experienced our first Hawai'ian winter, saw snow on the summit of Haleakala...
which when it melted provided us with our first flash flood. WEEEEEE!

FEBRUARY
In preparation for our big Readymade photo shoot, we renovated the bathroom and laid new flooring in the bedroom, painted stripes on the lanai and updated the outdoor shower.

John launched his online portfolio.

MARCH
Our great friends Lauren and Derek arrived for our big photo shoot and interview for Readymade Magazine. And then we rested.

APRIL
For John's Birthday we went on an amazing whale watching cruise.

This month was when Kekoa came into our lives.
John and shoebox to the rescue, are you my mommy?, first night of all night feedings, day two...exploring his new home.

Kekoa knew when he saw the pink and red bandana's that it was nap time. He preferred sleeping on anything that was reddish, orangey or brown in color. Lucky for him... our home was the perfect place to runaway to.

MAY
Our big 6 page feature came out in the May/June issue of Readymade magazine. MANY, MANY MAHALO'S Derek! Check it out here

Conn launched his online portfolio.

Kekoa turns 2 months old, learns to eat bugs from a plate, and practices the fine art of camouflage. John builds him a coop. We start the weening process by keeping him out side during the day .

JUNE

This month our home was featured by Grace Bonney on the wonderful design*sponge. We are honored. Click here to see the entire post.

Conn's mom, sister, grandma, nephew and Nick came to visit.

Kekoa still in weening mode. He loves to spend mornings in the house while we have coffee.

Starting to show his colors, a water bath in the house with a blow dry and his first dirt bath in the coop....THE NEXT DAY!

He likes sleeping on things that he blends into, showing more and more colors in the coop.

The last shot is the day he was terrorized by a dog while in his coop. We were not sure he was going to make this day after bleeding for 3 hours from a broken beak. A quick trip to the vet for a little super glue and back home for some R&R. He was a week away from being released and we had to go through a whole new training process after this. His beak healed in a few weeks time.

JULY

Conn's family had a nice long vacation and were here through much of July.
Fried chicken picnic on July 4th in Lahaina, a hike in Kipahulu and dinner at Mama's Fish House.When ever clothes were lying about, Kekoa would roll around in them. Spoiled rotten after the attack...sleeping on the bed and a last hand fed breakfast of slugs and bugs before his release.

Keoka was released back into the wild world of Maui.

AUGUSTA few days of not seeing Kekoa after his release, he decided to show up and claim the lanai as his daytime hangout. Showing his teenage temper by puffing up.

Gabi and Larry made their way to the Valley Isle for a few weeks this month and managed to get a rare viewing of the endangered Hawai'ian Monk Seal.

SEPTEMBER

Kekoa turns 5 months old this month and is turning into quite the well dressed man. He actually went missing a week before we left for our mainland trip.

We made our way back to the mainland in September and October with stops in Manhattan for a few days then upstate NY and Indiana. We enjoyed our visits with all our friend ... 4 legged and otherwise!

We are 1 of 3 featured designers in the Design and Home Issue of Modern Luxury Hawai'i this month. WOW! Check it out here.

OCTOBER

A few weeks after returning home from the mainland, Kekoa finally returned home. Above left is what he looked like September 14th and right is when he returned from his "foster parents" on October 18th.

NOVEMBER

Barack Obama elected the 44th President of the United States!!!

Jenny "Honey" Joyce paid us a visit for 3 wonderful (but too short) days this month.

DECEMBER

We went on an amazing Christmas day hike on the Lahaina Pali Trail.
The year ended just as it had begun. More flooding.

Christmas came and went and before we knew it...

Hau'oli Makahiki Hou
HAPPY NEW YEAR!

And as if all that was not enough....just like last year...

We did a lot of planting and making of things...These before and after images were taken 1 year apart. Stick it in the ground and it will grow!
1/08 - 12/08

A few of the things we made this year. A small table, refinished a medicine cabinet,made a ton of new pillows and a holiday wreath. The medicine cabinet were both featured on design*sponge here and here.

We saw a lot of these...

And if we could grow it, we ate it... and we ate like kings!

Carrots, scallions, peppers, cherry tomatoes, cilantro, star fruit, beets,okra, green beans.

Tangelos, swiss chard, beefsteak tomatoes, papaya.

White pineapple, bananas, navel oranges.

Hot Hawai'ian chili pepper water, salsa, mango jam, orange marmalade, guava jam and star fruit jam.Bacon in all it's glory.

Bacon cheeseburger, arugula salad with roasted prosciutto, pineapple and shaved parmesan, brussels sprouts with bacon, bacon wrapped turkey.

Mince pear pie, papaya cranberry muffins, mango upside down cake & pineapple upside down cake.

Banana semifreddo, lavender scented snowball cookies, pear crumble & orange zest cookies.

Lime cheesecake with cream cheese frosting and toasted coconut, lime cheesecake, banana cheesecake & lilikoi cheesecake with lilikoi pineapple salsa.

Please visit us often in 2009 for the more Adventures of Conn, John + Kekoa In Haiku, Maui. We will have some new renovations and projects coming up that will be very exciting. To those of you who visited... we loved seeing you and hope you enjoyed your visits. We hope to see you again soon. We have a big project this year so stay tuned.
Aloha Nui Loa
c, j + k

ON THE 7TH DAY OF CHRISTMAS

ON THE 6TH DAY OF CHRISTMAS

ON THE 5TH DAY OF CHRISTMAS

MAN THE LIFE BOATS

It's been raining since Christmas day and yesterday the ground could not accept anymore water. Our seasonal (raging) stream returned on Friday, but yesterday we were soaking in it. Literally. John and I had to dig a few small trenches in the driveway right out in front of the house. We have new french drain pipes to put in, but have not yet found the time. Maybe this will motivate us.

The storms sort of roll in and then the winds die, causing the clouds to just sit above us releasing all of the rain. Once the rain stops the streams and puddles disappear within minutes only to swell again as soon as the sky opens up again.

The south side of the drive yesterday morning before the rain.

The south side of the drive about 20 minutes after the rain started.

The front of the house about 2 hours into the rain.

Looking up towards the driveway from the gulch.

Our new lap pool!

ON THE 4TH DAY OF CHRISTMAS

HIKING THE LAHAINA PALI TRAIL

On Christmas Day, we headed out on our ... now traditional Holiday Hike. It is our goal to try to hike a trail that we have not yet been on. Although we have done many hikes here on Maui, there are still so many left to discover.

On this day it was the Lahaina Pali Trail on the Southern tip of the West Maui Mountains. In the image above (taken on a whale watch in April), the trail runs left to right, up and over this ridge to an elevation of 1600 feet. Notice the Wind Turbines for perspective of how high we were. (see photo below)

We have long wanted to do this hike, but knew it needed to be done in the winter. Usually this part of the island is very dry, hot and not very green. In fact it is extremely prone to fires in the summer. It gets very windy here as it is just above Ma'alaea Bay - the 2nd windiest bay in the world behind New Zealand. You will notice that 18 wind turbines are situated on the spine of the Kealaloloa Ridge to take advantage of these winds. In all, we hiked about 8 miles round trip.

You can enter this hike from either the east or the west. We chose the west side and here is what the sign at the entrance had to say about the history of the trail.

In prehistoric times, travelers from Olowalu walked along the shoreline to this spot and then had to choose whether to swim around the sea cliffs, find a friendly neighbor with a canoe, or climb over the Kealaloloa Ridge to get to Ma'alaea. In Missionary times, a road was built across these steep slopes and travelers on foot or horseback could make the journey in four or five hours. The 2oth century brought first carriages and then cars. The trail became a road then a highway.

Follow in the footsteps of travelers from over a century ago. Built for horeseback and foot travel between Wailuku and Lahaina, The Lahaina Pali Trail was the direct route across the steep southern slopes of the West Maui Mountains. It was hand-built along the steep, sometimes treacherous hillsides.

The trail is over 5 miles long (one way) and climbs to over 1600 feet above sea level. Along this trail you will see native plants like a'ali'i (Dodonaea viscosa), wiliwili trees (Erythrina sandwicensis), and a native dryland sandalwood (Santalum ellipticum).

Petroglyphs, etchings, stone walls and rocky outcrops mark the spots where long ago travelers stopped to rest. The mid-point of the trail is Kealaloloa Ridge, the southern rift zone of the volcano that formed West Maui. Pu'u (cinder hills) and natural cuts in the ridgeline expose the dramatic geologic history of this part of Maui.

The view looking back and down towards the trail head. Lanai is in the distance.

Looks like a great spot to snorkel. We actually saw a few whales while hiking, but they were too far out to photograph.

Here you can see the new highway, the first and original road mid-way on the cliff and we are on the original trail. Notice Molokini Crater in the distance to the right.

As we get higher we are able to see the South-eastern coast of Haleakala.

The colors really were like this. Honest.

Rounding the bend to sweeping views of Ma'alaea Bay, Kihei, cane fields and Haleakala.

This is where we stopped for our picnic lunch. Rainbow over Kahului and views toward Haiku, Pukalani and Paia. This was also our turning around point which was about 4 miles one way.

Coming back from the cloud covered East side. Notice the Wind Farm in the upper left corner.

Heading back you can see the trail etched into the side of the gulches.

The guidebooks said to be on the lookout for etchings along the trail by paniolo's (cowboys) and school children. This was the only one we saw that seemed to be authentic. No one today would make a 7 and 4 like that. We can't make out the name but the date is 1874.

A view of Kaho'olawe under a blanket of clouds.

Heading back as the sun began to set.

ON THE 3RD DAY OF CHRISTMAS

ON THE 2ND DAY OF CHRISTMAS

ON THE 1ST DAY OF CHRISTMAS...

Merry Christmas to those celebrating. This post marks the 1st of 8 displaying these original silkscreen Christmas cards courtesy of Martin and Alice Provensen. These were quite the thrift store find spotted by Conn's keen little eye back in the day as a gift pour moi. You may be asking why 8? Aren't there 12 days of Christmas? I thought I scanned all 12 cards and the back showing the credits but 9-12 may have fallen victim to Laptop Meltdown 2008. I'll see if I can hunt them down before January 2 (That's the 9th day of Christmas for the math-challenged) For more of Alice & Martin's work, check out this blog post featuring their Golden Treasury of Myths and Legends and also, there's always Flickr.

And for your carolling, island-style, here's the 12 Days of Christmas submitted by Deb, one of our dear CFC fans:

The 12 Days of Christmas local style!
by Eaton B. Magoon Jr., Edward Kenny, Gordon N. Phelps

1) Numbah One day of Christmas,
my tutu give to me
One mynah bird in one papaya tree....
*********************************************************
2) Numbah Two day of Christmas,
my tutu give to me
Two coconut, an' one mynah bird in one papaya tree.....

**********************************************************

3) Tree dry squid.....
4) Foah flowah lei.....
5) Five beeg fat peeg.....
6) Seex hula lesson.....
7) Seven shrimp a-swimmin'.....
8) Eight ukulele.....
9) Nine pound of poi.....
10) Ten can of beer....
11) Eleven Missionary...
(12) Twelve TELEVISION!

GATHER ROUND

Last week I made this wreath with bits of natures cast offs from our yard.
The lovely Grace over at design*sponge posted the how-to on her weekly DIY posting today. Head on over and check it out. Mahalo Grace.

SUBSTITUTE POST

Today I had scheduled a different post, but due to a change in schedule I am making a quick substitution. Look for the previously scheduled post early next week.

Here are a few pics of the latest round of baking to hold you over.

Lavender Mac Nut Shortbread Cookies with Chocolate and Lavender Icing

Lavender Lemon and Pecan Cookies with Lavender Icing

ARE YOU A FOLLOWER?

Aloha... we have finally gotten around to adding the "FOLLOW THIS BLOG" link just to your right. Click it to stayed updated on our latest postings. We are promising to get back to blogging better in 2009. Stay tuned for upcoming re-models, recipes and reports from Maui.

In the meantime... we hope this picture brightens your day... especially those of battling ice, snow and below freezing digits.

A Hui Hou,
Conn, John and Kekoa

ADVENT OF AN ANNIVERSARY

It's a dreary, rainy day here in Cuckoo For Coconuts Land, the kind of day that deserves a post of a cheery nature. Here, for your enjoyment, are pics of my Olive The Other Reindeer POP-UP Advent Calendar! I found this little gem on a rare, unexpected, do-nothing Saturday, browsing the shops in Makawao.




See, December 6th was our 8th Anniversary and we had no intention of doing anything celebratory other than perhaps a nod and a smile to each other when out of the blue we get a call from Anuhea Farms saying they had flowers for us. The voice on the other end had a slight Carol Channing quality to it and I was instantly charmed by her sales pitch to come up and experience the holiday festivities in Makawao and pick up the flowers ourselves. Turns out we're too far out in the boonies for them to deliver! Not a problem though since we used it as an excuse to get out of the house.

The weather conditions were perfect. In fact, we couldn't remember experiencing such a clear day. Haleakala was cloudless and the West Maui mountains, almost always shrouded in mist or haze, were well-exposed. In fact, the profiles of Lana'i and Moloka'i were crisply defined as well.



One of the shops we stopped in, Maui Child Toys and Books, had the Olive The Other Reindeer advent calendar marked down 50%! I couldn't resist. J. Otto Seibold is one of my favorite illustrators and I love advent calendars. And this has the added bonus of a pop-up Santa castle! A trifecta of sorts. We used to get an advent calendar every December when I was a kid and I was cuckoo about opening the tiny paper windows to see what was inside. It deeply informed my ideas of papercraft, print design, expectation and surprise.

Then we headed over to Anuhea Farm's tiny colorful retail shop off Baldwin Ave. to pick up the Protea flowers that our dear friends Gabrielle and Laurence ordered for us. We ended up talking to the proprietress Judy and her friend Susie for almost an hour. I wish I had pictures of the shop because it was something out of a scene from Amelie or the Umbrellas of Cherbourg. At one point I noticed Judy's lime green outfit matched the lime green painted chair on which she sat.



Our other big treat, besides the calendar, were these heart-shaped shortbread cookies from Komoda Bakery.