Coconut Grove
Tommy Kekoa, a high school friend of mine, invited my wife and me to the Big Island to stay at the antique beach house of his Aunty Margaret. She was a famous Hawaiian Lomi Lomi massage teacher. Lomi Lomi is an ancient Hawaiian healing massage, an art form which has mystical qualities.
Aunty Margaret's place is so riddled with termites that, as Tommy says, if the termites weren't holding hands, the house would fall apart. Still, the old Hawaii charm is clearly intact. The house's plumbing contains only brackish water. After swimming, it isn't entirely possible to wash the salty feeling from your skin. Located on the solitary lava shoreline of Kealakekua Bay, we walked mornings, swam in the heat of the day, and dreamed away the salty evenings listening to the wave's rhythm upon the reef. It was in this atmosphere that the spirit of Kealakekua took over my brushes and rendered the painting Coconut Grove. I had very little to do with it.