OK, this is like only the tip of the iceburg of things one can see on a Natural Energy Laboratory Tour in Kona, Hawaii. Ever since we visited the Seahorse Farm last winter, I've wanted to do the NEL tours. We finally got our chance yesterday.It's not just the magic of converting sea water into energy that happens at the Makai OTEC, but it's also visiting some of the other hundred or so companies at the HOST Park, served by the Ocean Thermal Energy Center. I managed to capture several photos of a rare monk seal in the wild, plus an amazing up-close shot of an octopus. You can read more in my personal blog today at this link: Kona Natural Energy Laboratory Tours Amaze and Astound. 08/30/2017

 It is 7 AM where I am at the moment. Staring out at the cool blue ocean horizon dotted by white sailboats and fishing vessels. My view is 180-degree panoramic and I can't capture its enormity with a camera lens, which is frustrating. I also noticed as I drove down La'aloa Drive that the ocean seems much bigger from that particular elevation. The closer you are to the ocean, the smaller the horizon; whereas, from much higher up it seems like an upside-down giant fishbowl. The ocean grows bigger. Oddest thing. Well, by tonight, I'll be snug in my bed with my husband and 3 cats, waking up tomorrow morning to a pile of mail on my desk and that extreme Sacramento heat. You can read more in my personal blog today and see all of the photographs of Magic Sands Beach at this link: My Last Day i... 07/13/2017

 The one thing that saves me from spending a fortune on art is the fact I have limited wall space. My homes have more windows than large blank walls. But then it doesn't stop me from buying pottery or other hand-crafted artifacts. As I stood at the counter buying a few small pieces of art for the walls of our Hawaii house, I noticed a sign posted about their featured artist, Kathleen Jeager. I glanced around and my eyes fell upon the loveliest depiction of the sun. She utilized that element in several pieces. Made me recall the first book of poetry I wrote in 1969. It was entitled: Obnoxious is the Morning Sun. Needless to say, I made the clerk ring up another sales receipt. You can read more in my personal blog today at this link: Photos and Story of Intriguing Local Hawaii Artwork. 07/10/2017

 To reward myself for working so danged hard all week, I decided to check out a different beach yesterday and go on an adventure. The temperatures in Kailua-Kona have been relatively stable, always the same, between 75 and 85 during the day. Mornings start out just perfect. Enough of that "crisp" 75 degrees to enjoy sitting on my lanai half dressed and not worrying about being chilled, to just under that temperature that might make it too hot to be in the sun. Perfect weather in my book. You can read more of this story and see all of the photographs I shot on Saturday with my iPhone in my personal blog today at this link: Photos of Kahalu'u Beach Park at Low Tide in Kailua-Kona. Afterwards, I stopped at Hugos on the Rocks for a margarita and couple of fish tacos. 07/09/2017

You never know for certain what might upset another person. It's not that I intentionally go out of my way but there have been times in my life that I've been completely blown away by another person's reaction. For example, a guy on a bicycle once followed me, without my knowledge, into a gas station grocery mart. I noticed him when I looked up at his angry face while I was sitting on the floor, merrily picking out cherry Tootsie Roll Pops.  He lunged over to scream: Did you see what you did? I looked around. There was nobody else in my aisle. That meant he was talking to me. Unless he was crazy. He looked very disturbed. I could not imagine what I had possibly done to this person. Turns out, I did not signal left when I pulled into the gas station. I obviously didn't run over him. He w... 07/04/2017

This is just for starters. This avocado. In fact, I have a bunch of avocados. But I also discovered something else that I did not expect, and it's just the cutest thing ever. A pineapple! I found it when I came back from another shopping spree. My husband should not have suggested I look at Le Creusent dinnerware, is all I have to say. I also went to Costco on a Saturday, so I deserve a medal. Plus, endured my first-ever-in-my-life-trip to Walmart. No joke.  You can read more in my personal blog today and see the photo of how a pineapple grows in my garden at this link: Do You Know How to Grow a Pineapple in Hawaii? 07/02/2017

 It was a little dark in the bedroom and living room since there were no lamps in our house. Not to mention, there were no end tables in the living room even to set a lamp upon. So I headed off to Statements Furniture to visit Jackie Calkins, the salesperson who helped me while I was in Sacramento to order, buy and deliver all of our furniture at our Hawaii house. Picking out the furniture and loading up the jeep was the easy part. Getting one of the tables out of the jeep and into the house was another story. In fact, the table, don't ask me how I managed to do it, got wedged in the door frame. Right in the middle of the door.  That gave me a good excuse to meet my neighbor on the other side. She brought me tools, I removed the door and didn't damage the frame too badly. You can read m... 07/01/2017

Waking up in Hawaii, listening to the birds sing and not hearing another sound is remarkable. No whiny cats. No world getting ready to go to work on this street. You know what's even more incredible? The fact that I was able to set up and use my new Keuric coffee machine without reading the manual. Usually foreign pieces of plastic are terrifying, in their own way, for those of us who find assembling things fairly frustrating. After I set up the coffee machine and made my first cup of coffee, I read the manual. Then I promptly threw out the first cup and brewed another. The photo above is something that is growing in my yard. It must grow only in the spring or summer because it wasn't blooming last winter. It's not coffee beans, even though there is a resemblance of sorts. You can read ... 06/30/2017

 If I were a Realtor who worked in a resort area or a town where people bought a lot of vacation homes, I would have a list of companies and individuals who could assist my clients with furnishing the house after closing. Buying a faraway vacation home is not like paying a trucking company to move your furniture. You are starting over from scratch. Where is that checklist? You need to buy a broom. A vacuum cleaner. Stemware. Utensils. A strainer. Cast iron skillet. And you need a place to sleep. Blankets, sheets. It's sorta like what you would do if your home burned down to the ground. Think about it. You can't dash out to the garage to grab a hammer if there is no hammer in the garage.  Where do you find household items, furniture and every-day necessities in a foreign town? You can re... 06/10/2017

 Buying a home can be intimidating if you are not familiar with the terms used during the process. To start you on your path with confidence, we have compiled a list of some of the most common terms used when buying a home.Freddie Mac has compiled a more exhaustive glossary of terms in their “My Home” section of their website.Annual Percentage Rate (APR) – This is a broader measure of your cost for borrowing money. The APR includes the interest rate, points, broker fees and certain other credit charges a borrower is required to pay. Because these costs are rolled in, the APR is usually higher than your interest rate.Appraisal – A professional analysis used to estimate the value of the property. This includes examples of sales of similar properties. This is a necessary step in getting yo... 05/03/2017

   If you are looking for pet-friendly condominiums in Kona, Hawaii you're in luck. There are many pet-friendly complexes in Kona, but finding them can be a challenge. Owners and residents of condominium complexes agree to follow rules that are spelled out in the development's CC&R's or Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions. Some Kona condominiums have CC&R's that do not allow dogs or cats. Others, welcome our four legged friends with open arms and aloha.Many Kona condominiums have a weight limit on the dogs allowed to live in the complex, I have seen quite a few that cap it at 25 lbs. In most cases, there is some flexibility when it comes to the size of the pet. Larger dogs are often allowed with Board of Director approval. So, if you find that perfect Kona condominium but your little... 04/17/2017

February 2017 Housing Statistics show North Kona up 6.77% YTD, and 10% over last  February,  surpassing mainland numbers.Aloha, Lance Owens (RS) here with LUVA Real Estate,  and I have to be honest, the FHFA numbers state "1st Quarter" and we still have several days of reporting left?  (typically sales take 2-4 days to get reported or I would have used 1st Quarter results also). You be the judge, here are the black and white numbers below.      SOME HIGHLIGHTS: The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) recently released their latest Quarterly Home Price Index report. In the report, home prices are compared both regionally and by state. Based on the latest numbers, if you plan on relocating to another state, waiting to move may end up costing you more! Alaska, Delaware, West Virginia & W... 03/31/2017

Friday February 25, 2017, For Buyers, For Sellers, Housing Market Updates, Infographics Kailua Kona, Hawaii:  Median Price Is At Its Highest Level, YTD, On Existing Home Sales Since 2006!  Mainland Sales Also Reach Their Highest Mark Since 2007 [INFOGRAPHIC]Aloha, Lance Owens (RS) and Kimi Nagatoshi (RS) with LUVA Real Estate bringing you the latest in Hawaii Real Estate, from market conditions to sales reports and some of our best picks for Single Family Homes on the Big Island of Hawaii, West Hawaii area. Let’s take a look back on some previous years, actually let’s look at our best year - 2006, this was Kailua Kona's  highest point with median home prices at $635,000.  Looking at today's numbers I was quite surprised to see them at $629,000, just $6,000 away from being at an all-time... 02/24/2017

When I made the reservations for my flight to Hawaii last year, I had thought we would spend a good part of our vacation furnishing the house and furniture shopping. As it turned out, we didn't. However, I did manage to buy a dining room table, which you see pictured here. The tenants, who are moving back into my house today, don't want it stored in the garage because they don't want to be responsible for it.At least that's their story and they're sticking to it. They could be holding wild sex parties in the garage for all I know. Selling drugs out of that spare refrigerator.For those of you who have followed my stories on Big Island, I'm leaving the island today. But hey, I have a new island to hang out on. A place where I won't be tempted to buy dining room tables that I have no place... 01/03/2017

The only thing more disturbing about trying to turn on an appliance and finding out it doesn't work is having the thing explode on the spot. Although in some ways, an exploding appliance could be a very comforting thing because the solution to the dilemma would be immediately and very clearly presented. You could just buy a new whatever.Well, unless you're in Hawaii on vacation and it's New Year's Day. Even the laundromats were closed in Kailua-Kona when my washer broke.The thing is anybody who knows me knows I am a solution-oriented individual. I welcome challenges, even if they are frustrating, irritating and annoying. You can read more about tips for fixing appliances in my personal blog today at this link: How to Fix the Problem When an LG Washer Doesn't Start. 01/02/2017

I felt like I visited my very own New Year's Eve party after going to the movies in Hawaii yesterday to see Office Christmas Party. It seems like almost every December 31st of my 20's to mid-40's was spent at New Year's Eve parties, waiting for that magical moment of midnight to appear and to smooch with whomever was around. Spittooey. That just doesn't hold any interest for me anymore. I'll see the same person in the mirror when I wake up that I went to sleep with, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Sitting here on my lanai in Hawaii, watching the sun slowly creep over our house, listening to sounds of exotic island birds calling to each other. You can see more in my personal blog today and read my thoughts at this link: Review of Office Christmas Party in Kona. 01/01/2017

We had a light sprinkling of rain yesterday afternoon for about 15 minutes, but fortunately, most of the rain in Kailua-Kona has stopped. The first 3 weeks of December were unusually wet for this time of year. Not surprising, climate changes are happening everywhere. It's common to get a lot of rain over on the Hilo side but for Kona, which is usually sunny in December, this amount of rain is abnormal.My husband came up with an idea of something fun we could do over several afternoons, which morphed into an obsession of epic proportions. You can read more about this in my personal blog today at this link: A Cat Jigsaw Puzzle for Those Rainy Day Hawaiian Blues. 12/29/2016

Hard to say if it was the excellent company (having my husband join me in Hawaii for Christmas) or the location on the ocean, or the marvelous food or my glass of pinot that made dinner so delightful. Or maybe just the fact I found a suitable parking place and didn't have to circle the area over and over like a hamster on a wheel. I especially enjoyed not fussing with myself to go out to dinner. We women tend to fusss too much. There is the hair I did not brush, the makeup I did not wear, and the dress with a hole in it that I dug out of the laundry basket. But, hey, I did slip on pearls. You can read more and see all of the photogaphs in my personal blog today at this link: Mi's Waterfront Bistro Has More Than Location Going For It. 12/27/2016

You can't swing a dead cat in Hawaii without hitting a ukulele player. Oh, where did that expression come from anyway, it's such a horrible thing to say. But I use it because it's amusing, not because I would ever throw a dead cat much less want to watch somebody else do it. The point is the ukulele is a popular instrument, and almost everywhere I go in Hawaii, I hear a musician playing this instrument.Fat, skinny; old, young; male, female; doesn't matter. Every ukulele is different. Tones and pitch varies. You can pay $100 or $10,000 or more. Go ahead, you can read more and see more photographs in my personal blog today at this link: Just Ukes Offers Wide Variety of Ukuleles in Kona. 12/26/2016

Now, if you ask my husband, he will say the drive down from the Mauna Kea Summit was the most terrifying, but that's because he wasn't driving. He was putting his foot on the imaginery brake and reminding me about approaching curves. He also brought up the time I drove down the mountainside in Colorado in my 1974 CJ5 Jeep and asked me please not to repeat that episode.On the other hand, I would say that driving up was more frightening, if it's scary, and it sorta was. But that's part of the excitement of driving up to the snowy Summit, you know, it's the whole package. You can see all of the fabulous photographs and read more about my adventure in my personal blog today at this link: Road to Mauna Kea Summit Opens Before Christmas. 12/24/2016