Over the last week or two, progress has been made on the Media Studio's surrounding landscaping. The idea is to create a rocky dessert garden, complete with cacti, cycads, agave and other exotic specimens. Bordering the rocky garden beds are balinese stones which add delightful accent to the surrounding pathways. Rock gardens, while pleasing to the eye, are also easy to maintain.

Here is today's classic shot of Mount Waialeale. This was taken from the Media Studio's large window. We've been having light rain throughout the day, causing the river to swell and placing a fine layer of clouds over the mountain. A perfectly painted canvas in Siva's perfect Universe.

"Have faith in God. Believe in Him with all your heart. Think that in the world He is for you the sweetest of all sweet things. Think that there is nothing other than God. Sitting or standing, walking or lying down, think of Him. Let the thought of Him permeate your nerves, flesh and blood. Think that you are nonexistent and that He alone exists. Let the aim of your life be to worship Him. What one thinks, that one becomes. Have God in your heart and bring Him up there. Let all actions be His action. Finally all will be seen as He."
Yogaswami's Natchintanai

This month, Martin and his landscaping apprentice Dante are here to move forward on the creation on Iriavan Temple's surrounding gardens. The two are here, not only to finalize the planning stages, but to start moving the earth itself. With the help of an excavator, a good deal of work has been done to sculpt the surrounding hillsides in preparation for the next step of placing the giant boulders, which will be followed in the future with preparations for plants.

Today we are removing some trees, scrub trees to be sure, but trees nonetheless and there is a small prayaschitta to be done. Yes, we are preparing the ground for more trees, many trees and much to live beneath those trees. Sad, our joy today.

So we give a small space to honor the tree. The photos here are of the immense and the ancient, the gnarled and the odd, but every tree is a bit of Siva's Self, howsoever plain and ignored by the wayside where it give life and shade to passersby.

Enjoy the slideshow and plant, if you can, 12 trees each year or see that they are planted.

A few of the living gems in the sacred temple garden.

Sadasivanathaswami has created several dry gardens planted in a bed of lava rocks. Using desert, drought tolerant plants, these little rock gardens require very little maintenance. Here in Hawaii they also have the added advantage of being impervious to damage by chickens and wild boar, who might otherwise come and tear up the beds.

Here on Kauai, we have more than a few plants which grow in an invasive abundance. There's guinea grass, which grows tall, strong and is covered in little spines. Then there is the lovely African tulip, which towers above, littering the ground with its beautiful orange-red flowers as it marches through the jungles unchallenged. But by far, the winner here is the Albizia tree, or as some call it the "widow-maker." These trees are a picture right out of the African savanna. They grow fast and tall, taking little time to build thick, strong limbs. This means it can be dangerous standing under one for too long (hence their nickname). But while many people despise this tree, we've learned to see the beauty in it. Like many fast-growing, fast-dying plants, it helps to slowly improve Kauai's clay-infused, sugarcane-damaged soil. And when it blooms, it's a sight like nothing else. As far as the eye can see, albizia canopies flood with white flowers, resembling soft snow and reflecting the sun's golden rays.

It's a rainy island day, but plants think of it not as an inconvenience but as Siva's life force coursing through their cells. A good day to appreciate the rain for its life-giving properties.

Lord Panchamukha Ganapti has long watched peacefully over our vegetable garden, but for all that time, He has been without a sturdy roof over his head. For some time now, Nirvani Adinatha has been spearheading the creation of this new wooden structure. This last week, he has been assembling it over Ganesha, in the center of the garden.

This retreat Sadasivanathaswami and Sivanadiyar Girish drove across the island to the Quarry in Eleele to mark more large boulders that have been stockpiled for the Iraivan landscaping project. There were some gems in this set, and now the monks are engineering the delivery in early June. Underneath the red dirt clay is a blue-black basalt stone, dark and powerful, born in the early fires that built the island. Basalt is volcanic rock that forms near the surface of the planet and quickly cools. It differs from granite by having somewhat less quartz in its composition. The name "basalt" means very hard stone" in Latin.