Our Week of Rain (March 4 - 10)

The week that Ben arrived, Hawai'i experienced it's worst thunder storm in many years. The thunder was so loud at night, I though a volcano was erupting. There were torrential rains for several days and lots of flooding on the islands. The sandbar that held the water in our canal was washed away, so now we have a tidal canal that reveals the mud bottom and trash about half the time.

Ben's initial impression of O'ahu was that it is a very wet place. However, he had to work that week, so at least his work only deprived him of being wet out in the rain.

No golfers that week.

We had to give up Kamali'i the day before the rains started, and it seemed fitting to create these images of rain on water, which feel very sad to me.

Pipe post and shades of gray

The colors of rust

Tree stumps and roots

Some Images of Waikiki & Growing Things starring the Aechmea Blue Tango Bromeliad

During a brief break in the rain, Ferd and I took a stroll through Waikiki:

Kapiolani Park Banyan Tree

Typical shot of Diamond Head
















Canary Island Date Palm (?)























Java Sparrows

Admire me!

Pan's labyrinth

Aechmea Blue Tango Bromeliad (above left)

Royal Hawaiian Hotel

Fancy Hibiscus and Heliconia (above)

Gave up on trying to arrange these photos. Never again with this blog format.

Sunshine & Growing Things

After the rains, I took my typical neighborhood walk and everything felt so fresh and vibrant.

Discovered some interesting bamboo,

Sealing Wax Palms (named so because the stem color recalls 18th century sealing wax),

(They would make a good Christmas card.)


Mangoes not yet ripe,

a lovely bunch of Samoan Dwarf Coconuts,

an unusual type of Ki (or Ti) plant,

some unidentified flowers,

palm tree trunks,

hallucinogenic berries,

Bird of Paradise,

and Jamie and Sean.

Jamie is the caretaker of the Charlot House and architecture student at UH and Sean is a filmmaker.

The Byodo-In Temple

Ben and Ferd were patient while I took in the

fish

and the serenity of the Byodo-In Temple, along with lots of details.

It was interesting to discover that those of Japanese descent make up the largest percentage of the population of Hawaii. Following are the Chinese, Vietnamese (many emigrated during the war), Filipino, Caucasian, Mixed Hawaiian, with true Hawaiian being a very tiny percentage of the current population.

The Byodo-In Temple is located at the foot of the Ko'olau Mountains in Valley of the Temples Memorial Park. It was established on June 7, 1968, to commemorate the 100 year anniversary of the first Japanese immigrants to Hawaii. The Byodo-In Temple in O'ahu is a smaller-scale replica of the over 950-year-old Byodo-in Temple, a United Nations World Heritage Site in Uji, Japan.

Details and colors

North Shore 12 foot faces

On our way to the North Shore, we found this great place to eat - Uncle Bobo's Smoked BBQ! The great rattle-trap parked in front.

Ehukai Beach, the home of the Banzai Pipeline

and some of the best surfing in the world

and the best wipeouts!