Banzai Pipeline and Whales - March 14

I have to say that 'they' have really improved upon this blogger.com site and it is now much easier to use, upload photos, size and arrange them.  To whom is may concern, thank you!

Logan, Julie and I fittingly got lost on our way to Mokuleia Beach where some of the TV series 'Lost' was filmed.  But we made it and met Popie, Steve and Alice there sitting on a log.

They did not get lost and were fans of the show

Two lovely best friends

The most exciting thing about our visit to the North Shore was NOT the size of the waves.  (They were only 3-5 feet on this day.)  But look what popped out of the water behind the surfers!

Small waves but still having fun

A whole herd of humpback whales frolicking, breaching and tail slapping came by. 

One last tail slap and they were gone.

Manoa Falls and Lyon Arboretum - March 13

A type of banana plant with some Hawaiian bugs

We took an easy but muddy mile-long hike up to Manoa Falls through the rain forest and bamboo.

Discovered the 'Mosaic' texture in photoshop.  Waterfall in mosaic - love the one red pixel.

The Lyon Arboretum, nearby, has a wide variety of tropical plants.

Young pineapple

Young pinapple in mosaic!

Ki leaves in mosaic are more interesting to me than the real thing

Birds Nest Fern - attaches itself to the tree

Taking a little rest and deciding we needed lunch asap!

Yellow Ohia-Lehua

Stem and roots of the Hala - a younger sample than the one in our yard

Mr. Brave and Friendly Red Crest having a snack in the parking lot for our entertainment

Red Crested Cardinal Patterns

Hanging Around the House and Popie's Herbs - March 12-16

Hi Everyone.  It's been over a month since I've posted anything here.  We are, sadly, no longer in Hawai'i but I plan to continue the blog as a record of our time there.  I will assume everyone wants to keep on hearing about it and if you are, indeed, sick of hearing about it, it's easy enough to delete the link.

We are now up to about week number seven of my time in Hawai'i.  This is the week that we had many wonderful visitors - Popie and Steve Martin (Ferd's sister and our brother in law), their lovely daughter Alice who came to Hawaii to distract herself from missing her husband, Steve, who is in Afganistan keeping us all safe with his highly intelligent work, and to distract herself from buying a new house and taking care of her herd of horses, Ben and Logan (our offspring - note that I did NOT say children, which they find highly offensive since they are now adults, but that's hard to do, isn't it), and our friend Julie (also a very grown up person).

The blog format has now changed and I'm not sure exactly what I'm doing so who knows how this will end up looking but here goes with some photos:

Steve doing the hula

Popie and Alice relaxing

The lovely Alice

Having a rollicking good time on the lanai

Ben gently waking Logan up the next morning

A good time for a little mischief

Our resident Cattle Egret having a Max Escher moment.  (Can anyone tell me how he did that?  This photo has not been photoshopped, I promise.)

Popie visited a Chinese Herbalist "Doctor" in Chinatown who prescribed this appetizing concoction for tea.  She made the tea and drank it for four days as directed after she got home and is still OK.