ORANGE MOON GLOW

Closing our orange-theme month is a 2-item post because we gotta cram as much in as we can to make up for lost time! This first image is not a sunrise or sunset but the MOON rise. Last night we went on a short northeastward hike to a nearby hill overlooking the ocean. We plopped down on the soft grass and waited for the spectacular display. Wow. It was difficult to hold the camera steady in the constant wind, Conn tried his best. The other pic was shot later, from our yard, out of the wind. Any tips on shooting the moon would be most appreciated.

This image essentially symbolizes what we have been struggling with this month. Choosing materials for a total kitchen remodel, though we have chosen the paint color already, like I said, it's "symbolic." And with that of course, comes the overall grand scheme for the entire house. Ugh. Seemingly endless trips into town, swatches in tow, pounding the pavement (tile or hardwood?) trying to find that perfect something that will end this mentally exhausting process. And that's only the choosing and shopping, we haven't even gotten to demo and installation yet! I have limited patience when it comes to this stuff, I just want a decision made and then move on. But decision don't come easy when these blurry images in my head of wondering what the Tambora solid surface counter top will look like when paired with the Extrema porcelain tile is making my brain hurt...and we all know that it will never look the way you pictured it in your mind. It's like clothes, they always look different when you try them on at home. I will leave you with a great link to the Dupont website where you can customize all the major kitchen elements. Go to the "My Room Designer" link toward the bottom of the page. http://www2.dupont.com/Surfaces/en_US/

PUSS N' FRUITS

I just wanted to post this because of the title.

SOMEWHERE BETWEEN RED AND YELLOW

Today we just wanted to share some of the orange flower bearing trees we have in bloom right now.



One of the 2 ROYAL POINCIANA trees. The other is not yet in bloom. They seem to be on different flowering schedules all over the island. You might recall I posted about this tree a few weeks ago. Notice how much colorful it is now. I love how it casts orange "sprinkles" all over the yard.


One of 2 AFRICAN TULIP trees.
Well, actually 3. We just found a new keiki (baby) sprouting in the gulch the other day. That's the Royal Poinciana in the background.



2 of our orange colored HIBISCUS bushes we recently planted along the fence. The first is a double and the other a single.

GREEN IS THE NEW ORANGE

Ok, so this post has nothing to do with orange, but after spending the entire day in front of the TV (not very green, but then again we are on solar power here) watching the LIVE EARTH CONCERT I thought I would share my views of it with you all. I hope that people took the meaning of this worldwide concert to heart. I did like the message that they kept driving home about just picking one thing and starting with that, like changing a light bulb or un-plugging chargers when not charging a device. It was also nice that it was being billed as a celebration in saving the planet through awareness. The celebrity spots between performances were really well done and quite simple for people to understand just how easy it can be to make a difference. Here is my review of some performances that I was lucky enough to see and inspired enough by that I went and downloaded some new tunes.

New York:
The set was a little lackluster, but they did at least make an attempt at using recycled materials. Alicia Keys both with Keith Urban and solo tore it up as did Kelly Clarkson! Really looking forward to Alicia's new album this fall. Melissa Etheridge was spot on in her lengthy flashback performance, talking about when she was a kid she thought we would have flying cars by the year 2000. Who didn't think that back then? Kenna was a standout and great to see live. Smashing Pumpkins sounded excellent. Though I am not a fan, John Mayer was really good as were K.T. Tunstall and Bon Jovi. Roger Waters of Pink Floyd was a treat as were The Police. Kanye West joining The Police... not so much.

London:
The stage was quite nice and hi-tech, but was it all that eco-friendly?
It was a great show all around. Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Foo Fighters were on fire! Beastie Boys were great but too short. As big a fan of Madonna as I am, I was not in love with her performance for her special Live Earth song "Hey You". It was just so simplistic and almost cookie cutter, but of course I have been humming the damn thing all day. I did like her playing guitar in a dress though during "Ray of Light". Good contrast. Then we saw her give a good peroformance of "Hung Up"! When she does a stage show she does deliver the goods and entertains, so I guess I will let her slide with one medium performance.

Antarctica:
Nunatak STOLE the show. They were the little underdog band that could. Get them a record deal now!

JUNE ART TRADING CARDS

For the Spiral-themed June ATC's my inspiration was the song The Windmills of Your Mind. In 1968, Dusty Springfield made a spectacular recording of it for the Thomas Crown Affair. Here are the lyrics for the last verse of the song:

Like a circle in a spiral
Like a wheel within a wheel
Never ending or beginning
On an ever-spinning reel
As the images unwind
Like the circles that you find

In the windmills of your mind

You can't tell from this image but I painted them all by hand with gouache and acrylic and ran a Spirograph over it. I penciled an outline of the head first with a template. I'd actually never used gouache before and found that I like the flatness of it. I originally wanted a windmill in the head but then I realized that would be too literal and spirograph ended up being a perfect illustration of the lyric, "Never ending or beginning."

BANNER DAY

Conn says I'm stretching the idea of the ORANGE theme by posting about our header graphic but I felt it was necessary to point it out since it is new. And technically, it's orange. The Cuckoo For Coconuts type treatment was inspired by the original 1950s logo for Waikiki's International Market Place. I sketched it first to plan the layout and ligature connections and then crafted it in Adobe Illustrator. I had to make up some of the letters from scratch. The IMP logo is featured in a book called Leis, Luaus and Alohas: The Lure of Hawaii in the Fifties.

A LILY BY ANY OTHER NAME...

This brilliant orange lily can be found sprouting up in shady, wet areas all around our yard. This particular cluster is in a very shady area under a plumeria tree. Instead of dying back after flowering, it continues to produce thick strap-like evergreen leaves. I think this is a Kaffir Lily from all of my research, but am not 100% sure. Any info will be greatly appreciated.

HALEAKA'ALANI PUKA KOMO

WELCOME TO JULY! Can you believe we are past the half way mark of 2007!?
This month we are going to TRY to devote most of our postings to the color ORANGE. In fact, after months of tossing ideas around we have finally named our house (as most people here do) to reflect our love for the color. Here are a few pictures of the exterior of the house before and after our front door was painted ORANGE. The name of the house is Haleaka'alani Puka Komo and here is a breakdown of what it means.
Hale: House
a: of
ka: the
'alani: Orange
Puka Komo: Door

Simply put it all together and it means House of the Orange Door. Real clever right? Well it works. We hope to paint the rest of the exterior soon... more of a greenish gold rather than the dirt color it is now. Something to blend into the plants and trees. Baby steps... one project at a time.


The doors in their original state.
After being primed... better.
AH... now that's more like it.