IT'S A SMALL WORLD

Damn you Flickr! What a time waster it can be as I recently found out, but oh what fun things to waste time on. Since it's a holiday weekend maybe all you folks out there might have a few spare hours to check out these retro sets:

Mary Blair (Disney illustrator extraordinaire) This is small set of her work but a lot of it I have never seen before.



Krazy Kids (Amazing collection of vintage kids product packaging-I loved Garbage Can-dy!)




1975 Sears Wishbook (I had the Green Apple table featured here)


Seeing these Wishbook pages reminded me of this silly game my cousin Anna and I used to play as kids when we were super bored. We'd leaf through the toys section of the catalog and slap our hands down on a page, which of course meant that we'd get all the stuff on that page.. Whomever had the fastest eye-hand coordination got the best toys, so she always won. And she recently enjoyed her 37th birthday on Sunday. Happy Birthday!

TOTAL ECLIPSE....

Last night we watched the lunar eclipse.
Below is a detail of the event as it happened.
John and I are sitting in the yard as I type this post tonight. We here in Hawaii have a front-row seat for a total lunar eclipse that will run about an hour and a half, beginning just before midnight and ending at about 1:22 AM on Tuesday. We came outside at 10:51 PM and it is now about 11:21 PM with the moon about half covered by the earth's shadow. It is said that as the moon passes into the Earth’s umbral shadow, it will take on a reddish-copper color.. The move into the umbra began at 10:51 p.m. with the full eclipse at 11:52 p.m. As the moon moves into the full shadow, or umbra, an increasingly larger section of the moon will darken to the reddish tinge. I hope to capture all this on film as I am taking photo's about every 5 minutes. Through the binoculars the shadow and moon look like velvet and the umbral shadow is coming into view on the top left corner. Clouds are now beginning to cover the moon. Wow... where did they come from? There is no wind to speak of tonight. Guess my attentions were focused on the eclipse and not the cloud cover creeping in. So now I sit and wait... fingers crossed the clouds will move out as quickly as they came in. It's now 11:32 PM and 30 minutes ago I could almost read a book out here by the moon light and now I can barely see my hand. The smell of jasmine and kahili ginger is in the air with the sound of crickets and waves crashing against the rocky shores of Waipio Bay just behind the house.
Oh... it's back... and the umbral shadow is very prominent.
Another cloud just rolled in which caused a million stars to suddenly come into view including a bright blue shooting star. At 11:54 PM, 2 minutes past the peak effect, a very large cloud covered the moon and it has been missing now for 15 minutes. In the distance I can see a trail of head and tail lights from cars making their way back down from the summit of Haleakala. What it must have looked like from up there at 10,023 feet! So I guess it's time to head in and begin uploading... oh wait .. it's back. and very, very red. Not much has happened since around 12:30...so I am going in to upload images. Besides, my neck is killing me. I'll check it out again closer to 1:00 AM. Ok I'm cooked. It's 1:22 on the nose and it's supposed to be over. The moon is still half red and white... only now the red is on the right.*Make sure to click each one to see the large version.

ONE MAN'S TRASH...

We went to the Door of Faith Church this morning for what we thought was a plant sale. Upon arrival we discovered that it was called a Taste of Aloha. We signed in at the front entrance tables and were handed a packet of 5 tickets for trade once past the entrance. Everything was free. There was a baked goods booth, where we stopped at first. For 1 pink ticket you were allowed your choice of 2 items. YAY!!! Breakfast. The OOHEY GOOEY BARS were beyond fabulous. But where were the plants? We headed into the rummage sale booth where for 1 yellow ticket you were allowed to take any 7 items... for free! That is where I spotted this wooden IKEBANA vessel complete with copper well and metal FLORAL FROG.
I whipped up this small arrangement as soon as we got home.

I spotted it from across the room and as I approached the table where it sat, I scanned the room for anyone else who might have spotted it as well. I needed to determine how fast I needed to react. Whew.. the 2 children in the room had no desire for my prize. So I picked it up and traded it for my 1 yellow ticket, and I was once again reminded that I could take up to 7 items. We looked over a few books but settled on only taking the vessel. I do believe it found the perfect home and had we not shown up... I really doubt anyone would have taken it. I bet whoever put it in the rummage booth thought... "This will never go, but I'll put it in there anyway".
John traded his blue ticket for a shave ice after that. Still no plants, so we stopped by the entrance and made a donation for our newest acquisition where the loveliest of ladies did their best to make sure we came back later to use our remaining tickets for lunch. We never made it back.

Check out these amazing Ikebana arrangements from ikebana.org

JAM ON IT!

Over the last few weeks I have been trying my hand at making jams. All have come out really good. Only one was a little thin, so I hade to "re-make" it as they say in the jam world.
Re-making is when you open the jars after 24 hours and re-cook with a little more pectin. It is best to do this process 1 jar at a time.

Pictured above from left to right are Passionfruit, Banana & Banana/Papaya.
I thought I had died and gone to heaven when I first tasted the banana, but he passionfruit is to die for.

THEY AIN'T HEAVY, THEY'RE MY BANANAS

Here is a shot of one of our 13... yes 13 banana plants which are almost ready for the pickin'.
this one should be ready any day... I hope. I've been saying that since June.

WHO'S COOKING FRENCH FRIES?

The other day John and I were going about our individual tasks and chores not knowing the other was thinking the exact same thought... "I smell french fries". I took a walk around the grounds and found out that the smell of french fry grease was coming from our Paperbark Eucalyptus. I came back to the house for the camera and John made the comment about how the tree smelled like french fries. We both laughed about how we had been thinking that same thought all afternoon and had not said anything to one another about it. It not only smells like french fry grease, but sometimes like burnt honey. Not bad really, but not great either. The strange thing about it is that the tree is about 150 feet from the house, but you would swear it was right outside the window. Smelly as it may be... we love the tree. Here are some detail shots of the smelly old thing.

The layers and layers of soft papery bark.

Thousands of pods just waiting to burst open and release their stank.

After the pods have opened the tree comes alive with bee's swarming around white flowers that look like bottle brushes.

Flower close-up. Can you believe all those little bristly unfurl from those tight little buds?

Despite their airy appearance, the flowers area actually quite dense and heavy.

I CAN MAKE A HAT, OR A BROOCH

Of course, someone made a compilation of my favorite Airplane character. So incredibly silly.

FLO...FLO... FLOSSIE GOODBYE

Flossie came and went without stirring too much trouble. I did however get a little anxious over what to expect yesterday. My main concern was the 40+ foot pine tree only 20 feet away from the house and what would happen if it snapped. But all is good.
We have had some pretty strong winds all day and some rain. Last night we had a wild sunset where there was this small opening in the dark clouds that allowed us to see the sun setting in the West. Here are some crazy shots of that and the clouds. I love the one above the house.

Flossie came and went without too much panic on our end. I however got a little anxious over what to expect yesterday. We have had some pretty strong winds all day and some rain. Last night we had a wild sunset... there was this small opening in the dark clouds that allowed us to see the sun setting in the west.
Here are some crazy shots of that and the clouds.

HURRICANE FLOSSIE

Moving westward into the central Pacific, Hurricane Flossie, some 1000 miles east-southeast of the Big Island of Hawaii, is a major hurricane. Winds remain at 135 mph, which makes this a Category 4 Hurricane.

Flossie is forecast to maintain hurricane status into Tuesday. The forecast then calls for it to weaken back to a tropical storm as it encounters cooler waters, and more stable conditions. The system is also forecast to head more to the west-northwest, which would cause it to pass only a few hundred mile south Hawaii. This would be close enough to generate some high surf and waves, as well as increase showers for the Islands. Also the trade winds north of Flossie would be strengthened.

We stocked up on all the essentials and have plywood on hand should we need it to cover the windows. Wish us luck!

LMAD

LET'S MAKE A DEAL is our newest obsession on Game Show Network. That is when we can remember to watch it. When we do, there are usually several on in a row and we droll over the sets. Here are some images of the amazing stage and graphics that I just had to take. I like to call the look "OVER - THE -TOP SIMPLICITY". Even the food product packaging used in the games is "eye candy"!
THAT CURTAIN!!!!A WALL OF CARPET TILES.CHECK OUT THAT TRIPPY WALL GRAPHIC. ARE THEY FLOWERS?OK... WHERE TO BEGIN? THE ORANGE INTERIOR OF THE BAR ON THE ENTERTAINMENT CABINET IS GORGEOUS! THE LAMP AND COFFEE TABLE ARE TO DIE FOR. THE ORANGE CARPET IS EVEN COOL, BUT WHAT IS UP WITH THE LOW-RIDER- SOFA? IT LOOKS LIKE IF CAROL MERRILL WERE TO SIT ON IT, HER CHIN WOULD BE RESTING ON HER KNEES.
BRILLIANT PACKAGING.

JUICY FRUIT

Tonight I finally got around to juicing all the passion fruit we have been collecting for the past week. Look at that color! It almost looks synthetic instead of something from nature. I made the juice the same way as I did the guava in an earlier post. Click here for the how to.
Here in Hawaii, passion fruit is called lilikoi and is normally eaten raw... seeds and all. It is egg shaped and about the size of a lemon. you know it's ripe when it falls from the vine and gets all wrinkled. Lilikoi flavored syrup is a popular topping for shave ice. We love mixing it it with ginger ale and have used it on top of coconut ice cream. A lot of fruit are needed for a little juice, but a little juice goes a long way. We usually use about 3 teaspoons per glass of ginger ale. We must have had about 40 in all and I think this juice will last us awhile. YUM! Tomorrow I might try making tapioca with coconut milk and lilikoi... we had plain coconut flavored version here that made our eyes roll back in our heads. Lilikoi are not widely available in stores, so most of the fruit eaten comes from backyard gardens or wild groves. We have 2 vines that grow out of control and I could not be happier. One a purple version and another one is yellow. I am actually trying to get more to grow, but I need to make a trellis for them to grow on so they do not choke out the trees.

A TALE OF TWO SKIES

This is the view from our road while coming home from town the other day. John got out of the car to unlock the gate at the EXACT same time this rain cloud hit. I love the stark contrast of the 2 skies when the rain storms move across the water like this.

Iva Zanicchi - La riva bianca, la riva nera

Had to post this more for nostalgic reasons. My parents loved Iva Zanicchi back in the day. This song was one of her big hits. Anyone who understands the words will see it's a major downer of a song about 2 soldiers tired of fighting and basically deciding not to go on any longer.

AUTO FOCUS

So our little trusty Canon Elf finally wore out a few weeks ago and we bought ourselves a new Big Rig of a camera. We were a little leery of spending so much on a new camera, but we knew we wanted something that took amazing pictures to capture all this beauty around us and the Canon Rebel XTi delivers. Still trying to get used to all the fancy features it has to offer, but here are a few shots when I took it out for a test run last week.

Our very own watermelon from the garden!

Our Ulu (breadfruit) tree is finally fruiting.