I like the weather in Hawaii, in spite of the rain every day. Mostly cause the rain is just little spits of rain mostly. When it poured, it was mostly late evening or night time, except for one ten minute cloudburst one afternoon, but we had stopped at the grocery to get some stuff for breakfast, so missed pretty much the whole thing. The high each day was eighty six, and breezy, so that you were only sweaty if you went inside. Good reason to stay outside, really. And the trees... Oh, My, God, the trees. Sixty foot tall trees with the most flamboyant displays of rich red flowers on top, when it wasn't blaze/daffodil yellow. And the hibiscus, they come in red, natch, and also yellow with red centers, yellow with orange centers, orange, hot pink, magenta, and my personal favorite that I called purple flame, as the lavender petals were definitely heading toward ultra violet, with a burgundy center. And then there were the short trees, plumeria (which they sold legally for houseplants here, and yes, I did get two), golden showers, pink and white showers, rainbow showers (cross of the golden and the pink and white), papaya trees, mango trees, ginger plants, bird of paradise plants, and palm trees. Date palms, coconut palms, travelers palms, the one with the incredible fruit on it that I looked up but will have to go look up again (Pandanus, that is the one). And we are planning on ratting my daughter out to the yearbook committee at her school, as the child is an absolute terror with a camera. I had to threaten mayhem to get her to give it up so I could take the occasional picture. Still, she has talent in that area, so it wasn't all bad.
We got to see the little fish with the big name at the Waikiki Aquarium, Little Humuhumunukunukua'puaha'a. The name means, (and we looked it up in the Hawaiian/English dictionary I got) "Trigger fish with a nose like a pig's". So now we call idiot drivers Nukunukua'puaha'as, as that means pig nosed. I bought a couple of compact discs of vintage music (and learned that ukulele means jumping flea) and a couple of craft books, One has directions for making crocheted leis. I now have a very interesting collection of yarn (purchased since I got home) for making said leis. I also got a book for making ribbon leis, which are a bit more labor intensive, but exceedingly yummilicious. I'll post more about these as I play with my ribbons and yarns to make some.
Took The Bus (so called because it was the only one for a while, although there are other public transport systems now, namely trollies, although they are not on tracks, it is just that they are built like trolley cars elsewhere) to a couple of places. Also so called because there used to be "The Boat" to get from island to island. I think people use planes now. You wouldn't believe how far apart the islands actually are. Atlas photos/map books do not give a good sense of scale. Anyway, wandered around the grounds of Iolani castle which was definitely built on the European type of house plan. Just across the largish street in front of the castle grounds is the iconic statue of King Kamehameha I, and behind him is the courthouse. A couple of blocks down from that is the Mission Museum, which has guided tours but we missed one by a couple of hours and the next one was a couple hours away, so we perused the gift shop items and talked to the woman who worked there. She really liked the earrings and necklace I was wearing, and which I had made. She also asked if I sold stuff, and if so, if I lived in Hawaii. I think she may have been fishing for another supplier, so if I ever do decide to move to Hawaii, I will possibly have a way of funding myself.
I also found a fabric store, and picked up some of what is called "bark cloth" but it is not the stuff that actually is bark cloth. The stuff they sell as bark cloth is made of cotton, and is so called because it has a rough texture reminiscent of the real stuff. If you google tapa or kapa you can find out all about the real thing. The piece of cotton I got has an all over pattern of pale green palm fronds, on a pale blue background. I am thinking of doing a bell pull with an applique pattern of hibiscus on it, using some of my dupione silks for the flower petals.
Sorry about the lack of pictures here, we haven't downloaded them yet (nine days, 600+ photos--told you the child was busy) but once I do, I'll upload some. May take a couple of weeks to sort through them all--yikes!
THE Magpie
