Coffee / Ghost Lamp

Kerry (Top) . Tara (Bottom)

Kerry: Coffee - This is a coffee plant at the Dole Plantation. If I were ever to own a coffee shop, this picture would so be in a big frame on the wall. [This is a backup entry. I am traveling and was unable to get to a computer to upload a picture today.]

Tara: Ghost Lamp - I bought this lamp a couple of years ago because I think it is so tacky, it's cute. I figured I would put it in my future daughter's room one day. It's a funky looking flower with jewels dangling from it. You can't see it at this angle, but the base is a stem with leaves.

This was taken with morning light from the window and it made it look kind of creepy.

Shimmery / Curly Tree

Kerry (Top) . Tara (Bottom)

Kerry: - Shimmery - When it rains in Hawaii, it almost always stops very quickly. I took this picture while taking a walk shortly after an afternoon rainshower. I love, love, love plumeria scattered on the grass, and this one had so many raindrops on it that it shimmered in the sunlight. (Click on it to see the full-sized version; you'll be able to see the droplets better.) [This is a backup entry. I am traveling and was unable to get to a computer to upload a picture today.]

Tara: Curly Tree - This is one of my favorite plants just because it's so weird. It's called a Pony Tail Palm. It's maybe a foot high and looks like a mini palm tree.

Now With Flavor! / Mini Tree

Kerry . Tara

Kerry: Now With Flavor! - We are getting on a plane at 11:30PM tonight. I bought little "juice boxes" of soymilk, in the hopes that I will be able to get them through security. (Seeing as how they're factory sealed and all.) The last time we flew out at night (before we knew that Brandon was lactose intolerant), we weren't even able to find whole milk at the airport. So I know I won't be able to find soymilk.

Anyway, I just love the way it's labeled. "New! Great Taste!" Because, you know, the old recipe tasted like bottled ass.

(By the way, I will be gone for two weeks. I have uploaded "backup" entries for each day that I'll be gone in case I can't make it to a computer.)

Tara: Mini Tree - On the normal walk my son and I do, there is a particularly wooded part. This little leaf was growing out of the sidewalk and it looked like a mini tree. I couldn't get my camera to focus on the leaf itself so the picture didn't come out exactly like I wanted but I still like it.

Revenge of the 99 Cent Store / Twisty Bamboo

Kerry (Top) . Tara (Bottom)

Kerry: Revenge of the 99 Cent Store - I have several pictures in my Flickr photostream of things I've found at the Marukai 99 cent store (cheap crap - and some steals - imported from Japan). This is a (very cool looking) bento box that I bought two of the other day. (I got one pink, one blue.) They don't actually stay closed and I have to put a rubber band around them to keep the pieces together, but I don't care. They're still the coolest thing ever. They say "feel at ease... enjoy a quiet lunch time while feeling a season. nature put a person at his ease". Awesome.

Tara: Twisty Bamboo - Kerry gave me this bamboo plant when we were both living in New Orleans and she and her husband were about to move to Hawaii. They were three stalks of twisty bamboo. When we moved from New Orleans to Memphis, I put this plant in the cupholder. I love it so much. Since Kerry has had them, there have been some changes. I had to change vases to a bigger one because they are so tall now and just recently, one of the bamboo broke. It's still alive just considerably shorter than the others. I hope the next place we get stationed, we get to drive to because I don't want to get rid of it for awhile. My dream is that someday I can give it back to Kerry when we are about to move. This means that we will live in the same city one day. That would be nice.

Spring Week: Lace / A Bug's View

Kerry . Tara

Kerry: Lace - Brandon is always picking up plumeria blossoms from the ground. He invariably picks up ones that have browned a bit, and since he isn't exactly delicate with them, they get more and more bruised as he holds them. They aren't what most of us would call "pretty" but they are absolutely fascinating to him. It made me think about how things that are imperfect and past their prime can be pretty in their own way. This is a bug-eaten leaf on the same hibiscus bush from Tuesday.

Tara: A Bug's View - I took this picture by putting my camera in the middle of this branch. I think it's a fir tree of some kind but I know next to nothing about Botany.

Spring Week: Fuzzy Seeds / Smashed Handprint

Kerry . Tara

Kerry: Fuzzy Seeds - Spring in Hawaii is weird because there are falling leaves and seed pods - neither of which are things that happen in the spring where I'm from. It's almost like they took all of the seasons and smushed them all together into the month of May.

Tara: Smashed Handprint- This is my son with his hand pressed against the screen door. (Well actually I guess it's a plexiglass door since there is no screen.) It's been getting nicer and nicer outside, so this day we let him play in the sprinkler and then the dirt.

Spring Week: Pink and Green / Furry Trees

Kerry (top). Tara (bottom)

Kerry: Pink and Green - This is some kind of succulent (the class of plant that cacti and aloe belong to) in a pot in my neighbor's yard. Obviously they don't put too much effort into taking care of it, since the pot is now also full of grass. I thought the colors looked nice and spring-y.

Tara: Furry Trees - After living on this base for a year and a half, we found this really pretty nature walk behind some buildings we never go to. It's fairly close to our house, so I think I'll be integrating into our daily walks.

The only bad part about this nature walk is that there is poison ivy and oak everywhere. You have to stay on the path or you will pay for it with lots of itching. I found these trees neat looking because they are covered with poison ivy, and in the sunlight, they looked furry to me.