Memorial Day

Memorial Day weekend is here, so I thought I’d post a bit of red, white and blue. . . .

DSC_1968

DSC_3198

DSC_2194

Formerly known as Decoration Day, Memorial Day originated after the American Civil War to commemorate the fallen Union soldiers of the Civil War. (Southern ladies organizations and southern schoolchildren had decorated Confederate graves in Richmond and other cities during the Civil War, but each region had its own date. Most dates were in May.) By the 20th century, Memorial Day had been extended to honor all Americans who have died in all wars. Memorial Day is a day of remembering the men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces.*

Have a good weekend, everyone. I’ll be back on Wednesday.

{carole}

*source: wikipedia

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Lunch in Koloa

I think my favorite town on Kauai was Koloa. We stopped there for lunch and ended up spending a couple of hours shopping and taking photos.

Koloa street

Lunch was here:

Tomkats sign

Tomkats Grille had a very relaxed, outdoor atmosphere with lots of plants and breezes:

bar

sleeping cat

This cat never budged when people walked up and down the steps.

The burgers were very good, but the dessert was to die for. Macadamia Nut Brownie Sundae!

macadamia brownie

Three of us could barely finish it.

The shops range from art to t-shirts. . . .

surfer girl

One place looked like an old gas station with this “mechanic” and vintage pump:

mechanic + pump

Loved the detail in the guy’s face.

mechanic face

There were some great signs on the building too.

Coke sign

7UP

One more “sculpture”:

Hawaiian + dog

I shared a view of the trees and mountains across the street a while back. Here’s another shot:

Koloa mtns

I love the blue on this fence.

blue fence

We had to be careful not to run over or step on the wild roosters in Kauai. They’re similar to mainland roosters, but are much more colorful. The locals call them “Moa Kane,” or just Moa.

Moa

Someone told me they were brought over by the Polynesians. Legend has it that the only time a rooster crowed at midnight was when Christ was born. There are Rooster Masses at Roman Catholic churches throughout Hawaii, according to the Oahu Island News.

This place may be boarded up, but it still has that beautiful Hawaiian charm, don’t you think?

boarded

My blog posts are going to be a bit sporadic for a while. We are moving in a month and there’s soooo much to do. I do appreciate your patience. And welcome to the new subscribers!

{carole}

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Hawaiian Hues

Have I mentioned how beautiful the colors are in Hawaii? In addition to the luscious greens and the blue Pacific, you’ll see the following:

Hong Kong orchid tree

a vibrant purple Hong Kong orchid tree blossom

Hawaiian shirts

Hawaiian shirts in shades of pink and orange

plumeria

off-white plumeria with yellow centers (On the road to Hana, we stopped and bought leis made from plumeria, and the incredible aroma floated up to us all day long.)

dark pink hibiscus

dark pink hibiscus

phone booth

a blue floral phone booth

red bougainvillea

red bougainvillea in late afternoon sunlight

Paia window

a cotton-candy-pink display window in Paia, Maui

succulents

mint green succulents with rough-hewn timber

wild ginger

the delicate pink bloom of wild ginger

bird of paradise

and the glorious orange and navy blue of a bird of paradise.

Great weekend, everyone!

{carole}

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One Tender Heart

Thought I’d give you a little break from all the Hawaii posts. Here’s a bleeding heart, taken in March. . . .

one tender heart

Hope your week’s going well!

{carole}

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Makawao is Definitely a Wow

One of my favorite towns on Maui was Makawao. According to about.com, one of the most popular rodeos in Hawaii occurs there on July fourth. “Paniolos” were the first cowboys in the United States. Long before there were cowboys in the Old West, paniolos came to Hawaii in the early 1800’s from Mexico to teach the Hawaiians how to herd cattle. We didn’t see much evidence of cowboys, but we did see some great boutiques and art galleries. . . .

Makawao boutiques

A boutique called Collections is housed in an old garage.

Collections

You can see touches of the garage in the ceiling and doors:

lighting

garage doors   tray

They sell all kinds of stuff there, from handpainted chip clips. . .

chip clips

to patchwork chairs,

chair

hand towels with a message,

hand towels

beautiful picture frames,

picture frame

to brightly colored linens.

linen towels

We really liked another boutique, but I’m sorry I didn’t take note of the name. I loved the lighting in this place:

star lights

Again, an eclectic selection.

fabrics

makawao shoes

No photos in the art galleries, of course, but I was happy with what I got.

I should mention that the drive to Makawao takes you through the Upcountry part of Maui where you can see rolling green foothills of the Haleakala volcano and the ocean at the same time:

Upcountry Maui

A belated Happy Mother’s Day!

{carole}

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Luau Skies

We celebrated one of our friend’s birthdays by going to a luau in Lahaina. The Old Lahaina Luau, to be exact.

When we got there, the sky looked like this:

maui sky

Then we felt little raindrops. Oh nooooo, this can’t be happening. Kind of pricey, already paid for, the only night we can go. Miraculously, the rain stopped in just minutes. Not sure what they do if it pours, because the whole thing is outside.

I’d never been to a luau before, so didn’t really know what to expect. I think the biggest surprise was the open bar. All the drinks you wanted, whenever you wanted. I was driving, so stuck with one piña colada, which was really good. The other people at our table were really pounding them back, so it was a party atmosphere all night.

You can sit on pillows on the grass or at tables. We chose the latter.
I do believe the waiters must be incredibly good-looking, have beautiful tans and tattoos to work there . . .

luau waiters

They smiled all night and called us “sweetie” and “darling.” The service was outstanding.

Just before sunset, a guy on the beach got down on one knee and proposed to his girlfriend! She started crying, he did cartwheels. I loved that.
Honestly, can you pick a better setting than this?

Maui Sunset

The aftereffects of the sunset were pretty nice too. . . .

Afterwards

The food? Pretty good. Not fond of the roast pig, but I liked everything else.

The entertainment? Loved the Polynesian dancing. Oh, there were some male dancers wearing loincloths, and those things were flying! The loincloths, that is. The people close to the stage must have gotten an eyeful. 🙂

Here’s a truly terrible iPhone shot of some of the entertainment:

luaudancers

I didn’t bring the Nikon, because I wanted to just enjoy the moments. The little camera that could did all right with the skies, though. . . .

sunsetboats

Great weekend, everyone!

{carole}

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Flying Over Maui

I bought an iPad the week before going to Hawaii, but didn’t use the camera on it until we flew from Maui to Kauai. These were taken through a small, spotty airplane window, but the iPad camera produced some pretty nice results:

flying over maui

That is what I could see through the window. However, when I held the iPad horizontally, I got this:

mauiprop2

It was as if the camera had peripheral vision, or was outside the window. It could see more than I could. Kind of freaky! Maybe that’s part of the whole “retina display” thing? Whatever, it’s pretty cool. I like the way the propeller is caught here too.

Hoping to have a longer post for you on Friday. I came down with food poisoning right before we left California and am still pretty nauseated. Let’s just say Pepto-Bismol is my best friend right now.

Hope you’re having a better week!

{carole}

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Koloa, Kauai

While on the island of Kauai, we stopped in a lovely town called Koloa. When I got out of the car, I looked across the street and saw this view:

Reaching

I love Kauai.

{carole}

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Tropical Bouquet

Between our Maui condo and the parking lot was this beautiful collection of bougainvillea. I’ve seen one or two colors amassed before, but not this many. . . .

Multicolore

You can see more of the purple in this instagram version:

bougainvillea

Hope your week’s going well. . . .

{carole}

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Chillin’ in Lahaina

The town of Lahaina, Maui, was once the capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii and a major whaling center. Now it’s a mix of great shops

Lahaina

maui cruiser

and restaurants where you can have lunch and look at this view of the island of Lanai:

view of Lanai from Lahaina

It was so nice to eat lunch and dinner outdoors! I am really missing that now.

So, Lahaina has lots of bright colors,

maui aloha sign

reminders of days past,

carving

friendly wood carvers,

wood carver

a chilled-out saxophonist

maui saxophonist

and hibiscus in the parking lot:

yellow hibiscus

Although some think Lahaina has gotten too touristy, I have fond memories of the town from my first visit to Maui six years ago. I still like it.
We also went to a luau in Lahaina, but I’ll save that for another time.

Hope your week’s going well. I am going away (again, I know!) for a few days, but will try to upload at least a photo while I’m gone.

{carole}

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