Kauai Trip: a fowl situation

One thing the guide books all mentioned was the chicken population.

The Red Junglefowl or Moa (Gallus gallus) were originally introduced by the Polynesian colonist. The males are stunning with bright colors and distinctive red combs. Sickle shaped feathers reminded me of leaves from the Koa tree. The wild population resides inside Koke’e State Park, but there certainly were plenty of feral ones throughout the island. These images were taken from the picnic area by Koke’e Museum/park headquarters.

They were everywhere!

Hens lacked distinctive coloration. Their job is to blend in.

Why are they so captivating?

Handsome devils!

Broaaaaack?!

I’ve had a fascination with chickens for many years. In the Chinese zodiac calendar, I’m year of the rooster. Maybe that explains why.  Probably stems from the joy of picking up hens at my cousins grandmothers farm near Santa Cruz CA. A hen laid a memorable egg on my foot as I lifted her off the nest.

Too much chickens…

Next posting: Ferns

Kauai Trip: the hike to nowhere

While visiting the Koke’e State Park, we decided to take advantage of our Jeep rental and a new map with directions to trail heads. After rocking and rolling over some rough road (whacking the head a couple of times on the door), and back tracking a few times, we arrived. Or was it really the place? Our map mentioned that it might not be kept up. Humm… that was probably the first warning we should have heeded, but the adventure was there!

The rental Jeep:

We set off on a “trail” and had to pass through some obstacles. There was the dam/spillway over the stream, the fallen trees to maneuver through, and then the muddy slope with no hand holds. After a couple of attempts up the overly steep slope, the group turned around. There had to be another route to the destination. The next photos are from the descent back down the trail.

Shannon wasn’t thrilled about crossing the spillway, but she made it. Kind of hard to trust rotting boards.

Upstream from the spillway we discovered a picturesque area.

Kim in a happy spot!

A couple of photos of plants. Not certain what they were.

If we had traveled down the road farther we might have arrived at the correct trail. Truthfully, I don’t even know what trail we were going for. At least we had fun exploring!

Next posting: “Something Fowl on this island…”

2pm surgery schedule

Lee finally is tentatively scheduled for his procedure Friday.  There were huge gaps of information passing between patient and hospital.  Lee had agreed last night on opting into the surgery, not like he really had another choice.  Somehow the upper folks/surgeons didn’t get that message.  Kim had to “get medieval” , (her term, not mine), and find common ground to start again (with lots of help from the nurses and physical therapist). The hospital was ready to discharge him since he was refusing the surgery ( kicking out a man who is in such intense pain… not a good plan folks!).

Anyway, if he can’t get in on Friday, the the surgeon will do the procedure on Saturday.  It will be done in the next two days.

That’s the news that’s fit to print!

Kauai Trip: Kalalau Valley on Na Pali coastline

If one continues up the road from Waimea Canyon overview they will encounter the dramatically different view. These images are taken from Pu’u O Kila Lookout.  We visited twice during the day. Some locals let us know that early morning is often the best chance for cloud breaks. We had arrived around 11am and the clouds were thick.

Below: Dave & Mike waiting for clouds to part.

Waiting for a view… Shannon on far right, Dave to her left.

Fortunately, the inland view was much better.

Once clouds dissipated around 3pm, the view of Kalalau Valley was spectacular.

Still a bit of clouds passing through…

The Ohi’a lehua (Metrosideros polymorpha) is one of the taller flowering trees in this area. Ohi’a trees were used in many Hawaiian traditions ranging from leis, wood carving &  house construction. Their elegant red flowers attract not only honey bees but the beautiful endemic ‘Apapane bird. I felt fortunate to witness several that day moving through the trees. Apapane’s are red just like Ohi’a flowers.

Ohi’a bloom with honey bee.

A happy Dave!

Next blog entry will be “The Hike to Nowhere!” aka Dave’s adventure.

Surgery tomorrow?

Lee will most likely be heading into surgery Thursday. He’s pretty pissed off at all the doctors because they won’t listen to him or give him any respect. Now if we can just keep Kim from coming unglued tomorrow…
We also found out tonight a friend was just diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. Strange strange times. Makes me feel very grateful for what I do have in my life.

Kauai Trip: Waimea Canyon

Lesson number one: always check your batteries and camera storage capacity BEFORE leaving on a tropical vacation. Our first day out was to explore the north shore up around Hanalei, Limahuli Garden & Preserve ($15 entry fee), Haena and what ever else we could find in that area without my camera. Fortunately 3 other cameras were snapping images. What we discovered were beautiful vistas, lush jungle and loads of  mosquitoes at the gardens. Please remember to take good bug spray when visiting the garden. The park does offer lavender oil spray which seemed to work for some. The plants were good to see and they provided a nice publication for future reference. The mosquitoes provided me with days of scratching pleasure… 17 bites on one leg, 15 on the other plus extra for each arm.

The next day was spent exploring Waimea Canyon and Koke’e Park. This post will show the canyon photos.

Visiting the canyon is worth the drive. Canyon facts: it is 1,500 to 2,500 feet deep, 2-2.5 miles across and runs 13 miles from north to south. Pretty impressive for a small island!

The first couple of shots were taken around noon. Can you spot the sheets of rain heading in our direction?

The next shot was taken around 4pm. Rain had cleared and the sun setting.

Kauai Trip: starting in Poipu beach area

In early April, with two of my siblings, hubby & big bro’s partner, we  journeyed to Kauai for a family vacation. We ended up staying at the Kuhio Shores condos just outside Koloa & Poipu. Not a bad centralized location.

Below are images from the condo and the crazy cast of characters involved.

Morning looking west and then east.

The cast of characters: Mike & Dave swabbing on lots of sunscreen before heading out.

Smiling & laughing Kim, Shannon & Mike (again).

Rainbows off the lanai, probably a few sea turtles and surfers too.

Back from Kauai & Oahu

We have been out of town for the past 10 days enjoying sunshine & rain in Kauai & Oahu. Photos to come but not until the main computer gets debugged. There are a few photos of Waikiki on my brother’s blog: the S & M’s Adventures link.

Lee will be leaving the hospital today. Yep, the old guy couldn’t make the trip due to back pain that kept getting worse. Ended up being a compression fracture in his spine. The full scoop to come. Needing a bit more sleep before heading to Eugene. Tom came over on Friday night to help Lee & start work on the rentals. I already know what my week will be filled with (rental cleaning! Yuck!)

Botanical Silhouette Serigraphs

The Botanical Silhouette line has started! Cards are currently available and fabric soon to come. A 3.25″ x 3.75″ print is mounted to a Strathmore card with deckle edge and blank interior. Acid free paper is used.

Current images: Filberts – Spring, Bracken Fern, Rose Hips

More images to come by May!

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