Worlds Smallest Ice Cream Shop!

This is Gammys Ice Cream store in downtown Hilo, this has got to be the smallest, dinkiest, tiniest little shop ever. Its just kinda STUCK on to the side of this building...with a cute little out doors seating area, and really good Dragonfruit sorbet! And awesome latte! Oh, and the chocolate chocolate chip ice cream is totally decadent!

Parrots in Hawaii?

This is called a Parrots Beak Heliconia and it is growing at a friends home in Hilo, I love the way the leaf grows from the beak...it looks like it is sticking its tongue out at us.

Kalani Tropicals has a wonderful site chock full of great information. As far as I know there are no endemic Parrots in Hawaii, though there are rumours of a budgie community in a kipuka on the Kohala coast.

Yummy Bananas...

A while back I posted a photo of a banana flower just starting to open, this one is well into its production period. There must be at least 6 hands on the tree... a hand is one bunch, I guess they are called that because of the resemblance to a persons hand.

I believe these are the Williams variety, one of my favorite varieties is the Apple Banana, they are about a third of the size and very sweet, and the Lady Finger Bananas are even tinier! But they are all tasty!

Yellow Ohias and Happy Honey Bees!

These bees enjoyed this rare Yellow Ohia even more than I did! Usually the Ohia bloom is a bright primary red but Occasionally they come in a few other color variants, yellow is rare but very beautiful...

Ohia trees are used for many things in Hawaii, the new leaves and blooms for Leis and decoration, and the wood itself for fence post, house railings, furniture (similar to twig furniture), and a especially pretty piece of wood (usually the whole tree trunk) about 6-10 inches around, may be used as a corner post or a feature point on a stairway, etc... we also get really tasty Ohia Flower Honey from our friends the Honey bees!

Angels Trumpet and Blue Skies Above...

This is one of my favorite flowers, but it goes by so many names! I have labeled it with my favorite but in addition to Angels Trumpet, I have heard Devils Horn, Devils Trumpet, Cucumber Flower (the bud looks like a cucumber), Angels Horn, Gabrielle Flower, etc... I am not sure where it originally comes from originally, but I saw it for the first time in Hawaii, it also comes in a very soft pink and a creamy color as well as the white.

One of the neatest things about this plant is that the blooms hang upside down, to get this shot I was on the ground looking up, which gave it a nice back lighting affect and some pretty blue sky behind it.

Mahalo to everyone who was concerned over our brush with Flossie, she has weakened and moved further out to sea, I personally don't know of anyone who received any damage from the Hurricane, thank goodness! Sometimes it can be a little spooky to be reminded that we are on a little rock in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and this week was down right creepy! First we had Flossie the Hurricane, then we receive a 5.4 earthquake from the Volcano, and just today we received a Tsunami warning from that terrible earthquake in Peru! That earthquake in Peru sure does put everything in perspective though, those poor people.

Reminder To Self: Be Thankful!

Roof Top Bougainvilleas In The Flossie Rain...

This is a quick glimpse of the roof top outside my office, Scott put these gorgeous Bougainvilleas in pretty pots on the roof top when we moved in a few months ago and we all sat back and waited for them to die... Turns out, they LOVE it! The Hotter the better! Look at them blooming and they are growing like mad as well, you can now easily see them from the street, where as when they were planted you couldn't hardly see them at all.

Hurricane Flossie is giving us plenty of rain and a little wind but that's pretty much it, the weather right now is definitely no worse than some we get during the rainy season, so it is looking like the Big Island is going to miss the Big Hit once again...Thank Goodness!

You may have heard about the 5.4 earthquake we got Monday night? That was just Pele rumbling and stretching a bit, the quake occurred near the Pu'u O'o vent of Kilauea volcano, it is still active and providing us with more land each day, thanks Madam Pele! Over all we had a few crooked pictures and some cracked drywall...not to bad. I would rather the "sleeping giant" lets off steam this way then swelling and swelling to someday go pyroclastic on us! Really, its all good...some cigarettes & rum and everyone is happy! (for the volcano goddess silly! But I'll take any extra rum...)

Yahoo! It's Avocado Season!

I waited through the long winter without these buttery creamy tasty yummies, and then this spring I cheered on the bees buzzing in the blooms (pollinate you buggers, pollinate!), and all summer long I have been watching the little green bumps swell and promise to become the best crop ever! Now we are sooo close...maybe a few more weeks til AVOCADO TIME!


I just can't wait...i really love avocados...maybe as much as my girlfriends dog "Hoa"... He is a Avocado farmer...every season its a race to see who gets to the tree first (him or her), then he steals avocados and goes and buries them where she wont look until its to late, then "hey presto" he has another tree! He really loves them...maybe as much as me!

Do Clown Figs Taste Funny?

Ok...I know that joke was a real groaner, but I could not resist.

This gorgeous plant is called a clown fig and it is growing at a friends home in Hilo, it is probably the most beautiful plant i have ever seen! Truly gorgeous, about 20 feet tall, 10-15 feet side to side and very full & lush...

I have not seen anything rating that the figs are safe for human consumption, but the birds sure seem to enjoy them...

Puakenikeni In The Morning...

This lovely Puakenikeni was just glowing the other morning...this particular plant has the largest blooms of any Puakenikeni I have ever seen! Just the petal spread alone is almost the size of my palm! And the perfume is incredible...

Puakenikeni translates into 10 cent flower, referring when, back in the day, the lei stringers in Honolulu would sell a string of 100 Puakenikeni blooms for 10 cents! Boy, those where the days! At least if you where buying cheap leis, can you imagine trying to make a living of 10 cent leis?

It is one of the few leis that has three separate lives...it always smells wonderful but on the first day it is alabaster white, by the second day it a soft buttery yellow and the third day it is a strong creamy orange. All forms are beautiful, but it is nice to know what the changes are so you can coordinate with your out fit!

You may enjoy a visit to Plant Creations Nursery site, really great resource!