Dragon Fruit Flower

The Walking Man was walking to feed the chickens when he spotted this flower on a dragon fruit stalk. The flower itself is about 7 inches wide. Seeing something so beautiful, he thought of his lovely wife, who is presently in Ireland visiting family and friends. Now, as he writes this post, he thinks: why am I writing in the third person? Must be the heat!

Peace my friends!

Snorkeling at Mauna Lani Bay

We went snorkeling at Mauna Lani with Manono and friends John and Vicky. The water wasnʻt all that clear today, but it was cool to swim around in an aquarium.

Kirsty enjoying her first time snorkeling!

 Mauna Lani bay with the Kohala Mountains in the background. It rained for a few minutes, but we didnʻt mind.

 Coral reefs everywhere, not a blade of grass to be found.

 Lots of sea urchins!

 Parrotfish

 Yellow tang.

Butterfly fish?

Very large coral formations.

 I think this is a pufferfish.

Wearing Manonoʻs yellow bandana to attract the tang fish!

Peace my friends!

Holo Holo Honomu

We took a little break from the farm and drove over Hilo side to a small town called Honomu. Things grow a little bigger on Hilo side!

 This is an avocado tree, planted probably in the 40s. The avocados weigh in around 2-3 pounds each. The girth of the tree is amazing!

Huge papayas as well!

 Gerry (the owner) has a few bees.

 And a koi pond.

And bananas, of course!

 These two hibiscus flowers were the size of medium-sized dinner plates!

We drove a short distance to Onomea bay. Nice place at the top!

We also went for a little dip at Richardson Beach in Hilo.

Black sand makes for disappearing slippas!

Peace my friends!

Kirsty Stripping On the Lanai

Easy now, not that kind of stripping! Kirsty is stripping the ohia logs we are going to use to redo her kitchen.

 John and Vicky from down the road were kind enough to give us some ohia logs they harvested from their property. Kirsty is using a machete to strip the bark off.

Nuff said!

Peace my friends!

Pigs

We have plenty of feral pigs just outside the fence. They love the mac nuts and new shoots in the fields. Kirsty would love to have one over for dinner.

Peace!

Bananas

There are about 70 different varieties of bananas in Hawaii. More commonly, the banana plants have a purple flower that hangs down and the bananas grow above the flower.

I found another type on the farm:

 The flower is located very close to the stalk.

 The bananas are inside the flower and are revealed as the flower opens up.

These might be apple bananas, but I'm not sure. Will have to wait until they ripen to be sure.

Peace my friends!

Ducklings

Just before Hurricane/Tropical storm Iselle hit, I discovered we had nine new Muscovy ducklings. One of the resident ducks brought them in from her nest somewhere outside of the pond enclosure. Apparently what is yellow will turn white as they get older, resulting in black and white ducks.

More pictures when the rain and wind stops!

Peace my friends.