Night Blooming Cereus

I have this weird plant that blooms only once a year and only at night.
Last night was THE night, so I watched the plant as the softball-sized blooms opened around 10PM. I've named her Audrey II.

4PM

6PM

8PM

10PM

Debbie and Colleen Visit

Debbie and Colleen come to visit about this time every year. This was the second year that we've done the Kona Village Stroll together.

Every third Sunday of the month, they close Ali'i Drive and local vendors show their wares. And there's food and entertainment. But mostly, it's about the shopping. We got there just as it opened and stayed until it started to rain. And we had a wonderful lunch at Kona Village Inn too!!!!!!!!!!!

Last year at the Stroll, I got new artwork for my remodeled bathroom and kitchen.

This year, I loaded up on Lilikoi Butter and scented soaps and Christmas presents. We were all charmed by these - made by a Pahoa artist:

They are kinda like snow globes. You shake or just flip them over to create an entirely new shell scene. 

Debbie and Colleen go home tomorrow but I hope I'll see them next year.

And even MORE Lava

My neighbor Steve spent the night at the lava sight two nights ago to get these pictures of lava at sunrise...

Barbara, Steve, and Jeff Visit

Megan is back in school at Purdue, so Barbara and Steve came without her this year. Barbara's brother, Jeff, joined us this time.

Here's how we began every morning...

And here's how we ended every evening...

Sophie had her share of fun at the dog beach...

More Lava

Steve's friend, Jack Jeffrey, is a local professional wildlife photographer. He was recently down at the lavafall. He got really up close and personal where the lava hits the water.

Madame Pele

I know you've all heard about the recent volcano activity (even the BBC gives almost daily reports). I finally went over to see what all the fuss was about. It was a bit of a commitment -- a 2-hour drive followed by a 4-mile hike. The parks department had people checking you out before you started the hike. Did you have enough water? Were you wearing the right shoes? And did you have a flashlight?--Most of us would be making the return hike in TOTAL DARKNESS.

The summary of the hike is this: It was long. It was hot. The recently laid (and now totally cooled) lava that we crossed was gorgeous. And then we got to the new, hot lava. There it was, just minding its own business and slowly trickling down the hill and into the ocean.

Now I'll just show pictures...
(Keep in mind that anything red is in motion and usually coming right at you! We could get 5-10 feet from the moving lava before it got too too hot and we had to back up!!!))

The surface of the hellish hot lava was constantly cooling and blackening
and curling itself into gorgeous ripples.

This blob was about a foot thick and putting out SO much heat!
Even from 10 feet, it felt as if I were sticking my face right into a campfire.

 Everyone was getting as close as they dared
with their cameras, phones, and selfie sticks.

Yes, that's flame inside this glob.

I would estimate that the lava on a slope like this was
moving at about 6 inches per second. Every now and then, it would suddenly surge
and people would scramble like cucarachas.

And all the while, Mother Nature was smiling on us with this rainbow.

My videos are too large to upload to this blog, so here they are on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/YiMNnfI69oI

https://youtu.be/bKxucca-MEM

Building a Raised Garden

Physical labor is REALLY laborious in the tropics. There's never a cool season for doing garden work... There's never a cool time of day...

I had to just suck it up and do as much as I could when I could. I've accepted that everything takes me a long, long time, but eventually it all gets done. 

Here's a progressive photo of the new raised garden bed.

(Sorry for the small size. The scale was a blogspot limitation. You can zoom the page if you really need to see more.)

If you care about the actual scale, the straight walls are each 12 feet long and it's about 18 inches deep. The total area is ~110 sq feet.

The soil you see there now is native garden soil and prone to root knot nematodes. I've planted mustard to "kill" the nematodes. When it matures, I'll till the mustard into the soil, fill it to the top with bagged, sterile soil, and plant my new garden. I'll alternate garden/mustard/garden/mustard for the rest of my life.

I actually kept track of all the hauling I did from the driveway -- down several sets of stairs -- to this garden at the far, lower end of the yard. 1000 pounds of soil ... 1500 pounds of stacking stones ... 350 pounds of post piers. The straight walls are reclaimed Trex from the previous owner's playground.

Whew!