Life's a Beach...

...and then you get a blister and need a Sponge Bob band-aid to make it all better!

Megablog

I know I've gone AWOL. Life has been keeping me busy, and it won't really settle until I return from visiting family for the holidays. So here's a month's or better worth of things I need to catch up to date...

Santa's Land at the Queen Ka'ahumanu Center - the turtle with the fuzzy red hat reminds me of my logo for the holidays

One of the few pics of me - here with my sister Dana at Makena Beach

Here's Ana'ole - turtle 4 - the hatchling that I named in the contest at the Maui Ocean Center

A sea urchin spiny thingy

One of my hats on display in the gift shop at the Maui Ocean Center

A puffer fish. He's endearingly cute but was about 18"-24" long and has sharp spines on his body that spike out pin cushion-like when he inflates himself

Just a peaceful beach shot

This place has been around since the creation of the islands. It's an institution in Wailuku

They serve onion rings - tempura style - at a chinese restaurant

Sweet and Sour Chicken with Chow Fun noodles. These noodles are actually sliced like carrot sticks and made from potato dough - YUM!

An offering at the Home Maid Bakery shop

Lunch at Leoda's in Olowalu - Spicy (fresh) tuna salad on thier bread with tomato and butter lettuce. Served in a metal pie tin lined with brown paper

Some of the best fries I have ever had! With an aioli - and ketchup of course

Dana's lunch was Fried Mac and Cheese with a marinara - we both had leftovers...

On the road leading to mine, I see a long neck serpent in the grass

Wild lilikoi (passion fruit) flower

The serpent again

This is how my hats were displayed in the booth for the Haleakala Waldorf Holiday Faire. We had a great location - on an end, at the bottom of a hill and by the second entrance to the event - that really helped with traffic 

The hats are all my fabrics - Surf's Up, Seal Pups, Mermaids of Hana Bay, Hibiscus - and the pillow cases - Cotton Couture, Shell Dot and Gingerbreadtown

Mac and Cheese with Peas, please! Red pepper flakes and Kiawe smoked Hawaiian sea salt. The background is Siren Song - color Rainbow

Grilled Shell-on Shrimp  skewered on fresh Rosemary twigs

The morning of October 15 - my mother's birthday 

Comfort food for lunch - when it rains there is quite a damp chill in Haiku and a lunch like this hits the spot!

Rooster Rumble

This wasn't too violent just two roosters plucking the feathers out of one another - but what a display!

These are boneless version of the  bone in ribs I made when Dana was here. Both were preseasoned with the smoked sea salt and crushed black pepper. Next I smoked them over macadamia nut wood then glazed them with Maui Brewing Company Root Beer Bar-B-Que sauce. Last they cooked slowly to dry them out a bit like chinese roast pork.

 Another ornate rooster and hen

One of several gingerbread boy doll fronts drying before construction

Photos of a Week Around Maui with Sis 2/09-2/16

Here are photos from different locations around the Island as I ran about with my Sistah during her week of vacation...

LEFT: Red Liliko'i or Passionfruit Flower                   

RIGHT: I Don't know what it is, but it looks like Audrey 2 from LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS

LEFT: Bell-shaped flowers from a wild succulent     

RIGHT: As I was told, the rock formation is of a fallen man who lived on the hillside and

           was overtaken by a lava flow when the volcano exploded. It is tradition to leave a

           little gift: I a red hibiscus flower and Dana a Chiclet

Orange lichen on a tree trunk - great design inspiration!

Two wooden figures that greet you at the 'Ulupalakua Ranch Store

This applies to all of you cowgirls as well!

Ahead: A grove of eucalyptus trees lining the road leaving 'Ulupalakua

More design reference - do you see the butterflies as I do?

A herd of pipi, and white egrets that hang around to forage for bugs that are flushed out as the cattle graze

Kahului bay, the airport (red roofs; left), runway and tower taken from Upcountry Maui

Upcountry Maui

The wind farm on the spine of the West Maui mountains as taken from across Maalaea bay

The new turbines being built

Ghost crab

Getting rid of wet sand from the burrow during the excavation process

With a little help from Photoshop these might make incredible stripes in a future collection!

Dana with Boo-Boo Face

Standing in the security check line for the return flight to Newark, NJ

Last but not least: my office mate... I don't know how he got in but he's too quick for me to catch and must be happy because he's been around for months!