June 30, 2007

Gecko gathering

There was a party on my carport tonight. I wasn’t invited. The guests actually hid when I first arrived. I arranged my face appropriately, expecting them to pop back out and shout “Surprise!” I hung back in the shadows on the lanai to give them a chance to arrange themselves. My mind wandered as I waited … and waited … and waited. Maybe they were wrapping my gifts? The new Iz CD, perhaps? Maybe they’d gone big budget and had booked me for the cruises I’ve always wanted to take to Australia and Alaska? Jewelry - yeah, jewelry would be nice. As I considered the possibilities I saw a few of the guests begin to creep back out. Hors d’oeuvres were being served and they were snatching them up, not realizing, I guess, that the guest of honor still lurked just out of sight. The remaining guests suddenly reappeared and a feeding frenzy ensued. They were literally crawling all over each other in their mad rush to feast. I began to realize that my earlier assumptions had been wrong. No tasty tidbits were being resereved to satisfy late arrivals. I was an unwanted guest in my own home.

I couldn’t cling to my resentment. They had adapted to my presence, so at least I didn’t need to feel like a party crasher. Actually, a couple of handsome fellows began preening and showing off, making me realize that I had been noticed and found desirable. One was practically doing headstands in his efforts to impress me. I found it all quite flattering as he sauntered closer, flirtatiously licking an eyeball with his long, sensusous tongue in an age-old pre-mating ritual. He whispered sweet nothings in my ear. It took me a moment to sort out what he was saying in his sexy Australian accent. I’m still not sure I deciphered correctly, but I’ll figure it all out tomorrow night when we meet for our first date. I don’t know where we’re going, but apparently I’ll be driving. He seems extroidinarily interested in my car.

Technorati Tags: geckos, Hawaii, humor

June 27, 2007

More from the Waianae Boat Harbor

When I visited the harbor last week I found the wrecked plane and blogged about it. There was more to see at the harbor, though, that I’m only just getting around to sharing. It’s a small boat harbor, too shallow for the big tour boats, cruise ships and commercial shipping that keep Honolulu Harbor buzzing. Most of the boats here belong to local fishermen, dive boat operators and a few smaller tour operators. Sail boats are berthed here, too.

This young man had not had a catch yet when we spoke, but said he catches fish here most days. He was on the next dock over when I first noticed him. I think it was my picture-taking rather than a search for a sweet spot to drop a hook that drew him nearer.

One of life’s simple pleasures - watching the water shush in and out of a mini coral cave at the harbor’s edge. I’m not a good enough photographer to capture the small fish and crabs that slid in and out of the opening and scrambled on the rocks with each wave. Kind of like Six Flags for sea creatures.

I watched this fellow for half an hour and took about twenty shots before I finally caught him in shallow enough water to get his picture. He lives in the calm waters of the harbor, so his shell does not get scoured by the ocean surf and is covered with algae. He’s a Green Sea Turtle, called honu in Hawaiian.

Technorati Tags: boats, fishing, harbor, Hawaii, honu, photos, Waianae Boat Harbor

April 26, 2007

Natural pest control

I don’t do a whole lot of pesticide applictions outside. My neighborhood is overrun with feral cats, so treating for fleas has to happen on a regular basis. That requires broacast treatments about every three months. There’s no getting away from that. Other than the fleas, though, I pretty much let nature take it’s course. I have plenty of these guys hanging around, and a lot of geckos, too. They’re pretty good at keeping things under control. I especially like seeing them in and around my herb garden, because I don’t ever apply pesticides in that yard or garden. My dogs don’t have access to that side of the house, so I even exclude the area when doing the flea treatments. Pesticides would kill off the chameleon lizards and geckos, but they thrive happily in the herb garden. Win/win!

Technorati Tags: lizards, chameleon lizards, natural pest control, life in Hawaii, gardening

April 8, 2007

Pikake

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Based strictly on my own anecdotal evidence, pikake (jasmine, Jasminum sambac) is the second-most popular fragrant bloom in Hawaii. Pronounced “pee-kah-kay” in Hawaiian, it is another post-contact import and very popular in lei-making. I knew that it is used in making perfumes, but discovered only today that it is also used to flavor tea. You know I’ll have to try that soon! The large shrub outside my gate and its keiki (child) in my side yard offer double blooms. Both get direct sun throughout most days, so I’m not sure why the one out front is growing wildly out of control and the keiki is a scrawny little thing. What I do know is that both are bearing heavily now and there’s not enough benedryl on this island to keep my allergies at bay. Beauty always comes with a price!

Technorati Tags: pikake, life in Hawaii, flowers, gardening, flowering shrubs

April 1, 2007

Plumeria

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Last year I was reading a contemporary fiction story about a mainland American woman and her experiences upon moving to Hawaii. Throughout the book she referred numerous times to frangipani. Having lived here for a dozen years, I could not understand why she stated that the fragrant flower grew everywhere. I’d heard of frangipani in literary references before, but had no clue what it was or why I had not met it yet. When I finally thought to look it up, I understood. Called frangipani in Mexico and South America, it is locally known as plumeria, and it is indeed ubiquitous. Named melia in Hawaiian, they are so popular that most people here assume that they’re indigenous, but plumeria arrived as an import after Western contact. As I menioned in my last post, I react with typical allergy symptoms to its presence, but there is no getting away from it in Hawaii. I have a plumeria tree in my own yard and mostly just allow it to take care of itself. I started it from a cut stem perhaps six to eight inches long right after I bought the house ten years ago and it stands at about ten or twelve feet now. I’ve cut it back frequently because it is prone to whitefly and aphid infestations, difficult to treat in taller trees. I’m not sure what height they can attain, but there are twenty-footers in my neighborhood. New-growth branches are rubbery in look and touch, but will break with a crisp snap under pressure, so this is not a tree for climbing or propping a ladder in. Any break unleashes an oozing tide of white sap, looking and feeling much like white glue and quite poisonous, so gloves are recommended and frequent hand-washing essential when handling plumeria (though, in truth, everyone here handles them and I’ve never heard of a poisoning case. Still, better safe than sorry.) I’ve seen some trees that were never pruned and branched out to cover a circumference of twenty to thirty feet.

My plumeria blooms year-round. There are brief die-backs in blooming, but I’ve never seen a plumeria completely denuded of blossoms. I always know when a hula competition is coming up because word has gotten around that my flowers are abundant and free for the picking. Even girls too young to sew their own costumes are expert lei-makers and proud of carrying on the tradition of gathering the raw materials needed. I love to hear the call from outside my gate, “Auntie, can I pick plumeria for my lei?” They are also one of the most popular blooms found at the airport lei stands and other shops around the island. Their heady fragrance is a bonus when a single flower is tucked behind an ear. Though most women don’t bother, there are little test tube-like clips that can help keep them in place and keep sap from making a sticky mess of ones hair.

You can learn more about plumeria and see some of the other color varieties in this Wikipedia article.

Technorati Tags: plumeria, life in Hawaii, flowers, gardening, flowering trees