Photohunt Challenge = Public

Our Saturday photohunt challenge was to interpret the word public and here in Hawaii everything is open to the public. One of my regular haunts is this beautiful japanese garden in Hilo called Queen Liliuokalani Gardens right off banyan drive, this is a scenic area with beautiful views of Hilo bay,the town and the Hamakua coastline.

This authentic japanese garden was built in the early 1900's as a tribute to Queen Liliuokalani who was the last reigning monarch in Hawaii before its annexation to the United States. The gardens are also a memorial to the many japanese immigrants that migrated to the Big Island to work at the many sugar plantations during the turn of the century during the annexation period.  Many nationalities of immigrants including the japanese went to Hawaii to work at these plantations and build a new future for themselves and create this new melting pot called Hawaii.

This thirty acre garden is filled with amazing Hawaiian and oriental plantings, intimate and grand walkways, pagodas, beautiful ponds, bridges and vistas to Hilo, the bay and large green areas for picnicking.

One of the favorite areas is this shaded dell with thousands of impatiens blooming underneath these huge monkeypod trees...it just illuminates this shady corner of the park and creates a magical area don't you think?

I just love public gardens like this. Isn't this a great park to just explore and wander, or find a nice shady tree to relax and take a nice long nap with the wind blowing behind your back.

To enjoy other interpretations of public go see http://tnchick.com/

A WorldWide Photowalk

I can't believe I'm waking up at 5am Saturday morning to take some morning pictures with a photo club I've just joined recently here in Hawaii. And now my first photo tour with them is to do a photowalk around Hilo Bay with an early sunrise start.  But this will not be any morning excursion, its a world wide photo walk and competition with over 30,000 registered participants that will compete in one single day of shooting to submit only one photo for consideration as their best work.

A tough thing to do even with our small gathering of over 30 photographers, taking photos in a small area to come up with a unique image captured and explemplify our own work.
It was very hard to choose my best picture since I did quite a few pictures that day, some good, some deleted very quickly and here are my final choices...please help me decide which ones I should submit including the top photo.

This one is tough for me to decide which to submit, please help me decide with your comments below and thank you for your suggestions. 

To view other beautiful scenic sundays today go visit http://scenicsunday.blogspot.com/

A Special Gathering

The weather was gorgeous yesterday, perfect to go to the beach and enjoy the outdoors.

There is nothing better to do on a weekend but to gather outdoors by the ocean and enjoy the company of our Ohana (close friends or non-familial we consider family).  Being outside, getting the grill started and starting to munch on all the amazing appetizers, its what life is all about.



But today is also very special,,,,, good friends and strangers gathered today to celebrate a very dear friend's coming back to our island after a difficult trauma and recuperating timeframe. Our friend Vicky has returned to Hawaii, its also a surprise welcome for her and you can see from the pictures it was a real surprise!

Oh, can you see the pure joy and real aloha everyone is sharing with Vicky, she is the type of person that makes friends with everyone here, from the life guards on the beach, to people she's just met at our local Home Depot -  she makes an immediate impression.....one of pure aloha.  These are the types of generous souls we have living in our island.





There's nothing like greeting your friend's here in Hawaii with fresh leis and flowers to adorn a loved one.

Thank you Vicky and welcome back home to your Hawaii, you light up our little corner of the world today!


To see other beautiful views today go visit http://scenicsunday.blogspot.com/

Oh so Pretty

This weekend, I went to an art collaboration with five artists at the Wailoa Center in downtown Hilo.  At the entrance you are drawn immediately to this free floating cascade of 1001 cranes and want to be immersed in all the colors, forms and patterns presented.


The light and colors pull you in to reach out and admire these paper objects up close and personal.

At a closer view you see that there is a story - and it says that the cranes are made with love and are dedicated to the local Hilo Hospice with any donations. You can take home a whole strand of these lovely pieces home and then leave a nice string/donation card to claim your art piece that you would like to take with you.

It was a very nice gesture ...very simple, yet profound.



It is amazing how the curator, blended so many complementary forms of arts to include a silk/textile artists, a landscape painter, a wood sculpture/wood worker, a cement/sculpture and a glass artist. The Wailoa Center is a beautiful art center with a huge volcano like fountain jutting out into the middle of the open courtyard, really unique and powerful.

If your in Hilo town, come and visit the show at the Wailoa Center, its open for the month.


Thats my world on Tuesday, come and see these other stories at http://showyourworld.blogspot.com/

Free to Enjoy

It's amazing too think alot of what you can see and do here in DC is free and open to the public seven day's a week...The museums here are truly an amazing treasure that is a gift to the public and yes free is good!

The National Gallery of Art is a place one can discover so many unique spaces, artwork and people converging into this amazing space. To have free time to explore these places without a crowd is a real treat!

A whole room devoted to one of my favorite artist, Calder and the amazing free floating sculptures he has created here are captured magnificantly in this space.

I love the free floating forms, the interesting shaddowed affects and the interplay of all the kinetic objects, I can spend alot of time just seeing all the movements.

Aren't the shadows amazing and magical ?

Free for the viewing at one's own time and desire, what a real luxury and generous offering, a true gift....thank you Smithsonian it is wonderful.


To see other interpretations of free go visit http://tnchick.com/

A Coastal Hike to the Golden Gate

Seeing and hiking the Coastal trail by the Golden Gate is even more spectacular when the wildflowers are blooming and the day is just set for being outdoors.

Visiting friends and family in the bay area is always a nice detour from island living especially when I get to be outdoors and seeing nature in a different environment.

The ocean and bay views here are quite spectacular, don't you agree?

I really enjoy coming back to the bay area in California in the summer time especially to take wonderful hikes like this.

To visit other world's on Tuesday go see http://showyourworld.blogspot.com/

Open is the Photohunt Challenge

Open Wide, this is how large the Hippo mouth is when it seizes an opportunity to show its tusks. The animal displays at the Natural Science Museum at the Smithsonian in Washington are really out of this world and so animated like this hippo.

To see more interpretations of Open on the photohunt challenges go to http://tnchick.com/