Aloha OY!

I'm going to try to knuckle down this week and do some tidying up and tweaking around the blog and Paradis peripherals.  So while I'm "away" I'm going to treat you to some random Hawaii colors photos.

Have I mentioned that when you leave Hawaii you always feel that someone's turned the lights off?

Have I mentioned how easy it is to grow a pineapple in your own backyard?  Or your allotment by the Ala Wai Canal?  I did!  Just cut the top off the pineapple, plant it in some potting soil and feed and water like a regular house plant. Here's a link that will tell you how to do it.  It took us almost a year to grow a baby baby pineapple.  It was our first and only attempt.  See what you can do!  (And let me know!)

These are called "shower trees" (I thought they were laburnum but they're actually cassia), they bloom in April/May and everybody cheers up when they appear.  Especially after 40 days and 40 nights of rain, like we had in the spring of '06 or '07.  Yes it happens.

I don't know what the purple flower is called.  But they are gorgeous and very long lasting.  This one just floated into my yard from the neighbors'.

And these are the leaves of a not-so-healthy avocado.  But I think they are beautiful.  Hawaiian horticulturists have hybridized many new varieties of avocado.  It's common to have avocado trees in your backyard.  Like Mango trees, the tree may not fruit for a year after it has been trimmed.  Mango trees sometimes take many years to fruit again.   This is a reason residents of Hawaii are in a constant state of having to choose between (and argue with their neighbors about) views and free fruit!  The one is sometimes as precious as the other.