Real estate and other stuff

Wandering around the McBryde Gardens, now part of the National Tropical Botanical Garden, was so peaceful. I enjoyed the breeze and the shade from the tall trees. In a section devoted to palms I came upon these lovely palms growing in the shade of a much larger tree.

Many of the trees in the garden are homes to orchids--stay tuned for more photos!

I really want to get one of these trees. I hope it would grow in our garden; I think it might, because I found one last year in the Sunken Gardens. This one was flowering in the fabulous McBryde/National Tropical Botanical Garden on the island of Kauai. First I need to find out what it's called--I think it may be a type of bauhinia. Anybody know?

The seller did a fabulous job remodeling this home, and she and her mom staged it beautifully when it was finished, too. The Northwood neighborhood is a great place to live--one of my favorites! Click the Details tab on the Real Estate Show window for more information on this lovely home.

Our second port of call on the Hawaiian cruise my husband won in a contest (see previous posts) was the island of Kauai. We rented a car and drove from the harbor at Lihue to the National Tropical Botanical Gardens. As we waited for the tram to arrive for our tour, we wandered around the visitors center. I took this photo of a plumeria blossom suspended in mid-air by spiderwebs.

We have some plumerias in our garden; the other name for them is frangipani. Five of them made it through the winter, and one has a big seed pod on it, so we'll be planting more this year.

One of the nicest things about a cruise is seeing the sunrises and sunsets at sea. They are often quite dramatic. We had stormy, foggy, and rainy weather at the beginning and tail end of the cruise (see my previous photo of the fog), but I did get a couple of nice shots of the morning sky from our balcony.

My lucky husband won a cruise to Hawaii online from Princess cruise line. The first place we went after four days at sea was Hilo, Hawaii. Our second stop on the tour was the Ahalanui Beach Park. It has a geothermally heated lagoon for swimming. Although it can be like a hot tub, when we were there the water was just tepid, since sea water is washed into the lagoon when it is stormy, as it had been the previous week.

After sitting quietly for 10 minutes, I got a photo of this shy creature venturing out to see what he could find to eat.

Our first port of call on the cruise to Hawaii that my lucky husband won in a contest was Hilo on the Big Island. We went to a botanical garden at the Pana'ewa Rain Forest Zoo first. It's on our list to go back to when we can spend more time than the tour allowed.

These are red sealing wax palms, so called because of the lipstick-colored new growth on their trunks. It peels off as the trees grow. They look rather like bamboo, but they're palm trees. They are originally from Malaysia and can grow to 20 feet.

Our first port of call in our cruise to Hawaii was Hilo on the Big Island. We went on an excursion to a botanical garden and rainforest zoo. It was lots of fun, and I have more photos to post when I get time.

There were surprisingly few butterflies to be seen, although I guess March is the coldest month in Hawaii so they may have been sheltering. But I did spot one in the plant nursery. It looks like a monarch, or the Hawaiian version of a monarch.

I used to live in Hawaii, so it was ironic that of all the places my husband would win a cruise to, it would be Hawaii. We spent 10 days at sea (which got old) and four days on four Hawaiian islands.

This is the chilliest time of the year in Hawaii, and I never got hot on the ship, either. Close to Los Angeles, both on the first and last days of the cruise, there was rain and fog. I thought the fog looked mysterious and spooky, obscuring the horizon and muffling the sound of the waves.

I will post more photos as I get a chance.

I thought the contrast between the ladybug and the dill flowers and leaves was nice.

Ladybugs just love dill. This one is probably looking for a good place to lay eggs this evening. Their babies hatch into fearsome looking creatures that gobble up aphids and other plant pests. As organic gardeners, we welcome ladybugs, and plant dill as host plants for them and the swallowtail butterflies.