Showing posts with label Nature. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nature. Show all posts

April 8, 2012

Rainbow Eggs

Clockwise from top: Hot water mixed with blueberries, green tea, parsley, cranberries, turmeric, and espresso.
 Yesterday, I was trying to come up with a way to attractively display the deviled eggs I usually bring to my dear friend and neighbor's annual Easter gathering. I found this website on pinterest. The pastel-colored-eggs are gorgeous but foreign colors for foods can be alarming (purple ketchup?). And food dye's have a bad rap in general. For years I've been meaning to experiment with dyeing eggs from sources from nature. From the research I did (Martha Stewart) they produce more subtle, elegant colors. 

After getting some ideas off the interwebs and checking my kitchen, I ended up using: coffee, frozen cranberries, frozen blueberries/blackberries, green tea, turmeric, and parsley, which I ran through our beloved juicer.
 Pretty and pastel-y, like I hoped!
I wanted to mix in the dill and parsley but in the end allowed people the option by serving on the side.
 I was worried the coffee one would taste too strong--it wasn't. 
 We were lucky to form a quality group of friend our first year living here. Our friends are grad students and spouses, who moved here from other parts of the country. We live in the same complex, so borrowing stuff and watching TV shows in pajamas is our normal.  Without family accessible, we're forced to rely on each other for community in ways you might not have to when living in a familiar place. Recently, we've seen dear friends move on to bigger and better things and leave us. Our time in this humble community has an end in sight. Year five is drawing to a close and I know that someday we wont be carving pumpkins together, crowding around for Thanksgiving, or celebrating Easter together in style. In the meanwhile, I try to live in the moment (and take lots of pictures) so I'll remember these good ole days.

February 8, 2012

Swan Lake

Andrew's birthday weekend was super low key. We went to the beach twice...and got in the water Sunday. I also decided to revamp my old camera habit. My iPhone has been my camera since I got it. Why lug around two? Anyway, while I am due to invest in a big heay REAL real camera, I broke out my Panasonic Lumix.
Walking down a dirt road...
...to the nearby "lake."
Another cute couple....
Pretty (hungry?) swans in the background did a little show for us. I love the self-timer, and precariously balancing my camera; I'd never dare ask a stranger for a picture. Though I am quite comfortable around people I know, I have severe stranger danger (I'm shy).

Happy 29th birthday A-ditty!

June 16, 2011

Maryland Climbing

I am in the great state of Maryland, just outside of DC. I am enjoying the balmy Spring/Summer weather and the company of my family. We had a delightful hike along the Potomac yesterday.
I love the green, lushness of summer. Very different than dry California.
In this way, the East Coast reminds me more Hawaii. 
My dad, the arborist and climber.... playing in his parent's backyard while I serve as ground crew. 


I am learning a few new trees to ID...
crepe myrtle,
dogwood,
pin oak,
and weeping cherry. 
I really like plants.

July 28, 2010

The Aina: Maui

 
Fly into Maui at sunrise...patchwork quilt of sugarcane.

The drive home: House of the Sun, Haleakala--
A beautiful mountain, she stands all alone so peacefully.


Paia Town: sugarcane burns in the background

How we get our sugar.

Night photographry attempt. Paia Bay after sunset.

View from other direction: the tranquil summer waters.

"Ua Mau Ke Ea O Ka `Aina I Ka Pono" 
"Life of the Land is Perpetuated in Righteousness"  
State Motto and intro to the heartbreaking song by Iz.

May 23, 2010

Silk Factory

We've been studying the magic of metamorphosis. 
With silkworm caterpillars.
They ONLY eat mulberry leaves. 
Not cabbage, not the milkweed of monarchs,
not the ice cream of Eric Carle's lore.
Fortunately, we have one of these pretty trees at school.
Like Very Hungry they do have a voracious appetite.
When the children aren't around you can hear them munching.
I find it meditative and soothing, like hearing snowflakes land.
They no longer exist in the wild and depend on the
human love of their lustrous cocoons for survival.
Using a paintbrush, they're delicately transferred
leaf-to-leaf so they can find fresh sustenance.
And this, my grown-up-friends, is where silk comes from.
With the cultivation required it is a wonder that it's so accessible.
This experience made me quite conscious of the
raw-silk wedding dresses I tried on.

April 18, 2010

Green & Gold Hiking


Winter rain =Golden hillsides.

Poppyful

Cold Springs!

Mossacious or Mossalicious? 

March 11, 2010

Views from La Perouse

Hiking around La Perouse Bay on our last Maui trip. La Perouse was a French explorer who anchored at this site in 1786. This place is now a protected area. As the sign says, show the dolphins aloha.
I think this was the last place lava flowed on the island.
Oooh, don't silver, green, and black look sophisticated together?
 
Parking in the lava.

Wild billy goat in a prickly kiawe grove.

February 18, 2010

The Brilliance of Cloudy Days


The thing I love about cloudy days...

Is the incredible dimension added to the world.

I have a healthy obsession with film grain mode.

And the moon.

Please remember to look up.  

January 5, 2010

Dedicated to my Siblings


Forrest Walker,
Green and gold can
Describe my only brother.

Holly Mahina,
Timeless grace and
Constant cheer.

Lantana Kolea,
Wild, thorny,
Bright and unique.

December 24, 2009

Merry Christmas!


Igloo-icious

Celebrating my first white Christmas.

Cheerful guardian.

Merry Christmas all!

December 22, 2009

Elephant Seals, Central Coast


Staring us down with those innocent eyes.


Twins!


The pick of the litter.


The chest bump: males begin the dance for dominance.

Open wide!  They make the funniest sound. 

The California Central Coast and Highway One are definitely worth checking out.

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