Morning Visitors - Ring Necked Pheasants

The last time we spoke to our new landlord...right before he took his red eye flight off to the mainland for a new life of traveling in his 5th wheel... he warned us very sternly "..and do not shoot the pheasants!"

Well I have to admit I have not completely honored my promise...I sure hope shooting with my camera doesn't count! We've had them visit much closer then these pictures..but they probably would have flown away had I opened the sliding door to 'shoot' them. So here are some shots from this morning..a male was taking in some morning sun as he sat on one of the fence posts across the street. I took these from my deck.





The Ring necked pheasant was introduced to the Hawaiian islands in the 19th century for sport. What makes me sad is that I've talked to some that say they don't do it for the meat but for the pelt(?). I see so many that have the taxidermist do whatever it is they do to it so that they can set up somewhere for show. It really is an amazingly beautiful bird and to see those feathers close up is a neat experience. But I am completely happy observing them from a distance... alive and walking around... and will continue to shoot them but only with my Canon Rebel ;-)

Wordless Wednesday

I miss the Hot Wheels age



want to see more Wordless Wednesday? Visit 5 Minutes for Mom

My New Nephew is Here!

His name is Hanalei Hayden and he was 7lbs 10oz

The proud parents (my brother Jason and sister in law Charme) and the big brother Kila are very happy and relieved that everything went well. Baby is perfect!







These pictures of course were taken by my very talented photographer sister Kimberlee of Aihara Visuals..she litterally JUST got off the plane coming home from shooting a wedding on Oahu when she got the message on her phone that Charme was in the hospital..so she had her hubby drop her off at the hospital and she made it not long before the little guy was born.

If you'd like to see more pictures of the baby and family you can check out her blog post called Hanalei Hayden

Images By Desiree - an artist showcase

Meet my cousin-in-law Desiree...a very talented photographer. Des has been busy capturing moments with a camera since highschool I believe but has been taking snapshots of life with the blink of her eyes since she was a little girl(so cute!). Her expertise is obvious when you look at her work Images by Desiree. She's definitely got an eye for capturing those special moments.






I love the fresh and sometimes quirky look she has on life..real life moments ya know...




(I love this one..it reminds me of Doctor Who lol!)




It doesn't stop there..just check out her site Images by Desiree and her blog Images by Desiree's Blog, there are pages full of incredibly touching photography and beautiful happy people. Lots of babies too..she loves taking pictures of the babies!

If you are looking for a photographer in the southern California area..I highly recommend Images by Desiree.

Zebra Finch

We have wild zebra finch here..the story is that they got loose from a pet shop and multiplied..I'm not sure if it's true or not. They are so cute though and so colorful. Here are a couple that were going to build a nest as you can see the grass being held by the little guy on the right. This was snapped the other day while I having a good jewelry photoshoot under the diffused light of the high clouds.




In March I had a close encounter with a zebra finch and got some great photos. Click on the link to see the pics.

Giant Cloud and a Boat

Or - Cane Burning on Maui and the Maui Cruiseship

Driving down Haleakala into town a couple weekends ago we were greeted by this massive cloud. It was pretty amazing and even beautiful if only it wasn't generated by cane burning :\ We see clouds from cane burning all the time..but this one just seemed more massive and poofy and more white even. Maybe I was just closer to it, I don't know. These pictures make it seem smaller...don't really show how awesome looking it was..I guess its one of those "you had to be there"





Here you can see it generating from the ground..over near Paia where they must have been burning...








and this was the next mornings drive down the hill..we could see the cruiseline ship coming in from all the way up the hill...

Yellow Plumerias

I've been gone for 3 days and have not had time to catch up since..so today I'm just sharing a close-up pic of the plumerias I use in many of my jewelry pictures. I have a tree in the middle of my front yard and we just planted one in the backyard in a pot. With Plumeria trees you can just cut off a stalk of it and stick it in the dirt!

A Collection of Hawaiian Palm Trees

Since I was fighting the flu bug while staying at the Grand Wailea..I found myself looking up a lot from my laying down and resting by the pool position. So I snapped pics of the palm trees. Enjoy....









Jonara Blu Maui
Jonara Blu Maui's Etsy Shop

Q the Cat

Meet Q my sisters new kitty...

for more cute pics of this little fluff ball check out the post on her blog here Not only is my sis an awesome jewelry designer..her true calling is photography so this little guy had his first photoshoot and he's looking pretty sharp ;-)

Jonara Blu Maui
Jonara Blu Maui's Etsy Shop

Beach Wedding Ideas

I came across a blog post today by Nibs that had some amazing pictures taken from the current issue of British Wedding Magazine . The post focused on beach weddings...a favorite subject of mine. Here we have so many weddings of course with a tropical appeal, but I thought how cool it might be to rent a beach house on one of the islands and encorporate the feel from the photos in Nibs' post

Even if just for another nearby photography option. The ocean is always beautiful but to have a neat house right there to take some pictures with as well..esp like this one with the ocean in the background



These were very interesting pomanders they hung from a branch they found on the beach..I'm wondering if they could be done with tropical flowers as well..perhaps orchids.



Notice all the barefeet in the pictures here and on Nib's post. It's a must for a beach wedding in my oppinion ;-)

Hiking a Rainforest on Maui

Sunday my husband, son and myself took a little trip to Iao Valley.






We hadn't been for a quite a number of years even though it's only 1/2 an hour away. It's a great place for a picnic and there is a paved hiking trail for an easy hike...or you can go off the path and hike along the creek.



I didn't remember these signs we saw posted along the stream...



I guess I never paid attention to them...beacause Iao valley is an actual rain forest, seeing these signs now made me wonder what this area got like during the huge storm we had Dec of 2005. That storm caused so much damage. A house was even washed off it's foundation. Here's a car that got taken by a flash flood caused by that storm..it's unrecognizable



This day we took the easy way and stayed on the trail..my son is just recooping from that flu so was not feeling too strong..he just needed some fresh air. I took it as an opportunity to bring my camera since I normally wouldn't want to be burdened down with it on a more intense hike. We went to the part where I used to take my son swimming when he was little..it seemed so big to him then ;-)



The air was cool and there was a slight breeze...it was perfect



Sadly my battery was getting weak so my camera lost the ability to auto focus..it took me a while to figure out how to do it on my own. But I did end up with some awesome pictures. This is just off the path..in amongst the trees are tons of ginger plants. They weren't blooming yet..usually they have white flowers and smell so sweet as you walk through...





After the Iao we went down the hill just a little bit to Heritage Gardens where we layed out a blanket and had a picnic. In this park there are monuments and different types of houses to show how the different races that came to Hawaii lived. They are fun to check out and look so pretty in the park

this is my favorite snapshot of the day:









There gardens are beautiful





and there is even a little bamboo forest to walk through





Good thing it's small and has a path..that stuff grows so thick!