I haven't posted a sunset picture in awhile. I shot this photo about a week ago, less than an hour before the sun went down. It was a little hazy that day, but I liked the way the light looked on the surface of the ocean. [Click on the photo to enlarge.]
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On the side of our house that faces the road, we have a palm garden. Among the several palm species there is a thick stand of Areca palms (Dypsis lutescens), which serves as a privacy screen. The Areca's leaves, or fronds, also provide shade for that side of the house in the morning.
The trunks of Arecas resemble bamboo. This close-up photo shows a section of the trunk of one of our Areca palms. [Click on the photo to enlarge.]
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Pāhoehoe is one of the two types of lava emitted from Hawaii's volcanoes. Pāhoehoe comes out of the volcano as thick, syrupy, molten rock. Many different minerals are present in the lava in molten form. The temperature of the lava and its mineral composition act together to yield the color of the lava once it has cooled. Most cooled pāhoehoe is black or gray, but if you walk around an old lava field, from time to time you will come across a section that is colored red, ochre, or even blue.
We discovered this flat patch of pāhoehoe on an old (1935) lava flow from Hawaii's Mauna Loa volcano. As you can see, it has a rainbow of colors on it surface. Click on the photo to enlarge it for a better look at the coloration on the surface of this lava.
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I was out in the garden taking photos of flowers with my macro lens. I heard a chirp somewhere behind me, and when I turned around I saw this male Saffron Finch (Sicalis flaveola) perched on top of a bush about ten meters away. I wasn't sure if I could capture him from that distance, but decided to give it a try. This image -- cropped from a larger frame -- was the result. [Click on the photo to enlarge.]
Regular visitors to this blog may remember some earlier photos I posted of this male Saffron Finch and his less colorful mate.
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This is how Kawaihae Bay looked on a recent morning. Photographed from my neighbor's deck, this is the view looking south, toward the North Kona coast. The mountain visible in the background is Hualalai, one of the five volcanoes on Hawaii's Big Island. It is covered with a thin layer of haze from Kilauea, the volcano on the other side of the island that is erupting at present. [Click on the photo to enlarge.]
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A big sprig of Red Oleander protruded from our hedge when we weren't looking. It was time to get out the hedge clippers -- but not before I took a picture of the pretty red against the blue sky. [Click on the photo to enlarge.]
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These Ruby Red grapefruits are almost ripe. Their rinds don't look quite as perfect and blemish-free as the ones at the supermarket, but we know from past experience that the grapefruits from this tree are particularly sweet and juicy. [Click on the photo to enlarge.]
Last year I posted a photo of an immature green seed pod on one of our Royal Poinciana trees. The immature seed pods are green and soft, but as they ripen, they become brown and hard. Today's photo shows a mature Royal Poinciana seed pod.
Eventually the pods will drop from the trees onto the ground, unless they are removed ahead of time. If you pick up and shake one of these mature seed pods, you will hear the seeds inside rattle against the hard shell of the pod. The seed pods are are between 12 and 18 inches long (about 30 to 45 cm). Seed pods like this are characteristic of trees in this family (Fabaceae). [Click on the photo to enlarge.]
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