All posts tagged: paula’s thursday special

Tempting Ohia Lehua Blossom

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Saturday evening was the culmination of the Merrie Monarch hula festivities, but not the end to the awareness of the rapid ohia death which is plaguing the island of Hawaii. Many of the hula halaus respected the unspoken ban of using the lovely ohia blossom in their hula attire as it could jeopardize future generations from enjoying the beauty of this flower.  The ohia has a significant meaning for hula and not being able to use it in abundance in the festivities was a crutch for many, but also allowed the kumu hulas (hula teachers) to think outside of the box on using other native plants and/or flowers. Until the ohia are healthy, many hula practitioners as well as lei makers will not be entering the forest on the island of Hawaii as frequent as before.  If anyone is visiting the Island of Hawaii, take note of the poster below from Rapid Ohia Death awareness group: On Monday, Hilo International Airport was flooded with flowers and leis left behind by visitors who could not remove …

Sakura Sakura Sakura 

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For most of our visit in South Korea the temperature was averaging minus one degree Celsius in the morning and reaching 16 degrees Celsius by mid afternoon. For us island folks we were freezing and could not feel our fingers and toes if we stood outside for more than 10 minutes. But the turning point was seeing the lovely Sakura blossoms starting to bloom on the trees where ever we looked.  This was a telling sign that spring is definitely approaching and the weather will be getting warmer. There were many people who were walking around with shorts, t-shirts and sandals. Standing next to them our group looked like we were going skiing with all the layers of clothes and protective gear we were wearing. We were all lucky to see the beautiful Sakura blossoms, and I hope my other Hawaii friends who will be visiting South Korea next month will find a Sakura in bloom, too.  Seeing these beautiful flowers in person was quite lovely as their petals looked so fluffy and delicate.  I …

Human Totem Pole

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An afternoon stroll in South Korea with the family and we came across this stop sign which caught my attention for my daughter who was sitting on my husband’s shoulders was much taller than the actual sign.  From this perspective it appears my husband is much taller than his six foot frame or that he may be standing on a rock, but the sign is shorter than the average stop signs where the highest point of this sign reached his shoulders. For Paula’s Thursday Special