Home Beneath the Mountain

June 2, 2008 / Quilly / 22 Comments

This road leads to my home. No, I do not live in that glass and metal monstrosity uglying (Is that a word? If it’s not, it should be!) up our neighborhood. It is at least 18 stories high and sits in our wonderful wild valley like a city cousin wearing her finery. We live in a lovely condo village just to the left of the road.

Follow the road to the bus near the end. Consider the size of the bus, the size of the tower, and the size of the mountain that backs our valley. This photo ISN’T from the bottom up. The ocean ia a full mile down the road in the direction you cannot see.

This photo was taken just a bit further down the road, and from the other side. I took it seconds before stepping into the brush and photographing the cactus. The “scrub” trees were looking over are actually 10 to 12 feet tall. The grooves in the mountain were cut by water run-off. When it rains they immediately become the Makaha Valley Waterfalls, unfortunately the clouds come down and make picture taking extremely difficult.

This is our more humble abode. We live on the top floor to the right. The branches and leaves you see at the top edge of the picture are attached to a mango tree.

And here is one of our neighbors lounging in the shade of the bougainvillea bush.

The Makaha Valley, From the Ground, Up
is my last entry in Jeremiah’s photo project
AND
the peacock is my 3rd entry in
Anna’s Project Blue.

Layers of Blue

May 31, 2008 / Quilly / 31 Comments

Layers of beauty. Layers of allegory. Layers of post.

I humbly
(Ha! I’m dang proud of this, cliché or not!)
offer this photo as participation in both
Anna’s Project Blue
(blue sea & blue sky)
AND
Jeremiah’s, From the Ground, Up.
(from the sand to the heavens)

Prickly Pear Cactus

May 31, 2008 / Quilly / 14 Comments

Many desert plants thrive in Hawaii. We have a moderate climate: not too hot, not too cold — and moderate rainfall: not too much, not too little. They also like the volcanic soil, rich in nutrients, but high in sand and rock content, so the roots don’t get damp rot.

Prickly Pear Cactus and Koa Haole Tree
I took this photo while standing upright as close to the barrel of this thing as I cared to get.

This is a shot from a different angle and a bit closer to the cactus.

Top

middle

Middle

Bottom

Close up of a decaying pad. What you see remaining is the vascular tissue.
(Science lesson courtesy of OC.)

A close up of the cactus flowers from below.
About a quarter mile down the road is a much shorter cactus.
If you don’t just remember the shot from the Alphabet Challenge,
you may see a photo of it’s blossom, here.

From The Ground, Up,
Host:
My World in Pictures, by JFargo.