I live on the island of Kaua'i

[koloagirl]

;D
Aloha from Kaua'i!

I apologize for not posting the Lei Day contest pictures earlier - I wasn't able to attend the actual event due to a nasty bronchial bug that I'm still fighting off - but a friend of mine (the curator of the museum) took some wonderful pictures from the event that I will share with you here of some of the entries - hope you enjoy them even if they are second-hand!




This was an entry in the lei papale (hat lei) competition - always a popular one!






For some reason I'm having trouble downloading the other pictures - so I'll give it a try later today and hope the issue is resolved - there were so many amazing lei this year!

Malama Pono,
Janet

[Deleted]

Always wonderful to have an update from you, Janet! Take care of yourself.

[mich64]

Hi Janet! I hope you are fully recovered from that illness. Thank you for showing the different applications that a lei can be used for. They are just so beautiful!

Take care!

[koloagirl]

;D

Aloha from Kaua'i!

Well, I'm on the computer a lot now 'cause I've got to stay home for a couple of days to try to get rid of this bug - so here are a few more photos! Hope you enjoy them!

These are kind of random (those lei pictures just aren't working now) - from the last few months - I'll try to label them so that they make some kind of sense - but maybe they give you an idea of what life is like here on this little, but very beautiful island!


Honohono orchids on my lanai - these only bloom for a short time, but they have an amazing scent and are wonderful while they last!


This is probably the single most amazing photo I've ever taken - it was on a backroad on my way to hula and it is a scenic overlook called the Alekoko Fishpond (where the ancient Hawaiians used to cultivate fish) - it was perfect timing and I just used my iPhone to capture the sunset - I'm very proud of this photo - even though there was no skill involved!


This is a photo of my Japanese hula sister and I at Ha'ena Beach here on Kaua'i. Hula is very popular in Japan and Jasmine studies with my Kumu Hula (teacher) in Japan and here on Kaua'i a few times a year. She is a very special friend whom I love a lot - and I tried to take her around the [/img]island for a fun sightseeing day while she was here. She speaks almost no English and I have no Japanese at all - but yet we have great fun together with almost no communication problems!

[koloagirl]

;D
Aloha from Kaua'i (again!)

Here are a few more photos to continue my "story" - lol!


Backstage before our "Ho'ike" - some of my hula sisters in costume.....


One of my hula sisters (note the braided hair - this we all do in order to have the fullest hair possible for the show - very Hawaiian) preparing her
pa'u la'i (leaf skirt) - these are made from ti leaves and are beautiful but very time consuming to make - take it from me!


Jasmine and I in our Maori costumes (New Zealand) that we made ourselves (very time consuming, each little tassle has to be hand-braided and then sewn onto the dress - about 120 tassles - plus the hand embroidery on the headband and bottom of skirt. The sticks were part of a complicated dance where you partnered with someone in very intricate patterns (Jasmine and I partnered)


My hula sisters in their hula kahiko costume (ancient hula) - using the fresh pa'u la'i (ti leaf skirts), hand-made lei po'o (head lei) - the leaves and ferns all picked by us in special places here on Kaua'i - then made into these beautiful adornments.


This is Lydgate Park - part of my "sightseeing" tour with Jasmine!


This is Anahola - with the Kalelea Mountain in the background - a very famous landmark here - some people call it King Kong mountain because it looks like him? lol

[koloagirl]

;D


My hula sisters "de-boning" ti leaves to be sent to Reno for our sister halau's Ho'ike - when I lived in Reno, my Kumu Hula (hula teacher) from here on Kaua'i and I started a "sister" halau there - I moved here 14 years ago, but the Reno halau is still going strong - and has their own "Ho'ike" every year - some of us perform in it - and we always send fresh adornments to them - they have to be prepared very carefully since they have to pass "agricultural" inspection to be shipped there. Here the spines are being taken out of the ti leaves - this is done without tearing the leaf - but it allows it to be pliant when using it for a skirt.


Hula practice - this was the group going to Reno for their "Ho'ike" - I'm hoping to go next year since it has been about 10 years since I've been back there.


This is a change of pace - the volunteer luncheon at the Kaua'i Museum that is held each year - here our former mayor (lovely lady) dances with one of our coordinators.


A native beach plant here called the Naupaka - it is one of our few native plants that still flourishes here - most things we have her commonly are not native, but imported from elsewhere.

[koloagirl]

;D ;D

Here are a few more photos!


This is my Kumu Hula's daughter - she was making fresh plumeria lei for sale at our annual Ho'ike - they were very popular and were selling for $5.00 a lei - a very good value!


I love sunrise pictures - and this one was taken on our West Side of the island - Kekaha Beach.


And a sunset photo - this one taken on my home from work - good timing these days as I'm leaving to catch a quick sunset photo - Brennecke's Beach.


Waimea Pier - this is a popular fishing spot on the non-touristy West Side -


One of my little hula sisters - and yes, she actually does bend like that! In some hula kahiko - the dancers go back all the way like this and then back up - only the Na Opio (teens) usually attempt this! lol

[mich64]

Janet you should be proud of that photo of the fishpond it is a stunning photo. It amazes me that you took that with a phone camera.

I also think the dress you made was lovely and well done with some very intricate work.

I remember when I was young and my hair was long as you have yours now that I used to braid it after I half dried it and slept on it overnight so that in the morning it would brush out very full. I should try that now for fun!

Get well soon.

Cheers

[koloagirl]

;D
Aloha from Kaua'i!

Mahalo "mich64" - my hair is naturally very thick and bushy - so I tend to not do as much braiding as some of my hula sisters - but it is still a fair amount of work. This climate makes my hair very full - interesting how it changes when I travel - say to Paris? I still use a hair straightening iron on it, but it looks very different than it does here on Kaua'i - not as bushy!

One of the nice things about living here is that no matter what age you are - if you dance hula, you are expected to have long hair - and since I would feel tremendous sadness to cut mine just because I've reached a certain age - I love still being able to have it!

I didn't know that iPhones could take such great photos - I used a filter on it, but beyond that - it was just point and shoot. I took a bunch over about a 5 minute period as the sun was going down - and just caught the perfect moment. I forsee using my iPhone camera a lot in Paris in September rather than my little digital camera that I've used in the past. Of course hubby has the fancy camera with all the lenses for the quality shots!

Mahalo for the kind words!

Janet

[Deleted]

The sunset picture is absolutely astounding. Please add it to our sunset thread in the "Image Bank" although it may intimidate most of us from ever posting a photo of a sunset again.

[koloagirl]

Aloha from Kaua'i!

Okay "kerouac2" - happy to do it! Have to say I'm pretty proud of it since I have zero skills with a camera!

Here are a few more photos for today - hope you enjoy!


A familiar sight here - traditional Hawaiian throw net fishing - still very common here to see - a real skill!


Ripe mangos in the tree outside our home - right now is what we call "mango season" and everyone is picking the fruit for pickled mango, mango bread and other goodies! Mangos are so abundant during this season that many people give each other bags of them as gifts - always something we are happy to have!


This is a famous overlook sight here on Kaua'i - the Kalalau Valley overlook up in Waimea Canyon. It looks down into the Kalalau Valley, which is part of the wilderness area here that is wild coastline - there are no roads that go in this area, hiking trails only - so you cannot drive all the way around our island. A very beautiful area - many movies have been filmed there as you can imagine (King Kong with Jeff Bridges is an example that comes to mind).


One bunch of rainbow plumeria - we have many, many variations on the colors, sizes, and types of this very popular flower - which in other parts of the world is called frangipani. These are wonderful lei flowers as they are very fragrant - but they only last one day - which makes them even more special!

Hope you enjoyed these - kind of random selections!

Malama Pono,
Janet

[Deleted]

These photos are becoming more and more wonderful.

[mich64]

Beautiful additions Janet. I am coming to the conclusion that because of your gorgeous surroundings it would be difficult to take a bad picture.

Cheers!

[koloagirl]

Aloha from Kaua'i!

Well, I tend to agree - this is such a drop dead gorgeous island that you pretty much just have to point and shoot to get a nice photo!

Some of them were just my iPhone photos and some of them were taken by my husband and his oh-so-fancy camera that takes real skill to use!

I appreciate all the nice comments - happy to share with you all!

Malama Pono,
Janet

[liga]

Thank you for the hula pics! And the info about the braiding! I thought that all that bushy hair was "natural", go figure, you have to know the right tricks!!

Liga

[nycgirl]

Beautiful, beautiful photos! I like them all, but my favorite is the awesome pic of the Alekoko Fishpond. I also like the one of the fisherman casting his net- good action shot!

Now, this is a very interesting description of a photo:

May 24, 2012 0:55:04 GMT koloagirl said:

One of my little hula sisters - and yes, she actually does bend like that! In some hula kahiko - the dancers go back all the way like this and then back up - only the Na Opio (teens) usually attempt this! lol

Sound intriguing! Wish I could see it. Could it be that this young lady's dance move was so bodacious that the prudes at photobucket deemed it inappropriate?

[koloagirl]

;D
Aloha from Kaua'i!

Hahaha! No - I have no idea why I could not get that photo to appear from my photobucket account!

Just to clarify - in some hula kahiko, dancers will kneel and then bend all the way back with their backs flat on the floor - only to rise back up in one smooth motion.

Even in my "early" hula days I could never manage that - but then again, I wasn't dancing when I was 13 like this girl is!

I'll keep trying to get that photo up here - don't have a clue....

Malama Pono,
Janet

[nycgirl]

I forgot to mention that your Maori costume is lovely! It looks labor-intensive but it came out great.

Liga started a thread here for sharing traditions. You 're accomplished in many creative traditions. If you're interested in demonstrating one for us, we'd love to see it.

I'm actually been trying to think of something to add myself but I'm drawing a blank.