Category Archives: Photo Challenges

Silent night

The lights of Kawaihae brighten a dark night in Hawaii

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Christmas Song Lyrics.’ See more responses here.

I’m one of those people who sings, hums, and whistles Christmas songs year-round, often to the annoyance of those in earshot. Spoiled for choice, I decided to go with Silent Night with the intention of taking photos of Hawaii’s star-spangled night sky. However, by the time I got around to taking photos, the stars had been blanketed by clouds. These came from a weather system that prompted warnings of blizzard conditions and 100 mph winds!

Such conditions weren’t expected where I live – that would represent climate change of biblical proportions – but the weather system generated clouds and rain island-wide. In addition, it seemed to swirl back and forth and around the Big Island maintaining these conditions for a week and counting.

This photo looks down on the lights of Kawaihae and I think the heavy clouds add a muffled feeling that’s quite in keeping with the song.

A close call

A firefighting helicopter carries water to a brush fire in Hawaii
A firefighting helicopter drops water on a brush fire in Hawaii

Driving to work yesterday, after two days off, I passed a couple of fire trucks parked at the foot of the hill. I didn’t think too much about it and carried on. I didn’t notice anything else unusual until I parked my car and got out. Something smelled a bit acrid, but even then, I didn’t think too much about it.

Once I got to the office I was immediately asked if I’d noticed anything. I shook my head. A hand pointed to the window. When I turned and looked, I saw the bank of the reservoir above our location was blackened, as were the hills beyond. That explained the acrid smell; another brush fire.

I found out later that the fire department had been called to a fire in the area on Sunday evening and had put out a small fire. The next day, Monday, a second fire started in the same area. While the fire was mostly out by yesterday morning, my arrival coincided with the Fire Department’s helicopter being called to gather water from the reservoir to douse a couple of lingering hot spots.

These photos show the helicopter heading out with water, dumping it on the fire, returning to gather more water, and then heading out again. One interesting footnote is that the two fuel trucks in the photos are about 100 yards from the foot of the reservoir bank!

The bottom photo is posted for Bushboy’s Last on the Card photo challenge. See more responses here.

A firefighting helicopter gathers water to fight a brush fire in Hawaii
A firefighting helicopter gathers water to fight a brush fire in Hawaii
A firefighting helicopter gathers water to fight a brush fire in Hawaii
A firefighting helicopter takes water to fight a brush fire in Hawaii

Cozy cats

A couple of cats rest in the afternoon shade

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Cozy.’ See more responses here.

I don’t have too many cozy photos, but cats seem to be cozy pretty much wherever they are. These two are from the place where I work. They seem to think that they run the joint, and in some ways they do. They look mellow in the photo, but it should be noted that I call the lower cat ‘Slasher.’ There’s a reason for that.

Ruby wine

Pu'uanahulu Baptist Church on the Big Island, Hawaii
A Fire extinguisher holder on a colorful building in Hawaii

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Color Challenge: Ruby wine.’ See more responses here. Terri described ruby wine as ‘burgundy-brownish’ and included a handy color match, which I’ve made use of here.

The top photo shows exterior of the Pu’uanahulu Baptist Church. The second photo features a fire extinguisher on a colorful wall. I liked the reflections in glass of the cabinet. The bottom photo features another church, this time the interior of the Painted Church south of Captain Cook.

The interior of the Painted Church on the Big Island, Hawaii

Candlenut

The flowers of a candlenut or kukui tree in Hawaii
The flowers of a candlenut or kukui tree in Hawaii

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Leaves and Trees.’ See more responses here.

Candlenut (Aleurites moluccana) is known as Kukui in Hawaii. It’s a canoe plant, brought to Hawaii by the early Polynesian settlers. The tree can grow to around 60 feet tall but is usually shorter. Large clusters of small white flowers are followed by round nuts, which can be seen at the top of the second photo.

The tree had many uses. Oil was extracted from the nuts for various uses and the nuts themselves were burned for lighting, hence the name. Roasted nuts are edible and were used for flavoring. Raw nuts are a potent laxative. The plants had several other uses, both decorative and medicinal.

Because of this versatility and cultural background, Kukui was named the state tree of Hawaii in 1959, replacing the coconut palm. It’s the only state to have a non-indigenous state tree.

Red junglefowl

A Red junglefowl in Hawaii
A Red junglefowl in Hawaii

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Fur and Feathers.’ See more responses here.

This bird is probably a red junglefowl (Gallus gallus) or Moa in Hawaii. I say probably, because some regular chickens (Gallus domesticus) can have a similar look and there is considerable interbreeding between the two species.

The red junglefowl is considered to be the first introduced bird species in Hawaii, since it was brought here by early Polynesian settlers.

One of our rotors is missing

A wind turbine at Hawi Wind Farm has its rotor removed for maintenance

Yesterday, I stopped by Hawi Wind Farm on my way back from a walk because I’d seen this scene on the drive down. The rotor is, of course, not missing. It’s lying flat at the base of the turbine. And it wasn’t just one rotor in this position. A second turbine also had the rotor removed.

Ironically, it was a sunny day with virtually no wind but, because it was Sunday, no one was working. They’ll probably be back when the 40 mph winds and lashing rain kick in again, just to make the work challenging!

Posted in response to Bushboy’s Last on the Card photo challenge. See more responses here.

Trees and cloud

Trees and clouds on the slopes of Mauna Kea, Hawaii

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Eerie.’ See more responses here.

I couldn’t think of too many eerie things amongst my photos. This image of trees on the lower slopes of Mauna Kea, shrouded in cloud, is as close as it gets. This is a fairly common occurrence as clouds tend to build up during the day and often reach this area in the afternoons.

Also posted in response to Becky’s October Squares challenge theme of ‘Past Squares – Sky’ (See more responses here), and to the current Friendly Friday challenge theme of ‘Weather’ (See more responses here).