Category Archives: Plants

The Numbers Game #113

Telescopes in the Smithsonian Submillimeter Array on Mauna Kea and what they’re thinking.

The idea of The Numbers Game is to enter a number into the search bar of your computer and then post a selection of the photos that turn up. This week’s number is 235. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.

Chairman Meow

A ragdoll cat in a garden
On high alert on a trellis with Chilean Glory Vine (Eccremocarpus scaber)
A ragdoll cat in a garden
All that alertness makes a cat tired.

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Love Your Pet.’ See more responses here. We don’t have pets currently, so here are some archive photos of Chairman Meow, our cat from our old home in Washington State.

He was a Ragdoll, a breed noted for its mellow temperament. Happily, he was not a hunter, though he would stare intently at birds, except for hummingbirds, which left him with a bewildered expression! He also shed boatloads of fine, soft hair. A thorough combing would produce a wad of hair, but when he walked away, more would fly off him.

In the mornings, he’d climb up on the bed and sit on us until he was let out. One house had a screen door and it was common to hear a thud against it in the morning, a sign he wanted to come in again. When I opened the door, looking down for him, he was nowhere to be seen. But when I looked up there he was, hanging halfway up, his claws gripping the screen. The old lady who lived across the street said it gave her a great deal of amusement to witness this daily ritual!

A ragdoll cat in a garden
Time for a rest with two paws out.

We were going to bring him with us to Hawaii, but he used to end up frothing at the mouth on the two mile car ride to the vet! So he stayed behind in a good situation until he passed away a few years back.

The Numbers Game #112

A juvenile black-crowned night heron in flight.
A Black-crowned Night Heron flies over the water.

The idea of The Numbers Game is to enter a number into the search bar of your computer and then post a selection of the photos that turn up. This week’s number is 234. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.

Mangoes down

Fallen mangoes in Hawaii
A mango tree in Hawaii

We’ve had some wild weather here this past week or so, the kind of wet and windy days that make even me feel sorry for people here on holiday. That’s not why people come to Hawaii.

On one of those days, the winds were so fierce, they stripped one side of the giant mango tree in the yard of all its fruit, together with several branches, and bounty of leaves. These photos show how the yard looked when I got home! The bulk of the fruit was still rock hard so that even the pigs didn’t venture out for them!

Fallen leaves in Hawaii

Foster Botanical Garden

A Kapok tree, planted by Dr. Hillebrand and native to tropical America.

When I was in Honolulu, in December, I had a few hours to kill and decided to visit Foster Botanical Garden, which is not far from the downtown area. It’s one of five gardens that make up the Honolulu Botanical Gardens.

The garden dates back to 1853 when it was started by William Hillebrand, a German physician and botanist. It was sold in 1884 to Thomas and Mary Foster who continued to develop the garden. When Mary Foster died in 1930 she left the garden and her house to the city of Honolulu on the condition that the garden be maintained as a public park.

The garden is best known for its trees, some of which were planted by Dr. Hillebrand, and includes 21 trees designated ‘exceptional’ by City Ordinance. Despite it being a rather dreary day, walking through the trees and checking out the other plantings was well worth the visit.

More information about Foster Botanical Garden here. Posted for Terri’s Flower Hour. See more responses here.

The Numbers Game #111

A praying mantis showing the patterns on its wings
A Praying Mantis with wings unfurled.

The idea of The Numbers Game is to enter a number into the search bar of your computer and then post a selection of the photos that turn up. This week’s number is 233. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.