

The aptly named cat’s whiskers flower (Orthosiphon aristatus) has a delicate form that never fails to catch the eye.


The aptly named cat’s whiskers flower (Orthosiphon aristatus) has a delicate form that never fails to catch the eye.

Earlier this month, I got up in the wee hours to view the Quadrantids meteor shower, with the idea of taking photos. My camera isn’t the greatest for this, but in the event, it didn’t matter. I caught a peripheral glimpse of one meteor and that was it.
Still, the effort wasn’t without its rewards. The sky was clear and starry, and I liked this scene of the illuminated building, the large kiawe tree, and the dark, starlit sky.
This is my third post on this week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme of ‘Yin-Yang.’ See more responses here.

Yesterday, I posted (here) a response to this week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme of ‘Yin-Yang.’ (See more responses here.)
This is my second offering on the theme, which also features light and dark, but also stillness and movement – the stillness of the herons (there’s a second one in the background) and the movement of the rippling water. I like how the second set of ripples disturbs the first set and the reflections of the palm trees.

I’ve posted about agave attenuata before, in January of last year (here). The plants are blooming again and, once again, the bees are all over them. This year I wanted to focus on the bees in flight, just before they settled on the flowers to forage. This resulted in a fair number of bees buzzing around my head, but I worry less about that than I used to. I took a lot of photos, most of which were free of bees, or featured bee blurs.
These were a couple of my favorites, each capturing a bee just before plunging into the bounty within.


This laelia rubescens (aurea x alba) orchid was at Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden. For more information about Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden, go to htbg.com.

The intense stare of a juvenile black-crowned night heron. This heron was a regular visitor to this kiawe tree, and its sharp thorns, for a couple of weeks.

This spider lily had some lovely pink coloring, which made it pop against the mostly green background.

As the sun sets on the year 2019, here’s a photo of palm trees silhouetted by a post-sunset sky.