Category Archives: Series

Signs: No people

Three of these signs appeared at Upolu Airport recently. I think we can all agree that in these troubling times it’s important for people to stay safe by following such protocols.

The plane in the photo is owned by the skydiving company that used to fly out of the airport back in pre-pandemic days. It’s fairly safe to say that they’ll be one of the last businesses allowed to reopen. It’s hard to maintain social distancing on a plane that size, especially when most clients are going to be strapped to someone who knows how to operate a parachute.

In the meantime, in the last four months, the number of times I’ve seen more than one person inside the fence is exactly equal to the number of times I’ve seen that one person wearing a mask. I won’t say how many times that is, but it’s a very round number.

Posted in response to Becky’s July Squares challenge theme of ‘Perspective.’ See more responses here.

Abstracts: A spot of orange

There could be any number of unseen creatures in this hedge, but the right (or wrong depending on how you look at it) color will be noticed instantly, as in the case of this passion vine butterfly.

Posted in response to Becky’s July Squares challenge theme of ‘Perspective.’ See more responses here.

Abstracts: Blur

I had a relapse a few days ago, lured into shooting photos of butterflies on the wing, or should I say, trying to shoot. As the butterflies jitterbugged around, I followed them with my camera, even though I know how futile that can be. The result, predictably, was zero photos of butterflies in flight but, by way of compensation, a few curious blurs – of leaves in motion, wood in motion, light in motion.

This is one of those photos. And what is it? Well, that’s up to you. It’s whatever you see there.

Posted in response to Becky’s July Squares challenge theme of ‘Perspective.’ See more responses here.

Signs: Nēnē crossing

This week’s Friendly Friday challenge theme is ‘Unusual.’ See more responses here.

Nēnē, the endemic Hawaiian geese, are long-distant relatives of Canada geese. They were listed as an endangered species, until the end of last year when their status was changed to ‘threatened.’

Because of the nēnē’s precarious numbers, it isn’t unusual to see “Slow, Nēnē Crossing” signs, particularly in areas where nēnē breed. Because their numbers are on the rebound on the Big Island, it’s also not unusual for me to see nēnē, on my daily walks or when I was working. But in my years on the island, I never saw a nēnē anywhere near one of the warning signs, until earlier this year, just before the lockdown. This sign and these two birds were in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, where a fair number of the birds live and breed.

I had to stop and get a photo of this unusual event, fortunately without getting myself or the birds killed (it’s a busy, narrow road). The only disappointing thing about this encounter was that neither of the nēnē actually crossed the road. I guess I’ll have to wait another seven years to witness that.

Abstracts: Flowery flounder

Time for an eye test as in spot the flowery flounder. I don’t think this one is too hard. Not like the last flounder I saw which settled on a sandy bottom, churned up a bunch of sand, and disappeared beneath it leaving only a tiny, inconspicuous bit of tail identifying where it was.

Signs: Sign of the times

This sign went up on one of the stores in downtown Hawi recently. Many local stores rely on tourism to make ends meet, but there are virtually no tourists. Not that it matters, because non-essential businesses have been shut down for a couple of months anyway. Some businesses are now being allowed to open again, but a cautious approach is being taken – rightly in my opinion – and it’s likely a fair number of enterprises will never reopen.

Ironically, it was just over a year ago that I did another post about this shop (here). It was after that episode that Hawaii Cigar & Ukelele expanded in to the newly vacated space. But now they’re both vacant and not likely to be filled until something approaching normalcy returns to the area.