What the heck are these?

Two pay phone at Spencer Beach Park in Hawaii

I saw these at Spencer Beach Park and realized there are generations of people who will have no idea what these are, or indeed why such things ever existed. But it’s an historical fact that telephones (they were once called that) used to be connected by wires. Go ahead, Duck it (I won’t use Google) on your phone, that’s in your pocket, not connected to anything, except to everything.

I was going to return to the park to see if the phones worked, but it’s clear the one on the left doesn’t, and chances are the one on the right doesn’t either. Which is pretty much the way they were when that was the way everyone placed phone calls when they were out and about!

I got the blues real good

A broken window in Hawaii
One of the broken windows in the next door house mentioned in yesterday’s post.
A blue blur
I was photographing monarch butterflies and this photo was one of them. Use your imagination.

The Sunday Stills Monthly Color Challenge theme is ‘Blue.’ See more responses here. After sorting through some photos, I found a cluster of abstract blues that I like so here they are.

Chainlink fencing over a blue tarp in Hawaii
Some chainlink fencing wrapped around a blue tarp covering something or other.
A blue light at an airport in Hawaii
A blue light at Upolu Airport, up close and personal
Blue panels and rivets on a helicopter in Hawaii
Rivets on the skin of a very blue helicopter.
Goatfishes congregate over a sandy bottom in Hawaii
Goatfishes swimming in blue-green water in the company of a bluer parrotfish

White hibiscus

A white hibiscus flower in Hawaii
A white hibiscus flower in Hawaii
A white hibiscus flower unfurls in Hawaii

The house next door has been empty now for several months and is falling into disrepair. But this white hibiscus, at the front of the house, is flourishing with neglect. It’s loaded with blooms, with new ones unfurling in profusion. It almost makes me overlook how bad the rest of the house is looking. Almost.

Passion Vine Butterfly on Blue Heliotrope

A Passion Vine Butterfly on Blue Heliotrope

At Upolu Airport, there’s a mock orange hedge and through it grows a passion vine. The hedge used to be trimmed once in a while, but the flowers attracted to all kinds of insects and was teeming with life. Passion Vine Butterflies laid eggs there and their caterpillars ran amok munching on leaves.

These days the hedge is kept trimmed and is the poorer for it. It’s basically lifeless. I see the odd butterfly, an occasional caterpillar and that’s it. So Passion Vine Butterflies, which I used to see all the time, have thinned out considerably in that area. However, I did spot this one feeding on Blue Heliotrope flowers not too far away.