Tag Archives: Honolulu

Foster Botanical Garden

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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.

A Quipo Tree.
Rainbow Eucalyptus.
A bee on a Scarlet Powder-puff flower.

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.

Garden greenery.
A Silk Tree trunk.
A Wild Mussaenda flower with conspicuous bracts.

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

The Numbers Game #109

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Big surf rolls in to the Kohala coast.

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 231. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.

Tower buildings in Honolulu.
Building reflections in Honolulu.
An Hawaiian Coot looking just the tiniest bit ruffled.
A Chinese rose beetle on the Big Island.
A Chinese Rose Beetle shortly after eviction from the house!
A bee on a Bryophyllum flower.
A Mourning Gecko on a Ti leaf.

St. Andrew’s Cathedral, Honolulu

A view of St. Andrew's Cathedral in Honolulu, Hawaii

St. Andrew’s was originally the seat of the Anglican Church in Hawaii, back in the days of the Hawaiian Kingdom. But when the United States turfed out the Hawaiian royalty and took over, the church became Episcopalian and remains so today.

The main part of the cathedral is on the other side of the tower. I took this view because I was walking by on this street and I liked the traditional look of the church contrasting with the tropical foliage!

Reflecting on flight delays

Reflections in a window at Honolulu airport in Hawaii

These are the kind of photos you take when flights are delayed. Last week, our flight to Honolulu was delayed for 20 minutes because only one runway was operating at our destination due to heavy rain and thunderstorms. Coming back, the flight was delayed twice for reasons that were never explained. The upshot was that, after getting up at 5:30am to make the outbound flight, it was close to 11:00pm before we got home again!

Reflections and a plane at Honolulu airport in Hawaii

The Numbers Game #61

A gecko checks out the scene from the coin return slot of a Pepsi machine.

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 182. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.

V22 Ospreys landing at Upolu AIrport.
The 1820 Mission building in Honolulu.
Papakōlea Beach, near South Point, is better known as Green Sand Beach.
A Praying Mantis peers down.
A Wild Turkey struts his stuff.
A Dendrobium secundum orchid.

Urban Honolulu

Traffic reflected in a downtown building in Honolulu, Hawaii
Traffic, which can be brutal, reflected in the glass front of a downtown building.

Yesterday I posted a small town response to this week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme of ‘Urban.’ See more responses here. It wasn’t until after that post went live that it occurred to me I could have used photos from my jaunt to Honolulu a few years back. It’s not the Big Island, but in Hawaii, Honolulu is by far the largest urban area.

When I got home, I had a look to see what photos I could use and came up with these images. The entire population of Hawi could fit comfortably into one of those skyscrapers.

The American Savings Bank Tower in Honolulu, Hawaii
The concrete face of the American Savings Bank Tower
A downtown building seen from the State Capitol Building in Honolulu, Hawaii
A downtown building from the State Capitol
A plane flies above downtown buildings in Honolulu, Hawaii
A plane flies above downtown buildings
The doorway of a downtown building in Honolulu, Hawaii
A doorway to one of the downtown office buildings
A person sits in the open air atrium of the State Capitol Building in Honolulu, Hawaii
A person sits in the open air atrium of the State Capitol Building
The Territorial Office Building with bike rack in front in Honolulu, Hawaii
The entrance to the Territorial Office Building
A railing in Honolulu, Hawaii
A railing in downtown Honolulu
The 1820 Mission Memorial building in Honolulu, Hawaii
The 1820 Mission Memorial building

Living in the past

The King Kamehameha I statue in Honolulu

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Images Inspired by Favorite Song Lyrics.’ See more responses here.

My final post on this theme is a photo with some history. This is the statue of King Kamehameha I in Honolulu. It’s appropriate for the old Jethro Tull song, Living in the Past. It also works for a favorite of mine, History Repeating by Propellorheads, with guest vocals by Shirley Bassey of all people! And for a final song, how about William Shatner singing(?) Has Been. I have a few William Shatner songs which feature on bad song compilations, but Has Been is actually a pretty good album in my book and speaks well to Shatner’s good humor when it comes to music.