This month’s Sunday Stills Color Challenge theme is ‘Yellow.’ See more responses here. Once again, I’ve gone for a melange of photos, which sounds edible, but probably isn’t. Captions on the photos.
Hello, yellow
Tag Archives: Horses
Kamehameha Day in the pink
Yesterday was the birthday of King Kamehameha I, the first king to unite all the Hawaiian islands under one leader. He was born in North Kohala, and every year the community celebrates his birthday with ceremonies at his statue in Kapaau and with a parade.
The parade features Pa’u riders representing all the main Hawaiian islands. Each island has an official color and flower. Maui’s flower is the Lokelani rose and its color is pink.
Hawaiian men and women started riding horses, soon after their introduction to the islands in the early 1800s. Sidesaddle riding was common for women in those days, but it was never introduced here. Women learned to ride the same way as men. They wore a Pa’u skirt, 12 yards of colored cloth wrapped in such a way as to preserve their modesty and dignity while riding astride their horse.
The ceremonies include draping leis over the arms of the statue. These leis are made as a mark of respect, by groups and organizations. It can be a tricky business getting the leis into place, especially when there’s a good breeze blowing as there was yesterday.
Posted for this week’s Sunday Stills color challenge theme of ‘Pink.’ See more responses here.
Horse and cattle
For some reason, one of the pastures at Upolu has recently been occupied by this horse and a handful of cattle. I’m not sure why the horse is in there, but on this day, while the cattle were standing around looking bored, the horse was furiously rubbing itself against a fence post. Afterwards, it too stood around looking bored!
Old Saddle Road
This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Road Trippin’.’ See more responses here. Since there aren’t any road trips, in the usual sense of the expression, here on the island, I thought I’d focus on a stretch of road that is one of my favorite drives here.
Old Saddle Road is an 11 mile stretch of the old highway that connected the west side of the island to the east side, through the saddle between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa. These days, people take the new road, which is wide and smooth and allows drivers to zip along at 80 mph even though the speed limit is 60 mph. I like this highway, too, but the best part of any cross-island trip is always the old highway, which is up and down, winding, and dotted with one lane narrows where culverts pass under the highway (they’re not bridges) to channel the copious amounts of rain away from the road.
This stretch of road is bordered by ranch land, with horses, cattle, and sheep to the fore. There’s also a good variety of wildlife that can be seen in this area. And the weather can be anything from stunning to biblically awful, sometimes within the hour. So here are a few scenes that give an idea of that short, but special drive.
Countdown
This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘A Numbers Game.’ See more responses here. I put all my fingers and thumbs to work for my response, starting with ten Sheep in formation (and ten Cattle Egrets, too, as a bonus).
Next we have nine Spinner Dolphins playing, eight Wild Pigs foraging, seven Cattle Egrets heading to work.
Then there’s six Dung Beetles at work, five Black Triggerfish feeling blue, four Japanese White-eyes bathing.
And finally, three Horses watching, two Hawaiian Monk Seals resting, and one Pueo anticipating zero and lifting off.
Mare and foal
I spotted this mare and foal alongside Old Saddle Road and stopped to take photos. The foal wasn’t impressed and got to its feet in that ungainly way that foals do, still struggling to get control over those long limbs.
Once upright, the pair sauntered off out of range of my camera.
Horse riders at Upolu
Horse riders enjoy an afternoon outing along the coast below Upolu airport.
Horse in a pasture
This horse was in a tree-bordered pasture alongside Saddle Road. I appreciated that it was willing to spare a moment of its time to look in my direction, before moving off to rejoin the other horses there.
Posted in response to Becky’s July Squares challenge theme of ‘Trees.’ See more responses here.
Graham's Island 