It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas

December 15, 2013

The Plumaria tree is one of my favorite trees.  The blossoms smell wonderful.  It is the only tree that I have noticed has lost its leaves and blossoms in the "winter". (If you can call 80 degree weather winter!)

I guess this family didn't like the bare branches of their Plumaria tree and decided that Christmas ornaments would help it.  I wonder when they get new leaves and blossom again.

 Christmas decorations in the Aloha Center at BYUH.

 This is a little "German Girl" costume I made for the Christmas Lagoon

This is a Russian jacket costume I made for the Christmas Lagoon.  I sewed up tubes of fur and turned them to make the Fur Trim for all the Russian boy and girl costumes.

These are my first Coconut Nativities for the Mission Settlement to sell at the PCC.

These are some of the ones I made for family.  The Settlement likes my Coconut Nativities so much and they have been selling so fast that they got me released from Theater last week to work on making more little clay Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus figures. 

Tessie decorated our apartment for Christmas.

 I made the little white tree.

I made this red tree too.

This tree made of Palm leaves is in the foyer of our church.

I like these ornaments.  I would like to learn how to make them.

Thanksgiving Celebrations in Hawaii

 Thanksgiving in Hawaii

 2013

On Wednesday the Seamstress department had a "Turkey Trot" race.  It was only about 1/2 block long and you had to walk, not run.  The first woman, Rina, was disqualified for running.  The second woman, Sister Cooper,  thought the finish was about 15 feet before the finish and stopped early.

 So Sister Tessie Crummett won the race.  Tessie is one of my roommates.  (Her hair when it is down goes to mid thigh.)

I  may look like I am last, but I was not last, just near the end!  After the "race" we went inside and had a big Thanksgiving dinner.  I didn't get pictures of that feast,  but I enjoyed eating it.  That was at noon.

 I went home and made a big crock pot of chicken with sauce for Hawaiian Haystacks for the Theater Wardrobe department party at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.  Sister Smith and I did a survey and found out that Hawaiian people have never heard of Hawaiian Haystacks.  So it is not a Hawaiian dish like we thought!  But they loved it and requested a repeat dinner of it for the Thanksgiving party.

Sister Smith and I decided that we fed a sampling of the world.  We had people from Japan, Hong Kong, Samoa, Tonga, Cook Islands, Hawaii, the mainland and more.  I can't remember all of the places, but there may have been someone from Australia or New Zealand there too.

 With Sister Connie Nance (left) and Sister Sharon Johnson (center) who are my walking partners here in Hawaii.  We walk to the PCC every morning together.

On Thanksgiving day we were invited to Tita's Grill for a big Thanksgiving dinner.  All the Senior missionaries were invited and many others, including the poor or anyone who wanted a free Thanksgiving dinner.  There were probably 200 people there or more.  Tita cooked 200 Turkeys in a big imu.  He gave them away to people in need too.  An imu is a big pit that is lined with hot coals, layers of banana leaves are put over the coals and Turkeys or pigs are put in and covered with more banana leaves and left to roast and steam over night.  I wanted to get a picture of the imu but it was not at the grill, it was at a farmer's place somewhere close by.  I was told that it was about 8 x 10 feet in size.  I can't see how the turkeys in the center would get done, but they do.

They had rice, mashed potatoes, stuffing, macaroni casserole, sweet potatoes, taro leaves, pork, turkey, gravy and more.  Tita 's is famous for its homemade bread and there was plenty of that too.

 The missionaries were asked to bring a dessert to share with everyone, to there was a big variety of desserts.  I brought a Coconut cake from Ted's bakery.

Here are some of the people waiting to take a turn in line for the food. 

Here are some of the Senior Missionaries enjoying their food.

This was our table of single senior sister missionaries.

Tita is announcing dinner and introducing the people playing music while we eat.  This is the nice man that fed everyone.

These men played music while we ate and while some people danced after dinner.

The young sister missionaries were also there.

 Full and happy after dinner.  With my roommates, Sister Cheryl Hubbard (left) and Sister Teresa Wang. (Two of my roommates.)

On the Saturday after Thanksgiving we went to the International Marketplace.  There are dozens and dozens of stores and small stands selling mostly jewelry and Hawaiian items of clothing and decorations.  They are in and around these huge trees that shade the whole marketplace.

I was with Sharon Johnson, Cheryl Hubbard and Connie Nance. 

Across the street from the International Marketplace is this beautiful hotel, "The Moana."  Behind it is the beach at Waikiki.

Around the corner we found this cute place.  It looks like an interesting place to go on another day.

I thought I knew What a Palm Tree Looked Like

Who Knew There Are So Many Kinds of Palm Trees?

October 13, 2013

This reminds me of the Palm Trees I remember from growing up in North Hollywood, California.  Not the prettiest of Palm trees.

This is what I thought Palm Trees in Hawaii looked like.  Notice the coconuts.

Some have bushy round branches with leaves poking out all around.

Some are short with huge flat branches.

Some have very tall skinny trunks.

Some have huge leaves that spread out like a huge fan.

Below is a close up of the interesting part in the middle.

Some have big leaves that look like individual fans.

Some look more like a bush than a tree.

Some have this interesting green shape at the top of the trunk and have fewer branches.

Tall, mostly straight or crooked trunks.

Ones full of coconuts.

More large fan shapes.

This one has something else, not coconuts, growing on it.  See the close up below.

Some grow to the side.

Some have short almost pineapple shaped trunks.  I walk by these every day, this is the first time I saw green leaves growing out of the trunk.  Usually the whole trunk looks like the top part, just woody stumps where dead branches were cut off.

Notice the "Christmas Tree" shaped trees, I should get a close up of one of those, they are really interesting, but they don't look like Palm Trees.  So that will be in another post.

There are Palm Trees of every shape everywhere you look.  

This picture was taken from our front  driveway.   The ocean is right behind those houses.