Spring in Hawaii

 Eureka!  Evidence that spring has sprung in Hawaii.  Somehow, the native plants have detected the subtle change in weather (I'm not sure what it is, but they must feel something) and have bloomed accordingly.  I have a new bird of paradise flower and the promise of more, and I have at least 10 lobster claws!  I also took a picture of the pineapples I have planted.  Not much change, but they are still hanging in there.   I took a picture of the WHOLE bird of paradise plant.  It's HUGE!  I whacked at that thing for at least a 1/2 hour cutting away dead stems.  I just can't get down into it - well, maybe can't isn't the right word.  I'm afraid of what's in that jungle of a plant.  I'm afraid, more specifically, of centipedes.  They bite!  And they're nasty.  I haven't seen any, but that doesn't mean they are lurking somewhere in the dark... 

Anywhoo, I had my little Japanese sythe (the Japanese have so many clever little things!,  I just love browsing through stores here) and was hacking away - ala Romancing the Stone - yet, apologizing to the plant every so often when I would accidentally cut into a healthy stem.  Is that weird?  Yeah, that's weird.

Two weeks ago I was uprooting a very healthy cluster of aloe vera plants.  I felt terrible about it, but we have at least 5 plantings of aloe, and they are all quite healthy.  Something had to go!  I plan on planting a nice large tropical plant - something indiginous - well, I don't think anything is officially indiginous to Hawaii, they use some sort of word that escapes me at the moment.  Anyway, I plan to plant something that will thrive here without me having to water it in excess.  You know - be enviromentally friendly.  Sure, the aloe thrived, but, frankly, it's ugly and doesn't scream tropical oasis.  I wonder why the people that planted them planted so many?  Did they have some sort of skin condition?  Too many sunburns?

gas prices on post: $2.82  yikes!  it's gone up a lot!

weather: hot, dry, no wind

The radiology department did not call this week, so first thing Monday I'm getting on the horn to schedule that mammogram.