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Rampant Cuteness

Last night was an almost typical mid-week meeting.  You know, good participation, great jobs on the student assignments, a nice Service Meeting and lots of noise before and after.  Except, wait!  What was that sound?  Oh. 

It was our Spanish studies, César, Moises, Chuy, Inocencio, Gustavo and Güicho, singing their hearts out¹ to "¿Te Ves En El Nuevo Mundo?"  ("See Yourself When All Is New").  They did quite well considering it was the first time that that particular song had came up since they began attending the meetings.  Hearing them sing made everyone smile because it was, well...you know, cute. 

Mexican guys trying to sing a song

Cute factor: 10

Um, speaking of cute, check out  these new blooms on my Bulbophyllum lobbii'Big Bob'.  Although I imagine they are maybe somewhat less cute than hearing your studies sing for the first time at the Hall,  'Big Bob' sure does make me smile.   This orchid started going crazy after being mounted on a hapu'u log in the casita, which to me is surprising, given that Bulbophyllums tend to sit there and pout for a long while whenever they're disturbed,²  which in my book is considered very un-cute behaviour to say the least.  Not this year though, so here:

 Bulbophyllum lobbiibeing unusually sweet and unstubborn, by putting out these awesome flowers

Cute factor: 8.2

While 'Big Bob' is cute in that "look at me, I'm behaving" sort of way, Nepenthes xMedusa (sibuyanensis x ventricosa) is cute in that "I'm all round and fat and shiny" sort of way.  Although admittedly with a cultivar name like 'Medusa' and those blood red splotches and hair, and given that the plant is carvinorous, there's a fine line between "cute" and "sinister".  Don't worry though, Nepenthes xMedusa is harmless.  Unless you happen to be an ant or small animal.  In which case, I'd suggest running for the mountains and not looking back.³

 Nepenthes xMedusa

cute factor: 7.7

Finally, this:

   
It's an eggplant/aubergine which has just started to develop from the plant's single bloom.  I've never, ever had any success with eggplants before so to me, this little thumb sized fruit is a pretty big deal.  And yes, it's cute. In fact, if I were Elmira and this was a rabbit, I'd probably suffocate it to death.  Thankfully for it, I'm not, and it isn't.

Baby Eggplant with water droplets at 5:30pm

Cute factor: 9

Hmm, looks like the muchachos win this one, eh?

 

1 well, not LITERALLY singing their hearts out of course, because that would NOT be cute at all.  Although come to think of it, it WAS our turn to clean the Hall anyway and pieces of cardiac tissue strewn about the room would really not have caused a whole lot of inconvenience for the rest of the congregation in the main hall.  We got strong vacuums.

2 My Bulbophyllum phalaenopsis, for instance, once lost all its leaves, then sat there and refused to grow for a full 2 years after I repotted it.  Maybe all it needed was a good smacking to show it who's boss.

3 sound familiar? 

First Harvest!

I harvested a colander-full of greens this morning from my garden.  Two varieties of crisp lettuce, japanese mizuna, tat-soi, celery, spicy arugula, dill, basil leaves and peppery nasturtium flowers.  Ain't it pretty?    

 
Sprinkled  it lightly with black pepper, garlic salt and a drizzle of Vidalia onion dressing for a superb fresh salad and had it along with some Naan flat bread for dinner.

Right on Target

The new three-acre Target store has arrived in town. Behold:

 
The lack of any exclamation points above refects my relative lack of enthusiasm over the store's motto, you know: "Expect more, pay less."  Which either means that

1) I'm a cheapskate, or

2) Target's really expensive.

Number 1 is actually partly true, depending on what we happen to be talking about, but I'm pretty sure it's more number 2. 

Which is not to say that I haven't already been inside of my own free will and bought a few nice although not terribly essential items.¹  I have.  But what impresses me more about the whole Target experience is not the store itself, but the awesome landscaping going on outside in the parking lot.  I don't believe I've ever seen a local parking lot planted quite so nicely using a decidedly different mix of plants... most noticibly the dozens and dozens of Agave desmettiana . 

Like so 

Apart from the nice little diversion of having a new place to throw money away, there's been a lot of good (a.k.a. theocratic) activity this past week.  First of all, we are in the midst of the 2 week Pioneer Service School and Kevin J. has been busy studying his guts out at our place.  I got to meet some of the other 31 students this past Friday.  They're a really nice bunch²  and Gary and Matt who are the instructors this year, were both still smiling at last glance.

On the Spanish front, 7 of our studies attended the Wednesday meeting this week.  It's really encouraging to see the efforts they've been making to attend, as many come to the Hall straight from work without even getting a chance to eat or shower.  Then today, another study and her children came to the meeting for the very first time, and it seems she and her husband will be attending the mid-week meeting this Wednesday night too.  It's all pretty exciting!³ 

Another grouping of Agaves fronting a row of Phoenix roebelenii palms round back toward the Railroad Avenue entrance

I gave the talk out in the main hall in English this morning and noticed a lot of new faces there too, including Josh (who I used to study with), my cousin Corinne and her daughter Sarah,  some teenage guys I've never seen before who seemed quite attentive, and a young woman named Mia (who showed up at the Hall this past week asking for a study.)   Conducted the Watchtower in Spanish, did a shepherding call with Ralph, had lunch with the Shiyama's, Mom and the Gonzalez', and ended the afternoon with a nice brisk walk near Bayfront with Suz and the Jodz.  So yeah, a nice but busy week which means...

it's back to secular work tomorrow.  What a drag.

But love those Agaves!⁴

 

1 grapefruit hand soap, some sterlite storage thingamajigs and a pack of tea candles for the oil diffuser.  Nine for a dollar, yo!

2 then again, I've never met a class of loud, excitable PSS students I didn't like

3 THERE'S my exclamation mark!

4  again!

 
 

Newness

Well it's official.  At 85 years old, my grandma's become the new poster child for "bling".  She's begun to wear rings on multiple fingers, is using bright pink nail polish, dons large-ish dark rapper-like sun-glasses both indoors and out, and has recently been spotted in public wearing rhinestone embellished silver slippers.   I wonder what Grandma has up her sleeve next.   Feather boas?  Cheetah print bikinis?  Gold teeth?

Apart from finding this all a tad bit creepy, (since I am almost 100% sure that this is the same woman who used to stand at the stove calmly stirring her pot of stew in a faded house dress), grandma's new found sense of style and panache is enlightning.  She's been trying new things and having a blast.  Which brings me to today's post because I too am attempting something new (although not quite as drastic) and yea, I am liking it so far.  Our latest house guest, James, who had been here for work the entire week, was eyewitness to the start of this little new adventure. 

James and I got to sneak in a little bit of sightseeing after Saturday morning field service up at the Volcanoes National Park, and on the way back home, I dragged the poor guy around to 2 different garden centers where he was forced to stare at plug trays of lettuce, rocket arugula and spinach, ponder a variety of culninary herbs under the hot sun, and carry large bags of potting mix to the car.  What a pal. 

 withJames (a.k.a. "Mister Hilti")

Wait a minute.  Did I say vegetable plug trays and herbs?

As if a greenhouse full of orchids and succulents and a living room full of African violets and houseplants weren't enough, I am now delving head-first into container gardening with vegetables and herbs.   It's not a big garden by any stretch of the imagination, but it should be enough to provide us with fresh salads everyday and seasonings for soups and stews.  Which I find quite exciting.   Unless I forget to water.  In which case I've just wasted a bunch of money.

2011 District Convention (Take 2) - "Venga Tu Reino" Spanish Session in Honolulu

Hey everyone!  Just got back from a sunny weekend in Honolulu where after a leisurely drive around the island on Friday, I enjoyed a nice Saturday at the Spanish District Convention at the Mililani Assembly Hall, with Mom, Suz, the Alohitas and Aurelio.  The Spanish session was held in one of the comfortable Kingdom Halls and we had the privilege of having the session opened in prayer¹ by Bro. Lloyd, a visiting member of the writing committee in Brooklyn.  I had 2 assignments that day: the opening talk on Saturday morning and session chairman in the afternoon.  It was a little nerve racking as I had not met personally with any the Maui-based participants on my part (all 8 of them!) until the morning of the talk.  

The demos turned out beautifully nonetheless.²  And yes, I did get all teary-eyed during the afternoon drama. 

Again.

More pics of the convention on the way.

 With Frankie T. and his signature pink shirt
 

It's probably no big shock that part of my mission on Sunday  was to see (and feel) (and BUY) as many plants as my limited space, time and budget would allow.  The BAD news was that two of my favorite garden centers, Wally's on S. Beretania and Star Market near University Avenue, had both closed down.  The former, who's tons of orchids and cacti literally overflowed from the shade house out into the tiny parking lot, now sits sadly deserted.  The latter has been replaced by yet another CVS pharmacy.³    

The GOOD news was that the Kaneohe branch of Koolau Farmers had a bunch of awesomely-wonderful, fantastically-great stuff.⁴

The BAD news was that all that wonderfulness would have been too big to fit into my carry on box.

The GOOD news was that I found this instead  (Like, whoa!):

An awesome Dtps. Red Cat, a breathtakingly beautiful cross of Dtps. Taiwan Smith x Dtps. Kun Cheng

And talk about deals!  Hiding between the orchids and ferns in the shadehouse were some spectacularly colored (and usually high priced and difficult to find) Aglaonemas on sale for $9.  Out in front the shop were stacks of large terra-cotta teacups on clearance for 99 cents each!  I haven't figured out what to plant in them yet.

  A colorful Aglaonema and 2 terra-cotta pots

So all in all, it's been a great weekend in the capital.  Honolulu is always nice to visit of course.  But coming home to the cool greeness of the Big Island's east side is always nicer: 

  

rest of photo set HERE

 

1  in Spanish no less!

2 thanks to their hard work and  Jehovah's holy spirit of course.

3 What freak would even THINK of replacing a garden center with a drug store? 

4 Mostly succulents like S. trifasciata Bantels Sensation, a giant S. masoniana and various Euphorbias and Adeniums