Beach Planter: a Challenge

My Blogging Business Artisans team sets forth a new Challenge every month.  The purpose is to encourage us to explore our creativity, to stretch our imaginations.  Perhaps we are re-working something we've done in the past or still do.  Perhaps we're making something entirely new.
Sarah of Magnolia Surprise gaves us this Challenge for the month of July: 

 "We are into vacation season in July -- create something that brings back a favorite vacation memory, something that represents a place you've visited or one you'd like to visit, colors or scents associated with a special place, or perhaps something funny that happened on a vacation. Make it fun!!" 

                                                          

I love the beach!  My family vacationed at several East Coast beaches when I was growing up.  I loved to roll in the hot sand and then plunge into the cooling waters.  Going to the beach meant long days playing in the waves and in the evenings, walking the boardwalk.   bright hot days and cool breezy nights.   aaaahhhh!

me

my cute brother

I still love the beach.  My husband and I have been privileged to travel to several over the years.  Kauai was a favorite place we visited.  

Secret Beach

I collected a few items from the beaches of Kauai--shells, sea glass, rocks, coral (washed up on the shore, of course), driftwood.  I decided to place these items in a beachy sand planter with a few succulents.

Note the rolled up beach blanket.  The plants will grow larger and fill in.  Still, I may want to add a taller plant.




LINKS:
BBA's list of monthly Challenges
Linky Party for the July Challenge 
August's Challenge  

photos by me © 2006 and 2013  all rights reserved
 

Ten Ts

Tulips

Tie Dye

Brownies showing off their shirts I helped them dye

Travel

 Kauai

Tree 

Treat

What better treat than sunset on a beach?!  (Sint Maarten)

Turquoise

Turtle

 

Lake Tahoe

Taste 

Two

 Oliver and Earnest

I'm linking up with my favorite teacher, Ms Jenny Matlock!  See others' completed homework assignments HERE. Come join in!  This week our letter is "T."

photos by me © 2005-2012    all rights reserved

memories of an Hawaiian vacation

In 2005, 6 couples traveled together to Kauai in the Hawaiian Islands.  (like herding cats, the friend who organized the trip said!)

Here I present a few memories from that trip.

scene from a hike--river flowing to the sea

My (much older!) cousin Rick searching for the perfect wave to ride!  Even though the beach said "CLOSED," he strode out into the depths, returning unharmed.  I, on the other hand, while standing in ankle deep water, got knocked down by a rogue wave, loosing my glasses and pulling a muscle in my leg.  This photo is particularly poignant to me because it reminds me of Rick's adventurous spirit and love of life.  Sadly he died a couple years later on his birthday at age 65. 

Kauai, called the Garden Isle, is verdantly lush with abundant waterfalls.  This was taken from a helicopter by my husband.  Sadly, I was chicken to go and soon regretted my decision.  The next year, my husband and I decided to go back to Kauai.  I, dosed with motion sickness medicine, had a blast flying above the beautiful island!

Here I am on the beautiful beach of Ke'e (pronounced kay' ay).  Yes, there were a number of trees with exposed roots like this.  This is the beginning (or end) of the famous Na Pali Coast, cliffs that plunge thousands of feet straight down into the sea.

 Na Pali Coast from Ke'e beach.

 Na Pali Coast (pronounced Nuh Polly) as seen from the helicopter (by me!) the following year.

LINKS:
Kauai  a previous post with photos of the Na Pali Coast & Waimea Canyon

Lush and Lava (Kauai, part 2)  another previous post with more photos and a map of Kauai

SOME FACTS:

☼ Pali means cliffs.  The Na Pali cliffs rise as high as 4,000 feet (1,200 m) above the Pacific Ocean.

☼ It is believed that the Na Pali coastline was the first area of Kauai to be settled by the ancient Hawaiians. 

☼ The numbers:  Kauai is circular and emcompasses about 550 square miles.  There are 113 miles of shoreline, 50 miles of which are sandy beaches.  Almost 3/4 of the island is inaccessible by foot.  97% of the land is used for agriculture and conservation. 

☼ Mt. Wai'ale'ale (3,000 feet high) is the wettest spot on earth!  More than 430 inches of rain pours on its peak each year.  This creates the magnificent abundance of waterfalls on the island below.

Personally fun for me was learning to pronounce the name of the state fish.  It took lots of practice!  Humuhumunukunukuapuaa  Every Letter is pronounced individually in Hawaiian!  This is a trigger fish.  (easier to say, huh?  But not nearly as much fun!)
UPDATE:  I posted about how to pronounce the word HERE!

Alphabe-Thursday is a favorite meme! Come and join in the fun! You will be charmed and perhaps even enlightened! See more entries HERE. This week our letter is "H."

photos by me © 2005 and 2006

Green

3rd baby barred owl that was re-nested in our backyard

LINKS:

Re-nesting 

Baby Owl #2

flowering Bishop's Weed (Aegopodium podagraria) growing among the hostas in my garden

my daughter photographing bees (Asheville, NC)

sea grapes (Sint Maarten, NA)

green eyes of a praying mantis

detail of a hand dyed and painted dress by me here

mystery plant growing in my yard-- Here's what it turned out to be!

spiny cactus at Krohn Conservatory

Kauai, Hawaii

LINKS:
Kauai 

Lush and Lava (Kauai, part 2)

I'm participating in Jenny Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday.  Come visit!  You will be enlightened, charmed, and have some plain ole fun!  See more entries HERE.  This week our letter is "G."  

photos by me © 2005-2011  all rights reserved

The End: Alphabet Soup

And so I've reached the end of this odyssey with Alphabe-Thursday.  What a challenge it had been at times to come up with a creative post for the current letter of the alphabet.    I've enjoyed this journey with you, my readers and fellow Alphabe-Thursdayers, sharing our posts and lives.   Thanks, Jenny! (You can click on any of the following links--in blue--to go to that post.)

 

A   Arch Rock, Valley of Fire

B  B is for... Bicycle, of course! 

C  C is for... Cats, of course!

D  Desert Delights

E  Earnest (little white kitty)

F  Freedom Center  →

G  g is for... glass, Chihuly glass!

H  Hummus (a recipe with sauteed carrots and onions)

I island -- Sint Maarten, Netherland Antilles/Saint Martin, French West Indies

J  ....journal and journey....

K  Kauai

L  Lush and Lava (Kauai, part 2)

M Mushroom House (a fantastical house created by Cincinnati architect Terry Brown)

N  Nine Ns (cats--cute)

O  Oliver's Guide to Oases

P  Pi (and Daniel Tammet, autistic savant ↑)

Q  Sail Away #2 (quotes included!)

R  an early love (a very short and incomplete reading memoir)

 

S  a special party (sculpture, too!)

T  tiny turtle →

U  umbrellas

V  Vacation-Cayman Islands

W  wire

X  xeric

Y  Beautiful Yosemite

Z  Z Cloud

Whew!  

THE END

Well, not quite.  There was Rainbow Summer School and my post for the color

Violet.

Thus truly ends my post for "alphabet soup," linking up with Jenny Matlock's meme Alphabe-Thursday.  A new round will be starting next week.  Be sure to visit Jenny's blog ...off my tangent..., and link up.  It's so much fun and you'll be privileged to meet many folks and read so many wonderful posts.   Amazingly, Jenny visits EACH blog EVERY week!!
(This week's link is HERE.)

photos by me © 2008-2011