1 Nice to wake up and not see any ice or snow! 🌴🌴
2 Deb and Mary had a birthday treat basket waiting for me in our room 😘💕 A bottle of Woodford double-barreled bourbon for me and a bottle of sake for Maxine, local Manoa chocolates, roasted mac nuts from their tree, lots of other local and homemade dakine goodies, and a remote control Baby Yoda that I have no idea what I'm going to do with. Maybe a kind of Grogu "flat Stanley" for various photo-ops? Oh and a big inflatable Baby Yoda balloon that now makes it easy to identify our lanai from the beach!
3 Tuesday afternoon we stopped by Deb and Mary's house to hang out for a bit and toured the fruit salad growing in their back yard.
4 The banana flowers are quite phallic! 🍆
5 This is what macadamia nuts look like when growing on the tree. The part you see here is just the outer husk. Once the husk is cut away, the shell is exposed which has the hardness and durability of aluminum. Deb and Mary roast the nuts in their shells and it is only then they can be cracked with a a device akin to a wood splitter to get at the edible meat inside.
6 Papaya blossoms and baby fruit
7 Papaya blossoms and baby fruit. The huge giant snail feeding in the tree is the invasive African land snail that destroys the fruit and will injure the tree if not removed (which it was right after I took this photo).
8 Major construction going on on either side of Deb and Mary's house. This is the current view downslope towards downtown Honolulu.
9 Ono dinner at Zigu in Waikiki, a cute hole in the wall Japanese joint that specializes in locally sourced ingredients
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11 Spicy salmon roll and chilled tofu topped with locally grown shiso and tamari ginger
12 Ginger Big Island pork with Maui onions
13 It was a beautifully clear day to stop at the Pali lookout and take in the great views towards Kaneohe
14 It was a beautifully clear day to stop at the Pali lookout and take in the great views towards Kaneohe
15 It was a beautifully clear day to stop at the Pali lookout and take in the great views towards Kaneohe
16 It was a beautifully clear day to stop at the Pali lookout and take in the great views towards Kaneohe
17 It was a beautifully clear day to stop at the Pali lookout and take in the great views towards Kaneohe
18 It was a beautifully clear day to stop at the Pali lookout and take in the great views towards Kaneohe
19 It was a beautifully clear day to stop at the Pali lookout and take in the great views towards Kaneohe
20 It was a beautifully clear day to stop at the Pali lookout and take in the great views towards Kaneohe
