Gardens and things!

Our garden is thriving, (thanks to John and Virgil's hard work!) and we are enjoying some of the harvest already. We've had some beautiful, windless days this week and we've all been out there planting and getting our hands in the dirt. Almost every night we enjoy a big green salad straight from the garden. Hmmmm, fresh greens! Radishes are abundant as is the basil! Pesto party anyone?

This area is planted with squashes of all types, cucumbers, melons and potatoes. We've harvested a few patty pans and a cuke so far. Lots more coming on!

A good size salad turnip. I was so excited about planting these but they are SUPER spicy. There must be a more mild variety. Has anyone planted these and found a variety they love?

Playing with the roly-poly bugs.

The tomatoes are growing like crazy. Apparently they are really hard to grow here as they often

get infested with maggots. So John is covering each group of tomatoes as they develop with a little stocking that slips over them, in hopes of keeping them safe from the bugs that lay the maggots. Here's hoping for lots of salsa and pizza sauce in the near future! As well as pesto! The basil is thriving.

We've found a new favorite beach! The winter waves have taken away a huge amount of sand from this beach, leaving these wonderful tide pools for the kids to play in.

Depending on how big the waves are, every now and then a big one causes water to pour over the top of the rock outcrop and creates a little gentle waterfall from the top pool to the bottom. We've been spending HOURS here. It's amazing to listen to and watch the waves crash just on the other side of the big rock but have this safe space to hang out in. It's a magical spot.

One of my new friends on the Island is an amazing artist (as well as a carpenter and unicycle rider!)This amazing, multi-talented woman painted an entire studio condo in beautiful murals for the owners who live in Italy most of the time. We went over and had a look last week.

The kitchen is a fairy forest scene. Even the ceiling is painted a pale blue with wispy clouds.

This sunset is incredible - the sun absolutely glows. And the baseboard even has sand on it.

One of the fairies from the kitchen scene.

The bathroom is going to be an underwater scene. Only the dolphins are done so far, but Trace will be adding all sorts of fish, coral, etc.

 For someone who loves color (like I do!), this would be an amazing place to vacation! I must meet the woman who owns the condo and requested the murals. I'm guessing she's pretty neat!

The flowers around the condos are so beautiful. Thor just loves them. He picks the fallen plumaria blossoms up off the ground and collects handfuls of them, admiring their beauty and their scent. He picks the prettiest hybiscus flowers and brings them to me to share... no matter how many times I remind him to leave them on the plants for others to enjoy, he just can't resist! He's captivated by them. I hope the gardeners there don't mind the extra pruning going on! The flowers are one of the beautiful things about this place and we're all enjoying them. Aloha!