Rosy Lady

Easter Sunday

We started the day by attending the sunrise service on Waikiki beach.

The service was held by various churches in Oahu who came together for the Easter Sunday.  There were lots of people but it was a very special experience for us.  Many of the familiar worship songs were sung in English and Hawaiian.  They re-enacted how the first missionaries came to Hawaii on the sea, it gave me goosebumps.  It had rained the night before and there was a rainbow behind us over the sea for the duration of the service.

After this we had a lovely breakfast before we caught a boat out to take a ride on a submarine.

The water was so choppy that we both felt a little green before we even got to the submarine but, once the wonder of the underwater world unfolded, we momentarily forgot about all of that.

 

We saw loads of fish, sea turtles, coral, ship wrecks and an old airplane wreck.   

The sea is this blue because the sand is so white and reflects the sunlight.

The rest of the afternoon we enjoyed being on solid ground and wondered if it was such a great idea to go on the sunset dinner cruise that we pre-booked for the evening.  We kept feeling like we were still going up and down.

    

It turned out to be a lovely romantic evening of steak, lobster, Hawaiian entertainment, a little dancing and watching enjoying the sunset.

Oh, I wish I was back there now *sigh*.

xx   

Oahu Part 2: Diamond Head Farmer's market

I could not resist attending the farmer's market near Diamond Head crater and was not disappointed.  

I met this lady who has a nursery on Oahu and she 'breeds' different varieties of hibiscus.  We had an interesting chat and then she said I could pick a flower from the ones above.  A difficult decision but, I settled on this one:

Of course it was immediately placed above my left ear.

There were lots of flowers that I've never seen before:

Did you notice the detail on the leaves? Very creative.

         

And, a few more familiar ones:

I loved the casual use of Hawaiian textiles everywhere.

After some lemonade, we were ready (or so we thought) to hike up Diamond Head crater.

I will spare you the photos of my red face, it was a good climb and totally worth it (but I wouldn't do it again).  

 

 
Little did I know what was waiting as we climbed all the way to the top.

The view over Honolulu and Waikiki beach.  

Sharing a shaved ice with Hubby.  It certainly went down well.

xx              

Oahu Part 1: Flowers everywhere

The first thing that I noticed when we got to Oahu was that there were flowers everywhere.

Orchids grow in abundance in gardens, pots and in trees.  So many varieties and colours.

The Plumeria was also full in bloom everywhere.

We saw the hibiscus in so many different colours.

We saw so many different types of flowers that it is not possible to do one post about it all so, I will have to add a few more over the next few posts.  But, I wanted to share how I noticed that the flowers everywhere translated into everything else.  Like the public phone booths:

The shops:

We were wearing floral clothes.  Hubby is now the proud owner of several 'aloha shirts', while I loved wearing a flower above my left ear everyday.  Wearing the flower on the left indicates that you're not available, but wearing it on the right shows that you are single.

I could not resist adding flowers to my nails too:

xx             

Aloha!

Thank you for your patience while I went off to have the holiday of a lifetime.  

 

We had the most amazing time in Hawaii (Oahu, the Big Island and Maui) and San Francisco.  Just when we thought it was all coming to an end, we had an unexpected week long extension in San Francisco due to the volcanic ash over Europe.  We definitely needed the extra time in this beautiful city.  We got back on Monday and have been straight back to work.  We have both needed the last few days to process all the amazing experiences we've had and to get over the jet-lag.  SF is 8 hours behind the UK and Hawaii a further 3 hours so, I am wide awake at night and want to sleep in the day.  But, let's skip the boring stuff.  I hope you wouldn't mind, but I would love to share some of our holiday photos with you over the next few posts, I have been so inspired.  If you have followed my blog for a while, you will know that I love color, flowers, nature, my husband, sunshine and good food so, as you can imagine, Hawaii was right up my alley.  

I fell in love with Oahu the day that we arrived.  It was a warm sunny day, the people were friendly, we were greeted with a Lei (the floral necklace), everywhere I looked was vivid colors, flowers and the blue of the ocean, oh, it was sO blue!  That's when all the stress and worries from the last two years just melted away.  I felt a little teary eyed as I thought how we always wanted to visit Hawaii together, how that almost did not happen for us, and then felt incredibly blessed and humbled to stand on our hotel balcony and overlook Waikiki. 

I hope you will join me as I relive our journey and capture the memories that I never want to forget and all the design inspiration from these wonderful islands.

  

I hope life has treated you kindly?

xx

Happy Easter

 While the UK is receiving snow, rain, cold and severe weather warnings, I am packing my suitcase with bathing costumes, sandals, summer dresses and T-shirts.  It is hard to believe that it will be warmer in a different part of the world but I really hope that it is.  We booked this holiday 9 months ago and tonight we are finally off to the airport.  We are finally going to San Francisco and Hawaii (Oahu, Big Island and Maui) so, I will be on a blog break until we return in 3 weeks.  May I take this opportunity to wish you a happy easter.  I am hoping to return with a lot of inspirational photos from this trip.

xx

 

African textile designs

I was more aware of and focussed on textile designs and illustrations in South Africa, during my recent holiday to visit family.  Here are a few of the photos that I have taken:

 

The following were T-shirt designs from Truworths.  I just loved the African illustrative style to them.

xx                         

Images of Africa

I would like to share a few photos with you that was taken during my recent holiday to South Africa.

        

  

xx     

 

All is calm, all is bright

It was so good to spend some time with my family in South Africa where it was hot and sunny.  We talked, laughed, ate, shopped and I took lots of photos.  I took my smaller Nikon coolpix so the photo quality is not as good as with the bigger camera but there is still plenty to show you.  I also want to say a big thank you to all who have shown me so much love and support.  I am so happy to tell you that a full body PET scan has shown that my Hubby doesn't have any cancer in his body.  That was such an answer to our prayers.  We feel like a weight has been lifted from our shoulders and we can finally start to look towards the future rather than to live from day to day.

 

I always try to visit South Africa during the UK winter.  The sunshine and beautiful flowers have a way of lifting my spirit and it is always a good time to reflect on my life, my goals and to be inspired.

As it is Christmas Eve, I wanted to show you some of the Christmas decorations that I saw in a couple of malls:

 

Maybe not traditional but, I like how they have an 'Africa' feel to them.

I had a great time.

But, then I came home to this:

Photo taken through train window.  

This was the train platform:

I was in the last train carriage so, this chick had to walk through all of that and then over a bridge (to get to the other side.

May I take this opportunity to wish you a very blessed Christmas and say thank you so much for your support and for reading my random ramblings. 

xx

  

Blog break

I'm all packed and ready for my flight tonight to South Africa where it is Summer and where I will have two weeks with my family.  

 

So much has been happening here that I feel exhausted and in need of some tlc.  The timing of this holiday is a difficult one as my Hubby has been ill for some time and will be undergoing tests to see if the cancer that he has had almost two years ago is back.  We will probably get those results around the time of our wedding anniversary, just before Christmas.  It is therefore with mixed emotions that I am leaving him for this pre-planned holiday while I am looking forward to seeing my family.  If you are the praying kind, I would really appreciate your prayers.

I am taking my sketch pad and pencil and am hoping that the time, rest and space would give me some creative time.

I wish you happy holidays!  I will be back just before Christmas.

xx 

Christmas food

I have entered two entries for Tigerprint's Christmas Food photography competition:

First, cookies and milk for Santa:

Not forgetting the carrots for the reindeer ;-)

The second one is a still life photo of mulled wine and cranberries.  I really wanted to show the colours of Christmas with this one:

xx