Blogging on the Powwow

I've been tossing around the idea of a blog post about Hawaii for a few days. Trouble is, I'm not entirely sure of what I want to say. It was Hawaii. It was amazingly beautiful and amazingly expensive. I was knocked off my feet a few times while we were in Hawaii. I also had a few things confirmed about my traveling preferences. New experiences: 1. We have been to the State of Hawaii before -- specifically to the islands of Oahu and Maui. On this trip we also went to Oahu for my conference presentation and then The Island of Hawaii, dubbed as "The Big Island." This was new. 2. I have seen lava fields before in Arizona, Idaho, and even on our previous trip to Hawaii. I had not, however, seen such vast and endless lava fields before, and certainly not lava fields that literally stretch out to the ocean. I had also never seen such recent lava fields before. We walked through lava flows from the 1970s. It was amazing. Neil in the lava fields at Hawaii

Our recent trip to Hawaii for a conference, followed by vacation got in the way of me making my usual posts about the garden. That might be a good thing. I think that my readers and I might be tiring of these posts. Nevertheless, I'll continue with the series for the season and see how I feel next summer. Come to think of it, this is the last summer for my dahlia-obsession; in the spring 2014, I'll be planting two new perennial beds. Certainly, that will be worth documenting! Anyway, I digress, which I am wont to do. Back to our current gardens. The most recent transformations in the yard include sunflowers, the hibiscus plant and the rose of Sharon bushes -- all in full bloom. Also, Neil had a box of rocks - yes, you read that correctly - a box of rocks which has been sitting on our side porch for the better part of the season. It was filled with beautiful and special rocks. I removed them from the decaying box and placed them throughout the yard. Some look great; others loo