Pious and Curious go to Hawaii

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The rental pad.

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It was a bit hazy but you can see the ocean in this one... If I can sell my townhouse... sigh...

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not a foxtail...

old volcano

[www.dadluvsu.com]

"one of these palms is not like the others"

Last pic I'm postin'

The above Pritchardia was inside the airport after security checkpoint. I saw it around 930-10pm, sure enough there was a ripe bunch of seed. I jumped up on the wall and with the help of a stray broom I was able to grab the infructesence and pull it off the tree. Score!, it was loaded with hundreds of viable seed. I quickly unpacked the electronics stowed in my carryons and used the zip bag that was holding them together to store the whole bract, seeds and all. Stuffed that zippie into my dive gear bag, my other carryon. As we approached our gate we were quickly alerted of the Dept. of Ag secondary check point at the gate! There were two officials dressed in uniforms that were urging us to go thru the checkpoint, "Your gonna have to go thru here to get on the plane, you might as well get this over with" they both said. We quipped "be right back" and scurried off to the nearest trash receptacle in a dead end corridor of the airport. I tried stuffing the baskeball sized clump of palm fruits under my hat, in my pants, etc. - DRAT!, nowhere was gonna hide this enormous clump of goodies. Curious kept telling me to just let it go and that confiscation, embarrassment and possibly missing our return flight wasn't worth the prize. "That's what you think", I told my self in the confines of my own head. She isn't a full on palm freak yet, but she's learnin'. While watching the Ag gents poke their heads around the corner to see what we were doing, we sheilded our actions with a support post and our backs and giggled uncontrolably. I quickly stripped the seed from the bract, certainly losing more than half the seed to the floor in our hurries, but managed to get a couple hundred seed in the bag. She laughed as I secured them at my waist under my belt expecting there to be a nest or red ants that would most certainly sting the parts of me where the sun don't shine. Expecting the metal detector to set off flashing lights and sirens as if they were able detect the palm seeds I was smuggling we passed thru the Ag inspection undiscovered. Had they only know the sheer wickedness of our ploT!? HAH! No one could have caught us! We sat down and waitied to board the plane as the stu's prepared the cabin for takeoff. Out of the corner of my eye, two figures were moving out of the darkness towards the light... they were coming from our trashbin... They had white powdered latex gloves on and were carrying clear ziplock bags with something in them! The Departement of Agriculture was on to us! We had been discovered! Panic raced thru out hearts, our stomachs sank, and certainly our skin became as pale as when we arrived as fresh tourists. They approcahed us, I was asked to go to the inspection booth. The agent was a cheerfully mannered man who completely understood what he had come to understand as a palm crazed mainlander. He could see the sprialing zombie eyes in my head that was fueled by the lust for the would-be Kings of the Plant World. His duty was to investigate what we were trying to dispose of in the trash can and he did so. He smelled like garbage. He had sifted thru the garbage looking for bails of pakalolo and only came up with a handful of palm seed and a spent bract. He laughingly asked if he could inspect the seeds to make sure no bugs were jumping ship to the mainland. I reluctantly removed the seeds from my pants storage. After inspection, he informed me that the seeds succesfully passed a clean bill of health. He would not have to confiscate the P thurst seeds. Color began to enter my face as Curious and I boarded the plane. We slept pretty soundly that night after lauging off our escapdes next to the hundred other travelers.

(This was of course not exactly how things went down, embellishment played its hand out carefully in this story. ;) )

[Gbarce]

Last picture on post #79-- Is that Sommieria affinis??

[www.dadluvsu.com]

Sure was!

[Walter John]

Amazing, what can you say about palm growth in Hawaii that hasn't been said before, how about this ?

WAAAAHHHH !!!!!!!!

[amazondk]

Bill,

I can relate to your airport story well. The last time I took a bunch of palm seeds to Miami I swore it would be my last undeclared transport operaton. They did not stop me so I went right through. I love you pictures of the trip.

dk

[Central Floridave]

Excellent photography!

What are the palms in post #78. The two reddish ones.

[Kris]

Dear William

I have no words in praise of your excellant coverage,though iam not that a fan of flowering plants but seeing the flowers in our big sized stills,i must admit i have fallen in love with those beautiful hibiscus flowers & orchid kind of plants,fern trees,lovely palms in Bo Goran's Garden.

And your camera simply rocks...I love it !

Thanks & Love,

Kris

[jdapalms]

Excellent photography!

What are the palms in post #78. The two reddish ones.

The first one is Bentickia condapanna and the second one is Areca macrocaylx.

Jerry

[realarch]

Ahhh, love the photos.......looks like home.

Tim

[Central Floridave]

"Bentickia condapanna and the second one is Areca macrocaylx."

Thanks, after googlin' those it looks like I will only be able to admire those in photos or in person and not in my backyard.

Awesome looking palms!

Great job with those. Excellent garden. Jealousy and envy over here. But, hey at least with Cat 4 Hurricane Bill a 1000 miles off the Florida Coast I can say that Florida has bigger surf than Hawaii right now!

[Al in Kona]

Bill, was that experience with the Pritchardia seed at the Kona International Airport? I ask because I know they have some nice Pritchardias there in the outdoor waiting areas. Glad you were able to carry them home with you. Pritchardia thurstonii is a nice palm.

[www.dadluvsu.com]

Sure was in Kona airport. It was a funny experience and we got a good laugh out of it. I can't wait to see them germinate!

[Gileno Machado]

Fantastic thread, Pious and Curious...All photos are eye candy.

Only 7-8 pictures at Bo's?? What about Deano's garden and Al's ??

Excuse me for my curiosity...how much did you pay for the air ticket Florida-Hawaii?

Best regards

[Walter John]

Post # 81, pics 2 and 3. Is that Dypsis prestoniana ? anyone ?

[www.dadluvsu.com]

tokoravina or sp. 'jurassic park'

[realarch]

Bill, your Pritchardia seed should be an easy germinate. I collected a bunch of thurstonii seed in Kona and they all germinated and look healthy.

Tim

[www.dadluvsu.com]

WAHHHHHH!

Why am I still sitting behind my desk in SoFla?!

[redant]

Spectacular pictures of an awesome adventure, yeah I'm jealous..

[Tassie_Troy1971]

Amazing pictures William . A botanical wonderland ~ great effort !

good catching up with Bo i bet .

[KONADANTOM]

Aloha Bill, and Mahalo for the taking the time to post so many great photos of Big Island – this is a really special place for anyone who has the opportunity to travel here – IPS members will find they already have ohana (family) living here with all the nice palm people who have made this island their home.

[oppalm]

great pics and stories of an excellent adventur I'm sure. THANKS for sharing.

[Jeff Searle]

"one of these palms is not like the others"

Last pic I'm postin'

The above Pritchardia was inside the airport after security checkpoint. I saw it around 930-10pm, sure enough there was a ripe bunch of seed. I jumped up on the wall and with the help of a stray broom I was able to grab the infructesence and pull it off the tree. Score!, it was loaded with hundreds of viable seed. I quickly unpacked the electronics stowed in my carryons and used the zip bag that was holding them together to store the whole bract, seeds and all. Stuffed that zippie into my dive gear bag, my other carryon. As we approached our gate we were quickly alerted of the Dept. of Ag secondary check point at the gate! There were two officials dressed in uniforms that were urging us to go thru the checkpoint, "Your gonna have to go thru here to get on the plane, you might as well get this over with" they both said. We quipped "be right back" and scurried off to the nearest trash receptacle in a dead end corridor of the airport. I tried stuffing the baskeball sized clump of palm fruits under my hat, in my pants, etc. - DRAT!, nowhere was gonna hide this enormous clump of goodies. Curious kept telling me to just let it go and that confiscation, embarrassment and possibly missing our return flight wasn't worth the prize. "That's what you think", I told my self in the confines of my own head. She isn't a full on palm freak yet, but she's learnin'. While watching the Ag gents poke their heads around the corner to see what we were doing, we sheilded our actions with a support post and our backs and giggled uncontrolably. I quickly stripped the seed from the bract, certainly losing more than half the seed to the floor in our hurries, but managed to get a couple hundred seed in the bag. She laughed as I secured them at my waist under my belt expecting there to be a nest or red ants that would most certainly sting the parts of me where the sun don't shine. Expecting the metal detector to set off flashing lights and sirens as if they were able detect the palm seeds I was smuggling we passed thru the Ag inspection undiscovered. Had they only know the sheer wickedness of our ploT!? HAH! No one could have caught us! We sat down and waitied to board the plane as the stu's prepared the cabin for takeoff. Out of the corner of my eye, two figures were moving out of the darkness towards the light... they were coming from our trashbin... They had white powdered latex gloves on and were carrying clear ziplock bags with something in them! The Departement of Agriculture was on to us! We had been discovered! Panic raced thru out hearts, our stomachs sank, and certainly our skin became as pale as when we arrived as fresh tourists. They approcahed us, I was asked to go to the inspection booth. The agent was a cheerfully mannered man who completely understood what he had come to understand as a palm crazed mainlander. He could see the sprialing zombie eyes in my head that was fueled by the lust for the would-be Kings of the Plant World. His duty was to investigate what we were trying to dispose of in the trash can and he did so. He smelled like garbage. He had sifted thru the garbage looking for bails of pakalolo and only came up with a handful of palm seed and a spent bract. He laughingly asked if he could inspect the seeds to make sure no bugs were jumping ship to the mainland. I reluctantly removed the seeds from my pants storage. After inspection, he informed me that the seeds succesfully passed a clean bill of health. He would not have to confiscate the P thurst seeds. Color began to enter my face as Curious and I boarded the plane. We slept pretty soundly that night after lauging off our escapdes next to the hundred other travelers.

(This was of course not exactly how things went down, embellishment played its hand out carefully in this story. ;) )

April and Bill,

Just a little word of advice to you newbie kids , save yourself some grief and pay the $12 per 1,000 seed price and quit trying to save a couple of bucks. Great pictures and it looks like you had a wonderful time.

Jeff

[www.dadluvsu.com]

Thanks for the great advice Jeff

Really wish we were there right now... This prediction for 27F for a low tomorrow is redonkulous.

[epicure3]

Those are among the best photos I have ever seen from Hawaii (and I have a lot of books on HI flora). Just fantastic. I'd be in HI if I could brainwash the rest of my family.

Your story of the Pritchardia seeds at the airport reminds me a little too much of 'Midnight Express'. Nothing worse than being in a Turkish jail next to Bubba for palm seed. (Uhmm...not our Bubba)

[www.dadluvsu.com]

Thanks, I will always be a student of photography... Learning how to take photos of these magnificent plants is almost as much fun as acquiring them... almost.

Found these vids on my camera, thought I'd share.

[palmislandRandy]

That does it! We're currently making plans to visit Hilo in May or June. Randy

[rozpalm]

So Bill/April did y'all buy a lot yet?

[BS Man about Palms]

Bill.

Next time, you drive, April films.

[www.dadluvsu.com]

Because of our trip to The Big Island we have been wanting an Ulu quilt for the longest and have finally recieved our commission. The quilt is 100% organic and handstitched! Just wanted to post a pic here cause this trip inspired the purchase.

Bill.

Next time, you drive, April films.

Fair nuff... We had a good giggle over it. Don't know where the media went off to, wonder if photobucket deleted it cuz of music copyrights???

So Bill/April did y'all buy a lot yet?

Not yet Ron. We decided we are gonna save and pay in cash... Additionally we decided to purchase a (much) larger parcel than originally anticipated. May take a few more years... Should be worth it... BTW, enjoying Thereau's "Walden"... Some of it is crap, some of it right on target. Can't seem to stay focused (or sit down long enough) to read more than a chapter or 2 at a time. Have a feeling by the end of the book he's going to find some middle ground to aim for enlightenment... The money chapter (chapter 1 I think) was awesome. Couldn't have been more pertinent to today's economic climate.

[Tomw]

Fabulous pictures, I really enjoyed looking thru them! Thanks for sharing!

[www.dadluvsu.com]

Just a bump cause I'm daydreamin' ....

[Pedro 65]

Glad you bumped your thread Bill, packed with Stunning Pics and its Beautiful morning viewing with my fruit salad, Thanks actually Hawaii is getting pretty cheap for Aussies now, return flights and 6 nts accom for a mere $1200

[Dypsisdean]

Bill - I'm still saving you guys a place in line.