Among the Bonsai plants was this miniature set of plants on a mat that caught my attention.   Bonsai items like this are primarily created for the grower and the viewer.  Somehow I think this one particular one would look good at my desk at work however I’m afraid something like that would be too fragile.

Here is one of the cultural displays at the 2010 Okinawan Festival.  The instrument you see is a popular one at Okinawan celebrations.  It is the Sanshin (three strings) which is a fret-less 3-stringed instrument with a long slender neck attached to a rounded square, hallow sound box usually covered with snakeskin.  The Sanshin is plucked rather than strummed using a plectrum worn on the index finger.  The three strings rang from thick (lowest pitch) to thin (highest pitch) and are called the”uujiru” (man-string), “nakajiru” (middle string) and “miijiru” (female-string).  In Hawaii Okinawan immigrants played the Sanshin at get-togethers in the plantation camps.

Entertainment was abound at the Greek Festival .  Here is a photo of the Nisiotes Dancers who performed a variety of Greek fold dancing in colorful regional costumes.  Accompanying them was the Nisioupoula “Little islander” Dance Group.  Also performing at the festival was Fotia a Greek band from California and the renowned guitarist Sotos Kappas.

We begin our look at “downtown” Pearlridge with the Apatosaurus (a-PAT-oh-SAW-rus) display.  The name means deceptive lizard at it was originally mistaken for the Brontosaurus.  They grew up to 70 feet long and weighed around 30 tons.  It is a sauropod dinosaur with an extremely long tail and neck and a bulky body.  Scientists believe it fed mainly on treetop vegetation.  Tomorrow we visit the Mosasaurus.

Here is my burger from “The Counter” the place in Kahala where you can build your own burger.  This concoction started with 1/3 pound beef and added Tilamook Cheddar Cheese, grilled onions, lettuce blend, roasted chilies, honey cured bacon, peppercorn steak sauce on a hamburger bun.  They claim you can make over 312,120 different combinations but I wasn’t hungry enough to try them all   You can find them at 4211 Waialae Avenue which in Kahala Mall right next to Whole Foods.

Another hot weekend in Hawaii… the perfect time for some nice cool ice cream.  Today we bring you to Bubbies Homemade Ice Cream and desserts.  This place has been keeping Hawaii cool with super-premium ice cream for over 25 years with their premium mochi ice cream and a wide selection of ice cream and ice cream cakes and pies.  Some of which we have shown here in our blog.  Today though we take a look at their wall of shirts maybe because I ate my ice cream too quickly to photograph is or maybe just because I think it makes a cool pictures.  Especially with that old fashioned telephone.  This one was taken at the 1010 University Avenue location.  They also have a second location in Hawaii Kai at 7192 Kalanianaole Highway.

This is on of the giant fireworks set off at the Magic Island end of Ala Moana Beach Park at their annual fireworks display.  Tens of thousand of people descended to the beach or to the makai parking deck of Ala Moana for the 19th annual fireworks display put on by the shopping center which also had live entertainment and shopping specials all day long.  I hope everybody had a great 4th of July.  Tomorrow we will continue our look at the Portugal Tall Ship Sagres.

One of my goals on Bob’s Magic Island Full Moonwalk was to see if I could get a reflection picture off of the water.  Shortly after sunset as we rounded the bend to head back to Magic Island I got this opportunity at Ala Moana Beach Park.  There was still a little light left but I had to open the aperture in night mode and of course use a tripod for this shot.  I was pretty pleased with the way it came out the only thing that could have made it better would be if the moon was in the picture but alas it had not risen yet.  The golden hour (sometimes called the magic hour) which is the first and last hour of sunlight during the day is a great time to experiment with your camera and get some great pictures.

Happy King Kamehameha Day.  In Hawaii June 11 is set as a state holiday to honor Kamehameha the Great, the monarch who established the unified Kingdom of Hawaii.  Among the activities are a floral parade honoring the King and the decorating of  his statue in front of Ali’iolani Hale with lei as shown in the picture.  This year President Barack Obama proclaimed June 11, 2010 “King Kamehameha Day” calling upon all Americans to celebrate the rich heritage of Hawaii.  This year is the 200th anniversary of the formal establishment of the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1810.  The king statue will also be decorated in Emancipation Hall in Washington DC.

Here is the stage area of the Lantern Floating Hawaii festival.  The lit torch is called the “Torch of Harmony” and was lit by Sinnyo-en’s leader, Shinzo Ito.  Just off center you can see Mayor Mufi Hannemann and Senator Daniel Inouye on stage.  Among the performers this year were country singer Melinda Carol (from Maui) and Halau Hula Olana.