vip in the city

…and we’re back!

Back in the city after nearly two weeks in Hawaii, and back to the business of blogging. I spent the better part of this day fighting jet lag from the six hour time difference and uploading vacation photos on flickr.

So where was I?

At the Kailua Village Farmer’s Market, we found a gorgeous assortment of tropical flowers…

…and piles of luscious fruit. Hawaii is notoriously expensive, but the one thing that we found to be absurdly cheap were the papayas. Fruits that would cost upwards of $3 apiece at the Upper West Side Fairway were offered 3 for $1 for the “premium” Hawaiian variety or a staggering 5 for $1 for the “solo” type.

I like papayas, but well… one can only eat so much.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, bananas were 65-70 cents apiece at most places around town.

After a breakfast of Spam and eggs (When in Kona…) and local specialty Loco Moco at Big Island Grill, we hit the beaches.

At Kahalu’u Beach Park, we came across a hula lesson in progress, dozens of colorful fish and one curious honu (Hawaiian green sea turtle).

Tags: beaches, flowers, Hawaii, hula, Kahaluu, snorkeling

Trinity Church blooms

I missed this year’s Sakura Matsuri (Cherry Blossom Festival) at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden when the 200+ cherry trees along Cherry Walk, and in the Cherry Cultivars Area and Japanese Garden explode in clusters of magnificent pink and white. But here’s a link to the lovely timelapse video of the 2008 blooming season, created by the BBG’s web manager Dave Allen from over 3,000 digital photos — one taken every three minutes from April 18 to April 26, 2008. Set to original music by Jon Solo.

Hanami — Hana = flower, mi = see — is the cherished Japanese cultural tradition of viewing cherry blossoms, a festive time when family and friends gather beneath the full-blooming trees to celebrate the beauty of spring. Check out other Garden visitor photos on the BBG Hanami Flickr pool.

Manhattan has its blooms, too, which though not as abundant, are still beautiful. On warm spring days like today, the financial district drones emerge from out under the fluorescent lights to steal a few moments in the sun among the weathered headstones in the Trinity Church graveyard.

Flickr preview: my photos from Bay Ridge’s 17th of May Parade on um… the 18th of May. Gothamist approved!

Tags: cemetery, cherry blossoms, Financial District, flowers, Sakura, Spring, Trinity Church