A little bit of serenity

Note: I will be in southern Africa for the next three weeks, so there will not be a post until mid-April.

   On the north side of Oahu, there is a Buddhist temple, called Byodo-in.  It is a copy of one I visited of the same name in Kyoto, Japan.  As with most such temples, one experiences a feeling of peace and serenity while walking the grounds.

A real giant

     Raymond Burr was a large man, the star of "Perry Mason" and "Ironside" in TV series.  He loved orchids, and he loved the South Pacific island of Fiji.  So in 1977 he built a large garden there to grow thousands of orchids.    He called it Garden of the Sleeping Giant, as on a nearby mountain ridge, a formation suggests a large person in the supine position (see photo two).

Back from the beauty

     I recently returned from visiting eight island groups in the South Pacific, from Tahiti in the east to the Solomon Islands in the west.
     A very unusual and beautiful bush I came across several times is Arbre podode.  As can be seen in the photos, one can see where the species name came from, as the layering looks a bit like a Japanese pagoda.