15,000 is the magic number that I want you all to think. Collectively. Positively. Staunchly.

You can think more, bigger, grander, higher.

This 15,000 is a numerical thought experiment that I am putting out to the universe and I would like your assistance.

If we all want to put a dollar sign $ in front of that 15,000-all the better. It would look like this…$15,000.00

If this is successful, I’ll let you folks know.

Think…15,000

Mahalo~

Our Lei Shop is closing today…sob.

Po’ohala Lei and Flowers, the last of the Hawaiian owned lei shops in Chinatown Hawaii is shuttering the business. It has been a family owned business for 27 years. It has been a tough couple of weeks as our customers have been stopping in to say their farewells. Emotional for all.

These are photos of our windows displaying our stunning fresh Hawaiian sewn lei.

There are still a few left this morning. We invite you in to share our little bit of Aloha.

 Aloha… happy to report, we still have a lot of

No such thing as Monday Blues when you work in a lei shop. How could that ever be possible when surrounded by these beautiful and fragrant lei. At Po’ohala Lei and Flowers on Beretania St. in Downtown Honolulu Chinatown, today’s offerings will chase away any blahs or blues you may have. How fortunate to have another fresh ilima to twine with the heady pikake bud. If your sweetie prefers a non scented but stunning lei, adorn your special someone with this scarlet double or rope rose. This red rose bud beauty will last for days. Among the many lei shops in Hawaii, Po’ohala is the only one offering these  strands of rose, pikake and pakalana artfully twined and heavenly scented. Today we sewed them in both pink and red roses. After I have worn a lei with roses in it for a couple of days, I cut the string then remove and float the roses in pretty bowls of water and place them in different parts of my house for an extra pick-me-up of loveliness. All these lei are appropriate for both men and women…and no, in Hawaii giving and wearing  of lei are not hobbled by gender boundaries…and YES, another reason “lucky we live Hawaii”. Ahh, too many choices. Which lei will you choose?

If the Scent-a-rama (although shouldn’t it be scent-a-roma?) ever becomes an app, today’s download would send you to teen heaven. Today’s Saturday selection at Po’ohala Lei & Flowers is a lei lovers delight. This photo does not do justice to these superb lei. Made today is the rare ilima twined with a single strand of pikake. We (remember I help out here at the lei shop) also made pikake strands, pakalana whose season is winding to a close, and awapuhi ke’oke’o in the Micronesian style. Can you imagine the delighted look on the face of your special someone when you present this skillfully crafted rope pikake? Just peeking below the rope pikake is the awapuhi in our inimitable feather style and right below the feather ginger is the purple crown flower a favorite of Queen Liliu’okalani. We give this lei a spicy hint of scent by twining it with a single strand of pakalana. Oh so sweet these lei. Come by the shop on Beretania St. between Smith and Maunakea in lovely downtown Honolulu right in Chinatown, our Hawaii. Or ring up. 537-3011. Served with Aloha.

On the bright side–I scored a goal. On the dark side–we got beat by a team that showed little sportmanship in seemingly boorish behavior by racking up the score. Our regular goalie was at a tournament in Australia so 3 fairly inexperienced volunteers (thank you, thank you) took their  respective turns in the goal box. We were also missing 6 regular team players. For future reference  ladies, let me tell you how it is done. After it becomes apparent that scoring in a situation like this is as easy as say, brushing your teeth, you then should start rotating players into different positions. For instance; move your forwards into the fullback line, let your fullbacks have a run at being a forward, bring your goalie out to play on the field, put people that usually don’t play the keeper position in to experience the goal box. Mix it up.  Start passing to those gals that usually don’t get a chance at a lot of ball handling. Really! It is disconcerting and should be totally unnecessary to tell folks that. But there you go. Sportsmanship is not dead. It just needs to be taught. Remember, it’s called Playing a Game.

10-10. ten-ten. I’o I’o. Those that know me get my little play on words…Hawaiian style with just a wee bit of warp.

This is possibly one of the most beautiful and unique lei that I have created. I made it for my husband’s birthday this past week. As you can see, it is so knock-down-over-the-top-show-stopping-breathtakingly-darn-frickin’-jaw-dropping-GORGEOUS!!!!! And its fragrances are divine!

This special lei is hala ula. pikake and pakalana gently twined together to create this memorable birthday gift. Of course it came from Po’ohala Lei and Flowers, the best of the lei shops in all of Honolulu, Hawaii. The scents of these three strands was intriguing. The sweet and musky of the hala ula twined with the spicy pakalana and the intoxicating pikake combine to create a lei with its own unique fragrance not overpowered but delightfully enhanced by each strand.

And long lasting too…this is the same lei that my husband wore the next night to a fabulous dinner at Alan Wong’s. Mahalo Annie!

Looking Good Honey!

Take a look at today’s featured lei at Po’ohala Lei & Flowers. Wow! such unique and lovely offerings. The red rose and tuberose crafted in the rope style pictured on the top has both the long lasting beauty of the rose coupled with the sweet scent of the tuberose. This lei is candy to the eyes and senses. More selections for today include the rare and valued hala ula and a tightly woven Micronesian style ginger in yellow-I beleive that we are the only lei shop of the many lei shops in Hawaii to make this style lei in awapuhi melemele. Look! Po’ohala Lei has created the much desired rope pikake and a rope pink rose. Come buy, you know they won’t last long.

Po’ohala Lei & Flowers located in the ever interesting Downtown Chinatown, Honolulu, Hawaii. 69 N Beretania St. Phone 537-3011

The Big Island of Hawaii’s Hilo Airport has got to be the prettiest little International Airport in the State of Hawaii if not the entire western hemisphere. Pictured here is a lovely orchid perhaps of the Vanda type-just guessing, but please correct me if I guess wrong. This orchid was growing in a puakenikeni tree which was also beautifully flowering and both were silently wowing for all curious and observant eyes to see. I took this photo from about 12 feet away.

Then, glancing up and up, I spotted this hapu’u fern shoot reaching up and up and up into Hilo’s cloudy morning sky. It was getting its wakey morning kiss from a sunbeam. I managed to sneak a photo shot from the trunk of the hapu’u through its lovely green fronds.

Voting for the BOOKS FOR HAWAII contest is winding to a close at the end of this month. There are only 3 more days to cast your ballot for Hawaii. If our state wins, we will receive 50,000 children’s books from a national organization called First Book.  Voting is super easy! We are currently in 1st place so let’s all do our best to keep Hawaii on top. Gosh knows that our keiki need these books. Maybe we can mitigate the impact of fewer school days that will be affecting our kids due to the teacher furloughs.

Here is the link: http://booksforkids.firstbook.org/whatbook/about.php

All you have to do is visit the website once a day (3 days left) and choose Hawaii. Click to vote. Click Submit. You don’t have to fill in the other spots. Just go to the box that asks where you want 50,000 books to be sent, find Hawaii and click.  YOU ONLY HAVE TO PRESS ON  *WHERE DO YOU WANT THE BOOKS TO GO….ITS THE ONLY REQUIRED FIELD. That’s it. Like I said…easy peasy.

Here is the link again: http://booksforkids.firstbook.org/whatbook/about.php

Send the link to all your family and friends who will vote for Hawaii.  Our Hawaiian kids could surely benefit. One wee little act will make a huge difference.