Visit to Kunia Nursery and a Three-Way Cock Fight

We ventured out of the house today to make a trip up North. First stop was Kunia Nursery. This plant gets a bunch of sun all year round and they usually have some vigorous tropicals (that La favors). They also have a large selection of succulents - you just have to look in the nooks and crannies. Here is one of their Agave attenuata. Noe noticed every Aedium obessum on the property. There was another that I didn't take a picture of - its caudex was pretty rotund. Marlon was the same with the Jade Plants - anytime one was in the area, he noticed them. Funny how we tend to gravitate to the things we normally like. A week ago I found a sprout of what I believe to be a sea grape while checking the surf. I was able to grab it and repotted it in the garden. This is what I think the plant will grow into. I'll check tomorrow when I go surfing again. And when I first saw this plant, it set me off on a mission to find one that was smaller. This Euphorbia punicea (Jamaican Poinsetta) entranced me then and the "shaka" leaf pattern and red flowers are still a favorite when we come up here. I'll post a picture of mine, but it hasn't flowered like this yet. And here are several other pictures - Always a fun place to visit! We also continued on to the North Shore to eat some gelato and drink some coffee. The North Shore Marketplace has several of these air sculptures for sale - And this place always has chickens running around - But today was special because we witnessed a three-way rooster battle!!! We came on to a full fledged cock fight and stopped the van to watch - then a third rooster saw the fighting and bolted for a piece of the action - all three continued to beat the crap out of each other only stopping to catch their breath. We finished trip off with a surf check at Puena Point and mahi sandwiches at Kua Aina (Kapolei). What a great day!!!

Recent Repotted Plants

Here is the Haworthia truncata repotted in the Rectangular Buttery Yellow pot. And here is the Gasteria glomerata repotted in the Red 25 medium-small bowl (from two batches ago). These two pursuits - succulent rearing and ceramics - are quite possibly the most stress relieving activities ever.

My First Jamaica Clay Body Pieces

All trimmed up and ready for bisque firing. I have enjoyed working with Jamaica clay - it feels smoother than the Rod's Bod and Soldate 60 that I have been using. Thinking about the next steps, I believe I want to use minimal glaze on these pieces, to highlight the clay body. I know I'll have to glaze the interior of the two bowls for food safety, but in all cases, I will minimize what goes on the exterior. And these are the latest batch of pinched pots. I'll take Noe and Marlon in to the ceramics studio today so we can glaze these pieces (they each have one in this batch with the balance being my pots).

The Alulas are Still Pushing Out Flowers

I took these yesterday morning. The plant I put into a heavy ceramic pot has been the real producer this year. I'm not sure if the pot material makes a difference here - but it sure looks like it does.

New Pots from the Last Kiln Run

And here are the pots I got from the last run - four of them (small batch - I've been busy with other things). Here is a rectangular pot made with Rod's Bod clay, slab built, dipped in Buttery Yellow glaze. I made it to hold a lateral growing plant. This is a small round pot, again slab built Rod's Bod and this one dipped in Turq glaze. The turquoise aspect of the glaze didn't show up as much on this piece, but neither did the normal flat brown - this came out with a darker gray. This medium-small sized hand formed pot was built from Rod's Bod and dipped in Turq. The turquoise totally came out on this!!!! And the last pot in this run is a Rod's Bod, medium-small, pinched pot dipped in Buttery Yellow. I'd say this was the best run yet!