One of my favorite places to photograph is in Chinatown. Something is always going on there. On Saturday I was there for a little while and then for a few hours today. Spent most of my time focusing on small details. I even saw one man steal a bag of onions and get caught and another man steal a box of mangoes and not get caught. In both cases there was a lot of running and screaming and cursing. Unfortunately I didn't get a decent photo of any of it. 

I visited the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility this past Saturday where some of my friends were helping to plant huli for growing kalo leaves. I didn't have directions but thought I'd figure out where the farm was once I got there. There must be a rule about not trying to figure out where you're going once you're in a lock down facility that's full of dangerous people. Turned out I took the wrong fork in the road and ended up at a dead end with lots of derelict buildings. I enjoyed taking photos for awhile and then decided to go back to the fork in the road where I'd taken a wrong turn. Only thing was, when I started back I ran into a locked gate that had been unlocked when I first drove through. Great, feels like the beginning of a Hollywood horror movie. Well, at least I had a cell phone. Thirty years ago I would have been in a real pickle. So I called the HYCF office, but all I could get was a woman's voice telling me she was sorry she couldn't take my call because all the offices were closed and I would need to leave my name and number so they could get back to me on Monday. There were plenty of other cars parked around some of the buildings where I was at so I started trying to get in but all of the doors were locked. Guess I shouldn't have been surprised since I was at a lock down facility and that's kind of the definition of "lock down." I saw a couple of open windows and stood underneath yelling, "Hello! Hello!" Didn't get a response. I decided it wouldn't be too smart if I started wandering around a lock down facility for troubled youth, so I got on my cell phone again. Finally found an emergency number, rustled up someone who could open the gate and made my escape. I swore I wouldn't tell anyone what had happened since what I had done seemed pretty stupid, but here I am telling all of you about it. Anyway, I finally got out and arrived at the farm just in time for lunch and just in time to miss most of the work.

One of my friends was celebrating his birthday and invited a group of us to tour Aloha Stadium together last Thursday. We got the VIP tour including the opportunity to play a little football on the field for about 30 minutes. The stadium was built in 1975 and a new stadium is scheduled to begin construction adjacent to it. The new stadium will be a little smaller because it will not include an upper deck. Guess we don't need so many seats most of the time. When the new stadium is complete, they plan on tearing down Aloha Stadium and putting up a series of buildings that will include parking, shopping and dining. 

Every year Foster Botanical Garden sponsors a Midsummer Night's Gleam, a free event that includes a concert, activities for kids, and light displays. And lots of people dress up like it's Halloween. 

The Prince Lot Hula Festival and the Best of Honolulu Festival took place this past Saturday, the former on the grounds of Iolani Palace and the latter on the grounds of Honolulu Hale (City Hall). 

On Saturday my wife and I were exploring the North Shore and in the late afternoon we ran into the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) protest in Haleiwa. We had stopped to eat at Cholo's and then have something to drink at the Coffee Gallery, but instead I spent almost all of my time taking pictures of the protest. They were protesting the proposed TMT on Mauna Kea but they were also celebrating protesting together. The protesters were primarily Hawaiian but welcomed non-Hawaiians who stood with them. They stood on both sides of the road and cheered and waved signs and flags as cars and trucks slowly drove by. Well-wishers honked their horns and waved ti leaves and flags. Every few minutes cars or trucks going both ways would stop and a group would go into the middle of the road for about 30 seconds, waving flags and shouting. When the protest was done, everyone went to an adjacent field where a Hawaiian kupuna (older person) thanked everyone for coming, commended them for protesting with aloha, and encouraged them to come the next day to another protest. The day ended with a Hawaiian pule (prayer) and a chant. 

I visited Waimea Valley this past Saturday. The heliconias and gingers can be spectacular in Waimea Valley, but I always time my visit two weeks after they've gone brown. This was one of the rare times when my visiting and their blooming happened to coincide.

The Hawai'i All Collectors Show is a semi-annual event that focuses on inexpensive collectibles like toys, bottles and baseball cards. When I first started going in the early 90's, there were still plenty of serious antique dealers, some from the mainland, who offered pretty fantastic stuff. Now it's mostly tables filled with detritus dredged up from white elephant sales and Goodwill. Still, it's fun to look at it all and sometimes I find something special for a very good price. But not this time. This time all I collected was photographs.

On July 13 and 14, the Hawai'i Farm Bureau sponsored the annual Hawai'i State Farm Fair at Kualoa Ranch. There were lots of plants for sale, food booths and booths about farming, and a 4-H display of cows, sheep, pigs and chickens as well as a competition for best in show among sheep and pigs. Most of the rides, activities and games were geared for preschool and elementary school children. There were two especially good deals at the fair: $5 horse, pony, and cart rides and $5 45 minute bus rides to visit movie sites on Kualoa Ranch. You need to get there early for tickets, especially for the Kualoa Ranch tours, or you'll be waiting at least four hours for a seat.

Every Thursday night the Hawai'i Farm Bureau sponsors the Kailua Farmers Market. It's grown quite a bit over the years, both in terms of booths and attendance. I hadn't been to the market for several years and was surprised to see a concert in the parking lot and families sitting on blankets listening to music while eating their supper. Below are some of the photos I took that night.