Weeping White Wiliwilis

ABC Wednesday is a word meme with participants from around the world. This fabulous meme was created and hosted by Mrs. Denise Nesbitt who hails from Great Britain. Over time, others have joined in to help host this wonderful and informative meme. We are now in our seventh round-some of the participants have been with this from the very first round; others have joined in along the way. Each week we are taken across the globe to see the varied and exciting contributions people have taken the time to discover and capture. We start with the letter, "A" and each week we post something in regards to the next letter of the alphabet. This week's letter. is, "W".

WHITE WILIWILI

 Wiliwili (pronounced "willie willie") are also known as Coral Trees, Lobster Claw Tree, Flame Trees, etc. In Hawaii, they are known as wiliwili. It is a tree in the Erythrina family.  In Hawaii, there are several color forms:  red ones, yellow ones, white ones. My brother has some old photos on his website. I consulted him for a lot of the general background information on this plant as he is the one who planted this tree that is in the yard of the home we grew up in, in Kalae, Molokai. The tree drops all of its leaves before it sets forth into bloom. Blooming starts with a solitary flower such as this one, and over time, the entire tree is filled in bloom (hence Flame Tree). Robert says that there is this one area on the way up to the forest reserve that has white wiliwili trees and when they are in full bloom, it looks like it's been snowing.The wood of this tree is very light and buoyant. The outrigger part of  canoes were made from wiliwili wood. In the Hawaiian language, 'wiliwili' means,  'repeatedly twisted' as the seed pods are twisted. The seeds in the seed pods are sought out by those who make leis from the seeds of plants in Hawaii. They are difficult to 'sew' through with a needle and thread, but they yield remarkably beautiful leis. Problem is, though, in Hawaii, these seed leis need to be stored in zip lock bags and kept in the deep freeze so that the bugs don't eat away at it (they are taken out about an hour before wearing to allow it to thaw out). There are several beautiful legends of the wiliwili tree. I like this one the best.

A WILIWILI SEED LEI

My Aunty Florence made this one for me. A very labor intensive project-but I cherish this lei not only because my Aunty made it, but because the seeds are from wiliwili trees on Molokai. These leis are sewn by hand with needle and really strong thread of some sort.

WHITE

As in the white flowers of the chive plants that grow in in my garden. They drop lots of seeds, so I have more chives that keep coming back each summer than I can deal with!

WINDMILL

Full view of a windmill  up in the Abiqui area of Northern New Mexico.

 A detailed view of the windmill.

WOODGRAIN

Yes, I find that even woodgrain such as this, which is one of those plywood bulletin board kiosks on the University of New Mexico campus. Normally, this kiosk is littered with notices so that you cannot see the wood beneath it.

A CHRISTMAS WISH

May God bless your Holidays

With Hope, Peace and Love!