B is for Barbie: a childhood remembered

Barbie, Ken, Alan, Midge, Skipper and Scooter.
My dolls.
They defined the 60's, my childhood, spending hours and days creating make-believe worlds, setting up their homes, dressing them and for a decade my collection expanded.
My mother made clothes for Barbie and friends. She knitted blankets and sewed linen for their beds. Pa made me the furniture. Shawni now has my collection.

No question I had to go past the Barbie Exposition being hosted at Les Arts Decoratif on the Rue de Rivoli.
She is 57 years old, a universal icon and the brochure talks about the 'ancient dolls and dresses' on display.
Oh my!

I delighted in seeing these original dolls and how they have evolved over the decades. Behind the scenes videos on the design process was fascinating as was how Mattel has contextualised and evolved Barbie through the decades.

Who knew that Barbie got to the moon before Armstrong! In my day she was a nurse or air hostess and played tennis.

Barbie, friends and family.

First time Barbie comes to Paris.

Quite wonderful the impact of one person's vision.

S is for Summer Sales in Paris: a declaration realised

I am not quite sure when I first made the declaration to go shopping during the Paris sales for my first grandchild.

We lived in Marly le Roi 30 years ago. Shawni and Barry were babies. I recall window shopping while wandering around Paris, loving the children's clothing, the French designer flair, the colours and styles just beautiful. I remember buying gorgeous mohair wool and knitting for the kids, buying seersucker pink fabric and sewing a pair of pants for Shawni using a trendy Parisian pattern.

It's the Summer of 2016, it's July in Paris, the summer sales are in full swing and my first grandchild is due in September so I went shopping.

How completely wonderful.

July in Paris, shopping for Baby Hadfield.

T is for Toiletpaper: Summer of 2016 at Galaries Lafayette

Lipsticks and handbags, of course! 

Ties flop through holes in a book, kilts and scarlet macaws.

Galaries Lafayette, summer 2016, Tioletpaper takes over.

Window shopping in Paris.

Galaries Lafayette invited Tioletpaper, an Italian duo, Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari, to create it's Summer of 2016 look.

I am completely intrigued and wowed, the window displays are eclectic, comical, startling, colourful: parrots, croissants, fish, jars of jam, lobsters, cars, lipsticks.

Under the wondrous stained glass dome is a phallic Eiffel Tower squeezed between enormous 'eggs'.

Blue, blanc en rouge, lobsters and sunbathers. Crazy about those knitted shorts.

Handbags, croissants, macaroons and waffles.

A little orange dress among the clutter!

Irreverant Tioletpaper installation under La Coupole, Galaries Lafayette. 

B is for Birthday Cheer: my 60th year

Circle celebrating my 60th, Natalie and Vincent as hosts, Cape Town, June 2016

Birthday cheer with my quilt group, in the kitchen, Arthur Road, June 2016

Birthday much with Barry. He made me the candle!

C is for Celebrating: Barry's 30th birthday

Celebrating  - 30 years.

In this year of travel and moving, it was with deep satisfaction that I had a day at home, a day of time with Barry to mark his special milestone, his 30th birthday. We started with breakfast at Woolies in Rosebank as we planned our shopping. And shop we did with much efficiency, first stop, the first overcoat was perfect and we were done apart from a jersey from Woolies.

Back home Kim had such fun decorating the house for the Moroccan theme dinner party. I pottered in my kitchen all day quietly prepping slow-cooked leg of lamb and fennel chicken tagines, hummus with a punch of chilli and bowls of coucous.

This day and the party has helped me regroup and feel grounded. I lacked mindfulness during the trip to Costa Rica and Hawaii and ended up losing things and missing our flight from Hawaii across to New York. Also I have not landed easily from this trip, my sleep patterns have been all over the place and I have been weary. I also understand that I am still trying to process the death of my father among everything else.

So meeting Lida and Bevis, Kim's folks, and spending time with family and friends over cocktails and food was nourishing on so many levels. Another special moment in this 'big year' of mine.

Happy Birthday Barry.

N is for New York: a Manhattan May day

Making the most out of our shortened New York visit.
Shopping at Baby Gap on 5th Avenue for Baby Hadfield's first hoodie, picking up some my usual from Bloomingdales. Finding treats on Broadway - Turkish Gozleme's, a delicious flatbread treat, and mounds of Ben & Jerry's ice cream. Riding the subway, joining the evening crowds on Times Square. Delighting in the goofy joy of Matilda.
On our way home....

A hummingbird, lights up on Times Square.
Seems a fitting way to end this leg of our Alphabet of Kersten Travels from Costa Rica to Hawaii.

N is for Nibbles: Maui living

John and John, at home in Maui

John's 7pm call for 'nibbles' and a glass of wine after a day on the go is already a favourite Maui memory. Music, either John at the piano or background gentle notes, social dinners around the table, good conversations, sometimes politically charged - who keeps raising the "T" word.
A lush garden. A comfortable bed with the rain for company. A morning walk up the Iao Valley to see the Needle, along a beach, along a wetland or in a crater. A car for touring.
Finding birds for my world list. Lights, cameras, action, photography, John and Fred sharing a passion.
Putting up with lost hats and jerseys. Being rescued through a very stressful moment when I got the date wrong and missed our flights to the mainland!
Special times. Thank you both for gracious hosting, showing us your little bit of paradise and opening your home.

N is for Nene: missed the goose but got the owl!

The Nene, or Hawaiian Goose is the state bird of Hawaii.

Wherever we drove around Maui and Big Island we saw signs to take care of Nene's crossing the roads, well they never did cross in front of us!

I did get to see a handful of Nene at the Volcano National Park on Big Island but Fred did not get to photograph the bird.

However we got to see the endemic Hawaiian Owl or Pueo while up on Haleakala, two birds were flying low and Fred was able to get a quick photo as the bird landed a little way from the car.

We had such a good sighting!

Hawaiian Owl, Haleakala, Maui.

Looking at this signboard as we exited the National Park, I only now notice what it says "Live before you Die". I was tired after the hike but I do feel that Fred and I are doing our best to live up to this sentiment.

R is for Red Ferns: hiking out of Haleakala Crater

View of the fern forest from the switchbacks on the Haleamau'u Trail

Switchbacks climbing 1400 feet.

John and John on the trail.

The most surprising part of our hike was the transition from the alpine cinder desert of the vast Haleakala crater to a virgin fern forest!

The wonderful ocher and ashen colours in the crater transitioned to grassy fields and endemic shrubs around Holua Cabin. We had dropped from just under 10 000 feet into the crater and we then started to climb the switchbacks to the Haleamau'u Trail parking lot, a climb of about 1400 feet over 4 miles to around 8000 feet! 

And these eastern reaches of the crater are a lush green, virgin fern forest! The new leaves of the ferns are a bright red!

Red fern detail.

T is for Trails: following the signs

The gang on the trail, John, John, Fred and Sharon

Cameras and backpacks filled with trail snacks, a picnic lunch, loads of water and the gang was ready to start the hike!

Well done John, John and Fred. 

This ranks as one of my best hikes to date, the silence, the peace, the place, I loved it all and what a pleasure to walk with the 3 of you.

Thank you!

A Churkar Partridge on the path.

On the path through the cinder desert of Haleakala Crater.

The simplicity of a single flower in the lava field.

H is for Haleakala: hiking the crater

We headed out early on Sunday morning to the summit of Haleakala Crater, Maui, to hike the Sliding Sands trail. The day was perfect, clear big blue skies, the rain stayed away and there was much anticipation as we drove the switchbacks to get to crater rim to start our hike.

The scenery was magnificent and it was 12 miles of some of the best walking I have ever done. Shapes, colours, vistas that left us in awe....these photos try to capture some of the magic of this place.

Haleakala Crater from the start of our hike at the Visitors Centre.

Alpine cinder desert.

Pele's Paint Pot - named for the Hawaiian goddess of fire and volcanoes

Paint Pot colours, such a wonderful surprise !

S is for Silversword: a high altitude find

A unique sighting on Haleakala Crater walk.

Another fascinating Hawaiian find - the striking silversword which glistened against the barren volcanic landscape high up on Haleakala Crater. 

I was thrilled to see one of the plants in flower too - really dramatic, they stand tall above the rosette of narrow silver pointed leaves and the flowers have small, purple heads.

Quite remarkable colour and form.

I is for I'iwi: an endemic honeycreeper on Maui

I know when I buy a new bird book which birds become a target. 

Here in Hawaii the common birds tend to be the introduced 'aliens' and hold little real interest to me. 

However, the section in my Birds of Hawaii by Jim Denny that draws me is the endemic forest birds - obviously the most sort after too - and Hawaii's isolation in the middle of the Pacific Ocean has created a high degree of adaption and a whole new subfamily, the honeycreepers!

Of these, I wanted the I'iwi, apart from its cool name it is fabulous with its deep red colour and the contrasting black with a hint of white. It is the long, deeply decurved bill with its funky salmony red colour that makes it a rock star here on Maui.

We landed early from Big Island this morning and the John's drove us out to Hosmer Grove on Haleakala with I'iwi's as the target and we were treated to a spectacular birding fest. 

Most happy with this lifer.