Molten Lava on the Big Island!

I'm visiting the big island for the second time and, finally, Pele kept the lava flowing so I could see it!  It was quite exciting!  Tony and I looked at various alternatives and decided that a boat tour would probably not be a good idea since we both get seasick and the videos I saw on the web showed a LOT of bobbing around.  Instead I found a group, Kalapana Cultural Tours,  that does escorted tours over the lava bed to the areas where lava is flowing.  The publicly accessible viewing area is nowhere near where the lava is currently flowing so the only way to legally see the lava is with a guided tour.  All the folks who run the Kalapana Cultural Tours live or lived in Kalapana.  Our guides were brothers, Paul and Primo.  We hiked over raw lava fields (no groomed trails here!) - climbing up lumps of lava, jumping over large and small cracks, slipping/sliding on rough a'a lava, ...  Quite an adventure!  Paul and Primo would tell us about the various plants now growing in some parts of the flow, they described the various neighborhood areas that we crossed (houses burned and the original land is now under 90+ feet of lava).  At the start of tour they have pictures of their land before the lava came - a gorgeous black sand beach with groves of coconut trees, and how it looks now - 90' cliff and just a few plants starting the cycle of rebirth.  Here are a few of the pictures we took.  I'll upload more as I can to my flickr pictures Hawaii set.

Lava flow on 7/28/2013

Tony (yes it was a hot, sweaty hike!) in front of the lava flow

Beautiful blue water along highway 137 on Hawai'i (and a handsome hubby too!)

Happy 4th of July America!

I started out the day watching our local Mira Mesa 4th of July parade and it looks like a new "youngster" is going to try out for our city council position.  I think his name was Chris Cates.  I saw his banner and wondered is Chris a guy or gal?  Then he was walking along the parade route, shaking hands and handing out info pamphlets and introducing himself.  Anyway - it's always fun to see our parade - we're up close and personal with all the paraders and each year some new groups participate.  There were some cool model A cars in this years parade and the Marines had some REALLY cool vehicles.  I have no idea what they were - but they looked interesting.  And I ran into the office manager for one of the companies I consult for. She is a fun person at work and she's really a blast during a parade.  She goes every year so now I have someone else to hang out with when my mom's not in town.  She suggested an alternate viewing spot for the fireworks tonight so we'll try that out and see how it works.  Have a fun time at your local 4th of July events or just enjoy your Thursday if you live somewhere other than the USA. 

And, just to keep you in the spirit - here are some 4th of July theme designs I've made!

Red, white and blue sparkle

Happy Red-White-and-Blue Birthday!

Starting July with a BANG!

I'm starting July off right!  I made myself take pictures of some of my new designs last night so I can get them listed.  So, drum roll please ...... here are some new earring designs!

Multi-color Splash Earrings

Lemon Drop Earrings

And now, back to the camera!  You can find links to all my online designs at cserpentDesigns.com