7/20/08

Hibiscus, Tapolanga

We used to play with hibiscus flowers when we were young. We tucked the flower on our hair and danced the hula. We also played "pretend house" or "pretend store" We used the hibiscus flowers for pretend soup. It has a sticky juice when sliced and then we pretended to eat. No wonder we were so skinny. We were just pretending to eat. We had white, yellow, orange, pink, red with white stripes, purple and crimson, red and white, red and yellow hibiscus flowers. We called it tapulanga.

17 comments:

Lavender said...

Ooooooo! What FANTASTIC photos of a GLORIOUS flower! Well done Ces!!! Bravo!!

Anonymous said...

Super close shots Ces! I love seeing how it is hairy ;) We also played Hula Girls with Hibiscus in our hair or behind ear when young!

pieterbie said...

That first picture, the detail, is just awesome.
Great nature photography!

Anonymous said...

Hello Ces, I am enjoying the beautiful pictures you made in your garden and so on. Pretending to eat. So thát is the solution for obesitas :-)

laughingwolf said...

beautiful flowers, ces :)

Ces Adorio said...

Thank you Lavender. Thanks to my camera. It's fun discovering the features. You are right about the hibiscus being glorious. It is simple and delicate yet very intricate.

Ces Adorio said...

Super close indeed Anon. I love discovering structures that I cannot see with my eye. Love learning about you, the hula and hibiscus when young. I think girls around the world are dancing the hula every time they see a hibiscus flower. He-he.

Wow, thank you Pieterbie. Coming from you, that is a magnificent compliment and I am all smiles. Thank you.

Wieneke, thank you very much. Having fun with the series. Of course it takes me away from drawing and painting. But either way, I am having fun.

Thank you Laughingwolf. A beautiful flower indeed.

Melissa said...

Hibiscus are one of my favorite flowers! And I love that you included these shots with some of your childhood memories. That 4th one is too cool and I especially like the bud unfurling.

Ces Adorio said...

Thank you Melissa. I like the hibiscus because it reminds me of my childhood. They grew everywhere in our city. There was a hibiscus plant next to the jasmine plant in front of our house. It was our neighbor's hibiscus bushes and she did not mind that we picked the flowers.

Ces Adorio said...

Citizen, well, that would be another bright color in your garden, hehe. I like the fact that the life cycle of the flower is so short, makes one appreciate it more.

Kerstin Klein said...

the top two pics are just fantastic!

Ces Adorio said...

Hello Kirstin, thank you for stopping by. Still trying to catch up after coming back from a mini-vacation.

Anonymous said...

Ces, what camera do you use and did you need to add a macro lens to it? I still love the first two images :)

Ces Adorio said...

Hello Anon, I just have a 10MP Canon PowerShot SD900. The macro feature comes with it. It is very handy. I just put it in my pocket. It is hard to focus on very small objects like an ant for example.

Anonymous said...

BWARK!! I would like to see a photograph of an ant please Ces. BWARK!

Ces Adorio said...

Hello Your Majesty,
Would you like a photograph of an ant before I spray it with ant killer or after? Oops! :-)

valerie walsh said...

I have always loved hibiscus and they have always been in my life in the neighborhoods i have lived in. Your photos make me feel hopeful, the colors and flowers are beautiful. I am sad and lost and uninspired but this gives me a little boost, Thank You Ces :)