Today we went down to the University of Hawaii to visit the Lyon Arboretum. It was at the end of a twisty rising road through little houses and towering trees, past the Manoa Falls turnoff. (We decided against the falls hike because it's been too wet.) The arboretum is not well laid-out for formal tours, but has very informative labeling of the plants. We went down a small path of native/endangered plants. We focused most of our tour on the ethnobiotanical garden collection) The labels of the plants included the Hawaiian name, the Latin name, and little icons that indicated if the plant was traditionally used for food, crafts, jewelry, housing, ceremonies, or medicine.

The docent was brand new to the job - we were her first tour - and was obviously unpracticed. She brought along her notebook so that she could tell us the myths and legends that related to the naming of many of the plants. She was cheerful and generous with her time and thoughts ... and bug spray. There was an unfortunate amount of standing water and a large collection of mosquitoes bothering our ankles. It was a small bother, though, in comparison to the lovely plants and the neat stories we heard.

The afternoon was a nice breather. I dropped on my bed to call Achaosofkittens, thinking that I wouldn't really nap. Ha. Despite the crashing thunderstorm, the small teenage elephant rooming next to me, and the party on the next door patio, I passed right out. We spent the afternoon reading and knitting, had leftover homemade lasagna for dinner, and played Apples to Apples.