DIY: Bella's Secret Garden

Bella is the daughter of my friend Tiffany and Sal who are seriously the kindest of all mankind...Bella recently turned three, and since we couldn't make it to her birthday party, we dropped by her house to give her her present. To my surprise, Tiff and Sal had moved to a cute little cottage house where they had, in the months I had not seen them, been working on their backyard.

 Almost everything in this yard was crafted by Sal..Complete with a tiki house for kids to play house in, numerous slides and jungles, a zipline, and AQUAPONICS! Taken from wikipedia...(Aquaponics /ˈækwəˈpɒnɨks/ is a sustainable food production system that combines a traditional aquaculture (raising aquatic animals such as snails, fish, crayfish or prawns in tanks) with hydroponics (cultivating plants in water) in a symbiotic environment.) He has everything from kale, cherry tomatoes, orchids, peppers, lettuces, fruit, and ALL kinds of herbs. It really blew me away seeing the fish on one side, the pumps spitting back out the water out of the garden, sucking it back out again etc in some sort of cycle that put my futile basil growing efforts to utter shame.

 Bella, Sal and Tiff live without TV, or the Internet.. Sal, a capable hands on dad who has spent his time in the military, and Tiff a nurturing mother with medical experience, together three of them could probably make it out alive in the apocalyse, or the Hunger Games.. (ha, ha?)

Morning Glass Cafe

My husband being from Australia always complains about the lack of good coffee in the States but Morning Glass, he is extremely fond of. A cute little cafe in the middle of Manoa, it caters to every style, kinds, and ages of people. The menu is simple, but satisfies the soul. A European feel with a touch of the islands..Guyere Cheese Press with Hamakua mushrooms that kind of thing. My favorite is the Albacore tuna sandwich with scallion aioli. Soo good... They also have fresh fish sandwiches when they've got a fresh catch. They could charge a lot more but it's so cheap. The baristas have the coffees and lattes down to an art. Everything feels personalized here from the not-so-hot chocolates for the baby and the shaken up iced lattes to fresh flowers on the table. Morning Glass gives us more reason than ever to move to close to Manoa...

Bellows/ River Mouth (Waimanalo)

I have already mentioned in prior posts, about how much I love Waimanalo..or if you ask any Hawaiian-- God's Country.  It's something about it I feel like if the entire island could be storming somehow Waimanalo would have the only sun peaking through it, maybe even a halo and a double rainbow.  It seems to always be looked after, and cared for...the Hawaiians that live there are your bestfriends at the end of the day if you are respectful..  I wouldn't crash a luau but you will most likely get invited to one anyway if you are livin in nalo'.  I have luckily paid my dues all through out highschool...they truly are some of the most funniest, hospitable people...not to mention indigenous which I have a lot of respect for.  Talk about there being 50 States and being able to say that I come from one of the only states with culture besides Alaska..    There obviously a lot of reasons to love Waimanalo but this post singles out a hidden gem which I am about to disclose...  Right next to Waimanalo beach is Bellows Airforce station with a beach similar to Sherwoods/ Waimanalo except if you go far down enough you will come to this awesome little river mouth.  It's never too crowded considering it is only open to public on weekends and it is the most ideal first wave for a keiki.  Perfect little baby ripples to boogie on down.  This is what we did today, laughed, bathed, soaked, loved and surfed under the celestial Hawaiian sun.  This is what life is about..

Bellows Beach on Dwellable