Handmade clay orchids in Kailua-Kona Hawaii...

OK, so the picture is of an anthurium... we don't have much blooming in the yard right now.

The other week someone called me out of the blue to ask if I knew where the shop with the lady in Kailua who makes handmade clay orchids was. I don't get down to Alii drive all that often so I didn't know and wasn't any help with that question. The other day Pat and I went to town for happy hour at Don the Beachcomber's (good mai-tais and pu-pus) and went for a stroll down Alii drive afterwards. We walked by the shop and decided to go in. Well, the clay orchids are pretty much amazing. They look like the real thing. They're made out of a soft polymer or something rather than what we'd traditionally think of as clay, so they almost feel kind of real too. We were quite impressed.

I thought I'd give that business a plug as it's not the typical touristy type of business you see all over the place. If you are ever wandering downtown you might want to keep an eye out for the place just to take a look at their orchids. Here's their website, you can check out their gallery to see the type of work the owner does... very lifelike.

Interestingly enough, the shop is run by a mother/son team (as far as I can tell in one visit, sorry if I'm wrong) and the son is someone I've run into at the boat ramp on occasion. He's a marine researcher/diver and videographer and we know some of the same people. If you visit them, tell 'em you found out about them from Steve from Wanna Dive... they'll actually have a clue as to who I am... it never hurts to build up some good will.

Aloha,

Steve