Showing posts with label Nature. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nature. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Saipan, Uncle A'be's house


Saipan, A'be's house - porch, originally uploaded by *caramimi*.

My Uncle A'be, lives a fairly natural life on his beautifully tended property. Although he has one of the last tin & wood houses on our family compound, his tidy house and garden is the charming ideal of tropic life.

I spent a few afternoons at my uncle's house having lunch. After a filling meal of tuna and rice (cooked on the wood-fueled stove), I took some pics of the inside and outside kitchens, and the surrounding property. The carnival of plant life and color, was almost too vibrant -- a feast for the senses. I especially loved the Asian touches Aunt Amy accented throughout their home.

Saipan, A'be's house - petta (door)
petta (door)

Saipan, A'be's house - kusina (inside kitchen)
kusina (inside kitchen)

Saipan, A'be's house - firewood stove
All the cooking is done in the outside kitchen. Most families have gas-burning stoves, but Uncle A'be still prefers cooking with firewood -- even rice, despite the fact he owns a rice cooker.

Saipan, A'be's house - concrete sink
The poured concrete sink in the outside kitchen. Utilitarian, yet beautiful design.

Saipan, A'be's house - tree trunk utensil holder
A tree runs through the outside kitchen, conveniently used to hold the cutting board.

Saipan, A'be's house - aga yan chotda (ripe & unripe bananas)
aga yan chotda (ripe & unripe bananas)

Every home, I visited, had bunches of bananas hanging to ripen. I'm not certain of these varieties, but the small bunch in the back are the tiny thin-skinned bananas with sweet, firm, almost tart flesh, usually found in Asian or Latin markets.

Saipan, A'be's garden - tire swing
The huge tree with tire swing was perfection.

Saipan, A'be's garden - trunkon niyok (coconut tree)
Uncle A'be was particularly proud of this bunch of coconut trees, he made sure I photographed it.

Saipan, A'be's garden - Hibiscus
multi-petaled hibiscus

Saipan, A'be's garden - Mother-in-law's tongue (acalypha hispida)
acalypha hispida aka "Mother-in-law's tongue!"

Saipan, A'be's garden - fireworks
garden fireworks


Saturday, April 14, 2007

Saipan - Algidon, kapok fibers


Saipan - Algidon, kapok fibers, originally uploaded by *caramimi*.

The harvest of silk/cotton-like fibers from the kapok tree, known as Ceiba pentandra, or algidon in Chamorro, for use as stuffing for a plush animal project with my nieces. The kapok fibers are sometimes used as a "green" resource for stuffing in pillows, quilts and the like - they are harvested from the dried pod fibers, with no harm to the tree.

The old algidon tree on my Uncle A'be's property is about 3 to 4 stories high, and has been thriving for over 60 years. A big thank you to Roger (shown above) for gathering this kapok harvest.

Kapok web sources:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kapok
www.hear.org/pier/species/ceiba_pentandra.htm
www.blueplanetbiomes.org/kapok.htm

Friday, April 13, 2007

Saipan - Crusty x sustainable design

I heard about a little land crab on our property, that uses a baby jar for a home. By sheer coincidence I found him hanging around the discarded coconuts last night. Apparently they hold nightly meetings between the trash can and coconuts. Funny huh?

This is an umang or hermit crab. Usually they occupy discarded snail shells to protect their soft lower bodies, but looks like this one decided to modernize. Very resourceful!