THE STORY OF STUART, THE ADOPTED CATERPILLAR WHO TURNED INTO A BEAUTIFUL HAWAIIAN MONARCH BUTTERFLY
Stuart’s story actually begins in the mid-1800s when his ancestors first arrived in Hawaii as stowaways on a ship sailing to Hawaii.
My own introduction to the marvelous Monarch Butterflies and their Magical Metamorphosis from eggs to caterpillar to pupa to butterfly came at a Midtown Anchorage Rotary Club meeting. Our club had awarded a scholarship to a local Eagle Scout who had just moved to Alaska. We invited him to the meeting to report to us about his Eagle Scout project that had entailed planting milkweed plants in his former state to support the declining population of Monarch butterflies. We learned that these magnificent creatures required milkweed to survive.
Hawaii’s Monarch butterflies differ from those on the mainland in that they do not migrate. Some Mainland Monarchs migrate up to 3,000 miles every few generations in what is termed a “super generation.” This migration can extend from Canada to Mexico. Significantly it can entail more than one generation meaning that the returning butterflies can come from eggs that were laid thousands of miles away from the returned destination.
A shared unique feature of Monarchs is their ability to ingest as caterpillars toxins from the milkweed plants they feed on and then pass on those toxins to the metamorphed butterflies. These toxins in turn are poison to predators helping to preserve the species.
Stuart is the name given by first-grader Kenzo to a caterpillar plucked from a milkweed plant on the campus of Honolulu’s Iolani school. Entrusted to care for Stuart over the Christmas holidays, Kenzo allowed his Uncle Curtis and us to babysit his small charge when he and his family briefly departed from Oahu.
During that hiatus we watched Stuart metamorphosis from a large caterpillar to a smaller pupa or chrysalis. Within this cocoon-like enclosure the caterpillar dissolves and reforms as a butterfly. (This is analogous to the silkworm’s true cocoon that is wrapped with protective silk before metamorphosing as a small moth.)
Stuart’s own transformation into an adult butterfly awaited Kenzo’s return when it was released on the Iolani school’s campus where it returned to the milkweed plant, this time to feast upon the nectar from its flowers.
A Monarch butterfly’s life span in Hawaii can extend for several weeks during which time it will mate and lay its own eggs on a milkweed plant to begin the magical metamorphosis once again.
If you happen to come to Hawaii and see a fluttering butterfly with orange wings, black borders and white spots it may well be one of Stuart’s progeny.
LINK TO VIDEO CLIP OF THE IOLANI SCHOOL'S MILKWEED PLANT WITH ITS FLUTTERING MONARCH BUTTERFLIES FROM WHICH STUART ORIGINATED AND RETURNED:
German composer and music educator Carl Orff (1895-1982) developed a creative method for learning to play music using instruments adapted for young school children.
These instruments include instrument quality xylophones adapted for children as seen being played in this video playlist of an Orff Ensemble at Hawaii's Iolani Lower School in Honolulu.
The Orff method of learning to play musical instruments incorporates speech, movement and drama that makes for a fun experience.
Link to Video Playlist of school children putting on an Orff Concert:
The term teppanyaki was coined for the first time in Kobe Japan in 1945 when the founder of the first Misano restaurant used it to describe his new style of restaurant cooking. Fifteen years later that first teppanyaki restaurant in Kobe was followed by one in Tokyo and then later Osaka. It wasn't until 1964 when the first teppanyaki restaurant reached the United States as introduced here by Benihana. Among the first teppanyaki restaurants to reach Hawaii was Tanaka of Tokyo in 1968.
While for some 200 years prior Japanese families had grilled meats and vegetables, using a large iron plate to do so in a restaurant was an innovation in 1945. The source of the large iron plate was from the Kobe shipyards and initially it was used to cook okonomiyaki by the enterprising resturanteur Shigeji Fujioka. He expanded its use for Kobe steaks and vegetables that suited the taste of members of the Occupation Forces residing in Kobe. The foreigners also found the knife and spatula tossing skills used by Fujioka to be entertaining and eventually teppanyaki cooking became a performance art of its own as demonstrated in the above linked video playlist.
The 1st McDonalds in Johnson City, Tennessee opened around 1970. By 1972-3
it had a drive thru. I remember this because while in highschool my friends and
I would go there for lunch. Went thru the drive thru got lunch, change back from
our dollar and sit in our cars eating. At least we weren't eating in the cafetiria.
Lunch for me was, double cheese burger, small fry and small coke. 25 cents change.
THIS WEEKEND'S NEW YEAR'S OHANA FESTIVAL HELD AT THE JAPANESE CULTURAL CENTER OF HAWAII
2026 marked the 33rd annual New Year's Ohana (family) Festival which is held on the second weekend of January each year.
As Japanese Americans living in Hawaii and their guests gathered to celebrate their cultural heritage the Center itself opened its doors to the public to experience its multiple cultural exhibits related to the history of Japanese in Hawaii.
In this video playlist watch the celebrants as they gather and then take in cultural exhibits related to home and school as they are replicated to show both as they were experienced by Japanese living in Hawaii in. the early 1900s.
Link to Video Playlist of Celebrants and Exhibits at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii:
The Center's exhibit gallery begins with exhibits relating to the Japanese internment camps of World War II:
The gallery then progresses to replicated home and school classroom as they were lived in and attended by Japanese in Hawaii during the early 1900s:
Celebrants gathered at the Cultural Center for the New Year's Ohana Festival and the nearby Tori Gate, a half size replica of the famous floating Tori Gate in Miyajima.
(It was a gift from Honolulu's Sister City, Hiroshima from which many Japanese in Hawaii trace their ancestry.)
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Real funny comedians
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Cat jump in my hatch, I recued him and he was adopted at the shelter.
Menomonee Falls Wisconsin USA
http://www.pcgs.com/SetRegistr...dset.aspx?s=68269&ac=1">Musky 1861 Mint Set
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Lowest bidder
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Looking for PCGS AU58 Washington's, 32-63.
THE STORY OF STUART, THE ADOPTED CATERPILLAR WHO TURNED INTO A BEAUTIFUL HAWAIIAN MONARCH BUTTERFLY
Stuart’s story actually begins in the mid-1800s when his ancestors first arrived in Hawaii as stowaways on a ship sailing to Hawaii.
My own introduction to the marvelous Monarch Butterflies and their Magical Metamorphosis from eggs to caterpillar to pupa to butterfly came at a Midtown Anchorage Rotary Club meeting. Our club had awarded a scholarship to a local Eagle Scout who had just moved to Alaska. We invited him to the meeting to report to us about his Eagle Scout project that had entailed planting milkweed plants in his former state to support the declining population of Monarch butterflies. We learned that these magnificent creatures required milkweed to survive.
Hawaii’s Monarch butterflies differ from those on the mainland in that they do not migrate. Some Mainland Monarchs migrate up to 3,000 miles every few generations in what is termed a “super generation.” This migration can extend from Canada to Mexico. Significantly it can entail more than one generation meaning that the returning butterflies can come from eggs that were laid thousands of miles away from the returned destination.
A shared unique feature of Monarchs is their ability to ingest as caterpillars toxins from the milkweed plants they feed on and then pass on those toxins to the metamorphed butterflies. These toxins in turn are poison to predators helping to preserve the species.
Stuart is the name given by first-grader Kenzo to a caterpillar plucked from a milkweed plant on the campus of Honolulu’s Iolani school. Entrusted to care for Stuart over the Christmas holidays, Kenzo allowed his Uncle Curtis and us to babysit his small charge when he and his family briefly departed from Oahu.
During that hiatus we watched Stuart metamorphosis from a large caterpillar to a smaller pupa or chrysalis. Within this cocoon-like enclosure the caterpillar dissolves and reforms as a butterfly. (This is analogous to the silkworm’s true cocoon that is wrapped with protective silk before metamorphosing as a small moth.)
Stuart’s own transformation into an adult butterfly awaited Kenzo’s return when it was released on the Iolani school’s campus where it returned to the milkweed plant, this time to feast upon the nectar from its flowers.
A Monarch butterfly’s life span in Hawaii can extend for several weeks during which time it will mate and lay its own eggs on a milkweed plant to begin the magical metamorphosis once again.
If you happen to come to Hawaii and see a fluttering butterfly with orange wings, black borders and white spots it may well be one of Stuart’s progeny.
LINK TO VIDEO CLIP OF THE IOLANI SCHOOL'S MILKWEED PLANT WITH ITS FLUTTERING MONARCH BUTTERFLIES FROM WHICH STUART ORIGINATED AND RETURNED:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/iG5z1HW23sk
Stuart as Caterpillar:
Stuart Preparing to Metamorphosis:
Stuart's Metamorphosis into a Cocoon-like Pupa:
Emergence as an Adult Monarch Butterfly:
Could this be the US mints waiting room on the day the new issue is released. I feel their pain
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End Systemic Elitism - It Takes All of Us
ANA LM, LSCC, EAC, FUN
AN ORFF ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE
German composer and music educator Carl Orff (1895-1982) developed a creative method for learning to play music using instruments adapted for young school children.
These instruments include instrument quality xylophones adapted for children as seen being played in this video playlist of an Orff Ensemble at Hawaii's Iolani Lower School in Honolulu.
The Orff method of learning to play musical instruments incorporates speech, movement and drama that makes for a fun experience.
Link to Video Playlist of school children putting on an Orff Concert:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLtb5zi734Bfb8Kk_6-kPJf8ucmDvxlxY3
CONCURRENTLY TAKEN PHOTOS:
FROM YESTERDAY - A HAWAIIAN SUNSET
Pacific Ocean Hawaiian Sunset as Viewed from Honolulu’s Hawaii Kai
Link to Music Video of the Sunset:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/vDIW1A0hkCo
CONCURRENTLY TAKEN PHOTOS:
Life today
IMAGES FROM AN AFTERNOON AT HONOLULU'S HISTORIC IOLANI SCHOOL:
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Share an evening at Honolulu's Tanaka of Tokyo beginning with a juggling act followed by Fire Flaming Culinary Explosions
Link to Video Playlist of an Evening's entertainment at Tanak of Tokyo Teppanyaki restaurant:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLtb5zi734BfZ0CA7v9HIFpyWIDu7gn4eE
Concurrently taken photos:
HISTORY OF TEPPANYAKI
The term teppanyaki was coined for the first time in Kobe Japan in 1945 when the founder of the first Misano restaurant used it to describe his new style of restaurant cooking. Fifteen years later that first teppanyaki restaurant in Kobe was followed by one in Tokyo and then later Osaka. It wasn't until 1964 when the first teppanyaki restaurant reached the United States as introduced here by Benihana. Among the first teppanyaki restaurants to reach Hawaii was Tanaka of Tokyo in 1968.
While for some 200 years prior Japanese families had grilled meats and vegetables, using a large iron plate to do so in a restaurant was an innovation in 1945. The source of the large iron plate was from the Kobe shipyards and initially it was used to cook okonomiyaki by the enterprising resturanteur Shigeji Fujioka. He expanded its use for Kobe steaks and vegetables that suited the taste of members of the Occupation Forces residing in Kobe. The foreigners also found the knife and spatula tossing skills used by Fujioka to be entertaining and eventually teppanyaki cooking became a performance art of its own as demonstrated in the above linked video playlist.
USN & USAF retired 1971-1993
Successful Transactions with more than 100 Members
USN & USAF retired 1971-1993
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USN & USAF retired 1971-1993
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What happen when you forget your coffee
USN & USAF retired 1971-1993
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USN & USAF retired 1971-1993
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USN & USAF retired 1971-1993
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USN & USAF retired 1971-1993
Successful Transactions with more than 100 Members
USN & USAF retired 1971-1993
Successful Transactions with more than 100 Members
The 1st McDonalds in Johnson City, Tennessee opened around 1970. By 1972-3
it had a drive thru. I remember this because while in highschool my friends and
I would go there for lunch. Went thru the drive thru got lunch, change back from
our dollar and sit in our cars eating. At least we weren't eating in the cafetiria.
Lunch for me was, double cheese burger, small fry and small coke. 25 cents change.
THIS WEEKEND'S NEW YEAR'S OHANA FESTIVAL HELD AT THE JAPANESE CULTURAL CENTER OF HAWAII
2026 marked the 33rd annual New Year's Ohana (family) Festival which is held on the second weekend of January each year.
As Japanese Americans living in Hawaii and their guests gathered to celebrate their cultural heritage the Center itself opened its doors to the public to experience its multiple cultural exhibits related to the history of Japanese in Hawaii.
In this video playlist watch the celebrants as they gather and then take in cultural exhibits related to home and school as they are replicated to show both as they were experienced by Japanese living in Hawaii in. the early 1900s.
Link to Video Playlist of Celebrants and Exhibits at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLtb5zi734BfbbKU5ucSH2qXXLmx2pJwBw
CONCURRENTLY TAKEN PHOTOS:
The Center's exhibit gallery begins with exhibits relating to the Japanese internment camps of World War II:
The gallery then progresses to replicated home and school classroom as they were lived in and attended by Japanese in Hawaii during the early 1900s:
Celebrants gathered at the Cultural Center for the New Year's Ohana Festival and the nearby Tori Gate, a half size replica of the famous floating Tori Gate in Miyajima.
(It was a gift from Honolulu's Sister City, Hiroshima from which many Japanese in Hawaii trace their ancestry.)
The yellow line is important
USN & USAF retired 1971-1993
Successful Transactions with more than 100 Members
USN & USAF retired 1971-1993
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USN & USAF retired 1971-1993
Successful Transactions with more than 100 Members
USN & USAF retired 1971-1993
Successful Transactions with more than 100 Members
USN & USAF retired 1971-1993
Successful Transactions with more than 100 Members
USN & USAF retired 1971-1993
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NASA's Artemis II mission prepares for launch
"When they can't find anything wrong with you, they create it!"
USN & USAF retired 1971-1993
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USN & USAF retired 1971-1993
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INYNWHWeTrust-TexasNationals,ajaan,blu62vette
coinJP, Outhaul ,illini420,MICHAELDIXON, Fade to Black,epcjimi1,19Lyds,SNMAN,JerseyJoe, bigjpst, DMWJR , lordmarcovan, Weiss,Mfriday4962,UtahCoin,Downtown1974,pitboss,RichieURich,Bullsitter,JDsCoins,toyz4geo,jshaulis, mustanggt, SNMAN, MWallace, ms71, lordmarcovan