The Fletcher Ohana: Christmas Cards

My awesome friend Heidi dabbles in photography so she offered to take some photos for us for our 2012 Christmas card! I'm hoping you have all received your Christmas card by now, but if you haven't send me your address and I'll cross-check it with my file and figure out what happened.

Here are some of the photos that didn't make the cut. Yes, I'm posting a lot of photos, but I couldn't narrow it down any further because I am just assuming you all want to see each and every photo, right??? Really, I had a hard enough time narrowing it down from the 140 images Heidi originally gave me!

That red dirt you see on his feet ladies and gentleman is the red dirt of Kauai that clings to everything!

After some googling, I found this interesting piece of information:

"Kauai is known for its red dirt. This substance is basically rusted volcano rock, turned into dirt over millions of years. Because Kauai is the oldest of the Hawaiian Islands there is more erosion there and therefore, lots of rusty red dirt. The soil's red color is due to the fact that it contains a large amount of iron oxide.

Kauai locals recall being scolded as children for getting the red dirt on their clothes. Parents knew that once clothing was stained with the local dirt, it was stained for life. They knew of no way to remove the stubborn redness. In fact, the red dirt is well known for its strong staining property and is the reason behind the Hawaiian custom of removing one's shoes when entering a home." http://realdirthawaii.com/

Somehow my post on Christmas card photos has turned into an informative session on dirt...haha! It's true, though, everyone takes their slippahs (aka flip flops) off before entering a home. In fact, the school children actually take them off at school before going into the classroom!

Lots of the tourists get suckered into buying "red dirt shirts" that are the color of the dirt here. I say "suckered" because I personally have no desire to wear a shirt this color...but maybe that's just me and my skin tone ;-)

Here's a little blurb I found about the history of the red dirt shirt:

"On September 11, 1992 Hurricane Iniki hit the Hawaiian island of Kauai, causing nearly 2 billion dollars in damage. Among the businesses affected was our small screen print shop. All of our white shirts waiting to be printed were drenched with water and stained with Red Dirt blown in from the storm. Instead of throwing out the shirts, we decided to dry them and print them as they were. The T shirts, stained with the ultra iron rich Red Dirt soil and printed with Hawaiian based themes, became a hit with the locals and visitors alike.

Our three year stay on Kauai is going to be an educational experience for all ;-) Anyways, back to the photos!