Muku nei in the sign of Cancer the crab

These pictures from up mauka (in the high lands, where we live)

The sky was muted blue with 'real clouds' But the air is still filled with the ash of fires, old La'au the Tutu trees of Vancouver Island are burning. The climate is changed

Brackens are already turning

Blackberries are ripening

Peaches are growing

The tall grasses have browned, dried in place

Purple plums are beautiful, ripening though not ripe enough to pick and eat ... 

Robins don't wait to eat them.

My Two Sisters tiny garden (squash and beans) with volunteer mizuna and bok choy 

The champagne grapes are clustering nicely.

And then ma kai (to the water) and wetlands on the west side of Whidbey, West Beach facing the Straits of Juan de Fuca less than an hour drive from our place in Langley.

The wetlands across the road from our friends' beach home are already plump and beginning to 'fuzz'

It is nearly noon when I took this. A stretch of pohaku (stones) front our friends' home with a small gully of ocean water between a sandy low lying dune. Across the water and to the left is Vancouver Island where the Tutu burn

Anahulu Ho'emi (the week) leading up to Muku (Spring Equinox and Lunar Eclipse)

The first Camelia are blossoming in the woods around our tiny homes. They hua much later than the Camelia in town which are already expended themselves, petals fallen in the past weeks.

Up-island overlooking West Beach on the Northend of Whidbey, the Kane tide is gently dancing leaving a small shoreline beach.

The heavens kiss the mountain range (The Olympics)

Winter has been dry. Only a scatter of snow caps the mauna. There is drought.

As Pete takes pictures of ke kai and the mauna beyond, Eagle hunts from the utility pole, turns to look at Pete. Pete retreats to the car.

On Muku nei this morning, hei (spider webs) have begun to gather the potential of raindrops

Evidence of a northearterly makani (breeze) ... very gentle. But it has brought the smell of some hewa from the forest. Later, we would discover the source. Slash burning of a new logging project. Man is making way for more storage units.