Click on photos to enlarge!
"The seasons in Hawaii can be so subtle that you can miss them. Hawaii calls upon your observation skills and your intuitive biorythmns, to say, my god, something feels different and I am seeing a bird I didn't see last week, or the water temperature is cooler." Maile Meyer
"When you notice the golden shower tree going off, brilliant yellow, in places you didn't notice them before, suddenly it stands out. There are all kinds of fun things and they are all related." Sam Gon III
"The textbooks have four seasons, and the teachers teach the four seasons. I had one teacher tell me they have to learn about it. I said, 'Why do they? They don't experience it.'"
"I also realized that the seasons in the place you grow up become a part of your memories and your identity. To deny your children the reality of their experience, and to teach them about someone else's experience, makes no sense." Stephanie Feeney, Author of: Sun and Rain, a book for children and their friends about Hawaii's seasons.
Stephanie is right. Your childhood place, it's sights, smells and changes, remains imprinted on your identity all of your life.
For a long-time east coast "transplant" in Hawaii like me this creates a dynamic tension that feeds my imagination and fuels my pleasure of daily life. Watching a movie that's set in New York City winter, with the shades drawn and the air conditioner blasting, makes me believe that snow covered streets and icy winds are just outside.
Imagine how amazing it feels, over and over again, to go outside and see the deepest blue sky, whitest clouds, brilliant sunshine, waving palms, and to feel and smell the trade winds tumbling by like a parade of happy acrobats. To feel the subtropical sun on my skin and to realize . . .
. . . that I am home for good.
A L O H A! Cloudia
I feel to be on vacation ! I like very much every art sculpture with sand. I think it is in belgium that every yeay some people make very beautiful sculptures with sand of the beach.
ReplyDeleteIt is good to have traveled away from the land of your birth to find the home of your heart. It would be a better place if all the world would step out on such a journey.
ReplyDeleteIt is the seasons that count out the passing of one's years. Without them, you are immortal.
ReplyDeleteIt is eerie what I was thinking as I looked at the photographs and before I read your words. I wondered, "what is it like to wake up every day to this?" And that is what you wrote about.
ReplyDeleteKids likely will learn about seasons in other places just by watching television.
My remaining question: If you wanted to go on vacation, where would you go? Or do you not feel the need to? Vacation that is.
Now you're just bragging. ;)
ReplyDeleteThere is so much truth in what you say - which I guess is why folk are so stressed about the seasons changing. Suddenly it seems their God is not in His heaven, after all.
ReplyDeleteWonderful....I think a child has to experience a season to really know how it feels....seeing my 16-year-old son play in the ocean for 3 hours the moment we got to Lahaina, Maui totally mesmerized by ocean and sand....and to hop off a plane and immediately smell the beautiful flowers, even before you seen them....wonderful sunny days....."the home of your heart"...yep, that's Hawai'i. Yep, we're jealous Cloudia...but glad you're there to describe it for us. Mahalo and Aloha. Everyone: Read Cloudia Charter's book, "ALOHA: Where You Like Go?" It's a wonderful read about hanging around Honolulu. DrumMajor
ReplyDeleteMy mother, after moving to FL, missed the change of seasons ... she said she didnt miss the cold or snow but she did miss the leaves turning, and that it wasnt always HOT ...
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed your comments on home and season and place!
ReplyDeleteLooks nice and toasty there. You really seem to have found your 'place' in the world.
ReplyDeleteThe sand sculpture is lovely, and those palm trees on the beach in sunshine. Oh my: we are going from mild rainy days back down to -13C with a windchill that will make it feel like -30C. I need to open a door and step through to nice and warm Waikiki.
ReplyDeleteIt is wonderful to be in a place where you know you just belong. I have that feeling every time I go to Hawaii. I just wish I could go there more often :)
ReplyDeleteAmazing post, Cloudia. I'm so happy that you found your true home. Aloha.
ReplyDeleteClaude: The sand artist is an Italian man who travels the world doing these! Aloha & Bonjour, Cheri.
ReplyDeleteWalking Man: As your name says: you are a journeying man too.
Brother T: Ah, but they bring memories of youth - especially Spring!
Junosmom: Everyone lkes to get away. Hawaii people (not me) go to Vegas ("the ninth island"). Or visiting a neighbor island, like Maui. California feels "close." Many immigrants go "home" to Micronesia, or the Philipines, or Samoa. I like visiting East Coast gritty cities like Philly & New York. Though I haven;t been off the island in years and don;t really feel the need to go. A day trip, or afternoon to another district of the island feels like a journey to a different place. And of course, Waikiki thoughtfully changes many of the people I like to watch everyday!
Travis: Yup. and don't YOU brag on TEXAS? I hope we all can love what we got.
Dave King: I think you are right! Fundamental changes shake our false sense of security. Letting go is the great secret. . .
Drum Major: Why thank you, Sistah!
Daryl: Ah the leaves!!! I miss Fall in New England badly! One of these years we'll do a road trip. OK?
Hi, Deborah!
Charles: As the protagonist in my book knows: it's a wrenching change and not everyone wants to stay here. Remember on Andy Griffith when Floyd the barber moved to a tropical island and went bonkers with boredom? No place like home - and this has become home...warts & all.
Barbara: Just click your heels together . . .
Denise: You seem to carry Hawaii in your heart.
Gran: You are a pal!
Aloha my friends!
Yes, I suppose we think of "vacation" as changing "place". Perhaps in your case, it is changing people.
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