Crane Calls

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"For what human ill does not dawn seem to be an alleviation? " Thornton Wilder

I'd like mornings better if they started later.

Author Unknown

"Envy is the most stupid of vices, for there is no single advantage to be gained from it."

Honore de Balzac

"Jealousy injures us with the dagger of self-doubt."

Leslie Grimutter

Construction is hypnotic. Watching heavy beams lifted high, then higher, draws an inner "wow" from even the most jaded or mature among us. At times like this it also restores our faith that someone somewhere believes that tomorrow is still coming, and that improvements will be needed.

LIVING in the middle of a construction project is something else entirely! The area all around my boat (my home, office, REFUGE) has been ground zero for the laying of new floating docks for several weeks now. The hushed Waikiki morning erupts in beeps, chugs, huge "clanks" and assorted "rumbles" & "roars" at exactly the time I sit down to meditate - or to write.

Most amazing has been the destruction and removal of a heavy cement pier two boat slips off my starboard side (nautical talk! impressed?). This has required a rodeo of cool work boats, as well as a barge that carries a marooned a steam shovel from one duty-spot to another. It looks like the bathtub toy of a confused little boy.

Huge, sea-dripping blocks of cement are lifted by the "Caterpillar" atop the barge, then handed off to a giant crane that lives behind a temporary fence directly in front of my boat. My mast has developed a massive inferiority complex! The line holding our flags and pennants has even snapped in huffy protest.

And have I mentioned the jack hammering? Even now, workday done, I sense the jangling vibration in my finger tips. Why, I wonder, isn't this text you read all wavy? I feel like the cartoon character wearing a nimbus of wavy lines because Bugs Bunny has lowered a giant bell over my head and "clanged" it with a huge mallet.

I thought I saw a puddy cat. . . .

As I recover my wits, I'll post "before" & "after" photos of the late cement pier. And the barge!

But right now I need to luxuriate in the velvety silence, eavesdropping on the clicks, creaks, and moans of my exhausted, rocking, refuge.

Just another day in paradise. . . A L O H A! Cloudia