Fallow Gal

Aloha Welcome!

Click on photos to enlarge

A biblical Hawaii sunset

“To seek approval is to have no resting place, no sanctuary. Like all judgment, approval encourages a constant striving. It makes us uncertain of who we are and of our true value. Approval cannot be trusted. It can be withdrawn at any time no matter what our track record has been. It is as nourishing of real growth as cotton candy. Yet many of us spend our lives pursuing it.”

Rachel Naomi Remen

Open roof above the central courtyard, Hawaii State Capitol

“Disbelief in magic can force a poor soul into believing in government and business."
Tom Robbins

Fallen Pink Lehua Blossom.

“Anyone can give up, it's the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that's true strength.”

Unknown

Ah! Fertile downtime!

I'm fallow today

allowing subtle energies to trickle down,

to fill up all my empty places

I'm recalling mis-remembered faces

revisiting those inner spaces

until the new spring

burbles forth.

#

Long ago, about a mile or so from where we're sitting, there lived an old Hawaiian couple.

Every morning the husband would hike inland to hunt, while his wife took their calabash gourds to the fresh springs of Mo`ili`ili down towards the shoreline. There she filled them with the day's needed water, carrying them home as the sun reached mid-heaven.

One day the gourds felt particularly heavy.

"Wela i ka la" (Hot, the sun!) she said to herself.

"We are getting old." She told her husband that afternoon when he returned. We have no children. Who will help me carry the water as it grows heavier day by day?

Just then a visitor came by.

"E komo mai" (welcome) they called humbly. "Come into our hale and share our meal."

They didn't recognize Lono, the god of peace and increase. But Lono had heard their worries, and their simple piety had touched his heart.

Striking the dry, rocky soil close by their dwelling

he caused a fresh spring, a puna hou, to gush forth.

Now they could easily grow food close at hand

and water would flow

without labor.

The old couple lived for many more years

always welcoming their many guests

who brought them poi and fish to eat

with warm respect.

And the punahou never ran dry;

In fact it still murmurs today on the campus of the Punahou School; Alma Mater of President Barack Obama.

A L O H A, Cloudia