Sunday, September 20, 2009

Honolulu Contrasts

A L O H A!
You are welcome, Friend!
click on photos for all the usual reasons Yes, Honolulu is still growing.






It's a great place, Honolulu. We're certainly lifting its face for it. Give us another year and we'll make it look like Pittsburgh."

J P Marquand

But steps away from where I took the top photo,
this bunch of bananas is growing. . .


"Nothing had prepared me for Honolulu ... It is a typical western city ... It is the meeting place of East and West, the very new rubs shoulders with the immeasurably old. And if you have not found the romance you expected, you have come upon something singularly intriguing. All these strange people live close to each other, with different languages and different thoughts; they believe in different god and they have different values; two passions alone they share, love and hunger. And somehow as you watch them, you have an impression of extraordinary vitality."
W. Somerset Maugham in 1921
. . . in this tiny garden surrounding a dumpster
at Ala Moana Shopping Center's parking lot.

"The further I traveled through the town the better I liked it. Every step revealed a new contrast - disclosed something I was unaccustomed to. . . I breathed the balmy fragrance of jessamine, oleander, and the Pride of India ... I moved in the midst of a summer calms as tranquil as dawn in the Garden of Eden . . ."

Mark Twain on Honolulu



Of course, there are always different ways
to perceive the same realty.


"It was an ancient rule of Hawaiians that no one should hurt another bodily, or through theft of goods, or through injury to feelings. These were the only sins."
Max Freedom Long
Is that ethos OUR reality?
A L O H A! Cloudia
at

23 comments:

  1. AnonymousSeptember 20, 2009 at 4:04 AM

    I wish ancient rule for each one.

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  2. AnonymousSeptember 20, 2009 at 4:48 AM

    What a wonderful idea, to live with old Hawaiian rules.
    Mahalo for the banana photo. It didn't ever sink in before that bananas grow UP, or "upside down" from how they're displayed at the store.
    What's the new building?
    Cheers, DrumMajor

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  3. AnonymousSeptember 20, 2009 at 6:44 AM

    Do they have to tear down to build up in Honolulu? I would guess that or the island is growing by leaps and bounds.

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  4. magiceyeSeptember 20, 2009 at 7:09 AM

    does the ancient rule of hawaii hold good today too? :)


    namaste /\
    aloha!

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  5. FireblossomSeptember 20, 2009 at 7:21 AM

    Blue bananas!!!

    (Your "good morning" post yesterday inspired me to continue the good morning theme at Word Garden.) ;-)

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  6. the walking manSeptember 20, 2009 at 7:42 AM

    Ah but sister you have to define "OUR" before there can be an answer given.

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  7. wennSeptember 20, 2009 at 9:41 AM

    lovely pictures..

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  8. JeanSeptember 20, 2009 at 9:56 AM

    i love watching the clear blue sky with white cloud floating in it!

    ps you're invited to comment on my post too =)

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  9. Charles GramlichSeptember 20, 2009 at 10:16 AM

    I love towns where the new and old rub shoulders. New Orleans is quite like that.

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  10. The Weaver of GrassSeptember 20, 2009 at 11:10 AM

    You always give me something to think about on your blog Cloudia.

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  11. Feisty CroneSeptember 20, 2009 at 12:27 PM

    Amazing quotes, Cloudia! Aloha!

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  12. TeresaSeptember 20, 2009 at 1:36 PM

    I really like the rules for life of the old Hawaiians! And I love the blue bananas. Yes, we have no bananas...

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  13. AkelamaluSeptember 20, 2009 at 1:51 PM

    The ancient rules sound good to me!

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  14. Deborah GodinSeptember 20, 2009 at 3:21 PM

    Reminds me of "pave paradise, put up a parking lot" I hope all the natural stuff, the traditional stuff, doesn't disappear!

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  15. Raph G. NeckmannSeptember 20, 2009 at 9:08 PM

    That is a very good ancient rule, to include 'injury to feelings' too!

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  16. AnonymousSeptember 20, 2009 at 10:11 PM

    You have captured so much in this post. I enjoyed every wonderful word. Aloha.

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  17. carmilevySeptember 21, 2009 at 10:32 AM

    I believe these rules should be universal. There's a sense of peace to the Hawaiian way of life that urgently needs to be shared with a wider audience. Which means we need more clones of you to get the word out!

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  18. DarylSeptember 21, 2009 at 10:53 AM

    The old way isn't so bad considering how screwy things are these days

    Aloha!

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  19. MargueriteSeptember 21, 2009 at 1:41 PM

    Louisiana still operates under the Napoleonic Code! In some ways this is a good thing and in some ways it isn't! Cie la vie, cher! Aloha!

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  20. CloudiaSeptember 21, 2009 at 4:21 PM

    Yes! We have blue bananas!
    WHICH new bldg? Probably a condo tower.
    Walking Man beings up a good point. As Tonto said "What do you mean US, white man?"
    Yes, old things are demolished. That's why I love to watch the old Hawaii 50 on TV: to see the old, the new, the unchanging.
    We talk a lot about Aloha here, and it is part of life here in a noticeable way- but this is Earth, so human issues intrude.

    Actually, the Napoleanic Code was better for lots of people than what it replaced, Cheri! Hope it works for you.

    I get so much pleasure from your comments! Thanks so much for coming here and sharing! Mahalo, Friends

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  21. Elizabeth BradleySeptember 22, 2009 at 12:09 AM

    Can't go wrong with Maugham. L.A. is constantly changing, and we see those changes in old movies and TV shows too.

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  22. Noe Noe Girl...A Queen of all Trades.September 22, 2009 at 7:34 AM

    Lovely photos C! Just amazing.
    <><

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  23. CloudiaSeptember 22, 2009 at 7:35 PM

    Aloha, you two ;-]

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