A Ted Trimmer Red Sunset.
"Rules are not neccessarily sacred, principles are." President Franklin D Roosevelt
what are these eggs? I dunno, but aren't they pretty?
"The family seems to have two predominant functions: to provide warmth and love in time of need and to drive each other insane." Donald G. Smith
A spotted box fish swam beside me as I walked along the dock.
"Children are messengers to us from a world we once deeply knew." Alice Miller
The Hawaiians had names for every little feature and area of the `Aina, the precious land. Today we give directions by roads and buildings: human made creations. But the people of old had intimate familiarity with all of nature and took pleasure in naming it; In singing and dancing about it. Nowhere is this more apt than here in Waikiki, the "Spouting Waters" where three mountain streams: Palolo, Manoa, and I forget the other one, all give themselves to the sea, creating a unique micro-climate the ancients considered to be powerfully healing.
Diamond Head remains from their landscape to ours. And at her green skirts of Kapiolani Park is a distinct area of Waikiki Beach that we call "Queen's Surf." The people of old called it Kalehuawehe, "The Open Lehua Blossom."
High Chiefs from every Ahupua`a, or district, came to Waikiki in season to enjoy it's special ambiance. Taro was brought to them from nearby uplands, Fish and favorite sea-vegetables were always fresh at hand in the sea and also in the ingenious fishponds that graced our neighborhood back then.
One thing that even they might NOT do was to surf at Kalehuawehe, for it was Kapu, or taboo, for any but the high chiefess daughter of O`ahu's highest Ali`i of that classic time: Kakuhihewa. And so it remained her private joy until one morning. . .
A handsome young chief, pure Ali`i from the right side of Manoa Valley, stepped forward to offer her a perfect lei of lehua blossoms. Enraptured by that ultimate moment of their perfect youth and beauty on that perfect day, she accepted the lei which was as lovely as his manly smile. The unbroken custom of Aloha, of flawless reciprocation, put her in his debt. So wordlessly they joined hands and entered the surf together. From that day the Kapu was broken at Kalehuawehe. . . The place we call Queen's Surf. . .
And so the passing generations immemorial of Ali`i have left their Mana, and sometimes their bones, their sacred Iwi, here. Closer to our own times, King Kalakaua, the Merrie Monarch, spent happy hours beside the grand park named for his Queen Kapiolani. Then a Queen, his sister Liliuokalani, had her beach home here: the lovely Pualeilani , Heavenly Flower Lei, which she in turn left to Prince Jonah Kuhio, Hawaii's first (nonvoting) representative to the U.S. Congress; our "Citizen Prince." (And Prince Cupid to the ladies ;-) It was his own retreat until his passing in 1922. . .
Today, the Waikiki Aquarium is queen of this part of the beach. The deceptively small building houses myriad wonders as well as genuine scientists working to repair the oceans. So the healing quality of Waikiki remains. Only now it extends to the oceans themselves. Come feel it for yourself. Come to Queen's Surf. And that little thing about Kamehemeha landing his army here to begin the conquest of O`ahu, I mean the UNITING of the islands? It was a one time thing, man! This is a beach of peace - all back to normal. A happy normal indeed. . . when you're walking in Waikiki . . . .
Diamond Head remains from their landscape to ours. And at her green skirts of Kapiolani Park is a distinct area of Waikiki Beach that we call "Queen's Surf." The people of old called it Kalehuawehe, "The Open Lehua Blossom."
High Chiefs from every Ahupua`a, or district, came to Waikiki in season to enjoy it's special ambiance. Taro was brought to them from nearby uplands, Fish and favorite sea-vegetables were always fresh at hand in the sea and also in the ingenious fishponds that graced our neighborhood back then.
One thing that even they might NOT do was to surf at Kalehuawehe, for it was Kapu, or taboo, for any but the high chiefess daughter of O`ahu's highest Ali`i of that classic time: Kakuhihewa. And so it remained her private joy until one morning. . .
A handsome young chief, pure Ali`i from the right side of Manoa Valley, stepped forward to offer her a perfect lei of lehua blossoms. Enraptured by that ultimate moment of their perfect youth and beauty on that perfect day, she accepted the lei which was as lovely as his manly smile. The unbroken custom of Aloha, of flawless reciprocation, put her in his debt. So wordlessly they joined hands and entered the surf together. From that day the Kapu was broken at Kalehuawehe. . . The place we call Queen's Surf. . .
And so the passing generations immemorial of Ali`i have left their Mana, and sometimes their bones, their sacred Iwi, here. Closer to our own times, King Kalakaua, the Merrie Monarch, spent happy hours beside the grand park named for his Queen Kapiolani. Then a Queen, his sister Liliuokalani, had her beach home here: the lovely Pualeilani , Heavenly Flower Lei, which she in turn left to Prince Jonah Kuhio, Hawaii's first (nonvoting) representative to the U.S. Congress; our "Citizen Prince." (And Prince Cupid to the ladies ;-) It was his own retreat until his passing in 1922. . .
Today, the Waikiki Aquarium is queen of this part of the beach. The deceptively small building houses myriad wonders as well as genuine scientists working to repair the oceans. So the healing quality of Waikiki remains. Only now it extends to the oceans themselves. Come feel it for yourself. Come to Queen's Surf. And that little thing about Kamehemeha landing his army here to begin the conquest of O`ahu, I mean the UNITING of the islands? It was a one time thing, man! This is a beach of peace - all back to normal. A happy normal indeed. . . when you're walking in Waikiki . . . .
A L O H A Cloudia
