Emptiness Within

A L O H A !

Cue the orchestra! Let the morning's overture
hint at today's themes

"Thanks to a benevolent arrangement

the greater part of life is sunshine. "

Thomas Jefferson

" Nature gives you the face
you have at twenty;

it is up to you to merit the face
you have at fifty.  "

Coco Chanel

 

" I never forget a face,

but in your case

I'll be glad to make an exception. "

 
Groucho Marx

A Tree once had an indentation.

Does it really matter HOW it happened,

or why?

Because the tree had a hollow 

it felt different from others.

Realizing the futility,

at last,

of hiding that void,

the tree frankly surrendered

to simply feeling empty

sometimes.

One moonless night,

a night as dark and empty

as the tree with the hollow

felt,

something happened. 

Where the lack had been

a SPACE emerged;

A welcoming refuge

and mirror

for the creatures

of the wood.

Drawn to the tree's

humble emptiness,

much like their own,

they filled it

with

Love.

" Nobody has to guess
That Baby can't be blessed
Till she finally sees

that she's like all the rest "

Bob Dylan

'Just Like A Woman' 

 

 

 

 

   > < } } ( ° >

Thank YOU
each of YOU-

In Kuala Lumpur
or Mumbai,
Ontario,
Jerusalem
Great Britain
or Perth;

Skoog Farm
or New York City,

 Maryland
or Malaysia,

 New England.

Louisiana

or Detroit-



Thank YOU
for being JUST like me-

though EACH of you is 
UNIQUE.



This relationship that we enjoy
is a blessing.


      Together
we are repairing the breach
and healing the world;
EACH of US
EACH in our own little 
'insignificant' lives.




I Love US!


Thanks for being a big part of it all


Fondly, cloudia

In the Air

A L O H A !

There is something in the Honolulu air

" Let me recommend

the best medicine in the world: 

a long journey, at a mild season, 

through a pleasant country,

in easy stages.  "

James Madison

Little signs are popping up

" Love is a fruit in season at all times,

and within reach of every hand. "

Mother Teresa

Freely 'hand' out some love 

TODAY !  

cloudia

Let's have some iced wassail

" The proper behavior

all through the holiday season

is to be drunk. "

P. J. O'Rourke

Ah, there he is.

" I like to compare the holiday season

with the way a child listens to a favorite story. 

The pleasure is in the familiar way the story begins,

the anticipation of familiar turns it takes, 

the familiar moments of suspense,

and the familiar climax and ending.  "

Fred Rogers

more about this lovely man 

HERE 

Shoppers are HUNTERS!

This cute little girl

has a cute little tail.

" The best of healers

is good cheer. "

Pindar 

 (^_^)

Mele Kalikimaka !

Yes, it IS early, but in our defense I present the US Postal Service's

suggested mailing dates for us here in Hawaii. 

We have friends ALL over the world.  

Those presents and cards MUST be mailed early!

Here are the suggested dates from Hawaii

to the following destinations:

>> U.S. Mainland, Dec. 19 (Dec. 21, express mail)

>>Hawaii, Dec. 22 (Dec. 23, express mail)

>> Guam and Saipan, Dec. 16 (Dec. 20, express mail)

>> American Samoa, Dec. 14 (Dec. 19, express mail)

>> Military APOs & FPOs, Dec. 10 (Dec. 16, express mail)

>> International, Dec. 10 (Dec. 16, express mail)

Thanks for visiting today.   Leave us a comment, eh?

                                                                                       WARMLY, cloudia

Hawaiian Independence Day

A  L  O  H  A !

 click on these photos

"When that memory leaves,

then we lose the identity

of who we are."

 Mahealani Asing

" The whole moon and

the entire sky

are reflected
 in one dewdrop

on the grass. "

Dogen

" I believe above all 

that I wanted to build

the palace of my memory,

because my memory  

is my only homeland. "

 
Anselm Kiefer

 

 

 

 

 

 Today is the 168th anniversary

of La Kuokoa,

Hawaiian Independence Day 

Nov. 28, 1843.

  La Kuokoa, was observed as a Hawaii holiday from 1844 to 1895,

when the U.S. government replaced it with Thanksgiving. 

On this day we recall Timoteo Haalilio,

Kingdom of Hawaii diplomat 

who worked tirelessly 

to achieve  the Kingdom's

  independence in 1843.

On Nov. 28, 1843,  Haalilio received signatures

from both the French 

and the British governments

declaring Hawaii a sovereign nation.

Our Pacific archipelago was the first

non-European nation 

to be so recognized a sovereign state.

( according to contemporary Hawaiian Nationalists

HERE )

  

Haalilio is a national hero that almost no one

but scholars or activists know about..

He was urgently dispatched

by King Kamehameha III in 1842

to the United States, and on to Europe,

to negotiate those treaties.

Such agreements were extremely precious

in the frankly imperial world politic of that time.

Haalilio traversed the United States
(almost unimaginably vast to an island guy)
to meet with President John Tyler.
The US President agreed
with the brown skinned diplomat
from a tropical island group,
endorsing Hawaii's independence.  


Haalilio's Honolulu traveling companion was one
William Richards.

 According to the Encyclopædia Britannica:

"William Richards,  (born Aug. 22, 1793, Plainfield, Mass., U.S.—

died Nov. 7, 1847, Hawaiian Islands),

 American missionary

who helped to promote a liberal constitutional monarchy 

in the Hawaiian Islands. "

A few years back, Kekuni Blaisdell, MD shared with a local reporter
Richards' journal description of Haalilio's death by tuberculosis on Dec. 3, 1844, 
during the final leg of their voyage home to Hawaii.

  The Hawaiian diplomat was but 36 years old.



Kapua Keliikoa-Kamai, who is part Hawaiian, told the Honolulu Star Bulletin that it was
"outrageous" that she never learned about Hawaiian Independence Day,
"It's something so significant to learn about after only 45 years."

I would have to say that I agree. 

 

As a patriotic American

I also hold a special place

in my heart
for the unextinguished sovereignty 

in the hearts

of the the Hawaiian people

and for their culture

which has hosted,

schooled,

and healed

my heart.

As a guest, and immigrant 

I know that I owe my hearth, community, identity,

and lifestyle

to the hospitality of my adopted island home

and her indigenous people.

Like Solomon,

I hope no one will cut

the political HAWAII in two.

 

Like Jesus advises,

I proudly render unto my Nation her due,

and unto the heartfelt Kingdom Of Hawaii

an altogether different level of fealty and love.

 

Yes, 

the Hawaiian People

should have a land base;

a place in their own islands,

and the means

to perpetuate their precious

ways & rights.

I'm a happy duel citizen, 

of Hawaii & USA;

of this world, and the next.

Are YOU patriotic 

about YOUR local place/people/culture-

or

are you more a citizen of the 

nation? The world?

Join us in comments

& Thank YOU for visiting- 

                                                                                                warmly, cloudia

Good Lives On

A  L  O  H  A  !

" To find the universal elements enough;

to find the air and the water exhilarating;

 to be refreshed by a morning walk
or an evening saunter; 

to be thrilled by the stars at night;

 to be elated over a bird’s nest
or a wildflower in spring –

 these are some of the rewards
of the simple life. "

John Burroughs

Air Force One; President Aboard

" The ultimate measure of a man 

is not where he stands

in moments of comfort,
 but where he stands 

at times of challenge

and controversy. "

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Happy 175th Birthday King David Kalakaua
  Born on November 16, 1836

  "although darker than a mulatto,

he has an excellent English education

& in manners

is an accomplished gentleman"

 Samuel Clemens

(Mark Twain)

describing the King, in a letter to his mother and sister.

(Letters, Volume 1, p. 394). 

 Died in San Francisco 

on January 20, 1891.

 

 

 

“Tell my people I tried.”

  His final words

“ Love is a promise,

love is a souvenir,

once given never forgotten,

never let it disappear. "

 

John Lennon

Queen Kapiolani
Wife of Kalakaua, Queen Consort of the Hawaiian Isles
 Tenure 12 February 1874 - 20 January 1891


Born, Hilo  December 31, 1834
Died, Waikiki June 24 1899
(age 64)

   > < } } ( ° >

128 years ago this month,

on November 8, 1883,

six Sisters

of the Third Order of St. Francis

landed here in Honolulu.

The King & Queen welcomed them.

The sisters had come

to nurse the growing number

of isle patients

that were still called

'Lepers' in those days.

50 or more religious communities

  had been approached,

only these Sisters

from Syracuse New York

were willing to come.

Tears streaming down her face,

Queen Kapiolani spoke for herself,

 for King Kalakaua,

and for her people

when she said:

"You have left your home

to come to these far away islands

to care for my poor

afflicted children.

I shall never forget you,

and you are always my sisters. "

The Sisters' leader

Mother Marianne Cope

relieved Saint Damien on his death bed

and carried on leadership
of the quarantine community 

on Molokai's Kalaupapa peninsula 

for 27 years till her own death

in 1918.

The Sisters of Saint Francis

(and of the Queen)

are still serving these islands

through schools they founded.

The hospitals they launched 

and ran for years

are now privately operated. 

Perhaps the BEST novel I ever read,

 MOLOKAI

by Alan Brennert

will immerse you

in these times and places

that seem not that long ago

to us here in Hawaii.

My Review is HERE

Incidentally, 

the hospital where President Obama was born

here in Honolulu

is called

Kapiolani Medical Center

Long live the nobility of the human soul !

Thanks for bringing YOURS here

                                                                                              Warmly, cloudia