Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Emptiness Within

A L O H A !
Everybody Hurts by R.E.M. on Grooveshark

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



Tuesday, November 29, 2011

In the Air

A L O H A !

Silver Bells by Bing Crosby on Grooveshark
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 










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

Monday, November 28, 2011

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

  
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


Sunday, November 27, 2011

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,
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


Long live the nobility of the human soul !

Thanks for bringing YOURS here
                                                                                              Warmly, cloudia