Hawaii Photo of the Day

A  L  O  H  A !

To Say for Sept. 11

ALOHA !

Has it been Ten Years?

We all remember

where we were

on that day

The Anniversary

of the September 11th Attack

brings up lots of emotions.

On that day, we knew that life

would never be the same.

At that time

we were human,

we were Americans,

we were Free People

All of Us - all around the world.

Together.

We were not right-wing, or left-wing;

We ran up our country's flag
in the thousands,
everywhere,

and we loved each other.

While I dreaded this weekend

for the memories it would stir,

something unexpected has arisen.

The survivors, the rescuers, the widows 

and the orphans

are once again in the spotlight

And instead of inconsolable pain

what I feel is how Magnificent they are,

how beautiful people are

when we remember what is really

important.

So instead of feeling pain,

I identify these strong emotions

as gratitude

and admiration.

Instead of feeling loss,

I feel surprising wonder

as I say to myself:

'How magnificent people are!'

" Many decry our current divided politics

but I see it another way;

this is a democracy

and we disagree, and we fight 

for what we believe in.

But when a September 11th happens

we remember what counts

and we all pull together. "

Rudolph Giuliani

Please visit another New Yorker today,
our blogging sister Daryl 
HERE  

for a Very Special Tribute.

        Thank YOU for being a friend, cloudia

Pieces of Truth

A  l  o  h  a !

Sky & Eye. . . Until I Die!

" Yeah we all shine on,

like the moon, and the stars, 

and the sun. "

John Lennon

What beast is this?

The First approach'd the Elephant,
And happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
At once began to bawl:
"God bless me! but the Elephant
Is very like a wall!"

John Godfrey Saxe

 Rather Work-a-day After All

 “A half-truth is a whole lie.”

 Yiddish Proverb

> < } } ( ° >

"Brethren,

the raja was delighted with the scene. 

"Just so are these preachers and scholars

holding various views blind and unseeing.... 

In their ignorance they are by nature quarrelsome, wrangling, and disputatious,

each maintaining reality is thus and thus." 

And so the Jain doctrine of

Anekanta,

the many-sidedness of things.

Maybe I don't have the whole picture.

Together, we fill in the dark places.

Come party in 'comments' cloudia

Sing Me Back Home

Aloha!

"Every man's memory is his private literature."

~Aldous Huxley

Waikiki in the distance. Taken from Palolo Valley


"Everybody needs his memories.


They keep the wolf of insignificance


from the door."


~Saul Bellow

Lei Stand in Chinatown, Honolulu

"Pleasure is the flower that passes;

remembrance,

the lasting perfume."



~Jean de Boufflers



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Growing up in Philadelphia

we were blue collar and ethnic,

but we were urban people

with a patina of middle-brow sophistication

when needed;

My parents knew how to dress and behave

at the parent/teacher meeting.

Country Music

was the sound of OTHERS:

Rural, Super White, Conservative.

It was the music of folks that hated folks like us

even before I was a freak (what others called 'hippies').

Let's just say that it wasn't what we heard at home.

But the folk movement

made us look at C&W as a true folk expression,

sequined sports jackets, bouffants and all!

Plus it was marvelously transgressive

for me to be a country fan.

Youthful rebellion - so predictable.

Merle Haggard's Okie From Muskogee

about summed up the gulf.

But later,

through his tribute album to

Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys

I became a fan of ole Merle.

In fact I became quite a country fan.

My pal Jim and I even drove to

Great Adventure in New Jersey

so see Willie Nelson in his

Blue Eyes Cryin` in the Rain period.

When we got there

it was coming down pretty good'

and only a handful of us waited in the stands.

But Willie and his band,

Sis on piano, and that nice Jewish boy on mouth harp,

played us quite a nice intimate little set.

What a great memory!

Last night I caught the PBS' American Masters

devoted to Merle.

It brought back so much!

I'm glad hubby went to sleep a bit early

so I could just sit there and cry.

A whole period of my life opened up to memory.

I though of how Jim used to sing

I fall to Pieces

and I wished I could hear it one more time.

So many great songs!

I've been listening on Pandora & Grooveshark all day.

If I had to pick just one Merle song to share,

Working Man Blues comes to mind,

but it has to be this one:

Listen to it with my Aloha....

Let Merle sing YOU back home too...

"I'm 70. At this point if they gave me a life sentence,

it would only be a few years.

So F**k `em!"

Merle Haggard