Hawaii Photo of the Day

 A  L  O  H  A !

"Honi Mai"

The Honi is the traditional Polynesian greeting. 
The people of old (and sometimes today) 
greet by pressing noses and inhaling together. 
Thus we share HA, the breath of life,
 and our Mana, our spiritual energies.

Linking to:

Mural Monday

What is the Value?

A L O H A !

click on the photos please

" The value of a person should be seen 

in what he gives

and not in what he is able to receive.
Strive not to be a success,

but rather to be of value.  "

Albert Einstein

 

“ How people treat you

is their karma;

how you react

is yours. ”

 Wayne Dyer

" The great part of the miseries of mankind 

are brought upon them

by false estimates they have made 

of the value of things.  "

Benjamin Franklin  

“What is a cynic?
 Someone

who knows the price of everything
and the value of nothing.”

 Oscar Wilde 

  > < } } ( ° >


" How do you measure 

your value? "

 
Loretta Lynn

What is the value-

- of a person

you do not know?

Thank YOU

for your visit!

Your comment is welcome

                                                              warmly, cloudia

    

Polynesian Paralysis

Aloha, to YOU :)

Home again in the gloaming. . .



"Every parting is a form of death,

as every reunion is a type of heaven."

~Tryon Edwards

Hawaii people remember those who went before. . .



"Things that were hard to bear are sweet to remember."

~Seneca




"Nostalgia is like a grammar lesson:

you find the present tense, but the past perfect!

~Owens Lee Pomeroy




"Ah, how good it feels!

The hand of an old friend."

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

It always seems to me that the flowers are dancing & singing. . .



"There is a bit of insanity in dancing

that does everybody a great deal of good."


~Edwin Denby


"Dance till the stars come down from the rafters

Dance, Dance, Dance

till you drop."


~W.H. Auden



"We're fools whether we dance or not,

so we might as well dance."


~Japanese Proverb

Oftentimes it is more lip-service
than a deep, living culture; I have seen much
change in Hawaii in 20 years - but magic remains. . .




"Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love,

the things you are,

the things you never want to lose."


~From the television show The Wonder Years


><>


Can you feel it?

We call it "Polynesian Paralysis"
(at least I do :)

It is that state of being mesmerized by the sun, the sky, the warmth,
the teasing breezing,
the faces and tanned bodies of people on holiday.

Perhaps you feel the indolence if it is Summer where
Y O U are. . .

I wanted to write about the International Alzheimer's Conference
meeting here in town
but
. . .

now what was I saying?


You have a special, one-off kind of day!

And thank you, Mahalo, for visiting and leaving your

comment-calling card.


It means a lot. . . .


it means


ALOHA, cloudia

Worship Ways

ALOHA

Friends

it's

SUNDAY

in

W A I K I K I

click on photos to really FEEL it!

"The groves were God's first temples."

William C. Bryant

"People are like stained-glass windows.
They sparkle and shine when the sun is out,
but when darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed
only if there is a light from within."
Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

><<<<;<'>


Some people worship in a church.
Some worship on a motorcycle,
or out on the water.
For some, spending time with family
is their true communion with what matters.




Some of us like to be alone in a quiet place
the better to hear
that still, small voice.




I believe that the sheer expression of joy in this life,
and in each other,
is a high form of worship.
Last week at a community event,
an audience member got up and danced
Hula spontaneously.




That filled me with gratitude
and a desire to spread the good.





Look for yourself:

To spread some good, click HERE

Warm ALOHA, cloudia

Aloha Friday

It's ALOHA Friday!

Welcome Friend

click on photos to inspect deeply

Every Sparrow. . .

“I once had a sparrow alight upon my shoulder for a moment, while I was hoeing in a village garden, and I felt that I was more distinguished by that circumstance that I should have been by any epaulet I could have worn.”
Henry David Thoreau

Torch Eternal


“Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got a hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it onto future generations.”
George Bernard Shaw




Kolea in the Sun



"Never part without loving words to think of during your absence.

It may be that you will not meet again in life."

Jean Paul Richter

Moon & Mist




"Writing well mean never having to say, 'I guess you had to be there.' "
Jef Mallett




Years ago,
I used to read the Honolulu obituaries in my taxi.
Back then, every other deceased was foreign born:
China, Japan, Korea, Azores, Philippines.
Their brief stories spoke volumes about Hawaii,
what we're all about,
and how we got this way.








Later,
many obituaries mentioned birth
in places that no longer exist:
"Camp Number 7, Ewa Plantation"
That was the plantation-born generation.
What a tale those lives could tell!








Recently, I noticed an obit
for an old local woman born in China.
There was to be a Taoist Funeral,
so I went to pay my respects.
Not just to the lady and her family,
but to an entire generation.









And I longed to see, hear, and smell
a Taoist Funeral.











For some reason
I have always gravitated to things
Chinoise.
When I was a child,
there was actually a pretty standard Halloween costume:
"Chinese Person"
and I clamored to wear it
for many years.









Imagine!
An ethnicity as a Halloween costume!
But I was just a kid
and I wanted to be
Chinese.










When I got to Diamond Head Memorial Park
the viewing was taking place,
as was an outdoor gathering
of seemingly casual folks eating Dim Sum,
my favourite brunch.










I sat with some older women
who welcomed me simply.
I explained that I wanted to attend a Taoist Funeral,
and to honor the deceased, family, and generation.









They insisted that I eat.
Everything about the Chinese seems eminently sensible to me.
The ladies warmed up and talk-storied with me,
as local people will do.
I wasn't an outsider you see - being local.









One new friend said that she was glad that her ancestors
had settled in Hawaii, not San Francisco
(my other favorite town).
"There it was too ghettoized for us. Here we mix and move away from Chinatown. San Francisco too closed!"








We all agreed:
"Lucky we live Hawaii."









Then they started telling me about Hawaii Chinese funeral customs that they remembered growing up.
They spoke of keeping the deceased in the home overnight,
illegal now,
of burlap clothes,
and hired wailing mourners
making a racket in the house,
and parading down the (Honolulu) street.












These customs are growing attenuated today,
but for this honored decedent
there would be ancient ceremony,
the burning of spirit money,
and attendance by cardboard servants.










"Lots of people became Christian over here,"
my new friend explained.
Her own Goong Goong (grandmother)
had had the gift of physiognomy,
she read the truth in people's faces,
but gave it up
after Christian prayers had cured a serious illness.
Such was the tendency and pressure of those days.









The Benevolent Societies remain,
though less vital generation to generation.
And Chinatown is busy with new immigrants
from Southeast Asia, Oceania
and elsewhere.










But this family was holding a traditional funeral
to honor a woman born in the old country.
I didn't feel right taking pictures,
so my words will have to do.












The family stood attentively in two rows
facing the coffin, regalia,
and the priest with his chanting
and implements.












Chanting was punctuated by the preparation of tea.
The acolyte told the family
when to drink,
when to bow.
The tea was offered to the woman's spirit
and poured into an urn
of sand.









The acolyte also took articles right outside the chapel
to burn.
Cardboard servants-
a male and female-
were held like puppets,
raised up, and
bowed in unison to the deceased.
All very matter of fact,
all as the lady would have wanted it.











At last, Chinese music,
strings and cymbals,
was played
to my delight.











All the while,
most attendees
sat outside
eating Dim Sum
and talking.










I still have the ladies obit
and take it out
to pay her my respects.










Thank you for having me to your
last Honolulu party.











The food was delicious,
the conversation good,
your incense and music beguiled me.










Go with our respectful
gratitude.









A L O H A! cloudia

Sports Roots

A L O H A!

Welcome to Waikiki, Sports Fans

don't be dodos - click on photos



“The royal road to a man's heart
is to talk to him about the things he treasures most.”
Dale Carnegie









"That deed which in our guilt we today call weakness,

will appear tomorrow as an essential link

in the complete chain of Man”
Kahlil Gibran

"The tree which moves some to tears of joy

is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way.

Some see nature all ridicule and deformity... and some scarce see nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself."
William Blake

><>

When I was a kid, sports seemed like mass psychosis to me. Other kids, and ADULTS got so worked up about a game! Couldn't they just read a book or something?

Some ancient cultures used the outcome of games and competitions as oracles. Their gods literally chose sides and chose the victors. It is precisely the combination of talent, training, & skill plus a thousand and one variables that makes sports so compelling. And they provide a wonderful survival of magical thinking. Witness the rituals that athletes and even fans go through! If I remain standing, my team will score a basket, touchdown, home run or whatever. We make idols and demi-gods of our sports heroes because they are human-yet-excellent. We also like to live vicariously

through them.

This is not purely or even mostly a conscious thing either. When your school or town wins, spirits and testosterone rise!

We no longer build civic temples, but they survive as stadiums. Local teams are one common factor across all strata and conditions of society. Sports are, after all, a surviving, ancient form of mass behavior. Something primitive within each of us, and within our "civilization" still lusts to WIN. And when we DO win, it seems that heaven smiles on us promising to bless all of our endeavors. "What we plant will flourish!"

You might suspect that this post resonates with Monday Night Football here in the US.

Silly!

It's all about baseball and the Phillies.

The team that frustrated grand dad (and an entire city for) decades. Last year I was watching the game with my dad when they won the world series.

Dad passed around 7 months later.

I'm glad we had that moment together before he got really sick and started to leave worldly things behind.

It still chokes me up when I remember him saying:

"I just wish I could drive my car again."

Yes, the mundane things of this world are more important than I realized as a grandiose, underage philosopher

all those sports-hating years ago.

Now the Phillies of my roots, complete with my Hawaii's slugger Shane Victorino, will play in the Big Game for a second year. And when they do, I'll be watching along with many ghosts.

Yes, and I'll be enjoying every mundane little thing about it including the junk food snacks.

All the precious, passing Earthly treasures!

'Cause in heaven

there aint no beer.

But all pets go to heaven - so there will be someone to play catch with!

SHOUT OUT: To Universty of Hawaii/Manoa Women's Volleyball Coach, Dave Shoji on his 1000th Victory last week.

Go Wahine!

A L O H A, Cloudia

Kamehameha Day

His Majesty Kamehameha I Welcomes you to his

HAWAII No one knows his birthday.

No one knows where his bones lie. They were hidden away by a trusted retainer in the ancient way. He was born on the Big Island, Hawaii. When he was a young chief the god Lono sailed into Kealakekua Bay (The Way of the Gods) as prophesied. But when Lono returned after the proper season needing repairs to his floating island, the Hawaiians began to suspect that he was a mere man. A fight ensued and the "god" was felled. It was the death of a great explorer, James Cook. Kamehameha came of age in a unique moment in the history of the Hawaiian people. All of his wisdom, statecraft, and military cunning would be required to maintain his blood and his ways. Appropriate human sacrifice would also be offered, as at his great Heiau (temple) that stands to this day in Kohala.

But first he had to grow up; he was one among many chiefs. Hawaii had never been unified, or had one monarch.

Legend speaks of the heavy Naha Stone in the district of his birth. It was said that anyone who could lift the stone (Arthur Style) would be a great chief. Kamehameha the youth lifted it, they say. You can see the stone today by the side of the road to Hawi.

He had the vision to unite the Big Island.

When his opponent's army marched towards battle, Pele the volcano goddess lashed out, burying the warriors and their chief in hot lava. Their footprints can also still be seen today...Here was a warrior who had god on his side inDEED!

He conquered his home island, then Maui, and finally, Oahu which became his capitol. Kauai the unconquered joined by treaty.

He took Hawaii from pre-contact days into the modern political world, establishing an independent kingdom when other native nations were being colonized all over the world.

We celebrate his special day every June, covering his statue before the Hawaii Supreme Court Building with giant lei. Saturday saw his floral parade wend from the statue down to Waikiki.

Here's some of what I saw. . .

Royal Society Ladies Keep Tradition Alive.

Mahalo (thank you) Ladies!

Youth Challenge. Troubled local kids become

AWESOME through fellowship & self discipline



Don't they look great?



Hawaiian Blood.

Precious

Royal Princesses, represent each island, wearing each island's flower.

They reenact royal visits made to each island. It was on just such a visit that Queen Lili`uokalani wrote the haunting Aloha `Oe after seeing the sweet parting of one of her court ladies and a Paniola (Hawaiian Cowboy) like this handsome specimen. Oahu = Ilima

Go on!

Click on the photos to enlarge

!

Those long dresses are actually loose fabric fastened cunningly with Kukui Nuts as "buttons." in an old style.

Horsey looks elegant in that big lei!

“Tradition does not mean that the living are dead, it means that the dead are living.”
Harold Macmillan

Hawaiian Homesteads were established by Congress in the early 20th Century.

These folks hold jobs, and live in society like all other citizens, many are US veterans, but they dwell on Hawaiian land. This simple fact keeps pride and ancient cultural treasures alive to the benefit of us all.

Bringing up the rear (of the horses!)

with shovels.

YAY!





Thanks for joining us today.

A l o h a! Cloudia

Weekend Woosh

Aloha Saturday!

You are Entering virtual WAIKIKI!

click on photos to enlarge

Playmates

". . . I improvised, crazed by the music. . . . Even my teeth and eyes burned with fever. Each time I leaped I seemed to touch the sky and when I regained earth it seemed to be mine alone."

Josephine Baker

Shell Ginger

“Language is the apparel in which your thoughts parade before the public. Never clothe them in vulgar or shoddy attire.”
George Crane

Never Know Who You Will See

in WAIKIKI!

“Group conformity scares the pants off me because it's so often a prelude to cruelty towards anyone who doesn't want to -- or can't -- join the Big Parade.”

Bette Midler

Ah! The weekend is here!

What shall I do today?

Of course I could never miss the King Kamehameha Day Floral Parade!

Though Thursday was the official State Holiday, yesterday saw his statue downtown in the Capitol District honored with song, chant & prayer - then bedecked with bounty of king-sized lei. I enjoy going to see the statue late at night when it can be just Him & me.

And the scent of lovingly offered flowers.

What does he think (I wonder)

about our stewardship of his beloved &

Sacred `Aina (land)

?

When I was a kid, the only holiday near my birthday was Kamehameha Day, and I always felt a bond with this King from a far pacific and distant past. There always seemed to be 'something' between the King and the little Kid growing up in "mainland" Philadelphia.

Perhaps he was inviting me

'home."

So I will join the crowds cheering the Royal Hawaiian Band,

the floats,

the mounted Island Princess'.

Sun, Sound and Scents

will affect us all like strong drugs.

China Uemura will also be hosting his annual

Wahine Surf Classic.

And now a confession:

I live on a boat, and

I own a sea kayak that I haven't used in a YEAR!

Not pretty is it? ;-(

But I pledge to paddle!

So be sure to return and hear all about my mini- voyage.

(or rescue)

I'll be around to visit all of YOUR blogs too.

Have a great weekend,

FRIENDS!

A L O H A! Cloudia

Old Days - Old Friends

Aloha

Welcome to Life's Greatest Beach

Walkin' in Waikiki

"Vice is most dangerous when it puts on the garb of virtue."

Danish Proverb

Nephew & Niece

"It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are 20 gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg."

Thomas Jefferson

Shadow Spiders!

"People only see what they are prepared to see."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

It was normal to us.

Just the way we grew up.

From my earliest days, the world seemed like a place full of friends.

In the fields and woods, the naiads, nymphs, and who-ziss watched us play.

It made me feel safe to know that they were there.

And when we ran back home

the gate god welcomed us;

But kept the wandering hungers outside.

The kitchen god warmed us.

Seemed always so happy to see us,

even when we young neglected

to smear honey

on her mouths.

When we were sick, mama gave us little goddesses to chase the fevers away;

They cuddled in our arms,

and the fairies living in the wreathe above my bed

whispered songs and stories,

watching as I slept.

Then one day they came.

They spoke of love

but with stern faces.

Things we could not see,

or feel,

were the only things that pleased them.

Our simple songs

made them angry.

Our harmless,

homely,

helpful little gods

they treated worse than vermin.

I don't think they liked us very much either,

though they claimed to bring us a gift

from a god.

The way we have always been,

the things that brought us joy

and comfort-

they told us these were

all bad things.

That WE were bad,

but they could make us clean.

I didn't understand.

"Good," they said.

"God's ways are not your ways."

Every pleasant thing they changed.

For our good we must look sad,

and keep quiet now.

But how I miss the singing in the moonlight.

How we all felt one in our song.

And the faces,

friendly, watching over,

are all gone now.

They used to keep

the dreadful and implacable away.

We didn't know then

that it was the

Judgement of God.

So we live with the dread,

the fear,

that they they tell us

is just the beginning

of their wisdom.

But I long to be evil again;

How I miss my friends

the little gods.

Our house,

our village,

feels so empty

now.

Now that we serve big God

so far away in the sky.

Why does he watch us so harshly?

Yes

I miss my ancient

friends.

Amen

A l o h a! Cloudia