Hawaii Photo of the Day

A  L  O  H  A !

Passing Storm Windward Oahu

Thank Goodness It's Raining

ALOHA, FRIENDS!

Thank goodness
it's JUST raining!

Hurricane Ana 

is lingering

 in our neighborhood
as it brushes our islands
with Rain Rain Rain.

Very grey and unsettled.

Kitty has taken to her cave
under the bed.

My feelings are Gratitude 
that the hurricane 
stayed offshore,
accompanied by
 a sort of 
storm exhaustion.

    "Anyone 
who has ever built 
a new heaven 
acquired the capacity 
in his own hell." 
                     Nietzsche  

]\[ 

Your visit
-Your caring-
is a ray of sunshine
on this grey day-
Thanks!  
                     Fondly, cloudia

Whistling Past A Hurricane

A  L  O  H  A !

Just Waiting for Hurricane Ana to Go By.

Stay Far South!

" Every bad situation

is a blues song

waiting to happen. "

         Amy Winehouse

“Apprehension, uncertainty, 

waiting, expectation, 

fear of surprise, 

do a 

patient more harm 

than any exertion”

           Florence Nightingale

[ It IS nerve-wracking ]

Kitty has lots of food and water.

In a real emergency,

she is to be eaten

later- 

JOKING!!!!!

She, of course,

is much more likely

to eat ME


Linking to Saturday's Critters
Here

And that's your report

from Hurricane Alley!

Thank YOU

for looking in-

              Fondly, cloudia

Sky Watching For Hurricane Ana

A  L  O  H  A !

The past is passed. 

Illusions evaporating.

Change, the order of the day

New relations percolating

                          

Always Improving - Stillness Within

Two of my personal maxims today,

Hope You enjoy them.

]\[

Hawaii awaits the pleasure

of Tropical Storm/Hurricane

Ana.

While I am feeling lucky

NOT to live on a boat anymore,

I dread the consequences

for our people & islands.

Hurricane Gonzalo

threatens MUCH

worse to Bermuda,

which seemed a lovely island

in my 20 minutes there.

Send a good thought

to all affected by

weather!

Linking to SkyWatch

Here

Thank You

for blowing by!

           Warmly, cloudia

Hurricane Update Hawaii

A  L  O  H  A      F  R  I  E  N  D  S

At 3 pm Hawaiian Standard Time 

[Link]

a sunny day has become mostly

cloudy with drizzle.

The Big News is:

I should be safe, but 

possibly inconvenienced.

The National Weather Service tweeted the following information Wednesday afternoon:

• Anticipated Iselle conditions for Hawaii County. Winds 60-70 mph, gusts to 85 mph. Rain 5-8+ inches, locally higher windward.
• Anticipated Iselle conditions for Maui County. Winds 45-55 mph, gusts to 65 mph. Rain 5-8+ inches, locally higher windward.
• Anticipated Iselle conditions for Oahu. Winds 40-50 mph, gusts to 55+ mph. Rain 4-7+ inches, locally higher windward.
• Anticipated Iselle conditions for Kauai. Winds 35-45 mph, gusts to 50+ mph. Rain 4-7+ inches, locally higher windward.
• Onset of Iselle tropical storm force winds on Big Island is 4 p.m. Thursday.
• Onset of Iselle tropical storm force winds on Maui is 9 p.m. Thursday.
• Onset of Iselle tropical storm force winds (39+ mph) on Oahu is 6 a.m. Friday, 4 p.m. Friday for Kauai.
• As it passes south, the closest approach of Iselle to Honolulu is forecast to be 9 a.m. Friday.

Can't tell you how thrilled I am to NO LONGER live on a boat!

Posts are set through next week. Should power be off

I'll see you as soon as I can, dear Friends.

Remember: ALOHA means "Love"

                                                            Your Pal, cloudia

Linking to Skywatch Friday  LINK

Fickle, Felicitous, Felicia

A L O H A !

Waikiki is STILL here ;-)

click on photos to visit

Due to Hurricane Felicia's approach, changeable weather

characterized Monday. Sun, clouds, some rain,

and the smell of WET skies accompanied

'ear popping' falling atmospheric pressure.

“I have left orders to be awakened at any time in case of national emergency, even if I'm in a cabinet meeting.”
Ronald Reagan

I paddled my kayak out before dusk, stopping at the Hawaii Yacht Club ramp & hose

to scrape the feisty accumulata off of my hull.

It was like climbing through the garbage outside the world's

worst sea food restaurant.

“Be Prepared... the meaning of the motto is that a scout must prepare himself by previous thinking out and practicing how to act on any accident or emergency so that he is never taken by surprise.”
Sir Robert Baden-Powell

Visitors and locals alike took advantage of beach time before Felicia (a Hurricane, then tropical storm, soon a tropical depression) comes any closer. See the guy's shoulder tattoo?

I paddled home, pulled my kayak out of the water, and fastened it well on the dock beside my boat. Loose objects have been made fast as well, and every concievable nook or gap on the deck of my boat has been attended to. Tropic storm rains, like the sea, will find ANY means of entering when they blow sideways with the force of a fire-hose.

“It takes a real storm in the average person's life to make him realize how much worrying he has done over the squalls.”
Bruce Barton

After Hurricane Iniki, Hawaii takes approaching hurricanes with admirable preparation. Civil Defense gears up from their protected warren inside Diamond Head, the Red Cross prepares to open shelters, and island residents gas up their vehicles and go to City Mill to buy water, tarps, tape, batteries & etc. et al......

The Hurricane hunters fly out here from Mississippi, temporarily base themselves at Hickam, and commence daily flights through the storm - hurricane wall and all. Drop sonds are dropped into the winds to gather data.

Imagine the days before forecasting, when massive storms just 'showed up' without warning!

Felicia was a big, scary storm aimed directly at us. Her projected path kept changing, each new path more threatening than the last.

Downgraded to a tropical storm, the storm will affect Maui today, and us here on Oahu later this afternoon and over night. Winds of 45 mph are not insignificant (especially for live-aboards) and flood watch is in effect as equipment and sand bags are pre-positioned. Clogged drains have been opened, and stream mouths have all been bulldozed of debris.

Well we islanders know the effects of torrential rain. Many of us live near steep mountains, and gentle streams can become raging white-water without notice. High waves may over-lap the coastal highway in rural districts - cutting off residents from the outside world.

Power can go out here. (Sorry HECO). With no nearby States to share power, an earthquake, or other phenomena, can begin a sequence of events that trips off one power plant after another, even shutting down the whole island. Then the power can remain off over night as they bring it back on line. This doesn't happen with much regularity - but it does occur.

Darkened stores allow in one customer at a time and accompany them with flash lights (torches, to our Brit friends ;-) as people seek food, booze, and treats.

Waikiki Hotels give out bottled water to their guests, and our visitors stroll darkened Kalakaua Avenue buzzing with the excitement of "something different."

I wonder why the nuclear submarines (and sometimes aircraft carriers) at Pearl Harbor don't 'plug into' our grid and supply emergency power?

None of the preparations are in vain.

Hurricane season runs till November first.

It feels good to be ship-shape and ready.

Out here, help can be days away!

We expect dramatic wind, rain, and high surf later today, and while I enjoy the frisson of the emergency, I am not disappointed to miss a major hurricane.

The islands are holding their breath. Appointments are re-scheduled as folks "shelter in place."

SNOW DAY!

With the recent Typhoons and Earthquakes in Asia, I'm counting my blessings. Though there are El Nino conditions in the Pacific (warmer water = stronger storms) and new storms are forming off of Mexico, each contending to be the next hurricane and take off west-ward, it is my policy to postpone worry about those until they approach our waters in perhaps a week or so. There is lots of water, time, distance, and variables before then.

Today I'll remain "vigilant" which means snacks and visiting YOUR blogs. Quite a lovely snow day, really.

Thanks for your good wishes! They doubtless helped to tame Felicia. NewsFlash: she is now a tropical depression with winds up to 45 and lots of rain.

A L O H A! Cloudia

My Waikiki in a Song

Aloha!

Come for a walk through Waikiki

to the sounds of a great old song.

But first, here's a cool map of hurricane Felicia's wind speeds when it reaches us:

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_ep3+shtml/144113.shtml?tswindloop?#contents

And now, back to our show ;-)

Aloha my friends!

Cloudia

My Hawaii

Aloha!

Welcome to Saturday in

W A I K I K I

click on photos to magically enter them

A Beautiful, Unsuspecting Beach Day.

See the girls taking a surfing lesson?

"Surfing expresses ... a pure yearning for visceral, physical contact with the natural world."
MATT WARSHAW

Innocent Looking Sky with Fluffy, Naive Clouds

"Any artist should be grateful for a naive grace

which puts him beyond the need to reason elaborately."

Saul Bellow

"Cynicism is full of naive disappointments."

Mason Cooley

Thursday was the anniversary of the Hiroshima nuclear bombing.

The Shinto shrine above hosted a little league team from Japan, as well as other Japanese visitors and local residents, for the ringing of a "Peace Bell" gifted from the people of Hiroshima to her sister city of Honolulu. The bell has a long, resonant tone that seems to linger. . .

Well, hurricane Felicia seems to be weakening in the cooler waters she is crossing to approach our islands. Due to favorable Trade Wind conditions, hurricanes rarely strike Hawaii - but they DO strike.

Spetember 11th is the anniversary of Hurricane Iniki that seemed headed directly for Waikiki, but then spun off and struck the isle of Kauai causing much damage and trauma to the land, people, infrastructure, and economy of the "Garden Isle."

We had moved ourselves and all our worldly goods onto the boat a few short days before Iniki - just my luck - and so had an exciting time as the sky grew biblical and the wind made howling, shrieking sounds that I will never forget (and never care to hear again).

Fish swam in flooded streets, sea water surged over the harbor moles, and the palms waved frantically sideways, bowing in abject submission before wind-as-conqueror. Kitty hid below decks, and we fool humans stood by with sharp knives to cut away our lines if the floating dock broke free.

I had an image in my mind of our boat laying on it's side, in the middle of a road, a mile inland with all of my possessions strewn everywhere.

That was close enough for me.

So it is with much relief that I peruse the weather radar (meteorology was my college lab science) and see the predicted weakening of this dangerous category 4 hurricane as it continues to approach our neighborhood of the Pacific.

(Newsflash: it is now a cat 3)

Though it promises to be a tropical storm or depression as it comes ashore on the Big Island (Hawaii) on Sunday, it is still expected to bring torrential rains throughout the isles - including here on Oahu. Flood preparations are underway, and prudent home owners are stocking up on necessities. It is very pleasant to think of my boat/home merely raising with the tide - less so to reflect on the homeless local families who reside in tents on the beach.

Yes, there are homeless Hawaiians in Hawaii.

Monday and Tuesday should be exciting days of wind and rain - but no hurricane.

"Whew!"

If you continue below, you will find a video of one of my favorite songs, always guaranteed to make me cry as it celebrates places and things dear to my heart.

I hope it brings a tear to your dear eye as well!

A L O H A! Cloudia