Simple Happiness

Aloha!




Welcome back to Waikiki!







"Politics is the only business where doing nothing other than making the other guy look bad is an acceptable outcome." - Gov. Mark Warner





"Our happiness comes from simple things like love and friendship , a clear conscience, peaceful mind, a gentle and kindly spirit; a sense of duty and an awareness of beauty. Happiness does not depend on the position we hold, the size of our bank account or whether we live in one room or a mansion.. As someone said, 'Happiness is an inside job.'"


- Rev. Paul Osumi





Feeling grateful to or appreciative of someone or something in your life actually attracts more of the things that you appreciate and value into your life.

Christiane Northrup, M.D.





The spiral is the path to wisdom, the place of power in the moment. The Hawaiians called it Manawa Nui, the Great Now. Only the outskirts and outer reaches of the spiral manifest as maze. We must choose to enter, persist, and enter further. Once committed, once inside the journey, we begin to perceive the spiral. . . and to Ride it.





Let go, relax, marinate in stillness . . . out of this, arising will come. Access the ancient intelligence of your body and let your mind idle a while. It NEEDS it.

A L O H A! Cloudia

Because YOU Asked

Aloha!

Welcome back To Waikiki!

"Soft is stronger than hard, water stronger than rock, love stronger than violence." Hermann Hesse

"Agitators are a set of interfering, meddling people who come down to some perfectly contented class of the community and sow the seeds of discontent among them. That is the reason why agitators are so absolutely necessary."

Oscar Wilde

"What do artists, poets, and novelists have in common? The propensity to link seemingly unrelated things. It's called 'metaphor.'"

Dr. Vilayanur S. Ramachandran,

Behavioral Neurologist

Several of you lovely commenters have asked recently about the back-story of our life aboard our 50+ year old, cement & steel, locally built, pinky-stern, cutter-rigged boat. Oh yeah, she's like 47 feet long. People always want to know how long a boat is, just like people who really know nothing about motorcycles always ask: "How many CC's does that thing have?"

Now I sound churlish. Actually I'm gratified that you-all care! So here are a few links to previous posts that will fill you in. . .

http://comfortspiral.blogspot.com/2009/01/boat-living.html

http://comfortspiral.blogspot.com/2009/03/water-week.html

http://comfortspiral.blogspot.com/2009/05/life-aboards.html


A L O H A! Cloudia

MTM: Ala Wai Yacht Harbor

Aloha, Mateys!

Let's Dance!

Kliban Cats (c)



time to relax. . .

Slide Show!

Aloha!

Welcome to my town: The Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor here in Waikiki.

The slide show are pictures I took of our recent inspection-cruise. My house eased out of it's slip, left the harbor, did a sweet pirouette, and returned safely.

As long as we abide by harbor rules and maintain our floating real estate, we can remain here at the border between land and sea. . . at the very edge of Waikiki!

A L O H A! Cloudia

Susan Boyle - ing

Aloha! C'mon in.

Just Duke Kahanamoku dancing with the Queen Mum. He was a poor Hawaiian kid from the Waikiki Neighborhood.

But he grew up to enchant everyone he met.

Consider our friend Susan Boyle

“Normal is in the eye of the beholder.”
Whoopi Goldberg

Can't see these enough, can we?

But where were we. . .

Oh yes, back to average folks. . .

like you and me.

Duke went on to Olympic gold and also introduced the modern world to surfing.

This is his statue, always posing with visitors.

And there are always lei!

And now, let's do talk about our friend Susan, emblem of the moment. She surfed in on the zeitgeist.

At first, she looked like another "meal" for the judges. Someone we the public could pity and feel superior to. (C'mon, this is just you and me being honest. In threatening times like these, it's comforting to realize that we're not QUITE the biggest loser around, isn't it?)

We've all been identifying with the so called "winners" for too long, trying to pass as one of them. But all those formerly "elite" types have been recently un-masked as clue-less haven't they? All those geniuses who broke their glittering toy, the "system" that treated them so very well indeed.

And now, as we're all chastened along with them, and the smoke begins to clear, we look around us with fresh eyes.

And who do we see?

We see Susan Boyle.

We begin, perhaps, to realize the previously unappreciated treasure that resides in the "average" folks all around us. . . in ourselves.

Some spell has been riven. We and our fellow folk are revealed to be the true ground of humanity, the real plot line of the human story.

A bi-racial fellow, raised by a single mom in an apartment, on a tiny island, is now our U.S. President.

Yes, we average losers seem poised and ready to emerge as the "next big thing," changing the game, saving the show.

Just like Susan Boyle

A L O H A! Cloudia

Found: Bush's One Good Thing

Aloha! Come on in.

(click on pictures to enlarge ;-) My house has good lines, eh?

“Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home.”

Matsuo Basho

This is Diamond Head Road. See the road sign?

It goes all around the crater and is a favorite "cruising" place to see and be seen. Pop star Rhianna has been seen bicycling here recently. Hope she's feeling better!

Never saw these before!


“Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.”
Marcel Proust

the FRESH AIR Fund is a truly worthy effort!

Why not click on the banner?

Tee Hee!

A woman after my own heart;

two words: "Sun Protection."

“They remember me as this shy girl sitting under the table. But they obviously didn't know what was going on in my head.”
Izabella Scorupco

In the final days of his administration, Bush the Younger did something surprising. He declared the pristine Northwestern Hawaiian Islands a Marine National Monument.



This paradise at the far side of our archipelago is called:

Papahanaumokuakea.



Recently NOAA reported that 15 different species of whales, more than expected, frequent the large, watery "park."



80 types of coral, almost half of them found only in Hawaiian waters, also homestead these waters.



Here in Waikiki, with the near shore waters full of cavorting humans, and party boats jostling for sunset views just beyond the reef ,

I like to think of the whales and their buddies

lounging in their own V.I.P. enclave.



Perhaps some day I'll untie from the dock

and sail out to visit them. After all,

I too am found only in Hawaiian waters. . .

Note: My modem self-destructed late Thursday requiring a "swap-out," hence: no Friday post.

Sorry. It's just a tale of two modems, I guess. . . But I'm BACK, Baby!

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

RESET

Aloha Everybody!
“Each morning sees some task begin, Each evening sees it close; Something attempted, something done, Has earned a night's repose.”
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow



“If you can speak what you will never hear, if you can write what you will never read, you have done rare things.”
Henry David Thoreau

Thank you, Drum Major, for these lei.
We all appreciated them, though Kitty refused to wear hers long enough for a photo. The rest of us savored them!


“The biggest reward for a thing well done is to have done it.”
Voltaire

Thanks to EACH one of you for your kind comments and your support.

My dad passed last Thursday afternoon, May 21st.

He was 82 years old, a WWII veteran, and a retired small business man.

He always swore that the first thing he had ever seen upon opening his eyes for the first time was a telephone pole outside of the window.

The last image in those eyes was his son and daughter standing by him on either side. It was a good death after a long struggle.

We woke my mom and my sister in law from their well deserved naps so we could all be together in the moment. My niece and nephew returned from a surf session to join the family in some private time before alerting the proper functionaries.

Things have seemed unreal. My mind refuses to focus.

Your comments on this blog really touched me though!

I have to say that our friend Walking Man (see my blog roll) was a standout with his choice words in English AND Hawaiian.

"Drum Major" a VA nurse from Kansas City, and generous fan of my writing, arranged with Cindy's Lei Stand here in Honolulu for an abundance of floral lei for my family; I was surprised and cheered by the bounty of blossoms! Mahalo, Dear.

Yesterday, Honolulu celebrated Memorial Day with OVER 50,000 donated lei adorning the graves at Punchbowl and our other veteran's cemeteries. The whole world seemed to be mourning with us.

I happened to be having my first solitary moment in my parent's apartment (after the passing) yesterday.

Suddenly, the F-16s setting up for the "missing man" salute flew by right outside the window!

Then, last evening, an armada of floating lanterns was launched from the beach park nearby with solemn ceremony. They carried prayers and fond wishes for those who have passed this year.

So you see, the world really has seemed to join us in our grief.

But grief is nevertheless exhausting.

Death hits the "Reset."

Struggles and hurts transubstantiate into warm aloha.

The arguments, heck the WARS that he & I fought are over.

Now, a sad gratitude grows.

Yet, the world appears more beautiful than ever.

Tomorrow,

or the next day,

my muse will return.

Something will catch my eye and my mind.

An opening phrase will emerge

and I will run home to share it all with you.

Till then,

I want you to know that I'm alright.

A L O H A ! Cloudia