More Parade

Aloha Friday is Here!





Click on the birdies

“God finds a low branch for the bird that cannot fly.”

Turkish Proverb

"Reading is to the mind

what exercise is to the body."


Sir Richard Steele

And here is a slide show of more parade pictures:




Thanks for YOUR visit!

cloudia

Hello Sailor(s)

Aloha, Friend!



click on the clouds

Eaves, skies, and spirits soaring!



"I bought a cactus.

A week later it died.

And I got depressed,

because I thought, Damn,

I am less nurturing than a desert."


- Demetri Martin

Taiko Taiko One Day...




"An uncle gave me a side drum

and my mother decided I should have lessons."


Humphrey Lyttelton

Australian Military Pilot



“It is courage, courage, courage,

that raises the blood of life to crimson splendor.

Live bravely and present a brave front to adversity.”

Horace

><>

The flotilla approaches our island of Oahu.

34 military ships, five submarines, and more than 100 aircraft from 14

Pacific nations,

began their maneuvers yesterday.

It was just the start of activities that will last till August first.

Some 20,000 officers, sailors, submariners,

and aviators will be exploring our town

when their schedules permit,

for they will spend the bulk of it practicing

to hunt submarines,

to clear mines,

and to otherwise cooperate and collaborate.

A few missiles will even be fired!

New York City may enjoy Fleet Week annually

(Hi, Daryl :)

but the U.S. Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor

gets to play host to colleagues

from Australia, Chile, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore and South Korea

(among others)

for RIMPAC (Rim of the Pacific) Exercises on alternate years.

It's sort of a naval

"You show me yours, and I'll show you mine."

Taxi drivers, bar girls, and t-shirt shops: gear up for more business!

Hello Sailor...

And aloha to YOU, my webby friend!

cloudia

Floral Parade

Aloha, Friend!
Welcome to the
Kamehameha Day Floral Parade


click on the parade!

Pau Rider


"No child but must remember laying his head in the grass,
staring into the infinitesimal forest
and seeing it grow populous with fairy armies."

Robert Louis Stevenson,
Essays in The Art of Writing

Ladies of a Royal Society



"The thing I was attracted to as a little girl
was Kirk, Bones and Spock, and their utter loyalty.
There's nothing more powerful than that."

Jolene Blalock


"When you eat fruit,
think of the person who planted the tree"

VIETNAMESE SAYING

It's a family thing.

"A hug is like a boomerang - you get it back right away."

Bil Keane, "Family Circus"




"Millions and millions of years
would still not give me half enough time
to describe that tiny instant of all eternity
when you put your arms around me
and I put my arms around you."

Jacques Prévert




"Everybody needs a hug.
It changes your metabolism."

Leo Buscaglia




"You can't wrap love in a box,
but you can wrap a person in a hug."

Author Unknown

Honolulu Police Department Motor Officer
wearing a maile lei.

Celebrating Kamehameha the Great,
the "Napoleon of the Pacific,"
the "Lonely One."
He united the islands into one kingdom
1810.

"Children make you want to start life over."
Muhammad Ali

Old & New:
Feathered Capes and Mobile Phones

"Face in the Crowd"




><>

Sure is Summer, isn't it?
Well, here in the northern it is.
Minds wander, and blog traffic dips.

But the desire to take pictures,
to reach out,
and to share with jolly friends
only blossoms.

We excuse each other
for the long days of reverie
far from the internet.

Love you guys;
That's ALOHA!
:) cloudia

Mrs. Cheng's Tofu

Aloha,
Summery FRIEND



remember to click on pics

Field Trip!


Tucked away in Honolulu's light industrial, residential,
catch-all neighborhood of Kalihi
you can find one of our little gems: Mrs. Cheng's Tofu Factory.

Our town has long imported and manufactured the ethnic foods
that our island population enjoys. There are other tofu factors in town.
We also produce Aloha Shoyu (soy sauce) Portuguese bread, halo-halo and adobo (Filipino treats).
We have several little and big noodle factories,
and even enjoyed our own local sake brewery. . . once upon a time.

Let's go inside to buy some fresh tofu, shall we?




"Have a mouth as sharp as a dagger,
but a heart as soft as tofu."

strange Chinese Proverb

All very basic but sanitary.



"Run, they're handing out tofu again!"
Panic scream of child trick-or treating on Halloween
'America's Food' by Harvey Blatt (2008)

Check out the Chinese instructions
on that super-special tofu machine!



"The method of making doufu dates back to Liu An (179-122B.C.), the Prince of Huainan.
It is made of soya beans,
either the black or the yellow variety."


Ancient Chinese work on medicinal herbs

Here is the prey we seek fresh from the oven:
Tofu Cheese, a baked specialty of Mrs. Cheng.




"Traditionally in the U.S., tofu was eaten by vegetarians as a protein substitute for meat. It was generally served plain, in large chunks completely devoid of flavor."

Brita Housez

Here it is packaged and at home, ready to eat!


" I like tofu cheese
and soy milk in my coffee and cereal."

~ Grace Slick quotes


Ah, Bertrand Russel was right:
"There is much pleasure to be gained
from useless information."


Thanks for visiting us here in Waikiki today!

Summer Memories

Aloha Friend!

"One of the greatest victories
you can gain over someone
is to beat him
at politeness."

Josh Billings

"Vision without execution
is hallucination."

Edison

This guy is a surf board shaper.
He must use a lightening-bolt motif on some of his boards.





"One of the greatest things
about the sport of surfing
is that you need only three things:
your body, a surf-board, and a wave."

NAIMA GREEN



><>



What a weekend!
I was invited
to carry the Hawaii flag
at the head of
Honolulu's PRIDE festival.


I always wanted to lead my own parade!


Then we attended the retirement party
of our friend Chuck
who served 30 years
in the US Army.




Years ago,
during the challenging times of my younger days,
I used to say to my dear friend, Labig:
"Some day things will be better."




"Cloudi,"
he'd say,
"These ARE the good old days."




My life is more settled now.
Somehow it all worked out for the best.



But thinking back on my dear friend,
gone these many years,
I remember long Summer days
at the ball park,
and dinners to which
he picked up the check
time and time again.


Once I told him that being with him
was just as relaxing as being alone.
And he understood just what I meant.



As I recall those days long ago
I realize that he was right;
Those were golden days indeed.

And though I miss him,
plus so many others gone,
I look back with gratitude
and much aloha.

I thought of them all
as I led the parade through Waikiki.
"This one's for you guys."



THESE are the good times too.


I understand that now.


Don't waste your time
dreaming of
"some day."


That's a fool's
or a child's
game.


Drink today all the way down!


It is the nectar.


Don't wait to look back
to realize it!


Fondly, cloudia

I Needed It Bad

ALOHA Dear Friend!

How did I live without it for so long?

I haven't had a functioning two-wheeled vehicle
for a while now.







My 1973 BMW R75/5
(the one that was built from the frame-out just for me
and painted a unique lilac colour)
had served me well:
I looked GREAT on it!

But it was getting taller, and heavier all the time.
I was like the curator of a precious antique,
and began to dream of something smaller...

I began dreaming about my old Honda Magna that had helped
me to found a women's motorcycle club...



About the beautiful, handmade, Italian Moto Morini


that he almost bought for me 25 years ago...



That day when my brother and I saw the other kids in the neighborhood
skateboarding with store-bought rides
and caught the same fever
riding every day after school till dark for months...




About that Rupp mini-bike that Joey B showed up with one day,
wowing all of us kids
who angled for "just one ride PLEASE"
and then the uncanny freedom
of flying through the Summer neighborhood,
smelling the cut grass, hearing the birds,
SOARING under the open skies
of childhood...




Then there was the life guard at the pool
who rode a Lambretta
and took me along for under-aged rides
that I never forgot;
There's just SOMETHING about a man on two wheels.


Biker culture
plays a key role in my Hawaii novel
'Aloha Where You Like Go?'
as it has in my life.
(scroll ALL the way down for a link to amazon :)
And I liked being the tough, sexy chick
on the amazing bike.


But now I just want to have fun.




So this week
for my birthday
I got a brand new
brand-name Japanese Scooter!





It's official, all my old biker friends:
I am now a wimp. (Scooter!)





It's light and fun and just right for me.
I'm outside instead of hunched over this keyboard
for hours a day.




Suddenly there are a million places to visit,
things to do,
and just the joy of being in the wind.




How did I live without it for SO long?




Funny how one thing
can make everything
NEW again!




I'm just having SO much fun.




This island is perfect for such a machine.
It is a licensed motor vehicle
and can handle the major highways.
But I can pull over anywhere
and snap a few photos easily
now that my camera lives in the
cup holder.




I'm not riding a moped!
That will come when I'm even older :)
right before the mobility scooter.
Beep! Beep!




So please forgive me
if I haven't commented at your place lately.




I'll be back,
I want to know what's happening with you.




Even though I know I'm having the most fun right now...




Vroom Vroom! Beep Beep!

I mean:
'ALOHA' cloudia

For Beth...and You

Aloha
to
YOU :)

"Breathless, we flung us on a windy hill,
Laughed in the sun,
and kissed the lovely grass."

Rupert Brooke

"One joy scatters a hundred griefs."

Chinese proverb

"A warrior must learn to make every act count,
since he is going to be here in this world for only a short while,
in fact, too short for witnessing all the marvels of it."

Carlos Castaneda


><>



"Spiritually powerful people
are not necessarily people who
do so much,
as they are people
around whom
things get done.

Gandhi caused the British to leave India,
but he wasn't a man who ran around a lot.

Powerful forces swirled around him."

Marianne Williamson


Aloha, Friend :)

cloudia