Under Their Wings

A L O H A !

"I will do my best

to be honest & fair,

friendly & helpful,

considerate and caring,

courageous & strong. . . 

. . . and to make the world a better place."

The Girl Scout Oath

What is that tiny, loud thing up there glinting in the sun?

The skies always please.

You needn't own something

to derive pleasure from it.

Do you own a sunset

or a song?

F-22 Raptor

"When the power of love

overcomes the love of power, 

the world will know peace."

Jimi Hendrix

F-22 above Hawaii

"It may be laid down as a primary position,

and the basis of our system,

that every Citizen who enjoys the protection
of a Free Government,

owes not only a proportion of his property,

but even of his personal services

to the defense of it."

 
George Washington,

First President of the United States &
'Father of His Country' 

<<:>> 

 

When I'm walking on Waikiki beach

and war planes zoom over,

or US Navy ships

silhouette themselves against the horizon

beyond the surfers and pleasure boats,

it always makes a powerful statement.

  As people from all over the world

relax together here in amity, 

the globe is still a place full of threats

and weapons.

  While we play others defend.
Even, or especially at this holiday season.

The last two Hawaii Air National Guard
F-15 Eagles

made their final flights

from Hickam Air Force Base here 

this past Summer.

The familiar F-15s  have been part of the Honolulu's 
daily scene for a long time.

The pilots who flew those last sorties were in grade school

when the planes were brand-new back inn 1975.

New F-22 Raptors

are already here in Hawaii.

Our rough & ready local Air National Guard

will eventually get 20 of the new jets,

(which cost $361 million each!)

  They seem much louder than the Eagles, but that's OK.

  Harley riders claim that "loud pipes save lives." 

I hope that the loud planes will keep the peace.

In times of insecurity that roar is a 

 powerful confidence builder.

  And here at home,

it is important to be reminded of the awesome power wielded in our name. 

It is a momentous responsibility.

Several hundred US Marines

have recently returned to their families

here on this island.

To see those reunions on our TV news

could make a statue cry!

Are YOU or your family member(s) military veterans

or perhaps veterans of other sorts of social service?

     Thanks for visiting today! cloudia

Still Here

A l o h a

"Love is an exploding cigar

we willingly smoke."

  - Lynda Barry

"Thoughts are but dreams till their effects be tried."

 
William Shakespeare

"Thoughts rule the world."

Ralph Waldo Emerson


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Well, we're still floating

albeit with damp feet.

I have had some connectivity issues

but traced them to a damaged cable.

Please forgive me for not visiting

YOUR blog!

I hope to have life down to a manageable riot

soon.

Thanks for visiting at this busy Holiday season!

How are YOU coping with mid-winter madness?

          Warmly, cloudia

Missed

We Still Miss You, John

Emergency

Aloha Welcome Friend!

 

 When you live on a boat as we do

there are many Ups

& Downs.

 Sometimes the glass is half full-

Sometimes it is OVERFLOWING!

 

Sometimes, It looks like it's ALL going

down the tubes.

<°)}}><


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It was three in the morning.

Laying awake in uncharacteristic fretting,

I heard a strange noise.

Then the unmistakable sound of water;

water rushing.

Rushing IN!

I sprinted to the dock and shut off the water line

coming aboard.

Then I listened.

What I heard chilled my bones;

The sound of 

water!

My problem was my hull, not plumbing.

By this time (blog invisible) husband was plugging in a pump.

I tore a new (emergency backup) pump out of its box.

As the incoming water rushed in triumphantly

the watery tide turned against us.

"This is it. This is it,"  I chanted,

rushing around gathering

everything of value

everything of daily utility:

clothes, grandpa's watch, medication. . .

What would YOU be grabbing?

As I loaded my car, Kitty watched safely from her accustomed place on deck -

no worries a foot from the dock.

Hubby had called HFD

and the giant yellow truck with the matching official surfboard on the side

was tearing up the night and spilling red wails everywhere.

There they were HERE;

Fire Fighters.  Hawaiian Demi-Gods. 

Six feet tall and very calm.

They regularly climb on roofs in high winds

to save people's homes.

You know about the helicopter rescues,

and of course the fire fighting.

They had a pump

a pump that saved us from going down

in an estimated 30 minutes.

So as water rushed and sang triumphantly

through a seam in my hull,

two small, and one BIG pumps tried to over-sing the water.

The two small guys ran non-stop.

Eventually, the big pump could be shut off for 20 minutes at a time.

Without it we would have been homeless.

The Coast Guard was very  nice but mostly interested in ocean hygiene.

They brought no diver, just papers to sign.

I began to calculate the cost of properly disposing of an old 47 foot cement & steel boat.

The pumps and rushing water were like a  never-ending drum roll, teasing me to jump out of my skin.

I haven't been that stressed in some time.

I didn't make it to the inauguration (see post above).

I did watch in (Bizarrely) on TV: using electricity while water sang its

bloodthirsty victory song. 

(without power: NO PUMPS!)

I began to feel guilty

about the confession I MADE in that post just above;

YOU now know that I'm a hateful scoundrel 

(now you GOTTA see that post! :)

and my 'fall from grace' was being extravagantly punished

with a dazzling immediacy!

Or maybe not.

Emergencies can bring out some weird stuff

along with the "best in us," eh?

And there are no atheists on sinking boats.

Hubby's diver who knows our boat eventually showed up.

His mom has cancer and needed something;

Everybody's got a story.  No?

Eventually the river stopped, leaving a lake to dry.

The sea had lost this one. 

For now.

We worked and carried all day.

I cried a little.

I thought of blogger buddy  Travis 

who lost his home in a fire

and blogged about it.

Hubby, Kitty and I

started talking about moving on

after 18 years afloat.

I cried a little more.

But we slept in our own bed,

wearing slippahs (Slippers - the rest of the world calls them: flip flops)

to walk the damp carpet.

My clothes and etc. are in a tangled pile. 

But Hubby made it in to work today.

I even got my modems and internet hooked back up

(look at ME!).

So that's why:

this late post NOT about:

today's Pearl Harbor ceremonies

and the dwindling number of aging veteran/survivors.

That's why no post today about the new Governor's 

surprisingly spiritual speech

about Joy, Gratitude, and Hawaii

that quoted the Dalai Lama and Dietrich Bonhoeffer .

But I gotta blog.

   Gotta touch thoughts and hearts with

YOU.

Emergencies put things in perspective.

I'm grateful for all the little things we take for granted,

like the phone or pen we reach out and grasp 

without having to search for it.

I'm deeply grateful to the Pawaa Station Fire Fighters,

my neighbors,

the voters,

my new Governor

and my old husband.

I'm grateful for new beginnings,

just a BIT more planned

than grabbing and running

into the night. . .

What are YOU Grateful or Fretful about today?

"This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival...
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond."
~ Rumi

Wonderful New Day

Aloha

Welcome to a New Day for Hawaii!

"I absolutely believe in revenge.

A dish best served cold?

I say: get it any way you can."

Fran Lebowitz

 

"Smiles

are the soul's

party dresses."

Cloudia

 

"Cause I'm leaving on a jet plane. . . "

John Denver

"Be to her virtues very kind,
Be to her faults a little blind."

Matthew Prior

><}}(°> 

 

 

 

Today, the team I have supported

is being sworn in as Governor

and lieutenant Governor

of the State of Hawaii.

 

 

A ticket to the proceedings

sits right here beside my keyboard.

 

There is a concept in the Hawaiian Culture:

PONO.

According to the authoritative 

Pukui/Elbert Hawaiian Dictionary,

Pono means:  goodness, uprightness, morality, moral qualities, correct or proper procedure, excellence, well-being, prosperity, welfare, benefit, behalf, equity, proper, righteous, right, upright, just, virtuous, fair, beneficial, successful...and so much more.

Things in our islands

have been in disharmony

for eight years.

With all the problems we face today

a new, inclusive, regime is needed.

By all appearances,

that new regime is now come.

Humans will never be perfect

and I don't expect to agree

with every move "my" guys make.

But that longed-for inclusiveness is afoot,

as seen in the recent proposed appointments

of good people.

I have a confession to make.

A very rude and inflexible person

has been in charge of the State Department

that over-sees the State Harbors.

As residents of a State Harbor,

my neighbors and I have been under assault

by an antagonistic, pre-determined process

that has made us unwelcome

in our own beloved neighborhood.

The other day,

I saw that rude woman,

who had hurt so many peoples' feelings

(and made some boaters homeless)

crying before the TV News cameras.

Bullies always cry 

when they finally get the punch in the nose

that they have courted.

I felt a satisfaction,

an ancient one.

It's good to see those

who have made themselves 

you enemies

CRY.

Even better:

We welcome Pono Hawaiian Gentleman,

William Aila

Waianae Boat Harbor Master,

Hawaiian Activist,

& gadfly for what is right,

as our NEW 

DIRECTOR, Dept. Of Land & Natural Resources.

He is expected to be confirmed easily.

The war is over.

Now there's LOTS to be done.

But we the people of Hawaii

will do it together.

It's a wonderful day.

             What is pleasing YOU today? cloudia

BONUS:

Stroll around Honolulu @ Christmas Time!