Long Boy Sky

A  L  O  H  A !

Click on these clouds

“ The greatest revolution of our generation

is the discovery that human beings,
 by changing the inner attitudes of their minds,

can change the outer aspects of their lives. ”

 William James 

  born: January 11, 1842

Little Tall Man

“Fiction reveals truth

that reality obscures.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

" One can acquire everything in solitude

except character. "

Stendhal

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Are soil

and September

really less promising,

less pungent,

then they used to be?

Does each new generation

get a fresh sky

full of stars?

A future 

bursting with

possible dreams?

I'd like to think so.

Is it just my senses

that seem blunted,

less hungry

with the years?

As vanity recedes

with outward beauty

love for ALL our children

flows in 
to fill

that space. . . 

. . . Like waves rushing in

here at Waikiki.

Do you smell the seasonal change

yet?

tell us in comments!

warmly, cloudia

Historic Surf

A L O H A !

 

Click on these photos to REALLY see them!

There is a strange mist

before Diamond Head: 

Salty Sea Spray!

Large waves are breaking

just outside of the harbor.

Conditions for those

who have their own equipment,

and who know these waters.

Not for visitors or beginners. 

See the tiny humans at far left?

Yes, Waikiki is known for gentle learners-surf,

but in the Summer 

(When Winter in the South Pacific

sends storm energy our way)

the South Shore can Go OFF!

These are historic levels.  

We're all spoiled by videos & shots 

of tiny men and giant waves,

but this is definitely respectable surf 

despite my tiny lenses and modest skills.

Surf lesson?!

What is this instructor thinking?

(Yes, they went out)

First: Stretch and look

" Sometimes in the morning, 

when it's a good surf, 

I go out there, 

and I don't feel like it's a bad world. "

 

Kary Mullis

" Every day of the year

where the water is 76, day and night, 

and the waves roll high,

I take my sled, without runners,

and coast down the face of the big waves

that roll in at Waikiki.  "

Duke Kahanamoku

Father of Modern Surfing 

No, 

they're not all men!

" You can’t stop the waves, 

but you can learn to surf. "

Jon Kabat-Zinn

“Every young sculptor seems to think that
 he must give the world some specimen
 of indecorous womanhood,
 and call it Eve, Venus, a Nymph,
 or any name
 that may apologize
 for a lack of decent clothing.”


 Nathaniel Hawthorne

They're NOT all kids either!

Poseidon was honored by sailors

who relied on him

for safe passage upon his seas.

He lived on the ocean floor

in a palace made of coral and gems,

  and drove a chariot

pulled by sea horses.

  A capricious and moody divinity, 

when he was in a good temper,

Poseidon created new lands

and calm seas.

When his mood turned angry,

  He struck the ground with his great trident 

causing water spouts & earthquakes, 

ship wrecks, drownings,

disaster!

I want to thank my 'Stand In' 

Anonymous Middle Aged Woman 

for helping me get this shot

of we who stand on the beach,

watch, and

SHOOT!

We're All From Some Place

A L O H A !

click on these shots!

 My Waikiki home is full of beauty. . .

" It's always good to remember

where you come from

 and celebrate it.

 To remember where you come from

 is part of where you're going. "

 Anthony Burgess

" I think what I've learned

out of this lifetime

 is you should be proud

of where you come from. "

 Kid Rock

Part of me is happiest in the industrial & "less pretty"

parts of Honolulu.  I believe I know why. . . 

 

“ Home is a place

you grow up wanting to leave,

and grow old 

wanting to get back to. ”

 

       John Ed Pearce


 

Because the video below

is where I grew up:

the streets of Philadelphia.

A Philadelphia where

City Hall's William Penn statue

was taller, by statute

than anything else in town.

A place of history & industry.

Workshop to the world. 

Red brick.

Cobbled streets.

Leafy suburbs.

A time and place that will never come again.

And while too much nostalgia is unhealthy

it is also a powerful drug & tonic,

as we walk once more

in that earlier lifetime;

younger, future-dazzled,

pre - disillusionment.

We walk there now,

remembering our dreams,

yet with the God-like knowledge

of how those dreams are turning out.

Intoxicating!

(just ask Proust)

We walk too, `neath vanished skies,

with those 

with whom

we long to walk 

just once more;

Ah when we were young

and the world green!

Fear not the future,

for we've already lived

a beautiful one.

Or even more than one.

And we're still not

done;

You and I.

                          Walk on!   Fondly, cloudia

Taxi Wisdom

A L O H A !

" Only great minds

can afford a simple style. "

Stendhal

 "How far that little candle throws its beams! 

So shines a good deed in a naughty world. "

Shakespeare

 

 

 

 

" I thought my book was done,

then we went to Hawai‘i 

and the whole last chapter happened. "

 Mariel Hemingway

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Back in the day

taxi drivers used to say:

"Don't take it personal.

Sometimes,

you pick up people

who bring along

a gray cloud.

Don't carry their mood

or malfeasance

after you have dropped them off.

Just keep driving,

and don't take it

personal. "

Share a tip you have learned in comments!

     

       Warmly, cloudia

 
      

Passing Storms

A  L  O  H  A  !

" Dogs are not the Uncle Toms

of the animal world. . .

They're the  dignified dual citizens

who plead the case

for all mute creation 

with their human owners. "

Adam Gopnik

 " Cats and birds are wonderful

but they keep their own counsel

and their own identity,

even in the house,

and let us spy,

occasionally,

on what it's like

out there." 

Adam Gopnik

 

" Adapt yourself to the things

among which your lot has been cast

and love sincerely

the fellow creatures

with whom destiny has ordained 

that you shall live.  "

Marcus Aurelius

" All creatures are flawed, 

but out of the flaw 

may come the universe.  "

Marguerite Young  

" I would look at a dog 

and when our eyes met,

I realized that the dog

and all creatures 

are my family. 

They're like you and me.  "

Ziggy Marley

< ° ) } } > <

   (*)>
/ )
/" 

Glad that Hurricane Irene

has passed the East Coast!

Having ridden out Iniki

here on our boat

(the week we moved aboard)

we know the anxiety,

the uncertainty,

the curtains of rain

and the wind's

H O W L

that I'll never forget.

Glad Manhattan

remains a playground

for our friend Daryl !

Hope you ALL

recover,

and enjoy YOUR

DAY!

2012 and the Next Big Thing

" Often I think of the beautiful town, 

That is seated by the sea. "

Longfellow

" In all things in nature

there is something of the marvelous. "

Aristotle

" The best place to seek God is in a garden.

You can dig for him there. "

George Bernard Shaw

What do you want for this child? For yours?

Shall she enter the banquet?

" In recent years, 

seemingly technical  economic questions

have crowded out questions of justice 

and the common good. 

 I think there is growing sense to many societies

that GDP and market values

do not by themselves

produce happiness or a good society."

Michael J. Sandel

Harvard political philosopher

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                                                                                                         ><}}(°>

We are accustomed to thinking

of the 'next big thing'

as a medical or techno breakthrough. 

 I have an inkling what the NBT will be like,

and I want to share it with you:

The Next Big Thing 

(Breakthrough) 

will not be scientific

or tech.

Rather It will be of the heart.

 it will be sociological,

psychological,

spiritual,

'common sense'

The next big breakthrough

will fix the problems

of all the other passed

Next Big Things.

The next big breakthrough

will be citizens waking up

to all that they share,

and all they have invested

in each other.

All over the world.

"Leaders'

will go the way of the dinosaurs.

It won't take a revolution

or guns.

The NBT will be you and me

trusting one another;

The NBT

will commence

the healing of the world.

Some will call it

"The Kingdom."

Some will merely say:

"It's about TIME!"

What say YOU? Tell us in comments!

                                                          warmly, cloudia