Strolling Along

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"Do you really think it is weakness that yields to temptation? I tell you that there are terrible temptations which it requires strength, strength and courage to yield to."

Oscar Wilde

"Unprovided with original learning, unformed in the habits of thinking, unskilled in the arts of composition, I resolved to write a book."
Edward Gibbon

"The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug."
Mark Twain

The face of comfort.

Every teaching of spirituality is a heroic attempt to share the inexplicable in words.

Traditions and teachings can only point us in the right direction - but unless scripture awakens an answering resonance from within, it will remain only mental.

The mind contorts and con volutes to make itself grand. But wisdom looks on with the quiet pleasure of comprehension. . .

Light, color, bird song are all vibrations. A bed of flowers is a massed choir: harmonies and soloists respirating each in their own voice. . . Stop and listen!

Whales sport off Maui. In neighbor island uplands, fireplaces warm and scent the crispy nights. On the Big Island, lava is flowing into an indignant sea. Typical Hawaii February weather: high clouds, brief showers. . .

What will happen next?

None of us knows.

So keep your eyes half open, like kitty does (above) even as you lay your 20th Century burdens down.

Inventing a better future is fearsome work. So why do we whistle as we stroll through the wreckage?

A L O H A! Cloudia

DoG the Beauty Hunter

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Sun Yat Sen remembers his Honolulu schoolboy days. Nice lei someone brought him!

"Effective leaders know that you have to touch peoples hearts before you can ask them for their hand."

Frederick Douglass

"Fans (and fans of irony) got to meet Dog the Bounty Hunter at the opening of Wolfgang's in Waikiki

"One cannot collect all the beautiful shells on the beach. One can collect only a few, and they are more beautiful if they are few."

Anne Morrow Lindbergh

There is something idescribable:

sunlight gilding the fronds of a palm.

As the palm hulas in the wind

the light dances accross the leaves.

How describe the play of pure light?

Green? Silver?

Silver-green?

Poetic but not true.

Just pure light dancing

with the leaves.

But even in Hawaii

few consciously enjoy them

or contamplate the cloudscapes

where the people of old

saw movies from

Akua. *

*Hawaiian word for the Divine, or God. A L O H A! Cloudia

Deli Memories

Last night as I slept in Waikiki I dreamed of long ago . . . when I awakened, it was to the reality in the next picture . . . still . . . .

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" Time is really the only capitol that any human being has, and the one thing he (sic) can't afford to lose."

Edison

"Intellectuals are reliable lagging indicators, near infallible guides to what used to be true."
Charles R. Morris

"The biggest human temptation is to settle for too little."

Thomas Merton

Sweet Akita! Love your red lei-

Although I enjoy the local foods of Hawaii (a lot!) there will always be a special place in my heart for authentic Deli (delicatessen) handed out with jokey brusqueness in an urban (read: "gritty") setting. And no corporate chains, please! I did, after all, grow up on the East Coast. So only a family owned & operated place, one where you stand at the counter, qualifies.

I still remember the Koch family: Sid, Frances, Louis & Bobby, who operated a very tiny, crowded, neighborhood beacon, cop hang-out, and social service agency (for all the college students from the nearby universities: Penn and Drexel who over ran the West Philadelphia from Fall to Spring).

I was a neighborhood hippy/artiste cleaning banks at night for MY father's family business. I was proud to be working-class, and was therefore stubbornly alienated from the college kids AND the cops, but I shared Philly born & breds with the Kochs, in fact Sid had known my taxi driving grandfather.

The wait was long at Koch's Deli, but they passed around so much good sliced cheese and cold cuts on waxed paper that you were full by the time you got your sandwich. And what a sandwich! Even the glorification of memory does not exaggerate, I'm certain. Only the TOP quality stuff available, but rarely purveyed, always demanded by Sid. All piled ridiculously high on a real Italian roll that had been baked fresh that morning at Amoroso's bakery. Huge, long and "two-meals" heavy - no gristle, unnecessary fat, or additives. Just pure nourishment and joy! All proceeding from the decency and Philly Aloha of the Koch family at 47th & Locust, around 11 blocks from my grandparent's house on Cedar Avenue. These were the streets where my parents grew up, met and married.

I find myself longing for those sandwiches sometimes. Unfortunately I judge all pretenders (and they are all pretenders) by those heroic Hoagies. (you might know their pale descendants as Po` Boys or Subways).

I also pause sometimes and remember the Koch's themselves - all gone now - with love and gratitude for their generosity of spirit, roast beef, and a "tab" on long weekends with no cash. They quietly did a lot for the neighborhood oddball (trying to be a writer) now that I look back with the eyes of an adult.

And so I remain, grateful for the food, love and life lessons I learned hanging around Koch's. Returning to Philadelphia for a business trip decades later I was ready to remind Bobby who I was. "I know who you are." he said first, as if I'd been there the day before. He was the last of them and died years ago. A friend from back in the day called me here in Hawaii and sent me the obituary.

I sure would love to spend a half hour in that past, to laugh at Louis' crappy jokes (lovely man!) one more time. So thank you, Koch family. You were family to so many people, so many generations of college students. And truly to me. Nobility behind a slicer. RIP.

Today's post is dedicated to the memory of Milton Parker co-owner/operator of New York's iconic Carnegie Deli since 1976. He began each day's lunch with a foot-long hot dog. This week his daughter placed one in his coffin. He was 90 years old. And don't get me started about REAL sour tomatoes!

A L O H A! Cloudia

Begins Today

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Morning Full Moon

" The more I think about it, the more I realize that there is nothing more artistic than to love others."

Vincent van Gogh

"Sensual pleasure passes and vanishes, but the friendship between us, the mutual confidence, the delight of the heart, the enchantment of the soul, these things do not perish and can never be destroyed." Voltaire

"The human mind treats a new idea the same way the body treats a strange protein: it rejects it."

P.B. Medawar

Forty years ago, the lyrics of a song called "Aquarius" brought the dawning of the new age into our collective awareness:

"When the Moon is in the seventh house
and Jupiter aligns with Mars.
Then peace will guide the planets
and love will steer the stars. . ."

At dawn today 14th February the Cosmos actually embodies this perfect alignment!

Some folks believe that this event will help us to actualize our collective longings for love, and true peace.

That it heralds the actual dawning of a real "Age of Aquarius!"

Astrologers, and others, believe that this alignment carries the opportunity and energies to help us to heal the schisms that have separated us for so long; That it favors collective humanitarian movements and the co-creation of social justice.

Perhaps we can finally begin to experience this "Shift" throughout our world.

Finally, the old paradigms will really begin to give way to hope, to practical altruism and to the inspiration that each of us cherish. . .

At 7.25am on 14th February - and for the 18 minutes of the alignment - you are invited to add your own best intentions for love, peace, and cooperation; To be a co-creator of the dawning of the Age of Aquarius in whatever way feels appropriate for you.

You may choose 7.25am (UT) or 7:25 am your own local time to join the energizing wave of intention that will surge around our Earth.

I'm so happy to share this with YOU.

A L O H A! Cloudia

Thanks & Aloha to astrologer Jude Currivan PhD:

http://www.judecurrivan.com/media-articles/articles/the-aquarian-alignment-14th-february-2009/

Darwin and Lincoln

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Ted Trimmer "Cloud from Cockpit"

Happy belated 200th birthday to Charles Darwin and US President Abraham Lincoln! 12 February, 09



Who says that one person cannot leave their mark on history?



"Excess on occasion is exhilarating. It prevents moderation from acquiring the deadening effect of a habit."

W. Somerset Maugham





"Popularity? It's glory's small change."

Victor Hugo






" Only those who are capable of silliness can be called truly intelligent."

Christopher Isherwood


Word gift for visiting writers:
A "Panache" is the spray of feathers issuing from the crest of the helmet worn by a noble or noteworthy warrior or ruler.
"It is I!"





Recently a lonely peregrine falcon landed here in Hawaii. The wanderer's injured beak required some attention, so she was brought to the Honolulu Zoo to rest and recuperate.

The rare, but not unprecedented event causes one to muse on the oceans of sky that separate this most distant fleet of islands from North America where peregrines roost. How high, how far! Those sharp brave eyes!

Soon, her Waikiki vacation done, she will be sent packing to a raptor rehabilitation facility on the continent. Aloha visitor from another realm!

Aloha to the small rare twister that alighted on O`ahu yesterday and slapped a golf course worker around. Aloha and goodbye!

Aloha to the USN Port Royal which floats free of the muck and will soon have her own spa makeover in the Pearl Harbor dry docks.

And what's that cacophonic sound? Is it coming from the zoo? No! The legislature is in session. My neck aches with the testimony I cobbled today for my citizens ad hoc (read: ignored) committee regarding ill advised grandiosity by a lame duck governor administration. . .

Hence this disjointed post, but we are friends by now - you & I. Whats a little disjoint among pals, eh?

The Okinawan Cherry Blossoms are blooming in Wahiawa at the Terao nursery. Local maniacs are preparing their funny costumes for Monday's Great Aloha Run from the Aloha Tower to the Aloha Stadium. . . not me. I'm hunched over a key board.

Then I see your comments, and read your blog posts, and life is beautiful. So Aloha Toronto, Hong Kong, Lancashire, Mumbai, France, Ohio, New York City, Jerusalem, Kansas, Lake Erie, and Crete.

You know who you are. Have a wonderful day!
A L O H A! Cloudia

MoonBow and Meow

"A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world." Oscar Wilde

" I cannot live without books."

Thomas Jefferson

"Night time is really the best time to work. All the ideas are there to be yours because everyone else is asleep." Catherine O'Hara

jelly fish

The phone rang at midnight – you can imagine how I felt! Too early even for an east coast caller forgetting the time difference. The voice on the other end said: “I’m calling about a cat.” A cat?! Is this a joke? “Someone found a slightly injured orange tom wandering on Diamond Head. His microchip has your phone number. I’m calling from the SPCA.” My eyes shot open. Could this be our 2000 adoptee who jumped ship after just a week with our household? We’d taken to referring to him as ‘Houdini’ for his disappearing act. “Yes, 2000. That’s right. What shall we do with him?” By now I had located the prodigal’s ‘sister’ Miss Kitty (adopted that same day) peacefully sleeping on a pile of (formerly) clean laundry. The prospect of dragooning the escapee back to our boat in chains (or a cat carrier) didn’t sit right. “Well. . . Um. . .” I said. “That’s OK. The guy who found him wants to adopt him. Whew! These days we enjoy imagining Houdini’s wanderings among the low bushes and back streets of Waikiki. We marvel at his 8 years of survival and his amazing luck in finding a friend just in time to retire (mostly) indoors. We like to think of him in his new pal’s lap, remembering his many adventures and enjoying a warm hand on his head. . .

A L O H A! Cloudia

Lions Farewell

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Ted Trimmer: "Magic Isle"

"What causes adolescents to rebel is not the assertion of authority but the arbitrary use of power, with little explanation of the rules and no involvement [of the adolescent] in the decision making." Laurence Steinberg & Ann Levine

"The skepticism of youth signals the beginning of a search for something actually worth trusting, both within one's own psyche and in the world. That's why teens, supposedly stuck in life's lost years, are often so unequivocal about what they love and what they hate, and so frustrated when they feel misunderstood. The adolescent spirit is not the spirit of the lost. It is the conviction that you are not lost - that wandering has a purpose, and that what you deserve more than anything is the freedom to walk awhile on your own path." Ann Powers




The Chinese New Year begins with a new moon, and the festival ends when the moon is full. That was last Sunday, and I just happened to be lucky enough to pass by the temple in time to see a ceremony that I never even knew about before. . .

Once more, the lions would dance to the gong, cymbal & big drum. . .


This time the lions were not invited to spread good luck and blessing. Rather it was their season's farewell performance; time for them to kneel at the altar and to receive a "well done" for all their hard work as emissaries of the Divine. . .

Emotion ran high. Primal music and incense filled the air. Next, the lions bowed to an elderly gentleman, paying their respects to the ancestors as they have for the ages since humankind's infancy on this planet. . . We fed them a few last dollars for their journey, as firecrackers laid red petals on the ground we trod. . .

They wandered the smokey grounds, seemingly saying "Aloha" to this material realm till next year. . .

They knelt at the outside altars, showing the bottom of their dear sneakers. . .

. . . "Goodbye. Please take our prayers to Heaven with you!"

Afterwards, the children were themselves again: laughing, joking, ready for the next stop of this special day. It's a school day tomorrow. . . here in our Honolulu.

A L O H A! Cloudia