Come to My Windows

ALOHA

Welcome to Thursday in Honolulu

click on windows to enter therein My computer is my window on the world,

the WHOLE world.

"The Internet is becoming the town square

for the global village of tomorrow."

"People everywhere love Windows."

Sometimes it's just plain fun, like when I visit YOUR blog!

"I really had a lot of dreams when I was a kid,
and I think a great deal of that grew out of the fact
that I had a chance to read a lot."

When everything is working right,
it's a beautiful thing!

"As we look ahead into the next century,

leaders will be those who empower others."
All Quotes Today:

Bill Gates





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I bought my first laptop 10 years ago.
And I used it for the entire ten years;
Windows ME operating system and all!




When it was on it's last legs I anguished over it's replacement.
Some swear by APPLE. I've been a PC and learned it's Window ways, but I was willing to change for the right reasons.



I went back and forth.



Ultimately, I bought another Dell Inspirion 15
with the much heralded
WINDOWS 7.




This was a great decision!
Yes, I'm one of those people that the ad campaign is about:
I'm ecstatic about this dual core beauty
and after 3 weeks,

WINDOWS 7 has been nothing but a joy.



It has exceeded my expectations -

and I don't like change where my tools are concerned.

It takes too much energy from my creativity.
I just want things to work,
and Windows7 really does.
It's elegant.




So if it's time, treat yourself.
If you spend hours of your life on-line like I do,
it will be just like getting a new and better body.
I'm BEAUTIFUL again!

Having been involved in public health, I know well
how much basic good the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
is doing thoughout the world
and here in
America.


Windows it is!




I purchased at Best Buy and had a good experience.
The person who helped me, Richard, was totally cool.
As a stingy tightwad, I mean careful spender,
I can tell you that it is
Very Worth It
to get a machine that they have
optimized.


So, come to my windows.
Then you can enjoy your visits here to Hawaii
even MORE!


ALOHA, Friend! cloudia

Eleven Eleven

A L O H A

Friends!

Welcome to 11/11

Veteran's Day Here In Hawaii

click on photos for strategic enlargement

Look over there!

It's the USS Reagan,

spending a few days in Pearl Harbor.




"The more we sweat in peace the less we bleed in war."

Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit



"I dream of giving birth to a child who will ask,

"Mother, what was war?"

Eve Merriam

Hard to describe how BIG it is.
Those are the tops of trucks (lorries) in front.
Dozens of aircraft crowd the flight deck.





"In war, there are no unwounded soldiers."
José Narosky

It looms over nearby buildings.











"To be a patriot is to [sometimes] have a lovers' quarrel

with your country."

-Wm. Sloane Coffin

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I never had much awareness of the military growing up.

Sure dad, and all the men of my childhood, had won WWII

along with our allies,

but the military was not a family tradition,

or a career path that would have appealed to me.

Besides, my two childhood heroes were Martin Luther King,

and Leonardo DaVinci. Leonardo said that if you were a lover of peace, you should have brilliant machines to defend that peace.

I loved his siege engine drawings, and I still adore high-tech war birds when they roar by at tree top level for some event, like today's "missing man" flyover . . . But I digress. . .

Here in Hawaii, the military is a significant presence.

From Pearl Harbor, where WWII began for the USA,

to the Barking Sands of Kauai where missiles are launched, tracked, brought down, to Schofield Barracks where "From Here to Eternity" was lived and filmed, and on to the giant veterans' cemetery at Punchbowl where Barack Obama's grandfather lies,

Hawaii is a place where you experience the military up close.

I even wrote a poem about the young service men & women who pass through Waikiki on their way to and from more dangerous places:

These Are The Boys


These are the boys who surf the waves
Or try to
Who cruise Waikiki
With radios thumping loud
Drunken, polite
Away from home for the first time
Supremely confident in youth
And in America.
These are the boys
Who go to the wars
Who go to the wars
And Die.

As you can tell, I have very mixed feelings about all of this.

I honor those who put their lives on the line to defend homes, strangers, and high ideals. But I know that most often aggression could be avoided, and that those who "choose" diplomacy by other means

are often wilfully blind to the consequences, and to other solutions. Nonetheless, I do honor the individual who gives up their personal freedom to obey and to serve. I could never do it.

Here in Hawaii we walk among a shrinking number of aging, local Japanese boys who served in the most decorated unit of WWII;

they were the 442 "Go For Broke" boys who left family and friends in internment camps to fight fascism overseas, and to ultimately be the ones who shot the lock off the gates of Auschwitz.

"You fought two enemies, the Nazis, and prejudice. And you have won," President Harry Truman said of them.

Our Senator Dan Innouye is one of them.

Heleft his arm in France, but continues to serve Hawaii

and the nation without it.

Of course, it was US Marines off of the USS Boston in Honolulu Harbor who helped insure the overthrow of the Hawaiian Monarchy and of the internationally recognized nation of Hawaii.

We in Hawaii have a complicated relationship between the islands and people we love, and the USA

that our parents fought and sometimes died for.

It's like being children of a complicated marriage;

we love both of our parents, even if they disagree from time to time.

The formal apology by Bill Clinton's administration was a good step,

but only a step in resolving this relationship. . .

Yes, the military holds a lot of Hawaii land,

including a big chunk of Waikiki.

When you turn Right onto Kalia from Ala Moana Blvd, and drive past the Hilton's 3 heroic hula dancer statues, you are entering the heart of federal property. Fort DeRussy, the Hale Koa hotel, and, Kuroda Field are the sunny face of the military in Hawaii.

Depleted uranium rounds, "ordinance reef" (disposed munitions off of leeward O`ahu), and the militarization of sacred Makua valley

are the less than beautiful face of our military presence.

See, that is a complicated relationship . . .

But today we say a big "Mahalo"

to the men and women of every nation and tribe

who put themselves at discomfort and risk to serve others.

May our "leaders" respect them enough to deploy them with wisdom, discretion, and humanity.

And thanks to you too, Dad,

and ALL veterans.

A L O H A! Cloudia

Take a Pause

ALOHA, Friend!


Welcome to Tuesday
in Waikiki







"Life is what happens while you're making other plans."


-John Lennon









"The future is murky. I Guess it's good to have a past."


-Paul Newman

Stopping to watch the sunset seems to settle and clarify the mind.

Even the Hawaiian breeze, Ka Makani, knows that it is a good time to pause. Your day sweetens as the colors change.

I'd like to think that maturity, the "sunset of life" will be like that.

Do you know the ledgend of the maiden who was directed to walk down the row of corn and to pick one, only one, ear? Right away she saw a good one, but she reasoned that a better one might be a few paces down the row.

At the end of the row, she wished that she had chosen that first ear.

If you know where your next meal is coming from, if you have a home,

if someone is glad to see you arrive, if you are NOT in #10 pain;

then you are fortunate.

Pause to notice all of life's gifts that we take for granted every day.

Sunset is a good time to do that.

Make your own beautiful memories. . . NOW. . .

Aloha! Cloudia

Lingering Ghosts

ALOHA!

WELCOME TO MONDAY

In

HONOLULU

"What is—"Paradise"—
Who live there—
Are they "Farmers"—
Do they "hoe"—
Do they know that this is "Amherst"—
And that I—am coming—too—"

Emily Dickenson

Moe (Sleep)

Maluhia (peaceful)

Breadfruit

on

the

Hoof!

"Family ties in the after-world remain unbroken, and all Hawaiians believe in the power of spirits to return to the scenes they knew on earth in the form in which they appeared while the were alive. Especially is this true of the procession of gods and spirits who come on certain sacred nights to visit the sacred places, or to welcome a dying relative and conduct him to the `Aumakua (ancestral spirit) world."

- Martha Beckworth, "Hawaiian Mythology"

". . . I was allowed a glimpse of a world where the spirits were so ever-present, their manifestations so powerful, that the living and the dead knew no separation...The first direct assault on this [Hawaiian] world of spirit came from the materialism of Westerners who did not recognize the sacredness of all life, animate and inanimate. . . When the Hawaiian spiritual world was altered with the coming of merchants and missionaries, (Samuel M.) Kamakau wrote that much of the Mana left the islands, as new religions, economic systems and attitudes prevailed. In the ancient days, the `Aumakua, family spirits, were healers and 'havens of forgiveness.' They guided the living and even restored life to the dead.' "

- Glen Grant, Obake Files: Ghostly Encounters of Supernatural Hawaii, Mutual Publishing

"We must be skeptical about everything, even skepticism" - Cornell West

)=(

Spiritual energy seems almost tangible here in the Islands of Hawaii. The seas, skies, and mountain forests are rich with presence; perhaps it is the Mana, the spiritual "force" that animates every pebble, every boulder, every plant on these islands. In this magic land, this `Aina, it is very easy to believe in spirits. The soil itself seems alive.

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Watching the volcano fountaining one night years ago, my brother suddenly saw Madame Pele, the volcano goddess dancing hula and surfing on the molten lava. He immediately turned to his friend (who turned to him at the same second) and they both blurted out: "Do you see that?!!!!!" Stories of an old woman hitching rides at night, lighting proffered cigarettes with the tip of her finger, and then disappearing after lengthy conversations, are not uncommon, and the drivers SWEAR that it happened; in some cases thanking Pele for keeping them awake and away from the sea cliffs as they drove home drunk in the wee hours.

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I myself have experienced the mischievous spirits of our wilder places. One night they awakened me in my Kona coffee shack, way up on the mountainside. I thought it was a large group of partiers approaching. As I awoke completely, I still heard the voices and I saw darting lights about the shack, but I knew that these were not living visitors. After a few moments they disappeared into the silence of a moonlit night. And no, it wasn't a dream . . .

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. . . As Glen Grant wrote, the torches still burn right here in Waikiki too! One Christmas eve a few years ago my husband and I were walking along the bustling, crowded, festive sidewalk of Kalakaua Avenue when I looked beyond the beach and out to the dark ocean to see a procession of torches moving slowly along the shoreline. Never had I seen anything like this: not lights, but torches. No one else seemed to notice, and my husband gave only a perfunctory response when I pointed them out to him. He didn't seem to see what I was talking about. Only later did I learn that processions of Hawaiian spirits are thought to travel from Diamond Head to visit the downtown tombs of ancient of chiefs, kings and kahuna. . .

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. . .Diamond Head itself once had a Heiau, (temple) called: Papa-ena-ena which was known as a place of processions and occasional human sacrifice. Mark Twain wrote of visiting it's crumbling walls and of the human bones still interred there. In 1874 Queen Emma (brave lady!) used rocks from the site on her Waikiki property, where they remain today at the International Market Place. Maybe that's why it's so easy to get lost in that warren of shops, carts, and bargains? By 1920 all traces of the temple were erased, and a noted girls' school now thrives on that particular slope of Diamond Head. . .

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. . .Downtown Honolulu has always been rife with ghosts and their stories. The voices of crying children are heard in the night where the old orphanage was. A young wahine (woman) is seen at dusk on the grounds of Iolani Palace. Its grounds have long been considered a portal to the world of Po (darkness, night). Queen Liliuokalani herself is seen to patrol the precincts of her capitol (and ours!) keeping a watchful eye on the idiocy of our elected officials who bear her Kuleana (responsibilities) today. . .

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. . . Honolulu's most famous ghost story was even reported in the newspapers! When King Lunalilo died in 1874 he was buried at midnight (the custom) at the Royal Mausoleum in Nu`uanu Valley above town. His father, however, asked King Kalakaua to remove his sons royal remains to Kawaiaha`o Church where the first elected Hawaiian king could lie with his people. The King acceded to the families wishes deciding, however, that no cannons would sound the 21 gun salute for the procession and re-burial; it seemed inappropriate under the circumstances. So the Punchbowl cannons were ordered to remain silent. As the procession of torches and high Kahili (feathered staff, emblems of High Chiefs and Royalty) approached the city a slight rain (a blessing) baptized the mourners and coffin. Then they heard the first "boom!" Had the King changed his mind about the artillery salute? No! It was thunder from on high! 21 loud, distinct claps of thunder were heard over the town. The clouds parted to reveal a brilliant star-filled tropic sky only as the coffin was re interred. "Thus did the gods overrule the will of a mortal." reported a local paper of the day. I have been to Lunalilo's tomb in the historic churchyard. Locals say that in the depths of night a voice is sometimes heard calling from the tomb, calling for "paka" (tobacco) of which the the King was very fond.

Photos above are from the Kawaiahao churchyard, and the old King Street Cemetery at Ward Avenue. If you are a serious ghost fan, your library MUST contain at least one book by Glen Grant (RIP)! oh, and . . . . . . . .

BOO!!!!!!!!!!

A L O H A, CLOUDIA

Just For Today

Aloha!

Welcome Friend!

JUST FOR TODAY. . .

photos may be clickedDon't worry. . . Just for today,

Don't Anger. . . Just for Today. . .

Comfort Spiral is NOT about positive thinking!

It is more like the last day of school

as you begin to suspect how wonderful your life really can be.

Dare to believe it.

Tons of illusion, mistaken beliefs

and "shoulds"

can finally be taken off of your shoulders. . .

can finally be lain down. . . "All truth passes through three stages:

First it is ridiculed.

Second, it is violently opposed.

Third, it is accepted as being self-evident."

Schopenhauer

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Fearless Gentleness:

Every day annoyances crop up naturally.

They are often triggers for the less-than-perfect sides of our nature. But exploding never accomplishes anything positive.

Holding a lid on rage causes physical/mental problems.

But all this can be safely dissipated.

De-escalate.

Then the provocation becomes fuel!

It can propel you into the heights of well being.

Each time you refuse to "rise to the bait," you develop your

perspective and detachment "muscles."

Lots of complications are avoided this way!

Every time you handle some "problem" with relaxed dignity,

powerful inner detachment and increased freedom of spirit

become yours.

All the kinetic energy of the situation will flow non-

destructively to your strength and merit,

and also to collective world peace.

Really. . .

Try to greet each complication as a "work out opportunity."

YOU WILL GROW HAPPIER!

The Hawaiians say: "He Mea Iki'" it's just a small thing.

Come, walk along the shoreline of your heart. . .

It's ALL small things!

ALOHA!

A L O H A !

Good To See YOU -

Saturday Friend

Empty Beach, Ted Trimmer

“Don't grow up too quickly,

lest you forget how much you love the beach.”

Michelle Held

"Nostalgia is like a grammar lesson:

you find the present tense, but the past perfect!"

Owens Lee Pomeroy

Spider Web, Ted Trimmer

"I finally figured out

that the only reason to be alive

is to enjoy it."

Rita Mae Brown

A Light Heart?

ALOHA!

It's Friday here in

H O N O L U L U

W E L C O M E!

So Glad YOU Could Make It!

"In a country well governed,

poverty is something to be ashamed of.

In a country badly governed,

wealth is something to be ashamed of."

-Kung Fu Tzu (Confucious)

"What must I allow to die today

in order to generate more life

tomorrow."

Clara Pinkola Estes,

Jungian

"Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again;

we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life."

Jack Kerouac."

The Egyptians taught
That after death
One’s heart would be weighed in the balance
Against a feather
That symbol of high places
And lightness.
What is a light heart?
Perhaps it is one that loves life
One that takes difficulties easily
And so lightens them.
A heart that loves deeply
Seems to fly
And so rightly rises
In the eyes of the gods
When weighed against a feather.

A L O H A! Cloudia