Vroom Vroom

ALOHA
Friend!

Welcome Back to Waikiki

click on this photo to smell the surf and the flowers

"Old age is like climbing a mountain.
The higher you get,
the more tired and breathless you become,
but your view
becomes much more expansive."

Ingmar Bergman




Of course, we don't spend EVERYday at da beach! Don't be silly. There are lots of other activities to spend our time on. Those of you who have read my little Hawaii novel Aloha Where You Like Go? (available on amazon - just click on the picture at the foot of this blog) know that I'm a bit fond of motorcycles and the folks who ride them.

When I was small, lying in bed at night, certain sounds tantalized and taunted me with intimations of a whole World Out There that I couldn't wait to discover:

Trains and their whistles, rustling in the bushes, singing winds accompanied by creaking tree limbs and choruses of dancing dried leaves. . . and the BRAPPP and roar of a Harley off in the distance. Sounds travel far at night, and those sounds accompany me still across decades, miles, oceans and ages. Those sounds still seduce me. . .

It has been a while since the women's motorcycle club that I helped to start drifted apart. I really wanna tell you all about that sometime. But today I'm gonna try and present you a video collage of yesterday's preparations for the annual Toys For Tots Run here in Waikiki.


For those of you who don't know, T4T is a program of the US Marines whereby they collect new toys to distribute to needy children. The bikers always come through with some great toys, after all, folks who love motorcycles well understand the importance of toys.


So without further ado (cross your fingers) let's go see us some bikers!

ALOHA, cloudia

See the parade itself here

Here Come da Canoes!

Pssst!


*Aloha*



Here's a little Easter egg of a video (just between you & me :-)
cloudia

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From Exported Videos

High Surf Warning

"Tell me who you love, and I'll tell you who you are."

Creole saying

"He who reforms himself

has done more towards reforming the public

than a crowd of noise, impotent patriots."

Johann Kaspar Lavate

Dedicated to my favorite gadfly,

Walking Man

"A man's face is his autobiography.

A woman's face is her work of fiction."

Oscar Wilde

"If I were two-faced would I be wearing this one?"

Abraham Lincoln

<><

We are expecting mammoth surf tomorrow on Oahu's North Shore. Steadily, these recent days, it has been growing. Over 20 feet on Saturday, 30 or 40 feet today; but the really big stuff is expected Monday, like up to 50 feet- Or 60! Cowabunga, Dudes! 40 years ago 1969 was a legedary year of 50 footers, washed out roads, waves in living rooms. and the best golden-age surfers putting it all on the line. An extremely strong storm north-northwest is aiming it's hurricane force winds directly at our isle from afar, driving the waves. A rare event. The Eddie Aikau Surf Meet only runs when surf tops 40 feet. Tuesday might be the day! Who was Eddie? Find out here: http://comfortspiral.blogspot.com/2008/12/eddie-would-go.html

Winter in Hawaii

by Cloudia

Fans on low

or off,

the porthole above my bed

closed while I'm asleep.

Bring out the blankets,

It went down to 68 last night!

Winter in Hawaii.

ALOHA to YOU,

Dudes, Dudettes, and Best Buds! cloudia

Gentle Courage

Aloha,

Saturday Friend!

Welcome to Waikiki,

"Worlds Best Weather"

click on photo to feel the power

Shriner s' Hospital for Children.

(see the statue of the Shriner & child?)

"If you don't know the trees

you may get lost in the forest;

but if you don't know the stories

you may be lost in life."

Siberian Saying

"Your laugh and enthusiasm pleases (sic) those around you"

yesterday's lunch fortune cookie

(It made me feel great)

Bamboo grows section by section,

one section at a time. . .

"Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak;

courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen."

Winston Churchill

Anger makes you feel, and even seem strong.

That's why the weak so often resort to it.

It takes real courage to remain calm

in the face of provocation

especially when you have been disregarded and denied.

But anger (paradoxically) only maintains your powerless condition.

Calmly coming to understand your own strengths

and options

will take you much further in the end.

What you acquire in the wrong way

retains the scent of its acquisition.

Those who live by the sword

die by the sword,

unless they beat it

into useful implements

with which to build.

ALOHA, cloudia

Moment of Peace

ALOHA FRIDAY
at Last!
Welcome, Friend

click on photos, you know why. . .

It's nice at Waikiki. . .

"Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)"
Walt Whitman

But the other day I went into the back of Manoa Valley. . .

"Some people never go crazy.
What truly horrible lives they must lead."
Charles Bukowski

It is a riot of greenery back there. . .

"The moment a little boy is concerned with which is a jay
and which is a sparrow,
he can no longer see the birds or hear them sing."
Eric Berne

I love communing with the leaf-life

"No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted."

Aesop, The Lion and the Mouse

<>< <>< ><>

There I found this delightful fountain.
Let's relax and enjoy it together for a moment!

The land, the `Aina, is lonely.
It has been only a place to discard the unwanted,
to ignore, to comodify,
not a mother to visit in love.


The land asks:
"Where are the children?
When will they come and play and laugh with me again?"
The land is lonely for us.


Let us be children once again,
companions to the birds, leaves and winds.
Just as in the day of humankind's youth.
And our spirits shall again be young.



ALOHA, cloudia

Formal Clouds

Aloha, Friend!

Welcome to Thursday in Waikiki

click on clouds to set them free

I never saw a cloud wearing a tie before.



“With an evening coat and a white tie, anybody, even a stockbroker,
can gain a reputation for being civilized”

Oscar Wilde

" You must not blame me if I talk to the clouds"
Henry David Thoreau

“Dreams are illustrations...
from the book your soul is writing about you.”

Marsha Norman

"If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly,
our whole life would change."
Buddha


The House Of Clouds
by
Elizabeth Barrett Browning


I would build a cloudy House
For my thoughts to live in;
When for earth too fancy-loose
And too low for Heaven!
Hush! I talk my dream aloud---
I build it bright to see,---
I build it on the moonlit cloud,
To which I looked with thee.

Thank YOU for your visit/gift today! cloudia

Spice in the Stew

ALOHA, Friend!

Welcome to Wednesday in Waikiki



click on photos for increased delight

Sometimes it is the "flaw" that brings beauty.



“The absence of flaw in beauty is itself a flaw.”

Havelock Ellis

Sunning



"Touch the sky, look the sun straight
in the eye and laugh."

Linda Ellerbee

Well hello there!

"You have made known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence."
Psalms 16: 11.

The taste of our food
is one of the basic joys of life.
But what is this "taste?"
The tongue can distinguish only:
Saltiness, Sweetness, Bitterness, Sourness, and
what the Japanese call: Umami
a word describing the Pungent, Savory, Tangy or Meaty.




Quite a crude palate from which to represent
that parade in our mouths called:
"A fine meal."




Most of us know that much of illusive flavor
comes from scents.
Magical scents!
Our sense of smell is a very poor cousin
to the highly developed olfactories of our animal friends
but without it, our lives would be much, much poorer.




Just like music, scents can transport us to other times and places;
Think of the smell of pumpkin pie - or the perfume worn
by a feared or beloved teacher decades ago.
Even here in perennially Summery Hawaii,
I can close my eyes
and smell the Fall leaves burning
with just a hint of frost in the air.
In fact I've smelled them while reading some of your blogs!




Scientists called Flavorists
can discern, and recreate the volatile chemical signatures of scent/flavors
from nature and also from the test tube.
The foods we eat are much more complex than most of us wish to know!

Sometimes the search for a crucial ingredient can discover the key molecule
present only levels of "parts/per/billion."




This got me thinking.
America is called a "Melting Pot,"
though many prefer to call it a Salad.
Nonetheless, it is the individual ingredients
that make up the very Flavor of a family, neighborhood, city, country-
our whole world.





Often we lament our very smallness;
What can I accomplish in this vast meal of life?
Perhaps you are not the main ingredient,
the lamb in the lamb stew,
or the business person in this money-driven banquet
of our post-modern world.




But just perhaps
you & I
are essential ingredients
in the aroma emanating from life's kitchen!






Without our parts-per-billion existence
something essential would be lacking;
The meal might be abundant,
yet lacking that magical Something
that makes of it
a Heavenly Banquet.





Thank YOU for joining our
Blog Salad today!

It wouldn't taste the same
without
Y O U!