Capitol Walk

Aloha & Welcome to Honolulu

A special place like Hawaii,

 needs a special capitol building,

 or so they believed in the 1960's.

Our capitol is open to the elements,

and to the people. On one side of this

courtyard is the Senate Chamber.

On the other: the House Chamber.

Their outside walls are sloping stone 

representing the volcanoes that are the 

bedrock of these Islands.

Outside, the building is set among pools of water:

the ocean that surrounds us;

 out of which

pillars representing palm trees

 rise to support the roof.

That 'framed' tower is Honolulu Hale,

our City Hall.  It looks Spanish, but is actually

based on a fortified Italian castle.

"The Life of the Land is Perpetuated in Righteousness"

 our motto.

The Hawaiian Language is our official language along with

English.  Interpreters of many flavors

 make a good living here though,

as we continue to attract folks from all over Asia,

 the Pacific,

and the World!

The offices are upstairs.  Lobbyists, staff, citizens,

 all hang out here by the railings

 where a lot of the REAL business of government is done.

You can see the State Flag

 flying in front of the building

 from these "corridors of power."

And the sky is always looking on,

putting things into perspective.

(one hopes :)

Looking down at the ground level

 yields a nice view of this watery mosaic.

Behind the capitol building,

 is our original government building:

Iolani Palace,

 built by Kalakaua for some three hundred thousand

dollars in the 19th Century.

All Done Up for a Festive Event.

Link to a Royal past and a troubled political history.

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A true tale is told (courtesy of the great Glen Grant)

of a government employee

who stayed late one evening

working at the new Capitol.

Her young daughter played in the halls just outside

as they waited for father to come

collect them for the ride home.

All the way home,

the little girl spoke excitedly about

playing with a nice lady

whose arms were draped in lei.

The mother had smelled flowers

& faint cigar smoke. She assumed it 

was a staffer or cleaner the girl spoke of.

Or perhaps it was childish imagination.

Weeks later, when the statue of

 Queen Liliuokalani 

between the two iconic 

buildings was unveiled,

Hawaiians present protested covering

Her neck piece (more HERE)

with lei, and so the statue's arms

were draped in dozens of flowery garlands.

"Mommy! That's the nice lady

who played with me!"

Squealed the little girl.

The Queen has been seen,

 the smell of flowers 

and her favored small cigars

left behind, many times since.

She is still looking out for Her

People.

And besides:

who would really want to leave

this fragrant & magic land?

As yesterday was King Kalakaua's 174th birthday,

Hawaii National Guard Soldiers acting as ceremonial

Royal Guards stood sentry at the palace gates.

The past lives here!

“May the dreams of your past

 be the reality of your future.”

anonymous 

And may only benevolent airs

and spirits surround

YOU

this day. . . 

. . . and always.

cloudia

Baker Joe's Tale

ALOHA

 Means "Welcome"

"A kiss that speaks volumes

 is seldom a first edition."

  Clare Whiting

"A tattoo is a true poetic creation,
 and is always more than meets the eye.
  As a tattoo is grounded on living skin,
 so its essence emotes a poignancy
 unique to the mortal human condition. "


V. Vale and Andrea Juno, Modern Primitives

"The world is divided into two kinds of people:

  those who have tattoos,

 and those who are afraid of people with tattoos."

Author Unknown

Note:
Names have been changed because I respect privacy - not because there's 'anything wrong with that.'

I like the little boutique hotel across the street from the beach.  It's the right size, human size, and the fact that Honolulu's flag-ship Gay Bar has moved there makes for an interesting dynamic.  

First of all, the lobby and the rest of the place is very clean & stylish - "Queer Eyed" you might say.

  And I know that the rainbow flag waving from the second floor is sort of a talisman that keeps intolerance out of the place.  I like tolerance, and though I'm no longer the sort who dances the night away, I do like stopping in during the day to shoot the breeze.

  Sometimes my husband and our friends shoot some daytime pool there.  Plus I get to see friends, and to make friends in the building. . . Me Mum's moving in the place this month.

 Everyone is welcome in the hotel and it is a mixed bunch of residents and visitors, so those who might be "uncomfortable" kind of self-select themselves OUT.

One morning Baker Joe came in to the bar and announced:

 "I think I've been discriminated against.

 Aw, never mind."

But we all wanted to know about it.  Joe is "straight appearing" so we were curious.  Turns out this talented pastry chef who works at one of the town's great restaurants had sought extra work at the local branch of a national Super Market Chain that boasts it's own bakery.  After a few days, they told him "he's not good enough."  An experienced pastry chef - right.

What no one knew is that I had just met and spoken to the head baker of a wholly local concern that is expanding.  Now, I speak with everyone!  Just go right up to them and act like we're all friends. Well aren't we?  Gotta know when to let folks be, but mostly I speak with everyone.

So I got on the phone to speak to the head baker fellow I'd met. But his boss, the founder and a local immigrant success story hero, Mr. Lamm, picked up thee phone. 

 What a thrill and privilege to speak with HIM! 

 I know I gushed a little.  He asked why I was calling, and I started telling him about baker Joe.

"Oh my wife and I love the bread at that restaurant."  (where Joe bakes)

They interviewed Joe;

And they hired him!

So speak with everyone.

  Being strangers is merely a feature and illusion of wearing a body.

  We'll all laugh about it in the next world.  

You know, you and I are friends without having met

 in-body.

Perhaps our blogging friendships are a foretaste of Heaven?

      Warmly, cloudia

1920's Waikiki

A L O H A

means

 you are warmly welcome here :)

Here is some Hawaiian Music from the 1920's

North King St; the Heart of Chinatown

The First Hawaiian Bank building seems to be sending

"cutting Chi" right as us.  Bad Feng Shui?

"One step at a time

 is good walking"

  CHINESE PROVERB

Pleasant Path to a Bower of Beauty

“Democracy is the art

 of thinking independently together”

 Alexander Meiklejohn

See how the rainbow twists into a spiral?

"To reveal art and conceal the artist

 is art's aim." 

Oscar Wilde

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What a weekend!

Mom called from the hospital:

emergency appendectomy.

Fortunately, I spent some time

'flying' on my scooter.

Moving through the beauty of

Hawaii mesmerizes

all worry.

Polynesian paralysis

makes effort

seem puny and wasted.

I just wanna ride

on my "motor-sickle."

Mom's OK.

The business of life

goes on.

Lyric skies

spread their siren song;

the concerns of life

seem like comic diversions

as the waves surge

and pound.

There is

this one

perfect moment.

And here we share it.

Can't believe I haven't posted

or visited

in two days!

          Forgive me? cloudia

Moments Millenia

A L O H A !

Fred Tomaselli,  Expulsion

"Tune your television to any channel it doesn't receive,


 and about 1 percent of the dancing static you see


 is accounted for by this ancient remnant of the Big Bang.




 The next time you complain that there is nothing on,


 remember that you can always watch the birth of the 


universe."

Bill Bryson

“The butterfly counts not months

 but moments,

 and has time enough.”

 Rabindranath Tagore

“Kindness in words creates confidence. 

Kindness in thinking creates profoundness.

 Kindness in giving creates love.”

 Lao Tzu

"Life is a succession of moments.

 To live each one

 is to succeed."  

                                                                                                           Corita Kent. 

Hope you enjoyed this one :)

                                                    cloudia

Lost Time

A  L  O  H  A !

This was my theme-song for many years. 

 Now it mostly reminds me of the blessings of ALOHA,
of friends, family & neighbors.


Let's be rocks together! Click and sing along as we look at some fresh Honolulu images:

"You don't really understand human nature

 unless you know why a child on a merry-go-round

 will wave at his parents every time around -

 and why his parents will always wave back."

  William D. Tammeus

"Each day of our lives

 we make deposits

 in the memory banks of our children."

  Charles R. Swindoll

“Write injuries in sand, kindnesses in marble”

 French Proverb

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We were as tiny mice,

 living in the baroque edifice

 of our parents' war-without-end.'

A milieu of constant stress + no reassurance or positive attention = severe damage.

That would be me.

It all seemed so fated,

 just the way the world works;

 get used to it.

"This is the best time of your life,"
 my father told me.
  "You'll have to work hard everyday,
 so enjoy being a kid."

This was the best I could hope for?!

  I already wanted to die.

Other kids played.

 They seemed childish and stupid to me;

  I knew the truth,

and set my sights on the far horizon

 of adulthood and escape.

I wasn't popular,

 which didn't bother me
 and was mutual.

The only peace & comfort I knew

 was in blessed solitude:

a book, a brook

running through trees.
Animals.

Alone at night in my room

their arguing filtered through a 

reassuring wall. . .

They never meant the messages that I received

but the were received.

And only now-

half a century later-

are they being examined

and rejected.

Dead letters

whose news (nevertheless)

 had shaped my life.

Time to explore new frontiers of being human.

No time for regret.

I'm making up for lost time:

being happy

"wasting" love and patience on strangers

and myself;

even on those closest.

                                                                                                   cloudia

"Make us glad

 in reward for the days of our sorrow,

 and for the years in which we have seen evil."

Psalm 90:15

Douay-Rheims Bible