Blessing Animals

Aloha & Welcome Back to Hawaii

 It is time again for the ancient Japanese ritual,

Chinowa, 

in which people pass through a ring

of chigaya grass

to receive a blessing of good health. 

Dating from Nara period (710-749 CE)

the blessing initiates a process of renewal & revitalization, invoking increased flow

of Universal Life Energy,

strengthening us for the second half of the year

(New Year is the prime time for blessings!)

 A Shinto Shrine grew in old Honolulu,

outside the city herself:

 Hawaii Kotohira Jinsha-Hawaii Dazaifu Tenmangu.

 In time, a modern city grew up around her.

A major highway passes very near.

As with everything else here in Hawaii,

we have put our own spin on Chinowa.

Here, it is an occasion to bless our 

companion animals,

and lucky Ti leaves 

are used in place of chigaya.

"The nature of God is a circle

of which the center is everywhere

and the circumference is

nowhere. "

Empedocles

We can judge the heart of a man

by his treatment of animals."  

Immanual Kant

 

“Men are slower

 

to recognize blessings

 

than evils.”

 

 

 Titus Livy

“Prayers go up 

 

and blessings come down”

 

 

Yiddish Proverb

 

 

 

 

 

"If having a soul means

being able to feel love and loyalty

and gratitude,

then animals are better off 

than a lot of humans"  

James Herriot

And yes,

I got my

blessing!

Here's sharing it

             with YOU- warmly,     cloudia

I Could!

A L O H A ! 
                                              Sunday in Honolulu:

I could TOTALLY eat that!

I could TOTALLY wear that!

I could TOTALLY ride that!

Well I COULD!

Comment?  

        Fondly, cloudia

Stone Faces

A l o h a !

One never knows what one will see. . . .

. . . When walking in Waikiki-




"Laughter fluffs up every cell in your body."

Phyllis Diller

Angry Old Tortoise

"As life runs on,

the road grows strange 

with faces new -"

James Russell Lowell
   

The Scream

“All the things one has forgotten

scream for help

in dreams.”

 

 Elias Canetti

><}}(°>

Have a fabulous day-
         kindly leave your comment!  cloudia

Shower Tree

A l o h a !

 click on these bonnie pictures:

Honolulu adopted the rainbow shower tree

as our official tree in 1965.

This one is white, or cream. 

"If you would know strength

and patience, 

welcome the company of trees."

Hal Borland

April to November 

floral explosions 

fill our sky with GLORY!

"To heal mine aching moods,
Give me God's virgin woods."

Clinton Scollard

 

The Rainbow Variety

"Long, sparkling aisles of steel-stemmed trees
Bending to counterfeit a breeze."

James R. Russell

The rainbow shower tree (Cassia x nealiae) 

is a hybrid cross between the golden shower (C. fistula) 

and the pink and white shower (C. javanica).

  Due to plant-genetics, no two trees are alike.

"I hear the wind among the trees
Playing the celestial symphonies;
I see the branches downward bent,
Like keys of some great instrument."

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Honolulu's "official" rainbow shower is the Wilhelmina Tenney. The tree started life in 1920 as a seedling on Lunalilo Street in our Makiki neighborhood by neighbors of the Tenney family. After the tree was propagated, a Tenney daughter, Wilhelmina (1891-1951) gave material to Foster Garden.

 

 

 

 

“Like branches on a tree

we grow in different directions,

yet our roots remain as one.

Each of our lives will always

be a special part of the other.” 

Anonymous

 

 Such litter, glitters!

"As the poet said, 'only God can make a tree' -

probably because it's so hard to figure out

how to get the bark on."

Woody Allen

 

  ><}}(°>

<°)}}><

The shower tree is a flower tree,

her boughs bearing

bounteous bouquets- 

it quite bedazzles!

 

Kindly leave a word blossom

                                                in comments :) cloudia

Goddess Sighting

Aloha,  Friend!

"Youth, large, lusty, loving -- 

Youth, full of grace, force, fascination.

Do you know that Old Age may come after you

with equal grace, force, fascination?"

Walt Whitman

"When you possess light within,

                                                       you see it externally." 

       Anaïs Nin

The saint is the one

who walks through the dark paths

of the world, 

himself a light."

Felix Adler

If you must speak ill of another,

do not speak it,
write it in the sand

near the water's edge."

Napoleon Hill

Time To Go!

"Inside my empty bottle

I was constructing a lighthouse
while all the others were making ships."

Charles Simic

<<:>>

The Hawaiian Goddess of the volcano,

the builder of these isles,

is mostly associated with the Big Island 

where she is still pouring

hot lava,

and still regarded by Hawaiians

(real, ethnic Hawaiians)

as 'Tutu Pele'  Grandmother Pele. 

It is in those lands that she is most often seen.

She can be young & beautiful, 

or incredibly aged - 

and beautiful in a different way.

There are stories of locals

giving Pele a ride without knowing it- 

till later.

Like after the lovely young Hawaiian girl

riding in the car with them

begins to seem more mature

than they first had thought;

till she lights a proffered cigarette

with her finger tip

and asks to get out no where in particular

as a smiling great grandmother.

The day I saw Pele

I was riding my motorcycle

down the last stretch of Kaena Point coast road

along Keawaula Beach,

(better known as Yokohama Bay 
or 'Yokes')

all the way out on Oahu's western tip;

considered a leaping-off place 

for souls leaving this world.

Riding along in the flower of my years

I noticed an aged Hawaiian woman

walking on the roadside with her little dog.

She radiated - something-

taught me - something-

all without a glance,

greeting, or words

Seeing her opened wisdom to me, 

like a gift.

I saw how little it takes to be happy

when one is open to the simple glory

that surrounds.

"A place to sleep out of the rain,

a day relatively free of pain,

a companionable pet

disability and death:

not yet."

An insight, a grace, a gift.

I sometimes think of that

when I'm bereft.

How little it really takes

to be a slightly stooped goddess

walking down this road. . .

Thanks for walking with me a ways.

Your comment is a lovely gift; leave one! 

         warmly, cloudia

Aloha

Aloha!

                             Welcome to Honolulu

I like how life gets back to 'normal' after a 3 day weekend.

"It is best to act

with confidence,

no matter how 

little

right you have to it."

Lillian Hellman

 

'Cloud Bones' 

"Originality

does not consist

in saying what no one has ever said before,

but in saying exactly

what you think

yourself."

James Stephens

Hawaii State Flower, Yellow Hibiscus

"People who say they don't care what people think

are usually desperate

to have people think

they don't care 

what people think. "

George Carlin

"I care not much for a man's religion 

whose dog and cat

are not the better for it. "

Abraham Lincoln

 

If you find it in your heart

to care for somebody else, 

you will have succeeded. "

Maya Angelou "

#########################

Ah dear 'normal.'

What are you anymore?

We are better off

for seeing things as they are:

the church, the governments,

those we regarded

as role models 

or even heroes;

All are found wanting.

That's the cost of growing up.

And so the question grows 

more urgent:

what can one depend on?

Faith, sure,

but what does that mean

in practical life?

What does it mean about how one
acts,
how one
FEELS?

Does it mean believing

in someone else's
pronouncements?

Is it all about
getting the puzzle
'correct?'


Is it in your mind?



Does it mean living in 
cynicism,
too smart to believe
in anything?


My faith is deep,
earned & unearned.


It is more than a decision
or formula,
too simple & complicated
to force on others.




I look everywhere for hints,
and sometimes recieve
ANSWERS.


Mostly, I think, it comes down to
trust.


I trust.


I needn't force
my view on another-
or deny my own
doubts.




Every day I am learning.


Every day I am grateful.


Every day
I am moved to tears,
Turning despair
into love. 




Thinking,
but not over much.




I have come to understand
as Gary Zukov has taught:


"The road to your soul
is through you heart."


My heart leaps
when I read your thoughts.


Together we continue.


Thank you for the companionship.


Your comment is a cherished gift!


       warmly, cloudia

Representations of Light

A  L  O  H  A !

"Never lose an opportunity

of seeing anything beautiful,

for beauty is God's handwriting. "

Ralph Waldo Emerson 

"Be humble for you are made of earth.

Be noble for you are made of stars."

Serbian proverb

Orange you glad you stopped by today?

I am!

“With patience,

mulberry leaves become satin.”

 

 Turkish Proverb 

“Praise is like sunlight to the human spirit:

we cannot flower and grow without it.”

 

 Jess Lair 

~<>~

 

 Walking in the morning with my camera,
I realize that what I am trying to 
capture
are 
representations
of
LIGHT.


As "point & shoot princess"
I do the best I can. . .


Thank YOU
for being part of it.
Please leave your 'calling card'
           in comments.   cloudia