My Day in the Sun

A L O H A !

Self portrait / Scooter Reflection

Late

Early

Momentary Contemplation:

Enjoy Today

And then the light changed. . .

Fish

Wish

Drink

Dream

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Out of steam-

<>

Your comment is invited

Thanks for visiting

                                              warmly, cloudia

WWII Veterans from Hawaii Awarded

Aloha SALUTE!

Today, proud, elderly, Japanese-American veterans

of World War II,

including 60 honorees from our Hawaii

finally
received
their Congressional Gold Medal.

  More than 400 Nisei veterans took part

  in Congressional Gold Medal events.

Today's ceremony took place

in Emancipation Hall

at  the U.S. Capitol.

The medal was awarded collectively

to the 100th Infantry Battalion,

click on the photos to be awed

the 442nd Regimental Combat Team

and the Military Intelligence Service.

They  served this country with much-noted heroism despite the fact that some had parents and siblings confined to internment camps at a time when Japanese Americans faced distrust unmatched by anything directed towards German Americans.

Jack Nakamura, 88,

who was wounded twice

told a reporter last week: 

"That's one reason why I joined, volunteered, too.

They were calling me 'Jap' and stuff like that.

My mother said, 'No, don't join up.'

But I joined up anyway," recalled Nakamura,

a 100th Infantry Battalion veteran.

"After all that we went through and all that,

and to be recognized for what we did 

and all that, I'm grateful to the government

for awarding us this medal,"

said Takashi Shirakata,

a 442nd Regimental Combat Team veteran.

When these veterans arrived in Washington, D.C. this past Monday morning they received a special honor at the airport as their plane was saluted with jets of water from airport firefighters. 

The medal itself will be archived at the 

Smithsonian Institution.

Each Hawaii veteran will receive their own as well.

Many of these aging heroes aren't able to attend the Washington events, so a celebration is being planned

for them here in Waikiki in December.

 I walk past this memorial on my way

to my Waikiki Post Office

If we 

would put country and family

ahead of self

as these men did,

many losing their lives,

their companions,

then America

would be

America

again.

Amen.

Thank You for sharing in this.

YOUR comment is valued.

                                                 warmly, cloudia

Splendor of China

歡迎   Aloha

 Happy 11 1 11

 

Click on the pictures / 点击图片

 Went to the Splendor of China trade show

& extravaganza on Saturday.

A bargain trip to the Middle Kingdom

at $3/door.

 

 

“ With money you are a dragon;

with no money, a worm ”

 

  Chinese Proverb

“ On with the dance! 

Let joy be unconfined ”

 

Lord Byron 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“To forget one's ancestor's                                  is to be a brook without a source,                            a tree without root ”

Chinese Proverb  Root & seed of Chinese culture: brush, ink, stone.

Bridge Child

" One joy 

scatters

      a hundred griefs. "

" An inch of time is an inch of gold

but you can't buy that inch of time

with an inch of gold. "

" Not until just before dawn

do people sleep best; 

not until people get old 

do they become wise. "

Chinese Proverbs

As we walked along,

I saw the Shanghai Calligrapher Zun Gui Li 

executing a stroke of the piece above. 

One didn't need factual knowledge of the art

to appreciate the grace,

flair, control & off-handedness

in his movements and results.

Thick, thin, light, dark 

the lines played out perfectly.

When he wrote in

the finer, smaller characters

I went wild (quietly).

  His assistant explained to me 

that such a piece

would sell in Shanghai for the equivalent

of $45 USD,

but that he wanted me to have it

for $20

as I was clearly so taken

with it's creation.

  Now that I live on shore, 

I can hang calligraphy!

  This photo

was taken in my apartment.

(I do want to get it framed)

  The artist expressed to me

through his intermediary

that it alludes to the fact that

"kind people live a long time."

Happy thought for you

and for me!

Thanks SO much for visiting today.

Your comment is a gift!

                                          Warmly, cloudia

Morning, Ladies

A L O H A !

What a magnificent day!

" Be faithful to that

which exists nowhere

but in yourself,
 and thus

make yourself

indispensable. "

Andre Gide

Life I love you!

" Her appearance is so interesting
it suggests that her appearance
is the least interesting thing
about her. "

Rebecca Mead

Morning, Ladies!

" We come to love 

not by seeing a perfect person,

but by learning to see

an imperfect person

perfectly. "

Sam Keen

   (*)>
/ )
/"    

Thank you for visiting,

YOUr comment is welcome

                                                 Warmly, cloudia 

 Happy Halloween & Diwali

BOO!

 Trick or Treat

Totoro!

Autumn Reds Hawaii Edition

A L O H A !

Kindly click on the photos

 Our palms don't turn red in October. . . 

" I saw the lovely arch
Of rainbow span the sky,
The gold sun burning
As the rain swept by. "

  Elizabeth Coatsworth,
 November

Red Romantic

" An optimist is a person 

who sees a green light 

everywhere,

while a pessimist sees only 

the red stoplight... 

the truly wise person 

is colorblind.  "

Albert Schweitzer

Red Rectitude

" I sometimes wonder 

if two thirds of the globe 

is covered in red carpet.  "

Prince Charles

Red Roof

" When in doubt wear red. "

Bill Blass

Red Rescue

" Whenever you're sitting across

from some important person, 

always picture him

sitting there in a suit of long red underwear.

That's the way I always operated

in business.  "

Joseph P. Kennedy

 

 

 

 
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hope this wasn't

red-dundant!

YOUR visit makes my day

Thanks!

leave a comment of any color you wish

                                                    warmly, cloudia

To Live & Die in Hawaii

A L O H A ! 

Every person wants & needs
the same basic things, 

though each of us
does them in our own way;

But in Hawaii especially
 we live - and die - 
in our own unique culture. . . 

Hi Ho Oxygen Tanks AWAY!

In hospice care. 

"Riding Home"

" And when the day arrives 

I'll become the sky

and I'll become the sea

and the sea will come to kiss me

for I am going home. 

Nothing can stop me now.  "

Trent Reznor

 

A Day

A L O H A !

You gotta click on  these photos

You never know what the day holds.

Yesterday, I had so much fun on my scooter

that I was thinking of trying to share that pleasure

with you in a post.

When I went downstairs this morning,

Scooty wouldn't start.

Silly how out-of-sorts

such of things can make one.

But they sure do!

"Hey it could be worse,"

the kind Hawaiian security guard offered,

"you coulda had an accident."

I was nice to him (I hope)

but preoccupied and upset.

While I was walking on some errands near-by,

sirens came from every direction.

I was sure that it was an exercise for APEC:

the Convention Center is on that block.

But the sirens all converged

just ahead of me. 

You can't see her here,

but our magnificent Honolulu Fire Dept crew,

HPD, and the Paramedics

were ALL there for a downed bicyclist. 

All this urgent effort, society coming together,

to help ONE person. . . I don't know. . . 

it just really touched my heart.  

With everything

going on in the world, we still care about a 

stranger.

  Somehow, that makes me feel like we

can wise up, get together, 

and solve our problems.

Yes, we never know what a day holds. 

Today, or tomorrow, 

could be life-changing.

I just wanted to share these thoughts 

with You,

"Strangers."

Who have become friends!

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Thanks for visiting

            you comment is most welcome cloudia