Natalie Wood

 ALOHA !

" At night, 

when the sky is full of stars

 and the sea is still 

you get the wonderful sensation

 that you are floating in space. " 

Natalie Wood

"When you are sorrowful

 look again in your heart, 

and you shall  see

that in truth

you are weeping for that

which has been your

delight. "

 Kahlil Gibran

This is the boat from which Natalie departed this life,
docked here in Honolulu

"I like being on the water

 or near the water,

 but not in the water."

Natalie Wood

  =^.^=

Perhaps

 it is because she grew up before our eyes

in the movies

that Natalie Wood seemed more than

a "movie star."

There was something

 very individual,

honest,

vulnerable,

and familiar

 about her.

She was beautiful too,

but in an unassuming,

un-brassy way.

Like an ancient hero

she was taken too soon,

 taken into 

the realm of 

the immortals.

The boat from upon which

 she sailed

from land for the last time

has been re-sold,

and docked here in Honolulu

for many years.

Now that the case surrounding her death

is being re-examined

officials are coming over from California

to scrutinize the vessel.

Meteorology

was my college lab science.

The professor told us

that he would give us extra credit

for every weather-related news story

we clipped/printed

and brought to class.

"How many weather stories can there BE?"

I wondered.

But that turned out to be

just what he was teaching us:

the importance of weather,

( once you notice it )

all over the world

week after week.

I had no problem

finding such a story

every week,

all semester.

Have YOU found

that visiting Hawaii

 via this blog

has been a little 

like that?

Here on the most remote islands

on Earth,

my life MUST be quite different

from yours

-and yet-

there always seems to be

something

that I find

 to present to 

Y O U.

In this case,

my connection to Natalie

goes beyond sharing a harbor 

for many years

with the 'death boat.'

When the film

"Inside Daisy Clover" came out

I was the same age

 as the character she played:

a tom-boy who mostly raised herself.

If you watch,

really watch,

the performance at the beginning

 of the video below,

you will see an extraordinary

"something"

that spoke deeply to me

as an adolescent;

A yearning,

a determination,

a 'self-pumping up'

an unconventionality

that I really identified with.

You're Gonna Hear From ME ! 

Thanks for letting us hear from

Y O U 

in comments

                                            warmly, cloudia

Inside Daisy Clover HERE

Message of the Trees

ALOHA !

These trees carry on a decades-long conversation

" A sure cure for seasickness

is to sit under a tree.  "

Spike Milligan

Wood is as fluid as a dancer,

and just as expressive

if you have eyes & heart to see

" A fool sees not the same tree

that a wise man sees.  "

William Blake

Ah, a message of well-being! 

" A tree against the sky 

possesses the same interest,

the same character,

the same expression 

as the figure of a human. "

Georges Rouault  

It's all going to be "OK"

more HERE

All things share the same breath

- the beast, the tree, the man-

the air shares its spirit

with all the life it supports.  "

Chief Seattle

  (*)>
/ )
/" 

The Hawaiians believed the same

so they shared their breath

their "HA"

in the ALOHA

and in the HONI greeting;

"The honi is a Polynesian greeting

in which two people greet each other 

by pressing noses and inhaling at the same time.

This is a very honorific as this represents the exchange of ha

--the breath of life--

and mana: 

spiritual power between two people. "

Source: Renee Bishaw,

Hawaiian Greeting/Protocol

Thank YOU

for sharing YOUr mana here with us-

Your comment is always welcome

                                                                Warmly, cloudia

Potato Skies

A L O H A !

Too much golden butter

on these morning mashed potato clouds. . . 

Part of me actually hungers

for gray days

at this time of year.

I mean the kind of grey,

November days I knew
growing up on the East Coast.

  Skies of pewter, and stone.

  When the world seems
empty
of inspiration

or sparkle;

But that's OK.

We hide at home
accomplishing "nothing."
Reading the same page
over and over,
till overcome by
staring,
infectious as a
yawn.




I think
sometimes
we need to lie fallow;
like a field.

Something undoubtedly
mentally healthy
is occurring then.

Some of us,
slaves to the 'should'
need colds or flu

to force us to participate
in this orgy of
non-participation.

But I believe
in wool-gathering
days.

We sleep-walk through tasks

that cannot be postponed

(or ducked).

  But long to return home

  to stare with delicious
vacancy
at the TV,
blogs,

whatever. . .


Bed and beverages 
are important parts
of this ritual
too.

One feels (I feel!)
about as interesting

as a lump of cold potatoes.

(How nice for YOU)

But that's OK;

It's strangely cozy
feeling like that
lump.

Why have I never noticed this

while walking 20+ years in Waikiki? 

Oahu in November
has such days,
days of puddles and puddings.

  Days to savor. 

Days to be potato:

  All eyes, no mouth. 

Days to cherish the bland 

the every-day-ness

of Fall.

Of life.

  Blessed soft days!

To rest up,
to hide, 

to hold indulgent parties

 with myself.

(Another cupcake?)

What guilty, unproductive joys

tempt YOU to hide at home

on such a gray

mashed potato

day?

Rouse yourself long enough to leave a comment, please.

                                                                  Thank YOU, Warmly, cloudia

Hillary's Hawaiian Surprise

A L O H A !

" The moments of happiness

we enjoy 

take us by surprise.

It is not that we seize them, 

but that they seize us.  "

Ashley Montagu 

 " Little minds have little worries,

BIG minds

 have no time for worries. "

Ralph Waldo Emerson

" I have recovered it
What? Eternity.
It is the sea
Matched with the sun."

Rimbaud

" Sports is the toy department of life. "

Jimmy Cannon

" One of the delights known to age, 

and beyond the grasp of youth, 

is that of Not Going. "

Anthony Burgess
 

       > < } } ( ° >

 "It is a mistake to regard age
as a downhill grade toward dissolution.

 
 The reverse is true.

 
 As one grows older,
one climbs with surprising strides. "
George Sand

Thank  Y O U  for visiting!

                                          Warmly, cloudia

And now, Hillary Clinton's Hawaiian Surprise:

19 Years Before the Mast

A L O H A !

" There are some people who live 
in a dream world,

and there are some who face
reality;

and then there are those

who turn one

into the other.  "

Desiderius Erasmus

 

" A house is not a home

unless it contains food and fire

for the mind

as well as the body.  "

Benjamin Franklin

" If my world were to cave in tomorrow,

I would look back on all the pleasures,

excitements and worthwhilenesses 

I have been lucky enough to have had.

Not the sadness, not my miscarriages

or my father leaving home,

but the joy of everything else.

It will have been enough. "

 
Audrey Hepburn

   > < } } ( ° >

     
 

Oh how I loved the adventure
of moving on to the boat.

September, 1992. 

Hurricane Iniki came to visit days later.

What an adventure!
What a solution to expensive Honolulu housing.

It was all ours. It was private.  Quiet.

Harbor politics were just the price you had to pay

to live this special life on the water,

under the open sky

right here in Waikiki.

I completed my college degree,

worked  "a career"

wrote a novel

got older.

Oh how READY I was to get OFF
in recent months!

A million and one distasteful tasks 
every day.

And confinement.

ENOUGH!

But I cried the night before we moved.

"It's not too late to change our minds!"

I feel like I've been released 
from  prison,

or the military,

or the merchant marine.

Normal Civilian life
is SWEET!

Now I'm cooking, washing, sleeping.

A noise in the night no longer threatens

sinking.

The rain and wind pelt my snug window,

and our "deck" doesn't heave and churn

in rough weather.

I'm LOVING IT!

Cherish the roof over your head.

UPDATE:   A young(er) couple has given us earnest money

for the boat!

"I like tools in my hand." Says the guy who even has a slip to put it in!

Cleaning up, retrieving last possessions, I'm moved by how much of our life together

has been lived on that vessel; I'm glad it will get a new crew, life and voyage.

I'm so happy living indoors.  

Thanks for being a part of this sweet life.

And for your comment/gift!

                                                Warmly, cloudia

Makana Sings OUT

A L O H A !

 Our local slack-key celebrity Makana

used his performance at the APEC leaders' dinner

here in Waikiki on Saturday night

  as an opportunity

to get a pro-Occupy Wall Street movement

message to President Barack

  and the other world leaders.

Wearing an "Occupy with Aloha" t-shirt
under his black blazer
he sang his newest song, "We are the Many,"
 including lyrics such as:
"Ye come here gather 'round the stage;
The time has come for us to voice our rage."

"I didn't want to get shut down," 

said the 33-year-old.

So he kept it subtle.

Understandably afraid about singing the song,
he decided to do it anyway
because he believes APEC's leaders
are not representing common people.

 "They are not representing the people they purport to represent."

But he told reporters afterwards

that he wanted to send his message 

without being disrespectful or rude.

 Here's a picture I took of Makana a while back

when he was stopped next to me at a red light.

Always a gentleman, he gave me a star-quality smile. 

That post is HERE

Makana posted a video on You Tube

explaining his decision to perform the song.

You can also go to his FaceBook page

to let him know your opinion.

  Of course YOUr comments
are always valued
here!   Thanks! 
                                    Warmly, cloudia

Come Normal

A L O H A !

" Only some people 

get what they want.

Those are the people

who show up

to get it. "

Dianne Houston

" Genius

is the recovery of childhood

at will. "

Arthur Rimbaud

" I'm always looking for sounds

that are pleasing at the time.

The sound of a helicopter

is really annoying

until you're drowning

and it's there to rescue you.

Then it sounds like

music. "

Tom Waits

“ This is the final test of a gentleman:

his respect for those 

who can be of no possible service

to him ”

 William Lyon Phelps

" Beauty is everywhere 

a welcome guest.  "

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

They Were Professional, Friendly & Polite.
Made us proud

 " What is there more kindly 

than the feeling between host 

and guest?  "

Aeschylus

  > < } } ( ° >

Truthfully, 

Waikiki is always hosting

visitors

from all over the world.

But having world-leader

security 

has been stressful.

(see recent posts

if you don't know what I'm talking about) 

When to leave-

How to go-

How to get home-

How to complete mundane tasks-

The road closures

& motorcades-

It will be SO nice

to be "just us & visitors"

again!

Thanks for looking in.

YOUr comment is valued.

                                                            Warmly, cloudia