I Saw an Angel

 A  L  O  H  A !

When I was little -

 " In every real man

 a child is hidden

 that wants to play. "

Friedrich Nietzsche

"  The great man is he 

who does not lose 

his child's-heart.  "

Mencius


" You're never too old to do goofy stuff.  "

From the television show Leave it to Beaver, 

spoken by the character Ward Cleaver

 

" So, like a forgotten fire, 

a childhood can always

 flare up again

 within us.  "

Gaston Bachelard

I Saw an ANGEL:

 

                                                          THIS ANGEL, 
                                     photo courtesy
                                    of our blog friend KATE   

" A child's world
is fresh and new
and beautiful,
full of wonder and excitement.

 It is our misfortune

 that for most of us

 that clear-eyed vision,

 that true instinct for what is beautiful 

and awe-inspiring, 

is dimmed and even lost 

before we reach adulthood. 

If I had influence with the good fairy

 who is supposed to preside

 over the christening of all children,

 I should ask that her gift 

to each child in the world 

be a sense of wonder so indestructible

 that it would last throughout life, 

as an unfailing antidote 

against the boredom and disenchantment 

of later year…the alienation

 from the sources of our strength.”

  Rachel Carson,

  The Sense of Wonder

Thanks for visiting today!

'Take away Peace - - Leave a Comment'

 

You can see a short video

of the Angel below.

                            Warmly, cloudia

Friend Faces

A  L  O  H  A !

Thank YOU for looking in.

Friends like YOU make life wonderful!

"A friend is someone 

who knows

 the song in your heart 

and can sing it 

back to you 

when you have 

forgotten the words."

Anonymous 

 

>>>>>>PLEASE SEE THE 'MAIN' POST OF THE DAY BELOW > > > > > >> > >>>>>>>>>

Thank YOU!

Saint Sharon

A  L  O  H  A !

" I am human

 and let nothing

 human

 be alien

 to me.  "

Terence

 

 " All see

 and judge better

 in the affairs of others

 than in their own.  "

Terence 

" She ne'er was

 really charming 

till she died.  "

Terence

)<[]>(

 It did not come natural to me,

being a child

of the suburbs,

but I inherited

a lot of Street

from my dad

& grandad

the taxi driver.

City Guys,

East Coast.

"Street smarts"

VS

"The easy-to-cheat

fool 

from the country"

means

the rube

will buy the 

Brooklyn Bridge

every time.

So I wanted

Street;

my inheritance.

Some grow up

on the street,

some fall to it,

some make their 

living there.

"I worked my whole life

to get away from 

this neighborhood-

and you moved

right back here."

Complained my Dad

with grudging

comprehension.

Moving to Hawaii,

I lived in rural Kona

(Big Island)

as readers of MY BOOK

know.

When I discovered

the real, vest-pocket

city

of Honolulu,

I was hooked.

I drove a taxi here

for several years

including

over night.

Hawaiian ghosts,

druggies,

all night spots,

Hono-Lu

has shown me 

her soul;

And enfolded

mine.

For years,

I was the public health

condom-HIV Testing-

'talk to me'

lady

for the working girls

down town.

That's when I met

Sharon Black.

Like me, she too

was an outreach worker:

a small, proud, profession

more specialized

than police.

Some say the Apostles

were the first

Outreach workers.

Some of us

are still 

recruited and sent

by the same

boss!

Sharon actually worked

for the police department!

Until

a sexual harassment

suit 

(hers, successful)

against a police

official

squelched that.

Sharon wasn't a

Pretty Girl.

She looked like

the People of the Streets.

Perhaps that's why

an executive above her

felt she was

easy prey.

Sharon was skinny

and wiry

and For Real.

On her own

she launched the 

Kau Kau Wagon

[ Link ]

to feed the people 

of Honolulu's streets,

and ran it for years

with donations,

volunteers.

Every week

Sharon and her tiny army

fed hundreds of people.

In her 'spare time'

Sharon trained

her 3 Great Danes,

Mokka, Polo & Rambo,

and got them certified

as Therapy Dogs.

The four of them

were familiar faces

at nursing homes,

and hospitals

around our island.

The dogs have

 US Army ID Cards

[with their pictures]

as they worked often

at Tripler Army Medical Ctr.

Sharon and I talked

a few times,

but we were sisters,

sisters of the 

Street

and Her People.

Mokka, Polo & Rambo

stood on my feet

more than once.

Very Sweet, Gentle,

 Intelligent Dogs!

This week,

Sharon died 

of cancer

at age 52.

Her canine companions

will go to live on a ranch

on the Big Island

as she had hoped.

Now that she is safely

dead,

this Streety Gal

[who made the 

'Straight People'

uncomfortable

even as they

donated

to her good acts]

is honored.

Some deaths sting.

This one does me.

For whom the bell tolls?

It is most often

 our own mortality

that we mourn.

 "My mom always told me

 if you believe in something, fight for it," 

said Nicole Black, Sharon Black's daughter 

who is an U.S. Army specialist stationed in Fort Riley, Kansas. 

"She was always worried about how people felt. 

 She wanted people to feel good 

about themselves 

and not have to go hungry. "
from a news story HERE

Thanks for reading this,

and for honoring my friend

with your attention.

'Take away Peace - Leave a Comment'

Warmly, cloudia

Hawaii Skies of Spring

A  L  O  H  A !

 

" Spring

 is when life's alive 

in everything. "

Christina Rossetti 

'Take away Peace - Leave a Comment '

Warmly, cloudia 

 

Gracious Meetings

A  L  O  H  A !

" And Spring arose

 on the garden fair,
Like the Spirit of Love

 felt everywhere - "

Percy Bysshe Shelley

When strangers are gracious enough

to grant us permission

to photograph them

do it quickly,

take One Shot,

Say 'Thank You'

move on!

 " A light exists in spring
Not present on the year
At any other period."

 Emily Dickinson

  ><}}(°>

'Take away Peace - Leave a Comment '

                           Warmly, cloudia

Arisen

A L O H A !

"Learn to get in touch

 with the silence 

within yourself,
and know that

 everything in life

 has purpose.
 There are no mistakes,

 no coincidences,
 all events 

are blessings

 given to us 

to learn from "
 

 Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

" Sweet 

is the memory 

of past troubles. "

 
Marcus Tullius Cicero

" Everybody is a genius. 

 But if you judge a fish
 by it's ability to climb a tree, 

it will live it's whole life
believing it is stupid. "

Einstein

" The average man 

is more interested

 in a woman 

who is interested in him

 than he is in a woman 

with beautiful legs.  "

Marlene Dietrich 

  ><}}(°>

Thank YOU

for looking in...

' Take away Peace - Leave a Comment '

Warmly, cloudia

Flowers

A  L  O  H  A !

“Find the seed

 at the bottom of your heart 

and bring forth a flower.”

Shigenori Kameoka

 

“To see a world

 in a grain of sand 

and heaven in a wild flower 

 Hold infinity

 in the palms of your hand

 and eternity

 in an hour.”

Auguries of Innocence