Thursday, January 2, 2014

New Year, New Laws

 A L O H A ! 
Father/Son Color & Clogs

 "I will honor Christmas
 in my heart, 
and try to keep it 
all the year."

Charles Dickens








The REST of the Picture (and family)
Click to see those New Year Day SMILES


 "Kindness,
 I've discovered,
 is everything
 in life. "

Isaac Bashevis Singer 










Married by me, Jan 1st 2014

"By the power vested in me
by the State of Hawaii
just last month,
I now pronounce you
spouses and wives
before these your friends
Legally
To your military command,
ALL of it
EVERYTHING!

(One is in the military,
the other is now a 
military spouse)



  =^..^=        



As of Jan 1 2014

  Illinois police
cannot fly drones
without a warrant;
also becoming the 
13th state to prohibit 
handheld cellphones 
while driving.

Legal marijuana
is now for sale 
in Colorado.

Transgender children
may use the 
school bathroom
and play sports
in California.

Friendly, Humane
Francis is Pope
in Rome.

Connecticut has
tighter gun control,
and raises the 
minimum wage to $8.70 an hour,
New Jersey to $8.25
New York and Rhode Island to $8. 
Nine states automatically raise
their minimum wage because they 
index it to inflation. 


And I performed 
a wedding.

What is NEW
for YOU
this year?

                             Warmly, cloudia










                                   

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Ducklings of Nostalgia

 DUCKLINGS!

" When Donald Duck
 traded his wings
 for arms, 
was he trading up
 or trading down? "

Douglas Coupland 













Here They Come



" Being born
 in a duck yard
 does not matter, 
if only you are
 hatched 
from a swan's egg. "

Hans Christian Andersen 














One Duckling - 


" A fellow with 
the inventiveness of
 Albert Einstein 
but with the attention span 
of Daffy Duck. "

Tom Shales 













Two Ducklings!

















The Fearless Five
( I thought that the moment I saw them )



















Bye Bye

" Four ducks on a pond,
 A grass-bank beyond, 
A blue sky of spring, 
White clouds on the wing; 
What a little thing 
To remember for years 
To remember with tears! "

William Allingham


=^..^=

Chestnuts roasting
on an open fire?

The smell of 
chalk
in a classroom?

What fills
YOU
with nostalgia?


' Take Peace & Smiles - Leave Your Comment '
Thanks for visiting!
                                  Warmly, cloudia


Monday, December 30, 2013

Recovery Rubric - PukaLani

A   L  O   H  A  !
Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor, Waikiki

  "Better by far 
you should forget 
and smile 
than you should 
remember and be sad."

Christina Rossetti 










Land of Orange

" Only by living absurdly 
is it possible to 
break out of 
this infinite absurdity. "

Julio Cortazar 









Leaf Light / Stone Dark

"Historical evidence suggests 
that anxiety can be allied to 
artistic and creative genius. 
The literary gifts of Emily Dickinson, 
for example, were inextricably bound up
 with her reclusiveness, which some say 
was a product of anxiety. 
(She was completely housebound after age 40.) 
Franz Kafka yoked his neurotic sensibility 
to his artistic sensibility; 
Woody Allen has done the same. ”

Scott Stossel,
editor of The Atlantic


=^..^=
Cats are excellent
confidantes and
soul healers.


                              > <  }  }  ( ° >


P U K A L A N I

The sky cleared blue
As I found the clearing.
Drought functionally over,
Stream bed pranced
Delighting clear waters.

The covering over
Bottomless Well of Sorrows
Had thinned precipitously
For weeks.

Whew! I had forgotten
That foetid smell,
Seductive miasmas of
Despair.

Sooner or later it
Always closes back up.
The Smell dissipates
(Hallelujah)

Eventually the site is forgotten
Best forgotten
But for this one shit-crusted gem
That I sacrificed ages ago.

I had forgotten all about
This piece of myself;
Look! It still fits!
Bringing wholeness and insight.

So even the Bottomless Well of Sorrows
Carries gifts of sorts.
Glad the Holidays are completing
Springtime lambs of my heart are bleating.

Spoiled and chastened I go on,
Bump Bump
On these funny stairs.
                                                cloudia
Note: In Hawaiian
 'Puka' is a hole
'Lani' means heaven.
There is a place in Maui
called Pukalani because
the geography causes 
a sunny spot there
despite surrounding clouds.

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Thanks for visiting!



Sunday, December 29, 2013

Obama's Hawaii: Ko`olau Mountains to Kawai Nui Marsh

A   L   O   H   A  !

 Nu`uanu Street
 in Downtown Honolulu
Rises into the
Becoming the Pali Highway.









Near Queen Emma's Summer Palace

" Every truth 
has two sides; 
it is as well to 
look at both, 
before we 
commit ourselves 
to either. "

Aesop 











 Kailua Town, Windward O`ahu 
I wish you could hear
the birds, waterfowl,
gently lapping waters,
and the breezes.











Yes, the Obama family
 is vacationing in Kailua.
If you paddle down this marsh
toward the beach,
you will meet Navy seals
before you get to see the Coast Guard cutter
and the other armed vessels lurking 
out of sight near the First Family's
 beach-front resting place.

The Obamas RENT the property.
There is no family compound.

Barack grew up in rental and
UH faculty housing.

During High School years,
 he lived in a modest apartment
(walking distance from here)
with his grandmother "Toot"
and WWII vet grandfather,
 Stanley.
Stanley Dunham is buried
National Memorial Cemetery
of the Pacifc (Military)
(Below)
Punchbowl, Above Honolulu








Resting Place of Heroes

“ The most powerful
 weapon on earth 
is the human soul 
on fire. ”

Ferdinand Foch



=^..^=
' Take Peace & Smiles - Leave Your Comment '
Thanks for visiting!
                        Warmly, cloudia