Cinco de Boy-O

Aloha! Thanks for Visiting Today!

Click on photos to enlargeToday the Carp Fly over Honolulu!

“Of all the animals, the boy is the most unmanageable."
Plato

Hawaiian Skies

"Einstein was a man who could ask immensely simple questions. And what his work showed is that when the answers are simple too, then you can hear God thinking."

Jacob Bronowski

A volunteer serenades visitors to Queen's Medical Center

"It is important that students bring a certain ragamuffin, barefoot irreverence to their studies; they are not here to worship what is known, but to question it."

Jacob Bronowski

Punchbowl Crater Through a Window

(See the "flying saucer?" It is the reflection of a light fixture ;-)

"Sometimes our light goes out but is blown into flame by another human being. Each of us owes deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this light."

- Albert Schweitzer

Aloha & Welcome to May fifth, Tango-no-sekku, the Japanese Boy's Day Festival that is also celebrated here in Hawaii. The 5th day of the 5th month has been the day to celebrate boys for centuries. Tango-no-sekku means: "First Day of the Horse" because the strength, stamina, and courage of horses symbolize masculine qualities that boys should emulate.

Another animal associated with boy's day is the carp. This powerful and determined fish is also regarded as a fitting example for boys. Dr. Freud might point out that the carp itself, long, cylindrical, and bold is a fitting representation of the most fundamental badge of manhood.

Girl's Day is celebrated with the display of dolls. Boy's day, too, has it's own characteristic dolls: armored samurai warriors; nonetheless, it is the colorful carp banners (koi-nobori) one for every boy in the family, flown from bamboo poles outside the home, that are the overriding visual characteristic of the holiday. The largest carp honors the oldest son, the smallest, the youngest.

Today, in Japan, May fifth is celebrated as Children's Day. But here in Hawaii we keep many old customs that the plantation workers brought with them. They intended to maintain their ethnic identities, but the magic of Hawaii has painted most every imported custom with our own unique qualities. So let's celebrate boys, carp, AND girls, as we continue to appreciate everything that makes our island home

unique.

A L O H A! Cloudia

MTM: Lei Day

Aloha! Welcome to Honolulu!

Click on photos to enlarge The Visitors Watch the Sunset, I Watch Them.

"Rest satisfied with doing well, and leave others to talk of you as they please."
Pythagoras

Green Green Glory!

"The first duty of a revolutionary is to get away with it."
Abbie Hoffman


Let's buy a lei for a friend!


"That is what learning is. You suddenly understand something you've understood all your life, but in a new way."
Doris Lessing

May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii!

Kapiolani Park was filled with flowers for the 82nd Annual Lei Day Celebration on May 1st. Lei Queens held court, judges picked the best lei, children learned Hawaiian crafts and heard the old stories at Tutu's (Grandmother's) Hale (Hah-lay, a Polynesian house) while the Royal Hawaiian Band and other wonderful musicians filled the Spring air with the gentle sounds of Hawaiian Music. If I know our mayor, Mufi, he sang a song or two, while I was off stuffing my face with all the ono (yummy) food.

Then on Saturday morning, all the lei were presented at the final resting places of Hawaii's Kings and Queens. Lei Day is a sweet custom, one of many here in this Land of Aloha. It sure would be wonderful to see YOU enjoying yourself under tropic skies. . . when I'm out there Walking in Waikiki. . . ALOHA! -- Cloudia

You can see other My Town Monday posts here:

http://traviserwin.blogspot.com/

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Aloha! Happy Sunday!

C'mon in.

Click on photos to enlarge Lazy Lagoon Sunday

"The dead might as well try to speak to the living as the old to the young."
Willa Cather

Yo Ho Ho; Pirate Kitty!

"Be bold and mighty powers will come to your aid."
Basil King

You Like Buy One Aloha Shirt?

"Does a poet create, originate, initiate the thing called a poem, or is his behavior merely the product of his genetic and environmental histories?"
B. F. Skinner

Who wants to put down the book, turn off the media, and sit quietly?

I never do, even though the benefits of meditation in my life are indisputable.

Don't worry; I'm not selling a "brand" or a "right way."

I do know that it has been extremely valuable for me to find some way to rest and to BE in the moment. I have also found that an easy practice is more productive than a difficult one. It is a recess, not a labor camp - but that's just my experience.

Daily REIKI self-treatment has been a simple brilliant way for me to make a daily habit of stillness and peace. The resulting insight, physical improvements, and better social functioning which I have experienced have been very gentle yet profound. All in the nature of an "Aha" that makes the difficult suddenly, obviously simpler.

Yale University researchers using MRI images of volunteers' brains discovered recently that the brains of regular meditators were clearly different than those of their non-meditating peers: having thicker grey matter in the cerebral cortex.

So turn off, tune out, and drop in to the world behind your heat and eyes.

That is where you will find the treasure, and you will return to the mundane with a new appreciation and zest for life, yourself, & others.

It couldn't hurt!

Aloha, Cloudia

Flying!

Aloha! Thanks for Visiting Today!

Click on photos to enlarge Fading Glories

“To chase the glowing hours with flying feet.”
Lord Byron

Mango Mob

“One way can be learned by starting to see the magic in everything. Sometimes it seems to be hiding but it is always there. The more we can see the magic in one thing, a tiny flower, a mango, someone we love, then the more we are able to see the magic in everything and in everyone. Where does the mango stop and the sky begin?”

Joshua Kadison

Froggy on Vacation

“Is there anything more beautiful than a beautiful, beautiful flamingo, flying across in front of a beautiful sunset? And he's carrying a beautiful rose in his beak, and also he's carrying a very beautiful painting with his feet. And also, you're drunk.”

Jack Handy

Looking at the top photo above got me thinking about flying.

Running through Honolulu Airport is a street called: Aolele, "Cloud Jumping" Street. As a child I dreamt copiously of swimming among the clouds, my namesakes. Perhaps my first longing.

"I've looked at clouds from both sides now" sang Joni Mitchell. I used to take that song rather personally. Who doesn't have (at least) two sides?

Yes, we flightless bi-peds have longed to soar since forever. The gods, the bewailed ancestors, and all good things await us up there. Don't all of our pie-in-da-sky dreams promise so?

We routinely sip, and flip through magazines as we ignore the deathless dream of flight among the clouds playing out just beyond the funny, double window. But if you prefer to ponder by that un-shaded window, your cabin-mates might complain about their b-movie being "spoiled" by your transcendent reverie. "How dare you converse with eternal imponderables (you weirdo) when there's freeze-dried amusement right over here?!"

I treasure certain airplane memories; the setting sun that I chased all the way west from San Francisco, home to Honolulu; the entire flight suspended in a single golden moment of painterly glory.

The astonishing lace of lakes below proclaiming "Minnesota" truly a "Land O` Lakes." Just LOOK at it!

Baja California, cranked out between two seas. . . The infernal night industries of North Jersey, and the twinkly, inviting fairy lights of San Francisco's pleasure-land beckoning below.

The endless flight over ocean that "raised" a low cloud, a somehow change, that heralded my isles ahead. And then a peninsula and a cliff. "Molokai!" I realized, just before the captain announced it. . . Landing on the Big Island amid gray vast lava deserts of stone, and secretly enjoying the dismay of first time visitors who expected Disney Land (knowing they'd find the beauty after all). . .

The darkened airport "out lands" beyond the fields and fences, where my boyfriend and I would park and feel the planes taking off too close above - overwhelming as the emotions we explored. . .

I want to fly like Sky King and Penny, or Whirly Girl in her Sikorsky. To flutter ever higher like an effortless feather, or jump way up among my cousin clouds who wander lonely in their crowd.

I long to fly, though this earth is dear;

Though losing her beneath my feet

is a special and final fear.

A L O H A! Cloudia

Time's Bottom

Aloha - Welcome!

Click on photos to enlarge

Iolani Palace Palms

"One's destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things."
Henry Miller

Chinatown Puggy

"When a thing is funny, search it carefully for a hidden truth."
George Bernard Shaw

Baby Coconuts!

"Admiration, n.: Our polite recognition of another's resemblance to ourselves."
Ambrose Bierce

Today I would like to share one of my favourite poems with you. Here we "see to the bottom of time." Thank you for your visit. You are much appreciated!

To Say Before Going to Sleep

by Rilke

I would like to sing someone to sleep,
have someone to sit by and be with.
I would like to cradle you and softly sing,
be your companion while you sleep or wake.
I would like to be the only person
in the house who knew: the night outside was cold.
And would like to listen to you
and outside to the world and to the woods.
The clocks are striking, calling to eachother,
and one can see right to the bottom of time.
Outside the house a strange man is afoot
and a strange dog barks, wakened from his sleep.
Beyond that there is silence.
My eyes rest upon your face wide-open;
and they hold you gently, letting you go
when something in the dark begins to move.

Translated by Albert Ernest Flemming, except where he uses: "edge" of time, while I prefer other translators' use of the word "bottom."

A L O H A! Cloudia

Feathered Friends

Aloha! Welcome!

Click on photos to enlarge"Life is like getting dropped off in the middle of the woods, and then year by year, gradually walking home."
April Foiles


"We are rich only through what we give, and poor only through what we refuse."
Anne-Sophie Swetchine

"Every moment is a golden one for him who has the vision to recognize it as such." Henry Miller

"While we have the gift of life, it seems to me that only tragedy is to allow part of us to die - whether it is our spirit, our creativity, or our glorious uniqueness."
Gilda Radner

Today I will tell you an old legend of Waikiki: The War with the Owls.

A proud young Ali`i was walking one day near Waikiki and disturbed a nest of baby owls. The mother claimed her rights and demanded that the impetuous young chief apologize, but he refused and even insulted the mother owl. These were the days when humans were still a part of nature, and guardians of the `aina, the sacred land of Hawaii - especially the Ali`i!

This mother owl was righteous in her
indignation and took her offended righteousness to the
King of the Owls. "Hear me!" she implored. "Humans no longer respect us as cousins. We must act before they all become like this impudent young fool, chief or not!" The Owl king listened to her plea with the gravity of a high chief - then he spoke his decision: "Hear Me our
people! The time has come when our treaty of peace
with the humans has been abrogated. WAR!"

All the owls (and, some say,other birds nursing grievances against disrespectful humans) took to the air. From every part of the island of O`ahu, and perhaps Maui and
Molokai as well, vast clouds of angry birds circled higher and higher over Manoa. They darkened the tropic skies and filled the space under heaven with the voices of angry, righteous multitudes. It didn't take long for them to get to Waikiki, home of the foolish young chief. The carnage was ugly, frightening, and - um-messy.

"Why is this happening?" asked the chief of Waikiki,
father of a certain young fool. An unsettled young chief had to humble himself before his father and his people (and in front of Lani who he loved). His humiliation was eloquent, his bold stupidity was being repaid and everyone in his life knew it. finally his father's Kahuna
chanted apology and respect to the feathered cousins,
inviting them to a great feast at the ancient heiau (temple) on the slopes of Diamond Head. Peace was reestablished and has held to this day. You haven't been mugged by an owl, have you?

So the treaty holds!

A L O H A! Cloudia

My 30 Years Younger Twin

Aloha - Welcome - Come Inside ;-)

Click on Photos to Enlarge! "I always bear in mind that my mission is to leave behind me the kind of impression that will make it easier for those who follow."

Marian Anderson



"I demand a life, not a lifestyle, for everyone!"

Cloudia *Blush*



Da Yellow Hibiscus of Honolulu

"Man (sic) is what he thinks about all day long."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

I remember the cold water flat. All mine. At end of day, I could repair to my stacks of books, terrarium and experiments in living.

This was many years before "The Secret" but I was lucky enough to stumble across Dr. Joseph Murphy's gem The Power of Your Subconscious Mind (Prentice-Hall, (c) 1963). I'm happy to see that he's back in print.

I was intrigued by his idea that what we plant in our subconscious, blossoms in our lives every day.

Last night, lying in my bunk as the spouting waters of Waikiki rocked me to sleep, my mind ran back to those old days of radiators, frozen toes, and untamed anxieties.

How, turning off the lamp, all those years ago; lying Dr. Murphy's book aside, I settled back and wondered about the power of

my subconscious.

As I tried to say affirmations back then

(purely as an experiment

in the privacy of the dark)

I found I could not simply state:

"I am beautiful. I am loved and liked. I have enough of what I need."

Even the experiment felt fraudulent.

A huge resistance welled up within

accusing:

"You are beautiful?!" "You are liked?!" You are happy with your life?!"

That was my first lesson

in the power overwhelming of

my

subconscious

!

Slowly I saw (don't look away!)

the fearful

self-hating

creature

I

was

back then

.

Last night I remembered

how I used to close my eyes

in that cold water flat in February,

and how assiduously I imagined

Hawaii and myself

there/then

here/now

.

I felt myself,

really felt it then

true in my subconscious:

lying in Waikiki

rocking to sleep

in the arms of the life I have made.

In that moment last night

I was both:

the adolescent in the walk-up,

cooking up another existence,

and now I'm the lady

living it.

We smiled across the gulf.

You GO girl

!

A L O H A! Cloudia

About Marian Anderson:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marian_Anderson

Joseph Murphy:

http://www.amazon.com/Power-Your-Subconscious-Mind/dp/0553583182