Exactually!

A L O H A

WEB TRAVELER

W E L C O M E !

click on photos to participate fully

Moiliili, Honolulu

"It was labor that helped build the largest middle class in history.

So, even if you're not a union member, every American owes

something to America's labor movement."

President Barack Obama

Is that Jerry Dromedary

of Dorothy Hamill-Camel?

"I believe there surely is such a thing as truth,

but who among us can claim a monopoly on it?"

Edward "Ted" Kennedy

1983

Too Cute Pooches

"Censorship is the height of vanity."

Martha Graham

Times are tough.

Scary winds of change are howling at gale force.

Old certainties are daily revealed to be less than. . . certain.

People are showing their true colors.

Some are not handling it well;

They are aiming their anger at

targets of questionable appropriateness.

For it's easier to shout a punchy slogan

than it is to consider

the complexities

that brought us

here.

For those whose values,

whose guidance,

comes from

within

these are exciting times.

For much needs changing

in our hearts

before society can change

for the better.

So keep your powder dry.

Don't fall for the easy con of blame.

Dare to believe

that cure, or Salvation

is a relief - a release;

Not a sweaty hike.

Be cunning, relaxed

and poised as a serpent

while harmless as a dove.

And like a cork

you'll dance the turbulent waters

till brilliant Dawn

takes away all but

delight

(be it in this ocean

or the next)

Ahoy my friends

Aloha.

The most powerful thing we can do

is to love one another

and forgive each ourselves.

Thus is restored

the kingdom

of our

longings.

A L O H A! Cloudia

Boat-aversary!

A L O H A!

Welcome to Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor

at the Edge of Waikiki

click on photos to smell the surfHome Sweet Home!

"Hug the shore; let others try the deep."

Virgil

Cloudia Wine!

“I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils.”
William Wordsworth


“To behold the wandering moon,

Riding near her highest noon,

Like one that had been led astray

Through the heav'n's wide pathless way;

And oft, as if her head she bowed,

Stooping through a fleecy cloud.”
John Milton

In the Hawaiian Language, OPALA means trash. Ouch!

“Quickly, bring me a beaker of wine,

so that I may wet my mind and say something clever.”

Aristophanes

Boats and booze go together.
Or maybe I drink to forget.
Yesterday was my
Boat-aversary!

On September 8, 1992
I moved all my stuff,
even Previous Kitty,
onto this boat.

3 days later
Hurricane Iniki
took dead aim at Waikiki.

I was too tired to move,
so we rode it out
shrieking winds, lashing surf
and all.
Capricious Iniki headed for hapless Kauai instead.

I drove my taxi from this harbor,
finished college,
got my first professional job
(and left it);
I wrote a novel at this drop-down desk,
and produce
Comfort Spiral
from here on board every day.

To read how it all began:
http://comfortspiral.blogspot.com/2009/05/life-aboards.html



Some people do not have homes at all,
but I have a deck overhead.



Bonus Points:
For years I have driven past Mekaleka Street,
and Ekela Street without knowing what those names meant.
Well now I know!
Mekaleka = Margaret
Ekela = Ethel.

The familiar is always ready to serve up unseen treasures.
YOUR photos and blogs prove that to me everyday!

Well,

Your launch is here to take you back to the shore.
All ashore that's going ashore.
But please come back tomorrow,
to ride here at anchor
and sing a song together.


A L O H A! Cloudia

News to Amuse

A L O H A, FRIENDS!

click on photos to visit Hawaii instantly Reach!

“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.”

Dr. Seuss

Parsley Planet


“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

Maya Angelou

I liked her cute little outfit!

"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change."

Darwin




For the first time in over 40 years, a nation has decided to change the

side of the street that they drive on.



Today is the second day of a two-day national holiday in

S A M O A.



The island nation will now be driving on the

Left Side, British style,

like Pacific neighbors Australia and New Zealand.



Have your figured out why they are making this change?



Steering-wheel-on-da-left American cars

are expensive to ship!



Samoan officials hope that expat Samoans in Oz & N.Z.

(of which there are many)

will send used cars home to their rural relatives.

It is hoped that this change will thus give the country

an economic shot in the arm.





Experts claim that doing things in new ways,

like brushing ones teeth with the unaccustomed arm,

is good for the brain-

forging new connections and maintaining cognitive flexibility.



How might you improve

YOUR

life by seeing things in new ways,

trying on new perspectives?





Thanks for visiting today!




A L O H A! Cloudia

The Streets

A L O H A!

E Komo Mai - Come In

click on photos to expand your consciousness" God made the Idiot for practice,

and then He made the School Board."

Mark Twain

Those are Waikiki's Magical White Towers

down there in the distance.

(Diamond Head is cut off at the far left)



“Love has a hem to her garment that reaches the very dust.

It sweeps the streets and lanes, and because it can, it must.”
Mother Teresa of Calcutta

"I don't think I NEED another drink!"


“I have been waiting. I have been searching.

I am a man under the moon, walking the streets of earth until dawn.

There's got to be someone for me. It's not too much to ask.

Just someone to be with. Someone to love. Someone to give everything to. Someone.”
Henry Rollins


<>< )=( ><>

When you live the streets,
or love the streets,
it's easy to forget
that each building on the block
is more than just your back drop;
That each one is a solar system
revolving around a business,
a mission, a family -
each window is a world
and some souls never leave their room.




Open your eyes, you windows!
Let realization in as the light.
To save a life is to save a whole world;
And
each smile is a
Tiny Rescue.

A L O H A! Cloudia

Glad it's Sunday

It's ALOHA Sunday-

W E L C O M E !

click on photos because. . .

" It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live."
J. K. Rowling

"I know who I am.

No one else knows who I am.

If I was a giraffe, and someone said I was a snake, I'd think, no,

actually I'm a giraffe."

Richard Gere


“One small cat changes coming home to an empty house to coming home."
Pam Brown

“Friends will keep you sane, Love could fill your heart, A lover can warm your bed, But lonely is the soul without a mate.”
David Pratt

"A lonely boat, a single line, my heart is full of home."

Du Fu

"There is a difference between happiness and wisdom:

he that thinks himself the happiest man is really so; but he that thinks himself the wisest is generally the greatest fool."
Sir Francis Bacon

“Poetry is the journal of a sea animal living on land, wanting to fly in the air”
Carl Sandburg

The Kolea (Golden Plover)

will arrive here from Alaska soon for their Hawaiian winter.

"Do not let Sunday be taken from you.

If your soul has no Sunday, it becomes an orphan."

Albert Schweitzer


"The chief proof of mans greatness

lies in his perception of his own smallness."
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

"The only queer people are those who don't love anybody."
Rita Mae Brown

"Experience is not what happens to us,

rather it is what we do with what happens to us."
Anthony J. D'Angelo

"There are no traffic jams when you go the extra mile."
Anonymous

It's been quite a week!

I'm bushed.

But posting a photo, a quote, and a note is what I do.

So cool of you to stop by and leave your Aloha.

Your comments make me smile.

Much appreciated, you lovely people!

We'll get back to kings, cabbages, and worthy thoughts tomorrow, eh?

Today is for quiet moments of lazy laying about.

Enjoy your day!

A L O H A! Cloudia

From the Beach to the Cliff

A L O H A!

Come On In. . .

click on photos to tavel through history

Kamehameha the Great (the 'lonely one') invaded Oahu in 1795

On his deathbed, King Kamehameha the Great said:

"I have given you -- the greatest good: peace. And a kingdom which -- is all one -- a kingdom of all the islands."

Hard to believe that this peaceful coast has seen invasion

by a fleet of war canoes.


“Then on the shore

Of the wide world I stand alone, and think

Till love and fame to nothingness do sink”
John Keats

Snack Break!

"...the avocado is a food without rival among the fruits,

the veritable fruit of paradise."

David Fairchild

"I'm standing for my ancestors"

"To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born

is to remain perpetually a child. For what is the worth of a human life unless it is woven into the life of our ancestors by the records of history?"

Marcus Tullius Cicero

Their bones LIVE!

"If you could see humanity spread out in time, as God sees it, it would look like one single growing thing--rather like a very complicated tree. Every individual would appear connected with every other."

- C. S. Lewis

"Those who do not look upon themselves as a link, connecting the past with the future, do not perform their duty to the world."

Daniel Webster

<>< )=( ><>

In 1790 (20 years before his 1810 unification the Islands) Kamehameha invited Englishmen John Young and Isaac Davis to join his forces, even welcoming them to marry into his family. Both men were regarded as "Ali`i or chiefs, and are today interred at Mauna Ala, the Royal Mausoleum. (Non-natives continued to intermarry, assimilate and contribute to the multi-cultural Kingdom of Hawaii.)

Kamehameha's last great battle was fought on O'ahu in 1795 at Nu'uanu Pali. (TOP)

There his invading army defeated O'ahu's

King Kalanikupule;

ultimately driving hundreds

(perhaps even thousands) of Oahu defenders to the edge

of the famous precipice.

The Big Island and Maui invaders had the decided advantage of cannons and guns wielded by Englishmen and a specially trained cadre of Hawaiian warriors. Spears, shark tooth daggers, and other traditional stone-age weapons (some now tipped with metal) were also used in the battle, of course.

Kalanikupule's men (and few women) warriors who were not killed outright either jumped or were pushed over the edge, tumbling to their deaths on the rocky cliffs far below. The most famous remembrance of that event is the huge oil painting by artist Herb Kane shown above.

No one knows the final resting place of the

"Napolean of the Pacific."

Kamehameha's bones were entrusted to a family retainer who hid them on his Big Island of Hawaii in the old fashion.

The bones, or iwi, are held to possess great Mana, or spiritual power. They are hidden in caves so that enemies may not use the bones in rituals. A descendant of that trusted retainer guards the Royal Mausoleum to this day.

A L O H A! Cloudia

I Love Liliha

A L O H A Greetings!

Welcome to Honolulu's neighborhood of

L I L I H A

click on photos to visitThe "I" is a poi pounder, the heart is an anthurum flower.

The Hawaiians of old divided the land into pie-shaped sections called

"Ahupuaa."

These ran from the peak of the mountain, broadening out as they reached the coast.

Thus the local village people would have access to the produce of the forests, the plain, and sea.

The Liliha / Nuuanu corridor is one of my favorite such neighborhoods in our Honolulu, embracing Honolulu Harbor, Chinatown, working class commercial and residential Liliha Street itself, and the foothills of Nuuanu.

The histories of the Hawaiians, the pre-statehood Chinese, Japanese, and Americans, all live richly in this area that contains the Royal Mausoleum (sacred burial place of Hawaii's Monarchs) legendary Kunawai healing spring & pond, Kuakini (formerly "The Japanese") Hospital, which was the first such hospital supported by Japan's emperor, as well as Hawaii's oldest lychee tree.

24 hour Liliha Bakery is a beacon to the whole island, and her coco puffs pastries are the stuff of legend. Further along Kuakini Street, a well used cinder block, neighborhood, Chinese Temple is right across the street from a Japanese Buddhist Temple & School, all just a few doors down from the Pizza Hut. Did I mention the four consulates?The Area is named for this lady: Liliha, Governor of Oahu under Kamehameha.

(It was her father, Hoopili, who created the Royal Mausoleum)

When his forces landed on Oahu at Waikiki, Kamehameha fought the local warriors all the way up into this valley.

The famous Battle of the Nuuanu Pali saw the local defenders spill over the cliff (or Pali) rather than surrender. To this day, the Pali Highway carries a supernatural aura that is felt by drivers, particularly at night. Do NOT carry pork over the highway either, but that's a whole other (ghost) story ;-]

Saturday's I Love Liliha Town Festival

opened with a traditional Lion Dance

at Kawananakoa Park.

Abigail Kawananakoa is the descendant of Hawaiian royalty, and would have a clear claim to the (overthrown) crown of the Kingdom of Hawaii. http://www.keouanui.org/Desc3.html#

She has spent recent years acquiring dispersed royal possessions and gifting them to the Iolani Palace.

There was a controversy a few years back, when a national magazine photographed the lady sitting on the throne. A fine man named James Bartels, who had dedicated his life to the heroic restoration of the palace, left his job in the resulting ruckus.

Mz. Kawananakoa has used her considerable personal wealth in aid of the Hawaiian patrimony and people - especially in recent years. Most recently she purchased one of Liliuo's golden bracelets, a very early example of the Hawaiian heirloom jewelry

worn by local women to this day, me included.

Mr. Bartels has since passed, but will never be forgotten for his unique contribution to the restoration of the pride of Hawaii.

One cannot pass by the palace, let alone enter it, without feeling

the undeniable presence of so many loyal hearts!

Boy Scout Troop 201 paraded the colors as we sang:

"Hawaii Pono`i" and the "Star Spangled Banner."

Listen to Hawaii's anthem here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmvFnvZd-VY

or here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gqexDy2UHg

Yummy Shave Ice!

We love our "grinds."
That means "Kau Kau" or "food" to you. It also means to "EAT."
You like go grind aftahs?
If you are in a western US state, you may have eaten at an "L&L Hawaiian Barbecue." The first L&L in the chain was a humble "plate lunch" place right here on Liliha Street. Saimin, one of our foremost local comfort foods, was also invented here. You can read about saimin at:

http://comfortspiral.blogspot.com/2009/04/comfort-in-bowl.html

The world's greatest civic band was there too!
Established 1836 by a King, and playing a unique repertoire of Monarchy era marches, Hawaiian music, western classics, Okinawan songs and MORE!
Can you tell how much I love the Royal Hawaiian Band?
They are a WHOLE other post!

Listen to my favourite "Kalakaua March" here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKv2VY2msgQ

Leader, Mr. Nakasone (Pearl City High School's beloved former band teacher) conducting outside as usual.
They march in parades too!
Note the proprietary aloha print.

There was an exhibition of Kung Fu by the youngsters.


"I do not fear the 10,000 kicks you have practiced once, I fear the 1 kick you have practiced 10,000 times."

Shaolin saying

Our kids are special!


"Every child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged of man." Rabindranath Tagore

"You are worried about seeing him spend his early years in doing nothing. What! Is it nothing to be happy? Nothing to skip, play, and run around all day long? Never in his life will he be so busy again."

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Emile, 1762

We also love our Kupuna (seniors)

and PETS!


"A friend knows the song in my heart and sings it to me when my memory fails." Donna Roberts

Liliha Bakery:

http://lilihabakeryhawaii.com/

Jim Bartels:

http://archives.starbulletin.com/2003/04/22/news/story11.html

Iolani Palace:

http://www.iolanipalace.org/

Liliuokalani's Bracelet, A Video Report:

http://www.kitv.com/video/20679841/index.html

Mahalo for your visit today! Cloudia