Liberated Hero

Aloha!

Welcome Back To Waikiki

"He that would make his own liberty secure,

 must guard even his enemy. . ."

  Thomas Paine

"There are moments

 when the will of a handful of free men

 breaks through. . . opens up new roads."

  Charles de Gaulle

"My definition of a free society

 is a society where it is safe

 to be unpopular."

  Adlai Stevenson,

 Detroit 1952

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We've visited my favorite hangout before:

 Hula's Bar & Lei Stand

 in the boutique Waikiki Grand Hotel

steps from the Honolulu Zoo, the beach,

 and Kapiolani Park.

What a view of Diamond Head!

Today I was passing some pleasant time at the bar

with a few of the other regulars.

As always, there were new faces too;

faces who might hail

 from anywhere in the world;

Waikiki's like that.

One new friend told me that he was happy

to have finally found an apartment.

"Here in the Grand?" I asked.

When he answered affirmatively, I asked him

about his line of work.

"I'm in the Navy."

I thought about that for a minute.

Gay or not,

 this guy feels safe living in a building

that flies the rainbow flag

 from a famous Gay bar

on the second floor.

And he feels safe drinking coffee

in here at 11am on a Friday.

"Isn't it great that you are free to live in this building

now that DADT was repealed?"

Silently he lifted his shirt sleeve

revealing a fresh tattoo,

less than a month old.

It read:

12/22/10

The date of repeal.

 Liberation day for this fellow

(and how many others)

who's chosen to serve his country

as a nuclear engineer, lately assigned

to shore duty at Pearl Harbor.

I feel better that he can now concentrate on his important work

and not on concealment.

Fair is fair,

That's what America is supposed to be about

and what makes me happiest of all.

Challenging times? Yes.

But good things are afoot too.

Dare to celebrate.

And don't give up the struggle

for simple humanity.

A TATTOO! Imagine what it means to him.

           What do YOU think? cloudia

Daily Dose

of Sunlight

Aloha, Friend

Come share these skies-

"Just to be is a blessing. 

Just to live is holy."

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel

"Lethargics are to be laid in the light,

 and exposed to the rays of the sun

 for the disease is gloom."

Aretaeus

A Smile

"What’s in a smile? 

A smile is a silent hello. 

It reassures for a short while, 

and in an instant the world’s set aglow." 

Norma Martiri 

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Diamond Head is emerald green.

Raveled clouds,

exultant putti,

sing in serried ranks of color

over the faces of water

hover

too much treasure ever to

 discover;

So delight's enough

(it's got to be)

walking 'neith those magic skies. . .

. . . with these eyes. . . 

          What's giving you magic-pause today? cloudia

Single Digits

Aloha!

Happy to See YOU :)

"The only completely consistent people

are dead."

Aldous Huxley

"The best remedy for a short temper

 is a long walk."

  Jacqueline Schiff

"Until one has loved an animal,

a part of one's soul

remains unawakened."

Anatole France

"Your life is something opaque, not transparent,

 as long as you look at it in an ordinary human way. 

 But if you hold it up against the light of God's goodness,

 it shines and turns transparent, radiant and bright. 

 And then you ask yourself in amazement:

  Is this really my own life I see before me?"

  Albert Schweitzer

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Well, the Chief Executive has finally gone back to work; and so has President Obama.

My (blog invisible) husband surprised me with an extra day of his company on Tuesday

and so today is really and truly the first chance I've had this year to sit quietly alone

and begin anew. . . 

. . . Every culture has a time when routines are up-ended.  We humans seem to need periodic

disruption as much as we do the routines and habits that make a life out of chaos.

The world is made fresh somehow in these single digit days of baby New Year.

Finally the visitors (and husbands!) have been put out on the curb

with the Christmas tree.

All the saving little routines, re-sets, and re-calibrations of our individual lives

come back out of hiding

like timid woodland creatures.

I miss the Presidential family being around,

hearing where they ate

or swam.

And yes, I miss Husby too.

This year I pledge to myself

to stop interpreting everything

and to begin EXPERIENCING,

begin simply Living it.

Sorry for this bumpy ride. . .

I'm out of bloggy practice!

But THIS routine,

quietly sitting with you

sharing our lives-

Here's to US!

You & Me!

Together we share our flimsiest fantasies

and our deepest truths. . .

Strangers, sisters,

brothers,

dear hearts. . . 

Missed Ya!

As the world tries on a new year,

still in the short pants

of single digits,

learning to walk,

to sing-

Something wonderful is happening to us all.

Do You Feel it?

Birth pangs are messy

but what bright day

             is dawning? 

How goes it with YOU?

Tell us in comments :)

                                           fondly, cloudia

Waikiki Song

Aloha Welcome

                            to a New Year!

"I have a short memory for painful things."

Martha Stewart

 

"I've failed over and over and over again in my life

and that is why I succeed."

Basketball Legend, Micheal Jordan

 

"A SMILE...
It never increases in cost. Nor decreases in value.

Invest in one today."

-KrippledWarrior

wishing YOU Aloha, cloudia

Wishing You

ALOHA, Friend!

"Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true."

Alfred, Lord Tennyson, 1850

 

Hope you are in a good place

"The object of a New Year
is not that we should have

a new year.

It is that we should have
a new soul."

                                          G. K. Chesterton

"While angels sing with tender mirth,
A glad new year to all the earth."

Martin Luther

"Never tell your resolution beforehand,

or it's twice as onerous a duty."

John Selden

From all of us here on the isles of Hawaii. . .

We wish you the best in the coming year!

The important thing about blogging is not posting.

What really is important

is visiting all of your friends

and sharing their lives.

While I've been "fasting" from the keyboard & screen

you have been much in my mind.

Thank you for your posts, your words, photos, 

and generous comments here.

Here's to a new year! 

Here's to you!  Here's to all the Best!  

  Cheers!  Warmly,  cloudia

"Be always at war with your vices,

at peace with your neighbors,

and let each new year find you a better man." Benjamin Franklin

Limbo

A L O H A!

"Nurture your mind

with Great Thoughts."

Disraeli

Malia Obama and her Dad get Shave Ice.

Imagine how that little kid feels to be so warmly embraced

by the First Daughter! It is spontaneous moments that show our

true nature.

 Photos of Obamas, Courtesy of SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images 

@ Huffington Post

The Famous Smile,





We ALL eat our Shave Ice one slurp at a time :)





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><}}(°>                                                     <°)}}><   The time between Christmas & New Years is a sort of Limbo, neither 'here' nor 'there'
not quite this year - but not yet next year either.

I got lost in limbo.

That's my story (excuse) and I'm sticking to it!

  SORRY to be "un-posted" for so many days without explanation or excuse.

  We have not sunk,

though we are submerged in the mind-scatter that accompanies this 'special' time of year

and Vog for too many hazy, 'Kona' days.

Add in the rainy rain

and the husband home from work for an extra day. . .

What was I saying?

Sorry too for the Pineapple Express of moist, rain-to-snow weather we sent your way on the Continent :(

Tonight there will be a professional American football game played on a Tuesday night for the first time since 1942.

I suggest that you stare at that, or some equivalent mindless amusement (sorry football fans. Not really.)

I'm sure glad that you chose to look in on THIS

mindless amusement!

Just think of all the stranded travelers

who long to sit

hand in pants

relaxing at home!

Thanks for your dear visit!

How/What have YOU been up to?

Please tell me in your comment-

Now here's a little song to make it up to you. . .

 cloudia

Thank You Mr. President

ALOHA to Our Visitors;

To The Obama Family & to YOU :)

"Your idol is shattered in the dust

 to prove that God's dust

 is greater than your idol."

Rabindranath Tagore

"Strange violin, are you following me? 

In how many far cities

 has your solitary night

 spoken already to mine?"

  Rilke

"Turn your face to the sun 

and the shadows fall behind you. "

 Maori Proverb

Did you know that here in the US: middle class taxes are down, the economy is improving, and the bailouts of Wall Street, AIG, and General Motors, are on track to turn a profit potentially in the billions for us taxpayers?


President Obama and the Democrats have accomplished much of value in the face unrelenting partisanship.




According to BLOOMBERG:   
No Congress Since 1960s Has Impact on Public as 111th

• For the first time since President Theodore Roosevelt began the quest for a national health-care system more than 100 years ago, the Democrat-led House and Senate took the biggest step toward achieving that goal by giving 32 million Americans access to insurance.

• Congress rewrote the rules for Wall Street in the most comprehensive way since the Great Depression.

• It spent more than $1.67 trillion to revive an economy on the verge of a depression, including tax cuts for most Americans, jobs for more than 3 million, construction of roads and bridges and investment in alternative energy;
• 
  
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• ended an almost two-decade ban against openly gay men and women serving in the military,

• ratified a nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia.

• approved legislation to help rescuers and clean-up crews suffering from illnesses linked to the wreckage caused by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York City.

• The S&P 500 Index has gained 38.9 percent since Congress convened in January 2009, thebiggest increase for a two-year congressional session since 1997-1998, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

•  in Ohio, for instance, the legislation created 122,000 jobs for teachers, police officers and construction workers.

“This is probably the most productive session of Congress since at least the ‘60s,”  “It’s all the more impressive given how polarized the Congress has been.”

 Alan Brinkley, 

 Historian, Columbia University.




Welcome home to Honolulu, Mr. President.
Here you are loved.




          And thank YOU for visiting :) cloudia