Opposite Day!

ALOHA means 'Goodbye'

As Well as 'Hello'

 

"Solitary trees,

if they grow at all, 

grow strong."

Winston Churchill

"I can see you are flawed.

You have not hidden it.
 That is your greatest gift to me."

Alice Walker

"Self development

is a higher duty

than self sacrifice."

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

"They say,

we're too old to play hide and seek...

but, if I were given a chance, 

I'd give anything just to hear someone say, 

'I found you!' "

 iiAngelie

><}}(°>

            
                 ><}}(°>

 

 

 

Our brains are marvelous.

Just like athletes know of the body,

the brain get's used to doing things a certain way

and conserves energy by doing it just that way.

Therefore, we can stimulate our brain

by doing things differently;

Brush your teeth with the "wrong" hand

and your brain will wake up and forge

new connections.

I work on a laptop

and my right elbo is complaining

about the repetitive use I must make

of the touch-pad & scroll buttons (up! & down!).

Well I've gone and gotten myself

a wireless mouse!

Now I'm clicking with the left hand,

plus I have a cool 'scrolling wheel.'

Living completely within our comfort zone

only comforts our way to decline.

Do simple things in a different way.

Stand on one foot.

Drive someplace a different way.

You can thank me later!

                     What do you say?  warmly, cloudia

 

What is a "GO Bag?"

Aloha, Dear Friend!

A Rabbit

“The other day when I was walking through the woods,

I saw a rabbit standing in front of a candle

making shadows of people on a tree.”

 

 Stephen Wright

There he goes! (Nice tail)

"Humor can get in

under the door

while seriousness

is still fumbling at the handle."

G.K. Chesterton

Did you see that?

"Diseases of the soul are more numerous 

and dangerous

than those of the body."

Cicero

Just another day. . . in Waikiki.  (Glad Y O U stopped by :-)

"Perfect order

is the forerunner

of perfect horror."

Carlos Fuentes

<(=)>

Three times this year,

a tsunami warning,

my boat taking on water at 3:30 am,

and a TSUNAMI WARNING (!)

We have had to decide what's important.

What do you grab?

Valuables, monetary & sentimental.

Pets. Medications. Papers.

In the case of the tsunami,

you want to take food and simple

"neccessities" that may be in short supply

for some time, if the 'big one' hits.

After what happened in Japan. . .

(and believe me, Hawaii people

are close to the Japanese.

Every day here there is a fundraiser,

or another story

heartrending in it's pain

of what our friends and family

are enduring there.

Hawaii people have contributed

upwards of 3 million USDollars!

And many of us are over there helping.)

. . .So after a disaster like that,

or the flooding in the continental US,

one is grateful for dear normalcy

even if this is the normalcy:

  "normal."

What is your security blanket?

Your MUST HAVE?

Do you have a "Go Bag" with simple necessities

ready to grab and go?

Believe me, it's better to think before an emergency hits.

Personally, much less is now "necessary."

What do I actually need to be happy?

Our blogs are preserved "on the cloud"

Personal information and pictures

can all be stored there too,

courtesy of Google, Mozy and others.

I'm realizing that, beyond simple health, 

food, shelter, loved ones,

there is little  that is irreplaceable;

After all,

we shall lose "everything" eventually anyway.

You can't take it with you, right?

For me, this means that more of my security

comes from within,

from skills, and from hard won self-confidence too.

My "locus of control" has moved more inside myself

than outside.  That's a good feeling.

My husband marvels that I can give a REIKI treatment

with no equipment, just my hands.

I can provide comfort, pain relief and connection.

As long as I have a heart to think of those around me

I will not sink into despair.

Together we as a whole world are re-evaluating:

"What is necessary? What is truly desirable?"

I think we are finding exciting new answers

to those questions;

Answers that are actually quite old.

"Love one another." "Do unto others."

"True wealth is not material." 

I'm actually quite hopeful, this Arab Spring.

A million minds changed, 

and a thousand-year Berlin Wall fell.

What walls of separation will fall next? 

What is the world changing it's mind about?

Y O U

blogger, and blog reader,

are part of it!

                             Please leave us a comment!               cloudia

High Wire

A l o h a !

 Welcome to Waikiki

 Emerging DRAGON!

Sometimes it feels like one's life - 

heck, the WHOLE world-

is doing a HIGH Wire act! 

Can you see the tightrope? ENLARGE!

 "A well-developed sense of humor

is the pole

that adds balance to your steps

as you walk the tightrope of life. "

William Arthur Ward

"Life is always a tightrope

or a feather bed.

Give me the tightrope. "

Edith Wharton

"Skill is successfully walking a tightrope

between the twin towers

of New York's World Trade Center.

Intelligence is not trying. "

Marilyn vos Savant

<()> 

Wandering around,

with my camera

and some paper 

to write on

connects me to others,

to real life outside of my head;

To sanity. 

What are the things

that help Y O U

to maintain your

Balance

&

Poise?

          Please tell us in 'comments' cloudia

Riding the Mist

Aloha My Friends!

"First a howling blizzard woke us,
Then the rain came down to soak us,
And now before the eye can focus -
Crocus."

Lilja Rogers

"Now every field is clothed with grass,

and every tree with leaves;

now the woods put forth their blossoms,

and the year assumes its gay attire."

Virgil

"It's spring fever. 

That is what the name of it is.

And when you've got it, you want

- oh, you don't quite know what it is you do want,

but it just fairly makes your heart ache, 

you want it so!"

Mark Twain

"In springtime, love is carried on the breeze.

Watch out for flying passion

or kisses whizzing by your head."

Terri Guillemets

<()>

Spring has come to Hawaii.

"What," you say,

"There are seasons in the islands?"

Oh Yes! 

Trees & plants in flower everywhere,

even more than usual.

Monday night was unusual

with thousands of lightning strikes

(no injuries or damage- just a great show).

"From what we could calculate

there were over 15,000 lightning strikes 

in a five hour time frame from 5-10 p.m. (Monday) statewide," 

said Meteorologist Tom Birchard, with the National Weather Service.

As if that wasn't interesting enough, two equally rare waterspouts

formed during the show

just off Honolulu

and danced a duet!

"We were watching it

and all of a sudden the tubes came down.

They started to form waterspouts

and then the waterspouts twisted back and forth,"

said California visitor Thayton Towner.

"It was gnarly. All I saw were two tornadoes

and all of a sudden -- they combined into one.

It felt hard core out there," said Honolulu surfer J.D. Walker. 

"We saw a smaller one form then a bigger one.

Then they started to converge and they crossed each other.

It was pretty crazy." Moiliili surfer Timo Tidwell told KITV News

"No, we stayed out there. We wanted to see what would happen.

Then the rain started to get super heavy and we couldn't see the waves -

- so we just came in," said Tidwell.

In just a matter of minutes the waterspouts weakened and disappeared

as the lightning storm raged on.

That WAS unusual weather!  

Yesterday teased with sun, then ambushed with rain-

But today I was able to get on my scooter

and ride through the breezes,

& sunny skies, 

while dramatic traveler clouds

punctuated the BLUE

with their steamy white and silvered pewter.

So much is going on in our world; 

so much to talk about.

Perhaps TOO much!

Ah, I just wanna ride on my scooter. . . .and eat good ice cream!  

Just fired up the computer

to say ALOHA to all my pals out there-

Now to go a visiting, to see how the season 

is treating all of YOU!  

Do You have Spring fever? Tell us about it!  cloudia

 

Thanks for the Problems

Aloha, Friend!

"You must give birth to your images.
They are the future waiting to be born ...
Fear not the strangeness you feel.
The future must enter you long before it happens ...
Just wait for the birth ... for the hour of clarity."
 

Rainer Maria Rilke

"A mountain is composed of tiny grains of earth.

The ocean is made up of tiny drops of water.

Even so, life is but an endless series of little details, actions, speeches, and thoughts." 

 
Sivananda

"A Jacaranda tree stands tall, and sways as if to say,

Look! At this magnificence, I’m wearing blue today.

forgive the way I shout aloud, my lack of modesty,

but nowhere in this troubled world is finery like me."

Ann Beard

 

<°)}}><                         ><}}(°>

 

 

Thank you, God

For the problems

of a healthy,

active,

person. . .

Merrie Monarch Time!

A l o h a !

Courtesy: Dennis Oda

Fans of Hula ALL over the world are OVERJOYED!

  It is Merrie Monarch Hula Festival time

again in Hilo Hawaii.

Halau from all over Hawaii, the US AND Japan

are here in the paramount competition & display

of the cultural treasure.

The couple in the photo at top
thrilled us all on opening night:

"Outgoing Miss Aloha Hula leaves the stage engaged

by Nina Wu, Honolulu Star-Advertiser

HILO » It was a beautiful aloha performance

by Miss Aloha Hula 2010 Mahea­lani Mika Hirao-Solem.

Dressed in a shimmery gold dress, she was up on the Merrie Monarch stage dancing her farewell hula to a medley of songs, ending with a rendition of Sting's "Fields of Gold."

Little did she know that when she took her final bow as Miss Aloha Hula, her boyfriend and kumu hula Kau‘ionalani Kamana‘o would walk on stage, drop to one knee and propose marriage to her.

Spectators cheered and shrieked as Kama­na‘o presented a diamond ring, and watched her emotional reaction. Her answer was yes.

"I was super surprised," Hirao-Solem said afterward. "I was just focused on doing my dance."

Hirao-Solem and Kama­na‘o have been together for five years, she said. He is kumu hula of her halau, Hula Halau ‘o Kamu­ela of Kalihi and Wai­ma­nalo, along with Kunewa Mook.

Hirao-Solem, whom friends and family call "Mika," also offered a lei to her first kumu hula, Mapuana de Silva, during her performance last night.

Last year she took the Miss Aloha Hula title the first time she competed in it. The year went by quickly."

Happy SPRING Weekend to YOU!  cloudia