Would YOU Rather-

A L O H A !

"It takes a long time to grow young!"

Pablo Picasso

Would you rather see this sign. . .

. . . Or THIS one?

EITHER one is better

than a steel plate IN your head!

Balancing Act

ALOHA-

                   Thanks for Visiting Virtual Waikiki :)

 

"The golden moments

in the stream of life

rush past us,
 and we see nothing but sand;
the angels come to visit us,
 and we only know them

when they are gone."

George Eliot

" Surroundings inspiring to live in. "

"Real wealth consists

of things of utility and beauty,
in things

that help to create strong,

beautiful bodies
and surroundings 

inspiring to live in."

Emma Goldman

"Pleasure is spread through the earth
In stray gifts to be claimed

by whoever shall find."

-William Wordsworth, 1806

see more of these guys HERE

"Every human being

has hundreds of separate people

living under his skin.

The talent of a writer is his ability

to give them their separate names,

identities, personalities. . ."

Mel Brooks

<<(=)>> 

Any martial-arts master 

will tell you

that

BALANCE

is the root of

PERSONAL POWER.

We all get tugged

into the future,

and into our past,

That does not help us

to become masters of the

NOW,

dealing with what

arises,

as it enters OUR 

home court advantage.

Lean too far forward

or back

and you cannot catch the ball,

pivot,

and score

in one fluid motion.

Make it come to

you.

Whatever "it" is today.

Bonus is

that foresight becomes

instant, insightful & effective;

 completely different

than debilitating worry

or regret.

Saint Oprah said:

"Doing the best at this moment

puts you in the best place

for the next moment."

And our wisest US President

Lincoln reminds us that:

"The best thing about the future

is that it comes only

one day at a time."

Don't just DO something!

Be poised, relaxed.

Just tell them that you're not lazy,

you're READY!

What do you say to that?

Tell us in 'comments'

          warmly, cloudia

 

Summer More Than Ever

A  L  O  H  A !

"Gray skies

are just clouds passing over." 

 
Duke Ellington

"The silence often of pure innocence

Persuades when speaking fails. " 

 

 William Shakespeare 

"Be thine own palace, 

or the world's thy jail."

John Donne

"One is never alone. 

Acknowledged or unacknowledged,

that which dreams through us

is always there

to support from within."

Laurence van der Post

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I hope you find this page 

a reliable place

to land

 to enjoy 

and to

to celebrate

 YOUR life.

Together we 
share

the things

that really matter.

Summer really matters.

So take some time to dance with her.

After you leave us your comment, of  course :)

                                                                                   fondly, cloudia

Blessing Animals

Aloha & Welcome Back to Hawaii

 It is time again for the ancient Japanese ritual,

Chinowa, 

in which people pass through a ring

of chigaya grass

to receive a blessing of good health. 

Dating from Nara period (710-749 CE)

the blessing initiates a process of renewal & revitalization, invoking increased flow

of Universal Life Energy,

strengthening us for the second half of the year

(New Year is the prime time for blessings!)

 A Shinto Shrine grew in old Honolulu,

outside the city herself:

 Hawaii Kotohira Jinsha-Hawaii Dazaifu Tenmangu.

 In time, a modern city grew up around her.

A major highway passes very near.

As with everything else here in Hawaii,

we have put our own spin on Chinowa.

Here, it is an occasion to bless our 

companion animals,

and lucky Ti leaves 

are used in place of chigaya.

"The nature of God is a circle

of which the center is everywhere

and the circumference is

nowhere. "

Empedocles

We can judge the heart of a man

by his treatment of animals."  

Immanual Kant

 

“Men are slower

 

to recognize blessings

 

than evils.”

 

 

 Titus Livy

“Prayers go up 

 

and blessings come down”

 

 

Yiddish Proverb

 

 

 

 

 

"If having a soul means

being able to feel love and loyalty

and gratitude,

then animals are better off 

than a lot of humans"  

James Herriot

And yes,

I got my

blessing!

Here's sharing it

             with YOU- warmly,     cloudia

I Could!

A L O H A ! 
                                              Sunday in Honolulu:

I could TOTALLY eat that!

I could TOTALLY wear that!

I could TOTALLY ride that!

Well I COULD!

Comment?  

        Fondly, cloudia

Stone Faces

A l o h a !

One never knows what one will see. . . .

. . . When walking in Waikiki-




"Laughter fluffs up every cell in your body."

Phyllis Diller

Angry Old Tortoise

"As life runs on,

the road grows strange 

with faces new -"

James Russell Lowell
   

The Scream

“All the things one has forgotten

scream for help

in dreams.”

 

 Elias Canetti

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Have a fabulous day-
         kindly leave your comment!  cloudia

Shower Tree

A l o h a !

 click on these bonnie pictures:

Honolulu adopted the rainbow shower tree

as our official tree in 1965.

This one is white, or cream. 

"If you would know strength

and patience, 

welcome the company of trees."

Hal Borland

April to November 

floral explosions 

fill our sky with GLORY!

"To heal mine aching moods,
Give me God's virgin woods."

Clinton Scollard

 

The Rainbow Variety

"Long, sparkling aisles of steel-stemmed trees
Bending to counterfeit a breeze."

James R. Russell

The rainbow shower tree (Cassia x nealiae) 

is a hybrid cross between the golden shower (C. fistula) 

and the pink and white shower (C. javanica).

  Due to plant-genetics, no two trees are alike.

"I hear the wind among the trees
Playing the celestial symphonies;
I see the branches downward bent,
Like keys of some great instrument."

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Honolulu's "official" rainbow shower is the Wilhelmina Tenney. The tree started life in 1920 as a seedling on Lunalilo Street in our Makiki neighborhood by neighbors of the Tenney family. After the tree was propagated, a Tenney daughter, Wilhelmina (1891-1951) gave material to Foster Garden.

 

 

 

 

“Like branches on a tree

we grow in different directions,

yet our roots remain as one.

Each of our lives will always

be a special part of the other.” 

Anonymous

 

 Such litter, glitters!

"As the poet said, 'only God can make a tree' -

probably because it's so hard to figure out

how to get the bark on."

Woody Allen

 

  ><}}(°>

<°)}}><

The shower tree is a flower tree,

her boughs bearing

bounteous bouquets- 

it quite bedazzles!

 

Kindly leave a word blossom

                                                in comments :) cloudia