I Heart Macros

A   L   O   H   A !

“We are all 

visitors to this time, 

this place. 

We are just passing through.

 Our purpose here 

is to observe, 

to learn, to grow,

 to love... 

and then we return home.”

                      Australian Aboriginal Proverb

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for Visiting!
                         Warmly, Cloudia
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Ground Gems

A   L   O   H   A !

"Give me your wings, teach me to fly.

Crossing horizons, 

winning hills and seas

With the light of knowledge,

 by the virtue of love. "

                      Willi de Barros / Cocoa

When the Trees No Longer Need

Leaves, Cones, Branches

Which They Have Made

From Earth, Water, Sol & Air,

They Donate Them

To The Ground

For Our Enjoyment

Dialogue: The Living and The Dead

" Knowledge 

does not kill 

the sense of wonder

 and mystery.  

There is always 

more mystery." 

                            Anais Nin

Crown Ornaments of the Coconut Palm

" The more unintelligent

a person is, 

the less mysterious 

existence seems. "

                    Arthur Schopenhauer

" The richness I achieve 

comes from Nature, 

the source of my inspiration. "

                             Claude Monet 

Look Down - Discover Treasure

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Paddling Boys of Waikiki

A   L   O   H   A !

I can walk to Ala Wai Park,

 Outrigger Canoes live here

" A city always contains

 more than any inhabitant 

can know, 

and a great city 

always makes the

 unknown and the possible 

spurs to the imagination.” 

                        Rebecca Solnit, 

                                            Wanderlust: A History of Walking

Click to enlarge photos

" 'Au i ke kai me he manu ala "

 "Cross the sea like a bird." 

" Pupukahi i holomua "

 Move forward as one

Hove To, Boys

"A'ohe hana nui ka alu'ia"

 No task is too big 

if we do it together

Classic Paddler in back: 

stiff arm raised to push

 mouth open, shouting the cadence

“I almost wish 

we were butterflies 

and liv'd but

 three summer days - 

three such days 

with you 

I could fill with 

more delight than 

fifty common years 

could ever contain.” 

                 John Keats

" Lawe i ka ma'alea 

a ku'ono'ono."

Acquire your skills deeply

Today's traditional Hawaiian sayings

were collected by the estimable

Mary Kawena Pukui

‘Olelo No‘eau: 

Hawaiian Proverbs and Poetical Sayings

(Bishop Museum Press 1983)

“Summer will end soon enough, 

and childhood as well.” 

                            George R.R. Martin,

                                     A Game of Thrones

“Green was the silence,

 wet was the light,

the month of June trembled

 like a butterfly.” 

                              Pablo Neruda, 

                                               100 Love Sonnets

By John Webber (1751-1793).

 Cook, J. A voyage to the Pacific Ocean 

(London, Strahan, 1784).

 Public domain

 via Wikimedia Commons

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for Visiting!

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We Are Here Because of D-Day June 6 1944

Thank You

 Brave People Who Were There

History's Greatest Invasion

70 Years Ago

Today.

" I lived 

a thousand years 

that day "

               Wounded D-Day Veteran

[X]

I got to be born,

to grow up,

because of D-Day.

How many of us did!

Dad was in the

 US Army Air Corps.

All of our fathers

and uncles were

veterans.

As were

the cop on the beat,

the school principal,

the mail-carrier

and the guy

 pumping gas

[they also washed your windshield

and checked your tires!]

All the grown men

had been in 

The War.

The British, Dutch,

French, Chinese,

Filipinos, Australians,

NZ, and others

were our allies

and friends.

Germany was chastened,

Japan likewise,

but we were rebuilding 

them, infrastructure

and people,

as constitutional 

Democracies in our

image

and as friends.

My parents' friends

up the block,

I played with their kids,

displayed the 

living room photo

of Mrs. Schwartz's

handsome brother

in his US Navy pilot's uniform.

Action in the Pacific.

His body was never found.

Mothers, Fathers

 grandparents, siblings

sweethearts

grieved

and always would.

But 

they never talked about it.

The bereaved, 

or the veteran fathers.

"Real men" didn't.

Everyone was John Wayne.

But every family

processed the 

world's great pains.

We were the children

of a saved world,

children of Democracy.

It was a bright new day.

I grew up in a new house

purchased on great terms

with a VA loan.

(Veteran's Admin)

We would never understand

how the world suffered,

how our fathers

and mothers

suffered.

"Clean your plate

[ingrate] children

in Europe are starving."

And on some level

we felt their 

unintended resentment.

They saved the world.

How could we live up

to THAT!?

Fathers were tough then.

We didn't know why.

Perhaps they toughened us

in case of another

unthinkable challenge.

We needed to study

math to beat the Russians,

not carry a gun up the beach.

I am horrible with numbers.

The adults also whispered

about relatives

"coming over"

all very hush hush.

We kids didn't need to know

that they had been in

concentration camps.

I saw the numbers

tattooed on the wrists

of old people

who spoke with accents

but looked like us.

Laying in bed

I asked myself

if I could survive

hundreds of miles

crammed into a closed

boxcar with hundreds

of others, but no

toilet.

Today-

Outside my window

here in Honolulu

I see one of the globe's

great WWII military cemeteries,

Punchbowl

National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific

Link

President Obama's grandfather

Stanley Dunham

is buried there.

The President grew up

in Stanley's home a mile from

here for many years.

The Obamas

and their girls

have visited Stanley's

grave more than once

" My landing craft

was full of boys.

Approaching the shore

I could hear

 rapid machine gun fire

hitting the front of the boat.

I knew when I lowered that ramp

those bullets would be

hitting flesh

instead of metal.

We hit the beach,

I got the order.

I lowered that gate."

US Navy Veteran

[in his 90's today]

at Omaha Beach

"Live your freedom.

That's what we did it for."

D-Day Veteran

70 Years Ago

Today

Honolulu SkyWatch

A   L   O   H   A !

 Veils of Mist & Color

"Leprechaun Suite"

“ We don’t live in a world
 of reality,

 we live in a world 
of perceptions. ”

               Gerald J. Simmons

" My two favorite colors 

of the rainbow 

are gold and leprechaun. "

 Jarod Kintz

Slice Magic Scimitar

“Actually,

 I do happen to resemble

 a hallucination.

 Kindly note

 my silhouette

 in the moonlight." 

                    Mikhail Bulgakov

Procession of Dreams

" It is an endless

 procession of surprises. 

The expected

 rarely occurs 

and never in the 

expected manner. "

                             Vernon A. Walters

Join SkyWatchers around the globe

Here

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Walking a Honolulu Good Fence

A   L   O   H   A !

 Walking 

Among Fences & Palms

What Wonders to See:

“But the beauty

 is in the walking -

- we are betrayed

 by destinations.” 

                Gwyn Thomas

See More GoodFences

Here

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Wise Fools We

A   L   O   H   A !

 Click to Enlarge Photos

"He who lives 

without folly 

isn't so wise 

as he 

thinks." 

                    Francois de La Rochefoucauld

" A pessimist sees 

only the dark side
 of the clouds, 

and mopes;

- a philosopher sees

 both sides,
 and shrugs;

-an optimist 

doesn't see

 the clouds at all - 

but is walking on them. "

Leonard Louis Levinson

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I Love Your Visits!

Thank YOU

              Warmly, Cloudia

' Take Peace & Smiles - Leave Your Comment '