This is more than a new year’s resolution. It’s a multi-year process.
There’s a new me sprouting its wings.
Some days, I can actually see the inner transformation.
Spirit taking flight at Alula Beach south of Honokau Harbor on the Big Island of Hawaii
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Almost a full moon
Tonight I headed down to the seaside Bungalow at the Mauna Lani Bay Hotel for Twilight at Kalahuipua’a, one of the ancient fish ponds under the kuleana of the hotel.
Twilight at Kalahuipua’a is a monthly celebration of old-fashioned Hawaiian culture that includes talking story, kani ka pila music and hula.
The monthly event is held on the Saturday night closest to the full moon. What could be better than to watch the sun set, then listen to stories and music with the voice of the ocean in the background?
One more reason to recommend the Mauna Lani Bay Hotel and Bungalows.
The setting sun at the Mauna Lani Bay Hotel on the Big Island of Hawaii
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The lagoon at Mauna Launi Bay glowing red at sunset
I was feeling a bit disheveled when I landed. Then Hawai’i began to work it’s magic.
“Welcome home,” said the crossing guard at KOA. ”Happy New Year, Aunty,” said the parking lot attendant. ”You’re kama’aina,” said the lady at the burger joint. When I went down to the beach for a moment at sunset, I felt my ‘aumakua close.
A sunset moment at the old airport in Kailua-Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii
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Do you see a shape in these stones? I see a woman making an offering to Kanaloa
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Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have,
and only you can determine how it will be spent.
Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.
–Carl Sandburg
Another year begins for me
A beautiful glow beckoned me to the Charles River tonight to spend a few moments with the first sunset of 2012
An unusual combination of contrails from jet aircraft hovered in the sky. It looked like a dancing spirit figure you might find in rock art, but writ very large.
May we all dance with spirit in the New Year.
The spirit in the sky dancing over the MIT skyline
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Joggers getting the New Year off to a good start
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Wishing you health and happiness, peace and prosperity in 2012
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Aloha!
I’ve been celebrating New Year’s Eve by looking back through all the moments of 2011 to count my blessings.
The year has been a big bright blur, with so much energy, wonder, change and growth…and just enough dark moments to make the bright parts brighter.
Impressionistic image captured while walking by the ice sculptures on First Night in Boston
We’re celebrating everything this holiday season.
We’ve done our bit to stimulate the economy, and eaten a few Xmas cookies.
With the smoke of a solstice bonfire still lingering about their ski jackets, my nephews are practicing Christmas carols for a kani ka pila performance at the nursing home.
And then to hit the ski slopes!
A holiday is not the same without Uncle Mike's sense of humor
It is indeed a wonderful life.
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!
When I left Hawaii yesterday, there was snow on Mauna Kea.
Now I’m in Boston, getting ready to head up to Vermont for Christmas.
The cold New England air feels wonderfully refreshing. I wish it would snow!
It’s fun wrapping gifts with the resident Santa’s Elves.
My last Hawaiian sunset of 2011
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Santa's helpers at the ready
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Today I headed out early from Waikoloa to the east side of the Big Island for a visit to friends in Puna.
I’m still learning my way around over there, and was glad to have some pointers.
Now I know how calming a Kalapana sunset can be.
Pink clouds at sunset in Kalapana
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Sunset over the black sands of Kalapana on the Big Island of Hawaii
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Today I needed to reflect and seek guidance on a difficult business matter.
I went to my favorite spot in Santa Cruz. Normally I like to take a walking meditation along the Cliff Walk, but today I just felt like sitting on a bench by the Santa Cruz Surfing Museum, near the monument to the Hawaiian Princes who introduced surfing to this spot in 1885.
I sat very still, looking up into the bright sky, smelling the ocean, listening to the waves, waiting for intuition to come.
This is a spot with a lot of mana, and it didn’t fail me today.
Illumination over the Santa Cruz surf cam
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“You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf.”
-Jon Kabat-Zinn
I was lucky enough to spend this weekend with a group of girlfriends refilling our bowls of light at my friend Marianne’s home in Sayulita, Mexico.
Last night we celebrated the full moon as it rose over the mountains in a spectacular shade of red.
We danced in a current of light.
Full moon rising over Sayulita, Mexico
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The same view by daylight
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Every party has a party animal. Little Baat, only 10 weeks old, partied till he dropped in slumber. His name means "heart" in Mayan.
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Today a birthday wish goes out to a very special girl in the family of my heart, my hanai niece, Shannon.
Unless Aunty Nina has lost count, Shan is 14 today!
A beautiful young lady inside and out, Shannon is magnetic! She has a wonderful way people and a magic effect on birds and all kinds of animals.
We have had some unique experiences and adventures together over the years.
We’ve been buried in snow up to our necks, vouched for the value of ruby slippers on the first day of school, eaten chocolate till it comes out our ears, and seen/heard/felt what others don’t/won’t/can’t.
Once when I was in Mexico with Shannon, a red cat at followed her home from the beach and slept overnight on her bed. In Hawaii, we feel that an ehu (red-headed) person or animal has a special link with Pele.
That same trip, Shannon rescued a puppy from the streets of Sayulita, restored its confidence and found the young dog a home. All in only four days! Her phenom-of-a-mom and I agree, Shannon is a miracle worker.
Shannon has a great eye for natural beauty. We have taken some great photos together, She took this photo of trees in her back yard when only eight years old.
Shannon has a feeling for spirit trees, as do I
Before making my birthday call to Shannon, I looked over the many photos of her I’ve taken over the years. Her incandescent spirit shines brightly and her heart blazes off every frame.
My pearl-of-a-girl, Shannon, holding a Vancouver Island oyster
Camel's Hump, VT
I drove up north from Boston to see the Vermont Ohana for Thanksgiving.
From the southern tip of Vermont to my sister’s house, the drive takes about as long as the Saddle Road from Kailua-Kona to Hilo. A singular mountain is the centerpiece of this drive.
Shortly after you enter Vermont going north on 89, you catch your first glimpse of the mountain called Camel’s Hump.
To me, this mountain looks more like the silhouette of a reclining person, maybe an ancestor, than a camel’s hump. I suppose my eyes have been trained by looking at Herb Kane paintings of Pele and Poli’ahu merged with their mountain landscapes.
When you see the sleeping tutu in the mountain, you know you're in Vermont
The photo above is the first glimpse of Camel’s Hump from the south.
Dramatic sunset in the supermarket parking lot
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It has been a long day.
A long weekend of work. A grueling last week.
Many lessons learned.
And tomorrow is a brand new day with all new choices.
So much to be grateful for!
Patience is a virtue indeed
Today I was surrounded by crabbiness. It was good to spend a sunset moment decompressing at Kawaihae harbor.
The random nature of industrial development is still dwarfed by the beauty of Kawaihae. Long may it be so.
Your choice: the beauty (or ugliness) of Kawaihae at sunset
This photo is like a metaphor for life. Beauty is where you find it. Joy is where you choose to look.
Mauna Kea seen amind the rosy clouds of a Kawihae sunset, her majesty set off by a veil of power lines, the telescope domes sparkling like opihi
Mahalo to all my teachers.
11/11/11 was a Mahealani Moon.
In the Hawaiian language there is a name for each moon in the cycle. The Mahealani moon is the night after the full moon, which is called the Hoku moon.
Sooner or later I will get down to the warm pond in Puna for Kumu Mahealani Kuamo’o-Henry’s pule blessing ceremony. But this Mahelani moon was not the occasion.
Last night I headed down to the pond in the Boston Public Garden instead. It’s a pretty quiet place now that the Swan Boats have been put into storage and the Mayor’s hallmark swans have been relocated their luxury suite at the Franklin Zoo for the winter.
Last night I had only wild ducks for company as I gazed at the Mahealani Moon.
The Mahealani Moon reflected in the pond in the Boston Public Garden on 11/11/11
A wind blowing in the willows made their supple branches wave like palm fronds. The feeling of my ‘aumakua close to me warmed my heart. I looked around for their presence, and quickly spotted a ball of indigo light floating over the highest point of Beacon Hill.
'Aumakua spotted through the fall foliage in Boston on the Mahealani Moon, 11/11/11
Although only the blue light was visible to my naked eye, the camera captured a second image, an amethyst orb, the same color I see in Hawai’i. The same thing happened the other night. Maybe the amethyst orb has a harder time competing with the city lights.
The Akua Moon and companions against a bare tree on 11/9/11
I first saw the orbs in Boston when I took a walk outside to see the Akua Moon on November 9. Akua means god or goddess. Traditions say the Akua moon is a good night for fishing. In Pre-Christian times, prayers and offerings were often made on this evening, as the gods were thought to be walking about. And maybe they still are.
Summer or fall?
I’m lucky enough to be in Boston for a particularly beautiful time of year, the peak of the fall foliage season in this part of New England.
Even in the city, the trees are glorious.
Typically, November is time for Boston leaf-peepers to get out the gloves. Not so this year.
Although the garden has been tidied up for winter and fall foliage is blazing in the background, I’ve still been able to sit on the lanai in the morning to drink my tea and read the paper, wearing shorts and slippahs.
Such a clear sky!
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Boston Public Garden on a fine fall day
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Kitten Poli'ahu spies a squirrel
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Walking toward the pond in the Boston Public Garden where the Swan Boats reign during the summer
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I down at Anaeho’omalu Bay this afternoon, taking a walking meditation while waiting for the sun to set.
I came upon what can only be described as a “puppy pile” of honu. I’ve never seen so many turtles basking together.
But maybe they’ve been there all along, and I have been in too much of a hurry to notice what was right in front of me.
Honu basking at Anaeho'omalu Bay on the Big Island of Hawaii. I counted 10 turtles
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Maya's lovely inner light
A few years ago I commissioned an art piece called “The Children of My Spirit.” Now I am honored by the artist with the opportunity to reunite this kapa with the tools used to make it.
After talking over the progress with her poppa, I was outside on the lawn watching the sun go down with my favorite hanai niece.
I am becoming accustomed to seeing purple orbs in the Hawaiian sunsets, but never anything like this.
A purple glow illuminated Maya’s heart. I see a rainbow in the glow, don’t you? Maya is becoming a young woman, and everyone can see she is growing even more loving and even more special every day.
The amethyst light shone on Maya when I photographed her; it shone on me when she photographed me. So right now seems like the right time to send birthday Aloha to her!
The amethyst orb floats in the taller tree
I was not on the Big Island on September 19, Maya’s technical birthday, but don’t feel bad about this any more!
The amethyst light is now nestled close to the trunk of the palm tree
The purple light is no longer a trick of my eyes and my camera alone. Maya saw it, too!
The amethyst orb that follows me around the Big Island of Hawai'i, seen here sailing in the purple clouds at upper left
And now to meditate on this experience with my ‘aumakua.
When the Hawaiʻi Fire Department is at the beach and the helicopters are buzzing overhead, something’s up.
But what?
The HFD came and went from A-Bay tonight like trick-or-treaters turned away at the door — all dressed up for nothing.
If there had been a false-alarm shark sighting, nobody was admitting it.
Mysterious Hawaiian sunset, complete my sometime companion
When I got to the water’s edge and scanned the horizon, I noticed the VOG playing tricks with the visibility. Haze obscured the horizon, making distant rocks look like ghostly fins. Then I noticed the purple orb that’s been following me around. Now am I wondering whether the HFD presence was some kind of a sign. Hmmm…
Beautiful water at sunset
It was a perfectly spooky Halloween in Hawaiʻi.
In the haze of VOG, maybe somebody mistook these distant rocks for shark fins
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Last night I shared a magically romantic Hawaiian sunset moment with two lovely strangers.
Seeing a beautiful sunset gathering its forces, I pulled into the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel, where the staff is always so friendly in guiding you to the public beach access.
The people standing next to me were both very much in love, a newlywed local gentleman temporarily apart from his beautiful wife who is now on the mainland, and a lady from Canada taking a first-of-lifetime trip to Hawaii with her husband of 35 years.
A sunset swim at the Mauna Kea Hotel on the Big Island of Hawaii
The evening was so romantic as honeymooners exited the water at sunset. The people standing near me watching the Hawaiian sun set over the beach are so much in love. The moment was so charged with Aloha that I saw a kiss form in the sky. Literally! See the photo below. Just above the horizon, in the purple clouds, I see lips blowing a kiss, don’t you?
Sunset at the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel on the Big Island of Hawaii
I also see my ‘aumakua, the pueo, in these sunlit clouds. Can you see a Hawaiian owl, soaring in the sky over the kissing lips? The shoulders and wings are dark, the horns on the owl’s head are a subtle buff orange; its beak is suggested by a pale outline. The pueo’s belly and tail are a firey golden color.
Sigh! May love come to all whose hearts are open.
Beautiful sunset in the Hawaiian sky
Yesterday’s sunset was one of those especially powerful experiences that just keep going and going. The light show continued as I drove out of the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel.
A sunset sky like crushed velvet over the Big Island of Hawaii
The sunset kept changing colors and textures as I drove toward the highway.
Exiting the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel and Resort at sunset
The dramatic Hawaiian sunset continued as I drove up mauka toward Waimea. There’s a bit of blurring in the picture below, capturing the force of those famous Waimea winds.
Heading toward Waimea at sunset on the Big Island of Hawaii
Mahalo to the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel for the experience.
