Ephemeral Life...

There is nothing more beautiful than a woman dancing hula. Well, except maybe a kupuna...

Thanks Dad for the photo. I'm glad the shaka is slowly replacing the traditional Japanese "peace" signs in photographs. At least in Hawai`i. Well, at least on Hawai`i Island. Well...at least in Volcano National Park. Well, maybe at least on this particular day. Hmmmm.... Six people making shaka. One making peace. One making some kind of pointing "ummm....excuse me...ummm...the lens cap is on..." kind of hand signal. Shaka. Peace out...

I had a dream where I fell asleep on the beach. And when I woke up, there were eighteen people standing around taking pictures of me and discussing my anatomy...

Let us build more and more hotel rooms and condominiums. Townhomes and duplexes. Millions of dollars. Let us attract more people who have this kind of money to come here. Who can pay $7 for a gallon of milk. Who can help produce excess material consumption and associated waste. Let's continue to devastate and rape Papa and her sacred domain. Lets destroy the traditional cultural landscape in the name of progress and money making ventures. Let us bury more computer equipment illegally. Twenty four tons to be exact. Filled with toxic lead and mercury. Let's fine the company $30,500 for their hewa actions. That should cover the damages to generations of our beloved people who will be impacted by slow leaching toxins over the next few generations. What the heck. It is only Wai'anae. Down into the ocean and the food supply. Mahalo greedy recycling company. Great job. Hopefully, bringing in Mickey Mouse to the area will make us forget our sacred pact with the 'aina. With our ...

Koa and Elliott had the giggles. When I listened in, they were talking about their respective birthday cake candle blowing wishes. Apparently Elliott made a wish when he concurrently blew out the birthday candles along with Koa. It was nice for Koa to share his birthday wish magic with his brother. I overheard Elliott tell Koa he wished for the ability to do backflips. Huh? And Koa's wish was to kiss his true love. What the....? He is only seven. I don't know if he was joking because they both erupted in laughter. I did decide however, that I need to do a little detective work with his little school love notes he hides from me...

What keiki birthday would be complete without Baskin Robbins Ice Cream Cake? Actually, daddy was craving it and convinced Koa it was quintessential...

Koa celebrated his birthday. Elliott vicariously enjoyed the excitement. And candle blowing...

So my boys like to ride their bicycle. Yes. I said bicycle because there is only one and they have to take turns. I know. Pretty sad. The worst part is they are covered from head to toe in safety gear and still have training wheels. I remember my dad just pushing me along on two wheels and letting go. I ate a lot of gravel and came home with elbow and knee strawberries but I survived. Now I am so overly protective of my boys, I don't know what it is. I used to jump on my bike at their age and go off into the neighborhood, traffic, mountains, and all, and come home before dark and dinner. Maybe the world has changed. Maybe I have changed. My dad did pack me on the back of his bike when I was about five or six. My leg went into the back spokes and it snapped my ankle in half. I still have the scar and barely remember the injurious event. I do remember being in the hospital and my dad was yelling at the doctor because they set my leg wrong and had to rebreak the bone. I remember when ...

These blueberries are from Argentina. They are good in pancakes, muffins, cereal and just popping them in my mouth. Better than M&Ms for sure. In so many ways...

In the quiet chambers of my own mind Pierced only by the trembling of my fragile heart The revolving world slows down to an end The stars begin to cascade from the heavens Falling one by one Until the dark expanse of the night sky Is filled with the deepest darkest sorrow As I swirl around and savor my loving thoughts of you I descend into the cold abyss of my emptiness The only hope for the resurrection of my soul Is lost in your incredibly warm and beautiful smile And found in your fleeting sumptuous and virtuous kiss...

So Best Buy had a lot of people in the television area watching the U.H. versus Boise football game. Miller time for most. Elliott wasn't too interested in the football game. He seemed to be mesmerized by Milla Jovovich in Ultraviolet. That's my boy...

As I sat in my car at City Mill, I noticed the security camera checking me out. So I zoomed in with my camera to let them know that I was watching them too...

Even in their short lives, my boys have seen much in Hawai`i change...

My boys get so cooped up in our apartment sometimes, that I have to let them out into the hallway to run and stretch their legs. Kind of like a human kennel run...

I know it isn't healthy but the boys love eating out. Why Elliott dismantles his chicken sandwich, I'll never know. Koa is just being himself...

I know birds pair up with their mates. I've seen all kinds of birds flapping around a fallen mate hit by a car, laying in the middle of the road. When I was about ten years old, I received a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas. I went outside and saw a red cardinal on the electric line going to my neighbors house. I aimed and shot the bird. He fell and fluttered into my yard. I ran over and picked him up. He laid in my hand, chest up, bleeding from a hole in his chest. His heart was beating so fast and he just looked at me for about twenty seconds, just looking up at me with terror in his eyes. Asking why. Then he stopped breathing. His little death stare is still burned into my brain. I never hurt another animal since that day...

As we flew to Moku o Keawe, my boys tried to figure out what adventures lay ahead by scouring the treasure map...

It was Keolalani Hanoa's dream to establish Punalu`u as a living outdoor classroom for Hawai`i's children. In honor of her memory. Many are continuing the dream. I do my part with my sons...

Beautiful fresh water wells up from the black sand beach. My boys practiced making an `auwai as their kupuna often did. I'll admit it didn't take a lot of complicated engineering like their ancestors' 'auwai but it was probably way more fun...

This past July, I was stuck in afternoon traffic going home and a very impatient driver was beeping his horn and revving his engine at some poor lady in front of me. We turned the corner onto Kalakaua and he burnt rubber as he turned in his impatience. As we all turned into more gridlock, we ended up next to South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun's motorcade as he made his way to the Hilton in Waikiki. Honolulu Police. Secret Service. State Department. The road rage guy had to shut up and calm down immediately otherwise he would have been shot with an Uzi. I had to be careful snapping my photos as well so I wouldn't be declared an enemy combatant and turned into shredded beef too...

Elliott had a pajama party movie night at his school. Koa came too. There was so much energy in the room, it was palpable. High School Musical. Singing. Dancing. I don't remember that much fun in my elementary school. Its okay. I still dance like a third grader...

I love rainy days. I watch the low clouds and rain come over the Ko'olau mountains into Manoa and Tantalus. The grey sky and falling rain cleans the urban grime. It is a good day to stay home. Snuggle. Cuddle. Watch a good movie. I caught Elliott and Koa cuddling. Elliott was rubbing Koa's back. I'm so very proud of them. Brotherly love. So much Aloha...

The boys had fun with Poppy in the pool when he came to visit...

There might be spaghetti noodles under there somewhere...

You desperately search through the scorched and ripped cultural landscape of your ancestors. Your beloved kupuna. No records. Passed from mouth to ear, mouth to ear, mouth to ear. Over a thousand years. No documentation. Burnt in the church fire. No documentation. Long misfiled and misplaced through ambivalent acts. No documentation. Intentionally discarded in acts of selfish greed. Now you desperately search for tiny bits and pieces of skeletal humanity to show your eternal love. To establish proof of existence. They were here. They lived here. They laughed here. They cried here. They loved here thus giving you life. They died here. All erased. Your kulaiwi now cleansed of the evidence of your bonds to the land. When you die. You will end up burnt to ashes. Cremated in the traditions of the West and East. Pukui said "iwi is the most cherished possession." When did that change? Now when you pass my friend. It will be as if none of you ever existed...

Aloha no e coral polyp. A kupuna of Hawaiian life...

Elliott practices his guitar licks at Toys R Us. He is actually getting pretty good. When he has the basics down, he will graduate to daddy's Fender Strat. Koa wants drums for Christmas. I heard Santa's going to oblige. Get ready world. Get ready neighbors...

Never forget your past or beginnings, as you look back, for they made you who you are today. Look forward and don't be afraid to take a leap of faith and escape your bounds of security. Fly, my friend. Fly...

You are still magnificent my beautiful crane. Even in death...