Two images from my brief visit to Oregon...



Front yard in Eugene and a cool painting by YDM.

Foliage in Eugene...



Foliage this afternoon in Eugene, Oregon...

View from my office at the law school...

Trees and plants outside my office window during the late afternoon...

The meeting was long and the breaks much too short...

Taking a break at a work meeting at the Halekulani...

Details of Charlot mural at UH Manoa's Bachman Hall



"Night Hula" is one of several of artist Jean Charlot's murals on campus. I read that it is 9x15' and depicts an ancient Hawaiian Hula scene. It was originally created as a private commission for a law office in Waikiki, then it was moved in 1991 and donated by the Aluli family to Kamehameha Schools.  After suffering some pretty serious weather-related damage there, it was re-located to UH-Manoa and restored in 2003. It is pretty cool -- and near my office.

Hazards in paradise: 5:30 a.m.-big-machines-lotsa noise

Hazardous and noisy move at 5:30 a.m.

There is a reason I am up so early in the morning.  I live in one of the noisiest sections of the city and it appears that there are no early morning restrictions when it comes to the noisiest of public services. Mahalo nui. Really.

Daybreak...

Noisy but pretty dawn...

Up early, rubbish day. Then, UFO sighting!

Early a.m. shot of a UFO -- er, I mean the Stan Sheriff Center at the University of Hawai'i.

In this 'hood it is required to sleep with ear plugs, but typically they work their way loose thru the night as I toss and tumble about like a dying trout. This morning, Tuesday, was apparently rubbish day, so trucks were out crashing, beeping and whining before daybreak. Having been jolted awake by the sonic boom of a rudely dropped dumpster, I decided to snap this image.  In the entry above you will see that the culprit was finally revealed. 

The trees are watching us...

This tree's "eye" was staring me down...

This is one of many beautiful trees on the Punahou School/Barry Obama campus. I had a funny feeling as I took this image. The tree suddenly quieted itself as the breeze died. It was at that moment I saw the "eye."

Punahou palms...

These palms border the Punahou School/Barry Obama campus along Wilder...

Hazards in paradise: streetlight pau...

Timmmmberrr...

"This means the promise of beauty and fertility for thousands of acres." -- King Kalakaua

Monument in the middle of someone's yard along Wilder Avenue.

Ah.  Isn't this the story of development?  I can imagine farms and taro patches running down to the sea. But at least we have this marker and King Kalakaua's promise -- to remind us.

Re-purposed...



On my way to the office this morning, I ran into this example of re-purposing...



Origins...

 

This is a photo hanging outside the door of my office.

This reminded me of a quote of Hawaiian wisdom I came across recently:

 

"Ho mai ka 'ike nui, ka 'ike iki."

 

"Grant knowledge of the great things, and of the little things."

BLAM! Take that King Kamehameha!



Alternative logo for William S. Richardson School of Law (where I work) ...and the why below...

http://honilima.com/2008/01/22/ke-kanawai-mamalahoe-law-of-the-splintered-paddle/

E hele ka `elemakule, ka luahine,
a me na kamali`i a moe i ke ala
`a`ohe mea nana e ho`opilikia.

 

Let the old men, the old women, and the children go
and sleep on the wayside; let them not be molested.

The Law of the Splintered Paddle,
King Kamehameha I

 

 

 

From Waikiki to the Projects...

Palolo Valley Panorama...

Postcard for Yvonne...

Diamond Head...or part of it...

More cloud vistas...

Clouds...

Hazards in paradise: Punahou & Maryknoll drop-off traffic jam...

Confluence of Impatience

Jelly Fish in the Sky...

Cloud (R) that looks like Portuguese Man O' War

Reflections...

Cloud-tree...

Thinking of Yvonne...

Daybreak...

Hawaiian delicacies...viet sam...

Pate y jamon...

Every morning when I am missing Yvonne...I take a picture...

Early morning clouds...

Looking toward intersection of Punahou and Wilder...

View below...

Hazards in paradise: office mate

Cane spider. Bane of roaches. I named her Iz-Elena.

What I see when I stumble in from work...

Another view...

View into Honolulu...

Squeezed on all sides, but a shot of Waikiki...

Fighting the tourist hordes...life blood of the economy...

Another vista from Diamond Head...

Hazards in paradise: local perspective

Hazards in paradise...

Hazards in paradise: sidewalk obstacles

On my first walk to work, I bumped my crown on this...

What you do when you have nothing better to do...

Morning from my apartment looking makai...

I'll be posting a series of shots from my "PH" apartment...it is my effort to combat a bit of melancholy...

Luxury ocean view...

My ocean view...with white boat...

Delicacies of Hawaii (cont.)...

Spam musubi (after)

Delicacies of Hawaii...

Spam musubi (before)

A nice hike up Diamond Head...

View from Diamond Head to Koko Crater

Why Pocho in Paradise?

Early October morning view makai with Diamond Head in the background.

It has been an interesting first two weeks back in Honolulu after a hiatus of several years on the mainland. New job, new friends and colleagues, and a new old culture. I think of the word honi, which, as I understand it, is the traditional way Polynesians greet each other, touching foreheads and noses thru which one exchanges and shares breath, and therefore your self, your life force -- the who you truly are. Those without this, then, are haoles...ghosts...

So, bit by bit, I am re-learning the world view of those who feel that some are without breath, those from without, foreign, and perhaps best epitomized by one Captain Cook who only knew to extend his hand in greeting, and puzzling his gracious and curious hosts who attempted to greet him in the only way they knew how. Honi. And we all know the end of that story. Similarly, in Mexico, American-born Mexicans are labeled pochos -- anglicized, wannabe Mexicans who've exchanged tortillas for Wonder Bread. I was once called a Mexican sandwich by two Mexican laborers as I walked to a business appointment in Portland, Oregon -- dark meat in white bread? Stopped me cold. Funny feeling to be a person between cultures, between borders. I felt like a ghost. Which is why Pocho in Paradise. This is the blog of someone who doesn't quite fit in, is 4000 miles away from a wife and family that he loves and misses, and is living in one of the greatest polyglot cultures on the planet. Aloha, mahalo nui for joining me, y viva los hijos de la chingada!