It’s down to love

My friend Frank DeMarco was fortunate to have met and become friends with a remarkable man, Robert B. Clarke from England who has had 2 books published by Hampton Roads Publishing Co., and three new ones that will be published posthumously by Hologram Books, LLC – Frank’s publishing company.

I would like to draw your attention to a post on Frank’s blog, “I of my own knowledge…” that presents some of Robert’s thoughts on illness and the fact that we are all connected. Well worth your time I think.

A trip to Pele

Well, it has been quite a while since I posted here, but for about a year after moving to the island of Hawai’i, the island sets the agenda for you – if you let it. If you don’t let it, the first year can be rough. There have been some ups and downs, but for the most part, things have gone pretty well so far. A lot of it is a matter of trust. Trying to plan things to rigidly will not typically make for smooth sailing.

Pele is the Hawaiian goddess of the volcanoes here in Hawai’i, and the other day we made a trip down to pay our respects. Pele in ancient Hawaiian chants is described as “she who shapes the sacred land.” I had made a brief stop to see her right after I arrived, but she let me know that she expected me to return soon. Well, she has been patient with me, but she set a constant reminder that would pop up every week or so to make sure I didn’t forget. Luckily Pele didn’t think four months was too long.

The day was forecast to be rainy that day, but Pele held the weather until we had gotten down there and spent some time with her and then when our meeting was done, the weather moved in and we knew it was time to leave. Heidi wrote a letter and read it to Pele and then her son Ryan folded it into a paper airplane and we sailed it off and into the Kilauea caldera.

On the trip down, Ryan had made a drawing for Pele and again folded it into a paper airplane. When he stepped over to the rim of the caldera and gently let it go, it started to circle gently and climb. We watched it climb and float around for several minutes until it was completely out of sight. When it stared to circle around, I got a vision of Pele riding around on the airplane and she was well pleased to have flight.

While Heidi was reading her letter, I closed my eyes and greeted Pele and was immediately surrounded by her warmth on that chilly day. The day was overcast, and my field of vision through my closed eyelids turned to a bright lava red-orange. I actually expected that the sun had came out, but when I opened my eyes a little, there was just the grey cloudy skies.

It’s difficult after encounters like this to explain them in words, but as always it was magical.

Things are going…

I had wanted to get an update posted earlier, but things have been quite busy. Had several things to get done within a certain time frame and wanted them out of the way. One thing left to do tomorrow and then I hope things will settle down.

We are looking for another place since this one is just too noisy. It is a really nice place, but being so close to the major north-south road on the west side means a lot of traffic noise. We have one good possibility, but it won’t be available till March 1st. We would really like to make a move before then, but it would mean finding a place for a month and then making another move. I just don’t think we want to do that.

The kitty’s are settling in nicely and for the most part have become friends. Clia, one of the females hasn’t quite made up with Sidney, but they are working on it. Sidney is being such a good boy about it and giving Clia the space she needs. Sidney and Horus, the other male, are getting along very well. That is a welcome development.

Things here on the island are very dry. This has been one of the driest years in ten years, and there are some areas that have been asked to conserve water. Fingers crossed that it will not last too much longer. We’ve had several fires so far.

More soon hopefully.

Wishing everyone a happy new year

Things are moving very quickly the last few days and I’ll get some details up this weekend, but here are the highlights.

  1. We have a place to stay and it is nice.
  2. I pick up the kitteh today, which is a good thing. He’s pretty mellow, but he is reaching his limit and keeps telling me, “I want to go with you, take me home.”
  3. This first 9 days has been an education in trusting the dance.

Wishing all of you the happiest of new years.

Goin’ to see the Kitteh

Sidney is in Kona and I’m on my way to see the little rascal. They say he is doing fine and the woman I talked with called him a sweetheart – which he is.