Winter Solstice 2015

Greetings and Happy Winter Solstice 2015!

             Winter
     time to sort your seeds
     all things clearer in the spring
     chose for new harvest

Thank you for inquiries about my lack of posting to this blog. Everything is well. I have been channeling my writing energies into a couple of creative writing courses at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. I just finished my second chapbook and have extra copies. If you would like one please let me know and I’ll mail it to you.

It will be three years the end of next month since I landed in Honolulu from New Zealand. I seem to have adapted well. Come visit, enjoy paradise while we can. I keep exploring; this is the end of bus line "C", the Country Express.

There are wonderful museums and lots of events as Honolulu is a fairly large city. I read all the time – many favorites, but most memorable is Kill My Mother, graphic novel by Jules Feiffer. And of course I love film. There is one theater devoted to art film and one multiplex that brings in films other than Hollywood; but I have to be quick as they don’t stay long. Just saw “The Assassin” a Chinese film with next to no dialog. A gorgeous, visual poem set in 8^th century – every frame is a masterpiece.

On weekends I sell my art at the zoo fence; mainly pineapples and palm trees. http://www.artonthezoofence.com/

This has proved to be a nice little community of artists. Recently I've also joined up with Urban Sketchers; an active group that goes out and about to draw together. Most fun so far has been drawing with them in Chinatown on First Friday. 

 Life here is very much the same as it has been for me everywhere I’ve lived, EXCEPT the climate is fantastic; sunny, warm water to swim all year, trade winds to keep temperature mild. And we were very lucky that with all the hurricanes in the Pacific this year, none hit the islands.

I am very grateful to be here and in good health to enjoy it.

I hope you have a very happy holiday season and that the year 2016 is good to you!

 

 [this little whimsy was inspired by the peel of a clementine]

Summer Solstice 2015

Greetings from sunny Honolulu. I'm happily settled into the slow pace of life here. Still doing my art and doing more poetry. I managed to complete a chapbook in May which took many more hours than I expected. The following poem is from it.

The World on A Whim

Once upon a time long ago at the Oregon Country Fair where our neighbor, Ken Kesey shared his acid with us; I met a crone of many colors sitting beside the biker camp. She read my palm and foretold my travel around the world.

            I proceeded to forget.

Now I am that crone without the wonderful colors, nor the ability to see into the future. She was right, of course I go in circles small and worldly. Not planned, not even wished for; it all happened as a mere whim; surprising friends, worrying family. Once I had the sudden desire there was never another option. Within six weeks by letting go of job and apartment, giving away art, throwing out accumulated paper; I embarked from New York City alone, around the world, hop by hop, with only my small backpack.

            Later my friend, who was there, remembered the palm reader for me.

My route wound through the magic of Marrakech; skirted anger and yelling in the Cairo airport; welcomed by majestic people, land, animals between Mt. Kenya and Mt. Kilimanjaro; then the chaos of India's Golden Triangle; and ultimately the re-entry shock of Australia. There, beyond probability, I was in Cairnes experiencing my whimsy - viewing the total solar eclipse on the Great Barrier Reef.

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Wishing you all a wonderful summer. A hui ho!