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Kahuna Nui Hale Kealohalani Makua – (“Love all you see, including yourself.”) ~~Hale Makua
`A`ohe loa i ka hana a ke aloha – (Distance is ignored by love.)
Ua ola loko i ke aloha – (Love gives life within.)
A’a i ka hula, waiho i ka maka’u i ka hale – (Dare to dance, leave shame at home.)
NĀNĀ I KE KUMU - (Look to your Sense of Place and sources of spirit, and you find your truth.)
IMI OLA - (To “seek best life.” Our purpose in life is to seek its highest form.
The value of mission and vision.)
IKE LOA - (The value of learning. To know well. To seek knowledge and wisdom. We Are Here To Learn, Grow and Expand into Greater Aloha/Love/Harmony as We Walk Up the Mountain of Life.)
No alien land in all the world has any deep strong charm for me but that one (Maui), no other land could so longingly and so beseechingly haunt me, sleeping and waking, through half a lifetime, as that one has done. Other things leave me, but it abides; other things change, but it remains the same. For me the balmy airs are always blowing, its summer seas flashing in the sun; the pulsing of its surfbeat is in my ear; I can see its garlanded crags, its leaping cascades, its plumy palms drowsing by the shore, its remote summits floating like islands above the cloud wrack; I can feel the spirit of its wildland solitudes, I can hear the splash of its brooks; in my nostrils still lives the breath of flowers that perished twenty years ago.~~Mark Twain
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Literally just got back from three weeks in the home of my heart. I found myself sending myself one-line emails so I wouldn't forget a word or an idea. So many ideas. Seemed like everywhere we went something struck me. This was a meandering trip. We've 'done' all the big stuff folks do when visiting Maui - this time we meandered about unfazed by twisty turn-y barely paved roads or two-tracks leading who knew where. We greeted the sun from halfway up mountains or overlooking a turquoise sea. We wandered lava fields and discovered plants that grow nowhere else on the planet. We shared the roads with mongooses, skinks, goats, and cattle. We tried all sorts of new foods having decided we didn't want to know what most of it was until AFTER we tried it. I fell in love with POG juice, poke, eating hamburgers sandwiched between rice and fried eggs and slathered in gravy. We trekked through rain forests and bamboo glades. We appreciated honu (sea turtles) from a safe distance and saw a shark. We watched cliff divers, surfers, fire dancers and the hula.More, we learned about what is behind them: the stories, the traditions, the meanings and the histories.
My notebook is full of quickly scribbled thoughts that I hope I can decifer. It was if, this trip, (different sort of from previous trips) that I inhaled so much of the back and back and back that is intrinsic TO Hawaii-- Maui in particular.
I'd heard of poi. I knew it came from the taro plant. Now not only do I know how it is grown, I know the work involved in making poi and so many ways it is used. Did you know that one can literally LIVE on taro and water?
Poi french toast in amazing. Poi can be eaten as is, or mixed with almost anything.
I've eaten 'salads' that were yummy although nothing quite like lettuce was ever in them! Palms, ferns, pines, and other green 'stuff'. I've learned about kukui nuts and all the things the oils inside can do. I've made a lei and cried at the lei-giving ceremony.
My mind is swirling with things to write about. Most inspirational trip EVER, I thought. Until I thought back to other trips where I really delved IN to where I was. Those trips too were inspiring beyond belief. We talked about it and then my hubby compared it to when he is out in the woods while hunting. Similiar, he thought because it is you, nature, and hopefully, a deer.
The challenges were different but challenges all the same. My claustrophobic self actually getting through a lava tube. A half-mile barefoot walk that ended up being mostly gravel and painful for the feet. Forgetting to get gas and traversing ten miles on what the Jeep said was only seven miles worth of gas. We made it. Just. A REALLY big cow who decided the Jeep made a geat scratching post. A spider that wasn't but might as well have been, with his immense web blocking the only way forward. (I am TERRIFIED of little spiders. This one was dinner-plate size! Not including the legs! He (she?) was nowhere near as afraid of us as we were of him! He did eventually scoot off to the side and we got through a hole in the web. For sure that will end upin a story some day! It is funny now, but in the moment, it wasn't. And, we really had to give it credit because it blocked the way through. I don't think I want to know just what he does catch!
I found stories that I'll write about the meaning and mythology behind the leis, the lave, the Gods, and the traditions. We celebrated King Kamehameha's birthday. We learned about the battles to unite the islands or divide them depending upon the perspectives -- that still exist today and yet learned how Hawaiians consider themselves an amalgamation of the original Hawaiians, Japanese, Chinese, Portugese and Tongans whomke up muchofthe islander's heritage. We met people who KNOW their lineage going back a hundred generations! We talked and listened story.
A trip across the country, to an airport, or across town offers us all opportunities for inspiration. We just need to be aware of our surroundings and open to the ideas!
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dogpack saving 4premium  says: I write with might for readers' delight. Word art is creativity and many other things showing to the reader the inside, soul, or life blood of someone's experiences and knowledge in a unique way because we are all unique. I'm thankful for being so richly blessed to be able to write, read, and review on WDC.
I agree!
Monty  writes: Thank you for highlighting my poem, part of my life. I believe you shared some of your life here today. BTW Happy WDC Anniversary.
Thank you, and yes, I absolutely did!
brom21  writes: As an online digital outreach volunteer, I often council those in depressions to write out their pain like the idea you gave. Writing gives me happiness and peace and whether it is for others to feel better or just write fiction, I love using a computer put down content. My parents and family have always encouraged me to be a writer, which, of course, is my passion. I thank God for this. Great NL!
Thank you!
DestinyAwaitsDarling  comments: You are so incredibly gifted, and wise. I never grow tired of hearing about your life experiences, your 'writing journey,' and how both of those things have come together, and shaped you into the lovely, inspiring, powerful woman that you are now! Thank you so much for including my poem in this newsletter! Your encouragement and your belief in me are invaluable! Happy 18-Year WDC Anniversary, to you!!!! I am excited to be by your side for this one, and all of the ones that come after! :) 
Wow! Thanking you. But dare I say that your words also describe YOU!
Mia - craving colour adds:I enjoyed your newsletter. It echoes my thoughts on the writing life, particularly as part of our journey and finding our voice, or rather coming to voice. Someone once said, ‘we either write a book or see a therapist’. No doubt everyone needs a form of self-expression. For some it’s words, and others, different forms of art - dance, sculpting, painting, drumming, playing musical instruments, cooking, baking - creating as a means of giving ourselves ‘form’, as well as purpose.
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