The literal meaning of aloha is "the presence of breath" or "the breath of life." It comes from
"Alo," meaning presence, front and face, and
"ha," meaning breath.
Aloha is a way of living and treating each other with love and respect
Aloha is living in harmony
“Akahai," meaning kindness, to be expressed with tenderness;
"Lokahi," meaning unity, to be expressed with harmony;
"Oluolu," meaning agreeable, to be expressed with pleasantness;
"Haahaa," meaning humility, to be expressed with modesty;
“Ahonui," meaning patience, to be expressed with perseverance.
These are traits of character that express the charm, warmth and sincerity of Hawaii's people
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after appreciating ten weeks in relative covid safety on the island of maui over the winter of 2020/2021, we returned home to life in the country and a heartbreaking job: taking another step in simplifying our lives … the emotionally difficult task of removing the vineyard. the grapevines and the rootstock, the stakes, the guide wires (all 3700 feet!), the irrigation tubing, the stabilizing poles at both ends of every row; returning one third of an acre to its original habitat of flowering weeds! we bottled the last harvest, and celebrated with a vertical wine tasting of almost all the vintages from the first (1999) to the last (2020). even with the slurping participation of a few friends:
yes, there were many half bottles left over!
it’s now been ten months since patti had a shoulder stabilization and rotator cuff repair surgery. partially repairing damage from a bicycle accident 18 years ago! the surgeon called it a partial repair since three of the four rotator cuff tendons had full thickness tears, and there just wasn’t a lot left to work with. it’s been a very long rehab, and she is still working on strengthening.
the shoulder is definitely in better shape than the year before when she dislocated it about ten times in ten months! (ten seems to be a recurring theme…)
2021 was generally a quiet and peaceful year. a nice change from the uncertainty of 2020. the prevailing feeling of slowly emerging from a cocoon, the pendulum slowly swinging as we made those first tentative steps to integrate into the larger world ~ venturing to outdoor luncheons with friends whose faces were no longer hidden behind a mask ~ sitting outside at a restaurant in the makeshift sidewalk tables set up to allow the business to keep feeding their customers ~ taking a road trip to the oregon coast and negotiating a completely different set of covid guidelines ~ patti's appointments with physical therapists in person instead of via zoom ~ BIM’s volunteer job as a food delivery angel for the ceres project came back as the state eased up on the covid guidelines during the summer ~ a summer of seeing smiling faces while walking at the beach ~ the pendulum swinging the other way as california entered a very early start to another catastrophic fire season ~ buying air purifiers for inside the house ~ staying inside because the outside air was so dense with toxic smoke ~ the air clearing bringing a slight shift towards normalcy ~ four weeks warming up on the island of maui ~ until the holiday season omicron arrived bringing the uncertainty roaring back ~ juggling and rearranging as we pass yet another arc on this ‘long & winding road’~~
may your upcoming year have many moments of peace, joy and harmony ~~~
