For the month of January I am recycling or tossing 3 items every day. This year I decided to try a January only New Year’s Resolution.  On January 1st however I had to discard/recycle 7 items. The total at the end of the month will be 100 less pieces of detrius cluttering my house. So far so great. As expected the first 10 days or so were easy. I blithely and eagerly found things to discard without much searching. I could stand in the middle of a room and without even a muscle twitch my eyes would alight on yet another piece of junk that need to GO. Week two proved a bit more of a challenge. Fewer of the obvious and more digging for the discards. Week three found me musing over my objects d’art and weighing my emotional attachments to various gifts and former treasures and occasionally taking the easy road and donating some magazines off to the library.

There are rules…

• all items must leave the house
• recycle and donate when possible
• regular recycling doesn’t count ie bottles, cans, newspaper
• the same goes for general trash
• pairs and sets count as 1
• 3 (or more) items EVERY day-if I throw away 4 things I am not allowed to ‘bank’ that 1 extra for the next day
• no replacing of a discarded item for a newer version

Week four begins. Stay tuned.

Happy New Year. Hauoli Makahiki Hou! It’s not really January 11. It’s January 19. Martin Luther King Day. I just like writing 1/11. The great news…only 1 more day until our native born son Obama becomes president. The anticipation of hope for enlightenment is deliciously palatable. It is deeply heartening to see the many citizens make the time to come out of their cozy houses or break the routine of their lives to witness the presidential train pass by their neighborhoods. And it is chilly outside. These folks are bundled up. Their decisions are deliberate. This is action not accident. Not only are people  gathering by the thousands but handfulls of Americans are standing on hillsides, bridges, parks, countryside dirt roads. They are in clusters, in throngs, families and with new found friends all willing to step out of their ordinary schedules to witness history…to be a part of history. I have not seen such optimism in many a decade. It give me chicken-skin. It gives me hope. In fact I am so enthused that I am willing to wake up really early tomorrow morning to watch the inauguration as the festivities start at 5:30a Hawaii time. I am busting with pride. Hooray for US!

In the first days of the New Year a small group of fishermen gather in Haleiwa Harbor for the annual boat blessing. The priest from the Haleiwa Shingon Mission gives a traditional Shinto blessing for happiness, prosperity and safety. Offerings of a bowl each of  oranges, cookies and a white rice and rock salt mixture are arrayed on a table. We each extend our cupped left hand where aromatic incense is sprinkled and guarded like a guilded fledgling. The Shinto priest chants, mesmerizing yet energizing  us as we place our right palms over left then left over right three times. He speaks of our eternal Spirits and their passages through our various mortal life forms. Each of us are individually blessesed-we call it the ‘wacking.’ It makes me smile. We file onto the dock and throw the rice-salt mixture three times into the ocean as the priest continues his chanting. Our diverse group forms again as the Reverend reminds us of the harmonic nature of the ocean and its creatures including us. The blessing brings me freshness, reflection and energy.

Then the real fun begins…the sake toasting!! Here is how we do it. Each person pours a small cup of sake for another and then for themselves. You toast to health, the New Year whatever, then drink. Then the other person pours a cup of sake for you and then one for themself. You toast again and drink. You do this for EVERY single person there! Yikes!! And you must consume everything in your cup lest there be any good luck neglected from your toasting vessel. Did I mention e-v-e-r-y single person must toast each other? Did I neglect to inform you Dear Reader that the Shinto boat blessing takes place at 11 am.?! Of course we have an array of local food with plenty of sashimi and various ono fish dishes which helps in the inevitable nap. I try and get blessed every year regardless that I am not Shinto. Growing up in Hawaii exposes you to many different cultures and their respective beliefs. Surely it can only enhance your knowlede and perspective. And you know what, I have noticed an increased happier state and certainly a  level of newly energized prosperity.

Happy New Year!

We lit the mandatory handfull of firecrackers at the entrances to our driveway gate, front and back house doors and workshop to ward away the bad spirits. We then needed to escape the obnoxious odors and unbelievably jarring blasts of illegial mortor type rockets and long banned yet easily available aerials that bombard our neighborhood for a more peaceful and fairly fireworks free hideaway on the North Shore. Made sure that the Kitties were safe and secure in the house then loaded up the Doggers, champagne and lots of special  yummy pupu for the Eve and a quiet celebration.

Some resolutions for 2008

Do Good. I like this one. I make it a resolution every year beacause it is the only one that I enthusiastically keep.

Think-Act. Also called procrastinate less or shorter time span of procratination.

Keep in Touch. Somehow connected to the above procrastination. 

Learn a New Skill or Polish a Current Talent. Classes or practice practice. hmmm I like this one too.

Have more fun. Unbelievable as it seems,  I often feel as if I am  caught up in busy work and chore mundania.  Yay, I really like this one.

My wish to all:  Good Health, Prosperity, Understanding, Time to Enjoy.

Aloha Nui Loa ~A Hui Hou