Lono and Uranus

 We worked and planned, then finally gathered to celebrate Earth. A couple dozen people ranging in age from seven months to eighty-6 came together for an evening of community.

Sow seeds of peace

Weave Lei

Sing ALOHA 

There was a plan and my old habit of trying to nail a plan down was softened up as the Kipahulu ti leaves remain on their own field trip someone in the postal network, the canopy I thought necessary to shelter people from rain was unusable because of its toxic fragrance, and though “advertised” as an outdoor event we stayed inside to eat and sow the realities of the present.

We celebrated and sung not only songs of peace and aloha but a birthday for a dear friend. New friends snd old friends clustered in the snug apartment and our grandson from Kipahulu, Maui chanted a pule to bless the gathering’s meal thanks to technology.

People offered us gifts of cash to contribute to our ohana who experienced storm damage in the recent Hawaii “Kona low” rains and winds. MAMOMA stickers went home with these folks to connect the intention to Mahalo our Momona Makuahine. 

This was the first of these flexible circles of sowing peace, weaving lei and singing ALOHA. The process surprised me, and in time I hope to gather reflections from those who were with us. 

It’s a beautiful beginning and the akua are definitely the ones in charge. Lono is the god of the environment—the space right above the skin of the Earth up to the heavens where we are able to breathe. He is also the elemental god who encourages deep resonance— listening. Lono is responsible for the rains, lightning and thunder. We had light rains all evening but the sun broke through when our friend Linda Carol begun to play the harmonium and chant in Sanskrit The Water Chant. 

Uranus in the archetypal character dictionary is the planet of unexpected and surprising outcomes. An “outer planet” Uranus was in the sector of my astrological chart called the 5th House while our gathering took place. 5th House is the House of children and creativity. Unexpected outcomes for this creative event!!

MAMOMA

 My Super ‘Ohana and I are putting together a celebration. Inspired by the challenge author and peace maker, Rivera Sun (creator of the Ari Ara series of novels among others) seeded in me an Earth Day gathering grows.

On Wednesday, April 22, 2026 we invite our Whidbey Island community to Sow Peace, Weave Lei, Sing A.L.O.H.A. A two hour celebration and ceremony to Mahalo Momona Makuahine Thank you Generous and Gorgeous Mother Earth happens at the end of day with a shared meal, sowing of marigold seeds and seeds of peace-filled actions, weaving ti leaves from Maui and nature from Whidbey, while singing and chanting globally resonant sounds of the true meanings of Aloha.

I put this here to attract and inform those who still find the mea ‘ai the nourishment of this original place of mana.👍🏽🌈💜. In this regard the tiny iPhone I use to post leaves few options to fully inform. If you are truly interested open up your best spider spirit and seek us out!

Fingers crossed this old storyteller will be ale to get you from where you are to be with us if you want 

🙏✌️Mokihana

On Naming and Awe

 This post brazenly lifted inspiration from my long favorite elder teacher, Rachel Naomi’s Remen’s book Kitchen Table Wisdom,

Thank you Rachel I know you’re here to spread light, me too!

“A Label Is A Mask life wears.” … Labeling sets up an expectation of life that is so compelling we can no longer see things as they really are…We are in relationship with our expectation and not with life itself…Belief traps or frees us.”

“We may need to take our labels and even our experts far more lightly.” Rachel goes on to tell her readers about a doctor-in-training studying people who thought they may have had an unusual experience of healing. One such person was a farmer who had done exceptionally well despite a dire prognosis. That doctor-in-training told Rachel she felt his outcome was related to his attitude. 

“He didn’t take it on,” she said.

🎈

I’m pecking at the tiny letters on my iPhone in the hour of po just ahead of puka I Ke ao. Early early morning. Pete is now tucked back into bed with our mo’opuna’s sleeping bag to warm him after a unexpected encounter with a glass water bottle. A small but significant stream of water and broken glass flowed.

“That’s the end of that,” he said as he went to his old knees with a roll of paper towels to swab our Vardo and gather glass shards. Like this rose of a home we built, that was a glass bottle we have used for more than fifteen years choosing the fragile transparency.

We built this rose sized home because many common products e.g. plastics were making us sick. Over the years this home and that glass jar have weathered the decision we made to appear odd and different in the twenty first century. 

In today’s world our golden rose Vardo much worn from wear is pointed to often and admired or surprised people when we two kupuna tell people we’ve been doing live from her for nearly two decades.

I said to Pete last night in a moment of such fond appreciation and aloha, “Our memory holes are like old lace, honey.” A far lighter and loving view of aging than the other labels so quickly uttered as diagnosis.

“Old Lace.” I’ll live that! Like spiders webs. Appearing fragile but not.

Sophie’s Almond Cake

 “Time takes time,” I heard her when she said the three words across the circle unlocking something long constricting my heart.

Another woman told me that same thing, decades earlier and in another language. She was my elder cousin come to send me off at twenty five when I left my O’ahu home for a different life. “Ho’omanawanui,”she said. The meaning of her message took decades to find meaning in my unrecovered life.

Seated now, on a rainy morning waiting for a pot of quinoa to cook for breakfast I peck at my phone to post this: a marker. 10 years ago almost to the day I wrote a story and blog as medicine. A Native Fern is the medicine story. In this story the recipe for almond cake Sophie Lei Maku’e loves is included: love land, feed people—it’s basic to a pono life. 

Just this week I reread the story (the medicine is Still powerful !) and noticed I had left something out in this recipe. A spiritual bit of navigation: I left the liquid out, but put it in this year. The cake was wonderful, was shared with beloved friends and shared here on at The Safety Pin Cafe too!

To read it go to the “Stories” tab on this blog, find the the Table of Contents and scroll to “A Native Fern.” Sophie’s story is very wonderful. Her recipe for almond cake is its own blog post. E hele kakou, go ahead!

Hope you 😊 enjoy, Mokihana