Let's make island! ... HO'OMOKU

Pete and I open the door to The Safety Pin Cafe, where story is at the heart of service, and expand the menu for our community. The tables welcome the community in a journey based on na waiwai Hawaii, Hawaiian values. With the poi bowl readied, the 'aumakua (ancestors) welcomed with 'oli (chant), and the families of this Tscha-kole-chy (Whidbey Island) community seated and welcomed, we ask for permission to share/teach and learn what we need to learn. "Let's make island!" is the rallying chant and rough translation of the Hawaiian word HO'OMOKU.

Beginning in July, 2015 small groups meet once a week for 4 weeks. In July Session One focuses on MALAMA (caring for land, sky, sea, and beings). August's Session Two focuses on 'OLELO (Hawaiian vocabulary, and poetry). Session Three focuses on KILO (observation) and our Tscha-kole-chy (Whidbey Island) community links up with a Pacific-wide Lunar Conference held on O'ahu, Hawaii. Session Four focuses on ULU (thriving and growing). This session will take place sometime during the Makahiki Season (usually late October/early November - February)

 HO'OMOKU is a vision made solid, just as a coral reef becomes solid, one polyp one step at a time. A coral reef grows into an island. The words of our kupuna tell us that,  "He puko 'a kani 'aina." A person beginning in a small way gains steadily until he becomes firmly established. With the values of Hawaii in tact from head to toe, Mokihana grows Hawaii where she is today on Tscha-kole-chy (Whidbey Island) with a wish to grow a community curious, and passsionate about Hawaiian values and how these values contribute to our Island Earth.

HO'OMOKU has its own site here.  

Coral spawning in Washington

A hand stitch, language of birds, a safety pin: common magic, complex nature

"Common" ... western definitions

1. belonging equally to, or shared alike by, two or more or all in question: common property; common interests.

2. pertaining or belonging equally to an entire community, nation, or culture; public: a common language or history; a common water-supply system.

3. joint; united: a common defense.

4. widespread; general; ordinary: common knowledge.

5. of frequent occurrence; usual; familiar: a common event; a common mistake.

"Common" ... Hawaiian definitions
1. hana mau
2. ma'amau,
3. laha, laakea

"Commoner"
1. Maka'ainana
2. noa
3. 'ino
4. hua
5. noa'noa

“I have heard the Amish will place a small mistake or imperfection in a quilt or other handmade item. Why is this done?”
“We’ve heard that many years ago sometimes a scrap of fabric that didn’t quite match was used inconspicuously in a patchwork quilt to give it “identity.” We question whether this is true. We don’t know of any quilters who would do that today. Amish quilts are all band quilted; stitches are very small and uniform. But, no matter how hard one tries, the stitches are not all identical and perfect. A quilt may have an imperfection, but it wasn’t on purpose.” - The Amish People

The door to The Safety Pin Cafe has been open for a week, and oh how thrilled we are to have had so many visitors.  Less costly than investing in the creation of the boards and batten of a store-front and eatery, the cost as a writer and translator of words and history is instead kuleana ... personal responsibility. I am a happy woman sharing the story, the characters and the journey of culture for it is precisely, and imperfectly, that journey of culture evolving that fills the cup of those who walk through the cafe door.