Tag Archives: postaweek

Weekly Photo Challenge: Object (or Objective of the Object: Kung Hei Fat Choi!) 2

Celebrations, Chinese New Year, photography • Tags: , ,
Welcoming the five blessings: longevity, wealth, health, peace, and the enjoying of a ripe, old age.
May God bless you and your family.

Traditionally, Chunlian or lucky red papers are hung in doorways of homes in China. I learned the papers are red because the Chinese word for red sounds like prosperous and red symbolizes joy, virtue, truth, and sincerity. Today the messages are for success, health, wealth, prosperity, joy, peace and harmony, etc. It is important to take down and discard the old Chunlian just before Chinese New Year.

Today is the first official day of Chinese New Year although Honolulu has been celebrating for a couple of weeks. Therefore, when I saw today’s WordPress weekly photo challenge was object, I knew I would be using photos I took last weekend during our Chinatown celebration to wish you many blessings in 2014 while sharing the objects I photographed.

Commonly known as the Goddess of Mercy.
Common feng shui cure.
Dancing in the streets.

Kuan Yin is the Chinese name for the bodhisattva, Avalokitesvara, who can be depicted as either male or female. Many stories about her remind me of the stories of the Christian Saints. She also is known as the Goddess of Compassion and Mercy which makes her a favorite of mine. You can learn more about her by reading: What is Kuan Yin? at Religion Facts (dot) com.

While the bamboo was my object in the second picture above, I love the lady in the window. She was photographing the lion dance too.

I took video instead of pictures of the parade.

I took video instead of pictures of most of the parade. Thus, this is a screen shot from my video.

This year my photo objects were different from a couple of years ago, thanks to Photography 101.

Kung Hei Fat Choi! (Happy New year! May prosperity and all good things be with you and yours!)

Weekly Photo Challenge: Juxtaposition 4

photography • Tags: , , ,
Honolulu's Fall

Honolulu’s fall.

I’ve always loved fall and I couldn’t resist these contrasting colors when I saw them side by side as some of Hawaii’s trees were losing their leaves last November.

This week for the weekly WordPress photo challenge, Michelle W. inspires us:

A juxtaposition is “the act of placing things side by side, especially for the purpose of comparison or contrast” — …

THIS WEEK, IN A POST CREATED SPECIFICALLY FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO SHOWING JUXTAPOSITION.

Weekly Photo Challenge: ‘Ohana (Family) 3

Chinese New Year, Family, Friendships, Hawaii, Joy, photography • Tags: , ,
My_ohana

An old picture of my ‘ohana, edited to protect them.

‘Ohana is family, but not just those with blood ties. It includes calabash cousins, the people close to our hearts, the ones frequently invited to share the food at our table. Today ‘ohana also loosely describes any place where you belong like your child’s school community or your work community. Therefore, all of my ‘ohana are not pictured.

‘Ohana embraces all aspects of affection and being connected. The origin of the word comes from ‘oha, or corm of the taro plant. Cecilia Kapua Lindo explained this in great detail in “The Spirit of ‘Ohana and the Polynesian Voyagers” for those who want to learn more about Hawaiian culture.

Obviously, family is very important is every culture. Reading Ms. Lindo’s article made me keenly aware of cultural parallels especially when she mentioned that the first written record of taro came from China.

Gau
Blue Double Fish Water Feature

Chinese New Year is a time to honor family too. The celebrations begin days before the New Year which officially begins on January 31, 2014. I’ll be celebrating with some of our extended ‘ohana. Of course I will be sharing gau with my family to help us stick together. This year my new addition to celebrate is this blue double fish water feature representing tenacity and happy union for marriage, family and business. The Conch Shell at the top represents safe travel, wisdom and good judgement. I wish all of you Gong Xi Fa Cai or Kung Hei Fat Choi during the Year of the Wooden Horse. May it be a year of peace, joy, harmony and prosperity for all of you.

Josh R’s post at The Daily Post inspired this post. Be sure to read it for your own inspiration.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Window (to My Soul) 2

Gratitude, Joy, photography • Tags: , , , ,

The dark clouds are behind us.
Garden view through garden window.
Taken through Old Town Trolley window.
Windows reflect natures beauty.
My smiling Golden in the window.

In 2013, I changed both my front and backyard to add a more joyful look and to add flowers to attract beneficial insects for my herb and vegetable garden. This had the added benefit of changing my view. I have continued to focus on gratitude including being grateful that my son attends a school that I love.

My magnet

My magnet

There is an old saying, “Let go or be dragged.” It now is on my freezer door to remind me that there are times when we really do have to let go. It is what my daughter wisely advised me to do when the new head of her former school adamantly refused to give her a requested apology for their failures.

There are some institutions and some people who have to learn to change in their own time, and we cannot force that change. That does not mean we should stop trying to educate. I am not sorry that I wrote my novel or that I tried to educate others, but there are times when we need to change focus for our own sanity. Walking away has helped my family and me return to our joyful place, and in my heart I know creating more joy for those around us is what life is all about.

This post is inspired by this week’s WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge: Window.