I Take Part - Je Participe

In Manoa Valley

Algy has many wonderful Tumblr friends of all ages, from those still in their teens to those who are so far past the age of majority that they have forgotten what that means 😉

He knows that quite a few of his friends (no names mentioned!) are not exactly in their first youth any more, some have health problems of concern regardless of their age, and some who are still young and healthy themselves are gravely worried about their families or friends.

And Algy knows that many of these friends have been living the most extraordinary lives for the past year or so: shut in, sometimes alone, cut off from their families and friends, and existing in a strange limbo of anxiety and fear for their own health or for their loved ones, yet trying to cope with it all as best they can. Some have even suffered illness or bereavement… or both… It has been a long, sad, sorry and difficult time.

But as Algy perched in a bush full of beautiful red buds, basking in the first sunshine of the year which had any hint of warmth in it, he knew that the coming spring was not the only change that was in the air now…

At last the miserable situation which so many of his friends had had to face was beginning to change too, and he was truly delighted and relieved to hear that several of his more vulnerable friends had already been vaccinated, and others were expecting their vaccines very soon.

He knew that hope - and help - really were on the way now, and the gallant officers and troops of the vaccine cavalry were galloping as fast as they could possibly go, bringing relief to more and more beseiged people every day 😍

So today Algy is thinking especially of his most vulnerable friends, and prays that just as the buds of the azalea bush will soon open to reveal beautiful flowers, their lives too will soon blossom once again. He sends extra special fluffy hugs to all those who are still living in a state of seige, or fear for their loved ones, together with this lovely poem:

Something’s moving in, I hear the weather in the wind, sense the tension of the sheep-field and the pilgrimage of fins.

Something’s not the same, I taste the sap and feel the grain, hear the rolling of the rowan ringing, singing in a change.

Something’s set to start, there’s meadow-music in the dark and the clouds that shroud the mountain slowly, softly start to part.

[Algy is quoting the poem Something’s Moving In by the contemporary English poet Matt Goodfellow.]

POLYNESIA: PARADISE LOST?

In this two-part feature, Lillian Howan, author of a powerful novel set in Tahiti, offers a revealing interview and a lyrical essay describing her cultural heritage, her creativity and her experie…

Thank you author & literary shaman Leslie Stuart Tate for interviewing me on my childhood in Tahiti and my novel The Charm Buyers, as well as chronic illness, and lupus. Thankful to Francoise Holozet-Howan for the spectacular photos - this interview begins with a translation of her message re why she shares these photos: to bring more awareness to the environmental vulnerability of these islands, on the frontlines of climate change.

Baobob Tree, Manoa Valley

A wise, sometimes foolish, but always fluffy bird for Fool’s Day: the delightful Algy of adventuresofalgy

Happy New Year, dear friends!

POLYNESIA: PARADISE LOST?

In this two-part feature, Lillian Howan, author of a powerful novel set in Tahiti, offers a revealing interview and a lyrical essay describing her cultural heritage, her creativity and her experie…

Thank you author & literary shaman Leslie Stuart Tate for interviewing me on my childhood in Tahiti and my novel The Charm Buyers, as well as chronic illness, and lupus. Thankful to Francoise Holozet-Howan for the spectacular photos - this interview begins with a translation of her message re why she shares these photos: to bring more awareness to the environmental vulnerability of these islands, on the frontlines of climate change.