Lillianhowan - Lillian Howan

photo courtesy of Chantal Howan

Mangareva

photo: Francoise Holozet-Howan 

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.]

Nimbus Cat Spring 2015: Wood

Dogwood, Sequoia National Park

photo: Rosa Tsongtaatarii

A pleasure to have my story Night Work published in the gorgeous and slightly disturbing Ghosts and Phantoms issue of Vice-Versa. Thank you, Pat Matsueda, and special guest editors Steve Heller and Mark Spencer!

in Guam these are called boonie dogs (thank you, Mari L’Esperance)

Three Dogs, atoll of Puka-Puka

photo: Francoise Holozet-Howan

29 Must-Read Local Books You Won’t Want to Put Down This Summer

Here’s how to rock your hammock, if not your world, this summer. And if that’s not startling enough, we’ve got news about a new local bookstore opening.

It reads like Joan Didion on opium - Honolulu Magazine reviews The Charm Buyers.

Delighted to be on Honolulu Magazine’s Must-Reads Summer Books List!

on We Heart It.

Baobob Tree, Manoa Valley