Bleich 4 Art: Gift Of art and concepts

Sister Mary Andrews next to George, Sister Margaret Anne in the middle and Sister Jean on the left about 40 years ago.

She recently celebrate 50 years of being a nun. Our communication has been special to me. Her prayers and encouragement in my efforts promoting Christ's Commands of Love and the Golden Rule through my Spirituals have been a blessing. She has informed me of the positve response that she and other members of her order have found in listening to them. It is my hope that they will share them in their Missionary work. In the middle of the foreground of painting are symbols for Christ Two Commands of Love

Back to Hawaii, where God is present in a special way

I started writing this early Sunday morning AUG. 9 , 09 before I went to the 9:30 Mass at the Mission Church of St Peter and Paul In Waimea, Oahu. I had some pleasant unique experiences. I went there on Friday To find out the mass schedule and attended an AA meeting for the first time.

God is alive and well in Hawaii

The kind caring nature of the Island's Catholics and the Inter faith A A. group called the Nooners that would meet in the Missions hall at noon was great positive reflection of that God is alive and well in Hawaii.

A 12 oclock High Alcoholics Anonymous group group, the Nooners.

The AA group was called the Nooners meet at the mission at noon and with silent glances and warm smiles and acknowledgement nods made nme feel welcomed. It was like witnessing Christ's two command of love in action. The 12 points of recovery is based on putting your trust in God and helping your fellow man and woman in need. They took turn reading passages from their guidence book and then after would relate to others the reality of their personal challenges dealing with addiction and how they were doing overcoming them. You could sense the the support within the group.

Everyone at the meeting stood up and spoke it came around to my turn. I said I came in seeking aid in finding out the Mass schedule and learned alot more. That A A and they were living examples of the Golden rule and Christ Commands of love in Action. I commented on How they helped turn the lives of two special to me people, through their efforts to recovery, My former wife and a Musician friend. The lady next to me said " God wanted you to be here " I believe she was right on. I really loved the wide range of people at the meeting. Young, old, surfers, business people and tourists.

But they were all joined at the heart in a caring, God and Neighbor Loving organization, Alcoholics Anonymous. They should change their group name to the High Nooners, as every day they have the showdown at the OK corral and with God and their fellow members at their side, they face their problems with out fear.

Caution Signs !!! Danger ahead, Point of No Return.

If only someone could have encouraged the soccer mom in New York State to go to an A A meeting. In early August, She was driving under the influence of alcohol, with an alcohol blood count that equaled 10 drinks. She killed herself, Her brother's 3 children, 3 people in the car she crashed into head on and left her daughter in critical condition. Seven People dead and gone as a result of over indulgence of one person! Some people come out of their shell and are more out going and fun when they drink. If they lean on that too much one of these days they will come out of their shell but go from the shell into a casket and take others who do not deserve to go with them before their time.

If you care for some one and see these danger signs, help them to get help! Don't let high lead to the Bye, the bye before their time. Don't be guilty of taking innocent others with you. Dam it! Get Help!!!. If you are going to get high Get high on life and love, You don't need drugs or alcohol! If you don't have anyone to love , try loving God. If you do that you will find that you love everyone and in time some one will even love you.

Saturday's Full Day.

I get up early and thought there was a 7 AM Mass. There a group of People who worked with the Church's youth group who were raisng money by charging $5 to park in the church's parking lot. When Carol, a wonderful example of a very active womman in the church who was in charge found that I came to go to Mass. She gave the key to Her young Daughter Alex, to open up the church door so I could go into pray.

I thought it was a wonderful caring gesture. The church interior was like Christ Two commands of Love in it's simplicity and pure spiritual feeling.

In the altar area on the wall was the words , God is Love. It made me feel good inside to see that as I have carved that into the front of my Guitar.

I hummed softly the melody to One by One, The spiritual song That I start off my day with. I gave Carol The first spiritual cd I burned on the island to share with the clergy or liturgical director to share with others. I have now burned over 250 and shared the All Tuism one with the emphasis on the Golden Rule and Christ commands of love with Islanders, Tourist from the States, from Italy, France, India and other Countries. I give these away free to others in hopes that they will have a positive effect on their life. I like what a young musician from down under said. "You are on a spiritual walk about"

I liked that as I regarded myself as a sower of Christ's words or musical missionary. I was thinking today I would like to research the Bible and compile the specific words of Christ while he was on this earth. I hold these closer in my heart and as the Most Important words in the Bible. If Christians through out the ages prioritized Christ's words you would not have had the sad periods in history like when Christians fought wars among each other and killed one third of the white population in Europe. Google Christian Wars.

Even today Christian are not living in Harmony with each other as God would have all his children do. I visited Churches of different denominations and talked to their pastors on the need to focus on Christs 2 Commands of Love. I have no illusions of changing attitudes rooted in history, But as a Lover of Jesus Christ I have to try. It is better to light one candle of Christ's love in one heart than curse the darkness of greed and hate that has led to so many problems we are faced with today.

As it was short 3 minute walk, I went back to my son's home and burnt more CDS for them that were different and took some pictures to put up on my home page. I really like the picture by the open church door of Carol's young daughter, her sister and a friend . Alex on the left held the key and one of the others was holding and petting a little kitten. There numerous Cats with out homes in the area and neat wild chickens and their chicks running free on the island. The Picture below of Carol,a leader in the church, Joshua a liturgical director with a good singing voice were my first friends in the parish. Father Jonathan from New Zealand is on the left.

I went to the primary church St. Michaels and left one of my Moongate serial paintings for Father Jonathan Hurrellto enjoy for a while and then use it to raise funds for the Church Charities. He gave an inspiring sermon on the Golden Rule, How if we all followed that how the world would be a better place. He spoke with a rich down Under voice , accent and directness that sounded like Ross Metcalf, the Australian Father of Carly that I shared Lourdes water with when she was 13 years of age and quite ill with Cystic Fibrosis. On the stretcher strips I requested he pray for Carly's spiritual and physical well being. Carly is over 30 now and has her ups and downs. I left more cds promoting the Two commands of Christ and the Golden rule with him and requested that he share them with Bishop Silva.

At 73 I have a wee bit of difficulty navigating the roads on Oahu. All the names seem the same. That may be an understatement as the following tale I will relate will show. In the end it took an angel on a bicycle to get me back to Chris and Marina home Just in time before three AM as they were going to leave at 3:30 AM for work and were to drop me off first at the air port to fly to Kauai on August 13 TH. I still had some packing to do.

I had a dinner engagement with an a friend from the past whom I have not seen in over 30 years, Carol Collette whose description of her son on her art webpage, carolcollette.com who left this world at the age of 26 inspired my homage song Daniel. Carol said it would take about an hour but was unaware that I would drive around the island following ther coast. I got lost as the narrow road on the map stopped at a rocky point and I had to double back.I arrived at 6 instead of 4 she shared her studio and new work with me as she is a talented fine artist.

She shared more information with me about her son Daniel who was even more of a wonderful young man than I realized from what she wrote lovingly about him on her website. We had a pleasant dinner catching up on what we have been doing the past 30 years. I was very fond of Carol and her husband Jack who passed on a few years before Daniel.

It was 11:30 and I was returning by the route that was to take an hour. visibilty was bad as Chris's light were not working properly. I missed a turn or took a wrong one and was zipping along a good road at about 40MPH. All of a sudden it felt like I ran off the road and was being bounced about a rough rocky field. I was still on the road but it was dirt one filled with potholes and large bumps. I thought I might flip before I slowed the car down. I turned around and doubled back and had no idea where I was.The few homes I passed all had there lights off.

It was after 2AM and I came to an intersection. There was a man waiting there on a bike, I told him I was lost. He gave directions that I could follow and than said "God Bless You" If ever a person was an angel helping some one in need, he was. Just like my song you can be an angel where ever there is a need. I made it back in time to pack for kauai with his help.

Later that day I stopped by the Church lot after snorkling at Waimea Beach to introuce Chris to Carol, and Joshua. They had some welcomed real cold water, as I was a bit dehydrated. The day before I went into the water to swim for the first time in four years as my heel wound problems prevented that and swam for less than five minutes just to see if I could. I swam out further than I did in the past when I had no health problems. My mustache was causing water to leak in and I would surface to clear it but may have had the snorkle slip down and was imbibing a bit of salt water. It was neat to see all the fish and even a fair size turtle.

By the time I went back to the beach, I was exhausted. I felt like A ship wrecked sailor being washed ashore. It felt wonderful to lie on a towel in the sun and bake a bit while Chris went out and swam the length of the beach and take pictures of the fish. He shot one of me and I looked like a sea elephant. I use to do surface dives deeper than 30 feet with out weights but I had difficulty going down 5 . Too much natural flotation. That could be a blessing though as far as staying afloat is concerned. Trying to get flippers on and make it into the water would make a funny video. I was like fish out of water wallowing about. Once in it was different and wonderful. I have since shaved my mustache to stop the leaks and do not bother with flippers and am enjoying swimming all the more.

Sunday High lights

Sharing 9:30 Mass with Marina was rewarding. Chris had to work. It was a good sermon by Father Bertram Lock, Pastor of St. Michaels.lt, Good singing and best of all, The unity of loving God and us being soul joined members of God's family. It felt like the wonderful St. Angelas feeling that all Catholic churches should endeavor to foster. That all members are members of Christ's family.

The out island farmers market was enjoyable with a variety of food, Flowers, Plants and informational booth.. The best part was to be able to meet People who were running the booth with a passion for what they were doing. It could be Saving the turtles, or aquaculture in Sea Asparagus, Organic fruits and vegetables.Jewelery always something different to discover.

Lunch in an Island restauraant with Marina was delightful as was the conversation. Island burritos are hearty , unique and delicious.

Tamaura Grocery Store, Try it and save, Enjoy shopping There

Food can cost substantially more on the Island than the Mainland. It was a pleasant surprise to find a store where quite afew prices were lower than the mainland in many sections of the store. The ethnic variety of the food was cool in an Amerasian way. The Produce was fresh and reasonable, The service was exceptional as I was stranger to the store and those employed would walk you to what you were searching for. All were pleasant! It is hard to believe that grocery shopping can be fun , but it can at Tamauras. A lot of cool gooodies and fish and meat. It was not far from the North shore. Some one can tell you the name of the town it is in.

My Sunday drew to a close in a wonderful Way. Playing and singing the Evergreentree song for a couple in love by the edge of forever at sundown by the sea.The Husband took this picture

At sundown I Took a guitar to the beach close at hand, To watch the sun slip into the sea in an array of beautiful hues. to work on my Mahao, Aloha song in progress . I enjoyed playing and singing My Evergreen song to a neat married couple from India who now live on the island. There is something about a beach at sundown that enhances the feeling of the song, especially when you are doing it for a couple in Love. I have sang it at three weddings on the beach including the most important one which was Chris and Marina's on a beach tucked in a bay close to the mountains here on Oahu.It was great to be able to walk out your door and be a hundred yards away from the beach

I gave this to My son Chris and his wife Marina years ago they now live here , a three minute walk away from Waimea Cove and within a hundred yards of Table Rock beach.

Internet connection was spotty with wireless at Chris House as they did not have internet hook up that they now have. Getting familiar with new programs and operating system was difficult for myself. There was a lot of work just putting songs with names on the laptop. I burnt a number of cds to use for that purpose before I left home, It was tedious. I believed I burnt over 300 spiritual song cds and when I ran out of labels I would draw sketches on them.
I have not been able to activate Photoshop elements and I down loaded Picassa a google graphic program only to find it was incompatible. I will try to find another alternative if I can but may have to drive to a coffee shop where there is better access. We have been having fun with the take the time to learn now. Sept. 2nd I put Gimp,a program to enable me to put photos on line. If you are reading this and there are new photos I climbed another hill of learning. At 73 every hill is like a mountain.
Below

Back to St. Francis and my early mornings thoughts.
St. Francis of Asssi was one God's many Troubadors. Though never proclaimed as such. He was song writer and composer. I feel in some ways He should be the Patron Saint of Musicians, Singers and Composers.
Could you imagine the rising positive wave of caring compassion Their creativity could encourage? His approach of loving God and reaching out to those in need. Johnny Cash and a number of creative people do that naturally and as a result of their realtionship with God through the Bible, OLd Spirituals and the positive influences of Good Caring Friends.Old Spirituals were new spirituals when they were first created and there are new ones created every day inspired by the song writer or composers love of the Almighty.
I dig St. Francis He was one cool dude. May He inspire you like he inspires me in My Love of God and all the Creaures He created that exist in the world from the smallest sparrow to the mighty Lion, from guppies to turtles to whales and last but not least people.
Recall the prayer of St. Francis. We are in dire need of putting it to positive use for the young and old and in between in these troubled times.

May we tune in to and live by Christ's Two great Commands of Love. The beauty is in the simple clarity that leavers no room for vain misinterpretetion by anyone for any reason. pray that we as Christians in America and the world adopt Christ's Two Commands as a priority it would be better for everyone.
We would be less prone to as a nation to not put the dollar before God. It is not enough to put , In God we trust on our currency, and then put our trust in currency. When currency become the primary pursuit in life it promotes greed and dire consequences.
Many Years ago, Moses came down from the mountain with two Tablets of Stone That God has transcribed the ten Commandments on. He was so angered by the debauchery of his followers that he was leading He threw the tablets down on the ground and shattered them. His followers had turned their back on God and were worshiping a golden calf idol.
In some ways in our modern times, many have put the pursuit of wealth in the delusion of self security before the pursuit of God and obeying Christ Commands of Loving God and our fellow man. The higher they rose in their tower of gold, the more they were removed from those in need, When they met their need, They wanted more and that led to greed. They accepted the way that the money changers in the world, created schemes that bled those with limited means the most. Those of modest means were the ones who would be late on their payments In the world into greed The world economic crisis bear witness to the consequences.
Moses did not please God when he destroyed God's inscribed words by breaking the tablets in anger. Moses was the first to break the Ten commandment and as a result God had Moses perform the hard labor of transcribing them on new tablets fo stone.
In the same way we have to work harder to get our life back on track when we are moved by anger and our decisions. One of the straight forward ways is to live by Christ's Two commands of Love. God will be with you when you do. It is never too late to return to His open arms.

To download these MP3s right click the song's title and select 'save target as'.

Unique experiences while painting in Lourdes France and in Assisi, Italy, had a profound affect upon formulating a gentle loving, giving and forgiving approach to life. In Assisi, while painting in the hills where St. Francis lived, I was enthralled in some way but disappointed in others. There were Nuns. There were Franciscan Brothers walking and praying. There was the sound of young voices raised in song-filled praise. It was wonderful, but there was no signs of animal or bird life. I was used to seeing pictures of St. Francis surrounded with animals and birds. I kept painting and looking for some form of wildlife or feathered friends. I stopped painting and started shifting the pebbles at my feet looking for an ant. At that moment three white doves flew into the branches of a tree that was in my pain ting so I painted two of them in, as one was in a higher branch that was not in my painting. I called the painting "Doubting Thomas." After that experience it seemed as if there were always two doves about. I thought the other one must be the Holy Ghost.

I started a song that afternoon, "Three White Doves" which I finished in 2001

There is a spirit of Mahalo here in Hawaii that is akin to the Golden Rule. A spiritual ambience enhanced by the wonderful Natural Beauty that make one more aware of God's presence in Hawaii's Paradise.

If Christians of all denominations made decisions based on Christ's Two Great Commands of Love and all Religions on the Golden Rule The world would be a far better just place.

Forget about labels like Liberal, Conservative, Socialists. They are the labels misused by man to accomplish goals that are based on greed, power and control far removed from the word and ways of God, Far removed from Christ's Commands of Love and the Golden rule.

I hear the Spirit of Mahalo In the the wind, in the rain, in the waves, in the sermons at church and in th TV broadcast from the Hope Chapel in Oahu. I feel the spirit of Mahalo and In all the wonderful people who have randomly said God bless You and some even hugged me and I them as Children of God, Brothers and Sisters are apt to do when filled with His spirit. It is then I know He has blessed me and may He bless you with the grace to follow Christ's Commands of Love and the Golden Rule.

There has been a popular scene making it way around the internet, Christ's Footprints in the sand and a suggestion He is ready to carry us through our moments of need. It is high time that we help Christ by carrying His Cross, proudly and with the Love he commands us to do! May we do that, each in our own way.

As wonderful as Hawaii was It was special to return home just in time for the Monterey Art Studio Tour. I enjoyed meeting many wonderful People who enjoyed their visit to my home and studio.

Sister Mary Andrews next to George, Sister Margaret Anne in the middle and Sister Jean on the left about 40 years ago.

Back to Hawaii, where God is present in a special way

God is alive and well in Hawaii

A 12 oclock High Alcoholics Anonymous group group, the Nooners.

Caution Signs !!! Danger ahead, Point of No Return.

Saturday's Full Day.

Sunday High lights

Tamaura Grocery Store, Try it and save, Enjoy shopping There

My Sunday drew to a close in a wonderful Way. Playing and singing the Evergreentree song for a couple in love by the edge of forever at sundown by the sea.The Husband took this picture

Back to St. Francis and my early mornings thoughts.

There is a spirit of Mahalo here in Hawaii that is akin to the Golden Rule. A spiritual ambience enhanced by the wonderful Natural Beauty that make one more aware of God's presence in Hawaii's Paradise.